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tsuzuruchipalace · 2 years

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hi, anyone who still remembers this blog

It’s been, to put it lightly, a long time since I’ve logged back into Tumblr.

It’s been a long and unsteady year, personally. And I don’t know if it’s appropriate for me to explain why on a fandom blog. On one hand, I feel guilty coming back now after being absent from the fandom for so long. On the other, I really miss this community.

Above all, I love A3! and I never want to give up talking about and loving it. It has truly changed my life in ways I’d never imagined and I’ve realized it’s an integral part of who I am now. Tumblr seems to have changed a lot in the past year, but I’d be happy to post regularly and fill up my queue on here again.

I’d just like to say some things before I start feeling comfortable posting to this account again, but there’s no need to read past the first paragraph if you’re only curious about the state of the S3! Project that I tried to start in 2020. And content/trigger warning: mention of depression, unhealthy coping habits, isolation

First off - I’d like to apologize to everyone who was looking forward to that fan project I wanted to lead a year ago, S3! To be honest, I still don’t know what I plan to do regarding it. The responsible part of me wants to tell everyone I was not mature enough to handle such a large-scale project and permanently put it to rest or maybe even let others more capable take it over. The sentimental part of me wants to pick it up again, if only for an homage to A3!en. I used to be sure of my choice to just end it--not so much nowadays. I’d appreciate it if anyone still had the project close to their heart, but it’s completely understandable if it was forgotten, or perhaps, my silence brewed contempt or bitterness. I promised things that I did not back up, and I wish I was more responsible about it. I’m sorry. I’ll post something separate at some point to explain the state of the S3! project in more depth.

As for the explanation - I was absent for more than a year. Not just on Tumblr or social media in general, but in my real life. I’ll spare the nasty reasons why. To put a long story short, I had a long dip of depression where I stopped going to my university classes and isolated myself from anyone outside my immediate family in my house. In honesty, I was unhealthily attached to A3! during this period of time, staying up late to rank in every event and spending hours on the app. It was an extremely long and lonely period of time to not reach for help.

For months, I’ve wanted to respond to people. Friends, family, anyone who messaged me online. And as more and more time within my period of isolation passed, the worse I felt about responding. So much so that it took me 2 whole months after going back to “normal” to even dare to get into contact with my friends again. I still haven’t even talked with all of them.

Only months ago did I truly start feeling better. I forced myself to get my life back together and go back to school. I go to community college now and although it’s not perfect, life has stability. I’m grateful for that. I still have a hard time reconnecting the bonds I’ve lost in my period of absence, but I try to not let it bother me too much.

Once again, I’d like to apologize to anyone I did not respond to on either this blog or the S3! blog. I will try to directly message everyone at some point to apologize and give a thought-out response, but it may take a while for me to do so.

I know that this sounds like a lot from the words of a stranger. Probably extraneous and unnecessary. But it would feel weird for me to come back after all this time without a word of explanation, especially when I used to post so often. I understand if this word dump turns some people away or gives people a bad impression of the stranger behind the Tumblr blog username tsuzuruchipalace, but I just wanted to get it off my chest. Thanks for reading if you did.

Also - I originally drafted this shortly after the official closing of A3!en. So that’s how long I’ve been sitting on these thoughts. I’m in a better headspace now then I was when it shut down, so I feel more confident about coming back now. But it still may be a while for me to fully get back into Tumblr fandom culture.

That’s enough of me being dramatic. I just want to enjoy the game I love and hope to get back to a point where I can mindlessly share my A3! brainrot ramblings

#hope this doesnt show up in tags #i'll go back and censor the post if it does #personal #long post #mod tsuzu talks

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niamhdonlan · 2 years

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Development of the final outcome of the questions page

As I said in my last post I really wanted to include more DIY aspect to this than I did the last one, therefore I kept all on the cut outs of their individual photos like I did last time.

I then got two A3 sheets of paper and crumpled them up by hand to get the texture I wanted, with both being different to show some variation and so the paged aren't exactly the same. I tried to scan them in but they were coming out way too overexposed, therefore I had to take the highest quality photo I could and sent it to myself, and luckily they came out well.

Next I printed out the slut made logo onto an A4 sheet of paper and by hand ripped around the edges, to have the white ripped edges, which I achieved and felt this could look perfect in the corner looking more like a sticker, or badge, which were prevalent in the punk scene to put on their clothing, and I wanted to be able to reflect this.

After all of this I took them to photoshop and added the crumpled paper to use as a background, for all of them using a different one of the two, this looked way better and it got rid of the harsh line down the middle and made it look more cohesive, as well as this without the effects over the top you can see that the picture of Evie is stuck onto the pages and you can see that the logo is another layer, which I think looks really cool. I decided this time to keep the logo pink as her eyeliner was pick so I thought it was a little detail that links the colour, and also used the same font as that was one thing I knew I was happy with from the first draft. I then took it to procreate and added the pink stars, and wrote the name in a different place as looking back at the other one the whole page looked really boxy and writing it on a different place and more askew changed this.

This is the outcome I decided on as I liked this one so much more, as it looked way more authentic and diy. In the next post i will show you each one of the girls individual pages. If I were to remake it would be nice to be able to use my own handwriting to write out the answers, however I couldn't get it to a place I liked it where It was neat enough so decided to choose the safer option of using a font, which I hasn't done much throughout my zine as I much prefer the personal feel of hand-written work. However I was really exacted to be able to display this interview in my zine, and hoped everyone who reads it learns a little bit about them and gets involved in the really cool stuff they’re doing with their band.

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byamylaurens · 3 years

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On Structuring Plot: A List Of Useful Resources + My Recent Process

I was asked on Instagram last week how I go about structuring my stories, whether there’s a set way I like to do it, or if it’s different for every story, or what. I promised an answer last week, and that didn’t happen, but hey! It is this week and now I can answer! 😀

The truth of the matter is, I feel very self-conscious about plot structure. It’s the area of writing I’m least comfortable with, and so my attempts either end up with me just writing and ignoring structure entirely (A Fox Of Storms And Starlight), or else plotting everything else in meticulous detail, usually with the help of Liana Brooks (How Not To Acquire A Castle, as evidenced in our epic plotting video).

And then there is everything else, which tends to fall in the middle. Honestly, it depends on the book, and the mood, and how much of a concrete, specific handle I need on the story before going in.

Because that varies widely, too. When Worlds Collide, the final book in the Sanctuary trilogy that won Best Children’s Book 2019 in my state? You’re reading the first draft, prettied up with some proofreading for typos. The first book in the series, on the other hand? That’s the …eighth, I think, draft? And again, everything else falls somewhere in the middle, though generally speaking I plan my novels more than my short stories, and things that feel “fast paced” more than things that luxuriate more in the prose. Though even that’s not entirely true. And it overlaps with the length tendencies.

SO. Rather than continuing to ramble about my actual processes (variable), I thought I’d share with you a range of resources that you might find useful (if you’re a writer) or simply interesting (if you’re not, or even if you are I guess).

1. Liana Brooks’ Outlining Sheet

Liana, who you probably know is my writer-buddy and co-conspirator with regards to Inkprint Press, is excellent at plot. She does developmental edits for a really reasonable rate, and is absolutely stellar at what she does. So it’s without shame that I recommend first up her outline sheet, which is a take on the Lester Dent Plot Formula (google it).

2. Beat Sheets.

For when a general outline with key touch points isn’t detailed enough, there are beat sheets. The best ones I’ve found came from Jami Gold, and you can download them here. I’ve also converted them to word docs with scenes numbered for a 40-scene/chapter book and a 20 scene-chapter book, and you can grab those here (word docx download).

3. MICE Structure.

I posted this video on Friday, but Mary Robinette Kowal’s MICE theory has been hands down THE most useful plotting resource I’ve encountered for me personally. I’ll elaborate on this a little more below, where I’ll talk specifically about a project I’m working on right now.

4. Brandon Sanderson’s Plot Lectures.

I listened to these nearly a year ago, then relistened recently and was interested to discover I’d done something similar with Moon Shot, the project I’m currently plotting. Definitely worth a listen. It’s a little more general in scope than the preceding resources, but very necessary for a sound understanding of what your plot should be DOING.

You can also check out the posts I wrote on plot structure years ago, starting here.

