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wilwheaton · 2 months

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I have a small part in the 1987 television movie (failed pilot) version of The Man Who Fell To Earth. Lewis Smith played the titular character. Beverly D'Angelo played my mom, his love interest. (Fun Star Trek connection: Bob Picardo is also in it).

My character was a Troubled Youth, which I gotta tell you was not a stretch for me at all. I was deeply, deeply hurting at the time we made it. I was struggling not to suffocate on all the emotional and financial burdens my mom put on my shoulders, and fully aware of just how much my dad hated and resented me. You need a kid who doesn't want to be an actor, whose eyes can't hide the pain? I'm your guy.

Anyway, one of the scenes I was in took place in a record store, where Troubled Youth steals some albums, before he is chased by the cops and saved by the Man Who Fell To Earth, who uses a glowing crystal to save his life from ... some scratches on his face.

We filmed the interior of the record store at Sunset and La Brea, in what I think was a Warehouse, and at the end of the day, I was allowed to buy some records at a modest discount.

I was deep into my metal years, on my way from my punk years to my New Wave years, so I only bought metal albums. I know I bought more than I needed or could carry (I was making a point that I was allowed to spend my own money, mom), but the only ones I can clearly remember are:

Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind

Judas Priest - Turbo and Defenders of the Faith

W.A.S.P - The Last Command

(I know this was in March of 1987, because Turbo had just come out.)

Of those, Piece of Mind is the only one I never really stopped listening to, even through all the different it's-not-a-phase phases. I still listen to it, today.

Ever since I became an Adult with a Fancy Adult Record Player And All That Bullshit, I have kept my records in two places: stuff I want right now, and stuff I keep in the library because of Reasons.

Generally, records move in one direction toward the library, even if it takes years to happen. I just don't accumulate albums like I once did, because I'm Old and set in my ways.

Earlier today, I decided that I wanted to listen to an album while I cleaned up the kitchen, and because I wanted to make my life more interesting, I opened the library cabinet for the first time in at least five years.

There was the very same W.A.S.P album from that day in March, 1987. I don't have any of the others -- I looked -- but The Last Command was right there.

Before I really knew what I was doing, I put it on the Fancy Adult Record Player and dropped the needle.

I watched four decades of dust build up with a satisfying crackle, and there was something magical and beautiful about hearing all the skips and the scratches, realizing I remembered them from before.

The title track was just as great as I remembered it. It struck all the same chords in me that it did in the late nineteen hundreds. The rest of the first side was ... um. It just didn't connect with me, and for the few moments I spent trying to find a connection, I don't think it ever really did. I would remember.

But I did remember how much I loved making those mix tapes, and what a big part of them that song was. I did remember how empowering it felt to not just spend my own money that I earned doing work I didn't want to do, but to spend it on music my parents hated, right under their noses. I did remember how impressed Robby Lee was, when I showed him my extensive heavy metal album collection.

Remembering all of that, in one of those cinematic flashes of rapid cut visuals and sped up sounds, told me why I kept this record, while I gradually sold or replaced the other records I bought that day with CDs, then mp3s, then lossless digital files, before finally coming all the way back to records, where I started.

I didn't listen to the second side. I didn't need to. I took it off the Fancy Adult Record Player, and put it back into the library, next to the George Carlin records.

#music #memories #records #Youtube

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familiaralien · 21 days

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Giant monster tamer megathread

Decided for the sake of education and my own neurodiversity to make a post including every video game series or stand alone title I know of that focuses on creature capturing competitions that isn't Pokemon.

One big exception: the game has to be a reasonably playable state. So no games that are effectively or literally lost media (like Micromon) or games that only playable state is currently a short demo (like Bestieball). With that in mind here we go:

Digimon

This one is pretty obvious. While more of a multimedia franchise it has tons of games to its IP. The one that probably would appeal most to Pokenerds is Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth and its sequel as they're turned based RPGs with a monster capture mechanic.

Monster Rancher

Another one I think a lot of folks have heard about or least millennials would remember. I haven't personally played any of these titles myself but from what I gather they're raising sims with tournament combat. For a while their availability was mostly limited to emulation but Monster Rancher 1 and 2 have been ported to modern systems like the Switch.

Yo-kai Watch

A mid 2010s franchise that had a whole lot of initial success in Japan. Its an RPG series that doesn't take itself very seriously with cute and goofy monster design based on the Japanese folklore creatures called... well yokai. Has real time combat instead of turn based and more luck based capturing mechanics than Pokemon.

Palworld

Brand new game that's only in its alpha release as of now. Its effectively a parody of Pokemon where you're stuck trying to survive in the wilderness so you must build a base and farm resources to survive. Game did have some initial controversy due to some of its designs stepping a little TOO close to being outright ripoffs of existing designs. Also you can capture and enslave humans which may not vibe with some folks.

Temtem

Basically Pokemon meets a MMO lite. The game can be played mostly as single player campaign but does unfortunately still require a constant internet connection. Battles are turned based but 2 versus 2.

Shin Megami Tensei

What could be consider the original monster tamer game. The series is aimed at a somewhat older audience and the plots tend to be more philosophical then like "gotta be the best *insert title here* ever". Focuses a lot on fusing monsters as well as trying to convince them to join you. You actually battle alongside your monsters.

