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felassan · 3 years

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Gamers For Groceries 2 event

A Twitch stream event from a few days ago. It can currently be re-watched here (it was fun & interesting, so I do recommend to check it out direct). This post contains some notes on things of particular interest & relevant timestamps, in case this is useful to anyone (for example bc of accessibility reasons).

First up is the All About Animating panel, a series of mini-interviews with game devs (animators) asking what they do, how they got there, and advice for anyone interested in getting into the industry. Some or all of the devs that were interviewed are currently working on DA4. They talked a bit about their day-to-day work and a lot about the craft of game dev animation in general. This segment runs from timestamp ~38 mins 40 secs to 1:07:50. Some notes:

[sounded like DA4] Right now the creature team are working on different creatures in a way which involves going through a lot of mocap data

At BioWare they have a pretty big technical animation team, to support their animators, so each tech animator has a different specialty. Tech anim involves animation support, character art support, and rigging the characters so that the animators can pose them

[not sure if re: DA4 work specifically, another project or a general comment on the craft] One of the featured animators’ area of specialty at the moment is faces and hair (building the control structure for face animations). First they had to decide how the face rig and its control structure would work. This involves a lot of performance capture of live actors for things like cinematics and gameplay animation, therefore the rigs for bodies and faces have to be able to accurately capture the full range of expressions and emotions that the actor is portraying. Right now the stage that this dev is working on most is setting up the heads that they’re getting through the pipeline from character art e.g. making adjustments based on feedback from the cinematics team. “Polish - just trying to get realism”

Hair tech has come quite a long way in the last few years [in the industry]

[not sure if re: DA4 work specifically, another project or a general comment on the craft] Hair is very complex to get right. “In the past most games have used card-based hair, which is basically like sheets of polygons with a texture on it that looks like hair, through layers of transparency. But real hair is strand-based, digital strands, so we’re starting to look into that kind of tech - try to get more realistic, more beautiful hair, but there’s always a performance cost to hair. Layers of transparent things are always an expense, they need to balance like, it looks good and moves well, but it doesn’t make your computer or console chug. [...] I guess we’re in the prototype stage but we’ve almost got a set pipeline. It’s always fun to experiment”

In Mass Effect 2 or 3, Miranda’s hair was as expensive as a whole character (!)

[on balancing hair costs/performance, general] It depends on things like character importance and how many characters are on-screen at the time. When you’re in gameplay fighting a bunch of monsters you’re not going to be giving full beautiful hair to all the characters and the monsters, as it will cost too much. (Having a helmet on is a convenient way to get rid of hair.) But if it’s a cinematic scene, with 2 characters talking to each other in a dramatic context, there’s a better budget for nice hair allocated

Some of the hair in Anthem was quite expensive in cinematics. They kept getting bugs from QA saying (for example) that a character’s hair was tripling the performance cost in the scene, so it would go back to character art so they could take away some of the hair cards. “Tough balance, quality versus cost”

“I wish all the characters could have beautiful strand hair”

For p-cap, a lot of the time they don’t want to be too prescriptive in terms of the direction that they’re giving the actors, as the actors know what they’re doing and have a lot of experience, so they give them vague instructions that they then riff off of

[sounded like DA4] They recently did a mocap shoot

[sounded like DA4] There’s a bit more productivity happening now in the pandemic situation; now that the animators are not all going to the capture lab in Vancouver in person for shoots, if it’s not their turn to direct a shot they can instead be working on something else on their computers (multi-tasking). ((Lead DA4 Producer Scylla Costa recently gave a talk at a games festival on the challenges of DA production during the pandemic. In part of this talk he talked about various benefits and drawbacks to the remote-working situation. He also talked about and showed some behind-the-scenes stuff for p-cap and mocap. Notes, images and link here))

[sounded like DA4] Special mocap suits were sent out that they can use with a laptop to go anywhere and shoot motion capture. It’s not as high fidelity as what comes out of the capture lab, but it’s really good for prototyping stuff. Before the pandemic they did some of this (going to a park and shooting some running around)

[sounded like DA4] In one of the shoots they had some actors who were really well-trained in dancing. They were trying to get them to do some combat stuff. This was a bit challenging in the pandemic situation as there’s only so much they can demonstrate/portray as an example to the actors from a distance on camera. “It’s hard to describe what a ‘dodge to attack’ is through the camera to somebody who has no idea what combat looks like in video games”

[not sure if re: DA4 work specifically, another project or a general comment on the craft] The pandemic has really affected performance capture for the face side of things badly, as in order to record, the actor gets dots painted on their face in specific locations by a makeup artist. They can’t do that right now because of social distancing/restrictions, so they haven’t been recording faces at the moment

The more detailed a face, the more joints it has, the more the cost to performance is

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There was also the Writers’ Block panel, featuring DA writers Mary Kirby, Sheryl Chee and Patrick Weekes, and DA editor Karin Weekes. The timestamps for this segment are ~2:37:50 - 3:26:20. Some notes:

PW has never been weirder than when they were writing Cole on DAI

PW thinks that they accidentally wrote part of “Timber” by Kesha into Solas at one point and they were like “Well, okay, I have to stop listening to Kesha”

For Sheryl, after a while Blackwall’s VA always nailed doing his lines. She loved the quality of his voice and so after a while would always hear his voice while she was writing. This really worked out

^ Mary had this with Merrill. As soon as they cast Eve Myles she listened to several hours of her in Torchwood, and then just wrote to the way that she spoke as much as possible

^ PW had this with GDL as Solas and FPJ as Bull. As soon as they heard FPJ’s delivery, they were like “Oh, okay, I have to write some lines differently, because Bull is smarter than I realized”. With GDL they were like “Okay, he’s going to put poetry into anything I say, in the best way possible”. In early drafts of Solas lines there were parts where they [PW] wondered “Is this too melodramatic? Is this too tragically-angstful?” and then they would hear GDL and be like “Oh! [It’s fine] Game on!”

For localization, German words are often quite long so they often have to make sure that everything fits on the GUI

They think scenes like the romance scenes sound prettier in the Italian versions

Behind the curtain in creating the in-world languages: PW: “There are some awesome websites that have every elven word, like ‘Here are the translations and verb tenses and conjugations’ [etc], [...] and usually Mary and I get very sad slightly looking at those pages going like ‘Does that mean that we have to stick to that?’ [...] The rule is, if I’ve looked at the Wiki and the words, and I go ‘Here’s the correct grammatical way to do it’, and if that turns out to be too long or too many disconnected syllables and it just looks bad or sounds bad, then we shorten it to something simpler, because the key is we want to give the flavor of a foreign language, but we don’t have the world-building budget and capacity to make something that is going to be dictionary-real [in a way that] someone could go through and translate all the background things written on the old temple walls”. Part of the reason for this is the consideration for VAs, who already have to act while bearing lots of things in mind, like the cues in the script for each line

Mary: “For building a language, the first things that I started with for qunlat, elven and dwarven, was what words do we need to use the most? Greetings, farewells, words for friend and enemy, basic things that will come up easily in conversation. After that it’s ‘How difficult is this for other writers to use?’ Can they just pick it off the Wiki? Do they need just one word? Do they need to write whole sentences, and how does that work? Qunlat has almost no grammar to it because asking anyone to learn how to use Qunari grammar and conjugate verbs in a pretend language is impossible, and then once you’ve done that a human being has to be able to read it, while not knowing what any of it means”

PW: “One thing that I was really impressed with with Mary in particular doing, Mary was one of the big lore people across the entire DA series; I can look at a word and go like, ‘That has two A’s in a row, that’s definitely a Qunari word. That word is kind of long and maybe has some apostrophes and has a couple of flowy vowel sounds, that’s probably elven’, I think that’s what’s important. You want players to be able to look at a word, players want to feel smart, [like] ‘Oh I don’t know what that means but I totally know that’s a word from the Qunari people!’”. Mary: “Every language has its own set of phonemes, the sounds that they make, and the sort of word structure and spelling so that it gives a flavor to that language. Hopefully that is always chosen to be pronounceable, because again, very important that the words can be said by human beings :D”

Sheryl: “One of the fun things to do is to make up swear words in the fake languages [...] Recently Brianne wanted a word, I don’t know if she managed to find one”

The origin of bosh’tet in ME: it’s just saying “bastard” and slurring it

PW: “I feel like there are times when past writers kind of leave traps for future writers, where past writers will go ‘Okay, I’m going to write this detailed phrase in a codex entry but don’t worry, it doesn’t matter if it can never be said aloud, because it’ll never have to be voiced!’ and then, next game, guess what guys! Look what you have to make someone [a VA] say! And you’re like [facepalm], c’mon!”

Karin: “Now, four games in, we have pages and pages of all these examples, and I wanna say this, well that’s how we said something before, well that’s ridiculous, I don’t wanna say that, but now we’ve said it and it’s out there, so it’s like, how do we, y’know, how do we evolve, and sometimes we just go ‘Screw it! Languages are living languages! We’ll just say it like this now!’”

PW's favorite is the sarcastic Mythal’enaste, “Because it’s the sarcastic Mythal's blessing that basically means you’re getting screwed over somehow. I love it because Mythal nasty! Whoever wrote that clearly never thought that someone would have to say this out loud”

Sheryl wrote Bull’s joke icicles line. She also wrote Isabela’s big boats line - Jennifer took it out but then DG was like “No it has to come back”

They have a pun test, they get a few of them and have to allot them wisely so as not to oversaturate on the puns. “Is this good/bad enough to be one of the times that we pull the trigger? We did have one of those recently, I obviously can’t talk about it, but it was pronounced Okay to go ahead”

The ‘baby-est’ writer is Brianne, who’s been there 8 years

It makes PW sad that the players never get to see the writers’ temp-text [placeholder text when portions are a WIP]. “People have the best temp-text". Mary: “The number of conversations that I’ve temped in like ‘WELL. I hope nothing BAD happens HERE’”

Q. If you could bring in anybody from outside of gamedev, who would you like to work with and do a writer’s session with? PW: “I will say romance novelist Nora Roberts, she is really smart and also she knows how to write inside a genre, and do wonders within it. Her structure is so good. If you pick up one of her books, you know here’s when this is gonna happen, here’s when they’re gonna meet, here’s when this first moment will happen. We’re all experienced and I feel pretty good about that but I really like all of the things she does that way, and also I am a sucker for romance so I would love to bring a romance novelist in and just have them look at our scenes and go ‘Okay here, no, they should pull the tie so that the article of clothing comes open, we need a sense of how warm the skin is here’ - something like that. I’d wanna see what they could do with that”

“Luke writes the best worst lines”

“I’m always impressed with Mary getting away with lines. There are lines that I look at like, wow, you buried that one. [...] The only players who get that line, I feel like they earned it if they went that far into it. [...] And then Varric or Merrill says a ridiculous line in a one-time throwaway”

Karin: “The group dynamic, you’ll see conversations or snippets of a lunch chat or a thing we’ve been joking about and you’ll see it get pulled in, and how all of you [the writers] are able to take a normal kind of thing - as normal as we get as a group anyway - and then turn it into a moment, and use it to further the plot or use it to further a character. It’s just the cleverest thing and it happens in so many different ways. [...] The little snippet of life, then how you crafted it into this very cool thing”

Quartermaster Threnn was written by PW in half a day. “When I was writing Threnn, ‘Okay, this is a good-hearted [person], I was doing a little bit of Steel Magnolias, southern, no-nonsense, but like, blue collar Steel Magnolias’. This is someone accustomed to the ways of the world so she’s going to call a spade a spade. If you come up to her and you’re an elf she doesn’t recognize you and says ‘Buckets are over there’ because she thinks you’re there to clean, [but] ‘Anyone calls you a knife-ear you come to me I’ll take care of it’. It’s problematic but she’s trying - the good-hearted person rooted for the wrong group on every occasion. She was a proud Loghain supporter, she gets really exited if he comes to Skyhold. That was a fun character for me to write because I had a viewpoint in my mind. I remember someone was like ‘Threnn is really important to me’. And you have to honor that, cause you’re like ‘Cool, it means so much to me that this connected with some part of you’”

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Also of interest was the Mass Affection panel, in which BioWare devs looked back in over a decade of history to remaster a classic. It featured devs who worked on MELE. The timestamps for this segment are ~3:36:09 - 4:24:37. Some notes:

When the pandemic hit the MELE team were in a relatively awkward spot. They were really entering into what they consider full production and were on-boarding a bunch of teams, as well as training and on-boarding third-party external partner specialized teams worldwide. When the pandemic hit, BioWare and EA were super on top of it. They were tracking it weeks beforehand, getting everyone their computers ready, and getting everything encrypted. When the middle of March 2020 hit they were home rightaway. EA were nothing but supportive throughout the entire thing. They got money every quarter for stuff. It functionally ‘hit’ at 4-6 different times for them as the pandemic occurred in different places throughout the world at different times depending on each country’s response plan (and their external partners were in different countries). “So it was one of those things where it was just like, every day we’d come in like can we still work with this company anymore? Do we need to find someone else? Do we need to pull people in off the other projects at BioWare to fill gaps here and there?”

There was a bug on Virmire at the part when you’re coming into the STG camp. If the Mako had its new boosters on and you came hurtling in really fast, it cut to the cutscene, but the Mako hit a jump and when Ash was like “What do we do now?” the Mako ended up literally flying around in the background sideways and then crashing into the camp

Another bug: when they were re-tuning the guns, the physics force on some of the guns with Hammerhead rounds was so high that when you were fighting some of the Thorian Creepers, you could ragdoll them so hard that you could basically embed them in the roof. They’d be moving so fast that they’d penetrate all the walls with their legs dangling out. It was so easy to do and you could do it to everybody. You could launch a geth halfway across an Uncharted World

Another bug: with Shepard’s casual appearance in ME3, if you didn’t have it set up perfectly correctly it would default to Grunt for some reason. You’d be walking around as Grunt, going on dates as Grunt, and your face would be all scrunched up because it was all mapped to human bones still, so it was just, like, Nightmare Fuel of Grunt

Another bug: in ME2 on Illium when trying to recruit Samara, the Asari enemies just would not stop screaming - regardless of whether they were hit or not, it was endless screaming. Later one of the devs got an audio file of the scream, endless and looped, and now one of the devs has it on their phone and uses it for their morning alarm tone

“Shepard would come up to characters and they’d just be screaming”

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There was also the Programming Variables panel, talking about what hurdles game programmers face. Some [or all?] of the devs that were part of this panel are currently working on DA4. They talked a bit about their day-to-day work and about the craft of game dev programming in general. The timestamps for this segment are ~ 4:24:46 - 5:06:02.

[source]

[insights/notes from Gamers For Groceries 1]

[☕ found this post or blog interesting or useful? my ko-fi is here if you feel inclined. thank you 🙏]

#dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #video games #long post #longpost #in case this is of interest to anyone #mass effect #anthem #covid mention #cole #spirit boy #solas #lul

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ligiawrites · 3 years

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Why is your drawing so pretty 😍? And do you have any tips to draw as pretty as you do🥺?

aww, thank you, anon! ♥

All right lol. I don't know if you want just a short little tip or something else, but drawing/painting, like writing, is something I'm thoroughly passionate about, so I'm gonna be """a tad""" serious about it.

TLDR: I'm not an expert; I'm still learning. I suggest: brushing up on your knowledge of the basics, using references for specific stuff, taking notes, practicing, asking for feedback, and being patient/careful with yourself. Extra: image about how art is a cycle. xD

First, I still have a lot to learn and improve, so I don't think I'm a good target to aim for in terms of my ability to draw hahaha! Instead, please surpass me. :3 Also, please take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. My experience comes from being a self-taught artist who still struggles a lot.

This answer got *really* long, so I'll just have to split it here lol a.a

Sooo... I never had any formal education in arts except from 6 months of "The basics of classical drawing" at my Game Design course at uni, N years ago, so what I've been doing—and I'm seeing nice results—is to go back and learn everything from 0. I try to watch online classes on youtube as I work (you can find a lot of high quality, free content for artists there; I can suggest some if you want--I have a secret list of tutorials I saved over the years) or to listen to art critiques/redraws; I also read stuff about art, I try to understand how my favorite painters work/used to work, and I try to look for those really long videos of artists explaining their choices and their thought process as they paint. This last one is especially helpful if you already have a grasp of the basics.

Besides that, I also ask for feedback from the people whose brains I could passionately make out with (saying your trust people's judgment just doesn't have as much flair).

General tips:

- References are great. :) Even better is to first decide *what* you'll study with it. Is it the pose? The muscles? The expression? How the light interacts with the planes of the face? Focus on what you wanna practice and try not to overwhelm yourself by doing everything at once! ♥

- I'm a nerd, so when I'm watching something, I'll often jot down things I wanna try/I find interesting. It helps you build your own art cookbook! :P Good practice.

- Actually practice/try the things you write!

- I use sticky notes A LOT. For EVERYTHING. It's nice to have a visual reminder of the things I learned. Here are some of the notes I still have around after my last really long studying session:

(my post-it about studying anatomy is one of my favorite things ever, and so is my pink flamingo mug :3)

- Consume a lot of art! It's good to build your own visual library.

- I try to keep in mind that I'm still learning and improving and that I need to be patient with myself. :)

- Finally, self-confidence and balance between work/rest won't simply _happen_ as you improve. Pace your practices, stretch, eat/drink, and spend time with people you love. You have to work on yourself and your health too, not only on your skills. ♥

Extra: Steenz (link) ((she's amaziiing!!!)) posted this image here, and it's the truth™:

And if you're still here, thank you for reading my rambling, hahaha. I know I'm not great yet, but maybe I will be one day. I'll be cheering for you too, anon. :3

My brain might not be sexy enough to make out with, but if you ever need feedback on one of your pieces (and if you don't mind receiving it from a struggling, shy, cute thang like me), just send me an ask and I'll answer it privately if you want. :) ♥

Much love, from artist to artist.

#talking about art #really long answer a.a swy #Ligia Nunes #anon #digital art #artists on tumblr

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omega-deku · 5 years

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So I would love to progress on my art and try comics any tips? ÙwÚ

Hi! I’m so sorry about the late reply. D: I hope you don’t mind if I take this opportunity to address all the anon messages about how we can improve as artists.

I have a tough time answering this question because there is so much I need to learn. I’m super flattered that some of you feel that my art is good enough to ask me for tips, first of all!! So thank you, guys.

It’s a struggle because I only recently started taking up art again. So I’ve forgotten a lot of the things. So I’m probably not the best person to ask about this.

I used to draw all the time as a kid, but after high school, I stopped drawing. I stopped drawing for almost a decade, pretty much. I really regret it. I feel like I could have come such a long way if I did keep going. My parents really discouraged me from pursuing art, even just as a hobby, too. Even when I left home (I’m back now tho), my ex-spouse, greatly discouraged me from doing art too. I mean, “proper” art. They told me my art wasn’t “real art” because it’s not studio art, it’s “sellout” art, like anime/cartoons/fanart. I had even worse self-esteem as I do now, and I listened to them and gave up. I convinced myself I hated drawing.

Please don’t deny yourself things that make you feel engaged and connected. If drawing makes you feel good, if it makes you not realize how much time has passed and makes you feel like you’re accomplishing things, even little by little, please don’t stop. Even if you suffer from depression and feel like things like this are pointless, remember that just doing things in general will help you. Drawing is an awesome way to get into the flow state. To me personally, it’s almost like a meditative state and I find it helpful in dealing with chronic pain and mental health issues.

Anyways, I’ll try to compile some advice sort of things.

ART IN GENERAL

1. Draw what you enjoy! I think the most important thing is to draw what you like. It’s okay if it’s “dumb stuff”. Draw your favorite characters or pairings from your favorite tv shows if that tickles your fancy! You’re much more likely to be spending more time drawing if you’re drawing stuff you like. And as long as you’re drawing, you’re improving. (But still, challenge yourself and get out of your comfort zone!)

Especially for those of you who are planning to pursue art as a career, it’s essential that you don’t view practicing art as a chore.

2. Draw from life. If you really want to take your art to the next level, drawing from life is vital! I think many of us have come across artists who are just amazing, but there are things that look a little “off”. For example, the anatomy doesn’t look quite right, or the perspective is a little wonky. Things like that can be a tell that they’ve learned to draw from other people’s art rather than from life. Or just haven’t practiced the basics enough. (My art isn’t amazing or anything close to that lmao, but it definitely suffers from this. I need lots of life drawing practice.)

There is nothing wrong with learning from your favorite artists, but to really train your “artist’s eye”, you need to strip away all the stylistic choices and go back to the basics. Training that Eye is one of the most crucial things you could do as an artist.