Okay, now to the specifics. On Tuesday, I posted the following to Instagram, which is what precipitated the question that resulted in this post:

This is me working on Moon Shot, and it’s the first time I really used the MICE process on a longer work very deliberately, and I LOVED IT.

So I thought I’d quickly delineate for you here exactly what I did. (ETA: Quickly, ha.)

Worldbuilding. I had a giant conversation with Liana about the worldbuilding for the world, and how the main sci fi element works. She took notes and emailed them to me.

Brain Dump. I did a stream-of-consciousness dump into my notes just rambling through things roughly sequentially, and stopping to research the sciencey stuff I needed.

List Of Questions. From this, I listed out on my small whiteboard (A4-ish size) all the questions that would be asked and answered in this book. Will they escape? Why can’t they go to Earth? Who are the kidnappers? Etc.

MICE. I then colour-coded each question according to it’s MICE category: milieu, inquiry, character, event. If that doesn’t make sense, go watch Kowal’s video first (resource 3 above).

General Plotting. I broke out the bigger whiteboard (A2 size?), separated it roughly into quarters across the ‘page’, and added every question to the board. Some questions are asked right at the start of the story, so that’s where their coloured line started, then I estimated roughly when the question would be answered in-plot, and ended their coloured line there. This was hands-down the most useful part of plotting, because it let me see a bunch of things in macro: I’d overloaded the third quarter with too many answers, and there wasn’t enough in the second quarter. Certain questions COULDN’T be asked until other ones were answered, and if I left the answering too late, the next arc would be too squished before the end of the book. And so forth. So I played around, adjusting arcs until I got a fairly even spread of questions and answers across the book, with little clusters at the 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 marks. I also looked to make sure that I had enough strong questions asked in the beginning that weren’t answered until the very end.

Specific Plotting. For each arc, I now knew WHEN in the book it had to be. So I grabbed three A3 pages, taped them together in a long line, divided the page into 25 columns (see point 8 for why), and wrote headings with the basic beats of a story. Call to action, midpoint, final puzzle piece, act 2 antagonist, and so forth. See resource 2 above. Then I took my MICE arcs and started filling things in: this scene needs to answer this question and raise the next one. This scene needs to answer this question. That sort of thing. Not the specifics of what the characters are doing, but the underlying bones of what the SCENE needs to be doing.

Conflict! Once the beginnings and ends of each MICE arc were in place, I referred back to the MICE principle to figure out what kinds of conflict I needed to add. For example, one of the opening MICE arcs is a milieu question: How did the kids escape? Knowing that this is a milieu, I know I need to add points throughout the story where they run into dead ends in their attempts to escape, all the way until they actually make it out. Another MICE arc revolves around a mystery, so I knew I needed to throw red herrings and misleading information in there to influence the decisions the characters are making. I used different coloured highlighter to mark the main long-running arcs to make sure I was sprinkling them evenly throughout the book, and not accidentally ignoring one for too long.

Point Of View. I now had a really good idea of what was happening in each scene, so on to POV. Most books wouldn’t need this step necessarily, but part of the POINT of this book is that it has POV scenes from all 25 of my Year 8 students from a couple of years ago (you have not LIVED until you’ve tried this, oy, my head). AND on top of that, every character has one of eight different superpowers. So I wrote out all the character names on sticky notes, colour coded according to superpower. Then I played around. Which superpower would be useful in this scene? Which would lend an interesting lens to the events? Post-its meant I could test things and swap them around easily, until I got an order I was happy with, with the superpowers kind of evenly sprinkled throughout the book (as much as possible; they’re based on Myer-Briggs personality type, which, yes, most of the students were kind enough to do the test for me so I could allocate their powers accurately, HA, but it means some superpowers are more common than others).

Text Type. One of the only ways I could think of making this book hang together cohesively was to tell it via epistolary, which means including a bunch of other text types as well as narration (or instead of). So there are story bits, but also emails, letters, maps, interviews, transcripts and more. So once I had everything else in place, I figured out which scenes were going to be which text types so that again, there was a balance of them throughout.

PHEW. What a process. Still, overall it only took me about three hours, and it was SUPER FUN AND SATISFYING to do. I’ll DEFINITELY be doing at least steps 1 – 7 for a couple of future books, because it was just a really inherently enjoyable process for me, and makes me confident going into the book that the scenes will do what they need to do.

Here’s a sneaky peek at what some of the final outline looks like… 😀

On Structuring Plot: A List Of Useful Resources + My Recent Process was originally published on Amy Laurens

#Amy Laurens #Australian author Amy #beat sheets for writers #before you write #Brandon Sanderson #Canberra writer Amy #how to plot a novel #How to Write #Jami Gold&039;s beat sheets #Mary Robinette Kowal #plot plot plot the book #plotting masterclass #structuring stories with story structure like a well-structured story with structure #writing #writing resource #writing workshop #you too can write a story woo

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icharchivist · 3 years

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tmi about myself i guess but it’s in regard to my previous post

I relate to quite a few a3 chara for very various and different reasons and while there are charas i relate to more than others it’s not a 1:1 thing

but also sometimes i just. Like. I didn’t think about why this story hit me as hard as it did until just now having to word it.

My eldest sister ran away from home when i was 6 (and she was 16) never to be seen again and this kinda shapped up a lot, if not most of my life, it’s like, my biggest trauma in a sea of trauma and i don’t think i can properly word how this sort of things affects young children and a whole family dynamic.

Madoka saying that, in substance, he thought Misumi was dead suddenly hit super hard because my whole life this whole topic was extremely taboo to even mention and me and my other sister had to pretend we never had an eldest sister. Like she never existed.

because our parents were so worried about their images and the rumors that came out around the reasons of her departs that she didn’t trust us, as kids, to talk about it, so we just had to never say a word and never bring it up except if my mom was having a mental breakdown about it in which case i had to listen to her (since the relationship with my other sister got, strained with time. Leaving it at that.)

I’ve always equated my feelings toward her to what it felt like to always have a lingering ghost around. I barely even remember her and if i dig things hurt more than they should. I have the stories my family used to say but none of this connects with me. But i know i loved her so dearly and her leaving left such a.. hole we were supposed to never address that it was haunting. I’ve only recently realized that probably a huge part of me was just grieving all that time because i could never properly word what it’s like to lose someone who’s still very much alive, and whom you have to think about regularly “wonders where she’s at now” while also feeling it’s not your business anymore.

The thing is that i was 6, but my parents didn’t actually tell me she ran off until the year after - before that i thought she was staying at my grandma’s place for an undefined amount of time. Then they started opening up more about it after they divorced when i was 12 and both parents had really conflicting version of events that i had a hard time puzzling together, but both blamed her for leaving anyway.

and it’s only when i was 23 or so that i managed to dig back the lawsuit files that ensued her running away (very long story) and found a lot of damning evidence of my parent’s lies and the reasons why she left and why she was 100% right for leaving.

This was almost hysterical to me. I remember reading it with friends and spending the whole day laughing bitterly because my parents are goddamn liars who built her up as the bad guy for basically just escaping their abuse. (some of which are things they put on me too, reading some of the papers in that file was like reading my mails sometimes.). I can’t even tell how awful it was to read up all the ways they’ve hurt her while they spent years and years telling me she was all to blame all while i was suffering the consequences of her leaving.

Not to mention i’ve spent my whole life, everytime i had a fight with my parents, hearing thrown at my face “what are you going to do, run away too? and hurt us like she did?” and so i ended up terrified of talking back hearing that all the time, so scared to cause the very hurt i had been unable to heal from all that time, and it kept me in this abusive family trying to fix their messes because of that lasting trauma.

I’ve cut ties with my dad about 6 years ago (though it’s not that easy and all, he’s still currently suing me after all lmao (next month should be the end of that lawsuit fucking finally)) so i know more than ever how my sister may have felt and it’s just. a lot. It’s a lot to have had spent your life having to think badly of her only for this.

And, (cw a//bleism) back to why it hit just now too is the fact that, I kinda read Misumi as a/utistic coded and it just sort of hit me in the face because a lot of the abuse my sister got was because she was a/utistic and my parents constantly threw it at her face and weaponized her to create a horrible environment. One of my most ancient yet vivid memory is me as a very very young child having my father using this word as an insult for stupid on me until i fought back going that i could never be something this awful /to my sister’s face/, making me /part/ of their twisted ways to hurt her. And i’ve remembered that *years* after with horror and the knowledge i will never be able to fix it.