Dragon Quest Monsters

Monster Capturing mechanics do exist in the mainline DQ games as well (at least since DQ5 I think?) but its these games have them as the main gameplay. Much like SMT it focuses on fusing monsters as one of the main ways to expand your library off available species.

Nexomon

Franchise that started its life as a mobile game but has since gotten ports to other systems. Its very similar to Pokemon in terms of creature designs and combat but the worldbuilding is quite different as is its tone being a lot more comedic.

Coromon

Indie game with visuals similar to Pokemon Black and White. Its story was originally kinda so-so and its ending pretty abrupt but its since gotten a free patch that smoothed that out quite a bit. Also has a sorta unique "shiny" system where alternate colors are associated with higher potential which can actually be altered once. Also has a built in randomizer and "nuzlocke" mode.

Cassette Beasts

A pretty recent indie game. Unlike all the others you don't capture or hatch monsters but rather record them to transform into them yourself. Battles are always between you and a companion which there are multiple to befriend throughout your journey (including a dog!). Has some really interesting quirks with its type chart that adds a lot of extra depth. Will soon be releasing a mutiplayer update for anyone that's into that kind of thing.

Monster Crown

A game with visual based on the Gameboy era. It has some pretty fascinating breeding mechanics and a somewhat darker tone than Pokemon. WARNING: DO NOT GET THE SWITCH PORT! For whatever reason its especially glitchy and I have genuinely gotten entire save files ruined by game breaking bugs (such as my player character getting stuck in walls or clipping out of a bounds). As far as I'm aware the PC version is not nearly as much as a mess though.

Monster Sanctuary

Monster collecting meets metroidvania. Has a really fun skill tree type move learning system that allows for quite a bit of strategy. Also the monster designs are way less Pokemon and more inspired by traditional roleplay monsters (so there's like Goblins and stuff). My only gripe with the game is how you get monsters involves getting specific scores in battle which makes getting 1 of each monster way more tedious than it needed to be.

Fossil Fighters

Franchise is maybe dead since there hasn't been a new entry in it since the 3DS but its still easy enough to these games. Anyway this series involve reviving dinosaurs (and some other ancient animals) into new lifeforms called vivosaur and using them in 3 on 3 combat. Vivosaurs are obtained with a fossil digging minigame which is kinda neat.

Spectrobes

Another franchise that's been pretty dead for a while (it last entry was on the Wii). Spectrobes has a more sci fi like setting with its monsters being aliens you revive from fossils. Combat is real time and you participate alongside a couple of your monsters. I'm btw describing only the first game because I haven't played either sequel!

Evocreo

Mobile only monster game with a style similar to Pokemon Black and White not unlike Coromon mentioned above. Has a lot of focus on split path evolution. The devs are apparently going to release a sequel soon but its been in development hell for years so I'll come back and edit this if that actually happens.

Monster Hunter Stories

I have not played nor watched gameplay of this one so I can't really describe it that deeply all I know is its a spinoff of Monster Hunter involving befriending and using the titular monsters in combat.

Telefang

Its sad this game series is most famous for being badly translated and repackaged as a Pokemon game. Anyway these are Japanese only titles though fan translations exist. The gimmick of this game is that you call monsters up on your cellphone to get them over to participate in combat. This series this sprout out when cellphones were consider newfangled and hip so it makes sense.

Anode Heart

Pretty sure this one is PC only. Takes some inspiration from the Digimon World games and is semi open world. Sadly this one I don't know much about outside of that though it does have a free demo on Steam for anyone that wants to try it for themselves.

Ooblets

Extremely wholesome monster catching and farming game. Battles are actually dancing competitions instead of violent confrontations and monsters are recruited simply by beating them in a fight. Thing is monsters will only fight you if you offer them their favourite food so that's where strategy comes in.

Moonstone Island

I know very little about this one except its also a monster catching and farming game. I've heard that its really good though and I believe its PC only right now but has a planned Switch port.

Timenet

Probably the most obscure ass monster tamer on this entire list. This is a Japanese exclusive set of Gameboy games featuring very cute monster designs... and Hello Kitty. Yes Sanrio made a monster tamer back in the late 90s. I only learned this even existed after scrolling down a comment section on a random YouTube video.

Abomi Nation

I'm mostly excluding roguelike games due to most having nothing but battles an 0 plot but this one does actually has a story! You play as the actual monster as you make your way through somewhat randomly generated maps with lots of other randomized elements. The game allows for a lot of customization including turning off permadeath if you're not a fan of that. The visual style is a bit crude but its still a pretty cute game.

Jade Concoon

Another somewhat obscure entry but at least this one got an English release. Anyway its an old RPG for the PSX with monster capturing and a very fascinating monster fusing mechanic that uses an algorithm to determine the appearance of the fusion. The player character can also participate in battle and the plot is very complex. The game also has a sequel on the PS2 but I know even less about that one.

Robopon

Now if you thought Palworld was bordering on some copyright infringement this game is basically nothing but "Pokemon but the designs are robots". Still worth bringing up I think!

Ni No Kuni

Not sure how I got to mentioning several obscure titles and somehow didn't mention something that really isn't. Ni No Kuni is real time battles between you and 2 party members. You can both battle as the actual human characters or switch into a monster. Wrath of the White Witch's visual style in particular is very whimsical and even has some animated cutscene done by Studio Ghibli. I haven't played any other game in the franchise.

