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sanderssideswriting · 5 months

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Kind of suck that jacksepticeye can make a comicbook base of his egos in the year 2023; but Thomas can’t! It’s been what; almost 3? 4? Years since the last big episode? Thomas can make other videos and other shows, wouldn’t making a comic be easier or less time consuming? It could give the fans a statistical ending.

So I don’t know anything about Jack and his egos. But that is VERY cool he made a comic for it and I hope that continues in some way shape or form.

Thomas making a comic or something might be better. But he’s still not finished part 4 of the finale. I don’t know much about comis other then like, you draw stuff and whatever. But that’d also take a lot of time. Finding artists, having thrm draw it, approve it, reject it, make changes. Like no matter what he foes it will take time.

Which is understandable with everything going on. I just wish there was a little more transparency in it instead of random teasers and updates where he says he’s still writing. Which fine, I get that. But does he have to write it all now?

To pull an example from my own life. I wrote a fic in another fandom. The planning everything took months alone. Then I prewrite like 15 chapters before I posted the first which allowed me to be able to post consistently while staying ahead. And I did gave to take a break in the middle for reasons. In which I told my readers “hey, I’ll be taking a break for the next month or two and will be using some of that time to get ahead again” because I’d not written a chapter in weeks and was getting to the end of my backlog. My “plan” for if I lost motivation for that fic or other fics and I abandon them I’ll make the last chapter telling people what would’ve happened. I hate cliffhangers and it’d be better then nothing.

Thomas has written a significant portion. Why can’t he begin filming and also write the last part? Why can’t he be a little more transparent with what’s going on? Or stop making timelines he doesn’t follow.

I don’t know if a comic would be faster, I don’t make comics. Tbh I don’t really care if it would make the process faster. Thomas’s chosen medium is video formats. Every process to make a “proper” finale will take time. That’s just life.

And I’m fine with waiting, he can take his time. I just wish he was a little more transparent about how everything is coming along. Just like, a little more. Like “hey everyone! Part one is nearly done!” “Hey everyone have a lot more projects so the finale is going on the hack burner.” “Hey! I have a new series coming out that I’m so excited for! I’m on the last part of the finale, it may take some time to finish, but it’ll get done eventually.” And so on. Instead of like “part one will be out by [date]”

#ts critical #ts criticism #ts crit #ask

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asksoldieron · 6 months

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SO-12: The Spirit of Harpo Marx

If there's a lot of engagement on this, this post is liable to get real long, beware before you expand.

Welcome to the Engagement Lounge, for Alight at the Window (SO-12) an instalment! Short comments can go in the replies, but there's a 475 character limit. Longer ones will need a reblog. Remember to @asksoldieron if you're reblogging someone else's reblog, so I can see it too!

Awwwwww, ya know? Awwwwww ❤️!

Poor Erik is in ⚡🔋no shape🔋⚡ to communicate, but he's doing his best. Maggie has no idea whether he's messing with her on purpose, or what's wrong with him, but she won't let him go. They'll get to him eventually. (I've just finished that part, actually. They've got him! Uh. Sorta. At least he's... safe now? 😅Oh, I can't say that with a straight face.)

This is the last of my queued posts/instalments, and I have no idea where my reading and drawing ability will be when it goes live. If I can't update you on my condition (and the condition of the next six instalments) I'll hafta have the spouse type a note for me. I want to do six more right away, or I might take a two week break, or - if I'm really struggling - it'll be a break of indeterminate length. I hope I'll be okay to just keep going, my Patrons have been so patient this year. Thanks, y'all.

But, either way, there will be a break at some point, because I'll have a while where I can't write or draw and that's going to eat up my backlog. Also, recent updates have done more stupid things to my theme and I think the site needs a redesign - maybe including some radical simplification. I'm just not mobile friendly and I can't make the current format behave. People with better eyesight than me do a lot of reading on their phones.

I have no idea how to build a community and I'm flailing, really, but maybe if I can get the interface more convenient, more people will like me? (I have no idea. Probably they won't.)

Look, though! You've got some extra art to tide you over! And a song!

I'm not in love with how Erik's design looks right now - he looks like a train wreck, but he should look like a train wreck. Nobody is going to fix his hair. I still feel self-conscious about it. He used to be cute. I've got to do a full-body rendering of how he'll clean up, but I don't have time for it now.

However, I did do a page of something trying to get comfortable with his ability to emote in train reck form. I don't have time to finish it, but I think it looks cool so I'm sharing.

This is potentially a way for me to serve you the music without lyric backgrounds that you can't read! It's very labour-intensive, but I was figuring out how to do it and it might get a little easier with practice. Also, my current tablet is struggling with the resolution and I plan to update it by the end of the year - depending on sale prices.

After I saw Hedwig and the Angry Inch, I found out the original Off-Broadway incarnation had filked music with lyrics by John Cameron Mitchell. 🥹😊I'm calling it! This is something other people sharing my identity do to tell their stories! Filk musicals are an enby thing! We do not give a shit about the music industry's copyrights! I'm performing nonbinary correctly!

So here's the lyrics again, and maybe I'll give you the rest in comic form as my vision and my tools improve.