I didn’t *think* about it in regard of that storyline until just now and now i’m shaking with anger and fury that i can’t possibly word properly.

On the other hand man i liked Madoka just fine on my first read but the way i’m feeling right now is sure. wow. I’ll keep my eyes out on him in act 3 i guess.

and i guess i have now specific headcanons about the way this fucking stupid family treated it all and i don’t think that’s a win actually. Kinda hating it here;

anyway i’m shaking with rage this awoke something very deep in me and this is. making me so so upset.

i’ve been dancing around this subject for a long while talking about a3 (because yeah there’s *reasons* why Azuma’s way to push people away because of his intense grief talks to me this hard. There’s reason Hisoka, the youngest of three siblings who’s eldest is gone and the second one had a strained relationship with him, and who can’t even remember what happened to lead to that, has affected me the way it did. Or why every characters who have been neglected by their parents are giving me a viseral reaction of wanting to take care of them.) because i really don’t know how much i can open up about those stuff now online.

I used to talk about my problems a bit more before but despite trying to not tag my a3 ramblings so i could talk more about it personally, i did end up getting people to follow my liveblog and suddenly it was awkward to bring that up again (even if i think most of my older followers know all of what i just said already)

so huh this is very awkward and it’s been a while i’ve been just shafting my tmi posts in my drafts but this one is the breaking point because i didn’t see coming the amount of rage the “clicking” of what made this storyline such a hard one to read would do to me.

i’m shaking with rage wow i didn’t see that one coming.

#ichablogging a3 #ichapersonal #i'm talking a lot about stuff from my past which huh were traumatic to me so read with care?#i've been holding back talking about a lot of this for a while now but this storyline just. man.

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baileydremel · 4 years

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THE ADVENTURE SERIES - FINALFINALV4PLEASE.PNG

Today, since it was the first day where my classes start to go online, I decided to play around with all the object I had gathered for the assignment. As you can see in previous posts, I have already trialled my objects and creating my typeface but the missing piece of the puzzle was a map to make that connection between my question and the concept of where.

I began by laying out the map and putting my objects together to make the typeface on the map. I chose to lay the map portrait and ultimately take the photo portrait as that was what I was doing in my trials. After I did the first few letters, I grabbed my map pins and started pining down objects and attaching the string to the pins to make connections. This was very time consuming and, after laying out all the objects and making connections between them with string I could then move onto the final word, ‘Design’.

I then hit a problem. All my letters of type were quite large and the map I had originally printed out was very small (half a horizontal A4 page compared to an A1(?) map). As I didn’t have the facilities to print A3 (I had to choose the day that everything went into lockdown), I chose to make a map instead.

Fig 1: My first attempt at redrawing an A4 map on an A3 piece of paper.

My first attempt was horrible because things were out of proportional and the roads didn’t match up properly. I scrapped this one and re-did it but making sure I was doing it 4 times the size. It came out better the second time (you’ll see it in a later photo). Once I had that map, I then put some map pins into it and, using pink string, layout my final word.

With all that done, I took my first photo (on my phone) to see how it looked.

Fig 2: The first photo of many.

After looking at this photo, I went back and changed a few things about it that were unclear. 1. The ‘A’ in ‘can’ was unclear because of the clear object so I just used some playdough I had in my bag to redo the A. 2. The E in ‘Where’ doesn’t look like an E and is unclear so I needed to change that. 3. The letters on the map seemed odd. The kerning between the ‘E’ and ‘S’ was large and could be reduced and the ‘G’ needed to move to a better place so it was visible.

Once I changed some of that, I took another photo.

Fig 3: Some adjustments to my design. Still looks off though.

It still looked off to me. I went back and forth changing things to make it more clearer. It dawned on me how hard it was to make letters of type from random objects I had found. I folded things, changed objects around, stuck stickers down until I had what I consider one of my final drafts.

Fig 4: What I think is the final design.

As you can see, lots of things have changed. I won’t go into the minor details but I’ll say that, for some reason, opening the window I was next to helped make it look better. After moving things around and cutting up some stuff, I felt happy with what I have accomplished. It only took 5 hours to get to this point. I’m not particularly happy with some things which I will go fix in my next trial (eg the baseline on some letters is off and I cut off the ‘E’ of where in this photo, but I have a better one on my camera)

Overall, this was a good experience to tell me it was a good idea to not leave the task to the last minute. I also learnt to just have fun and relax when doing this type of stuff, this was a learning experience that will help me.

To end this off, here's a close-up photo of the hand-drawn map for the word ‘Design’

Fig 5: The hand-drawn map with ‘design’ made out of the streets.

#theadventureseries #hellomyquestionis

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ayittey1 · 6 years

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Infamous Quotes of African Autocrats and Their Cohorts

Sekou Toure, the late and former president of Guinea (1958-1984):

"We prefer to live in poverty in liberty to riches in slavery." In 1958.

“Before independence, there were 12 political parties in Guinea. Now there is only one: Le Parti Democratique de Guinea (PDG). Anyone who says I am a dictator because we have only one party and no opposition doesn't understand what we are trying to accomplish. The party is not a goal, but a method to achieve the goal of human freedom. Our constitution permits complete freedom for the existence of Opposition parties. However, in the last election, 91 percent of the people voted for the PDG. The Opposition received only five or six percent of the votes, and decided to join our party. This meant reconciliation, and two of their leaders received responsible posts. Actually, the Opposition's point of view can be expressed much better within the party than from outside it (Italiaander, Rolf, The New Leaders of Africa. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice‑Hall: 1961; p.146.

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Mengistu Haile Mariam, former PM of Ethiopia (1974-1991):

“We are now on the threshold of the formation of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The constitution was drafted by representatives of the people themselves. It has been submitted to all Ethiopian citizens including those living abroad, and it will be promulgated after it is put to a referendum. Such democratic participation is unparalleled in the history of Ethiopia. Once the constitution assumes its final shape, Ethiopia will never again be ruled by the personal absolutism of any one individual or a handful of individuals. The victory of socialism is inevitable!" (Time, Aug 4, 1986; p. 34).

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Flight Lt. Jerry Rawlings, former president of Ghana (1981-2000):

On handing over power and returning Ghana to democratic rule in 1988:

“Hand over power to who?”

On the performance of his own military regime, eight years after seizing power:

“Despite probes, Committees of Enquiry, dismissals and prosecutions of wrongdoers, despite restructuring exercises, new management, the provision of new equipment and capital, many of our organizations, state enterprises and corporations continue to swallow public money and fail to provide the services and goods which we expect of them, and also fail to pay their tax obligations, dividends and other expected revenues . .

Too many people in these outfits, from management to workforce, still steal, embezzle and cheat . . . They still do not care about waste, carelessness, inefficiency and lack of maintenance . . . There are innumerable abuses including the misuse of fuel, vehicles and even office stationery. In some public institutions and organizations, managements have developed a tendency to spend resources carelessly on frivolous and luxury office and residential furnishing” (People's Graphic, Jan 6, 1990).

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General Yakubu Gowon, former president of Nigeria (1966-1974)

in a lecture at the Oxford and Cambridge Club entitled "Charting Nigeria's Path to Democracy in this Decade and Beyond."

“Nigeria's problems started shortly after independence because the army allowed itself to be polluted and politicised, hence the incessant coups and countercoups. The military intervention in politics in 1966 started a chain of reaction whose deleterious effects are still relevant in our national life even today, so many years after the ill-advised putsch . . .

The military should not get itself involved in politics. The sooner they leave the stage the better, or else the people may rise up against them (West Africa, June 11-17, 1990; p. 993).

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Major General Joseph Momoh, former president of Sierra Leone (1985-1992)

In his own admission in public, Maj. Gen. Joseph Momoh stated that after 5 years in office, he had achieved nothing. This confession is particularly correct. Under his leadership, Sierra Leone deteriorated immeasurably, but Momoh amassed considerable wealth in real [estate] property and cash, both locally and overseas. This ugly truth about Momoh equally applies to his political acolytes--ministers, party functionaries, heads of parastatals, his close political advisers, some high commissioners and ambassadors, and others too numerous to mention. Knowingly and shamelessly, Momoh headed a corrupt regime and, morally weak, was unable to take appropriate action against any of his ministers for corruption (West Africa, May 18-24, 1992; p. 840).