Just take a piece of paper, a pencil and start drawing what you see. If you can, take figure drawing classes at your local community college, or draw the animals you see at the zoo. Sit on a bench and draw the scenery in front of you. Over time, you’ll start to recognize common patterns, simplify/think of things in terms of lines and shapes.

If you can’t afford a class or have the ability to go outside easily, drawing from photographs can be the next best thing. (See the Resources below for an online figure drawing tool.) I’m not experienced enough to definitively say why this isn’t the #1 idea, but from what I hear, there are things that you’ll miss out on, such as subtle shifts in shadows, colors, and other things that will happen from small movements in pose changes, a cloud moving, or whatever else. A different “feel”, if you will.

With the digital art boom, a lot of artists are learning how to do cool digital effects and fancy things, but forgoing basic anatomy, perspective, shading, etc. Which is all fine if you’re just having fun, but isn’t the best idea if you’re really serious about improving. Practice the fundamentals!

(If you have been dreaming about CalArts at one point like I did when I was in high school, one advice I came across from everyone who went there was to draw from life. All the time. It’s not an answer I expected from people who draw funny looking characters all day. You mean all these people who draw such simplified cartoon people and animals can actually draw like masters? Perfectly rendered bowls of fruit? I didn’t realize how much work goes into animating simple characters.)

3. Put in the time.

It’s really easy to get suckered into just watching “how to improve” videos all day and thinking about improving. Watching how other artists work is an important learning tool, but you’ll never actually make progress if you aren’t practicing.

Sometimes, the best thing to do is to not think about it. Just do it.

It’s like when I’m spending a whole lotta time thinking about getting physically fit than just, you know.. just doing it. “Tomorrow for sure.”

It may seem like it’s worthless, but doing those lame 5 push-ups a day instead of the 20-minute workout you wanted to put in, is better than nothing at all. You are making progress, no matter how small it may seem.

Make it a habit to practice every day. That way, you don’t even hesitate. It’s as automatic as brushing your teeth.

All the artists you see who have fantastic, awe-inspiring art may seem like Unreachable Gods sometimes, but those artists didn’t just pull that out of their ass one day. They put in hours and hours and hours of work. Let’s not disrespect other artists by ignoring that and chalking it up to “talent”. No one is born with an innate ability to draw. WE can get there too if we practice!

I want to get good enough to draw the things I have in my head one day!

Some resources that may be helpful:

Draw a Box - This is a site for free lessons for absolute beginners. Look under “Lessons” to learn. The creator of the site is the mod for r/ArtFundamentals. You can post your work there to get critiqued.

Check out Proko’s videos on gesture drawing, art fundamentals, etc. Daily routines of successful artists.

Use this site to practice figure drawing, gesture drawing - Set aside some time to practice drawing people and animals every day. Start trying to see things as lines, shapes, and go big. Don’t get too caught up in the details, and tiny drawings. Learning to draw fast (not draw FAST as in speed, but as in capture the gesture in a post, the “feel” of the movement) will force you to do this more, and with more experience, make your figures less stiff looking.

And it’s okay if you’re aren’t good at it. You’ll make loads and loads of shit drawings until you can get decent.

I’m most definitely in this stage right now, trying to train my Artist’s Eye. As in, I can’t just draw a figure from memory. I don’t really know what goes where without a reference, or how they move, etc. You can tell by how stiff my drawings look.

Lulusketches How to Improve video - She has similar advice, but her point about looking at “Art of” books something I have come across from multiple professional artists; Her advice on worrying about finding your own “style” is really good too. Do challenges like she said!

Her playlist of art tutorials & advice is great. They’re short and sweet. Her beginner digital art tutorial got me started on digital art (the one with Ginny Weasley).

Not free ($30 a month), but these online Schoolism classes look helpful. It’s run by Bobbie Chiu. I saw some great reviews and I want to try them someday. They’re taught by artists in the animation/film industry. But you gotta have a basic grasp on digital art/photoshop for many of the classes, I think? I’m not 100% sure. They’re pre-recorded video lessons.

You can pay more for feedback from the teachers, but you can also just use it as a self-learning guide.

This drawing faces from any angle video was pretty helpful for me. The artist has loads of other tutorials.

COMICS

I don’t feel qualified enough to give much advice on comics. I mean, I don’t even draw the lines for the boxes, haha.. However, these comic books are basically required reading for some courses:

Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics & Making Comics.

I can’t remember which one it is that I read, I think it was Making Comics? But wow, if I remember correctly, it was FULL of really useful things about how to make effective comics. I lost the book while moving years ago, but it was FANTASTIC learning material. I loved every panel of it.

He talks about everything from perspective, placement of characters, speech bubbles, how big panels should be, etc.

If you can afford it, get a used one and start reading! Even if you don’t want to make comics just yet, it’s super interesting.

#art #comics #art reference #art resources #asks #text #okay i fixed some of the links now #added better stuff

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comicteaparty · 4 years

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Art Resources

Check out this plethora of art-related resources archived from Comic Tea Party’s Art Resources Channel!

RebelVampire

starting this channel off with @Kabocha 's site http://www.shooting-stars.org/ lots of fantastic brushes and materials to use for both photoshop and clip studio(edited)

https://inkarnate.com/ - a nifty site for creating maps. while there is a pro version, the free version still has a lot of features if you just need a map for personal use to reference for your stories.(edited)

https://bodykunposeoftheday.tumblr.com/ - lots of pose photos of the SH Figuarts Body-Kun figures. really great if you want to get some anatomy and pose practice in!(edited)

http://blog.studiominiboss.com/pixelart - if you're a fan of pixel art, this is a hugely great collection of tutorials by Pedro Medeiros. it's got everything from process explanations, animation tips, shading, and more.(edited)

http://terawell.net/terawell/ - Design Doll, a great 3d program solely focused on doll posing. learning to pose the dolls can be a bit of a learning curve, but it can be fantastic if you really need a specific pose reference.(edited)

http://www.yeoldemapmaker.com/ - another map making website. this one is a lot better for interiors, especially if what you want is to just understand the base layout of a room for reference.(edited)

https://www.textures.com/ - a good site for textures. you have to make an account to download them, unfortunately. however, theres tons upon tons of them. for comics they should be safe, but would recommend checking terms for other things.(edited)

Kabocha

Free Software: I have not personally tested all of these programs. Download at your own risk. indicates that I have used it. Pixia: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/mighty/knight/index.html Artweaver: https://www.artweaver.de/en (has paid version) Medibang Paint: https://medibangpaint.com/en/ Krita: https://krita.org/en/ MyPaint: http://mypaint.org/ (Pressure does not work properly on Surface devices newer than the Surface 3) SmoothDraw: http://www.smoothdraw.com/sd Paint.Net: https://www.getpaint.net/ GIMP: https://www.gimp.org/ Pinta: https://pinta-project.com/pintaproject/pinta/ Inkscape: https://inkscape.org/en/

RebelVampire

https://nattosoup.blogspot.com/ - If you aren't familiar with Becca's blog yet, it's really great. while there is an emphasis on watercolor and traditional art supplies, theres honestly just great information all around. processes, supply reviews, and so on!

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

http://leifandthorn.com/2018/07/resources-for-making-webcomics/ - resources I've collected over the years. Mostly art stuff (fonts, color harmony, body types, etc), plus some help with website accessibility and some general webcomic podcasts.

Desnik

This is not a free resource so I hope it's okay, but in just a couple of days poring over the first two pages of this book, I'm really feeling a difference in the elasticity of my character's poses. It doesn't get bogged down by medical terminology and sorts parts of the body by 'landmark' instead: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23580472-anatomy-for-sculptors-understanding-the-human-figure

this is speaking as someone who has multiple years of figure drawing practice from life...I wish this book had been out much earlier, it's just amazing

JaSketch

https://www.calligraphr.com/en/ Here’s a free to use website that turns your handwriting into a legit text font, and it works too!

keltyzoid!

speaking of fonts i've actually made a few that are free to use. there's a couple of webcomics i know of that use them. should can i post them?

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/r8wmj4kp2566jbn/AACCrP70zPVLr8h2f5F4d6BIa?dl=0

they're free, no license or credit necessary

kayotics

this is a pretty basic level "how I do comics" but i like to reference these how-to's from Mad Rupert sometimes as a refresh on comics: http://mynameismad.tumblr.com/post/163801383099/hello-in-case-you-havent-heard-the-sakana

lonelytuatara

for any fellow photoshop users who wanna get better at perspective, this video's been really helpful for me! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upxBGNcryRs

Delphina

Really helpful Twitter thread about effective paneling! https://twitter.com/h0lysarthole/status/1117464886123089921

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Install old versions of Adobe products for free: https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/cs2-product-downloads.html?promoid=19SCDRQK There are terms & conditions, but the programs don't actually check if you fulfill them. It's up to you to know how much money you've given them, and what you're ethically clear to download in return.

Kabocha

If we're talking about Image Editors, a not-free alternative is Affinity Photo, which is reasonably priced. (I'd look for it to go on sale, but $50 for a perpetual license isn't bad at all!) https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/ Their indesign competitor is in free Beta right now, too: https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/publisher/

Paint.net also still exists: https://www.getpaint.net/

https://www.patreon.com/posts/26834357 In the meantime, here's a post for alternatives to adobe.

https://twitter.com/robochai/status/1124044195092672515

JUNK

https://blog.reimenayee.com/graphic-novel-outline-onion-method/ neat

Hey, I'm sure everyone already knows, but clip studio is on sale for $25 right now! It is (imo) one of the best programs out there for making comics! https://twitter.com/clipstudiopaint/status/1169159411304210432?s=19

MJ Massey

if you're looking for a new display tablet, I found this useful site with tons of tablet reviews! They're organized by size and look at several different brands http://brad.site/reviews/wacom-cintiq-alternatives.html

Attila Polyák

How to draw good looking lightning/electricity! https://www.facebook.com/leesartandmore/photos/a.1370091679712083/2411389295582311/?type=3&theater

seetherabbit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pDE4VX_9Kk

DaeofthePast

Free to use comic font http://purastik.net/ames/e.html

MJ Massey

If you haven't watched Jake Parker's videos, I highly recommend them. They are very informative AND relaxing and encouraging https://www.youtube.com/user/jakeparker44

MJ Massey

GESTURE DRAWINGS! They're important for art practice, especially if you are looking to improve your forms! https://www.quickposes.com/en is my favorite. It has a feature where you can set it to show you different photos every 30-300 seconds to practice gesture drawing!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Just saw this on Twitter. Haven't actually gotten a chance to look at it closely, but I thought other people might also want to take a look https://twitter.com/Worstwizard/status/1183475129084329984?s=09

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

https://twitter.com/noahbradley/status/1185286707819827201?s=09

Attila Polyák

Loads of useful facebbok stuff I meant to post a long time ago, but never got around doing it: https://www.facebook.com/AikaLockheart/photos/a.413147142066258/2235198713194416/?type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=472362883489284&set=a.130547804337462&type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/geektower/photos/pcb.1089341477902964/1089341267902985/?type=3&theater

MJ Massey

picking pens! From Jake Parker himself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNgYvTI09XE

MJ Massey

for anyone who likes podcasts, I enjoy 3 Point Perspective, particularly their most recent episode on building an online store and making sales https://open.spotify.com/episode/2twCBBjRWZlmzbvWkRoARG?si=N7PiY3UoTJCzq0zZovXsdg

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Here's a good reference generator: https://line-of-action.com/

SAWHAND

Hope this counts as a resource, here's a list of Best Comic Covers in a given month by Paste magazine, it goes up to June 2019. It was really helping me get ideas for covers! https://www.pastemagazine.com/search?t=Best+Comic+Book+Covers&m=Galleries

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

This is great!

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Ooh, yeah, those are great.

I did a redraw where I added another 7, for shots that aren't in the original that I also get a ton of use out of: https://www.deviantart.com/erinptah/art/29-Panels-That-Always-Work-748887838

carcarchu

ooooh https://twitter.com/cathygjohn/status/1216093817734139904?s=20

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/ClipStudioTips/status/1217058241613651969

renieplayerone

This may have been shared before but i am a HUGE fan of SenshiStock. Their references are so good and ive used their stock photos for a ton of studies and practice too https://twitter.com/SenshiStock

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/celesse/status/1219674655663042561

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/dankelby/status/1220254171049418752

mariah (rainy day dreams)

https://kingofooo.tumblr.com/post/161105648449/by-storyboard-supervisor-erik-fountain-a-few

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

https://twitter.com/ImRachelBradley/status/1216042005698174977?s=19

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/cyanparade/status/1229450046480867328

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

@Feather J. Fern This is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEvMHRgPdyk

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

@Javi An oldie I still find useful for learning how to draw people: https://archive.org/details/andrew-loomis-drawing-the-head-hands/mode/2up

Nutty (Court of Roses)

https://twitter.com/Lowtwait/status/1232479451721502725

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlh4PO-ISCA

video that looks into this current humble bundle pack

looks kind of interesting

doomedfrgarden

I'm not sure if Borodante's Over-Paint series has been posted here (I didn't see it, but I don't have my glasses so I can't promise a thorough search), but his digital painting tips have been incredibly helpful and inspiring to me, so I hope it helps someone else here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDKgohjbwY8&list=PL26-CxnLWOfD_h42yjpO44dPAo3-pijgb&index=23

Feather J. Fern

Found something that explains Bleed for comics. https://makingcomics.spiltink.org/pgtemplates/

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

A soft-shading demo I made for@Feather J. Fern & @Artem Ficta (Ring Spell) Sorry this took so long to complete! https://youtu.be/Cyc9EVissw0

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/hanari0716/status/931463182354227201

Mei

For people like me who mess up their bleeds and have to fix them in post, I had this lying in my bookmarks! https://twitter.com/TheDamnThinGuy/status/1190321427314032646?s=20

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

There are lots of guides to tangents, and here is one I like a lot! http://curiousoldlibrary.blogspot.com/2011/10/schweizer-guide-to-spotting-tangents.html

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/Sasquatchiix/status/1236987090874667008 This is a visual novel zine but section 2 on resources actually has a lot of cross-over in terms of usability for comic creators, check it out if you feel like testing out some new tools! Update - I read through the articles now and I actually really recommend checking them out too for advice when it comes to story-writing and how to lay it all out(edited)

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

Want to share this with you all! https://creatureartteacher.com/product/fundamentals-of-animation/?fbclid=IwAR0ahSOtdTBPmi0cHQlBpyMK7RveLZXptqcLrFX559KQMOkp-oLjGG9JA_0 Fundamentals of Animation Course Aron Blaise a big disney animator, has an animation Course that take you through the princibles of animation. This course is free for a limited time if you want to learn about animation!

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Really cool video I found about pricing your commissions: https://youtu.be/pN4P82Y_3k0

carcarchu

a handy tool for those who work in clip https://twitter.com/2TooToo2/status/1243101802435727360

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I'm not sure if this is the right channel, but I'm going around shouting about how Adobe users can get two months free because of the pandemic this morning. Here's an article about how to do it! https://www.creativebloq.com/news/adobe-payment-holiday?fbclid=IwAR108UH-2fQfvQzyc2STIHZh9H7LOzr1xvOoLPM_7pylHNoQ9isvMDT4wRw

I also made a tweet for easy sharing if you don't want to type your own. https://twitter.com/RainyDayMariah/status/1243573425697742848?s=20

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

https://twitter.com/metalsorcery/status/1247930202073829377?s=19 This is a survey to answer for webcomic creators to get their work featured in this newsletter! Open to every one!

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

@Miranda (Into the Swell) This one's pretty good: https://www.deviantart.com/theinkyway/art/Manga-Studio-5-Clip-Studio-Paint-Brush-Pack-619455926

carcarchu

@Miranda (Into the Swell) this is my ultimate fave http://fav.me/d7s799d

carcarchu

this is handy reference image account that only posts pictures of suits and mundane things https://twitter.com/madarameBK

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Follow Art of Webcomics (on Twitter) which help independent creators host a site and share your page updates: https://series.artofwebcomics.com/(edited)

carcarchu

https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1725189 a handy sfx brush for clip studio paint that can help save some time with your process (it's got various effects built in the brush itself so you don't have to have several stroke layers to achieve the effect) it costs 2 dollars

SaltySalmonella

I made an SFX (sound effect) booklet for comic artists who are having difficulty visualizing sounds for their comics. It's free to download on Gumroad! https://gumroad.com/SaltySalmonella#VOZQM

Elliot

https://twitter.com/nicparris/status/1253710231781036043

CoppertheCarutor

I'm not sure if this goes in writing or art resources because it's art based, but the focus is on using colors to aid the story, but I thought this was a pretty neat video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXgFcNUWqX0&feature=emb_logo

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I was looking up some moonlight tutorials for an illustration last night. Figured I'd share~ https://tips.clip-studio.com/en-us/articles/1684

https://www.deviantart.com/ryky/art/MOON-easy-tutorial-399161176

carcarchu

https://youtu.be/LokpJy7KHpE Shilin talks about her thought processes when laying out her comic panels

carcarchu

some free flower assets for clip https://assets.clip-studio.com/ko-kr/search?user=miyage3&order=new

carcarchu

Reimena Yee did an interesting thread on the visual language used in comics https://twitter.com/reimenayee/status/1263755464853995521(edited)

sierrabravo (Hans Vogel is Dead)

yess I was hoping someone would put that up here!!! such a good resource

that reminded me of the 22 panels that always work, something I've been trying to utilize more when I get stuck working: https://cloudfour.com/thinks/22-panels-that-always-work-wally-woods-legendary-productivity-hack/

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

It's so reliable, last year I was able to recreate the whole thing using only pre-existing panels from Leif & Thorn. (Then added another row because there were a few other shots I keep coming back to...) https://leifandthorn.com/comic/erin-ptahs-29-panels-that-always-work/

(Note, there's a horizontal scrollbar under the image, since I uploaded the big version.)

DaeofthePast

found this tutorial/tips on drawing scars that I found useful https://jetfeather.tumblr.com/post/163383759536/i-have-a-hard-time-drawing-scars-how-do-you-do

carcarchu

For those who suffer from pain while drawing: https://twitter.com/lost_paw/status/1271540123688210433

Evil_Chippy (My Hero!)

https://twitter.com/Darchala/status/1272257378881175552?s=20

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

@Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§ Here's the brush pack. The one I used is called "Pensona": https://www.deviantart.com/theinkyway/art/Manga-Studio-5-Clip-Studio-Paint-Brush-Pack-619455926

carcarchu

How to draw a lot of books https://twitter.com/yoshida_seiji/status/1200432951671939073

carcarchu

Mentorship directory for this interested in that kind of thing https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vfcr_F0utixw7D-rsbUoId1kwU2Ee_c_jXy2r5df-Jc/edit?usp=sharing

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

https://www.lackadaisy.com/exhibit.php?exhibitid=333 A fun tutorial on drawing expressions

carcarchu

A really comprehensive look into the panel border tool in clip https://professorfaf.tumblr.com/post/178927411355/comic-paneling-tools-in-clip-studio-paint Great for beginners but even if you're already acquainted with them it's helpful for finding out things you may not have even realized

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED289uthfNQ&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1ka0j6gwtFcj5aXS8wIj-zpgwaYiI2ncP-g4Tn6hL0h4VFa-rKn6MM_1Q this is my old illustration instructor who did a tutorial on watercolour if anyone was interested in the medium! her stuff is so vibrant and solid, and i was so happy to have her as my old prof!

CoppertheCarutor

Light bounce! https://twitter.com/KikiDoodleTweet/status/1276565894051753984?s=19

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/Ghadaaax/status/1277158331761807360 helpful tips!

cAPSLOCK (Tailslide)

Colorist K Michael Russell has been streaming nightly as he colors pages from comics he's working on, while giving tips and insight into his thought process: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCps08eOJfFRm00TE5LStIIg

carcarchu

Advice on how to utilize speedlines https://youtu.be/Y_3Rbjn_0r0

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I just have to plug this amazing program here: https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/publisher/ It's basically a replacement program for Adobe inDesign, but waaay cheaper. If you're like me and have sworn off Adobe, I highly recommend it. I've been messing with it all day to begin setting up my first volume for print, and I love it so far, especially after trying other budget publishing softwares. Can't recommend it enough.

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

hii! https://www.dropbox.com/sh/m8yv10gevqv2x5s/AACVoWTvK-B7qB1yRGUZadB5a?dl=0 Here is a little gallery of fat bodies!

carcarchu

world building tool thing https://www.worldanvil.com/artist i haven't tried it out yet but it looks interesting!

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/soteikat/status/1285036231592558592 takie made some free to use comic resources!