You Are Found! (based on "We Are Young" by fun.) I need a minute, I… I don’t know if I’m ready yet I’m tryin’ to get my shit together, Maggie, please don’t be upset My family must be looking for me somewhere very near Guess I knew you must be coming but I can’t believe you’re here, and… It’s been forever since I’ve seen your face I know you want to take me home But although it hurts to do this work they need my help for what it’s worth — Oh, gods I’m not sure if I wanna go So maybe if, next time you see me, You can take me by the hand, You’ll steal me away At last I am found So I guess the party’s over Time to get sober, and come down At last I am found So I guess the party’s over Time to get sober, and come down No, I wanna go home I’m just not done I guess that I, I just hoped We could visit and I’d get right back to work But I can’t go yet So I must forget 'Cause I think you’ll hafta steal me away At last I am found So I guess the party’s over Time to get sober, and come down At last I am found So I guess the party’s over Time to get sober, and come down Steal me away at last (na na na na na na) Come steal me away at last (na na na na na na) Steal me away at last (na na na na na na) Come steal me away at last (na na na na na na) The gods have their own plan (na na na na na na) But I’m just one weary man (na na na na na na) So you're gonna hafta steal me away at last (na na na na na na) I have so much to do (na na na na na na) How can I go with you? (na na na na na na) So you're gonna hafta steal me away (na na na na na na) At last I am found So I guess the party’s over Time to get sober, and come down At last I am found So I guess the party’s over Time to get sober, and come down So maybe if, next time you see me, You can take me by the hand You’ll steal me away at last

See you soon! Ha, I hope!

Late edit: Two week break, folks. No drawing ability yet, so we're stuck with it. I still hope to get you the next six by the end of the year. I'll keep you posted!

[Back to Site?]

#tin soldier and soldier on #instalment #engagement lounge #music #covers #comic #lyrics

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goldieclaws · 4 months

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Yet another art summary for the year! :>

I certainly did do a lot this year and have been very busy with not just my art, but also my many projects because my brain doesn't have an off switch lol. As a few bullet points, here's what I got up to this year:

✨ I started posting updates for my comic: The Mountain's Song. However, due to feeling pressured to post it before I had a sufficiently long backlog (ironically, this was not because of the 'webcomics are a BUSINESS, not a hobby anymore' view people have, but different matters), I decided to go on an indefinite hiatus until my willpower returned. Compared to my energy at the start of the year, I do feel better now and I do hope to continue working on it at some point in the new year perhaps.

✨ In the meantime, I have been working on another comic: Prelude, which focuses on a cast of characters I have had for 10 years or so. This comic is for now Patreon-exclusive and one I work on in my own time as currently, it's primarily for me than a wider audience. I'm sure anyone else would prioritise a story they've had in their head for so many years haha.

✨ I also uploaded my first ever short story to itch.io and Amazon: Daughter of the Sea! I even have a physical copy of it and I couldn't be happier! I most certainly hope to one day fill my bookshelf with future works of fiction by yours truly.

✨ I also took part in various game jams this year: two O2A2 jams (Only One of Any Asset) and the Annual Spooktober Visual Novel Jam, using the latter to create A Great Hunger, which I am very proud of as a product made by only myself and in the span of one month. Additionally, I also took part in this years' ArtFight! Something I haven't done for a long while (I can't even remember when I last took part but it could have been 2018 maybe? Don't quote me on that lmao)

✨ Finally, I also started writing two more books: Blue Bones and another that I hope to release early next year. It would have been finished by the end of this year, but thanks to my insufferable roommate seasonal depression, I wasn't able to do so. However, I am still very determined to see that book finished and on my bookshelf one day. I also started working on two Unity projects so that I could learn to code in C#; something I know could be very helpful in the industry. One game is a platformer about a young dragon: Apricot, going on an adventure to see their grandmother, whilst the second is a Vampire Survivors/horde survival inspired game that features characters from two of my main universes. I also hope to finish these projects next year if possible.

OK, that's it for me I guess! I'm very happy with what I have been able to accomplish and proving to myself that no I'm not lazy, I can work hard when I set my mind to it. Here's to another year of me finishing more projects and being able to share my hard work with the world :> 🥂💖✨

#art summary #art summary meme #my art #art summary 2023 #here's hoping I just might have 3 new projects under my belt in the new year :>

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softlighter · 6 months

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Twenty questions for fic writers!

thanks for the tag @wyrd-syster

1. How many works do you have on AO3? I just posted my 100th (!!!) work this morning! I might be taking some off soon, as they're more for my dnd group than for anything else, but yes, 100!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 643,987 since 2016!

3. What fandoms do you write for? I primarily write for RWBY and Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, but I also do write fanfic of my dnd characters. Because why not!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

fucking in love, a collaboration with @set-wingedwarrior, RWBY, Bumbleby, "but they were both porn stars" au! WIP.

something to carry, RWBY, Bumbleby, my beloved soulmate au! finished.

From the Heart, RWBY, Bumbleby, my 2020 @bumblebybigbang fic and with chapter headers and comic by the lovely @yourfriendlele! a bakery au, finished.