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Hastings Banda, the late and former President of Malawi (1961-1994):

“One party, one leader, one government and no nonsense about it” (The Washington Post, June 16, 1999; A24).

"I want to be blunt. As long as I am here and you say I must be your president, you have to do what I want, what I like, and not what you like and what you want. Kamuzu is in charge...That is my way" (The Washington Post, Sept 9, 1991; p. A20).

He insisted that any reference to him must employ the full title: His Excellency the Life President Ngwazi Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda. He warned opposition exiles that should they dare return to Malawi, they would become meat for his crocodiles. And no nonsense about that!

Banda "told dissidents in exile that they would become `meat for crocodiles' if they came home" (The Economist, March 21, 1992; p. 46). Indeed, “suspected opponents were imprisoned by the tens of thousands and, from time to time, fed to crocodiles. The bullet-riddled bodies of ministers accused of disloyalty were found in `mysterious car accidents’” (The Washington Post, June 16, 1999; A24).

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Kwame Nkrumah, the Late President of Ghana (1957-1966:

“We must achieve in a decade what it took others a century” in 1957 [Comment: Ghana is still at it]

“The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless linked up with the total liberation of Africa” in 1958. [Comment: Ghana’s independence is still meaningless. At independence, we traded one set of masters (white colonialists) for another set (black neo-colonialists) and the oppression and exploitation of the African people continued unabated]

“Industry rather than agriculture is the means by which rapid improvement in Africa's living standards is possible” in 1957. [Comment: Africa’s industrialization spree failed; state-owned enterprises were sold off in the 1980s, Agriculture was neglected, leading to huge expenditures – about $25 billion annually – on food imports. Africa used to feed itself in the 1960s]

“We would be hampering our advance of socialism if we were to encourage the growth of Ghanaian private capitalism in our midst” in 1964. Socialism is an alien economic ideology and failed miserably in every African country which experimented with it – from Benin, Ethiopia, Mali to Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe]

“The Convention People’s Party (C[[\\PP) is the state and the state is the party. Socialism is the objective of social, industrial and economic programs” in 1973 [Comment: The state does not belong to any one particular individual or political party]

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The Late President Felix Houphouet-Boigny of Ivory Coast (1960-1993):

“Colonialism was good for Africa. Thanks to it, we have one united Ivorian nation, not 60 tribes who know nothing about each other” in 1983.

“There is no number 1, 2, 3 or 4. In Cote d'Ivoire there is only a number one: that's me and I don't share my decisions,” in 1988

"I do have assets abroad. But they are not assets belonging to Cote d'Ivoire. What sensible man does not keep his assets in Switzerland, the whole world's bank? I would be crazy to sacrifice my children's future in this crazy country without thinking of their future" (La Croix, Paris, March 13, 1990).

****************************

The Late President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (now Congo DR) (1965-1997):

"European businessmen were the ones who said, 'I sell you this thing for $1,000, but $200 will be for your (Swiss bank) account” in 1988

"Yes, I have a fair amount of money. However, I would estimate it to total less than $50 million. What is that after 22 years as head of state of such a big country?" (World Development Forum, No. 9, 1988; p. 3

If you steal, do not steal too much at a time. You may be arrested. Steal cleverly (yiba na mayele), little by little” in and address to party regulars in 1991.

****************************

Kenneth Kaunda, former President of Zambia (1964-1991):

"Why should anyone in public life impose himself on the people? The decisions must be made by the `people. In my case, it was a call for change. The tide was for change in the country. I respected it. Look at me now. You are watching a relaxed old man. I'm very happy with what I'm doing.” (The New York Times, Jan 31, 2002; p.A4).

Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe (1980 – Still in power):

“In Zimbabwe, socialism means what is mine is mine but what is yours we share until it all becomes mine” -- A minister in Robert Mugabe's cabinet in the 1990s.

"We now have to admit that we are reaping the bitter fruits of our unwholesome and negative behavior. Our image as leaders of the party has been tarnished. The people are crying for our blood and certainly are entitled to do so after watching our actions" (New African, Dec 1989; p. 20).

****************************

President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda (1986 – Still in power):

“No African head of state should be in power for more than 10 years” in 1986.

“We should not practice dictatorship under the guise of independence, because independence does not mean dictatorship. Without democracy, there can be no development. Democracy is the sine qua non for the effective administration of a modern state” in July 1990.

"There is no way you can develop the economy without democracy" in a speech before the OAU in Addis Ababa (New York Times, July 10, 1990; p. A3).

“Without democracy, there is no way you can bring about development because people cannot speak freely, they cannot criticize wrong programs, they cannot criticize corruption, and without criticism things are bound to rot” in a speech at Makerere University on June 8, 1991.

"I'm not ready to hand over power to people or groups of people who have no ability to manage a nation" during the presidential elections in March 2001 (The New York Times, March 11, 2001; p.A6).

"I will punish areas that failed to support me in the March election by reducing government services there" (The Washington Post, Sept 2, 2001; p.A20).

"The Movement (NRM) shall rule for more than 60 years. Apart from British colonialists who ruled Uganda for 60 years, no other regime has been successful in holding onto power like the Movement. We are going to break the British record. If Besigye (opposition leader) tried subversion he would be dealt with” Museveni’s Defense Minister, Amama Mbabazi,(The Monitor, Feb 1, 2002).

“All the poor should be arrested because they hinder us from performing our development duties. It is hard to lead the poor, and the poor cannot lead the rich. They should be eliminated."

n Uganda’s Agriculture Minister, the late Kibirige Ssebunya, (New Vision, Kampala, Dec 15, 2004). He advised local leaders to arrest poor people in their areas of jurisdiction.

****************************

Laurent Gbagbo, former president of Ivory Coast, (2000 – 2011 and now on trial at The Hague):

"We are the country with the most millionaires, which means we have the most thieves. The more Houphouet ages, the more his collaborators sense an end to the regime, and the more they steal" (West Africa, April 3-9, 1989).

"I was arrested on April 11, 2011 under the French bombs . . . It's the French army that did the work," describing how he was arrested at his first appearance before the ICC at The Hague.

***************************

General Ibrahim Babangida, former President of Nigeria (1985-1993):

“Ever since the majority of our countries became independent in the 1960s we have conducted our lives as if the world owes us a living" in 1990.

“Every military regime is a fraud. Anybody who heads a military regime subverts the wishes of the people.” in The African Observer, Jan 18-31, 1999, 6).

"Two decades ago, the central challenge of the Nigerian society and economy that we grappled with, was the big, inefficient State that had a stranglehold on the society, occupied the commanding heights of the economy; and behaved like a general business enterprise, producing and selling myriads of commodities running airlines; managing commercial banks and owning cement factories. Naturally, it ended up as a colossal failure in this regard, since it neither had the bottom-line sense of a business enterprise nor the residual claimant motivation to ensure proper and efficient management of the societal resources under its care.

Today, however, Nigeria faces a qualitatively different challenge. The reality in our country is that of an abysmal lack of governance. The State has virtually become overwhelmed by multi-dimensional crisis constraining its ability to minister to the needs of the people.” (The Vanguard, Lagos, Sept 16, 2010).

****************************

Daniel arap Moi, former President of Kenya (1978-202):

"I call on all ministers, assistant ministers and every other person to sing like parrots. You ought to sing the song I sing. If I put a full stop, you should put a full stop. This is how the country will move forward,” in 1990

To move forward in the fight against AIDS, President Moi "pleaded with Kenyans to refrain from sex even for only two years, saying that was the best way to check the epidemic" (Reuters, July 13, 2001).

"You [women] can achieve more, can get more but because of your little minds, you cannot get what you are expected to get!" said President Moi as he opened a regional women's seminar in Nairobi on March 6, 2001 (BBC News On Line, March 12, 2001). Perhaps, senility had set in.

****************************

Lt/General Omar al-Bashir of Sudan (1989 – Still in power):

“Under Shari’a Law, theft is punishable by amputation of the right hand or, if there are more than three people or weapons involved, cross amputation: right hand, left foot. My junta will destroy anyone who stands in the way. . .and amputate [the limbs of] those who betray the nation" in 1990.