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/aeipathea/status/1285048061518061569

carcarchu

it is a website that shares dimensions for things. Helpful for referencing proportions https://www.dimensions.com/(edited)

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I don't necessarily agreed with everything they said, but it's still a good video, and I definitely agree with many of the points they brought up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZQKeHnKK90

Especically the "stop drawing _" advice

I dealt with that a lot in school

#ctparchive

4 notes · View notes

hlupdate · 5 years

Link

Harry Styles isn’t exactly dressed down for lunch. He’s got a white floppy hat that Diana Ross might have won from Elton in a poker game at Cher’s mansion circa 1974, plus Gucci shades, a cashmere sweater, and blue denim bell-bottoms. His nail polish is pink and mint green. He’s also carrying his purse — no other word for it — a yellow patent-canvas bag with the logo “Chateau Marmont.” The tough old ladies who work at this Beverly Hills deli know him well. Gloria and Raisa dote on him, calling him “my love” and bringing him his usual tuna salad and iced coffee. He turns heads, to put it mildly, but nobody comes near because the waitresses hover around the booth protectively.

He was just a small-town English lad of 16 when he became his generation’s pop idol with One Direction. When the group went on hiatus, he struck out on his own with his brash 2017 solo debut, whose lead single was the magnificently over-the-top six-minute piano ballad “Sign of the Times.” Even people who missed out on One Direction were shocked to learn the truth: This pinup boy was a rock star at heart.

A quick highlight reel of Harry’s 2019 so far: He hosted the Met Gala with Lady Gaga, Serena Williams, Alessandro Michele, and Anna Wintour serving an eyebrow-raising black lace red-carpet look. He is the official face of a designer genderless fragrance, Gucci’s Mémoire d’une Odeur. When James Corden had an all-star dodgeball match on The Late Late Show, Harry got spiked by a hard serve from Michelle Obama, making him perhaps the first Englishman ever hit in the nads on TV by a First Lady.

Closer to his heart, he brought down the house at this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony with his tribute to his friend and idol Stevie Nicks. “She’s always there for you,” Harry said in his speech. “She knows what you need: advice, a little wisdom, a blouse, a shawl.” He added, “She’s responsible for more running mascara — including my own — than all the bad dates in history.” (Backstage, Nicks accidentally referred to Harry’s former band as “’NSync.” Hey, a goddess can get away with that sort of thing.)

Harry has been the world’s It boy for nearly a decade now. The weirdest thing about him? He loves being this guy. In a style of fast-lane celebrity that takes a ruthless toll on the artist’s personality, creativity, sanity, Harry is almost freakishly at ease. He has managed to grow up in public with all his boyish enthusiasm intact, not to mention his manners. He’s dated a string of high-profile women — but he never gets caught uttering any of their names in public, much less shading any of them. Instead of going the usual superstar-pop route — en vogue producers, celebrity duets, glitzy club beats — he’s gone his own way, and gotten more popular than ever. He’s putting the finishing touches on his new album, full of the toughest, most soulful songs he’s written yet. As he explains, “It’s all about having sex and feeling sad.”

The Harry Charm is a force of nature, and it can be almost frightening to witness in action. The most startling example might be a backstage photo from February taken with one of his heroes, Van Morrison. You have never seen a Van picture like this one. He’s been posing for photos for 50 years, and he’s been refusing to crack a smile in nearly all of them. Until he met Harry — for some reason, Van beams like a giddy schoolgirl. What did Harry do to him? “I was tickling him behind his back,” Harry confides. “Somebody sent me that photo — I think his tour manager took it. When I saw it, I felt like John Travolta in Pulp Fiction opening the case with the gold light shining. I was like, ‘Fuck, maybe I shouldn’t show this to anyone.’”

In interviews, Harry has always tended to coast on that charm, simply because he can. In his teens, he was in public every minute and became adept at guarding every scrap of his privacy. But these days, he’s finding out he has things he wants to say. He’s more confident about thinking out loud and seeing what happens. “Looser” is how he puts it. “More open. I’m discovering how much better it makes me feel to be open with friends. Feeling that vulnerability, rather than holding everything in.”

Like a lot of people his age, he’s asking questions about culture, gender, identity, new ideas about masculinity and sexuality. “I feel pretty lucky to have a group of friends who are guys who would talk about their emotions and be really open,” he says. “My friend’s dad said to me, ‘You guys are so much better at it than we are. I never had friends I could really talk to. It’s good that you guys have each other because you talk about real shit. We just didn’t.’”

It’s changed how he approaches his songs. “For me, it doesn’t mean I’ll sit down and be like, ‘This is what I have for dinner, and this is where I eat every day, and this is what I do before I go to bed,’” he says. “But I will tell you that I can be really pathetic when I’m jealous. Feeling happier than I’ve ever been, sadder than I’ve ever been, feeling sorry for myself, being mad at myself, being petty and pitiful — it feels really different to share that.”

At times, Harry sounds like an ordinary 25-year-old figuring his shit out, which, of course, he is. (Harry and I got to know each other last year, when he got in touch after reading one of my books, though I’d already been writing about his music for years.) It’s strange to hear him talk about shedding his anxieties and doubts, since he’s always come across as one of the planet’s most confident people. “While I was in the band,” he says, “I was constantly scared I might sing a wrong note. I felt so much weight in terms of not getting things wrong. I remember when I signed my record deal and I asked my manager, ‘What happens if I get arrested? Does it mean the contract is null and void?’ Now, I feel like the fans have given me an environment to be myself and grow up and create this safe space to learn and make mistakes.”

We slip out the back and spend a Saturday afternoon cruising L.A. in his 1972 silver Jaguar E-type. The radio doesn’t work, so we just sing “Old Town Road.” He marvels, “‘Bull riding and boobies’ — that is potentially the greatest lyric in any song ever.” Harry used to be pop’s mystery boy, so diplomatic and tight-lipped. But as he opens up over time, telling his story, he reaches the point where he’s pitching possible headlines for this profile. His best: “Soup, Sex, and Sun Salutations.”

How did he get to this new place? As it turns out, the journey involves some heartbreak. Some guidance from David Bowie. Some Transcendental Meditation. And more than a handful of magic mushrooms. But mostly, it comes down to a curious kid who can’t decide whether to be the world’s most ardently adored pop star, or a freaky artiste. So he decides to be both.

Two things about English rock stars never change: They love Southern California, and they love cars. A few days after Harry proclaimed the genius of “Old Town Road,” we’re in a different ride — a Tesla — cruising the Pacific Coast Highway while Harry sings along to the radio. “Californiaaaaaa!” he yells from behind the wheel as we whip past Zuma Beach. “It sucks!” There’s a surprising number of couples along the beach who seem to be arguing. We speculate on which ones are breaking up and which are merely having the talk. “Ah, yes, the talk,” Harry says dreamily. “Ye olde chat.”

Harry is feeling the smooth Seventies yacht-rock grooves today, blasting Gerry Rafferty, Pablo Cruise, Hall and Oates. When I mention that Nina Simone once did a version of “Rich Girl,” he needs to hear it right away. He counters by blowing my mind with Donny Hathaway’s version of John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy.”

Harry raves about a quintessential SoCal trip he just tried: a “cold sauna,” a process that involves getting locked in an ice chamber. His eyelashes froze. We stop for a smoothie (“It’s basically ice cream”) and his favorite pepper-intensive wheatgrass shot. It goes down like a dose of battery acid. “That’ll add years to your life,” he assures me.

We’re on our way to Shangri-La studios in Malibu, founded by the Band back in the 1970s, now owned by Rick Rubin. It’s where Harry made some of the upcoming album, and as we walk in, he grins at the memory. “Ah, yes,” he says. “Did a lot of mushrooms in here.”

Psychedelics have started to play a key role in his creative process. “We’d do mushrooms, lie down on the grass, and listen to Paul McCartney’s Ram in the sunshine,” he says. “We’d just turn the speakers into the yard.” The chocolate edibles were kept in the studio fridge, right next to the blender. “You’d hear the blender going, and think, ‘So we’re all having frozen margaritas at 10 a.m. this morning.’” He points to a corner: “This is where I was standing when we were doing mushrooms and I bit off the tip of my tongue. So I was trying to sing with all this blood gushing out of my mouth. So many fond memories, this place.”

It’s not mere rock-star debauchery — it’s emblematic of his new state of mind. You get the feeling this is why he enjoys studios so much. After so many years making One Direction albums while touring, always on the run, he finally gets to take his time and embrace the insanity of it all. “We were here for six weeks in Malibu, without going into the city,” he says. “People would bring their dogs and kids. We’d take a break to play cornhole tournaments. Family values!” But it’s also the place where he has proudly bled for his art. “Mushrooms and Blood. Now there’s an album title.”

Some of the engineers come over to catch up on gossip. Harry gestures out the window to the Pacific waves, where the occasional nude revelry might have happened, and where the occasional pair of pants got lost. “There was one night where we’d been partying a bit and ended up going down to the beach and I lost all my stuff, basically,” he says. “I lost all my clothes. I lost my wallet. Maybe a month later, somebody found my wallet and mailed it back, anonymously. I guess it just popped out of the sand. But what’s sad is, I lost my favorite mustard corduroy flares.” A moment of silence is held for the corduroy flares.

Recording in the studio today is Brockhampton, the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest boy band.” Harry says hi to all the Brockhampton guys, which takes a while since there seem to be a few dozen of them. “We’re together all the time,” one tells Harry out in the yard. “We see each other all day, every day.” He pauses. “You know how it is.”

Harry breaks into a dry grin. “Yes, I know how it is.”

One Direction made three of this century’s biggest and best pop albums in a rush — Midnight Memories, Four and Made in the A.M. Yet they cut those records on tour, ducking into the nearest studio when they had a day off. 1D were a unique mix of five different musical personalities: Harry, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, and Liam Payne. But the pace took its toll. Malik quit in the middle of a tour, immediately after a show in Hong Kong. The band announced its hiatus in August 2015.

It’s traditional for boy-band singers, as they go solo and grow up, to renounce their pop past. Everybody remembers George Michael setting his leather jacket on fire, or Sting quitting the Police to make jazz records. This isn’t really Harry Styles’ mentality. “I know it’s the thing that always happens. When somebody gets out of a band, they go, ‘That wasn’t me. I was held back.’ But it was me. And I don’t feel like I was held back at all. It was so much fun. If I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t have done it. It’s not like I was tied to a radiator.”

Whenever Harry mentions One Direction — never by name, always “the band” or “the band I was in” — he uses the past tense. It is my unpleasant duty to ask: Does he see 1D as over? “I don’t know,” he says. “I don’t think I’d ever say I’d never do it again, because I don’t feel that way. If there’s a time when we all really want to do it, that’s the only time for us to do it, because I don’t think it should be about anything else other than the fact that we’re all like, ‘Hey, this was really fun. We should do this again.’ But until that time, I feel like I’m really enjoying making music and experimenting. I enjoy making music this way too much to see myself doing a full switch, to go back and do that again. Because I also think if we went back to doing things the same way, it wouldn’t be the same, anyway.”

When the band stopped, did he take those friendships with him? “Yeah, I think so,” he says. “Definitely. Because above all else, we’re the people who went through that. We’re always going to have that, even if we’re not the closest. And the fact is, just because you’re in a band with someone doesn’t mean you have to be best friends. That’s not always how it works. Just because Fleetwood Mac fight, that doesn’t mean they’re not amazing. I think even in the disagreements, there’s always a mutual respect for each other — we did this really cool thing together, and we’ll always have that. It’s too important to me to ever be like, ‘Oh, that’s done.’ But if it happens, it will happen for the right reasons.”

If the intensity of the Harry fandom ever seems mysterious to you, there’s a live clip you might want to investigate, from the summer of 2018. Just search the phrase “Tina, she’s gay.” In San Jose, on one of the final nights of his tour, Harry spots a fan with a homemade sign: “I’m Gonna Come Out to My Parents Because of You!” He asks the fan her name (she says it’s Grace) and her mother’s name (Tina). He asks the audience for silence because he has an important announcement to make: “Tina! She’s gaaaaay!” Then he has the entire crowd say it together. Thousands of strangers start yelling “Tina, she’s gay,” and every one of them clearly means it — it’s a heavy moment, definitely not a sound you forget after you hear it. Then Harry sings “What Makes You Beautiful.” (Of course, the way things work now, the clip went viral within minutes. So did Grace’s photo of Tina giving a loving thumbs-up to her now-out teenage daughter. Grace and Tina attended Harry’s next show together.)

Harry likes to cultivate an aura of sexual ambiguity, as overt as the pink polish on his nails. He’s dated women throughout his life as a public figure, yet he has consistently refused to put any kind of label on his sexuality. On his first solo tour, he frequently waved the pride, bi, and trans flags, along with the Black Lives Matter flag. In Philly, he waved a rainbow flag he borrowed from a fan up front: “Make America Gay Again.” One of the live fan favorites: “Medicine,” a guitar jam that sounds a bit like the Grateful Dead circa Europe ’72, but with a flamboyantly pansexual hook: “The boys and girls are in/I mess around with them/And I’m OK with it.”

He’s always had a flair for flourishes like this, since the 1D days. An iconic clip from November 2014: Harry and Liam are on a U.K. chat show. The host asks the oldest boy-band fan-bait question in the book: What do they look for in a date? “Female,” Liam quips. “That’s a good trait.” Harry shrugs. “Not that important.” Liam is taken aback. The host is in shock. On tour in the U.S. that year, he wore a Michael Sam football jersey, in support of the first openly gay player drafted by an NFL team. He’s blown up previously unknown queer artists like King Princess and Muna.

What do those flags onstage mean to him? “I want to make people feel comfortable being whatever they want to be,” he says. “Maybe at a show you can have a moment of knowing that you’re not alone. I’m aware that as a white male, I don’t go through the same things as a lot of the people that come to the shows. I can’t claim that I know what it’s like, because I don’t. So I’m not trying to say, ‘I understand what it’s like.’ I’m just trying to make people feel included and seen.”

On tour, he had an End Gun Violence sticker on his guitar; he added a Black Lives Matter sticker, as well as the flag. “It’s not about me trying to champion the cause, because I’m not the person to do that,” he says. “It’s just about not ignoring it, I guess. I was a little nervous to do that because the last thing I wanted was for it to feel like I was saying, ‘Look at me! I’m the good guy!’ I didn’t want anyone who was really involved in the movement to think, ‘What the fuck do you know?’ But then when I did it, I realized people got it. Everyone in that room is on the same page and everyone knows what I stand for. I’m not saying I understand how it feels. I’m just trying to say, ‘I see you.’”

At one of his earliest solo shows, in Stockholm, he announced, “If you are black, if you are white, if you are gay, if you are straight, if you are transgender — whoever you are, whoever you want to be, I support you. I love every single one of you.” “It’s a room full of accepting people.… If you’re someone who feels like an outsider, you’re not always in a big crowd like that,” he says. “It’s not about, ‘Oh, I get what it’s like,’ because I don’t. For example, I go walking at night before bed most of the time. I was talking about that with a female friend and she said, ‘Do you feel safe doing that?’ And I do. But when I walk, I’m more aware that I feel OK to walk at night, and some of my friends wouldn’t. I’m not saying I know what it feels like to go through that. It’s just being aware.”

‘Man cannot live by coffee alone,” Harry says. “But he will give it a damn good try.” He sips his iced Americano — not his first today, or his last. He’s back behind the wheel, on a mission to yet another studio — but this time for actual work. Today it’s string overdubs. Harry is dressed in Gucci from head to toe, except for one item of clothing: a ratty Seventies rock T-shirt he proudly scavenged from a vintage shop. It says “Commander Quaalude.”

On the drive over, he puts on the jazz pianist Bill Evans — “Peace Piece,” from 1959, which is the wake-up tone on his phone. He just got into jazz during a long sojourn in Japan. He likes to find places to hide out and be anonymous: For his first album, he decamped to Jamaica. Over the past year, he spent months roaming Japan.

In February, he spent his 25th birthday sitting by himself in a Tokyo cafe, reading Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. “I love Murakami,” he says. “He’s one of my favorites. Reading didn’t really used to be my thing. I had such a short attention span. But I was dating someone who gave me some books; I felt like I had to read them because she’d think I was a dummy if I didn’t read them.”

A friend gave him Murakami’s Norwegian Wood. “It was the first book, maybe ever, where all I wanted to do all day was read this,” he says. “I had a very Murakami birthday because I ended up staying in Tokyo on my own. I had grilled fish and miso soup for breakfast, then I went to this cafe. I sat and drank tea and read for five hours.”

In the studio, he’s overseeing the string quartet. He has the engineers play T. Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer” for them, to illustrate the vibe he’s going for. You can see he enjoys being on this side of the glass, sitting at the Neve board, giving his instructions to the musicians. After a few run-throughs, he presses the intercom button to say, “Yeah, it’s pretty T. Rex. Best damn strings I ever heard.” He buzzes again to add, “And you’re all wonderful people.”

He’s curated his own weird enclave of kindred spirits to collaborate with, like producers Jeff Bhasker and Tyler Johnson. His guitarist Mitch Rowland was working at an L.A. pizza shop when Harry met him. They started writing songs for the debut; Rowland didn’t quit his job until two weeks into the sessions. One of his closest collaborators is also one of his best friends: Tom Hull, a.k.a. Kid Harpoon, a longtime cohort of Florence and the Machine. Hull is an effusive Brit with a heart-on-sleeve personality. Harry calls him “my emotional rock.” Hull calls him “Gary.”

Hull was the one who talked him into taking a course on Transcendental Meditation at David Lynch’s institute — beginning each day with 20 minutes of silence, which doesn’t always come naturally to either of them. “He’s got this wise-beyond-his-years timelessness about him,” Hull says. “That’s why he went on a whole emotional exploration with these songs.” He’s 12 years older, with a wife and kids in Scotland, and talks about Harry like an irreverent but doting big brother.

Last year, Harry was in the gossip columns dating the French model Camille Rowe; they split up last summer after a year together. “He went through this breakup that had a big impact on him,” Hull says. “I turned up on Day One in the studio, and I had these really nice slippers on. His ex-girlfriend that he was really cut up about, she gave them to me as a present — she bought slippers for my whole family. We’re still close friends with her. I thought, ‘I like these slippers. Can I wear them — is that weird?’

“So I turn up at Shangri-La the first day and literally within the first half-hour, he looks at me and says, ‘Where’d you get those slippers? They’re nice.’ I had to say, ‘Oh, um, your ex-girlfriend got them for me.’ He said, ‘Whaaaat? How could you wear those?’ He had a whole emotional journey about her, this whole relationship. But I kept saying, ‘The best way of dealing with it is to put it in these songs you’re writing.’”

True to his code of gallant discretion, Harry doesn’t say her name at any point. But he admits the songs are coming from personal heartbreak. “It’s not like I’ve ever sat and done an interview and said, ‘So I was in a relationship, and this is what happened,’” he says. “Because, for me, music is where I let that cross over. It’s the only place, strangely, where it feels right to let that cross over.”

The new songs are certainly charged with pain. “The stars didn’t align for them to be a forever thing,” Hull says. “But I told him that famous Iggy Pop quote where he says, ‘I only ever date women who are going to fuck me up, because that’s where the songs are.’ I said, ‘You’re 24, 25 years old, you’re in the eligible-bachelor category. Just date amazing women, or men, or whatever, who are going to fuck you up, and explore and have an adventure and let it affect you and write songs about it.’”

His band is full of indie rockers who’ve gotten swept up in Hurricane Harry. Before becoming his iconic drum goddess, Sarah Jones played in New Young Pony Club, a London band fondly remembered by a few dozen of us. Rowland and Jones barely knew anything about One Direction before they met Harry — the first time they heard “Story of My Life” was when he asked them to play it. Their conversation is full of references to Big Star or Guided by Voices or the Nils Lofgren guitar solo in Neil Young’s “Speakin’ Out.” This is a band full of shameless rock geeks, untainted by industry professionalism.

In the studio, while making the album, Harry kept watching a vintage Bowie clip on his phone — a late-Nineties TV interview I’d never seen. As he plays it for me, he recites along — he’s got the rap memorized. “Never play to the gallery,” Bowie advises. “Never work for other people in what you do.” For Harry, this was an inspiring pep talk — a reminder not to play it safe. As Bowie says, “If you feel safe in the area that you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you are capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.”

He got so obsessive about Joni Mitchell and her 1971 classic Blue, he went on a quest. “I was in a big Joni hole,” he says. “I kept hearing the dulcimer all over Blue. So I tracked down the lady who built Joni’s dulcimers in the Sixties.” He found her living in Culver City. “She said, ‘Come and see me,’” Hull says. “We turn up at her house and he said, ‘How do you even play a dulcimer?’ She gave us a lesson. Then she got a bongo and we were all jamming with these big Cheshire Cat grins.” She built the dulcimer Harry plays on the new album. “Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison, those are my two favorites,” he says. “Blue and Astral Weeks are just the ultimate in terms of songwriting. Melody-wise, they’re in their own lane.”