The Roommate, RWBY, Bumbelby, a "oh my god Blake's a kitten and Yang adopts her" one shot, finished.

doubt the stars, RWBY, Bumbleby, a "Blake is a witch and there's Magic" au. WIP, but I actually have been tinkering on it in the background recently.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I used to, but, after letting too many lovely and generous comments pile up and feeling as though I need to get through the backlog before responding to any new ones, I've since stopped. Also, I'm in grad school and writing a lot, so taking the time to thoughtfully respond as I want to isn't always realistic, time-wise. I'm still sorting out my approach going forward, but I sincerely appreciate everyone who takes the time to leave me such kind words.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I don't really write pure angst, but my series Liberation has a lot of angst interspersed and does have an angsty ending for the first fic. The series is incomplete, but both fics are completed. I usually try to write angst with hope!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I'm not sure how to measure happiest, but I do love the ending for something to carry, it's definitely something that brought me a lot of joy to write.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I've started to moderate my comments and turned off guest comments to get ahead of the curve, especially as my works as of late have been exploring dynamics that do attract a lot of hate. I've only ever received seemingly well-intentioned comments that have come across poorly to me, but I can't remember a distinct hateful message.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Heh. So much. Logistically, I write a lot of BDSM and dominance/submission dynamics, and I mostly write monogamous sapphic or hetero couples, although I do write other pairings and dynamics as well. I find that I write smut as a kind of psychological catharsis, and there's an examination of the dynamics at play there, but not all the time. All the time, it is horny.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I do not! The closest I've come to a crossover is doing AUs, but I like my ducks in a row and my media separated.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my awareness, thank goodness!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not that I'm aware of!

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before? Yes! @set-wingedwarrior and I work on Fucking in Love together, and Wings is lovely.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? Gosh, don't make me choose! I think something that will always make me smile is Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, but part of that is sentimentality. I think Yang and Blake will always have a special place in my heart as getting me writing not only fanfiction again but for getting me writing again, not to mention helping me find my girlfriend of three years and for getting me to write sapphic love.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Don't perceive me, but I doubt the Liberation series' fic three will ever be written any time soon. I have other fics I'd rather work on. Everything else, I have intent to finish, but I've kind of let myself off the hook for Liberation.

16. What are your writing strengths? I have writing strengths? In all seriousness, I've been told I write grief very well, and I think that writing the intensity of emotion along with the spectrum of feelings from experiences is a strength of mine. I describe feelings well and can evoke emotions, and honestly, that's a point of pride for me.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Plot. I hate plot, because I want to write stories about feelings, but feelings require things that have happened and I'm just not as invested in plot as a literary device as I am anything else. I can get lost in the sauce of writing feelings and then forget to make anything happen, whoops? Also, I think that making voices distinct and making sure my sentence structure isn't (unconsciously) repetitive, and trying to provide variation is something I actively work at.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I do it sometimes, like in in the mouth of the wolf (good luck) because the reader doesn't need to understand Italian to know what's going on. I try to use it sparingly, both because my grasp of languages outside of English is barely passable at best and because I don't want to deal with translation when I am only fluent in one language.

19. First fandom you wrote for? First published fic was a Merlin fic! I wrote some Merlin x Morgana back in the fanfiction dot net days.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written? Until recently, I would've said something to carry, but I'm working on something right now that I think will overtake that. stc was a labor of love, literally and figuratively, but what I'm writing now is an exploration of themes that I've wanted to explore for years. When it's published, I'll update this post, but for now, a little suspense never hurt. ;)

tagging @set-wingedwarrior @blake-belladonna-defence-force @dandelionsknight @myrsinemezzo @patchodraws and anyone else who wishes to be perceived!

#my writing

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dash-n-step · 2 years

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You could argue the rpgs are kinda cheating cause you know, rpgmaker games are as prevalent as VNs, especially back in the day, but neither here nor there. Speaking of back in the day, there was also stuff like Hammerkind, and that Jane cooking game. Also would like to hear some of your fanventure reccomendations, besides VE or Kittyquest. Nothing towards Kittyquest, thats more me already guessing it from the blog banner and description.

heheheheh yeah it's no surprise that I'd recommend Kittyquest, I've had half a mind to blaze a post I made about it, that's how much I think people should read it, like even taking away my davepeta bias (they don't even show up at that often lmao) it's just a much more fun look into a post canon homestuck, with the world its built.

and while it's neither here nor there, I think it's a matter of the era/fandom. Like homestuck fans aren't going towards visual novels because they're any "easier" (the accessibility of tools especially for people who just want to write and draw does help of course), it's because it directly melds well with the format of comics/flashes/adventure games that the series itself runs on, and pesterquest/friendsims normalized it. It's like how if you go back you'll find a whole bunch of [x]stuck AUs and concepts and whatever, because back then people literally just did whatever because it was an active and chaotic fandom, for better and for worse.

For MSPFAs, again I don't spend as much as I'd like to in reading them and haven't really caught up and I already have a huge backlog when it comes to other stuff, but some that I've kept tabs on are, some of these aren't that active though:

(you've opened the floodgates anon, I didn't expect this post to get this long)

Martyrdom (last update: May 30th, 2022) , which is about the midnight crew finding some weird dudes stepping on their turf and trying to deal with them.

Homestuck (last update: April 21st, 2022), an mspfa that starts off where somehow Jade is teleported to the start of the comic, and there's something about OCs and there's a lot of earthbound music and I thought it was neat with how it changes things up

OH FUCK I forgot, Oasisquest (last update: September 16, 2021), it hasn't updated in a while but it's an mspfa that I think is based off the creators' roleplaying, so there's a new planet, mostly fantrolls and the designs are good

Oh and of course Act 8 (Last Update: April 16, 2021), because everybody has to have at least one "the ending of homestuck underwhelmed me, we can totally fix it" mspfa comic to follow. I don't remember too much but it does some neat stuff with Gamzee, Aradia and Tavros get a neat meat up, and Davepeta does some cool stuff here and there, so you know I'm down, even if it hasn't updated in like a year

OH FUCK also Deltastuck (last update: April 13, 2022), it's almost exactly what you'd expect form the name, but it's UNDERTALE characters trying to use sburb to get out of the underground, I haven't checked it out in a while since it had to stop to make a big flash update, but that's actually done now so it's somewhat still going

and uh, I think I'll end this off with a really old one, Nightfall (discontinued), which I haven't even finished but it interests me in that it's so clearly written before certain things in the comic that it almost feels like a time capsule.

