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mysticsparklewings · 4 years

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Eye in the Sky

This is one of the two test pieces I made while I was working on Light in the Darkness, my tribute artwork for Qinni. This was the second one I made, and this time I was mostly looking to test how this technique would fair on my Strathmore 400 series mixed media paper, as opposed to watercolor paper. I had a feeling that the paint would blend better (especially over a larger area) on the watercolor paper, but all the watercolor paper I have is slightly off-white, rather than being a true white like the mixed media paper, and for the final piece I wanted to make I had thought the pure white might look better. I'm glad I tested it first! The background here doesn't look so bad in large part because the splattering distracts your eye and also because the way I chose to go about color distribution also directs your eye more towards the constellation lines and the center of them. (I also found it kind of funny because before going back over my lines with a white gel pen or doing said splatter, this was looking a lot to me like the tunnel to the Otherworld from Coraline...which is actually an interesting idea that might be worth revisiting sometime.) Speaking of which, for the previous test I used a fairly simple sketch I had on-hand that I thought would work well as lost as the test(s) weren't a total flop. This time, when I went through my sketches, I didn't find anything that seemed like a good fit. I really just needed something simple in structure just so I'd have a constellation to put over the galaxy portion at all. (And to a much lesser extent trying going over the lines with a ruler and playing with star placement and design.) Just like the previous test, I didn't want to spend a super long time working on a sketch just for this test piece, especially because at this point I was becoming a bit pressed for time to have the final artwork this was a leading up to finished. After some thought, I knew I didn't want to do a very over-done zodiac sign, and somewhere between that and thinking simple things/symbols that might work well, I thought of the Eye of Ra/Eye of Horus from Egyptian mythology. I looked up reference photos to verify first, but it turned out to sound like a pretty good idea to me. So I sketched the Eye out, then went back and broke it down into lines using a ruler and planning out where I'd leave spaces, and then proceeded just like I had last time: trace the lines onto the paper I wanted using black ink and ruler, then paint the galaxy colors in as I saw fit (though this time I used an actual red among the colors; I stuck to pinks on the other test piece and the final piece), revive my lines with a white gel pen and fill in stars where appropriate, then top it all off with a good splatter. And at first, that was it and this test piece was finished. Then it occurred to me that I could potentially make the constellation lines glow by using some pastel over them and blending it out at the edges. But after the last time I tried to use pastel over watercolor and it started turning things gray, I wasn't terribly eager to rush into trying that, considering how well this test piece had turned out even despite me having some blending issues with the paint because of the paper. So I deigned to break away and made one more test piece, a tiny little Artist Trading Card (2.5" x 3.5") with a simple heart constellation on it, which you guys will see in the next group of 10 ATCs I post. (They're so simple and simple I can't justify posting them individually.) And, of course, this time I top it all off by using a little Purple PanPastel to go back over the lines, blend it out, and then for good measure go back over the lines themselves with the white gel pen just to make sure they didn't get lost in the mix. Fortunately, that didn't turn anything gray and actually looked pretty neat, so I expanded to do it here on this one. I opted not to do it on the previous test simply because the lines for it were already so close to the edge of the page it seemed like it would make things too crowded, and the wonky lines seemed like too much of a pain to cover with the pastel and then go back over with the gel pen. Other than that, though, there's really not much to this piece. It's pretty simple, but then again it was just a test. After this test though, I was confident enough in what I could do for this constellation look and knew what paper to use, and so I was able to move forward with the bigger project. And I conveniently got two bonus artworks and an ATC out of it since these tests did turn out as well as they did. I do think after all this, that I would like to do more with this constellation look, perhaps even those over-done zodiac symbols at some point, but we'll see! Depends on if I can remember and if I can squeeze it into my schedule. ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

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adaar-i · 5 years

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I used to write down my feelings a lot and figured I’d do it again. You don’t gotta read, it’s very long haha but just needed to put it somewhere so. Under a read more because it really is super long and stupid

Well I’m here again, mid crisis at the ripe ol’ age of twenty seven. My head is all over the place, I’m feeling all sorts of things, all sorts of just…lost. And I thought to myself, what do I usually do when I’m feeling like this? And the answer to that is I used to write. I used to write a lot. I love writing, always have and always will. The sound of my fingers typing rapidly on my keyboard is music to my ears. I would hand write things, but more often than not my hand can’t keep up with my brain, whereas my average 80wpm typing speed is well efficient when it comes to trying to follow my train of thought. I was tempted to go back and edit what I’d written just now, but no. Not allowed. I just have to keep typing and typing until I feel some sort of…I don’t know, closure?

