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#cog talks
cogmented · 4 months
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how do you come up with your designs for mcyt’s? theyre so creative and cool so i thought id ask
THANK YOU AND THANK YOU FOR THE QUESTION
now entering yap city tihs will be a long post
my steps are basically
voice
personality
og look of minecraft skin/branding
player movement
other ppls fanart (if any)
things that happened/cultural associations
i start with a bunch of random sketches to get the feel of the person.. that's why so many of my early posts were doodle pages. to me, character design is more based on what the person is like rather than what they look like. i think a lot of people do that
I do this with all of the above and shape language, but in bigger art pieces outside of lineups i also use color and perspective (as in youll see more of someone like spepticle in large, sweeping scenes while someone like zam in closed, heavily perspective-based ones) to indicate personality. ill change designs when suited for this too (spoke with or without a gas mask, vi with or without a mouth, etc etc)
my first iteration of lifesteal designs heavily relied on the look of the skins and were gradually tweaked over time. my most prominent example of this is my spoke design, so i'll use him at least once in the examples for continuous comparison.
i watch a couple of each person's videos first, understand their voice, personality, and what they do, then focus on them in other people's videos too to get a full story, their movement, and what others think of them (helps with personality and things we might not see). streams are the most helpful because they're less biased and you see so much more of their antics. huge stream fan.
i get into the how after this
this process doesnt go in order for some designs and others have a more prominent focus on particular parts of the process that override or effect other parts
Voice
starting off with not spoke here's a problem i encountered when designing wemmbu
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I based him a lot off of spoke and ashswag due to not knowing much about him besides the fact that he schemes (spoke&ash-esque) and he doesn't move his character around too much when talking (ash behavior). he didn't match the left one because his voice doesn't have the dramatic, flamboyant fratboy flair that spoke has, so I shifted it to be more friendly yet still dangerous with curved square shapes rather than triangles. i made his scheming, diabolical nature more evident through his clothing that's pretty jester-like and sharp, but with a smoother middle that spoke doesn't have (and to match his eyes).
voice also impacts character height. i dont know how to describe this. mapicc and zam are similar heights because their voices are similar, same goes for parrot and vortex, but leo and vitalasy are close to the same height (due to vitalasy's huge fuckass ears) despite having wildly different voices, with leo's bold text voice and vitalasy's higher-pitched jumbled kinda speech they still take up the same "amount of space" in conversation. they stand out. and even though spoke's voice also stands out an incredible amount he is still only slightly taller than average. this is where personality overrides voice in my designs.
Personality
spoke is sharp in every sense of the word, but is also able to mold himself around to get what he needs.
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my first attempt at him was pretty lackluster. i didn't know much of him at the time, only his wither video, and thus understood him mainly through his association with parrot. he seemed a lot more evil and more serious at first glance. like woah! fully fledged mouth and nose?! not anymore.
i cover certain expressive parts to also depict more of their personality in some abstract, holistic way. after watching streams and whatnot, spoke doesnt actually speak (excluding his random sounds and yips or whatever he does) too terribly much, except when the spotlight is on him or he's trying to get something. so, i tweaked his design to encompass that when i understood him better.
i take away his arms to allow his hands to stand out more (character movement thing, he moves around a lot when no one is paying attention to him, punches the air when ..not talking but making a point ig. he's a big fan of hovering menacingly), i give him a slinky-like outside skeletal structure to both capture his affinity for withers (i made him a wither thing because of the wither sounds in his video.. and the withers in general) and to give him the feeling of more freedom with his movement.
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i also just really like gas masks so. basically, spoke is someone that hides away until he chooses to stand out. thank lord heaven he looks like some shadow creature.
later on i gave him more magenta highlights, especially in the wormhole era because 1. magenta wasnt heavily included in his rainbow look, making it stand out on his whole being, and 2. because magenta is really really cool and people should use it more.
og minecraft skin/branding
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hi spokeis here. this will be quick because his branding is so heavy. lightning, rainbow, black. boom. character. withers and white eyes? easy. causes a lot of anarchy? again, lightning and withers.
planetlord on the other hand is someone i greatly differed from the og skin and branding. i saw the design in a vision idk. i shift his colors all the time in different pieces but i use more of his pfp colors now because there's too many purples in this world. his branding, personality, and voice all connect very well. a bit misleading, he's a bit of a weasel.