It's basically centered around vrisjohn and it's post canon but in the way that I guess people just assumed that when the kids were done with the game and made a new universe they'd do normal kids stuff again and be in a normal americana setting while the trolls fuck off to their own planet, except suddenly Vriska shows up and has to hide out at John's place because humans don't know about aliens.

And of course the stakes get randomly high with some kind of magic alien ninja or something, I never got that far to understand but it was interesting to find, and while the creator doesn't plan on finishing it, they've basically adapted it into an original work, Xenologia (last update: June 25th, 2022) that apparently is still hosted on MSPFA and has multiple chapters out

we don't talk 'bout alt mewniverse no no no, we dont' talk 'bout alt mewniverse~

Also while we're down here, I've never actually read Vast Error. A part of me thinks it's funnier not to read it, so I can look at it in the same confusion as people who've never read homestuck probably looks at posts about it.

#dashingposts #asks #Anonymous #jesus christ this post got long #sorry anon #mspfa recs under the first two blocks of text tho #long post #dashingreads #dashingreads: mspfa #dashingreplies

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askfallenroyalty · 3 years

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This is just me throwing suggestions but you could make a patreon for your afr redraw, it’s not close to being finished and it allows people to support you. You can have tiers that show wips and progress updates of the comic (bc that would be really cool to see in my opinion)! I would also buy merch from you bc I really think your art style and story are amazing. It’s whatever you feel comfortable with, but remember that there are people that will always support you if you do end up going with whatever!

//ahhh maybeee...? I actually tried to get some of it done beforehand -mostly backgrounds and setting up the paneling but not the actual character art. I typically finish the comic pages either the night before or a few nights before. I dunno if I can stick to a schedule and show off early stuff when I work like that + i sometimes just use the old comic page as a base to draw off of

//i’ll defs think about it... I just don’t feel I can manage my time well enough and I can’t handle the responsibility of self-management. like, when it comes to Money I wanna make sure I do things perfectly! but hm, maybe once the main updates are over I’ll have more time to devote to the redraw and I can actually make a substantial backlog. I’d like to also make original content someday -god knows what though! maybe I’ll be able to do so then. (I could also make a playable early build for my fangame Angel’s Lullaby as a patreon bonus!)

//i might set up some stickers or something low-cost to make (I honestly have no idea how many people would want to buy something from me alsdkfa I did sell charms before and my audience is probably bigger than then, so maybe I’ll try that again? I hear the charms from then are still in good quality years later!) lots to think about... thank you anon <3

#ooc #tbd #not art #Anonymous

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radiosandrecordings · 4 years

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There’s the person in me who loved psychology before I dropped out of that class and the one who currently studies moving image who really wants to run some kind of study on how fandom interprets things.

I’m gona take The Magnus Archives as a point of study for this. Say we have four test group:

Group 1 has watched every episode of TMA as it came out, episode one to two hundred as it airs, the full four year+ timeline. They have never interacted with the fandom and do not know anyone in real life who has listened to it.

Group 2 has also listened in real time, but interacts with fandom and talks about it regularly, consuming fan content like art and fics

Group 3 did what so many did and have binged all four seasons available to them before catching up and listening to season five in real time. They do not engage with fandom.

Group 4 does the same as group 3, but engages with fandom in the same way as group 2.

Readmore in case you don’t want to read 1000 words of me talking about media.

I really want to see how this shifts their interpretations of canon. My theory being, group 1 would probably have the clearest view of canon by itself, while group 4 would have the most warped. I’m not saying any of these have better interpretations the source, just that group one would view it more clearly as it was presented in its original format

The thing that prompted this was the treatment of the character of Martin Blackwood specifically. He’s one of if not the most popular character, and is often simplified in fan spaces as the soft, caretaking love interest, or in some interpretations popular in fandom during the airing of the fourth season, the ‘sassy gay’. I’d really want to test how much of that interpretation comes from canon itself, or how people warp canon to fit how they want to view the text.

I think it’s kind of similar of english class. Your teacher hands you a copy of Mice and Men and you read the book. As you go through, you discuss only what is in the text. You read and re-read the book until you have a good enough view of it that you can recall facts from memory and write an essay on it. What you don’t do, is read half the book, spend two months talking with your friends about it and reading and writing fanfiction about Lenny, George and Curly living on their ranch, just to be horrified and call it ‘OOC’ when somebody dies.

Back to the study of TMA, Martin specifically is a character who has grown and developed a lot over the four and a bit seasons the show has been running. At a certain point halfway through the series, it becomes clear that he has a romantic interest in the protagonist, and this is later reciprocated. I started listening to the show during it’s season break, with S3 being finished and S4 about to release. At the time it was implied that Martin had feelings, but it was unclear if this would be further expanded upon in canon. I want to know how far fan opinion of him differs from before and after this event, and further when his feelings are returned and the relationship becomes canon. Did the establishment of him as a romantic lead create a softer view of him in the listeners mind?

This is prompted by the fact that, after the relationship became official, his actions have been under much more of a microscope from fans than previously. Things that would be brushed off before, especially if said to another side character, are now scrutinised when he says them to his partner. Would this view be shared by someone who listened to the show in isolation, or is it purely a construct of a fan base who are more used to their own fan comics and fic of him where he’s the soft, doting boyfriend who would never offend his partner?