****************************

Julius Nyerere, the late and former president of Tanzania in 1997: “Africa will have to rely upon Africa. If African Governments do Africa will develop; if they don't Africa will be doomed.”

“In my view, three factors militate against economic and social growth in Africa. The first of these is corruption. This is a widespread cancer in Africa. The second factor which makes business reluctant to invest in Africa is political instability. But even if African countries were to become paragons of good governance and political stability, despite the corruptive and disruptive nature of poverty itself, foreign investors would not be coming rushing to Africa. Most African countries still lack the necessary physical infrastructure and the education and training in skills needed for rapid economic and social development. This, in my view, is the third and the most important factor militating against significant flows of foreign direct investment to Africa.” (PanAfrican News, September 1998).

****************************

Joseph Kabila, the President of Congo DR in 2001:

“There is a government. I am the president of this country, and we are in charge of whatever is going in the country. Is it surprising? Since I came into office I've never taken orders from anybody, nobody whatsoever." (The New York Times, April 15, 2001; p.3)

****************************

Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria in 2002 (1999 – 2007):

“Corrupt African leaders have stolen at least $140 billion (£95 billion) from their people in the decades since independence.”

****************************

Colonel Muammar Khaddafi, the late President of Libya (1969 – 2011):

“The administration has failed and the state economy has failed, enough is enough” in 2008 (The New York Times, March 19, 2009; p.A7).

******************************

Moussa Traore, the late and former president of Mali: Asked to resign on March 25, 1991, he retorted: "I will not resign, my government will not resign, because I was elected not by the opposition but by all the people of Mali!!!!

But two days later when he tried to flee the country, he was grabbed by his own security agents and sent to jail. From there, he lamented: "My fate is now in God's hands."

******************************

Levy Mwanawasa, the late and former president of Zambia (2002 – 2008):

I failed Zambia, says president. President Mwanawasa has said he is "tired" of his office Zambia's president has apologised to his country for failing to tackle poverty, but insisted he will stay in office until elections are due in 2006.

"It has not been possible to reduce poverty and I feel sad about it," Levy Mwanawasa said, describing the issue as "one of my failures. . . Unfortunately, if Zambians made a mistake to elect me as president, they are stuck with me." (news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4163475.stm)

******************************

Meles Zenawi the Late and former PM of Ethiopia (1991 – 2012)

“Democracy should not be a toy for the elite to play with. It should involve even the so-called "ignorant peasant." Because only when you involve the bulk of the people can you have a real check to central authority” in October 1991..

In an Interview:

"Good day. My name is Gobano Madnamaraso." "When our leaders are young - most of our African leaders - they are visionaries. They have wonderful visions for our continent. They are admirable. The speak good, they do good. But something happens to them once they are seated in those chairs of power. My question is: We want to see our continent change, but we are afraid of this power that corrupts even some of the best, most admirable leaders on our continent, and what is this poison that happens in these chairs of power and how can we prevent it? " Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi pointed to greedy foreign corporations as a main driver of corruption. "What is the poison that leaders face when you go to national palaces, and transforms people with vision sometimes into ordinary thieves? Let's start with the total amount of loot in Africa, and what our role as leaders in that loot[ing] is," said Meles. "The vast majority of the loot[ing] is done by properly organized companies through all sorts of accounting gimmicks." Meles said African leaders are forced to be facilitators for foreign companies who demand favors in return for their investment that might means jobs for their people. "It's a difficult thing to manage because our bargaining cards are very limited," he said. "We need these companies to create jobs, in order for them to come to Africa. The image is very negative, so the risk is artificially spiked. And if the risk is artificially spiked, the return has to be commensurate with the risk. And so it's difficult to attract them without extraordinary returns." The Ethiopian leader said that sometimes leaders give in to temptation. "Sometimes we facilitate without being paid," he said. "At other times we say, 'Okay, if your family's farm is being looted, why not join in?' I think that is the most insidious form of corruption. It affects everybody, including those whose hands are not in the till."VOA, May 10, 2012

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/-Ethiopias-Meles-Blames-African-Corruption-on-Foreign-Investors-151033585.html

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President Isaiah Afewerki of Eritrea (1993 -- Still in power):

"What is free press? There is no free press anywhere. It's not in England; it's not in the United States. We'd like to know what free press is in the first place." (BBC, Sept 11, 2004). He closed all the independent newspapers and arrested most private journalists. The rest fled the country.

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ramonaprintmakingtwo · 3 years

Photo

Project 3: Landscape composition

Due to the current travel restrictions and lock down it didn’t feel appropriate or safe to sketch on location the way I would like to. Reading through the exercise I really wanted to study London’s Southbank. This is my favourite part of London and reminds me of spending days with my family, walking along the river and visiting the Hayward, National Theatre, BFI or The Royal Festival Hall. Although often viewed as ugly I love the brutalist architecture and enjoyed climbing up the various staircases and levels, hiding behind pillars and looking out over the Thames.

In my last Unit, Illustration Two, I completed a six digital illustrations of some of the iconic buildings on the Southbank. In preparation for that assignment (and about two weeks prior to the last lockdown) I took lots of photos so had some reference material already to work from.

My Photos

My previous Illustrations

Visual Reference

I also supplemented my visual reference using photographs and videos I sourced online. This allowed me to explore more angles and perspectives that I hadn’t captured previously and the videos in particular helped me to remind myself of the feeling of walking down river.

London National Theatre (Escuris, n.d.)

Hayward Gallery (Guy, n.d.)

Geometry + Geology: Hayward Gallery (Hewitt, 2011)

London Virtual Walk With Ambient Sounds Roof Bar To Festival (Living Walks, 2018)

youtube

360° London - South Bank (Fly Through Films, 2015)

youtube

Difficulties in comprehension

I read through the project instructions multiple times but struggled to understand what exactly I was been asked to do. I looked at other printmaking students learning logs to try to gain a better understanding however this didn’t clear it up entirely for me. I am going to include the instructions and my interpretation of them within this write-up in hopes that my tutor or future assessor will understand my rationale for my work, even if the process I have used isn’t what was asked of me. I have used bold to indicate my thoughts.

Instructions

‘Using a pencil on A3 paper and working to the edge of the page, make a line drawing of a section of built environment. Pay attention to perspective and the main forms and structures avoiding excessive detail. Think where to place the lights and darks. Line drawing to me means just the key shapes, I’m not sure how to indicate tone, light and dark within a line drawing. As a left handed person, excessive pencil mark-making quickly becomes messy. You may well need to do a number of drawings until you find the perfect balance of shapes.

Now draw four boxes on tracing paper 15cm x 10cm. Use these boxes as viewfinders and move them over your drawing trying different angles and compositions looking for what you consider to be balanced composition of lines and shapes. As you make your tracings you can edit any unwanted detail and even make the design more abstract – enjoy the freedom of exploring form to produce an aesthetically pleasing composition.

You will use these tracings (plural) to mark up your piece of lino. (singular) Is the final piece meant to be 15cmx10cm? Are the four tracings meant to be combined to create one piece around A4 measurements (30cm x 20cm)?

The print is going to be black, grey and the colour of the paper. You can start by adding black to one shape and then to another to balance the weight and so on.’

My understanding and steps

Make a pencil line drawing on A3 with little detail of a built environment.

Using viewfinders, explore the image to find a good composition.

Refine and edit composition (for me this usually means using pen to block out dark areas).

Combine the four sections to make one abstract composition.

Use a reduction print method using grey and black.

First Sketches

I completed two very basic sketches of The National Theatre (reference Escuris, n.d.) and the back of The Royal Festival Hall (reference Living Walks 2018).

(Pencil on paper)

I used paper viewfinders on my LED light board to trace selected areas. I put the pieces together in different potential compositions and scanned them. This allowed me to put the compositions next to each other to allow for direct comparison.

Three different compositions scanned

(Pencil and pen on paper)

Draft composition, taped viewfinders

I then went over this composition again, cleaning up lines and bending others so the image felt less disjointed. To help me remember which bits I needed to cut, the blue in this image represents areas of white.

Final Composition

(Pen on paper)

I selected this composition as the contrasting angles meeting in the centre of the design reminded me of a ship, moving forwards through the river. This felt in keeping with the riverside location of the National Theatre. The overall image feels dynamic and dramatic.