Siralim

I haven't played any entry in this series yet (there's apparently 4 games + a spinoff) but from reading up on the most recent entry these are basically procedurally generated dungeon crawlers with an insane level of depth. The story is apparently not that great but the games themselves apparently also make fun of it so it seems its an intentional dev choice. Battles are 6 on 6 and there's over 1000 monsters to collect.

Disc Creatures

A monster tamer with a visual style similar to the Gameboy and Gameboy Color. It has 3 on 3 combat. Impressively I'm pretty sure it was developed by just one person in the RPG Maker engine (I'm honestly surprised this is the first indie game made with ya know... an engine meant for turned based RPGs).

Monster Harvest

A Dungeon crawler mixed with farming. Its a bit shorter than anything else I've mentioned here and its a bit glitchy but its a cute little game worth picking up on sale at the least. Notably also only about a 1/3 of the monster in the game are combative with the rest being either used for farming resources or as mounts.

Loomian Legacy

A Roblox monster tamer.... yes there's 2 of those in this (I could even have added 3 but I think one is in still a pretty early state). Pretty sure this started as a Pokemon fangame and become its own thing later. It has your typical 1 on 1 turn based combat and all that. I think its free to play and there's like several hours of content on it so maybe worth a gander.

Tales of Tonorio

Pretty sure this is the same basic deal as Loomian (Roblox game, started as a Pokemon fan game, etc etc) though its has its own world building and creature designs since I'm pretty sure its made by a completely different team.

So yeah that's all of them I can think of right now. If I learn of others and/or there's new releases I may expand this.

PS: There is almost certainly numerous typoes in this. This post is way longer than anything else I've ever made on Tumblr so I can't be arse to fix them you're just going to have to deal!

#monster tamer #creature collector #if you're working on a game right now that fit this subgenre you can feel free to mention it in a reblog or something idk

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lonelyvomit · 3 months

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Abby! I'm going through the songs competing in the Norwegian national final and these three made me think of you:

Gåte - Ulveham Mistra - Walzt of Death GOTHMINISTER - We Come Alive

I'd love to hear your opinions even if you hate every single one 😄 But please don't feel pressured if you have no time or interest to go through these 🖤

there's gotta be something in norwegian water because god damn.

Gåte - Ulveham: holy. shit. I'm gonna start off with the fact that I don't generally listen to female vocalists, they just don't usually do much for me (preference or internalized misogyny, I'll never know, it's just how it works for me), but this is fucking amazing. I will always have a soft spot for folk metal, the vocals are powerful and unyielding, and there's potential for an absolutely brilliant stage performance here. the fact that this song is giving me strong visual ideas in my head based purely on the delivery even when I don't understand a single word and have no music video to build these ideas on says everything. it fucking delivers.

Mistra - Waltz of Death: this one unfortunately takes a big hit from that distaste for female vocals that I personally have, and is a perfect example of where an objectively talented singer just doesn't work for me. this one being in english also makes the lyrics understandable, but I cant really say that to be beneficial here tbh - the song doesn't really say anything. the words sound pretty, but there's little to no story there. it feels like they're banking heavily on the emotional delivery, but it's not quite doing it for me. I absolutely love the idea and creativity in mixing classical vocals with heavy black metal inspired sound, and I could easily see myself loving this act if it was delivered by a male vocalist. but I also wanna acknowledge that since most people don't share that issue against female vocals with me, I could see this doing perfectly fine overall and be a very interesting act for the general ESC crowd.

GOTHMINISTER - We Come Alive: eheheeheheeheehhee THIS IS MY SHIT!!! I was headbanging 40 second in. regardless of what happens to this act in the elections and if they go to ESC or not, I'm adding them to my music library right now. the vibe, the vocals, THE AESTHETIC? I'm obsessed, I'm fed, I'm living, injecting this song directly into my bloodstream as we speak. gothic horror metal Nicholas Cage didn't just come knocking on my door, he drove a freight train right through it. voice reminds me of Chris Harms from Lord Of The Lost who's voice I absolutely adore too, but with the darker lyrical themes Gothminister is even more my thing than LotL was.

as a summary, my favorite is definitely Gothminister, but being fully aware that my preferences rarely align with the majority, I'm just gonna say I wouldn't be mad if any of these wins. I've really liked Norway's entries for the past 3 years lmao, I'm excited to see if they keep it up ✨

#asks

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38sr · 6 months

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#industryQ hi had question I’m currently learning animation student and like had question for u about how get into industry and aslo do u Need degree ti get into like big animation company’s since I currently trying to get animation certification wasn’t sure if I could get in job for animation if I having certificate I hope I making sense aslo do have any advice for beginners animation aslo out curiosity what type softwares for animating do u suggest? I hope my question makes sense aslo love ur art sm