Because he has said things previously that are similar to how he is acting now, as episodes are released. He has been impulsive and inconsiderate with his words and missed cues in conversations, such as impulsively trying to touch some plastic explosives, or not getting a piece of self deprecating sarcasm and pointing out that the protagonist had just referred to himself as an idiot. This is where I would want to examine group 4 specifically. As people often listen to the whole four years of backlog in as short as a week, they often miss details such as this. They power through the source text, and then spend a longer amount of time immersed in fan interpretations, and my theory being that this long exposure overrides their memory of what his actions are in canon, and instead give a fan’s mental picture of him more of a fan created personality. They are more likely to remember something when it’s included in ten different fanfictions they read, all bouncing off each other, than an episode they listened sandwiched between two other episodes.

Fan headcanons are also a slippery slope, because often you can end up with things being perceived as canon which have little or no basis. This is usually all in good fun, but chasing rabbit hole after rabbit hole from au to headcanon to interpretation can often create something entirely indistinguishable from the source (Hell, remember the Onceler thing?). Plus, the creation of one interpretation of a character that inspires another will spread if it gains enough popularity, possibly even seeping down into the bare bones of the fan base until it’s somehow everywhere. An example of this is the almost always used design for the protagonist as a south asian man with long, dark hair, glasses and a largely green colour scheme. Someone with no fandom knowledge like groups 1 or 3 would have no idea this popular design for the man exists, but it is likely whenever listening to the show, groups 2 and 4 would picture a variant on this base design.

An added aspect of groups 1 & 2 that 3 & 4 don’t have is the fact that they get time to sit and theorise between episodes, whether alone or with a group respectively. When listening to a backlog like 3 & 4 you don’t need to sit and go ‘I wonder why he said that?’ because you can move on to the next episode and see why.

Basically, TL;DR: It’s here’s my hypothetical proposition for a psychology/anthropology study on how people’s perspectives on a media are shaped by the nature of how they consume it, focusing on the timeframe in which they consume it and their exposure to outside influence.

#My Post #I was trying to write this from an unbiased TMA fan perspective because I know I myself am subject to this just by being someone who listene #but I just wanted to examine this theory as a whole with TMA as the example study since it's something I know well AND has a clear example #CAN YOU TELL MY PARENTS HAVE ANTHROPOLOGY DEGREES #It doesn't even touch on web martin. i will write that sequel some day #neither of them have jobs to match but the curiosity rubbed off #The Magnus Archives #Martin Blackwood

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hard--mode · 3 years

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How do you find the time and energy to get the comics done? Do you power through in one long sitting or do you do it bit by bit? I'm trying to develop an Undertale comic but its completely hypothetical atm.

lmao at the fact that I haven’t been able to get anything done for this in probably a year or more now

I can’t say much for time and energy since I started this back when all I did every moment of my life was draw and lately I just barely keep up with work so I can hardly think of attempting to do stuff like this. Finding a good work/life balance and healthy sources of motivation is a personal journey that requires trial and error.

As for what advice I can give...

For me to start a comic, I usually have a direction I want to go with it first. Like I literally don’t commit to making something as big as a comic unless I have some inkling of how it will end, because I don’t wanna do it forever. The result is that I usually have enough ideas to make a script with before I get started, so step one is to make a script or at minimum a rough outline that I’ll finish as necessary

after that, I start by doing chapters as super rough little thumbnail sketches where I lay out the panels and draw stick figure poses. I do these whole chapters at a time. I think I did like the first 3 chapters of this at once in this manner. But it’s quick work if you know what you want to do already.

then things tend to slow down, because the process of making real sketches at full size takes a lot more time, and then even more so again to line and color everything. Unless I’m really on a roll, this part I mostly do tiny bit by tiny bit, because lineart or colors can get tedious sometimes, especially the more pages there are to put out. And making comics isn’t my job (doing other art is my job) so I try very hard to not overexert myself lest I hurt myself in some way, because getting burnt out or injured is the best way to kill any ability you had to make the comic in the first place!

If you’re concerned about being able to post something on a regular basis, I recommend making a bunch of pages for backlog so you’ll be working on things much later in the story by the time the first pages post, so when inevitably you fall behind schedule, you’ve still got some space. It’s also very common for people to have long posting breaks between chapters to recoup the buffer

hope that helps! :3

#not a comic #asks #baguettemilk

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sleights-of-hand · 4 years

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do you have any comic making tips? i like the way your panels are laid out :o

Sure!-- and thank you! I have a couple general tips, but let me preface them by saying I am NOT an artist by trade. This is my hobby and I have no technical training. These are just suggestions and not rules by any means; if they’re not right for you or your project, that’s okay!

Here are my five main tips:

1. Know your goals

2. Keep it simple

3. Have a script

4. Finished is better than perfect

5. Have a backlog

Wall of text below the cut to elaborate..... You have been warned.

1. Know your goals. It’s okay to have no goal except to have fun! But if you do want something specific-- like to tell a certain story, or be finished within two years, or have it printed and made into physical copies-- you need to acknowledge your goals as early on in the process as you can and think about how you’ll achieve it before you start any heavy lifting.

2. Keep it simple. Because comics can take a while to complete it’s important to keep things simple. This goes not just for the style you use, but the story you use too. My experience is that even simple stories can take many pages to tell coherently in comic form.

Keeping character designs simple helps too. You’ll have to redraw your characters over and over. A design that doesn’t seem complex when drawn once may become extremely taxing when drawn twelve times per page from many angles. There’s a place for ornate designs, of course! But finding ways to make characters simple to draw AND distinct will save you some time and wrist pain.