He’s always been the type to go overboard with his fanboy enthusiasms, ever since he was a kid and got his mind blown by Pulp Fiction. “I watched it when I was probably too young,” he admits. “But when I was 13, I saved up money from my paper route to buy a ‘Bad Motherfucker’ wallet. Just a stupid white kid in the English countryside with that wallet.” While in Japan, he got obsessively into Paul McCartney and Wings, especially London Town and Back to the Egg. “In Tokyo I used to go to a vinyl bar, but the bartender didn’t have Wings records. So I brought him Back to the Egg. ‘Arrow Through Me,’ that was the song I had to hear every day when I was in Japan.”

He credits meditation for helping to loosen him up. “I was such a skeptic going in,” he says. “But I think meditation has helped with worrying about the future less, and the past less. I feel like I take a lot more in—things that used to pass by me because I was always rushing around. It’s part of being more open and talking with friends. It’s not always the easiest to go in a room and say, ‘I made a mistake and it made me feel like this, and then I cried a bunch.’ But that moment where you really let yourself be in that zone of being vulnerable, you reach this feeling of openness. That’s when you feel like, ‘Oh, I’m fucking living, man.’”

After quite a few hours of recording the string quartet, a bottle of Casamigos tequila is opened. Commander Quaalude pours the drinks, then decides what the song needs now is a gaggle of nonsingers bellowing the chorus. “Muppet vocals” is how he describes it. He drags everyone in sight to crowd around the mics. Between takes, he wanders over to the piano to play Harry Nilsson’s “Gotta Get Up.” One of the choir members, creative director Molly Hawkins, is the friend who gave him the Murakami novel. “I think every man should read Norwegian Wood,” she says. “Harry’s the only man I’ve given it to who actually read it.”

It’s been a hard day’s night in the studio, but after hours, everyone heads to a dive bar on the other side of town to see Rowland play a gig. He’s sitting in with a local bar band, playing bass. Harry drives around looking for the place, taking in the sights of downtown L.A. (“Only a city as narcissistic as L.A. would have a street called Los Angeles Street,” he says.) He strolls in and leans against the bar in the back of the room. It’s an older crowd, and nobody here has any clue who he is. He’s entirely comfortable lurking incognito in a dim gin joint. After the gig, as the band toasts with PBRs, an old guy in a ball cap strolls over and gives Rowland a proud bear hug. It’s his boss from the pizza shop.

In the wee hours, Harry drives down a deserted Sunset Boulevard, his favorite time of night to explore the city streets, arguing over which is the best Steely Dan album. He insists that Can’t Buy a Thrill is better than Countdown to Ecstasy (wrongly), and seals his case by turning it up and belting “Midnight Cruiser” with truly appalling gusto. Tonight Hollywood is full of bright lights, glitzy clubs, red carpets, but the prettiest pop star in town is behind the wheel, singing along with every note of the sax solo from “Dirty Work.”

A few days later, on the other side of the world: Harry’s pad in London is lavish, yet very much a young single dude’s lair. Over here: a wall-size framed Sex Pistols album cover. Over there: a vinyl copy of Stevie Nicks’ The Other Side of the Mirror, casually resting on the floor. He’s having a cup of tea with his mum, Anne, the spitting image of her son, all grace and poise. “We’re off to the pub,” he tells her. “We’re going to talk some shop.” She smiles sweetly. “Talk some shit, probably,” says Anne.

We head off to his local, sloshing through the rain. He’s wearing a Spice World hoodie and savoring the soggy London-osity of the day. “Ah, Londres!” he says grandly. “I missed this place.” He wants to sit at a table outside, even though it’s pouring, and we chat away the afternoon over a pot of mint tea and a massive plate of fish and chips. When I ask for toast, the waitress brings out a loaf of bread roughly the size of a wheelbarrow. “Welcome to England,” Harry says.

He’s always had a fervent female fandom, and, admirably, he’s never felt a need to pretend he doesn’t love it that way. “They’re the most honest — especially if you’re talking about teenage girls, but older as well,” he says. “They have that bullshit detector. You want honest people as your audience. We’re so past that dumb outdated narrative of ‘Oh, these people are girls, so they don’t know what they’re talking about.’ They’re the ones who know what they’re talking about. They’re the people who listen obsessively. They fucking own this shit. They’re running it.”

He doesn’t have the uptightness some people have about sexual politics, or about identifying as a feminist. “I think ultimately feminism is thinking that men and women should be equal, right? People think that if you say ‘I’m a feminist,’ it means you think men should burn in hell and women should trample on their necks. No, you think women should be equal. That doesn’t feel like a crazy thing to me. I grew up with my mum and my sister — when you grow up around women, your female influence is just bigger. Of course men and women should be equal. I don’t want a lot of credit for being a feminist. It’s pretty simple. I think the ideals of feminism are pretty straightforward.”

His audience has a reputation for ferocity, and the reputation is totally justified. At last summer’s show at Madison Square Garden, the floor was wobbling during “Kiwi” — I’ve been seeing shows there since the 1980s, but I’d never seen that happen before. (The only other time? His second night.) His bandmates admit they feared for their lives, but Harry relished it. “To me, the greatest thing about the tour was that the room became the show,” he says. “It’s not just me.” He sips his tea. “I’m just a boy, standing in front of a room, asking them to bear with him.”

That evening, Fleetwood Mac take the stage in London — a sold-out homecoming gig at Wembley Stadium, the last U.K. show of their tour. Needless to say, their most devoted fan is in the house. Harry has brought a date: his mother, her first Fleetwood Mac show. He’s also with his big sister Gemma, bandmates Rowland and Jones, a couple of friends.

He’s in hyperactive-host mode, buzzing around his cozy VIP box, making sure everyone’s champagne glass is topped off at all times. As soon as the show begins, Harry’s up on his feet, singing along (“Tell me, tell me liiiiies!”) and cracking jokes. You can tell he feels free — as if his radar is telling him there aren’t snoopers or paparazzi watching. (He’s correct. This is a rare public appearance where nobody spots him and no photos leak online.) It’s family night. His friend Mick Fleetwood wilds out on the drum solo. “Imagine being that cool,” Gemma says.

Midway through the show, Harry’s demeanor suddenly changes. He gets uncharacteristically solemn and quiet, sitting down by himself and focusing intently on the stage. It’s the first time all night he’s taken a seat. He’s in a different zone than he was in a few minutes ago. But he’s seen many Fleetwood Mac shows, and he knows where they are in the set. It’s time for “Landslide.” He sits with his chin in hand, his eyes zeroing in on Stevie Nicks. As usual, she introduces her most famous song with the story of how she wrote it when she was just a lass of 27.

But Stevie has something else she wants to share. She tells the stadium crowd, “I’d like to dedicate this to my little muse, Harry Styles, who brought his mother tonight. Her name is Anne. And I think you did a really good job raising Harry, Anne. Because he’s really a gentleman, sweet and talented, and, boy, that appeals to me. So all of you, this is for you.”

As Stevie starts to sing “Landslide” — “I’ve been afraid of changing, because I built my life around youuuu” — Anne walks over to where Harry sits. She crouches down behind him, reaches her arms around him tightly. Neither of them says a word. They listen together and hold each other close to the very end of the song. Everybody in Wembley is singing along with Stevie, but these two are in a world of their own.

#harry styles #rs #260819 #drug mention

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yogaposesfortwo · 4 years

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Teachers and Studios on Bringing Their Yoga Classes Online

If we were told a few months back that all studios would be closed, retreats cancelled and public classes banished we wouldn’t have believed it. Yoga Teachers and Studios livelihoods rely on their students to show up and when this isn’t possible, times can be worrying. It is astounding to see the yoga industry evolve to offer classes online, whole studio timetables now available online and teachers and students working together to bring yoga to our homes when we need it most. We caught up with some Yoga Teachers and studio owners in our network to hear about how they have adapted to the change. For those who are feeling overwhelmed by the change, we hope that this piece will lift your spirits – because we are all in this together, collectively hoping to share happiness, health and love to one another, however we can.

Jess Horn

What are you offering? I am offering my full schedule on line, x 6 – 8 classes a week, with live streaming, donation based classes. I’m also providing some free content including short videos and some Relaxation evenings/ home retreats which I’m hoping to help as many people as possible relax, connect with their bodies, de-stress and manage anxiety. Also to provide a sense of community and move away from fear into connecting with hope, love and the best qualities of humanity. I’m also going to put together a short course – Introduction to Meditation – for the home office – How to navigate these uncharted waters with more ease. What challenges have you faced or what have you been surprised by? I’ve been surprised at how much it’s helping people. I’m getting really positive feedback and its great to see how many people are keen to join in and embrace new technology! I have faced a few teething issues (like muting myself accidentally half way through a class!) But each time I do it, it gets a little easier! What is your advice would you like to share to other teachers and the yoga community? If you’re a teacher, now is the time for seva, (service) and your students need you now more than ever, so do reach out to them. As teachers we have the toolkit, the science of yoga, to help them to regulate their nervous system through their breath and find space and calm amongst these crazy and uncertain times. Don’t be afraid about being on line, if its new for you, it can be challenging, but start small, maybe doing a little live, or even pre-recording a video and sharing. You don’t need loads of fancy equipment, or a huge space and it doesn’t matter what you look like, just be authentically you! Remember Done is better than perfect! So move through the self doubt as the world now more than ever, needs your yoga! I know that many of us rely on our teaching for our income so do ask for a donation / payment if you’re offering full classes. Maybe offer smaller free offerings or donations for those who struggle financially. At this time we need to dig deep, double up on our self care and practice what we preach! If you’re a student of yoga, reach out to your teacher and tell them what you’d like them to share and how you can support each other. We don’t know how long this will go on for, so we need to all pull together and provide support for each other and the yoga community!

Trisha Champaneri

What are you offering? All my classes are online now – so that’s mainly yoga flows and meditations. I’ve got something going on every day as I’m trying to keep busy and my regular clients are really needing their practice more than ever. I’m streaming via Zoom and IGTV and my schedule is on my website. From Monday EVERY DAY at 8:30am, I’ll be offering a daily meditation and motivational video on IGTV. I want to help people get their ducks in a row early doors, so they align with their intentions and get the most from their day. This type of grounding work is so valuable and consistency is absolutely key. I’ve got clients that will put this on for their kids too when the schools close. Hopefully it will set the tone for the day and give some structure to the people who follow it regularly. What challenges have you faced or what have you been surprised by? Teaching online is TOTALLY different to teaching in real life. I don’t think I’ve ever fully appreciated that and I’m massively out of my comfort zone! I am learning something new with each class and it’s really giving me a sense of purpose at the moment. It’s also given me a real respect for anyone that has ever put themselves out there online and shared this type of work. It takes guts. Another challenge is the logistics of course. Generally I’m okay with tech stuff, but wouldn’t say that I’m the best, so I’m having to learn a lot on that front too. Currently I’m taking donations for classes (from those who can afford to pay) via my website, but I know that this could be a lot slicker, so I’ll aim to refine that in the next few days. Classes are obviously free for key workers. I am pleasantly surprised by the way in which we’re all supporting one another. The teaching community, small local businesses, everyone really, we’re all rooting for each other and I love that. What advice would you like to share to the other teachers and the yoga community? Wash your hands and don’t touch your face. Seriously though, If you’re thinking of doing something similar, DO IT!!!! You can set up streams for your regular students if you’re not comfortable with opening the net wider. Honestly, it’s easier to set up than you think. I’d also ask people giving completely free classes to question what that says about the value that you place on what we offer as practitioners. For sure at the moment, there will be people who cannot afford to pay and they should not have to. But there will also be people who can afford to make a contribution and they absolutely should. We are all turning to these practices to ease the heightened feeling of anxiety. How can that not be worth something? Essentially, as I am learning, you just need to back yourself and get on with it. I know teaching is a very personal and vulnerable thing, but what you offer can and will help someone. If you have the capacity to do this, then you must, particularly in this time of need and uncertainty. I wish you all the best of health and am sending high vibes to everyone.

Paula Gardiner, Space2be and The Yoga Lighthouse

What are you offering? We’re offering on-line classes to all of our members. We have also created social media groups where our teachers are sharing videos and free resources. I am in the process of expanding our on-line offering with some pop up events to learn new fun skills eg. quiz night, knitting group , arts and crafts, strictly come dancing classes (learn some basic steps). A variety of activities to keep our members active and inspired. What challenges have you faced or what have you been surprised by? Technology! Communicating with members via so many different ways WhatsApp, Texts, Social groups and making sure everyone has seen the communications! Also making so many quick decisions – not knowing if they are right but no time to procrastinate – trust your intuition! I have been so surprised how important classes are to people a familiar face. How well the on-line classes have been received. I did one I loved it. Connection is so important right now. It’s amazing what we can do in a week if we have to! What is your advice would you like to share to other teachers and the yoga community? Advice – it doesn’t have to be perfect just get something up and running asap. Keep your community close, involve your Teachers, ask for help, communicate not just email get on video pick up the phone. Think what else do customers need. Kindness will go along way so think long term not short term.

Nicole Andrews, FloYoga

What are you offering? We are running a full schedule on Zoom that is booked through mind body from Monday onwards. We started with some donation based classes on IG live for the last few days to trial out how online would work with our community. What challenges have you faced or what have you been surprised by? Really surprised by how much people wanted us to continue at home and its been so amazing the amount of support from our community and beyond practicing at such a challenging time with us and donating to help keep us alive! Challenges are things like music and how to set it up and use it online, how to see if everyone is getting what you are teaching and it is clear or the level etc in class, we hope to get some people using webcam when we go on to Zoom to combat this. What is your advice would you like to share to other teachers and the yoga community? It can be nerve–wracking especially the first couple of times, but like anything new it just takes practice and then you get more comfortable. It’s almost like a reminder of what it was like to start teaching all over again, and has you questioning everything as it’s live for the world to see! Without the ability to have live feedback from students in the room you don’t really know much till after. So really believe in yourself and what you’re doing, it can be daunting as there’s so many offerings but it’s no different to the options in person. Don’t compare yourself to other offerings online, let’s all support each other where we can and enjoy this new challenge! The post Teachers and Studios on Bringing Their Yoga Classes Online appeared first on Yogamatters Blog. Author: Yogamatters Source: https://www.yogamatters.com/blog/teachers-and-studio-owners-on-bringing-their-classes-online/ Discover more info about Yoga Poses for Two People here: Yoga Poses for Two Read the full article

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pennyfynotes · 6 years

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8.2.18 // 4:30pm // school subjects and AP exams oh my

so i recently (ok not so recently i’m sorry super busy rn) got an ask from an anon about subject specific tips and ap exams. this is the masterpost i told you to look out for ;). there are no ap exams in college, but some of the stuff is still applicable. i did my best to be as comprehensive as possible and dump everything in one place. hope this is helpful! xoxo, m ps. guess where the actual tips are? if you said “under the cut” then you’re right bc i’m predicable af

tips by subject:

languages (i took spanish): 1. flashcards are your friend. i don’t care if they’re digital (would recommend quizlet or studyblue) or paper, but they help immensely with either vocab or things like remembering literature.

2. charts are also your friend. conjugations giving you a hard time? write out a chart of the different tenses and the conjugations for each subject. put down some of the irregulars too.

3. acronyms/pnemonics are also also your friend. a lot of these already exist, you just have to go find them. i’m pretty sure i still remember what “wedding” stands for for the spanish subjunctive.

4. it’s ok to start over. it’s easy to start a sentence based on what you’d say in english. you’re doing fine until *bam* you hit that word/phrase you really need but you have no clue how to say it. whether it’s an oral or written exam, take a few seconds to think about it and, if you can’t figure it out, just back track. restart the sentence and rework it. better to do that than to lose all your time thinking of one word you may or may not know.

5. skirt around things. if you can’t remember how to say fridge but you really need to say it for something, just say “machine that keeps food cold” or something. it might sound silly, but it gets the point across and removes the road block.

6. make a list. no, not a to do list. if there’s phrases you find yourself reaching for all the time, but you can never remember, make a list of them and their translations. it might be because its a phrase/part of a sentence structure you use a lot in your native language or whatever. make that list and drill just those few phrases into your head. it’s helpful

english/language arts: 1. proofread. i guarantee you’ll find a mistake, a sentence that makes no sense, or one that just sounds cringy. thank me later.

2. have a damn thesis. its ok if you just need to write and spit words/ideas out for a while to figure it out. but figure it out.

3. conclusion ~= introduction. for those of you who didn’t get the tilde, it means not. yes, they both tie your points to your thesis but they are not to same. do not just reword the same information in the conclusion. push your ideas just a little further. i usually like the push them a little bit outside the realm of what i talked about in my paper. for example, if i focused on the first 5 chapters of the book in the rest of my paper, i’ll expand the ideas to the rest of the book. or if i’m talking about female characters and focus on just one or two, i’ll use the conclusion to potentially connect it to another.

4. have favorites. pick a few fav transitions, sentence structures, and fancy vocab words. basically build a toolbox. this way you won’t have to think as hard when you want to “spice up” your work.

5. summaries only go so far. once you get to higher level english classes, there will be a lot of analysis of specific imagery, or wording, or dialogue. reading cliff notes is only going to give you the plot and none of this. if you don’t have time to read and you’ve been assigned a pretty standard english novel/play/whatever, take the time to look up some famous quotes or symbols. they’ll probably come up in discussion and this will help you look less unprepared.

6. have on question/comment ready. if your teacher/prof is into discussions and grades on participation, it’s handy to write down one (or a few) things. it’s easy to forget what you were going to say while you follow the discussion and it sucks to get docked points for not saying anything. even if it’s just a thoughtful question, jot it down.

history: 1. lol prob my weakest subject, just go see the apush (ap us history) section bc i don’t have much more for you than that.

science: 1. back to basics. i say it all the time, i’ll say it again. really understand basic concepts. they will come back. i’m serious.

2. pattern recognition. science problems are often times about recognizing patterns. once you identify the type of problem it is, even if you’ve never seen the exact one/something similar before, solving it becomes way easier.

3. make a recipe book. tied to the last one, but once you recognize a type of problem, you need steps to solve it. go through any practice problems you’re given to determine all the “types” of problems. once you’ve categorized them, make yourself a step-by-step guide on how to solve.

4. flashcards. you’ll have to know polyatomic ions or random biology facts. see languages tip #1 for more.

5. note your errors in lab. if you do something wrong, don’t just try to brush it under the table and forget about it. not that it’s a big deal, because its not, so don’t freak out. they’re just great opportunities to note sources of error. i mean obviously dont write in your lab report that you weren’t paying attention and mixed the wrong chemicals, but something like “we may not have waited sufficient time for the product to dry” can explain why you got 800% yield.

6. have a toolkit. kinda like a recipe book, but just a collection of straight facts that come up often. knowing common molecular weights and chemical properties (is ammonia acidic or basic?) will make things go faster. like i said earlier, polyatomic ions are also great.

7. brush up on some simple arithmetic. similar to the tool kit, this will just make things go faster. being able to quickly add things and calculate easy percentages (ex: 30%) will make things like hw and exams go faster. i’m of the opinion it’s always good to know how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide w/o a calculator (on paper, not all in your head)

bonus: math #5 and #7

math: 1. see science #1

2. see science #2

3. see science #3

4. see science #4. see a pattern here? you might wonder why you need to flashcard math, but it’s good for learning equations or the names of certain techniques. if the prof asks you to solve something using X technique and you don’t know what that is, that’s gonna pose a problem. also good for the unit circle (don’t get me started)

5. figure out your speed. this is applicable to most everything, but i find it most relevant for math. is it better for you to speed through the whole exam and then do it all again/check it over 2x? or for you to take it slow so you know you got everything right the first time? personally i use the first approach, but i’m a fast taker and prefer to have time to process between repeating problems instead of staring at it forever once and never looking again.

6. science #7. a lot of teachers will expect you to be able to do this.

7. go over the material a couple times. also applicable to everything. i find it’s easier to remember things when i know that concepts are connected. you might have learned X 3 weeks before Y, but if you go back over, you might realize they’re closely related. this will help you if you’re not sure on a test because you can reason through things using the connections you’ve drawn

tips by ap course (obv look at the subject above bc i will be giving *really specific stuff* here that i’ve gathered from experience. they’re also ordered by when i took them, sorry it’s not super logical but i didn’t want to forget one)

general ap course/exam tips: 1. practice exams. you need to be familiar with what will/will not show up. you don’t always need to simulate and real testing situation, but i’d recommend doing at least 1-2 that way. also *know how many questions they’re are you so can pace yourself!!!!*

2. college board is pretty good about giving topic breakdowns. use those. go through and figure out what topics you’re solid on and which need more work. the above tip is to help decipher what the topics actually mean bc it can be confusing.