I feel lost. I feel trapped. I still feel like I’m sixteen and I think that’s what terrifies me the most. I haven’t really had the chance to grow up, to ‘become an adult’. What does that even mean? Who knows. I just know that I am not there. I have no clue how taxes work, haven’t had a stable job in…a long time. Still live at home with my parents, my two dogs, my three guinea pigs and three goldfish. Still in the same room, that’s been purple for a while now. Shelves still filled with plushies, fanart, kid things. So many kid things. Are adults allowed to have kid things? I don’t know, that idea plagues me. Am I allowed to be an adult and still have my corner bed, 500 pillows and soft toys to cuddle?

When I think of adults I think of minimalism, white, boring, the dreaded bed in the CENTRE of the wall (HOW IS THAT EVEN COMFORTABLE? DO PEOPLE NOT FALL OUT OF BED?). I think of business people, married people, people with kids, careers, nice clothes. The only thing I have is nice clothes. Can I still be an adult if the walls of my bedroom are bright purple? Or if most of the books I read are YA fiction and not like…self help books? (though I do have a couple of those lying around).

I’ve been trying to do the career thing for years and to no avail it seems. I’ve done two university degrees and do you think they got me anywhere? Not really. Why did no one tell me that employers care more about experience than they do about degrees? Or maybe people did and my stupid anxiety just made things difficult. Yeah alright lets be real it’s probably the anxiety holding me back in everything.

Anxiety about being good enough. That’s the big one. Do I ever feel good enough? Not really. That kinda sucks haha. I have plenty of useful skills, I am a hard worker, I wear my heart on my sleeve and I want to please to no end. But that hasn’t really gotten me anywhere. I’m always stuck. Stuck in the same spot with no clue of what direction to go in. I know where I want to be in the end. I want to have my own home, I want to be married, I want to have kids (biologically and adopted/fostered). I want to rescue animals and live on a farm of some kind. I want to be a successful business owner. I want to be a successful photographer and artist, maybe even a writer. I want to have enough money so I don’t have to worry about not being able to afford things. And I want more money on top of that to help as many people as I can. That’s all I want to do. I want to help. I want to help, I want to be successful, comfortable, and above all else I want to be happy and loved and to love.

So how do I get there? Well I need money. Money is the big issue with me right now. I’ve relied on government payments since I was old enough to start getting them. And there were a few times where I thought I could finally be independent, and they’ve all backfired on me. All of them. I don’t want to be on government payments for the rest of my life. I don’t want to have to depend on anyone other than myself for money. And it’s not like I’m flat broke right now either, I’ve been smart and saved. But when you don’t have a stable income you and everyone around you start to worry. So what do I do? Get a job? Wish it was that easy. I’ve been looking for work for years, and I’ve gotten maybe…two interviews? Oh and it’s not like I haven’t had a job before I’ve had a couple but that was back when I was in high school and just after. Nothing fancy, pizza shop, maccas, and a shopping centre activity stall.

My brain is starting to get tired now. It’s going quiet.

Hmm. Jobs. Right. The one thing everyone keeps bothering me about. I’ve bloody tried guys. “Just get a job to pay the bills” IT’S NOT THAT EASY. I’VE TRIED. You think I want to be like this? That’s why I studied so much. Because no one would give me a chance and hire me. And then I thought, you know what? Fuck it. I’m going to chase my dream. I’m going to get a degree in photography and have my own business and live my dream. And you know, I got the degree, I started the business. I got a couple of clients, got a bit of interest. My love for drawing came back, and I added that to my repertoire. I got commissions. I got bloody patrons, who support me every month. And I thought, you know maybe this could actually work.

But it’s never enough.

I was so excited to do my first artist alley. I had dreamed about doing it for years and years. And I finally did it. And to be honest, it sucked. I mean it also didn’t because I learnt a lot, but when you spend hundreds of dollars, hundreds of hours, so much bloody hard work to get there and to be ready, and you make $66 dollars overall, you kinda think well that didn’t work. Haha. That didn’t work at all. I thought I was good enough, you know? I really did. And you can see the light leave my eyes in the vlog that I made about the whole thing. I am completely and utterly defeated. I had sacrificed so much, I had put SO MUCH WORK, so much. I worked so hard. And right now it feels like it was all for nothing. I was lucky enough to get into a startup business program, which was my savior. I thought that’d help give me the boost I so desperately needed. And again, learnt a lot, got some financial support, but all in all I feel like I wasted so many peoples time and money.