3. Have a script. You don’t have to marry yourself to your script, but it is much easier to keep your momentum if you know what happens next in the story. This is more important for longer comics than for short ones; you want to avoid running into the end of your script while working if possible.

4. Finished is better than perfect. You will never make the perfect story. Nobody will. It’s natural and normal for artists and authors to love what they make and then hate it so much they can barely look at it. But with comics it’s very important to resist the temptation to go back and fix old pages unless it’s truly necessary. If you spend time trying to patch your old pages you might burn out before you finish your comic. Most readers will be happier knowing how the story ends than seeing updated versions of pages they’ve already read!

5. Have a backlog of pages. Life happens. Sometimes we lose momentum, get busy, or experience declines in health that may make comic-making impossible. I really, really advocate for building a backlog of pages in anticipation of weeks or months where you just cannot work on a comic. You may never need to use your backlog, but if you do it can take a lot of pressure off.

#faq #production #comix

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obscured-descentcomic · 4 years

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!!Obscured Descent Update!!

Its been almost a year since I touched this comic. Wow. Time really flies. I've just finished up my final year at college so its time for me to get back to this... but not as quickly as I thought I would. When i started this comic i started on a whim. Barely any pages made in a backlog which resulted in the weird "Once every two weeks" upload schedule. I want to change that. Especially since its taken almost 4 years just to finish Chapter one despite it being... ya know... Chapter one. Before I start updating OD again I'm going to try something different which will be better for the comic over all in the long run. The schedule will be changed to once per week but it probably won't be starting anytime soon. This time I will make a backlog to get these last few pages out and release them before the end of the year. Chapter 2 will be worked on immediately after but I won't start posting it until the backlog consists of about half the pages of the chapter. Then I'll update so that I don't fall into that weird schedule trap again. I've been working towards changing a lot of things about myself these last two years such as drawing speed of overall productivity. This time my comic will be the main focus of my improvement goals. I really hope to get this story out there and not have to can this attempt like I used to do when I was a kid. I've got the story and now I need to draw it. Thank you all for sticking around with my (mostly dead-ish) comic up to this point. I truly cannot thank you enough. There's so much to this that I want to share with you all but itll have to wait until the comic's over and all the secrets are unveiled. Try to bear with me for the time being!

#updates

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rpgmgames · 6 years

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September’s Featured Game: Ghost Hospital

DEVELOPER(S): Lev, Kip, Rose, Tredlocity, C, Bittersweet ENGINE: RPGMaker MV GENRE: Adventure, RPG WARNINGS: Anxiety, Body horror, Implied child harm SUMMARY: Ghost Hospital is a game about anxiety, depression, despair, mental rock bottoms, and, of course, ghosts. You play as Robin, a twelve-year-old girl who has an anxiety disorder and is very much alive in this hospital meant for beings that are not alive. Frankly, her anxiety was already bad enough before she landed in a hospital full of dead people, the still-shambling shells of ancient ghosts who try to take her down for a sweet taste of life, and the hospital directors hellbent on keeping her contained, and more importantly, away from the reason she's REALLY there. Thankfully, you have your new friends Jay and Sarcastic Ghost- Jay is a ghost about your age, and still a very new arrival to the hospital, and Sarcastic Ghost…well, he's an amorphous blob of a ghost, who talks a lot despite not having a mouth.

Download the demo here!

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! Lev: Hey, my name is Lev! I'm an artist and storyteller, and though I've wanted to make games for a long time, this is my first serious attempt! Most of my work is about my experiences in mental illness. Kip: I'm a freelance artist being allowed to write cheap jokes in ghost form. Rose: I'm a freelance writer and editor for the game! I also work on dialogue and story drafting. Tredlocity: My name is Tredlocity! I do some character designs and writing in the game! C: c / ghoul is a character designer, comic artist and Halloween enthusiast. They're currently apart of several indie game teams and are writing the webcomic, This Dark Forest of Ours. Bittersweet: I'm Kendall (AKA Bittersweet), and I'm the resident music person (one of two, technically, but the other left the project unfortunately.) This is my first (and thus far only) major soundtrack composition project, but thus far, it's been a satisfying one!

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially? *Lev: Ghost Hospital is a game about anxiety, and the game was born out of an idea to put someone in the shoes of someone with clinical anxiety and depression without going for the prototypical 'horror game' or 'walking simulator', giving more game-friendly, practical narrative and gameplay examples of how it effects people.

How long have you been working on your project? *Lev: The game started development in late 2016 as a thesis project for college. At its inital completion, it was more of a beta or proof of concept than a demo- in its current state, it's far closer to what we have envisioned for the final project.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *Lev: Absolutely! The biggest influences are OFF, Yume Nikki, and Sweet Home, and a lot of Gameboy Color graphics and aesthetics- namely, Pokemon GSC and the GBC Zelda Games.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them? *Lev: RPG Maker is a versatile engine, but still fairly restrictive, so getting all the effects I wanted to work was challenging. Mental illness and real life have been taking a toll on development time, too. Getting things to work took teaching myself some javascript, and after being in serious development for this long, I've found ways to motivate myself to keep working. Having other people checking in on you helps, too.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *Lev: In its very first inital pitch, it was much closer to Yume Nikki, being more atmospheric and serious. At some point in character and world development, though, I couldn't bear to make it a stoic adventure, and with most of the stuff I already take inspiration from, it's hard for me to not put jokes into the media I make, anyway.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *Lev: At the beginning, it was just me working on everything. The first people I brought on board were my concept artist, Kip, my writer, Rose, and my musician, Bittersweet. I can't do music on my own, and I knew from word go that I wanted this to be the kind of game with a strong story and a lot of unique NPCs.