3. give the free response a quick flip through. do the ones you’re confident on first.

4. make sure you know the policies/what you can bring. don’t want to forget something. also once our test administrator tried to stop us 10 minutes early, but we were on top of our shit and all gave her a death glare bc we knew when we were supposed to finish.

ap chemistry: 1. polyatomic ions and molecular weights. know them

2. chapter/section reviews (in addition to class notes) and how-to guides. my teacher made us make them and let’s just say your girl did *really* well (and i’m damn proud of that one)

3. do a quick skim of the free response. applicable to most exams but, the year i took it, they’d just remade and re-curved the exam and put *way* too many free response. like no one finished them. if that’s still the case, make sure you do the one’s you’re confident on. also, i did not get to like 3 questions and still got a 5. they may have fixed this idk. (sorry this is redundant but i wanted to give this ap chem exam specific info)

ap environmental science: 1. there is a lot of damn information here. i would use chapter outlines and pick out key terms, policies, and events etc. treat this like a history class.

2. for the exam, use common sense. most of the time, the most environmentally friendly answer is the right one. if you just have a general gist of the course and its topics, but don’t know a lot of details, go with your intuition and you should be fine. i didn’t have a lot of time to study for this one and this method worked for me.

ap calc bc: 1. memorize standard derivatives. power rule, sin and cos, chain rule. that’s important.

2. similarly, memorize standard integrals.

3. don’t forget +c for indefinite integrals. just don’t.

4. similarly, if it’s definite, don’t forget to evaluate at the end! super easy thing to do, but also super easy way to lose points if you forget.

5. if the integral looks complicated, that probably means there’s a “trick” involved. u substitution, integration by parts, trig substitution. something like that.

6. memorize some standard series’, operations, and types (arithmetic, geometric etc)

7. if you’re looking at a word problem, understand what is dependent on your variable and what isn’t (in other words, what’s a constant). for example, if it says the water flows into the barrel at 50 mL/s and flows out at 1/5 times the volume, that translate to F = 50 - (1/5)V. don’t make things more complicated by trying to write everything in terms of V (in this example). also, your equation might just be a constant term or just a variable term doesn’t have to be both.

8. know what your derivative is with respect to/what it really means. aka if your problem is talking about flow and volume, how are they related to each other? flow is the change in volume *with respect to time*. so if i differentiate volume with respect to time, i get flow. if i integrate flow with respect to time, i get volume. this also helps you make sense of word problems.

*disclaimer*: it is been 5 years since i took this class and i have taken quite a few math classes after. i apologize if i introduce anything that is a little irrelevant.

ap spanish language: 1. flashcard. like seriously. there’s gonna be vocab involved.

2. understand what’s asked. for the persuasive email. *be persuasive*

3. toolkit. i mentioned this before but this was probably the most useful for this class. our teacher gave us a bunch of fancier words to use instead of causar (to cause) because that was a word we’d need a lot. the one that still sticks with me 4 years later is fomentar. have a few alternatives for these kinds of super common words, a good greeting and closing for your email, and a set of good transitions. *make sure you know how to use them properly*

4. write stuff down during listening. you can either answer questions during the first listen, then take notes the second to catch stuff you missed or vice versa.

5. it’s ok to backtrack in the speaking. don’t let yourself get stuck and just not say anything. it’ll freak you out for the rest of the exam and will rob you from showing off what you know. also take notes of things you want to mention based off cultural knowledge of the situation related to the dialogue.

6. don’t zone out. with everything going on and all the stress, it’s easy to zone out (esp during the conversation). don’t do it or you’ll have a hard time responding and freak yourself out (again)

7. don’t lose your place in the convo! they give you a sheet that shows you how many times the other “person” will talk. i lost track and said goodbye one segment early. it was bad ok. all these conversation tips are from personal experience.

ap statistics: 1. know the different kinds of tests inside and out. know the differences and the conditions. if you’ve got that, you’re like 75% the way there.

2. be familiar with sample vs population. it’s a bit confusing, but take the time to understand.

3. ok sorry i really don’t remember anything else. this exam really isn’t that difficult (in my opinion), you’ll be ok.

ap physics c: 1. free body diagrams. understand how to draw them *and draw them*. they will carry you through mechanics. draw gravitational force, normal if there’s a surface, and then any other given forces.

2. basic equations. you get an equation sheet, but knowing the equations means you know the concepts and the relations between them. big ones are f=ma and the equations relating position (x), velocity (v), and acceleration (a). also friction f=uN.

3. *normal isn’t always the opposite direction of gravity!!!!* gravity is straight down. normal is perpendicular to the surface.

4. vector components. please don’t just add vectors. break them down into components and then add or you are so fucked.

5. get familiar with triangles. this will help with the whole component thing.

6. kirchoffs rules are so helpful. know them.

7. understand the relations between voltage/potential and current in terms of the properties of circuit elements. that means the equations for resistors, capacitors, and inductors.

8. know how to add in parallel and series. it’s important. also! if the circuit is drawn “weird” a good way to know series vs parallel is that parallel elements share two nodes and that series circuits only share 1.

9. sorry i kinda blocked out E+M bc i didn’t know what i was doing (or so i thought). i still got a 4 tho so that curve is generous.

ap us history: 1. chapter outlines. pretty self explanatory.

2. make a timeline. put important events, sentiments, policies, and presidents. if you can associate these things together into time periods it will be easier. most of the time, any one question (esp long response or whatever they’re called) will only focus on 1 time period.

3. sentiments are important. if you know nothing else, know these bc they will help guide you through questions by reasoning even if you know nothing else.

4. gilder lehrman (or similar us history summaries). these are tailor specifically to apush bc they are organized by period (i think that’s what they were called?). i actually fell asleep listening to these bc i didn’t have time to study. they were mildly helpful, but every little bit helps right?

ap psychology: 1. chapter outlines/flashcards. this course is based heavily on key terms and less so on larger concepts.

2. ok sorry i took this online i remember literally nothing except how annoying my teacher was and that the exam was easy. if you know terminology i think you should do fine.

ap biology: 1. there is a lot. go through all the topics and make sure you’re solid. start with the big picture, then think about narrowing down.

2. know how charts work. things like pedigrees, punnet squares, and evolution trees (that’s def not the right term). some of the exam will just be interpretation of this.

3. i am so sorry i remember nothing else.

ap spanish literature: 1. flashcards. title, author, time period, short summary, key elements (a line, character, symbol). this is *so helpful*

2. think about the works in relation to each other. you might be asked to compare them. even if they ask you to compare something on the reading list with something new, you’ll be familiar with the points you might talk about.

3. know the lit terms. more flashcards. associate them with a particular work if you can/need to.

4. don’t freak on the listening. a lot of the recordings are old and shitty quality. take a deep breath and try your best. know that the rest of the test takers (excepting maybe natives) are experiencing the same thing.

5. use that tool box. see general spanish and ap spanish lang.

this is so freaking long and i think the moral of the story is that i blocked out my senior year ap exams. i hope this was helpful and, if you have more questions, or want more stuff like this, let me know!

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sanerontheinside · 6 years

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Hi! You mentioned in one of your posts that you're taking a class that makes you think about the relationships between American school and American government, and that sounds a lot like a class that I would be interested in. What class is it? I'd like to see if I can find something similar. I'm trying to train myself to think critically about debate and politics and culture and... all the things that help people understand complex issues. Do you have any other suggestions of places I could go?

Hmmmmm…. This is… going to be a bit difficult.

Ok, for one thing, it’s a grad course at my local university, and the program I’m in is Masters of Arts in Teaching. It’s not really one out of a standard class set.

For another: while the class has spent some time focused on how government, democracy, and policy affect schools, the actual goal of the class is to examine how media representation presents schools, and how that affects people’s attitude towards schooling and teaching.

However, I can probably recommend some reading.

Here’s an online course I am kind of curious about. It sounds more relevant to what you’re looking for than my class, I’d say. You will be able to audit the course (the certificate for a verified course usually costs some money, but the audit is free).

Check out other courses on edX, too: it’s a good site for online learning, basically a pool of free online courses made public by various universities. (Harvard also offers a course on American Government, which I’m enrolled in for shits and giggles, but haven’t done more than take a cursory look at thus far.)

Here’s a link to a google drive folder that contains some articles from my class, if you’re curious. I would say some of them are pretty good reading, but I’ve listed a basic summary of each one I uploaded below the cut. I haven’t gotten to all of them yet, though, so I can’t actually be 100% accurate about what’s in each.

Now, of course, since it’s academic writing, quite a bit of it is pretty dry and dense, which especially applies to the first three listed here:

The Hochschild files (read): discuss how, in theory, education and democracy/social structure should interact and better each other.

(A required text for my class, one which unfortunately you have to pay for: Is Everyone Really Equal? by Sensoy and DiAngelo)

(if you’re curious, that link is for Teacher College Press, they have an ebook for a grand total of $27.96. They’re also the only ones I’ve seen offering an ebook. You will need another app, though, to actually read the file: ADE)

Anyon is a study of 5 elementary schools which shows how education is stratified by social class.

Brookings “Big Government” explains (loosely) how the government funds programs.

Democracy and Freedom (FH-FITW) index (read): these are pretty clear, though—it’s the study that compares democracy and freedom between countries. You might’ve seen a post running around tumblr that says, for a country with such a loudly touted democracy, the US sure scored a bit low—this is that source.

American Citizenship “Counting on Character” is an article on a charter schools

Larabee (read): is about the differences between public and private education. This one plays into our actual course goal a bit, because the entire business of school reform is criticised right there on the very first page, as it’s a very media/propaganda-directed process.

Measuring Democracy (read): is godsawful dry. This was mainly assigned to give us an idea of how many types of democracy there are actually. As such, our assigned reading was pg.253-end, so, don’t fall asleep.

A couple of nytimes articles are listed: First Amendment Support and Preparing Students for a Complex World (read), highlighting some interesting generational differences between current teachers/adults/millennials and Gen Z kids. Surface stuff, tho, like our preferences for social media, concern for privacy, and interpretation of the First Amendment—less about why these differences exist.

Parker Against Idiocy (read): before you go getting any ideas about what idiocy is, in the context of this paper—

Idiocy shares with idiom and idiosyncratic the root idios, which means private, separate, self-centered — selfish. “Idiotic” was in the Greek context a term of reproach. When a person’s behavior became idiotic — concerned myopically with private things and unmindful of common things — then the person was believed to be like a rudderless ship, without consequence save for the danger it posed to others. This meaning of idiocy achieves its force when contrasted with politēs (citizen) or public. Here we have a powerful opposition: the private individual versus the public citizen.…An idiot is one whose self-centeredness undermines his or her citizen identity, causing it to wither or never to take root in the first place.

Putting Democracy Back into Public Education (read): bit of an economic perspective, and a focus on why democracy should be a focus in schools.

Westheimer and Kahne: more on what makes a good citizen

Young Citizens and Civic Learning: another research paper, on how to teach civics in the digital age.

To be honest, I don’t know precisely how much these readings line up with your interests? They’re mainly theoretical, and mostly geared towards pedagogy. Some make for pretty good reads, tho.

I’ll probably add some more as we go through the class, and as I do my own research, but I’m leaning more towards curriculum structure/design at the moment. Plus, there’s the finicky part where my content area is mathematics… and that’s not… precisely… very policy related.

… CORRECTION: Math content is heavily politicised and people keep trying to regulate math education and curriculum structure and keep trying to reinvent the wheel, here. But in the more general sense, while it’s an example of policy impacting schools and teaching, it’s less about government control of a school as a whole.

Basically what I was trying to say there was it’s less relevant to my class, but it would serve as a good, and very in-depth case study, if you were looking for a very specific example.

The things to keep in mind: what you’re looking at is a highly intersectional topic. So many things have an impact on the way we teach: media reporting on teaching and current events, economic goals and its current state, policy, etc.

Fun fact: you know how we rank countries by the number of students who pass standardised exams out of high school, yeah? Well. A side-by-side comparison of the exams and the topics tested actually shows that the questions European countries consider ‘qualifying’ are easier: they test lower-level topics than the US exams.

What does that tell you?

It’s a stupid, non-standardised study, your groups are non-comparable, your variables have no damn relationship to each other.

But someone reports that the US is lagging behind in Math and STEM becomes a huge deal and Music and Art programs are poorly funded and businesses like Pearson benefit because they have a monopoly on tests, and we push kids into STEM fields because that’s feeding the current job market to bloating while telling them they can’t get a job with a liberal arts degree.

Furthermore, education is an immensely powerful tool. It has been used (still is!) to destroy upward mobility for the working class, for people of colour, for people in poor rural areas. You can harm so many people by simply not mentioning something (erasure), and hey, it’s not like teachers get much time anyway because they’re supposed to be preparing their students for qualifying exams that permit the kids to advance to the next year.

And let’s not forget that at some point it was a popular notion that these exam results would be used to control teachers’ pay. The exams weren’t even designed to be used for that.

So, everything you’ve ever learned about setting up scientific studies and doing statistical analysis? Yyyyeaaah… well the current White House sure ain’t heard of it, you can bet your last dime, but whoever was doing studies on education before them also sure as shit was not the CDC.

Just.. every now and then, stop, breathe, throw out everything you know, and then keep going.

#brrrrppppfffft... the new life of saner?#education and pedagogy #reading and resources #stuffs #have fun?#this is probably too much Stuff #I'm sorry #Anonymous

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philippaoliver · 4 years

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This Article Will Change The Way You Think About Clickbait Forever!

(Originally published during my time at The Leith Agency, in September 2017)

I was recently perusing the latest Teen Vogue political journalism masterpiece (no, really). When I came to the bottom of the article, I was greeted by the usual suggestions of other articles I might want to read. As always these days, the titles were clickbaity.

Part of me — a large part, the part that’s usually dominant — is screaming words dripping in sarcasm. Lord forbid I’m making an eyebrow mistake! But there’s another part, the one that’s normally buried deep down, asking if there even are 15 mistakes you can make with eyebrows, and then again what if my eyebrows are a bit shit? And so I click. And in a new tab I also open the one about the benefits of sleeping with my hair in a bun because honestly, I’d love to read the opinion of someone who is probably equally as unqualified to talk about hair as I am.

(Fear not, it turns out my eyebrows have not undergone any major catastrophes.)

But why did I click? I knew perfectly well that it’s not a subject I’m particularly interested in. Anyone who’s ever met me knows my usual aesthetic is ‘scruffy at best’. I also knew that it was clickbait, and that the contents would be disappointing. And yet, here we were. Again.

So, deeply disappointed in myself and coated in my own self loathing, I did some digging, and it turns out there’s actually a fair amount of research on clickbait (it was even mentioned on a recent episode of QI) and it’s fascinating stuff.

Is anyone immune to clickbait?

We all know someone who, whenever the subject comes up, will smugly proclaim ‘Oh, I never click on that rubbish. I can’t imagine why anyone would.’ They’re just better/smarter/savvier than that. But the truth is that we know clickbait works. There are whole websites that rely on it and reputable news publications are increasingly using it to pad out their offerings and increase website views.

Diply claims to generate 1 billion video views on Facebook and 150 million unique website visitors per month. Given that they sell advertising space, it’s fair to say that clickbait is big business. So claiming that clickbait doesn’t work just isn’t going to cut it with me and the science backs me up. So what are the key reasons clickbait works?

Curiosity and Dopamine

Studies have shown that the reason clickbait is so alluring is partially down to dopamine responses (the body’s reward system). So if someone’s claiming to be completely immune, chances are they’re either lying or joyless. Dopamine is the chemical in our bodies that makes us feel good, and the levels of it rise when we find something good. It’s hella addictive. But interestingly, we release dopamine in anticipation of a reward, not when we receive the reward itself.

Kanye’s probably immune to clickbait.

Additionally, dopamine is the impetus to do the work to receive the reward (in this case, clicking the link and navigating through sixteen pages of pop-up ads and auto-play videos). So we don’t actually need to see the cute or funny or shocking thing in order to feel good about it, but feeling good about it is what makes us click the link in the first place. So those particular clickbait headlines, the ones that add a “#23 will appall you!”, are especially effective; it’s anticipation that keeps you clicking through.

And even worse, we’ve been set up by our own bodies. Dopamine levels grow even higher when there’s a chance that there won’t be a reward at the end of our work (as we all know there probably won’t when it comes to clickbait). Psychologists and neuroscientists call it intermittent reinforcement. When we introduce a ‘maybe’ factor, that addictive surge fills us like never before. This explains gambling, but it also explains clickbait. We’re addicted to the fact that maybe it won’t be good. We’re slaves to our own curiosity.

The Information Gap

Further to this, behavioural economist Loewenstein describes an ‘information gap’. This takes a similar approach in that it has the same end point — that curiosity, and especially its intensity, is driven not by the satisfaction of obtaining information, but by the pain of not having it. There is therefore pleasure in the anticipation of obtaining it.

Studies have also found that guessing and feedback increase curiosity. In a sense, many clickbait headlines pose a question (What do these child stars look like now?). Readers may have an idea of what the answer is and, by internally guessing, their curiosity increases. The information gap has now widened to include whether or not they’re correct.

In studies on deprivation, researchers have also found a link between deprivation and impulsivity. Loewenstein links this to the impulsivity we see in curiosity situations; we’re curious when we see clickbait so we impulsively click on it, without stopping to consider if it’s clickbait. Anyone who’s ever fallen into a Wikipedia hole knows this to be true — you go on to find out whether cuttlefish sleep and through clicking on interesting links somehow end up learning about the black market organ trade, also reading about every living member of the Dutch royal family on the way.

Actual footage of me in a Wikihole.

The Language and Tropes of Clickbait

It’s all well and good to understand the dopamine responses that curiosity elicits, but how is curiosity elicited in the first place? The headlines of clickbait articles are written in such a way as to pique that curiosity, and the pictures are too. One of the major tropes of clickbait is a partially obscured picture — clearly linked to copy that throws up an information gap (You’ll Never Guess What This Teacher Bought For Her Class! I Was Shocked!), but with the information gap part obscured, only increasing the urge to click.

Writing these headlines is not so much an art as throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. With the rise in technology, websites can serve you the same article with 20 different headlines and simply eliminate all but the one that works best. Nevertheless, there is skill attached to good clickbait headlines, and you’ll also see certain ways of phrasing used repeatedly. These often take advantage of the things we’ve mentioned above: information gaps, taking advantage of emotion (including disdain) and using lists.

But it’s not just the content of the headline that draws you in, and what’s particularly interesting to me are the ways in which grammar and semantics are manipulated to grab your interest. Clickbait headlines frequently follow specific patterns, which are really odd compared to everyday language. They often refer to a specific person or persons by only a pronoun (e.g. he, she, they). That’s super weird when you don’t actually know who they’re referring to. In linguistics, it’s called a deixis: it’s a word or phrase that cannot be understood without further contextual information.

Consider the two following headlines, both clickbaity:

1. ‘She Gave This Bear A Pair Of Headphones… What Happened Next Will Shock You!’

2. ‘A zoologist gave a grizzly bear a pair of headphones… what happened next will shock you!’

While it’s written in an annoying way, I’d argue that the first is more successful in grabbing your attention and getting you keen(ish) to find out more. This is for a number of reasons, but key among them is the use of deixis. There are a couple of ways deixis are normally used — anaphora and cataphora — and this headline sort of defies both of them.

The first headline would be completely normal in situations where there was some text preceding it, which explained who the reference was in ‘she’ (e.g. ‘A zoologist was doing some research on grizzly bears and their reactions to music. She gave…’). This is called anaphora — where the deixis in a sentence or clause refers to some information that came before. That’s fine. We’re cool with that. Cataphora is sort of the opposite — it’s where a deixis refers to some information which will come later in the discourse. It’s a little stranger to explain, but it happens a fair amount, especially in rhetoric, literary prose, or storytelling. The reason it happens more in literary prose and story telling is that it adds an element of suspense. We’re also pretty cool with that.

What clickbait does is to separate the deictic words from their cataphor — you’ll find out what they refer to, but only if you click on the link. It’s not something we normally see, so it throws you off a little bit. And like an open bracket that never closes, it makes you a tiny bit stressed. We’re not so cool with that. By not giving up that contextual information we need to understand ‘she’ or ‘this’, the headline effectively and infuriatingly adds further curiosity.

What does this actually mean, though?