And now I’m back at square one it feels like. Back to the beginning. Where I have no job, no booming business, and a stubbornness to not want to give up, but also feeling so defeated and so god damn depressed. I CRIED AT HARRY POTTER. I’ve seen those movies a hundred times over and I still bawled my eyes out when Cedric died. I’ve never done that before. I even forced myself to watch ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ so that I would cry, thinking that would help. I bawled. Felt a little better, but now I’m back to feeling like a heap of crap. I always come back to this place at some point or another. But this time feels like I just might not be able to get myself out of it. What a scary thought.

When will my time come? When will all my hard work finally pay off? I want to know, and so does everyone else around me. The constant ‘how is your business going?’ ‘oh something will happen’, WHEN? WHEN WILL IT HAPPEN? That’s another thing. What I make is never good enough for anyone. I myself have learnt that money at the end of the day isn’t the end all and be all. Of course people need money to live, but I don’t need that much right now to be comfortable and people just can’t get that into their heads?

I don’t need money. I don’t. But I do. God capitalism sucks. Capitalism can bite my big fat ass. And anyone who ever doubted me can too. Now I’m just mad. I’m mad that all I’ve done is be kind and work hard and it’s gotten me to feeling like shit. So now what? I booked Brisbane Supanova. Might as well kick the dead horse or whatever the saying is. Might as well try once more, and if that doesn’t work than that’s it. I think I’m done. But that’s not until November, and “I need money” between now and then. Blah blah. I hate money. Money can bite me too.

Come on, try and get your thoughts straight.

I’m tired. Yes I know, I’m sad too.

It’s not time to give up just yet. There’s still a little bit of fire left inside you somewhere. It’s small right now, but it can grow. I’m too stubborn to let it go out completely.

So what do I do now. What do I need to do to make things less shitty?

Find a way to get some sort of stable income. Look for work again (not that I think it’ll work but better try anyway). Work on new art pieces, add new stock to Redbubble, advertise the shit out of your awesome work. Do more free shoots to make a pretty portfolio just in time for Supanova. Sell some personal stuff if needed, we don’t need a lot of the stuff we have. Save those to sell when we really need it.

Go back to the gym. Just move more. I get real sad when I sit at my desk all day. Need to get away from the computer. Go for a walk, go to the beach, whatever it is. Just move. Get those endorphins. Feel good about yourself.

Still fat though.

Probably going to always be fat. That’s fine. Exercise, make healthier food choices. And god dammit stop eating so much sugar. Drink more water. Eat more fruit and not chocolate. Stop bingeing. It ain’t healthy. Alright. I’ll make a list, and I’ll try be healthier again. I do miss going to the gym. It makes me feel strong. I need to feel strong again. I will go back.

Still tying my self worth to what others think of me. Which isn’t ideal. Isn’t great at all. I’m constantly going between ‘ugh I hate everything that I am’, ‘who would ever love me like this’, and FUCK EVERYONE WHO DOESN’T APPRECIATE ME. It’s so constant. It’s so exhausting, knowing that my thoughts are being little bitches and yet I still can’t just…not listen? What is with that.

Oh my god. Can I still be an adult if I have blue hair?!

#long post #feelings #meh if this is annoying anyone just tell me what else to tag it with so ya'll dont have to see it #just needed to get some things out

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joananevesart · 6 years

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I want to be an illustrator and I'd like to ask you if your income comes just from illustration or if you have like a part time job on the side? And in what way do you make money? I know about stickers, prints and keychains but i don't know where to really start. Also if you're comfortable with it I'd like to know how much you make in a month? Just a very rough estimate would be enough for me tbh If that's too much for an ask could i message you? so yeah I hope I don't sound too creepy sorry~

Hello! No worries, those are all valid questions! I work full-time as an illustrator for a company that I can't reveal atm because I am in the process of transferring from one company to the other. But my professional work as an illustrator at this company is completely different from what you see here or on my website. I mainly make vectorial illustration for games and videos about programming for kids. It is really different from my personal work.