What is the best part of developing the game? *Lev: Call me biased, but the most fun part is making the art for it. It's hard for me to motivate myself to keep working if I'm just using default placeholder sprites, I have to make new NPCs to keep myself interested. It's not the most convenient, but it's fun to do, and it actually really does help with my workflow.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *Lev: Oh, absolutely. RPG Maker games have a bad reputation for being very cut-and-paste, and there's a lot of those out there. But it just takes a bit of effort to make yourself and your game stand out, and it can be done absolutely beautifully! The latest one I've played was Hylics, completely surreal and wonderful.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *Lev: Robin is a sort of proxy character for myself, so...I'm a bit biased on her. I love Jay a lot, too, he's kinda the friend I wish I had in elementary school when all this first showed up, haha. *Tredlocity: As someone who faces anxiety on a daily basis, I relate to Robin a lot. Though I would say my favorite character is Jay, since he can shoot plasma and has blue hair. *C: I'm partial to Coop [upcoming character], not just bc I designed them but bc I love big sister types. *Rose: I also relate to robin and jay! i try to control my anxiety while remaining positive and hopeful about situations. *Bittersweet: As an anxiety-riddled person, I relate immensely to Robin. However, my favorite character by far has to be Carna. (There's another character I'm particularly looking forward to when the full version of the game is released, though~)

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *Lev: Honestly, there's a few things I wanted the game to be able to do at the start that I wasn't able to make happen. I spent a LOT of time trying to get it to work without having to go in and code it myself, and I wish I'd been able to take a step back, remind myself that this is my first serious project, and just stop worrying so much about what, in the end, would've been a minor detail, anyway.

Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *Lev: Chances are I'm gonna leave it alone, but if I go back, I HAVE had a bit of a 'Ghost College' AU where they're exploring a haunted old library on their college campus instead of being trapped in a ghost hospital. It'd probably be cool as a point-and-click adventure, but it wouldn't exactly be a canon exploration of the postgame.

What do you look most forward to upon/after release? *Lev: I'm actually working on a few other projects, so being able to work on those more freely would be great, especially considering I'm really bad at keeping my own limits in mind, haha.

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *Lev: Mostly, I'm afraid that making a game about a subject like this, as a minority and with other people in my team that would be considered minorities, that releasing this game to the mainstream public would get me a lot of negative attention from people who think that people like us don't belong in the gaming sphere. It's pretty nerve-wracking, but after the positive reception of games like Undertale and SLARPG, it's getting easier to convince myself that I should be more afraid of people just generally not liking the game, haha.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *Lev: Have someone to work with! DEFINITELY have someone to work with. Even if it's just a friend to bounce ideas off of or someone to ask if you've been working on the game, having someone else involved helps a lot. And specifically for RPG Maker- if you can, replace your default font with a different one. It's a minor detail, but it goes a long way towards making your game feel more original. *C: Always have a backlog of different projects. I have about four or five ideas constantly on rotation so I don't burn myself out on just one. *Tredlocity: My advice for any creatives is to start small, and just get it out. Feedback is a great motivator, and the only way to get better at something is to keep doing it! *Rose: I think some good advice is to write a few drafts of whatever it is you're working on in order to see which version you'd like to continue! let your work have different scenarios and situations based on various elements you insert or take out of a story, game, or other piece. *Bittersweet: Don't pressure yourself to a dead-set deadline. I know, you want to get this project out eventually, and if you're on a roll with development then all the power to you, but if you're struggling, don't let it burn you out. That's just unhealthy.

Question from last month's featured dev @toxicshroomswamp: How do you feel about your main character(s)? What piece of life advice would you give them? *Lev: I love my main characters, I love them like my own children. I would probably tell Robin that she'll learn to handle everything, it won't be so scary forever. I'd tell Jay that stopping for a minute and thinking is way more important than it seems. I'd tell Sarcastic ghost to shut up.

We mods would like to thank Lev, Kip, Rose, Tredlocity, C, and Bittersweet for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Ghost Hospital if you haven’t already! See you next month!

- Mods Gold & Platinum

#rpgmaker #rpg maker #indie games #pixel games #ghost hospital #ghost hospital (game)#game of the month #gotm #game dev #game making #gotm september #september 2018 #2018

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nyrator · 5 years

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guess I should have some new years goals huh

get a passport and be an adult

maybe finally get an apartment before we’re finally foreclosed

maaaybe find a second source of income? (I love my job but mann is the pay leaves a lot to be desired, and also the fact that the government’s gonna most likely tear down our building within the next two years means hmmm, though I promised I’d stay with them to the bitter end)

draw more in general

actually finish something (a comic, a game, anything... Rotten Nyan and maybe the Ploom YNFG side project I have? But mannn I am bad at finishing anything)

finally play/beat some games on my backlog (MGS, Metroid, Castlevania, Yakuza, all them series I need to play, and if I can get to just one...)

I am at least feeling the urge to finally work on Rotten Nyan again, though mannn my storytelling always leaves a lot to be desired and I wish I was better at it (also rotten nyan is a very rotten thing so it’s hard to work on)

#text stuffs

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kenzicorinne · 6 years

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Hi! I’m Kenzi Corinne

And I have a lot of art and stories I want to share with you!