As advertisers, we cannot ignore the fact that clickbait exists primarily to allow its publishers to thrive on advertising money. In a sense, we fund and pay for clickbait (and as part of that, fake news). Guilty as charged, we’re proliferators of evil (but we already knew that). A question to ask ourselves is whether we’re able to reclaim clickbait and harness it and its techniques as a force for good. So what, if anything, can we learn from clickbait?

Loewenstein suggests that the information gap could be used to motivate learners in educational settings, by drawing attention to what they don’t know. It’s an interesting point, and could hint towards clickbait as a force for social good. For those of us in the business of behaviour change advertising, there are real questions to be asked about whether we can learn from clickbait in inciting our targets to learn for themselves. Am I suggesting that the answer to all social good is clickbait? Absolutely not, it’s still fairly abhorrent, but I do think there are learnings to be had — certainly in terms of our approach and possibly from the way we use language (even if it’s just manipulating cataphor better).

It may also be useful when we’re trying to solve particularly modern problems. In our recent campaign for the Scottish Government, our aim was to educate the Scottish public about the introduction of new legislation against the non-consensual sharing of intimate images (NCSII) — commonly known incorrectly as revenge porn. NCSII is not a new thing — people have been doing it since we had cameras — but it’s become more of a problem in recent years due to the ease of dissemination through internet channels. It made sense that we would talk about it on the same channels our audience are likely to encounter it and proliferate it, and potentially in the same salacious tones that make people so morbidly fascinated by it.

In came clickbait.

With headlines like ‘Her Boyfriend Shared This Video Of Her Online…You’ll Never Guess What Happens!’ (spoiler: he gets arrested), we infiltrated our targets’ newsfeeds with authentic looking clickbait to pique their interest and get them clicking. On the other side, a ‘trojan horse’ ad — starting off looking like an authentic homemade video (we shot on an iPhone 4), we see what looks like the beginning of a sexual act, with our female actor placing handcuffs on the wrists of our male actor (who, for authenticity, was also the cameraman). A quick cut later and the fluffy handcuffs have been replaced by real ones, his girlfriend by a stern policewoman.

A still from the campaign. By luring people in using curiosity gaps and the implied promise of the very thing we’re legislating against, we hope we can encourage them to examine their own behaviour (which will ultimately prove more effective than lecturing and finger wagging). Companies are already using clickbait to sell their products, I can’t help but wonder if we can use it in a more worthwhile way, as we did for our NCSII campaign.

Given that viewing clickbait is itself viewed as a shameful act, can we use that to our advantage, to access topics that people find hard to talk about? Clickbait taps into morbid curiosity, it’s car crash internet. Let’s take a long look at how we can take advantage of that, rather than simply dismissing it as an annoyance to avoid. I’m not saying clickbait is good, or even that it’s not annoying, but it’s unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon — so let’s at least take it seriously (even if it does make our copywriters want to vomit).

And to finish on a lighter note, my favourite piece of (parody) clickbait, which delivers on its headline in spectacular fashion by presenting you with the entire text of Moby Dick: ‘The Time I Spent On A Commercial Whaling Ship Completely Changed My Perspective On The World’. Plus, my current favourite Facebook page, TL;DR, who helpfully summarise clickbait articles so you don’t have to click on them. Not all heroes wear capes.

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comicteaparty · 4 years

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June 8th-June 14th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from June 8th, 2020 to June 14th, 2020. The chat focused on Devil Tongue by Samuel Soto-Saines and Lucas Soto.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Devil Tongue by Samuel Soto-Saines and Lucas Soto~! (https://deviltonguecomic.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until June 14th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

1. I really appreciated how this comic felt really authentically shonen manga right off the bat without feeling tropey or overwrought. 2. I liked when the protagonists confront the ghost in the theater. I just really enjoyed the ghosts dialogue and dramatic jestures. 3. Moira is my fav so far. She's got a sword and seems capable, though is also still an apprentice so I'm looking forward to seeing how she grows.

boogeymadam

1, ALL THE CATS!! :D but more seriously, the way the characters are introduced through their job, and yet their personalities still shine through~ 2, i liked the scene when they're leaving the Lemaire house and walking on a dark misty neighborhood street at night. It's so atmospheric and perfect for their discussion on what kind of ghost their target might be, as well as what kinda threats it may pose :0 3, I can't decide, they're all interesting. Leera was introduced last but I like her enthusiasm! 2, Moira and Leera during the scene where Moira is explaining tinctures to Leera. Moira's so goal oriented and focused while messing with some apprently-very-dangerous stuff and Leera's just trying to avoid boredom. Moira seemed patient of Leera (for the most part) and willing to explain stuff, which was cool. It made me smile. 5, Oh Man, a lot!! The lines are so very clean and precise, every characters' silhouttes is distinct. It's hard to pick which page is my favorite, but I'd have to say https://deviltonguecomic.com/comic/chapter-01-page-32/ because of all the dynamic angles and expressions on the characters. 6, Pupils taking over from the mentor. I like how Emery is allowing his pupil, Moira, to prove herself, and she seems extremely eager to do so and also: good at it! I can only imagine what Emery is like at this job :0 8, A fun and classic premise of paranormal investigators, of a sort, but with magic of their own, making it even more interesting. It's easy to root for the protagonists and feel curious about what got them into this business, or what they were like before they reached this level of fame and skill. And also, there are talking cats!! Huge draw!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I agree with your #6 Boogey. I do really like how Emery is like "I'm just here to mentor, this is Moira's job." I like seeing the apprentice really get to take point on the mission. I did see though on the cast page that Emery's magic type is just "?????" which definitely makes me what to see him throw down some magic now XD very curious what it is

boogeymadam

OHHH i hadn't spotted that! a secret, how exciting :0c

copperine (Lady Changeling)

I'm not familiar with this one, but I'm intrigued now (and should stop reading this channel till I've read the comic...)

I'll read in the morning and try to give some thoughts

RebelVampire

What I like about the beginning is the character development. Cause we get a lot of it and find out things like Emery being an ex-magician, his relationship with Moira, etc. Yet, at the same time, the plot is not sacrificed and the story is still moved along smoothly, which is a great balancing act. My favorite moment in the comic so far is actually all the times Emery feigns that he doesn't care but then we get those shots of him peeking and spying. I find those adorable but just also really nice character moments. My favorite character at the moment is Emery. I like aloof characters and he fits that bill. I also like his general cynicism about life. Emery is the sort of character who I'd have as a friend in real life. XD As for characters interacting the most, probably Leera and a combo of Emery and Moira. Leera has pretty different motivations for being there, is somewhat opposite in personality from the main pair, and just all around adds an interesting dynamic too the group that kind of makes certain elements of the story seem more grounded. I really just in general love the comic's linework. Not only is everything super clean (making the action easy to follow), but it really knows how to bulk up the shadows to create specific atmospheres that really work for each panel and add so much to each scene.

In terms of themes, I like that the comic somewhat explores with Emery the concept of what to do with your life after your previous life fails. I think we all kind of like to believe we'll do X forever and X comes to define us in a lot of ways. But then suddenly X might not be there and it's like, what is life now? How do I deal with life? And with Emery, I do think we get to kind of experience one path that kind of takes. What I like about the comic's overall content is the...strange mix of fantasy and realism. I can't really put it into words. Like this is definitely a fantasy story, yet there's elements of realism thrown in I wouldn't expect. Like things are almost scarily normal in some respects like the houses or journalism, etc. So everything about the world really intrigues me since it feels super unique in tone. Finally, for strengths, I'm referring back to the art here. I think the atmosphere the art adds to each scene really helps give the comic that extra oomph.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Everyone's covered all the stuff I like about the characters, so let me just throw in some extra praise for the backgrounds. Those elaborate buildings! That towering opera-house interior! That one sequence with light streaming through elegantly-patterned windows!

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. What do you think Emery did that caused him to be exiled by the Magician Order? How does this factor into his general cynicism and bitterness? Also, do you think Emery will ever be a magician again?

11. Besides following Emery and Moira around, what role do you think Leera will have in the story? How might Leera’s presence hurt or help the duo on each case? Also, how will Leera change as she experiences things firsthand?

12. How do you think Moira and Emery will resolve the haunted opera house situation? Can the kidnapped girl be saved, or is she truly gone forever? Additionally, what other sorts of cases do you expect to see after this one?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

RebelVampire

Honestly, I get the impression that Emery was good but also just a rebellious rule breaker type. So he probably got exiled for just not fitting in with the club regardless of anything else he might have done. Which to me would explain the cynicism cause it would show him how much of life is just a popularity contest. As for being a magician again, maybe, but the bigger question is would he want to? My current theory for Moira was that she's just ill-suited to the order. I'm sure she's heard awful things about it from Emery, so why join team lame when you can join Emery and be on team winner. As for how Moira will grow, I think she'll just learn to take things a bit more seriously and mature (though probably still pretty happy and excited). I've talked about Leera a bit already, but I think her major role in the story is the grounding element and reader's eyes. Cause someone needs to ask questions for the readers, and I think that will be Leera. But in terms of plot, I also think Leera will just help them get more work by spreading their name to lands far and wide. I think in terms of how Leera will change, I think mostly she'll maybe find better things to publish about and the power she wields with words. I think the kidnapped girl can be saved, but that it needs to be done quickly. As for how this will ultimately resolve, I assume epic battle followed by emotional ghost revelations. As for other sorts of cases, I actually am expecting lots of drama ones with heavy emotional reveals from side characters. I could be wrong, but that feels like the route the comic is going. O_O

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Ryccomics

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic? Very good dynamic introduction between Moira and Emery. Very quickly and effectively I understood Emery is an older cynic, and Moira is the energetic and out to prove herself. 2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)? The magic reveal of what the potions/chemicals do is fun. I do not really understand how they work at this time, and I don’t really need to. 3. Who is your favorite character? Mauretta, she’s a lot of fun in design, and she gets to talk more than usual character type. I’m not sure what this character type would be called, but I’m going with person who starts the Scooby Doo mystery. 4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most? Moira and Emery have good chemistry. Having the young rookie be more powerful than the experienced partners adds to the dynamic. 5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

So much going on in this panel. All 5 characters are doing something. 6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores? I don’t have an answer yet, because how this encounter goes will shape the narrative, everyone could die. It could be resolved peacefully, it could wrap like a monster of the week story, or lead to bigger things. 7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content? I like the map in FAQ area of site is cool. Gives information for those who want it, but can be safely ignored by those that don’t. 8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are? I like your line art, a lot. The silhouettes read really well. And when working in black and white having distinct shapes is so important, you’ve color code your characters. 9. What do you think Emery did that caused him to be exiled by the Magician Order? How does this factor into his general cynicism and bitterness? Also, do you think Emery will ever be a magician again? I know from the Cast FAQ, he broke their laws, in what contest will tell a lot about Emery and the Order. I am a little unclear what the Magicians are at this points, how powerful they are in this society. Are the Magicians outside of the Magician’s order?

10. How do you think Moira became Emery’s apprentice despite Emery being an ex-magician? Similarly, why do you think Moira hasn’t joined up with the Magician Order? As the story develops, how do you think Moira will grow and change as a magician? I think Moira will have to confront what caused Emery’s cynicism. I expect she will get more powerful as the story begins. 11. Besides following Emery and Moira around, what role do you think Leera will have in the story? How might Leera’s presence hurt or help the duo on each case? Also, how will Leera change as she experiences things firsthand? I Leera’s role will be mainly to ensure the characters get back onto the plot. Most stories have some form of this function, whether it is the Greek gods, a ticking clock to motivate the characters to act right now Given she works for a newspaper, she can prod the characters to do news worthy things. 12. How do you think Moira and Emery will resolve the haunted opera house situation? Can the kidnapped girl be saved, or is she truly gone forever? Additionally, what other sorts of cases do you expect to see after this one? I feel it will have a happy ending, monster defeated girl saved. This is because the character dynamics would change really drastically if Moira had to confront extreme darkness so early, she would get cynical. 13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic? Will be interesting to see how the combat functions with regard to group dynamics, are the other characters going to plan a part in the combat, or are they on the sidelines. 14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic? I was sad when it ended.

RebelVampire

I am looking forward to finding out more about Emery and what Emery is capable of despite the circumstances. As for final words, this is just a lovely comic with tons of unique aspects about it that I really like.

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Devil Tongue this week! Please also give a special thank you to Samuel Soto-Saines and Lucas Soto for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Devil Tongue, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://deviltonguecomic.com/

Devil Tongue’s Story: https://deviltonguecomic.com/store/

Samuel’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sainezart

Lucas’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/lucaswordcraft

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic bookclub #webcomic book club #comic tea party #ctp #devil tongue #samuel soto-saines #lucas soto

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tuchimuchibrainvomit · 7 years

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EPISODE 3:

Aloha, fellow Sakuga Seedlings!

Welcome to my case study series, Brain Vomit.

Name’s

Tuchimuchi Yoshinori – or just Tuchi…

And I enjoy animation. Especially animation from the eastern archipelago of Japan, also called “Anime”!

In this series, right here, I’ll be exploring Japanese Animation Production and enlightening this growing community and myself to the power they have in this expansive animated medium.

For today’s episode, I’ve chosen to discuss one of our most important topics that I’d love to talk about in great detail. And I want to be as sensitive and open-minded as possible, so please do not take what I say as any standard or absolute. This series is meant to enlighten, not to judge or criticize. But today, I want to discuss character design -- !!

I hear you, I do, but there is a reason why. Hold your horses, guys!

So, Character Design---We understand the basic logistics, yeah? A character design is simply that, how a character is designed. What aspects of the character give them individuality and what aspects help relate to the world/culture they live in.

Are they young? Old? Human? Furry? Tentacle Monster? Whatever.

These are just the basic ideas...

Character Design is something some people understand it well and others… not so much. I refrain from putting up examples of bad character design as not to offend anyone. But, often things can get lost, over done or just a bit... lacking creativity.

Hence why today, I want to focus on breaking down character design--and not Character Design in a broad spectrum, but Character Design with the Animators in Mind.

Animators in mind meaning...?

Oh yes, character designing for an animator -- streamlined, easy to animate consistently and efficient.

So. let’s start broad and narrow it down, to help reinforce the points I want to explore…”

Q: What makes good character design overall?

First of all, I hate the idea of “good” or “bad” character design. It’s less about being good or bad, as those are more opinionated, rather more of a design being “successful”.

Depending on your perspective, design can be merely the aesthetic choices or a solution to a problem. But in reality, it’s a marriage of the two.

A: Since this is more opinionated than definite and I am not a professional by any means. Based on a multitude of different opinions across the net and through some readings that I’ll like below, these are the main 5 factors that in my opinion make for a successful character design:

1.) Silhouette

2.) Aesthetic and Style

3.) Reproducibility

4.) Exaggeration

5.) Fungibility

Let’s break all of this down…

Silhouette: The most straightforward. A silhouette is the basic structure of your character, most easily expressed when put into shadow or overlaid with a color that gets rid of lineart and detail.

Let’s perform a -- Silhouette Test-- on some characters, which I believe are all well designed.

(Insert silhouettes here)

What is the Silhouette Test? It’s simple really, take a character -- or a bunch. And turn them completely black, a silhouette. I recommend choosing a pose or a model sheet where the action does not overtake or mask important parts of the design.

Ask yourself these questions:

-- Does your character stand up to the silhouette test?

-- Can you tell which is which in a crowd of silhouettes?

Yusuke Murata of One Punch Man remake and Eyeshield 21 fame is known for having interesting background characters in his work -- fleshing out his world a bit.

Now see if they stand out from each other and that of it’s contemporaries. If you can tell who a character is from the silhouette, congrats. You have the makings of a successful character design.

However, remember context is always important! Silhouette is not the end all be all.

Let’s try it out! Or better yet, let Extra Credits explain it every better with video!

youtube

(Check out their stuff! They have some great videos on Game Design)

There are many things that can help an artist create characters with different silhouettes.

For example:

-- Use different blocking shapes to build your character. Start simple and grow into complexity. Honestly, simple is always better.

-- Use the shadows of other objects to your advantage.

-- Study body types, I hear a collective group groaning--No. You can’t have every girl have the same huge boobs and not every guy can be a bara wet dream, if you want interesting and differing character designs, variation is very important -- OMNI-IMPORTANT -- even, let’s put ‘Omni” in front of it. This not a difference of opinion, this is just the basics of broad character design. I won’t name names, but many artists I love, realistically speaking, may not be good character designers--And that’s OK!

Build with shapes. Understand shapes and how they come across to the eye, I recommend this video by SuperEyePatchWolf to even go into that better than a couple of words from me ever could!

youtube

A bit of a tangent, but more my opinion: Here’s where Furry characters have a strong advantage, they can use animalistic features like ears, tails and muzzles and exaggerate them to make a more interesting silhouette without building up all this detail. Because I’ll be frank -- more detail to clothing and face without changing it’s shape is not gonna make your silhouette any stronger.

So when I see furry designs that are basic with just a lot of color or patterns, it doesn’t really work. As the silhouette test takes out the tertiary details and focuses on the form. If you’ve never heard of a sparkledog -- you are blessed.

Moving on!

Aesthetic and Style: This is where you get to get your creative side on. Be creative and show off your individuality! But focus on the character, think of their background and personality, make sure those are congruent to the world you are trying to build. This is where CONTEXT MATTERS!

Ask yourself these questions:

-- Do your characters have a distinct look? How does it compare to others with similar influences? How does it compare to my influences?

-- Can you tell what style is yours based on how they are drawn?

-- Does my character stand out from other characters I’ve designed?

-- Does my character's identity come through the basic design?

If so, then you passed! You probably have a strong aesthetic, and you may have also avoid plagiarism charges from other artists…

Seriously... I 100% understand having influences, but the “discount this artist” isn’t super appealing. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but at the same time -- most artists want to be seen for their individuality. Quite the double-edged sword. I recommend exploring yourself and your influences and expanding. Find new things in the world that intrigue you. Becoming better as an artist and designer is about exploring the world and yourself.

Always bloom proudly, as I like to say.

There are many things that can help an artist create characters with different aesthetic and styles.

For example:

-- Try understanding body differences and get creative with it. Life drawing. Life drawing is a necessity. Even if you cannot get into a class, sit outside and doodle people and their behaviors. There are plenty of sites with life drawing models with set time limits. I’ll put some links right here!

-- Understand character development. Understand your characters. A nerd probably wouldn’t have a suede jacket, a smug grin and greased back hair, unless the point of that character is dissonance of appearance and personality (And no, not all of your characters need to be this convoluted, most designs to speak for themselves. But in terms of audience expectations -- they should be able to tell some truth from a character’s appearance, Use those aspects in design.)

-- Keep your character simple before building complexity. Starting complex may leave you more in a rut than one would at first think.

-- Study other artists’ styles, study styles of art in general! You may find something that inspires your direction in design aesthetic.

-- And stay passionate about what you do. It’s very easy to compare yourself to others in a destructive way. I won’t be that guy that says “always be drawing” as sometimes we all feel unmotivated from time to time and that’s OK. That’s life. But keep your mind active and be aware of both the self and the outside world. In the age of the internet, it’s easy to forget what fresh air smells like.

I believe every artist has a personal style inside of them that they can use to split themselves off from their inspirations. But in my opinion, when artists begin to blend, it screams red flags about those artists’ potential being wasted -- so the harder you experiment and learn from reality, the better off you’ll be in the long run.

I know, I didn’t hold any examples here -- but there’s no way to define what is a good or bad aesthetic. It’s all subjective, so that’s up for you to discover.

Third,

Reproductibility: Can you draw your character easily -- as in like 5 minutes maximum? This is more of an animation perspective, but if you cannot draw your character over and over again in quick succession, you may want to rethink your design.

(Burnout is plenty possible in any situation. Simplicity is merely a way to keep things moving.)

Is your style easy to emulate, but unique? You may have a style built for animation -- but with that does come danger from plagiarists. I know, I’ve been talking about it a lot today. And while I have never had the first hand experience, I’ve observed the feelings and it’s not a positive one. Maybe it’s out of my own fears in that regard. Who knows...

Character design. It’s a balance, really.

Repetition is key. That’s why simple is always best.

Got it down? Then you can design reproducible characters!

Things that can help you design reproducible characters:

-- Find things that flow with your hands. These characters will be drawn thousands of times, you need to enjoy drawing these characters!

-- Keep things simple, but not too simple that it loses aesthetic and style.

-- Look at model sheets and understand them. These are not tours to drive you to their destination, rather guides to finding the path for you.

Yeah... Reproductibility... This one isn’t too long or complex. Anime, while a bit full of it’s own tropes, tends to have great character at its best. While they may differ from the manga they may be adapted from, it’s all for the sake of animation in the end. As decades go on, anime is only getting better on a technical level.