With that being said, I would say that if you want to make money with your own art, these are some of the ways I know of:- commercial work;- private commissions;- merchandise (prints, stickers, pins, patches, apparel, etc);- patronage (on websites such as patreon, drip, etc)- donations (kofi, etc)

ABOUT COMMERCIAL WORK/PRIVATE COMMISSIONSThis is pretty basic: you get clients to commission you a piece or more, and that's it. You can work by contract or not, depending on the client. There's a lot I could say about this.. like A LOT. The possibilities for the type of work you will be commissioned to do are endless..

ABOUT MERCHANDISEAt the moment I only have prints available because by using Inprnt, I don't have to print and ship the merch myself. I upload my image and someone else takes care of the prints for me. Other websites, such as Redbubble or Society6, allow you to sell more than prints just as easily, such as mugs, pillows, apparel, posters, etc.The hardest part of running an online store where you are the one who sends the merch is having the time to research the companies you're gonna use to produce the merch, put it up online, advertise it and ship it. I have a full time job and I'm currently super focused on producing at least 1 portfolio piece a month, so it leaves me no time to think about anything else. I've tried several times to work on stickers and such, always without success. I would love to do it, though!

If you want to make stickers or other merch you have to:- decide whether you're gonna order or from a company or do it yourself;- decide which platform you will use for selling you things (etsy, tictail, storenvy, etc)- get informed with your local post office on shipping prices- order the required materials for packing your merch (on a local store or online)- make the actual merch!

As you can see, that's a lot of steps and it takes true dedication to it. However, if you do get people interested in your merch, you can make a lot of money with it! I personally don't sell a lot, but I also don't advertise a lot and I don't offer much more than prints.

ABOUT PATRONAGE/DONATIONSWhen you have a following who is very interested in what you do, they might pay you to have access to exclusive content. Usually if you want to set up a Patreon/drip/whatever, you NEED to have the following. Then, you can provide whatever you want, sketches, videos, tutorials, posts about your work, anything really. And if your following doesn't want to subscribe to something like this monthly, they might be up to donating you money through Ko-fi, or paypal, anything really. This is an unreliable source of money, though, but it's an option nonetheless.

My source of income comes from my day job alone. I currently don't accept private commissions and my merchandise does not sell very well, so unfortunately I can't really tell you how to make a living off of your art because I haven't done that myself. Besides, the amount of money you need to make a living varies from country to country. And like I said, I make very little selling prints online (sometimes not even summing up to 10€/month). But that's me and this should not discourage you. I don't advertises much and different styles of illustration may sell better than others, etc. A lot of factors go into whether you'll sell or not.

Besides, the way you try to make money reflects the type of career you want to make - if you wan't to do commercial work, you'll more likely look for Art Directors and commissioners, if you want to live off of your own personal art alone, you will have to build an audience, engage with it, and provide it the materials they would like to have. The possibilities are endless, so good luck! :)

If want/need more specific advice, let me know and feel free to e-mail me as well. I know this is a really long reply, there’s a lot to cover and I hope I covered some basics!!! ♥

#joana replies #Anonymous

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chunsoftie · 7 years

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Bri Watches South Park - Season 1 Overview

So, a couple days ago I made a post about how I was going to watch every single episode of South Park since I’ve never seen every episode. I managed to watch the entirety of the first season in a day a half, so I’m going to go ahead and talk a little about every episode individually - what I liked, what I didn’t like, etc.

Keep in mind that when I review these episodes, I’m going to try to stay on a critical side. This isn’t to say I won’t gush about certain things - It’s South Park. I absolutely adore the show and will find many positive things to say. However, you learn to take the good with the bad in stuff that you like. It’ll be pretty interesting to see how my opinions have changed from episodes that I’ve seen before, to how I feel about them with this rewatch.

Season 1 won’t really be as long as the others, just because I didn’t write notes this time around (next season’s overview will be longer, just because I’ll have written stuff to go back on). If there are people who follow me that are interested, I can also make a similar post for the movie, as well.

(Also, for the sake of having these posts be specific to seasons, I won’t be covering the pilot here. I might do that in another post).

But let’s go ahead and start with Cartman Gets an Anal Probe.

(Overview will be having a ‘keep reading’ after this point.)

Cartman Gets an Anal Probe: Cartman tells his friends Stan, Kyle, and Kenny he had a dream about being abducted by aliens.