Movement
i never used to look into movement, but pvp styles and conversational movement of lifesteal is intriguing. unfortunately it was only something i started paying attention to during the end of s4 because vitalasy's movement was so interesting. he's a big fan of getting in people's faces.
ill be real, i didn't really notice spoke a lot during things because he was almost always never alone, and when he was it is always at a distance or you knew he had people to back him up.
spoke's movement isn't actually too abnormal. he's goal oriented and tends to always be doing something, and when he does he finds the most efficient way possible. pretty basic. his design choices are based mainly on voice and personality.
someone like mapicc on the other hand has very particular movement. he spins around people when fighting and gets right up in their face (in nethpot pvp mostly), so i made his clothing tighter to the skin with looser parts to accentuate that movement: practical clothing for close combat battles. it was also noticed (by the lord) that he tends to look straight forward instead of the slightly down that most players do.
zam fights differently, but i made him with the og branding (he's princezam) and what he does in mind. his body language in my art is more indicative of his personality.
Other people's fanart
shoutout the community, a notable amount of ideas were from the mid-late 2022 lifesteal community.
dog leowook and leather jacket mapicc were from gen, jackalope rek from aoi i think, "croptop" jacket spoke from saints-blade, snail terrain from navy-leader, tv ashswag from kish, sock puppet red definitely from someone i dont remember, 4 armed squiddo from seri, and old cartoon jaron was from bucket
Things that happened/istarted talking about cultural inspirations
spoke and his connection to godhood influenced his redesign greatly. this section affects what the character wears most of the time.
i give both spoke and vitalasy painted palms (alta) due to their connection with godhood and destruction, with spoke in particular reminding me a lot of Kali Ma, thus i gave him a skirt (due to nppp too). vitalasy's clothing is based on Indonesian cultural clothing. wemmbu's also takes inspiration from Indonesian and Bhutan cultural clothing.
indigenous cultures inspired some designs too (i do a lot of ethnographic anthropology work with some of the tribes i base the clothing off of), with woogie having Yupik and Inuit inspiration. polar bear = cold climate in my head. and leo has Haida and Yunnan (minority Chinese providence, not a tribe) inspiration.
bacon's... not bacon strip design's clothing was based on Bangladeshi clothing (im Bangladeshi, i also added alpona patterns to ash's design), nomadic cultures, and some german pilgrim thing?? idk not my best design. i specifically looked for nomadic inspiration because of his willingness to flee at any moment lol. i didnt do this for rek despite his fleeing reputation because i dont watch rek content too much and he already had hybrid traits that took care of that presentation.
poafa's design is a goat because of the medusa trials where he was used as a scapegoat. makes sense i think. his horns are from past associations with jepex that infected mapicc as well (devil trio s1). zam's design is very much from s3 empire and s4 castle.
planet's design changed slightly, mostly rounder shapes, but also the number of "spikes" on his scarf, now stuck at three because of 3ht.. and easier to draw than five. minutetech has a bow instead of a bowtie from jumper due to s5 happenings. the gem on his crown has wemmbu's highlights from his gem's main color.
roshambo's design was also heavily influenced by medusa where i gave him a snake body. in my art that depicts before medusa events he doesn't have the snake body, and same goes with before s4 spoke where i draw him with full pants. in some sketches ive depicted mapicc with a muzzle only after the destruction of s4 spawn due to quix's mapicc dog influence shoutout.
mapicc and ro have matching things that persist seasons (mapicc periwinkle collar, ro red painted ring finger... head finger?), as did subz and vitalasy with matching shoulder pads (beginning of s4 subz had a bandana and vitalasy had a bell that traded between them through artworks of mine) Vitalasy also gained sun and moon earrings. mid and 4c have matching hoods/cloaks ^_^ marriage or something.