The abstract interpretation of buildings reminded me of the hand coloured etchings of Bronwen Sleigh.

Earlspark Avenue, Pacific Quay, Rue Beaudoin,Hinna (Sleigh, n.d.)

First Layer test print with ink pad

Printing process

First time using my press

I had difficulty using the press for the first time as my Lino was jumping causing the registration to be off. I ended up completing the run by hand as I being a reduction print I only had a limited number of prints and didn’t want to ruin the entire run and have to start again. Through talking to other printmakers on Facebook I have since learnt that I had the pressure too tight.

Final Prints

Best Print

I would have never considered creating an image using in the method outlined in the course materials (or my interpretation of them!). The end result is bold and striking and captures my joy for the National Theatre and it’s architecture.

PLEASE NOTE: These prints have been scanned using the incorrect setting causing the colours and contrast to be inaccurate. I will be re-scanning and updating this post at a later date.

References

Escuris, L., n.d. London National Theatre. [image] Available at: <https://linoescuris.com/london-national-theatre/> [Accessed 21 December 2020].

Fly Through Films, 2015. 360° London - South Bank. [video] Available at: <https://youtu.be/WGjCaNTQhVk> [Accessed 21 December 2020].

Guy, C., n.d. Hayward Gallery. [image] Available at: <https://gidsey.com/portfolio/hayward-gallery/#> [Accessed 21 December 2020].

Hewitt, D., 2011. Geometry + Geology: Hayward Gallery. [Gelatin Photography].

Living Walks, 2018. London Virtual Walk With Ambient Sounds Roof Bar To Festival. [video] Available at: <https://youtu.be/NsD7FbiMMlU> [Accessed 21 December 2020].

Sleigh, B., n.d. Earlspark Avenue. [Hand coloured etching].

Sleigh, B., n.d. Hinna. [Lithograph].

Sleigh, B., n.d. Pacific Quay. [Hand coloured etching].

Sleigh, B., n.d. Rue Beaudoin. [Hand coloured etching].

#part1 #comp

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grrlwonder-archive · 7 years

Text

RULES. repost, don’t reblog. tag ten. TAGGED. the bae @magicxecustos TAGGING. @perfectforayear, @thirdwcnder, @theredwonder, @yallneedahero, @favdream, @thegreatunxter, @notbctmcn, @twerpzilla, @illuminatedflight, @xmarksthescott, @futuresuper, @canary-noir, @cacciatriice

BASICS.

FULL NAME. stephanie alice bellinger NICKNAME. steph, stephie, stephers, eggplant wonder AGE. 22 (verse dependent) BIRTHDAY. august 17 ETHNIC GROUP. caucasian NATIONALITY. american LANGUAGE / S. english, swahili, basic spanish & french SEXUAL ORIENTATION. heterosexual, bicurious ROMANTIC ORIENTATION. panromantic RELATIONSHIP STATUS. single (verse dependent) CLASS. lower HOME TOWN / AREA. gotham city, new jersey, usa CURRENT HOME. an apartment in the city with a rather lousy landlord PROFESSION. law school student

PHYSICAL.

HAIR. honey blonde with golden reflects, about mid-back in general length EYES. generally described as blue, though they tend to look teal in certain lighting. too round to be almond shaped, too wide to be considered round. bright & almost child-like, but they’re often narrowed in suspicion NOSE. once it was cute & button-y, now it’s a little too long & wide. it has suffered too many fractures, most visible one the bridge now FACE. round with rather chubby cheeks, a pointy chin, wide forehead, & slight widow’s peak LIPS. full & a little round. if she’s not wearing only chapstick, she has on a deep, almost burgundy shade of lipstick, or a bright red lipstick. they tend to be chapped from picking & biting at them COMPLEXION. fair, but she tends to tan easily during the summer BLEMISHES. there are a few scars from missions gone wrong, one faded one from when she had chickenpox and picked at when she was five SCARS. her entire body is littered with soft, faded scars. from knife to bullet wounds. there’s a particularly nasty knife slash that goes across her chest; it starts on the middle and ends just short of her left nipple. TATTOOS. when her daughter turned 1y/o she used a fake a id to get the outline of a star on purple on her right shoulder blade HEIGHT. 5′5″ WEIGHT. 129 lbs / 58.5 kg BUILD. slender, small waist & wide hips, well toned FEATURES. tends looks fairly average from an outside perspective, especially because she tends to slouch a little as to not attract too much attention ALLERGIES. USUAL HAIR STYLE. down, doing its thing, or up into ponytail or braids USUAL FACE LOOK. serene & approchable USUAL CLOTHING. she wears a lot of muted colors & denim. the occasional leather jacket is a must, along w/ her staple military-green jacket

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR / S. major abandonment issues. failure. the sound of drills. scalpels, needles, & other medical equipment ASPIRATION / S. to do & inspire good on others. prove to the world that your background doesn’t define you POSITIVE TRAITS. witty, chatty, friendly, approachable, upbeat, resilient, persistent NEGATIVE TRAITS. sarcastic, quick-tempered, vengeful, cynical, stubborn MBTI. enfp-a the campaigner ZODIAC. leo TEMPEREMENT. sanguine SOUL TYPE / S. hunter, caregiver, helper all at 17 ANIMALS. eagle VICE HABIT / S. social drinker, former smoker FAITH. agnostic GHOSTS? was one once AFTERLIFE? been there, done that REINCARNATION? don’t wanna find out yet ALIENS? one is her best firend POLITICAL ALIGNMENT. fairly liberal. anarchic, even ECONOMIC PREFERENCE. indifferent SOCIOPOLITICAL POSITION. shrug emoji EDUCATION LEVEL. high school diploma, law student

FAMILY.

FATHER. arthur brown MOTHER. crystal agnes bellinger SIBLINGS. none EXTENDED FAMILY. not in too much contact with her aunts & uncles, grandparents are deceased. cassandra cain is considered an surrogate sister NAME MEANING / S. stephanie: french origin, crown. alice: english origin, of noble kin HISTORICAL CONNECTION ? none

FAVOURITES.

BOOK. the adventures of alice in wonderland MOVIE. none 5 SONGS. one girl revolution - superchick, don’t hurt yourself - beyoncé, royal jelly - deap vally, cool girl - tove lo, uprising - muse DEITY. - HOLIDAY. new years MONTH. - SEASON. fall PLACE. the top of wayne tower WEATHER. as long as it’s not too hot or cold, she’s okay with whatever SOUND. the laughter of children by the closest playground SCENT / S. sweet / candy TASTE / S. warm mashed potatoes with gravy FEEL / S. silk, cotton, warmth ANIMAL / S. cats NUMBER. - COLOUR. eggplant

EXTRA.

TALENTS. playing the piano. great marksman. quick learner BAD AT. handling abandonment & rejection. thinking before talking TURN ONS. suits!! confidence. intellect TURN OFFS. disregards for others. cockiness. HOBBIES. doodling. training. reading TROPES. action girl. the chick. girly bruiser AESTHETIC TAGS. cityscape, bruises, neon, bats, shadows, denim, leather GPOY QUOTES. “believe you can and you’re already halfway there.” – theodore roosevelt

FC INFO.

MAIN FC / S. gigi hadid ALT FC / S. nicola peltz OLDER FC / S. margot robbie & charlize theron YOUNGER FC / S. - VOICE CLAIM / S. -

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1. if you could write your character your way in their own movie, what would it be called, what style would it be filmed in, and what would it be about? A1. action movie all the way. it would feature the batman: eternal story w/ some major changes regarding steph’s involvement; mainly i would mingle in some of preboot history. occasional flashbacks to stephanie’s god awful childhood to provide background on why she’s so angry at arthur. crystal wouldn’t disappear by the end of it.