Hello Super! I actually answered a question about whether or not a college degree is needed to pursue animation a while back (you can see the previous ask here). As for your question about advice for animation beginners, hmmmmmm, honestly what got me to where I am today is studying the 12 animation principles heavily and also applying those 12 principles in my personal work/portfolio. I think a lot of people wanna do the super cool action sequences first but the greatest animators out there have a super solid understanding of the 12 animation principles and that's why they can make such amazing animated pieces. I like to think of the 12 principles as lego blocks that you can build on top of each other to create something bigger and greater. But in order to do that, you gotta understand how each principle works and how you can apply them in different ways to create different effects/feelings (ex. if you combine timing/spacing with easing you can achieve the principle of anticipation). I know it sounds boring but developing the skill to identify and analyze when, how and why an animator uses a certain principle will help you out in the long run. Take the time to watch your favorite animated sequence and test yourself if you can identify what principle they are using to make it look cool and appealing! I do this all the time and it's helped build my visual library for when I animate haha. But yeah, I would say for beginners get those fundamentals down! As for programs, well honestly I don't really have any recommendations since it depends on the person. I personally use Clip Studio since I work on animes but honestly whatever works for you (and your budget of course). There's Clip Studio, Procreate dreams, Rough animator, OpenToonz, Harmony, Krita, Sai, Adobe Animate and more. I would say test each one out and see what works best for you! 'Cause at the end of the day you're still going to be using the same 12 principles haha.

#ask #animation industry #industryQs #animation #txt #send me asks #send me anons

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focsle · 2 years

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Hi! I really enjoy your coming Going to Weather and your art style. You always do such a great job drawing scenes and backgrounds. Do you have any advice on how you do it? Especially rooms. Sincerely, someone who struggles with drawing backgrounds.

Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it. Long post ahead.

For technical advice I’m not a good resource because perspective is the bane of my existence and I eyeball it poorly or half-ass trace the base shape of a room because I hate straight lines and rulers so much lol. Some people draw floorplans from a birds eye view and then do crazy things with transform tools. Some people make 3d models of rooms to use. I don't have the energy to learn how to do that effectively but if I did...THAT'D HELP. Maybe someday. I remember I once had a professor who was like 'your perspective is wonky but you put so much detail into it that I don't think people will really notice or care that much' so I have RUN WITH THAT haha!

But I do have advice for how to get excited about backgrounds. Because I also struggle with backgrounds. I've found the two most helpful things to keep in mind are:

The background is a character too.

Reference reference reference! References will surprise you and make the world richer.

Backgrounds can tell a lot about the world your scene is set in, and thinking about them having personalities and also being part of the narrative can help you design them. For instance, I really wanted to show the difference of means between Ezra and Barzillai, that they're both career whalemen but that they're operating under quite different circumstances.

I used the backgrounds to tell that story without words. They have a purpose just as much as the characters do.

When building out my focsle, I liked thinking of what a space that was continually inhabited by a bunch of late-teens/early 20s lads for years at a time looked like, the mindsets people were in on those ships, and how their presence would be left behind. Also inspired by graffiti seen in the past and present.

I also always try to push my backgrounds just a LITTLE more each time, which is easier said than done. To make my streets a little more crowded, to make the focsle just a little more chaotic, to make the waters just a little rougher. You gotta find what makes it fun for you, and what makes it fun for me is thinking about what story the background tells. I like thinking of practical elements too like...where do they put their stuff, what's their daily routine and how does that show in the space, what sort of art do they like to have, etc.

But to build those backgrounds, reference is so important. I've got about 1500 reference pictures for GTW and counting. And it's important to gather all kinds of reference! Photos, objects, other illustrations, written descriptions, videos, physically going to a place, all of that can help build one's visual library to craft places that feel like characters. Think of yourself as a set designer and you’re going shopping for all the little things you want to tell that story.

For instance, here are reference photos I took in various mid 19th century houses, that I cobbled together to make the Captain's house:

I remember really liking this bed I saw in a historic house and wanting it for my own room. So I did the next best thing and put it in a fake room.

I love this reference of a focsle, too! I can't wait to draw the inside of a bunk where someone's hanging their hats or storing their pans. Little authenticating details like these that I wouldn't necessarily think of can be discovered in reference. It makes everything feel more real.

I remember when I made my pilgrimage to the Charles W. Morgan one of the many things that struck me was how much light deck prisms brought into the living spaces below. So that was something fun to keep in mind any time I was drawing a scene below deck during the day, how I could play with that lighting.

Which brings me to my last bit. I think if you can go to a place that embodies the settings you want to work in, that's so important too. Just spending time there. Taking in the vibe. Thinking about what it sounds like and feels like and smells like. Thinking about how the light falls. And to hold on to all those little things, and to keep them in mind as you draw those backgrounds. You can't exactly draw a smell or a sound, but when you think about those things, you can think about where they're coming from and draw that. A clock ticking, pipe smoke, water sloshing, fire crackling. It's all there. I personally don't strive to create the most technically-sound looking rooms, but I really do try to make rooms that get across a Vibe and that feel lived-in.

Hope that was helpful! And thank you for reading the comic!

#asks #tytofurcata #going to weather #my art #long post //#gtw kindnesses

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anipgarden · 2 months

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Tips on talking to HOAs about installing gardens in the shared spaces? I live in a condo, but the parking lot is /barren/

I'm sorry for how late this is! (This was sent in November for everyone's context), I simply had no idea how to answer it!

Though I live in an HOA neighborhood, I've never really been in a position where I had to talk to them about anything. However, a book I checked out from the library awhile back (Hellstrip Gardening by Evelyn J. Hadden, which I really need to take back soon) mentions a couple of tip in regards to talking to HOAs about gardening in the front yard. Hopefully it helps!