hope this made sense and covered everything you could have ever wanted forever... feel free to ask me questions i love explaining processes
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paper-lilypie · 5 months
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something something gaining perspective
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crystaloregarden · 9 months
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behold: what happens if you make @boigameista 's frog pattern when you 1) have never sewn a plush before and 2) didn't read the instructions because you sewed it while watching a stream with your partner
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my server has named him "the boppie" and he is now an emoji that shot to the most frequently used tab in mere minutes
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Long live the boppie
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cathalbravecog · 1 year
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Drew these to practice drawing him but I went kinda ham on it again
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olasketches · 10 days
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sukuna did not tell kenjaku about his plan to change vessels, which makes me wonder… what makes us and maybe even sukuna think that kenjaku told him everything. another yapping session incoming cause I need to get this out of me. we don’t know the terms of their agreement but sukuna is certain that yuuji’s only purpose was to seal his fingers and mind you that says the man who throughout the whole manga kept underestimating him and saying how boring he is, which creates a perfect blind spot. sukuna is so uninterested in yuuji, probably as a way to keep some sort of distance between himself and yuuji, that it is very much likely that he’s not aware of the actual plans kenjaku had towards yuuji. why was it important for them to keep sukuna caged? wa yuuji always supposed to have an engraved curse technique(s)?? why is he slowly turning into another sukuna?? and I’m not saying it to take away yuuji’s agency as a character but to point to the fact that the lines between the curse known as ryomen sukuna and yuuji are beginning to become more and more blurry with each new chapter. sukuna referred to himself as the fallen angel/disgraced one, but who was he BEFORE that?? and what’s the actual reason behind angel wanting to kill him? there’s so much we don’t know and honestly… as intelligent as he is I don’t think sukuna truly knows what is going on either… but I might be totally reaching and I still don’t why I keep brainstorming all of it cause gege is just too damn unpredictable so I really don’t know what’s relevant here or what’s not but there are just so many unknowns in this story that I just can’t help but wonder… (more in the tags)
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drdimm · 10 months
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this is portia she sucks and no one likes her 👍
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boggtech · 3 months
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this is what happens in the boiler room while you're not there
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strawglicks · 5 months
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something i really wanna see explored more in TTCC lore overtime is how Cogs. Inc affects the cogs themselves. the individual workers and the company are not one in the same, and i think thats smth that never gets discussed.
while i think the toons are obviously in the right for protecting their lands, i think there are many cases in some of the individual managers where it is clear that this is not a black and white, good and evil issue.
Misty is probably the most obvious case here, being that they dont even have any desire to fight the toons and instead wants to be friends with them. Misty is probably one of the most controversial characters due to this, being that fandom looooves to take morally grey/complex characters and devolve them to either "perfect innocent wittle angel" or "demonic demon from hell", completely erasing the original character's complexities and flaws. the things that makes them..them. the things that make them interesting. and it sucks to watch ppl erase characters like this. (I could do a full analysis on her and probably will but it would be some time i have to refresh myself a bit on her)
That "good vs evil" view that toontown originally built itself on was challenged by TTCC's manager cogs when they were given more depth. and a lot of people who loveee to see things in black and white dont like characters such as misty challenging their point of view. and its saddening.
i personally love to see this built and expanded upon. i LOVE that TTCC focuses on the individual cogs and makes them. well. individuals. rather than focusing on the big bad company as a whole. theres no doubt Cogs Inc is terrible. so imagine how terrible it is for the workers serving said company.
"they applied for the position" yea so like theres a fancy thing called rent. in a world of capitalism like this, cogs need jobs and money to support themselves. (some proof of this being an issue for the cogs is graham freaking out at the end of MOTM when his chances of getting the job are threatened and he says his "life is in jeopardy". NO ONE talks abt this btw.) i think once again this excuse drives from people focusing on the big bad company rather than the individuals. so lets talk about the individuals.
Mary Anna. She applied for the position because she believes toons are the issue, they are the ones polluting the waters and environment, and she has good intentions joining this company and trying to put a stop to them. How he came to this conclusion is unknown, but does Cogs Inc give a shit? No. they care abt hiring employees so they can make money and function as a business. so, knowing mary is wrong, they do nothing to change it and simply use her beliefs to their advantage to keep her hired and doing her job.
You know whats funny? Most of the fandom either flat out ignores him or makes him out to be a complete idiot for thinking toons pollute the environment. Mary may be wrong, but his intentions are proof that cogs are not just. blank slates. And people HATE thinking deeper than just black and white. So they hate cogs like Misty and Mary and put them down for challenging their view.
You could go on and on, case by case. TTCC PURPOSEFULLY builds on these characters so you AVOID that boring black and white view of "toons good, cogs bad". I think the situation is more like "toons good, Cogs Inc. bad".
Companies like this destroy both outsiders and the people within the company. And so far, TTCC has done a good job displaying that. and people choose to ignore it. and it saddens me.