Simple, cute as hell yet badass in it’s own right! I have a bit of a thing for PreCure, especially Heartcatch PreCure! (This is Princess PreCure, don’t judge me!)

Moving on!

Next up: Fourth,

Arguably the most important in animation (as it is also a PRINCIPLE OF ANIMATION, see Episode 2 for more) is Exaggeration: This is how far your character can go before they become unrecognizable. No matter how they are drawn, you should know which character this is at all times. This is CRITICALLY based on the last three concepts.

How do I know if my character can be exaggerated well?

-- Keep your designs unique, reproducible and simplistic.

-- Learn about the basic animation principles.

-- Experiment, Experiment, Experiment! Get wacky with it, try drawing them in another person’s style. Can you still identify them?

-- Draw them in different poses and angles! You want to be able to draw them from any angle be it worms-eye, bird’s eye, dutch, over the shoulder... These are more filmography terms, but the point still stands. Animation is just film where your camera is imaginary and based around composition.

I may get some heat from this and there is a video that I’ll link that goes into pretty much all the points and go check out their stuff but -- Steven Universe while I love it -- does suffer from composition deficiencies... It comes off as if they cannot draw their characters from experimental angles and foreshorten well. There’s a reason why Mindful Education is such a successful episode composition wise -- Takafumi Hori is miles beyond the level of the Crewniverse in terms of raw animation skill and experience. Most high quality action shows take a lot of inspiration from anime in terms of composition because it set some lofty standards, which dates even further back to Asian action cinema then to American cinema and Disney.

It all comes back to Disney -- my mortal frienemy.

Anyway, got the basics down? Got your character take to the level that they can do anything in any way possible?

Then good, you can exaggerate your design because it’s very strong!

What if I need help exaggerating my character?

-- Don’t be so stiff. There’s a reason why Ash’s design was changed in Pokemon Sun and Moon! This is one of the major reasons why!

-- Imagine how they’d act in different scenarios… Now dial it up a notch! Get crazy! Artistic technique can be taught, but creativity and passion are talents! Animation is not for the faint of heart, but don’t give up if you feel the fire and desire in you! Chase it!! That’s why I’m here, encouraging more animators to flourish.

Lastly and an odd case,

Fungibility.

Fungibility?

Fungibility is the congruence and comparison between an outcome and the effort or resources put into it.

Think of a game for an example, let’s say Pokemon. This game is fungible to me in that the time I got out of it outweighed and exceed how much I put into claiming it. It was about $40-50 for Pokemon Sun and Moon and once the credits rolled and I reflected, I found it a worthwhile experience for how much I paid (and the effort the creators put into it to even have it exist on a shelf.)

It was Fungible.

How does this work in character design? Ask yourself this:

-- Do I like this character?

-- Do I love this character?

-- Do I love this character enough to put hours into drawing them over and over again?

If you said “Yes” to ALL of these, then you understand the fungibility of your characters and aesthetic.

There is no real way to define an individual’s fungibility in a concept or character design. It all comes down to learning about yourself and what you--yes, YOU, find enjoyable in your art. Most animation is made to make a buck--but great animation is made because you wanted to make it and enjoyed it.

That is what makes animation truly fungible.

Now, let’s take these broad concepts and narrow them down to an Animator’s perspective.

Imagine it:

You have to draw this character for a 12-episode anime, each episode 22 minutes working on an average of 24 frames per second (the number of drawing that make up a second of time is 24, but limited animation techniques allow many ways of working with this).

That’s about 31680 frames that you may have to draw this character. Which do you think will be easier and more flexible to be animated. If you don’t believe me, the Canipa Effect had a great video about it that I’m linking down here!

youtube

While both are designed for animation, if you chose the Sun and Moon design, then you better understand character design from an animator’s perspective. While subjectively, it may not be the most appealing (or you are clouded by a sense of nostalgia, which only dillutes creativity.) Thinking about it objectively, animation serves a purpose, even as small as being a stupid comedy or trying to tell a wholly intertwined narrative.

Opinions aside (I F**KING LOVE HIS REDESIGN) -- it is undeniable the success of Ash’s Sun and Moon redesign for OLM’s production of Pokemon. It shows in how the show is animated -- it is an animated series after all with many passionate staff members including Masaaki Iwane and Ken Otsuka to name a few.

Just watch the openings between each Generation.

Even if you think he “looks bad”, these are things to pay attention to and learn in Ash’s Character Design and its redesign:

-- What is the series trying to accomplish?

-- What has this series been notorious for?

-- What does this redesign change about that?

-- How successful has that been?

Character design to an animator is OMNI-IMPORTANT (there it is again, heh) hence why we are hitting this after Animation Principles -- because they need to be able to draw this character in any situation in any view, have them look cool while doing it and make sure that they understand the physics around the world this character lives in.

You may see people bring up poorly drawn in-betweens and the like during a critique of a new animation style (especially in Pokemon and Dragonball Super) but in those critiques, it is easy to tell the person does not understand how animation works. While having every frame be perfect is ideal, the focus in animation is not each still rather how they flow and convey movement. If you want fantastic stills read a comic. They are designed to look good when still.

When designing for animation, think of these:

-- How far can this character look off-model before it’s too much?

Let’s dip into that right quick. Off-model. The statement that a certain image or frame doesn’t match the model sheet. And in my opinion, it’s more contextual. For example, Naruto vs Pain... It may be off-model -- but it’s well animated... You love it or you hate it. But it’s important to understand it.

-- Have much can each piece be exaggerated?

-- What pieces are the most important to keep the overall design intact? This is where simplicity is important. You can warp a scene as a stylistic choice, but you know a character is strong that even when distorted, the character design is still clear. This ties back into silhouette.

The character designer has to be able to not only do all of this, but also know it from just a glance!

That’s crazy, right?

So, make sure when designing your characters for an animation screen, keep these things in mind.

Now then, what problems come from badly designed characters?

Well, let’s look from two design problems that are common in a lot of artists, once again, these are more my opinions than definite fact:

There is Over-Designing -- Where the character’s abundance of details not only make an animator’s job harder, but also shows terrible design sense.

And Under-Designing -- Where character designs blend without detail. Showing that there is not been enough detail in basic form to be unique.

What do I mean by Over Designed and Under Designed?

In simple terms, adding way too much to make a character stand out when the problem is on a design fundamentals level. This is often attributed to very erratic and complex clothing, patterning or other non-silhouette affecting changes.

Note: If characters aren’t supposed to look alike, make them look different. Just changing their clothes or hair without changing facets of their form and silhouette and saying from a stylistic perspective that these characters are very different is bad design. Period.

(I’m throwing the shade at you Negima, but you aren’t the only member of this trope... I honestly enjoyed you when you got to be an action series instead of a harem.)

Look up Six Face Syndrome for a more detailed analysis. TVTropes is an ally.

A good way to fix this is often the silhouette test. Try doing a base silhouette too, removing clothes and hair to the central design. How much is the silhouette different without the clothes and hair?

Now add the clothes back, how much has the silhouette changed?

Now add the hair, how much has the silhouette changed?

If the only differences are seen from the hair and clothes, you may want to rework your design.

Who doesn’t like swag though, but this shouldn’t be the only distinction between characters.

By Under Designed, the context is that not enough detail is there to make characters stand out.

This can often be from a lack of interesting silhouettes as well, but also can be from not enough detail. It’s definitely harder to under design compared to over design, but Six face syndrome is often a sign of Under Design. Once again, if I put up an example of a “bad design” it’d get too subjective...

I knew this episode was gonna be more dice-y...

OK. How can I work on characters that are under designed?

-- Look back at that Aesthetic and Style note from earlier. These are the essentials in adding the right things to an under designed character, taking them from bland and forgettable to great and memorable.

It’s truly a balancing act of not too much detail to become forgettable and frustrating to draw, but not too little detail to make characters blend in with each other.

My best advice is look at artists that truly have mastered this concept as well such as Character Designers in most well received anime.

For examples:

Sushio: Character Designer for Gurren Lagann, Panty and Stocking and Kill La Kill.

Toshihiro Kawamoto: Character Designer for Cowboy Bebop, Golden Boy, Noragami and Kekkai Sensen.

Chikashi Kubota: Character Designer for One Punch Man, One Piece Movie 6 and Robotic; Notes.

Akio Watanabe: Character Designer for the Soul Taker, Bakemonogatari and Popotan.

… And this is only scraping the tip of the iceberg.

All of these artist come in many shapes and forms from Sushio’s ability to exaggerate his designs, to Kawamoto’s realistic, sexy and cool designs, Kubota’s ability to make important features stand out and Watanabe’s soft and moe, yet varied designs.

But something important to notice is: ALL of these designers are veteran animators. So they understand what a design needs to both stand out and look well when animated.

Even in adaptations of existing manga, the Character Designers must be able to adapt characters that looked great in still images to look great in motion. Hence why illustrators and mangaka are most often NEVER Character Designers in Anime, but know that this is not mutually exclusive.

There have been a few healthy exceptions, i.e.) Shirow Miwa, character designer from Kiznaiver is an illustrator for the group Supercell.

“Well, I think that’s enough for one day…

Next week, I think I’ll take a break and just kinda relax a bit. I’ve been hella busy with adult life things. But I’ll be back at the end of the month with Episode 4. It’ll be a hefty one -- Where I can start diving into Sakuga and seeing how liberal I can get with “defining” tropes...

Ho boy -- why do I put this pressure on myself...?

ON THE NEXT BRAIN VOMIT!!

EPISODE 4: LIMITED ANIMATION -- THE BASICS, THE MASTERS AND THE STYLE OR I LEARN HOW TO CREATE ANIME SLANG FOR AN AUDIENCE...

I CAN EVEN DRINK SODA WHEN I WANT TO! JUST WATCH ME!!

Remember: Always bloom proudly,

– TUCHI OUT!!!

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theplaguezine · 5 years

Text

IRON SAVIOR

Interview Piet Sielck by Daniel Hinds

(conducted May 1999)

Piet Sielck may not be a household name quite yet, but he has been involved in the metal scene since the late 70s. Joining Kai Hansen in an early version of Helloween, he dropped out of the music scene for a while, recently resurfacing with the stunning Iron Savior not long ago. Quickly following up that success with the equally impressive Unification album, Iron Savior are quickly establishing themselves as one of the world's leaders of top-notch melodic speed metal.

Taking a break from his work on the next album, Piet was kind enough to answer a few questions for me...

Could you give me a run-down on what you did between the time you worked with Kai before Helloween and when you put together Iron Savior? Since 1987 I worked as a sound engineer and producer. I worked with bands like Blind Guardian, Grave Digger, Saxon, Uriah Heep, Domain, lots of not so well known acts and of course Gamma Ray.

What was the genesis of the name Iron Savior in the first place? In our teenager days we had a song with that title. I always liked the name, so 15 years later I made a new song being inspired by those old times of my life. Since it was the first song I really finished up for the IS#1 album and I wanted people to understand instantly what this band is about I choose the name Iron Savior.

What has inspired the sci-fi themes of the two Iron Savior albums? All the Star Wars movies, all the Star Trek movies and TV shows and a probably in the US unknown German sci-fi story called Perry Rhodan. It appears weekly and gives you 64 pages. The series is on since the early sixties and by now they must have reached their two thousands edition.

The story-line on both Iron Savior albums is pretty elaborate. Have you done any or thought about doing any serious fiction writing (short stories or a novel maybe?) The whole story started as a novel I wanted to write. When I was working with Blind Guardian in Denmark on their Imaginations...album I usually worked at night with quite decent spare time in the afternoons. To fill this time I started writing this IS story, but I never finished more then 50 pages…But this was or still is the basis of all what is happening on the two albums storywise.

Who are some of your favorite authors? Frank Herbert's Dune is simply the best!

The production on Unification is excellent. Could you tell me a bit about how the whole recording process went? Somehow we never had any major problems. All of the material was recorded and mixed on Pro Tools, a Mac based harddisc recording platform. I just love this system. Except for the drums and the bass guitar (which were recorded in a different studio) all the stuff was put down in my little place. We choose a different recording situation for the drums and the bass because we needed a studio with a big and nice sounding recording room. But after that no super big recording facilities are needed anymore so we moved back to my place. This is the real cool side about this computer systems. Wherever you put them up you can do state of the art recordings then load everything in your car and go some place else. But also performing the song as a band who has been on tour together made the production really tight and punchy. I gave the musicians a lot of freedom how to perform their instrument for the simple reason that it is THEIR and not my instrument. This was a great way to work.

What is the typical creative process behind an Iron Savior song? Usually everything starts with a guitar riff. This decides about the general attitude of the song. Weather it's gonna be aggressive or more melodic. After that I try to think of a good chorus, because this is the most important part of a song. After that I come up with verse and a bridge. If the song is still working and I am getting gooseskin it can stay. If not…do it again, Sam.

Do you ever come up with material that you like but doesn't quite fit the Iron Savior sound? Yes and no. Somehow if I like something I was always able to make it fit to IS. I really hate to be restricted in that matter. If I like it, it stays. It then will automatically become IS like.

I like the fact that Iron Savior's music is very melodic yet retains plenty of speed and heaviness, too. Is it important to you to have that balance? Yes, indeed. I hate to be to linear. In my music I always want to create a good balance of everything I like. Even with ten "killer songs" it would get quite boring if they were all in the same speed for my taste. I definitely try to avoid this.

Glad to see the cover of "Neon Knights" - so many people overlook the Dio-era of Sabbath and it is my favorite. What inspired you to cover that particular track? I have to admit, that I never was a big Sabbath fan. I always had problems with Ozzy's voice. But when I heard that Dio joined the band I went to the record shop and bought the album right away. When I later on at home listened to the first track, I knew instantly, that I' just bought myself a killer album. Together with "Heaven and Hell" "Neon Knights" always was my favorite track of the Sabbath/Dio era.

How did you come up with the idea for the band competition to have a track included on Unification? At first we just had the idea to work with local bands to open the show, then we thought about turning it into a band-battle and give this price of releasing one track on our next CD. The general idea behind it was, to give young and unsigned bands a chance to promote themselves in a way, which usually would not be possible for them. In our early days we would have loved a thing like this…

How did your last tour go? Very well, even though Kai couldn't come with us. We got lots of positive reactions and the people really liked our show. I was very surprised about the fact, that people accepted IS without Kai just as well as with Kai. But for our next tour in August or September Kai will be with us again since he then has finished up all his G-Ray work.

What kind of a set-list do you play live? A good mixture of the first and the second album. Atlantis Falling, Iron Savior, Brave new World, Riding on Fire, Watcher in the Sky, For the World, Coming Home, Brothers, Starborn, Eye to Eye, Mind over Matter, Deadly Sleep, Prisoner of the Void, The Battle, Unchained and some surprise tracks…

In almost every photo I've seen of Iron Savior, the band is smiling and seems to be enjoying themselves - not the usual overly serious or pissed-off metal look. Is that intentional or just coincidence? Well, that's just the way we are. Music is fun and we enjoy ourselves very much when we perform music, so it's quite natural to see us most of the time with a big grin in our faces. We do take our performance very serious but the fun factor for IS is very important. Posing and looking mean is also OK but we just prefer a natural presentation since we don't have to act.

Since you seem to be skilled at a number of instruments, I am curious which one is your favorite to play? Why? Guitar and Vocals. I always saw myself as a guitarist and vocalist. I just learned to do some keyboards because it's quite useful for the composing process. As a guitarist I am able to play a bass guitar, but a real bass player still is a different thing. He really has a different attitude in playing HIS instrument. So I am quite happy, that I not longer have to do it by myself.

How did you first hook up with Blind Guardian? When I was working on the first G-ray CD Kai told me about a studio guy who wanted to move his studio to Hamburg, my home town. So I visited him and we agreed that I will assist him with his upcoming production. The guy was Kalle Trapp and the production was BG Tales from the Twilightworld. So I recorded all of the guitars for this thing, all the keyboards and also did all the backing choirs (together with Rolf Köhler and Hacky Hackmann). During the production we really started liking each other and somehow I became the guitar/keyboard/choir man for BG.

Is the climate for metal in Germany better these days than in the past or not? Do you guys get much radio or video airplay? The climate is a lot better than it used to be three years ago, but still HM is a very specific music with a very specific market. It is quite popular but not in terms like Phil Collins or Michael Jackson. Also the radio situation in Germany is quite different from the US. Somehow ALL stations broadcast the same, boring mainstream stuff. Top 40 and that's it. They're all afraid to loose their listeners and the advertising money when the play non-mainstream stuff. That also goes for TV . There's only ONE show, that plays HM stuff. So we are still hoping that the maker of all these programs will understand, that HM has come back to the peoples mind…

What are some of your interests/hobbies outside of music? Surfing, frensh billiards, books, movies, traveling, having a private live with my family and meet friends.

www.iron-savior.com

#Iron Savior #interview #may1999

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ruffsficstuffplace · 7 years

Text

The Keeper of the Grove (Part 81)

Winter was taken off the sedatives, and thankfully, Abner had a device that could siphon it all out of her system and was no more invasive than the vitae vines. She had her reservations about letting symbiotic plants take root in her body, especially ones meant to suck out her blood, but it wasn’t as if she could do much of anything while her head was swimming.

She was still woozy after, but a cup of “black moss” tea solved that.

Winter cringed and gagged after only a small sip. “Oh, wow! This is really powerful stuff...” she muttered, before she reluctantly took a second sip.

“Only the best for the makers and watchers working through the night, and the next day, and sometimes the next night, too!” Abner chirped. “I’d offer the vast variety of flavourings and ingredients the Fae have for making the experience more palatable to your specific tastes, but I do believe that it’d be best if you keep your intake of Valley food and drink simple.

“You do have the ‘Iron Stomach’ mod but I don’t think they were thinking of anything even close to what you’ll find here...”

Winter nodded and tried to make it through the rest of the cup. “Gah!” she cried as she stopped half-way through. “Queensguard would kill to have this stuff, it could probably wake the dead!”

Abner chuckled. “It has, actually! Though the process wasn’t as simple as brewing the deceased a cup. If you have need of a palate cleanser, I can make you one of my favourite foods: pancakes!”

Winter nodded, her eyes squeezed shut. “Please, and thank you.”

“I could go for some myself,” Weiss added.

“Then please follow me to the kitchen!” Abner said as he began to march out of the infirmary. “Though there might be a short delay while I help Penny get some upgrades, then get my racket ready...”

The sisters looked at each other, then back at Abner. “Your racket…?” they asked.

Flip! Whap! Fzz…

Weiss and Winter watched from Abner’s kitchen table as he cooked pancakes on his giant, Victorian Era style stove, by pouring batter with one of his spider limbs, holding the skillet and tossing half-cooked pancakes into the air with one of his humanoid hands, before smacking it back down with a tennis racket in his other hand.

“That’s... quite the way to cook pancakes...” Winter muttered.

“It was how Ily preferred me to do it!” Abner hummed.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just flip it over with a spatula?” Weiss asked.

“That’s exactly what I told Ily, actually!” Abner replied. “But then she replied, ‘Why do it the easy way, when you can do it the fun way?’”

“Well, I never did learn how to perfect the art of flipping pancakes—even now when I can fine-tune my movements down to the most precise parameters for some bizarre reason—but damned if this didn’t put a smile on her face!” he said as he put the pancake onto a waiting plate, before pouring out another.

“You and…” Winter struggled. “… Ilaya… were very close…?”

“Absolutely!” Abner cried. “She was about the best friend I’d ever had, Fae or human…” He frowned. “… Probably ever will, but that’s not the kind of talk whilst cooking breakfast—especially Ilaya Style!”

Flip! Whap! Fzz…

“Besides, why focus so much on the past when you’ve still got your present to attend to, and a parole to get off of at that?”

Weiss nodded before she turned to Winter. “What are the terms of yours, anyway?”

“Almost exactly like yours, actually,” Winter replied. “About the only differences are that my visits to this ‘Weaver’s Terrace’ were already included outright, and I don’t have to live in Keeper’s Hollow, given who your parole watcher is...” she shuddered.

Weiss frowned. “Ruby’s not that bad, sis...”

“And none of the Keepers were, either!” Abner said as he put the pancake onto the growing stack, then poured a new one. “I say this having babysat the current one, lived with a previous one personally, helped raise her children, and then their own children when they grew up to have their own!

Winter sighed. “I’m starting to realize that, but it’s not like lifelong trauma goes away like magic...”

“You’ll get over it eventually!” Abner said. “My own experience with Ilaya was initially absolute terror and paranoia until she consistently proved she meant me no harm.”