Q2. what would their soundtrack / score sound like? A2. a healthy mix of soundtrack music especially composed for the movie & some post-punk, rock, hip hop to add to the atmosphere of gotham

Q3. why did you start writing this character? A3. i’ve said it many times before, i was always fascinated by the idea of there ever being a girl robin in the comics that i had never heard of. when i learnt she was batgirl, by heart-eyes levels went off the roof. the more i read about steph, further i liked & identified with her. whens entered roleplaying she seemed like a nice fit for me to grasp as i continued to get more involved in comics. i didn’t plan to fall so much in love with her character, but after writing her for 4 yrs, i’ve become practically a one woman stephanie brown defense squad

Q4. what first attracted you to this character? A4. two words: girl. wonder

Q5. describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse. A5. she tends to speak & act without thinking, mostly in the heat of the moment. while sometimes it is blessing, some others she has ended up severely damaging other people & her relationships with them. this has made her be a little more guarded with her feelings, evading to even say the good things.

Q6. what do you have in common with your muse? A6. i also tend to put my foot in my mouth, though it takes me far more to realize i’ve done it. i try to keep an optimistic look at things too, but inside i’m cynical as they come. i can also be just as hardheaded tbh

Q7. how does your muse feel about you? A7. i think she likes me--most of the time. when i’m not putting her thru needless pain & suffering just cuz it’s entertaining for me.

Q8. what characters does your muse have interesting interactions with? A8. goddamn--well, there’s a lot of people i’ve interacted w/ over the years, so it’s hard to pick & choose. there’s definitely a lot of people i loved interacting w/ that now are sadly gone, & there’s nothing i can do about that. but anyways, let’s see if i can do this

there’s cass, who is as close as it gets to having a sibling for steph. they’re always Up to Something; either between them or against each other. when things get low for one, they’re always for each because they know what it’s like to be seen by others (& amongst the bats themselves) as potential trouble. they’re truly the epitome of the term hetero life partners.

then there’s tim. they have had their ups & downs, but they’re finally at a stable place where they can call each other close friends once more. joint patrols are only made awkward by the fact they are naturally awkward people. (also the earth 3 threads are 👌👌 certified gold)

on the other hand we have tim who is both a blessing & the bane of steph’s existence. everything is made 10x worse by the fact that they there’s a major lack of communication & repressed feelings between them. but hey, even if they took one step forward & two steps back, there has been some progress made.

we also have kon who is slowly but surely becoming one of steph’s favorite people. he’s alway down for some shenanigans. he’s for steph to be around, and he’s definitely made up for the time he had her flying unwillingly.

lately addison & steph have had some super interesting interactions. steph sees a lot of herself from back in her spoiler days in the young vigilante, beyond the obvious physical similarities. she wants to help her reach her potential in a more consistent manner than she had herself--now if only addy would let her know wtf is going on, that would help.

this is getting super long so i’m just gonna quickly mention sheri, tim, kuvira, kory & scott (im prolly missing a few people but this is too long already forgive me. basically, if ur tagged in this thing ilu ok 💖)

Q9. what gives you inspiration to write your muse? A9. i guess seeing the people above & just people i want to interact w/ really brings out my muse. reading & re-reading comics definitely does help too; i constantly have this nagging feeling to fix where dc fucks steph up tbh

Q10. how long did this take you to complete? A10. i dunno--like 2-3 hrs?? i drafted this & came back to it a couple of times lmao

#*let the puzzlement fit the crime. ❪ m; hc ❫#*kiss me sexy batman. ❪ ooc ❫#electroqueueperang #long post --

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kjg222453kjg222454 · 6 years

Text

Week 11 - independent study

Writing up parent handbook

I had a framework for how the parent handbook might flow like and was only planning to do a spread and the cover, ended up doing the whole thing as I wanted to get it printed properly.

Working through the framework I had already planned out > started writing up the content for it, this will probably be helpful for my design report which I need to start writing soon!

Cover and Purpose planning

What to expect from Kea Kit Part 1

What to expect from Kea Kit part 2

What to expect when you first visit prison

What to do in between times and direction to more info.

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Advent calendar

I had all the narrative and window text written up for this so decided to start with a basic layout of how this might come to look and flow through. I’m going to design two a3s a top sheet and a bottom sheet and stick them together – would be nice to have some thicker stock for this but going to go with the same feathered stock i’ve been using for the letters as it needs to either fold or roll nicely to sit in the box for storage.

I wanted this to feel like a treasure map so it made the kid’s curiosity and anticipation for their ‘adventure’ more exciting. It was quite a challenge to lay this out due to the varying lengths of text underneath. This definitely needs some more refinement. Currently feels very all over the show and the bottom is quite crowded.

The white background felt very bright and stark. All my other collateral has a solid background colour. Having a test of a low opacity background to see if this will help break up the elements a bit more, give some contrast to things etc. Still not feeling right about this. I think I’m gonna need to move somethings around.

Shifting some things up the top down to add in a title and also make the squishy-ness/busyness feel purposeful. Also tried adding in some of my other little illustrations which go along with the narratives of some of the text – this looks way too overstimulating and I don’t really know where to look first. Still unsure about the background colour. I do like the addition of the grass bits though.

I felt like the opaque background didn’t quite fit in with the rest of my collateral so changed it to a solid bold colour and swapped the tracks from yellow to white so they don’t blend in. I took the little extra creatures out and have hidden them under the numbers/flaps that they are relevant to.

Was thinking about having this folded in half to fit in the box and wanted to have an outside cover. Nothing was really working for me though and I tried to roll it instead of fold it which actually looked a lot better in my opinion, so blank back side of this calendar it is!

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Spatial Planning

I went to check out the block 10 dungeon to see if it was ideal or not for my spatial mock ups. There was a bit too much shit lying around and had the idea of checking out blocks 5 & 6 as i know that those hallways are a bit more hospital like which is very similar to inside a prison according to conversations and research.

I took my camera around with me and got some snaps + videos or the space and what it’s like to walk through it with nothing implemented in there.

photos from blocks 5 & 6. Very stark and boring, the doors look heavy as if to keep you in or out.

vimeo

Video walking through the space. Pausing at where things might be on walls.

Notes from spatial planning, measurements etc. I want to get some large formats and stick them up in the space then film again walking through. Also going to do a photo mock up of what you might see at a first glimpse of this hallway.

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Large format print chat with Luiz > decisions on what to do

I had a big chat with Luiz about the filming I wanted to do to show how my spatial was implemented and he said that photo mock ups should be fine + more professional and that I was rushing to get large format and filming done that day - there were too many variables to consider so I decided just to get some large formats done to install in my preso room instead.

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Full spatial mock up

I started off with an overview of what you’d first see when you arrived in the hallway space I was focusing on. this took quite some time to get all the perspectives and angles right but I’m pretty happy with how this looks. It gives a real feeling of an adventure up ahead, a lot of my friends said it looked like fun and they were curious to see what each speech bubble said. It’s also nice to note how much this looks like a hospital space too so this project definitely has the potential to work across similar environments.

This is a before image, I hadn’t quite got the lighting right on my post processing – i wanted it to feel cold and threatening but i think that i really just needed the space to look bland and nothing. Showing how there is nothing to distract the children from their thoughts and emotions.

before pic - bland and sterile space.

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Narrative mock ups

beginning with the outside of the prison – using the photos I took up at Mt Crawford Prison. It’s quite rundown due to abandonment but the Kea start to build curiosity and take away some of that anxiety around these buildings.

The first part of the Journey starts with the notion of tāwharau (protection)

The narratives that follow (in order) to lead to the visit hall. I envision that this could be adapted every 9-12months so that each visit could be different and exciting each time. This could be co-designed with the prisoners as to what their children like or what stories they’d like to tell/teach.

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Large formats

Luiz had my large formats done so fast! literally by 8am the next morning. They’re HUGE this big kea is about 1m long! Super happy with how these look.

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Parent handbook

I don’t have all the image content for this book yet (planning to have a full bleed image on the left side). So started off by figuring out my type systems. Definitely prefer the two column system to the top version!

What a spread might look like with a full bleed image. I’ve also colour coded each of the sections/phases of the project.

Cover – simple and more formal for parents/adults.

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Photos

turned my desk space into a photo studio for the afternoon:

some pics that came out of this session:

took quite a few, detailing all the little bits and pieces but haven’t had a chance to go through these yet as this was all i needed for the parent hand book.

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Printing from Wakefields

I got my storybook cover and parent hand book printed professionally at Wakefield’s Digital. The Cover is a PLC gloss hard cover and the booklet is just a 2up saddle stitch 12pp booklet on gloss 120gsm stock – feels a lot more formal for the adults.