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sinningvin · 3 months
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I FINALLY finished some art of my cogsona, Forrest, and Chip. I really hope yall like it, I worked quite a while on it.
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Reblogs and comments appreciated!!
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saltpepperbeard · 6 months
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I cant stop thinking about the end of episode 6, specifically the Stede and Ed of it all.
Just the look on Stede's face when he pulls Ed in kills me. I need to know everything in there, in words.
Also, what do you think wouldve happened if instinct hadnt taken over? Would they have actually talked it through (as a crew?) Or would Stede have just brushed over it again and Ed accept it?. This is pretty much the only time he tries to actually help stede like this.
Also, because im rambling, why doesnt Ed defend Stede properly when people insult him? does he think it just doesnt affect him or something?
Pardon the tardy answer on this one, anon! I was in the void, only to get decked upside the head by Leslie Jones once I crawled out of said void lol. BUT OKAY OKAY-
*rubs hands together like a fly*
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This face absolutely kills me too. And I feel like it says so much without saying a word at all. I feel like it says, "I'm so happy and relieved to see you right now because the true torture of the night was seeing you get threatened." And, "I love you so much for checking up on me, but I don't have it in me to use words right now, and can't really express what I'm feeling any other way than through actions." And, "I'm so terrified after what just happened, but having you here is such a grounding force."
Like just...the glassy sheen to his eyes but the relief to his overall visage...Mr. Darby I'm billing you for damages <3 sdjksldls. I think he was just so so happy to see Ed in that moment, and so relieved to have him after nearly losing him again.
And as far as talking things through goes...I honestly feel like Stede still would have stayed clammed up. I have a feeling it would have been like how it was when he initially opened the door, ie Ed doing the talking/leading the conversation while Stede stays quiet. Maybe Ed sharing such deep feelings and vulnerability would have eventually pried his shell open and gotten him to express a few fears? But idk, because at the same time, Stede witnessed Ed's bathtub moment, and it didn't really shake any of his own personal walls.
I just think he has such a complicated thing going with his own self-image, masculinity, and trauma, that it would have been very very difficult for him to openly admit to pain/terror/etc etc—especially weakness. Especially the thing that earned him vitriol and stones and death threats. And especially not to the man he respects and looks up to so much.
And SPEAKING of which, in regard to your last question, I think Ed doesn't step in to defend him for two reasons. One, he's the protector against physical abuse, whereas Stede is the protector against verbal abuse. This lovely post here [x] explains it beautifully; "they're both protecting each other from the dangers they know." Ed acts very quickly if some sort of physical harm threatens Stede, whereas Stede acts very quickly if some sort of vitriol threatens Ed. Neither of them want the other to experience the pain they're so acclimated to, and subsequently are each other's defender from such.
And two, sort of along those lines, I don't think he recognizes the hurt that can come from it, just as Stede maybe doesn't recognize the hurt that can come from all the violence. Maybe he doesn't realize how deeply it has cut Stede, just as Stede doesn't really recognize how deeply violence has cut Ed. I don't know how to word this properly lol but like...they view what hurts the other as almost a non-issue.
You can see their varying reactions and differences a few times in episode 6 actually. When Ned is physically torturing them, Stede doesn't really react when Ed is burned, but Ed reacts strongly when Stede is burned. And when Ned is flinging vitriol about prior to the violence, Ed doesn't really react to it, but Stede scowls and fights against his restraints.
And then when they're on deck, Stede doesn't think to take cover when the attack is starting, but Ed immediately flings himself in front of him. And when Ned is trying to goad Ed into getting upset, Ed doesn't take the bait whatsoever, whereas Stede steps up and gets upset on his behalf.
Not to mention also, Stede being like "Haha escaping violence? Not bloody likely" the morning after. I know that's episode 7 lol, but my pOINT STILL STANDS. They both expect those things respectively—Ed expects insulting talk from other pirates, and Stede expects violence in their line of work, but they're actually rife with trauma for the two of them.
TLDR, they balance each other and ground each other so well, but imagine how much more they would if they shared all these deeper thoughts. I'm still holding out hope that Stede will have his bathtub moment in season 3, or even just show a lick of vulnerability around Ed. Maybe the domesticity/concept of marriage will scare him enough into opening up a bit more/talking things through, or even just settling into a more mature relationship with Ed will give him the grounds to do so.