Come with an idea in mind! Being able to present a drawing or a description of what you'd like to do in the area will be a lot more helpful than 'I want to do A Thing', and may be enough to get permission! In other cases, you may need a formal presentation, but even then having an idea of what you'd like to plant and why and the benefits to the community will be helpful for building said presentation!

HOA's suck, I'll be the first to agree. But if you wanna get permission for a cool parking lot garden, you've gotta go over there ready and willing to compromise and talk nice. Maybe come up with a few alternative options--for example, if you want to dig in the ground but they don't want a permanent fixture, be open to raised beds instead. But that doesn't mean let them walk all over you! Be confident, and bring facts to back you up. And know what rights the HOA does or doesn't have in your city or state.

Try presenting the idea to some neighbors and get them to back you! The more people you can get behind the idea, the less likely a 'oh but what if the neighbors don't like the aesthetic what if they complain' concern will actually stick.

Focus moreso on practical benefits than emotional arguments when it comes to the HOA. Bring up things like reducing runoff, erosion control, less water usage, little to no mowing or blowing--anything that can add a dollar figure to how beneficial it is will likely tilt people towards your side if you're convincing enough, especially if you can show that the cost of planting and maintaining your parking lot garden idea long term will be negligible to or even cheaper than maintaining whatever's going on there now--if they're constantly planting sod there only for it to wither away, that could be a good starting point.

Visuals!! Again!! This comes from the book, but also from me convincing my mom to let me plant by the front yard mailbox--me rattling off names of plants and all is way less effective than me texting her pictures and descriptions of how tall they get. If you can get a general idea of what you'd like to plant and where, gather up a bunch of pictures of your ideal plants and maybe draw a quick mock-up of your design. If there's other places in your town that have similar gardens--someone's front yard, or a park, or anything of the sort--provide addresses so the HOA board members can drop by and see what it looks like in action, and further cement the idea that it has been done before and done well. Consider the aesthetic appeal of it all!

Get ahead of any questions or concerns that you think the board may have. This idea you have is for a parking lot garden--they might have concerns about cars and pedestrians existing around the space. Is there risk of plants damaging the cars? Being a trip hazard for people getting in and out of their cars, or existing around the space? Are the plants you have in mind known to cause allergies, are they toxic to kids and pets that may be around the area at times?

Maybe include like a stone bench or something, depending on how big the spot is. If the HOA can make the presence of the garden a fixture, make it look like a plus to moving into the condos, they'll love it all the more! 'Look at this lovely garden break spot you can chill in oooo!'

Do you have a plan in mind if the garden gets damaged--whether its a car driving over the curb, or someone intentionally messing with the plants? What is it? What do you think the potential cost of it would be? This may be something they'd ask.

That's everything I've got, between the book and my personal thoughts. If any of my followers have dealt with an HOA and have feedback or other comments to provide, by all means chime in!

#ani rambles #out of queue #answered asks #nvara-of-mortains-own #outdoor gardening #best of luck with your project!!!

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bloodgulchblog · 2 years

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Still thinking about big visual Halo books. Like... Halo has a lot of big visual books? Not just art books, but also attempts at presenting parts of the lore to people?

A decent copy of the The Art of Halo is just on the archive, straight up, you can download it, the text is searchable.

It's from 2004 so it's Pre-3 but there's a wealth of material in there, concept sketches and story boards and silly things that Bungie artists made. This one is extremely common secondhand, which handily demonstrates how Halo was once a gamer culture juggernaut.

I only ever saw the first one in person at a book store one time, but the Halo Visual Guides look like they were kind of a follow up to the Halo Encyclopedia (2011 updated edition) that were put together by 343. They're shorter, and I haven't gone through but it kinda feels like the team re-consolidating its grip on the lore?

The archive does have scans of both The Essential Visual Guide and The Halo 4 specific one but they're not freely downloadable and are once again somewhat rough-quality library book scans. Which is better than nothing, but as always I see Amazon and Google Books have crisp digital previews of unattainable digital files and thus I softly hiss fuckers.

(They seem to be cheap secondhand though, the Halo 4 one specifically looks like it goes for $3. I bet you that's because other people also forget it exists.)

343i did their own take on the Art of Building Worlds in 2011 (which was the 10 year Haloversary) but I cannot really find much about it, unless I wanna sit through a video of someone flipping through it. I've never seen it in person.

(Halo 4 also got its own art book but that one's pretty obvious, I have that.)

Moving on into Halo 5 era, Halo 5 got its own art book too (which I have not found and have also not been motivated to pursue.)

But we also got these bad boys:

Cannot find digital copies of these anywhere for love or money. I've seen Warfleet secondhand a few times, but never Mythos.

Halopedia has a ton of the new art that was commissioned for Mythos, though. Novel nerds will appreciate that a lot of it is book scenes.

Mythos isn't an encyclopedia, it's an attempt at laying down the Halo chronology as it stood at the end of Halo 5 (and up to 2016), folding in the stories from the novels and the games. I think it's really cool, even though y'all know my opinion on this era of Halo lore. I was so stoked to get it when it came out, even though I was still pissed about 5 and had given up on Halo novels for 6 or 7 years at the time.

Warfleet is a comparatively slim book, most of these are around 200 pages and Warfleet clocks at 97 or so. It's TALL though, like, shelf-frustratingly tall.