The cover is a little bigger than expected and doesn’t quite fit as well in the box as well as I want it to. As you can see it all over flows just a little too but remembering that not all of the kit comes in the box at once so there is definitely room for the first kit to be sent in this.

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Writing preso - first draft

first script: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R7DT8JvgjCrCrKfFzALbS2_3qABJSykBVI5P3jWTB1s/edit?usp=sharing

This originally started off quite formal, as if i was pitching to government. It didnt really sound like me and felt a bit dislocated from the project so i re-wrote it a bit more emotively. It’s very heavily centred on developing empathy for the user journey, I’m a bit worried that I have got enough about my process and solutions in it. Will read it out to Jason in class tomorrow and see what he has to say.

#s2w11

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lunaresonance · 7 years

Text

Project proposal

Against the following UAL definitions what do you propose to achieve?

Context Understanding of subject context used appropriately to make judgments, describe aims and clarify purpose. What context do you intend to explore? What context is appropriate for your work?

For my project I will make an animal based animation for the charity called Dogs Trust. I am choosing dogs trust because it is a charity I am Familiar with and I also have a love for dogs. I will research various other charity based animations, analyse them and incorporate aspects that I think will be use during the production of my animation.

Research Sufficient relevant information has been gathered, documented and used in the development of ideas. What research Analysis do you propose to complete?

I will carry out research analysis when I go to the RSPCA centre. I will document my visit there and show pictures for evidence. I will the write about why I went there and talk about how my visit there relates to my work. I will also do secondary research such as looking on the inter net for information about dogs trust. I will then show proof of the information I have looked at and talk about why I have looked at it. I will do this with all of the primary and secondary research that I look at.

Problem Solving Sufficient exploration of alternative ideas using established approaches to resolve practical and theoretical problems. How do you propose to Problem solve? How will you adapt to unforeseen problems?

I will problem solve by doing various experiments and trying out new things until I have solved the problem. For example, if I have trouble animating a dog, i will look at various animations of a dog and also look at online tutorials. I ill then try animating the dog in multiple ways until the animated fog looks how I want it to look. I will also document each problem that I come across and write about how i solved the problem. I will repeat this process with every problem that I come across.

Planning and Production Evidence of effective planning and evaluation against aims that have contributed to a satisfactory completion of the task or tasks. How do you propose to plan and produce work within a given timeframe?

I will produce my work within the timeframe and reach all my deadlines by thoroughly planning everything I do I will plan using weekly schedulers and assessing how well I have carried out everything I planned to do by the end of the week.

Practical skills Adequate range of processes, skills and knowledge demonstrated. Competent execution and application of techniques used to develop ideas. What do you intend to make?

I am going to make an animation for dogs trust. The animation will be about a dog called Richie and how he was in a bad home until dogs trust re-homed him. I will then have a narrator talking about how dogs trust needs the viewers help th be able to help dogs like Richie. The animation will start in black and white but then the scenery will change and the animation will also change to full colour when Richie is shown in his new home. I will be creating my animation on photoshop and will be drawing out my primary sketches and storyboard on paper.

Evaluation and Reflection Clearly communicated evidence of valid evaluation and realistic analysis independently used to inform and develop ideas. How will you evaluate and record your reflection every day?

I will evaluate and record my work using reflective logs. I will document what I do throughout my project and also what I done good and what I didn't do so great. I will also annotate all of my work and write about what I could have done differently or what could be better about it.

Presentation Competent communication and sufficient clarity and consistency in presentation of ideas appropriate to the intended audience. How will your work, supporting work, sketchbook/ reflective journal and portfolio be presented?

I will present all my work on tumblr. I will put my final piece on youtube and then post that on tumblr too. My final piece will also be presented and shown at box park.

Additional Requirements, not included in the 500 word proposal.

Project action plan and timetable: provides an opportunity to outline the sequence of actions necessary to progress the project over a period of weeks so that it may be brought to a successful conclusion within the agreed timeframe. It is important that you consider how you will balance ambition, time and realism in the organisation and realisation of the project.

Week 1

Primary and secondary research

5 related charity animation examples

life drawings

questionnaire

Week 2

More primary and secondary research

research on selected audience

A3 mindmaps

More life drawings and contextual and theoretical studies

Week 3

proposal and time plan

analysis sheets

annotation and documentation

evaluation of progression

research

Week 4

storyboard draft

peer critique idea

analysis sheets

samples and test pieces

additional life drawings

Week 5

storyboard final

production of 10 second animation

Week 6

production of 10 second animation

additional life drawings

theoretical studies

Week 7

half term

Week 8

production of 10 second animation

mor elite drawings

Week 9

final evaluation

Week 10

work showcase

Week 11

Hand in

Bibliography 2016, R. (2016) Help | RSPCA charity fundraising appeal. Available at: https://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/donate/christmas?gclid=Cj0KEQiAnb3DBRCX2ZnSnMyO9dIBEiQAOcXYH82GhuUsfLZ_ZOWpaN5TCXCEs02YZdS_jh3YpRjuzeAaAgy38P8HAQ (Accessed: 5 February 2017).

BBC (2017) BBC children in need - what we do. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5J1sppRQGKQ20k75DGB313L/what-we-do (Accessed: 7 February 2017).

charitywater (2011) Water changes everything. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCHhwxvQqxg (Accessed: 9 February 2017).

Home (2017) Available at: https://www.bhf.org.uk (Accessed: 7 February 2017). Home (no date) Available at: https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/?gclid=Cj0KEQiAhs3DBRDmu-rVkuif0N8BEiQAWuUJr3nb-v2QljMxzNYHP6fwrJftvnmb-1Rtczde2LNLKGsaAquB8P8HAQ (Accessed: 5 February 2017).

Make Productions (2014) Shelter 9 million voices - charity video. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBucKP87k2s (Accessed: 8 February 2017).

Prawni mation (2013) Saint Francis Hospice charity animation - feat Adam Buxton. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTiw7cgx510 (Accessed: 9 February 2017).

used, or and permission (no date) Adopt an animal today with WWF UK. Available at: https://support.wwf.org.uk/?pc=AQJ001001&ds_medium=cpc&gclid=Cj0KEQiAhs3DBRDmu-rVkuif0N8BEiQAWuUJrwpRHzdDn7k7pRJj9CJ8jB77_AK8V65jqpNTIbIiYNEaAj6H8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds (Accessed: 8 February 2017).

Citations, Quotes & Annotations 2016, R. (2016) Help | RSPCA charity fundraising appeal. Available at: https://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/donate/christmas?gclid=Cj0KEQiAnb3DBRCX2ZnSnMyO9dIBEiQAOcXYH82GhuUsfLZ_ZOWpaN5TCXCEs02YZdS_jh3YpRjuzeAaAgy38P8HAQ (Accessed: 5 February 2017).

(2016, 2016) BBC (2017) BBC children in need - what we do. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5J1sppRQGKQ20k75DGB313L/what-we-do (Accessed: 7 February 2017).

(BBC, 2017) charitywater (2011) Water changes everything. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCHhwxvQqxg (Accessed: 9 February 2017). (charitywater, 2011) Home (2017) Available at: https://www.bhf.org.uk (Accessed: 7 February 2017).

(Home, 2017) Home (no date) Available at: https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/?gclid=Cj0KEQiAhs3DBRDmu-rVkuif0N8BEiQAWuUJr3nb-v2QljMxzNYHP6fwrJftvnmb-1Rtczde2LNLKGsaAquB8P8HAQ (Accessed: 5 February 2017).

(Home, no date) Make Productions (2014) Shelter 9 million voices - charity video. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBucKP87k2s (Accessed: 8 February 2017). (Make Productions, 2014) Prawni mation (2013) Saint Francis Hospice charity animation - feat Adam Buxton. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTiw7cgx510 (Accessed: 9 February 2017).

(Prawni mation, 2013) used, or and permission (no date) Adopt an animal today with WWF UK. Available at: https://support.wwf.org.uk/?pc=AQJ001001&ds_medium=cpc&gclid=Cj0KEQiAhs3DBRDmu-rVkuif0N8BEiQAWuUJrwpRHzdDn7k7pRJj9CJ8jB77_AK8V65jqpNTIbIiYNEaAj6H8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds (Accessed: 8 February 2017).

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