REGARDLESS, they are just a broth that's....*Roach voice* beautiful, complicated, balanced...
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vroomian · 2 months
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I'm calling it now. How YRZ sincerely took care of and sang to Charlie is one of the reasons why Lucifer is in love with him. Any other reasons why?
up until this point lucifer is like 'how did this person get into heaven in the first place??? he fits so naturally into hell?? what is god even doing??'
and then Lucifer gets home from a long day of fighting with his wife, nearly delirious with exhaustion and finds yrz slowly pacing across charlie's room with the girl tucked against his shoulder, fast asleep. yrz is humming a soft, sweet song under his breath, and the way he handles charlie so, so carefully as he lays her down makes lucifer want to weep. 'oh this is why,' lucifer thinks. yrz is capable of infinite gentleness and care and devotion.
lucifer knows that yrz doesn't like children. he wasn't pleased at being drafted as a babysitter. lucifer even used up his one favor on it -- and he's starting to think that he didn't need to. that yrz would've taken care of charlie as a precious gift if lucifer just asked him.
over their long relationship, lucifer has slowly been slipping down the slope of loving yrz. yrz, for all his many, many flaws is also very sincere in his own principles, loyal, responsible, driven, curious, self-aware, charismatic, accepting, humble (in a 'i am not different from them' way) and a decent person by choice. given the chance to be cruel and to be kind, he would most likely pick the kind option.
how many decent people -- humans -- has lucifer ever had contact with, honestly?
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cogmented · 9 months
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Ur design of Reddoons as a sock puppet has enlightened me
It makes so much sense, I love it
TY SO GLAD!! .. i think i got inspiration from someone awhile ago but i dont remember who... originally i wanted to spiff up his outfit a bit per the cogmented way of designs but i couldnt find anything that didn't erase his basic business man vibe
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paper-lilypie · 2 years
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since I have nothing to show for chapter three so far, have this messy thing from chapter seven lmao
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theloveinc · 8 months
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i need to be the princess that knights!kiribaku are charged with guarding and taking care of..
imagine taking them on a little stroll through the castle gardens.. making them flower crowns.. making them steal some honeycomb from the hive on the tree.. sneaking little kisses in the hedge maze..
going to the market in secret.. Eijirou doing most of the talking while Katsuki bullies the vendor into lowering the price..
and yk.. having them outside my bedroom doors (in my bed snuggling me.. keeping their princess warm..) <3
Why am I like... dying at the thought of Kiri being so excited to guard your room at night because it means getting to take his big, heavy armor off early and sleep and get his nut off in your bigass royal bed???
And usually he's back up at 2am trying to get his knighty tighty whities on before trading spots with Bakugo, but since your recent...... developments... with them both, Bakugo's just crowding right into the bed with both of you and getting his sloppy seconds in the morning (and hitting Kiri on his fat head for taking up you and the whole bed).
...I feel like it's a big whole scandal in the castle when your attendant walks in with your hairbrush and outfit for the day and three groggy, naked people with bedhead sit up instead of just one.
(She's scurrying away and immediately telling not only the other maids and guards, but also the king... and Bakugo and Kiri are pulled away to be lectured except you go with them and fight back and then everyone and their mama knows you have two guards wrapped around your finger and it's this WHOLE. damn. THING.)
Or like... trying to canoodle with Bakugo while he's on duty in between his salutes to other guards, and it's so embarrassing because you're a royal, for god's sake! Stop hanging offa him like a barnacle, he doesn't want the general to see!!! But he also can't get enough of it, the feeling that you are his just as much as he is your sworn knight...
And then you do get caught! But thankfully it's only by Kiri who gets all whiney for not being there to be canoodled by you, too, and it's all just. SO CUTE.
(and yes to all the moments when Bakugo harasses a gardener to pick the most perfect rose for him to bring you, or Kiri shows up with bee stings all over his ass and tears in his eyes just so your tea can be perfect for the week, or at the market when you're not royal and guard but regular civilians with no sponserbilities... I am going to CRYYYY)
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variousqueerthings · 3 months
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no analysis of episode just:
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Bonus:
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layla-carstairs · 11 months
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also for my tmi reread I kinda want to keep track of all the times one of them nearly dies/does die because I feel like they're always nearly dying 💀
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