“But not any time soon, that’s for sure...” Winter muttered.

Flip! Whap! Fzz…

“So does this mean you’re going to be living away from me again...?” Weiss asked.

Winter smiled. “No, actually—we could get a place of our own in the Bastion! We’ll probably have to stay at Keeper’s Hollow for a while I go house-hunting and get adjusted to life here, and we’d probably have to make all kinds of compromises for the sake of both our paroles…

“… But from what Abner’s told me, I’ve come into quite a lot of money from that Soul Eater I killed, and our human governments definitely don’t say no to a little extra funding, I don’t see why the Fae would be any different.”

“They aren’t as easily swayed by just money, actually, but given your combat skills, your magical capabilities as is, and your being a former Rank 7 Queensguard, I can see you easily taking on high risk-reward jobs at the Watcher’s Roost,” Abner said as he put the pancake onto the stack, got a new plate out as he poured more batter onto the skillet. “Everything the Council does revolves around keeping the Fae safe—be they from predators, human kind, and especially themselves.

“They never really stopped being a species of highly aggressive and violent apex predators who value strength and authority above all else, you see—and given the regular dangers Avalon poses to both our species, I can’t really blame them!”

Flip! Whap! Fzz…

Winter smirked. “Then it’s a good thing the Queensguard prepared me for anything!” she turned to Weiss. “So, what do you think…?”

Weiss looked down at the table.

A place of their own, just the two of them living together plus one or two watchers with them full-time like at Keeper’s Hollow… but then she thought of her farm and her laboratory, of the time she spent training, working, and having fun with the others, and finally, about Ruby.

“… I think I’d rather not,” Weiss said as she looked up. “I’ve got a farm to tend to, and a share of a loan to pay back...”

“The one you used to buy those tickets to Candela?” Winter asked. “Weiss, I can pay it all off if I wanted to—the bounty I received for that Soul Eater’s head was massive! Well, proverbial head, anyway...”

“It’s not just about the money situation, Winter,” Weiss replied. “Even if I’m still not sure how I feel about Ruby anymore, the others are still my friends, and I guess… Keeper’s Hollow is my home now!”

Winter frowned in worry. “Are you sure…?”

Weiss nodded slowly. “I’m sure.”

Winter squeezed her eyes shut, before she let out a heavy sigh. “Alright…! Not ideal, but… I suppose I could make it work, get used to living right next door to my the living incarnation of my nightmares...”

Weiss reached out and touched her hand. “There’s a tree growing out of the roof of the barn, and the makers made it so we could build a house on it. Then we’d have a place of our own still!”

However small, Winter smiled back. “Yeah… I think I can work with that...”

Abner finished up the rest of their pancakes, served them then excused himself to go back to work. “Lots of things to do, now that we’ve got a brand new arms race on our hands with the Heralds!”

“How are you planning to fight them, if I may ask?” Winter asked as she began to butter up her pancakes.

“I’d love to explain, but that would be time better spent developing new magitech to do just that!” Abner said as he put his cookware in the sink and stowed away the rest of the batter. “Don’t worry yourselves too much about it, either—generally speaking, the Order of the Seekers have ‘got this.’”

Winter frowned. “And who are the Seekers in your society, exactly?”

“In a nutshell: Black Ops. Spies, assassins, SWAT teams, propagandists, moles, and controversial research and development divisions,” Abner replied as he tossed his apron down a laundry chute. “All hush-hush, for obvious reasons…”

“So your version of the Queensguard,” Winter said.

“Precisely! Who knows? You might be able to join their ranks one of these days!” Abner said. “Farewell, Weiss, Winter! I hope the next time I see you two will be for casual chats over tea and biscuits!”

“Goodbye, Abner!” “Farewell, Doctor—I mean, Maker Abner.”

They both started on their pancakes. They were actually quite good, especially with the honey and butter provided, and the grid marks from the racket were purely cosmetic, but they found they couldn’t really enjoy them.

“I don’t like this, the Council keeping so many secrets and giving all these half-truths...” Winter muttered as she handed the butter over to Weiss. “Though I do suppose it makes sense, considering I’m a prisoner of war turned conscript, and you being… uh... well...”

Weiss sighed as she took the butter from her. “Are you really sure you want to have this conversation, Winter?”

Winter nodded. “As the Queensguard say: the best way to face awful business is one after the other for as long as you possibly can, because it’s going to be so much worse if you take your head out, get some fresh air, and realize you still have to plunge it back into the thick of it,” she said as she poured honey over her stack.

“Besides, I’m your older sister! We should be able to talk about these things! And to be honest, I still feel incredibly guilty for never really being there for you when you first started dating…”

She forced a smile. “So, how is your relationship with...” she struggled visibly “… Ruby, anyway…?” she asked as she passed the honey over.

Weiss took the jar from her, frowned and looked down as she poured it over her stack. “It’s… not going well right now. I’m not even sure if I want to stay in it, what with everything I’ve learned…” she muttered as she put the jar away.

“You want to hear my opinion on it?” Winter asked as she cut into her stack.

“Sure.”

“I think you should take a long break from each other, step back, cool off, and examine what you two are exactly, what you two need, and what really has been going on here once the emotions settle down; speaking from personal experience, I’ve made some people do some very crazy things for ‘love,’ even if it was never reciprocated, or genuine on my part,” Winter said, pointing her fork at her before she stabbed her pancakes with it.

Weiss nodded. “I think I will… this past month has been crazy...” she muttered as she began to cut into her stack.

“You can say that again!” Winter before her food into her mouth.

“Okay, so what if after we cool off, how do I decide if I still want to try a relationship with her? And let’s ignore the ‘fate of the realm really, desperately hinges on my having a Keeper baby with Ruby’ part for now...” Weiss said, before she did the same.

Winter chewed, then swallowed. “You can use my criteria for a healthy relationship.

“What’s it based on?” Weiss asked when her mouth was empty.

“Simple: everything grandpa and grandma’s relationship was, and everything father and mom’s relationship wasn’t,” Winter replied as she put her utensils down. “Want to hear it?”

Weiss nodded and did the same. “Let me have it!”

“First and foremost: is Ruby honestly, genuinely in love with you? Are you sure she isn’t in love with the idea of you—say, ‘rescuing’ a damsel in distress and getting her to fall in love with her ‘saviour’—some aspect of you that they could easily get from someone else, or worse yet, using you for an ulterior motive?”

Weiss looked down at the varnished wood of Abner’s kitchen table for a long, long while, before she faced Winter again. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“And do you love her back in the same way?”

Weiss turned her eyes back to the table, and thought for much, much longer. “… Yes, yes I do...” she said without looking up this time.

Winter’s eyes opened wide in horror, before she took a deep, calming breath. “Okay! Second: do you feel that Ruby respects you? Does it feel like she cares about what you think, how you feel, what you believe in, in word and in deed?”

Weiss thought back to Ruby’s determined but ultimately ineffective and misguided attempts to end the expeditions into the Valley peacefully. Her holding her hand and leading her through the entirety of the hot springs to the private baths, then her voting with Penny to cut their time short even if it meant greatly annoying Blake. The first time they kissed, where she saw how nervous she was, asked if they wanted to stop…

… And all the many other times that Ruby clearly, happily did everything in her power to make sure that Weiss was comfortable, happy, and safe, even if forces outside of her control like Jacques were making it extremely difficult.

“Yes.”

“Third: if she has ever hurt you or done you wrong, intentionally or not, has she shown genuine remorse for her actions, made honest attempts to make it up to you, and is taking clear, obvious action to prevent something like that from happening again?”

Weiss thought of Ruby’s visit to her the night after Winter was hauled away by the Queensguard. Her going out of her way to convince the Council, the Watchers, and presumably the Seekers to let her send out one last message to Winter, even if it meant possibly exposing her ‘death’ as the fraud that it was and causing the Fae a whole lot of problems. Her entering Winter’s cell because she had demanded she do it, even though they all knew and she would later proved that she was still going to do her damndest to vaporize Ruby, because that was likely the only way they could get Winter to surrender peacefully and not risk the severe consequences of forcing her out of the suit.

Though to be fair, Ruby probably knew she going to get out of that just fine, like she had with the Tinmen and their shotguns.

“Yes.”

“Fourth: do you feel like you could live without her? That whatever it is she’s providing you, you can get it yourself, or you can find it with someone else in a non-romantic relationship? Be it intimacy, someone to confide in, or even just day-to-day living?”

Weiss thought back to her second week in the Valley, and her first few days out of jail. The disaster that was the Job Gauntlet. Ruby encouraging her to go into farming. All the help, support, and friendship everyone else had willingly extended to her, and that she’d only just started giving back to—and that was largely because she was a weaver, a gift that they couldn’t have known or expected from her until all those disasters after she invoked Talos when she shouldn’t have.

“Yes.”

“Fifth: do you feel as if you two are equals? Is there anything that you feel might make it so that she’d be able to have power over you, or vice versa? And if there is, would either of you willingly use it to lord over the other to the detriment of the other and the relationship?”

She thought back to all the power Ruby had stored in that tiny frame of hers, the sway she held in Fae society. How she only ever resorted to the threat of killing her because Weiss had, how she was so reluctant to hold the fake scythe to her neck, how even though she could have easily overpowered or threatened and forced her to action on so many occasions, she simply chose not to.

“Yes.”

“Sixth: do you feel like you can compromise with her, and she can compromise with you? Yield and give as appropriate? Can the both of you willingly make sacrifices for the sake of the relationship?”

“Yes.”

“And seventh and most importantly… can you be vulnerable around her? When you let your guard down, when you put down your walls and let her in, when you’re at your worst and nothing is going right, what do you expect her to do:

“Protect you, respect you, and understand what you are?

“Or attack you, break you down, and remake you however she pleases?”

Weiss didn’t even need to think of it: “Yes, the former, and always.”

Winter sucked in a deep breath, and let it out very slowly. “Well…! Judging by my criteria, it would seem like yes, a relationship with Ruby probably would work out! But, with three very important caveats:

“One, she isn’t human, the Fae clearly have very different standards to what we’re used to;

“Two, it’s in all the Fae’s interest that you two get together and make some Keeper babies, which is why they will unquestioningly support a relationship between you, and the events concerning how you met and originally got together are questionable, at best;

“And three, father pretended to be the perfect lover then husband and son-in-law for years before he showed his true colours, and however doubtful it may seem, Ruby and the Keepers might just be as adapt at playing the long game like he is.

“So I suggest you wait and think long and hard before you do anything involving her, especially a relationship,” Winter finished.

“I’ll give her a year, I suppose,” Weiss replied as she did the same.

“And don’t be afraid to change your mind or extend that date whenever!” Winter cried. “This is a lifetime of potential regrets, plus your children’s, if you do have them...”

“I will, and I know.”

Winter nodded. “Good!” her face softened. “And if you need to talk to me for advice, or for any other reason—really, anything at all—I’m here for you, alright…?”

Weiss smiled. “I know, Winter.”

“Good. Now let’s get back to breakfast...” Winter said as she picked up her utensils, and tore into her pancakes—all that talking and thinking had taken up a lot of time.

“Hey Winter…?” Weiss asked.

Winter looked up, her mouth full of food. “Hmm...?”

“I love you.”

Winter smiled, teared up as she rapidly chewed up her food and swallowed. “I love you too, Weiss—whatever happens, and whatever this madhouse throws at us next.”

“It’s one hell of a rabbit hole we’ve both fallen down in...” Weiss muttered as she picked up her utensils.

Winter nodded. “Indeed. But just know that unlike Alice, you’ll have me with you every step of the way from here on out...”

#white rose #the keeper of the grove #fanfic #rwby

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unigotchi · 6 years

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DES 102 Week 5

When I was creating these characters, I spent the two hours in lesson time just writing up ideas for them, as I do not think I am very good at art and rendering my ideas to paper (or screen). I didn’t really intend to use 2 hours on this but that’s what I did. I will include all my writing in the Read More section, but here is the information requested.

I chose a post-apocalyptic setting, mostly based on the book series Mortal Engines, a series set after a nuclear apocalypse destroyed the world. The series starts off with a group of people living in the wreckage of London, which is almost exactly the basis of my character design location as well, with the minor difference that in Mortal Engines, cities are mechanical, and move around like giant animals, eating each other for resources.

I’m really ashamed of the quality of my images, and designs, and ideas. So, sorry.

I started with creating the vague body shapes of the two characters. At this point I realized just how similar my concepts were to Roadhog and Junkrat, two apocalypse survivors who live in a destroyed city and travel around together, from the game Overwatch. My main excuse for this is that their archetypes are so, so common that it would take a long development process to make pair of characters where the main contrasts are weight and height.

These characters are yet unnamed, and little detail can be made from these images. The left character is designed to be more square in visual design, to represent how set in her ways she is, and how she doesn’t want change. She is sturdy, and capable of taking hits, and her two main weapons are a pair of industrial strength scissors and a crowbar. She does not use these much for melee, instead they are used in dismantling nearby rubble to use as makeshift bludgeoning weapons.

The character on the right is designed to look a lot more unbalanced, and top heavy, to represent how she wants to change the world and does not mind if that changes her too. Her tools are her backpack, which she uses to store materials she has scavenged, and her spanner, which is used to create small simple robots that become brief allies in fights.

I haven’t learnt much about Illustrator since last week, just that layers are much harder to manipulate. In all honestly, I just wanted to get the visual designs over with as soon as I could because I hate drawing, but I don’t think even with more work the characters would be much improved.

Below are all my notes that I wrote down when designing these characters. It’s in Read More cause there’s a hecky dang lot of it and you might not want to waste your time.

Post Apocalyptic

Potential for conflict between the characters

One is quite satisfied with the way the world is now, and one is trying to go back to how it was before the apocalypse. Their two ways of fighting might get in the way of each other at the beginning, with the large bulky weapons potentially breaking or undoing the work of the intricate mechanisms, and the large fighter would have to avoid hurting the small techie. Obviously these difficulties would be overcome further into the game as they learn to synergise with eachother, and also the player would get tired of having to control to opposing forces which are constantly putting each other at risk.

Opportunities for both characters to demonstrate unique strengths and weaknesses

Obvious size and body type differences are an easy place to start, with one being able to perform tasks (break walls, slip through cracks) that the other cannot. But it can go deeper, with the technician (they need names) being so obsessed with returning to the past that they cannot see the positives of life here and now, the scrapper struggling to cope with seeing remnants of the past as they explore over because of the guilt and resentment these images bring up.

Who

I mean they’re both clearly gay and I’m having that right here in this document so on the off chance these ever become real characters I can shove it in the face of people who try to deny it. Additionally, there are plenty of ways to explore transgender stuff in a setting where societal norms have just absolutely collapsed, and I cannot name a single trans protagonist, so I think if scrapper was trans it could present some things to explore in her backstory, but would not need to affect the present day in any way.

I’m struggling to come up with names because while I want to be racially inclusive, I don’t know HECK about different names culturally and I would like their names to have some kind of meaning. And right now I have up the ‘top 60 popular indian girl names of 2014’ and I don’t think that’s the best way of deciding names, so I’m going to leave them blank for now.

They would have an age difference, not too extreme but enough to justify the different ways they reacted to the apocalypse. I think the scrapper lady would be older, perhaps about 20-21 at the time the apocalypse took place, leaving her at around 30 now. The technician girl would have been about 14-16, leaving her in her mid-20s by the time the game takes place. This age difference creates a dynamic of having one person knowing what the real world was like, and was still coming to terms with losing the rose tinted lense of being a child, so she was living in the harshest time of her life. This contrasts with the other person having experienced a mostly positive and supporting world, and being angry that it was taken away from her before she could complete her life goals.

Their key relationship, as I said earlier, is definitely going to be each other, but maybe at the start they don’t have much more than a friendly acquaintances partnership, or perhaps even just ‘together by necessity’ (I still don’t know what that necessity is). In terms of family, I think having a very sparse group of people they are related to by blood, perhaps just the scrapper lady’s father and a sibling for the technician. I think outright stating that the rest of their families were killed would have a small effect on the player, but at this point ‘dead family’ is a little cliché and I’m not interested in a ridiculously tragic story, despite the setting. I think a general idea would be that, as society fell apart, so did social norms of relationships and family, with plenty of families completely splitting apart and losing contact. Despite what I just said about tragedy, this could lead to another contrast between the two main characters again, with the technician only realizing 16 years into their life that their parents were only together for the sake of their children, and that the family was highly strung up on high achievement and was not particularly close otherwise. Her only remaining brother could be disabled in some way, perhaps having ADHD, which in the old world would have been a burden in schools and maybe could be explored as a way of showing just how abusive techie’s parents actually were. I don’t want disability to be seen as a burden though, I want him to be succeeding in this new world, however the ways he thinks affects him. On the opposite end of the parent-child relationship spectrum, but still exploring abusive relationships, I think if the scrapper lady’s parents were some kind of British equivalent of an American republican, I can’t think of a name for that type of person in England, but when I reread this I’ll know what I mean. Maybe they were a very loving family, but were also a very hateful group of people, and scrapper didn’t feel like she fitted in. I think her father wouldn’t realize who she was in the new world, as she came out only after the family had collapsed, and he would be a low tier society member because of his beliefs that he still holds onto.

Their upbringings could dictate their motivations, with techie believing her perfect family can still be resurrected by returning to how the past was, and that everything can be fixed by innovation, contrasting with scrapper recognizing a lot of the rotten parts of the past for both herself and other people, knowing that her life is better here and now, and that a society that no longer struggles with racism is the way forward.

This returns to the idea of an anti-utopia, a world that is, in all simple definitions, perfect, with plenty of love, and teamwork, and innovation, but anyone looking at it sees a very clearly destroyed world.

This makes the problem of conflict and motivation for a game INCREDIBLY HARD. We have a ‘perfect’ world that is perfect BECAUSE of its destruction. What can jeopardise this life? I’ve created a world where I can’t see any conflict this is so dumb.

I think the original motivation for the game could be that, due to a shift in something space related, a lot of space debris is raining down. It poses little threat to people, as luckily it is falling outside of inhabited areas, but provides a lot of interest, as plenty of satellites are returning to earth (and suspension of disbelief is keeping them from burning up).

What

Scrap Harvester

Vehicle Technician

Where

A post-apocalyptic city, probably British? (because I know the UK better than America). A city based off of a real life one, but with some clearly derelict and some clearly ‘renovated’ areas. People living in these towns eke out a life scavenging for building materials that can be used to create housing and farms. This city in particular is almost an anti-utopia, being incredibly well developed but having an aesthetic of run-down, bombed-to-death suburbs.

When

Sometimes in the near future, or present day in an alternate world where society collapsed very quickly and briefly because of some unknown event (unknown because I don’t know what to make it).

Why

The scrapper lady is happy with the life she has now, as it is (somehow) an improvement on her previous life. She helps people to build their houses, and has some architectural knowledge, so leads teams to salvage any building parts they can.

The technician is trying to replicate the vehicles from before the end, in the hopes that improved transport can help recreate the old life everyone had. One day maybe she can move on from vehicles to other mechanical engineering works, and rebuild the old cities.

How

I think a simple crowbar would suffice for the scrapper lady, along with perhaps some large wire cutter-type scissors. She’s very strong, so focuses on melee, and can perhaps utilise nearby rubble and structures as weaponry as well. In terms of game mechanics, this would result in having two reliable, unbreakable weapons, the crowbar and the scissors, and then some low durability weapons that can be acquired from the countless piles of refuse all over the world map.

For the engineer, she would be the post-apocalyptic equivalent of a hacker finding use out of anything mechanical and controlling it, or building very simple robots to work alongside her. These means, in combat sense, she would be a flimsy character on her own and has to create small mechanisms that perhaps inflict status conditions on opponents.

Archetypes

It’s very difficult put these characters into one archetype, or at least it is for me, as I’ve already put so much thought into them that I see them as more than one dimensional. For the scrapper, I think that The Caregiver is very fitting, as she is satisfied in her life as long as she’s able to be helping someone. I think that The Explorer fits techie the best out of the options, and she wants to go and discover what is inside the satellites, but a lot of the points of the explorer is that they are in an enclosed society, which could not be further from the truth in this case. Anyone is allowed to do whatever they want. I think she doesn’t fit in very well, as her knowledge of life no longer has too many practical applications, with mathematics, science and mechanical knowledge being of a little use to a society where farming and building are the main jobs. Despite being loved and accepted by the community, she feels a personal burden because of how she doesn’t think she is needed, so is afraid of being abandoned.

Character Diamonds

Protective, Intelligent, Just,

Nervous, Strategic, Careless, Inquisitive

#DES102 #pre-visualisation #character designs #character concepts #concept art #my art is honestly shameful #i hate it and myself

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