U See. Mythos is a full on artbook sized, it's huge. Warfleet is taller and longer. I gotta turn this fucker on its side to make it fit.

Warfleet is small, it has a really slender rundown of the Halo universe/some of the planets but its real meat is the big centerpiece cutaway views of a bunch of Halo spaceships commissioned from artists who I am pretty sure had done similar work for Star Wars before. It's pretty cool.

A lot of art can be found over here.

In general I think most things that matter got consolidated into Halo Encyclopedia 2022, but like. Man.

Halo has had a lot, you know? The Microsoft dollar shows.

#halo lore #halo art #halo encyclopedia adventures #halo books

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twistedroseytoesy · 1 year

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What if Yuu and some students sang Carpe Diem from Phineas and Ferb as a closing act for VDC?

Super fun idea! Yet another AU for the VDC, hope y’all like it!

The day of the VDC was a week away. Many of the groups were rehearsing and finalizing their acts. Yet mc felt left out as they watched their group get ready for the big day. They’re err just a manager, therefore they weren’t allowed to participate. That was stupid. So the decided to do something about it. Going to the school library and printing about 20 flyers, they taped them up around the school.

Needed! 20 students or more to help with a closing act for the VDC! If interested please meet in the gymnasium at 4 pm on xxxx day.

With that set out they prepared a few things and waited until the next day. There they judged a recruited a variety of students. Some of the more familiar ones, such as lilia, cater, jade surprisingly, and silver. Also g with many students from various forms happy to have a chance to perform.

Now with their group set up, they got to rehearsing. By the day of the VDC they were ready, along with magical fireworks and other fun magical visual effects.

after all the groups had gone out the mc walked out onto the stage. “Ladies and gentleman, wizards and witches, please put your hands together for the final act of the day! Brought to you by a group of NRC students who are glad you’ve all come this far, and proud of the groups performances today! And onto the song carpe diem!”

music started up as a large group of 30 students along with mc came into the stage, moving around and dancing to the music as they sang together.

“Well we hope you all enjoyed the show Hope it was not anticlimactic Now there's something we want you to know And we don't want to sound didactic!”

different groups did tumbling over summoned blocks and pads. Other groups did mini duels of brilliant light magic creating and sending out rainbows over the crowd.

“But if there's one thing we can say I know it sounds a bit cliché There's no such thing As just an ordinary day”

mc and grim appear above the groups riding a ghostly roller coaster along with their ghost friends and hopping down into the arms of the group. The coaster flying over and out of the arena with the ghosts laughing loudly.

“And you don't have to build a roller coaster Just find your own way to make the most of Upcoming days of summer And dance to the beat of a different drummer Just grab those opportunities when you see 'em 'Cause every day's a brand new day, you gotta Carpe Diem!”

the groups continued to sing and dance, using a mix of magic and talent to awe the crowd as the song came to an end with all the students miraculously in a pyramid with mc and grim at the top.

“'Cause every day's a brand new day, you gotta Carpe Diem!”

the Cory’s went wild, clapping and cheering as the students undid their pyramid, mc sliding down a magical slide created for them. they grabbed the mike one more time.

“thank you all for coming to the VDC! And now onto the winners ceremony!”

The students moved off the stage as the competitors came into the stage. Ace and deuce stood just off stage to free the prefect.

ace punched their arm before saying, “you traitor! You made up a fun dance thing behind our backs! You didn’t even invite us!” Deuce frowned a bit but remained silent.

“sorry fellas, I wanted to dance. So I did just that. Now you go win that event!” They said pushing ace toward the stage, giving a good slap to his ass. They nodded to deuce and he nodded back looking very serious as he followed ace onto tue stage.

it was unfortunate that the NRC tribe got second place and that the final act wasn’t allowed to be voted for due to it not being officially a part of the show. But mc couldn’t say that they were up set, they fought an overblot, saved their friends lives, and Vil’s, and gave one banger of a performance. Despite all their setbacks, they were successful. And they were ready to carpe diem.

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acanthemp3 · 9 months

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9 people you want to get to know better tag game!!!! tagged by @stilledbrain yay ty yayyyy <3 ^_^

last song i listened to: one & only by gowon! one of my favorite songs everrr it inspires me so much

currently watching: twin peaks! still havent finished s1 but really interesting so far :) i need to watch more before i can really have something to say tho

currently reading: the haunting of hill house! the 60s film adaptation was my very first horror movie and in retrospect had a pretty huge impact on me so reading the book it was based on has been really cool. ive also been reading more manga i just started kemono jihen only one chapter in but im excited!

current obsession: boy look at what my entire blog has morphed into... this cataclysmic mental illness moment has lasted over a year... besides that tho ive been really into putting various things into spreadsheets, building my visual library for when i decide to make a ton of paintings again, crocheting little sweaters for all my little toys, and eating sunflower seeds

ok gotta choose 9 ppl to tag now... ill tag @vampacidic @itsukicoded @mishkakagehishka @hxneylavendxr @surreal-duck @starswallowingsea @mihai-florescu @moonlube and @neolxzr !! no pressure ofc. smile

#tagged in #angel.txt

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moonglittering · 1 year

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📂📂

✨ @cosmicnexus. meme. still accepting!