That's a big reason why I want to start making weekly journals. Starting today, I’ll be posting a weekly recap of everything I’m working on and plan to work on. This includes the status of my web comic Folk Knight, my visual novel MuseStruck, and all the work I’m doing for upcoming conventions (I hope to see some of you there!)

After this week, the blog entries will be a lot more digestible. But I feel, for this first one, I just need to lay everything out.

So, before the break, I just want to say my asks are open! Feel free to shoot me a question/comment about anything. (Fav ice cream, Hogwarts house, w/e!)

Later!

-Kenzi

Kenzi Blog: Week of 4/2/18

Oh, hey! I’m surprised you clicked “Keep reading.” I mean, I’m glad you did! Makes me feel less like I’m just shouting this to the void... heh ^_^;

Conventions:

Anyway, let’s just dive right in with the most time sensitive item I’ve been working on, convention prep. I’ve got three cons coming up in the next two months *sweats profusely* . This may not sound like a lot for you (or maybe it sounds like an insane “con crud” induced death wish haha) but I am equal parts super excited and super nervous about this! Upcoming cons are:

RavenCon, April 20-22 Williamsburg, VA

Tidewater Comicon, May 11-12 Virginia Beach

Animazement, May 25-27 Raleigh, NC

So I do my printing on my own printer. To save money this time, I’ve decided to try out a Refillable Ink Cartridge system. Which involves...... lots of syringes I guess? Haha, I think I accidentally ordered too many or something so now I just have an abundance of large needle syringes 0_0 (also note they’re a special kind for ink. not the pokey skin kind :P). Syringe Wolverine cosplay?

Anyway, if any of you have tried out RIC or CISS in the past, I’d love to know how it did or didn’t work for you!

MuseStruck:

Okay, so before I talk about my current project, Folk Knight, I think I need to talk about MuseStruck (my other baby). So a couple years ago I suddenly got the urge to make a Visual Novel (gee, wonder where I got that idea... *side glances at Steam catalog* >_>). This VN had inspiration pulled from a lot of my favorite things including fantasy, mythology, classic literature, art, and anime.

Then a year ago, @cornpickerart and I started working on it... and quickly saw the project balloon to a size we weren’t ready for. We thought about cutting back ideas, some trimming was to the story’s benefit really. But then there were aspects that we couldn’t let go. Things that I felt were integral to the story or game experience that we wanted to make.

So. Here’s the thing. We just realized we needed to try smaller things first and work up to the type of gameplay we want to have in MuseStruck. Baby steps. That being said. MuseStruck isn’t dead. Far from it.

I draw characters from MuseStruck still all the time. Though I’ve told myself to not dedicate so much time to writing stories for it and instead put that time and energy into bettering my skills in both art and programming. Now I can say that when I do get back to MuseStruck (which I do have a plan for when that will happen, but I’ll save that for another journal) I know I’ll be more confident and prepared to tackle it! \(^o^)/

(some sketches of MuseStruck characters that I’ve never posted... I have lots of files like this ^_^;)

Folk Knight:

And finally there is Folk Knight. If you made it this far then... wow. I think I might love you. Anyway, this is my current project that I am working on. I would say probably my time is split 50/50 with this and con stuff right now.

Originally I wanted it to be a web comic. Why a web comic? Well... it’s something I’ve done before. @cornpickerart and I ran a web comic back in high school that we stopped once we went of to different states and different colleges.

I wanted to tell a story that takes place in the MuseStruck universe but with a lot less overhead work and a shorter story altogether. So, Folk Knight was born! Well, so it was supposed be but then I realized something... I don’t want to do a web comic. Le gasp!!!

I actually read a ton of webcomics and enjoy the weekly experience and appreciate all the hard work that goes into keeping them up. Seriously! It’s tough stuff! But after a few updates I realized that making the comic was taking a lot of time... and I wasn’t feeling it. Gosh that sounds whiny doesn’t it? I guess what I’m trying to say is, I figured out if I was going to put that much work into something, I want it to be something I want to do. And what I want to do is make a stinkin’ Visual Novel danggummit!

So that’s what brings us to the Folk Knight of now... a serial Visual Novel!

So it’s kinda a combination of both. Baby steps remember? To keep the game making doable for me, I’ll be releasing the Folk Knight VN in chapters. Every chapter will be released free to play, just like the web comic would have been free to read.

I’ve already begun the conversion of my Chapter 1 script into the Visual Novel format and am working with a few beta readers/players to help me work out the story flow and gameplay.

I’m hoping to get a Chapter 1 demo done by the end of April and Chapter 1 completed and released officially by May! I know it’s a tight deadline but I’m seriously pouring all my blood, sweat, and time into this now!

Next Week:

Ooooookay! We finally come to the end of it! What I plan to do this coming week. Well, let’s see... maybe I should just list it? I hope to...

Post some Folk Knight character designs (get y’all introduced)

Finish two fantasy/horror paintings I’ve been working on

I have a backlog of BNHA fan art I should finish too...

Test out the new print system!

Aaand I think I should keep it at that. Don’t want to overdo it. If anyone’s still reading this, like I said, not every journal entry is gonna be a monster like this. I just... had a lot to get off my chest to get this journal thing rolling ^_^;

You are amazing and I wish you the best in all your creative endeavors!(seriously, you got something you’re working on you want to share, hit me up! I love hearing others stories or finding new comics to read, games to play!)

-Kenzi

#artist journal #blog #journal #visual novel #MuseStruck #Folk Knight #Kenzi Corinne

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