📂 vi just a really luvs good fuckin’ charcuterie board. sometimes he don’t wanna slave over the stove in the morning. sometimes he just wanna chill on the roof with some wine first thing in the morning and a buncha nibbles…. fruits galore like strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, orange slices, pineapple, grapes. cheeses like brie, triple cream, goat cheese, havarti, burrata….. prosciutto, salami, ham, cured chorizo, capricola, soppressata, summer sausage, etc for meats. dried fruits like apricots, cherries, figs, pineapple, mango. crackers. chocolate. just throw it all on a big ass tray, head up to the roof, and enjoy.

he does it every couple of days out of the week. mostly because he’s so tired when he gets home. like he’ll cook for himself and he’ll order whatever, but a charcuterie board really hits the spot for him. all the variety too! he loves mixing fruits with cheeses and experimenting with different crackers and bread.

📂 he attended midland in california for high school. its a crazy academic boarding school for some of the best of the best but the twist is everyone lives in cabins and they gotta pick their own food and heat their own showers. here’s a blurb:

The School is located on 2,860 acres ( 12 km² ) of largely undeveloped ranchland characteristic of central California’s coastal hill country. Students live in cabins, which are heated by small woodstoves. ( For students’ safety, their cabins have sprinklers. ) Students chop wood to make fires to heat their shower water. Some 25 percent of Midland’s electricity needs are met with grid-tied, student-installed solar arrays. While the library is wired with high-speed internet connections, several campus buildings were constructed decades ago by students and faculty. Cell phones are not allowed on campus.“ Midland School is first and foremost a rigorous college preparatory boarding school. While we value experiential education as an integral part of our approach, we are not a shop school, trade school, or an adventure school. The fundamental rigor of Midland’s curriculum isn’t watered down with trips or projects that don’t put learning at their core.”

Midland’s emphasis on experiential learning extends into our weekend programming. Every Saturday, Midland students have a 3-hour block dedicated to exploring the passions of our community. These workshops broaden the academic horizon by introducing students to activities such as knot-tying mathematics, trail restoration, marine ecosystem exploration, cattle-herding, screen printing, and more. An integral part of Midland’s philosophy is self-reliance, and students and faculty perform much of the work that goes into maintaining the school. All students have daily jobs that help maintain the school – carpenters, cooks, classroom cleaners, plumbers, librarians, etc. In addition to daily jobs, faculty and students gather on Sunday mornings to hear a senior give a talk on a subject of personal interest. The community breaks into small work crews for 2–3 hours. These crews might clean the assembly / dining hall, venture into the hills to gather firewood, harvest vegetables in the garden, brush down the horses or muck the corral.

so overall, he didn’t have a typical high school experience. even for a private school, his experience was incredibly unique. his favorite courses were: cultural anthropology, writing and a sense of place, ecological field research, trail restoration, representational drawing, foundations of visual art, beginning ceramics, english, anime club which he was president of lolll.

ya boy graduated valedictorian in high school.

#🌙 ABOUT! LET'S MEET ON A MOONLIT PATH.#cosmicnexus #/ imagine this weird goth givin speech on graduation day... with his bright red mohawk.

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baetoul · 2 years

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Struggling as a new fangled visual artists because I don't have a repertoire of visual imagery like I do with literature...gotta build up a physical reference library and just my own internal imagery

#baetoul art #p

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iraprince · 2 years

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If you'd never seriously practiced art, how would you go about learning the basics? What would you prioritize?

i think the first, most important thing to consider when getting into art actually has nothing to do with the technical stuff/foundations/etc (that stuff is all still important, and i'll get to it in a second). instead i think the most valuable thing to think about first is: why are you interested in learning? what kind of stuff inspires you? what kind of stuff are you hoping to make, what kind of stuff would be exciting and fun to make?

when people get into art really early, like the "i've been drawing as long as i can hold a pencil" types, those questions are already kind of instinctively answered. something like pokemon or clamp manga or certain movies/tv shows or comics you found at the library or things you saw in a museum lit you up and you started chasing that stuff, trying to create those feelings by yourself, and eventually later i think almost every one of us then has to dig those memories up after survival under capitalism beats that inspiration nearly to death and buries it under a million metric tons of absolute bullshit. i think one of the benefits of starting an art journey later is rather than the usual Got It, Lost It, Gotta Find It Again cycle, you have a chance to think about this stuff very consciously + deliberately, and start with those thoughts abt hopes + inspiration very clearly in hand, and i think that can make it a lot easier to decide what to prioritize -- bc the answer to "what would you prioritize" is i think a lot of that varies immensely based on every individual artist and what they want to do.

once you know what inspires and excites you, fucking devour it. find as much as you can. watch and read and study. once you've watched and read and studied a bunch of [X thing that inspires you], go google stuff like "media like [X thing] reddit" or whatever to find more stuff that's similar to it. whenever an image grabs you, ask yourself why. study it. trace it, copy it (copying and tracing are acceptable, valuable study tools! they just have to stay in your private practice stash, it's only a problem when u post traced studies and try to claim ownership of it. tracing from personally taken photos/3D models for backgrounds etc is also a great tool that professionals use all the time, but that's a dif subject so i'm not gonna clutter this answer up talking abt it). look at the art you like really really really fucking hard and ask yourself what you like about it, specifically. the more you do this, the more you'll start building an internal visual library of details and traits you really enjoy, and that library is an invaluable thing to draw from. it is always worth it to keep working on that library. (and, as an aside, whenever you hit a wall with drawing, where you don't know what to do next or you just feel like you're not improving or it's stopped being fun and you hate everything you draw? going back and working on the library again is a great thing to do.)

start sorting your inspiration into two different categories. do you actually want to draw this way, or do you just like looking at it? (my own personal example of this: i love LOOKING at very cluttered, gritty, hyper-detailed urban landscapes, like the ones in dorohedoro or tekkonkinkreet -- but i do not have ANY fun drawing things like that at all. i find it boring and unpleasant, no matter how cool and satisfying the end result would be. realizing there's a difference felt like a big breakthrough to me and clarified that not all art you admire is necessarily art you want to emulate.) find what it is about stuff u like looking at but not drawing that you can still try to find enjoyment in. (in my example, what i was actually drawn to about that style was the environmental worldbuilding it creates -- i can still do that in my art style in different ways!)

NOW, after all that, i'll talk a little about the technical exercises and foundations i think are helpful for starting out. i think everything i said before this is ten million times more important. there are artists out there who probably never do any of the foundational stuff and they're still making completely sick, out of this world shit, bc they know what they want to do and they're authentically following their voice. BUT, this just happens to be stuff that helps me make the stuff i want to, which is really the point of honing the technical aspect of drawing at all: technical improvement (i.e. being "good at drawing") is, for me, a way to help me communicate my ideas. trying to improve technical skill should always be in service of your ideas and your desires for your art, because your ideas are the point. getting stuff out of your brain and into an image that communicates what you want to communicate is the point. whether or not you're "good at drawing" is an accessory to that and should never be considered a major obstacle or a reason to quit.

- gestural figure drawing: i use this site, especially the class mode. there is a LOT to say about figure drawing and gesture drawing and it would prob be faster and easier for u to google it and do some reading on ur own than for me to try to type a bunch of stuff out myself, but i'll say that for me the main benefits of figure drawing are building speed, building confidence (in both anatomy knowledge + in your hand movements), learning to quickly identify what the most important/interesting parts of a pose are, and filling that visual library i was talking about before with info on how bodies move and connect, how to stylize + simplify body parts and poses, etc.

- semi related, using reference. here's an ask where i talk a little bit about how i find and use reference. using reference can feel boring, or it can be a little more demoralizing than trying to draw without it (because the image is Right There and you can see all the ways your attempt falls short... sometimes that bums me out lmfao), but the cool thing abt ref is the more you use it, the more you start feeling confident about riffing with it and just using it as a jumping off point instead of trying to stay very loyal to the original, so it gets easier and easier with time. please try using reference! it can make things more fun in the long run, i promise.

- getting to know your materials: for digital work, this means learning keyboard shortcuts (and setting new keyboard shortcuts for actions/tools you use frequently), playing with all your brushes, etc. the more comfortable you get, the more easily you can work and the more time you can spend actually figuring out how you like to draw (instead of grappling with software that makes you feel kind of pissed off and overwhelmed). for traditional work, that means playing around in ways that might feel kind of boring, but will serve u in the long run. fill pages of sketchbooks with random marks to discover the range of specific tools. draw a circle again and again and again without lifting your pencil from the paper, trying to keep it on the same line as much as possible. make gradiant scales where you shade a long rectangle from dark to light as smoothly as you can. stuff like that! gain confidence in your hand and learn what it feels like to make certain marks -- i wish i could explain more what i mean by that, but i think you'll start understanding as you feel it.

- studies: again, there's so much out there on studies (master studies, photo studies, etc) and a trip around google is probably the fastest way to get into it; but basically, this is a structured way of doing the "interrogate everything you like and find out WHY" thing i talked about before. a study can really be anything; the point is you're picking a thing apart and trying to find out why it works, bc then you can apply that to your own stuff. here are some examples of composition studies i've done, as an example of something slightly different: 1, 2

- thinking of art as problem solving: okay, so this isn't a technical skill, but imo it's still a foundational one. this is also heavily influenced by my background in illustration (rather than fine art, etc) so grain of salt based on what specifically you want to do, but i think it still applies. as i mentioned before, art is (almost always) communication. you're trying to make sure the images you're making communicate your ideas and that your audience is more or less picking up what you're putting down. this is where people start confusing "struggles with technical skills" as being the same thing as "bad at drawing" when that's really not true. it will really, really help -- both with actually getting drawings done and with keeping morale up -- to approach a frustrating or challenging drawing not with the attitude of "i just can't draw this, i'm not good enough," but instead with the attitude of "okay. i can't solve this problem with my current skills. what's another way i can draw this that will still get my point across, but is within my ability right now?" when you can approach making art not as "it just plops out onto the page and it's either going to be Good or Bad and there's not much i can do about it," but as "i have something i'm trying to get done here, and maybe i'll have to try it a few different ways before something works," i think it opens up a lot more opportunities to succeed at what you're doing. It's more fun that way and i think it helps create understanding of how to replicate stuff that you're happy with and avoid experiences w art that frustrate you and wear you down.

those are, in my opinion, the basics! this is so fucking long! oh my god! sorry for being so longwinded and thank u for reading, i hope this stuff is helpful!

#long post #tutorials #resources

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