I feel like it would be pretty redundant to talk about how this episode contrasts from the others. There are obvious differences, and the stop motion aspect does make me impressed with how well the animation held up in that style. This was the only episode from the first season I had watched up to this point (except for maybe some of Big Gay Al, but we’ll get to that later).

This episode focused on a lot of things from South Park that I enjoy more than others - priority with the cast of kids rather than adults, a narrative that doesn’t feel too slow, and great introduction to the main cast. I feel like earlier episodes of South Park are charming for being able to hold up on their own without resorting to political satire - not saying that part of the show isn’t interesting, but it definitely makes the writing drag. This episode was one of the better-written episodes that felt like it knew exactly what it wanted to do from the start.

This episode was also hilarious. I laughed more for this episode than some of the others this season. The association with the cows and the aliens was especially enjoyable.

This was also one of my favorite Cartman episodes. There are plenty of great contestants for the character throughout this season, which I was really surprised to notice. Stan also was enjoyable this episode - I find that I am liking him more as a character after seeing him be more active in this episodes (which is probably why I didn’t really care for him too much beforehand).

Overall, not my favorite episode of the season, but a great start.

Volcano: Stan's uncle Jimbo and his friend Ned take the four boys on a hunting trip in the mountains.

Considering that I’ve watched more modern South Park compared to earlier seasons, I definitely will say that Jimbo and Ned were hilarious characters and I loved their little mantra about the importance of hunting just for the boys at the end to be like, “Hunting sucks.” I liked the tone where for the boys it wasn’t much about the hunting as it was getting away and spending time to themselves in a different place. Stan’s conflict with Jimbo and how he viewed Kenny was also more than they needed to put in the episode, but something that gave the writing more volume.

I also really liked how Randy was introduced in this episode and how it didn’t really drag with his characterization. Randy overall this season was pretty tame, I kind of felt relieved with that...but not for long, I know. Not for long.

The episode did have good moments but overall didn’t pack as much of a punch as the first episode. I kind of felt it was dragging at points and when I look back at season one, I probably won’t think more of this episode compared to the others. But I will say that Mayor McDaniels is an awesome character, I love her.

The improvement of animation was a change, though.

Weight Gain 4000: The town prepares for an event involving Kathie Lee Gifford presenting an award to Cartman.

I didn’t know who Kathie Lee Gifford was until I watched this episode. I love Cartman, but I didn’t see this episode until yesterday, and this has to me one of my favorite episodes for him. I found myself scrolling through Beefcake shirts on Redbubble afterwards just because, I mean, that’s what you gotta do.

Wendy and Cartman going against each other this episode with regards to the essay was hysterical to me. Wendy is a lot different this season compared to future seasons, but I really like her. I had only seen earlier versions of her with Anal Probe, and I won’t be surprised if she ends up my favorite character by the end of my rewatch.

This episode was a lot funnier than Volcano, and Mr. Garrison’s deal with trying to take Gifford down was great. They really add more meat than they need to with characters, and I’m so glad that they actually take the time to develop them, even with an episodic sense.

Both sideplots are great, but I definitely enjoyed Garrison’s more. Something tells me I’m going to like Garrison a lot the first few seasons before he really starts to annoy me, like Randy.

Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Boat Ride: Stan's new, gay dog runs away and finds the town's most flamboyant, gayest man, Big Gay Al.

I had seen a lot of this episode years ago when South Park was still on Netflix and I was waddling my way through earlier episodes just based on their plots. I did find the side-plot with Stan and Sparky to be compelling, but the rest of the episode felt very hit-or-miss with me. However, I realized I had been quoting Big Gay Al for a very long time without recognizing where I got it from. The actual boat ride based on It’s a Small World made me chuckle.

The other plot with football and Jimbo and Ned was alright. I didn’t think it was nearly as fun as the central plot, but I was glad to see more from those two characters, as I really liked them from Volcano.

I honestly felt this one bored me more than made me laugh, but the references that I caught with this episode were enough to make me glad I watched it again.

My favorite part from the episode was when the kids brought the female dog to try to convince Sparky he isn’t gay, just for Sparky to take her collar off so he could wear it. Sparky has some good taste, man.

Overall, it was a good episode, just bored me to tears with some scenes.

An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig: The boys try to breed a pig with an elephant and look for Dr. Alphonse Mephesto's help.

It’s pretty repetitive to say a plot is good if I find Stan really enjoyable in them, but this episode is one of my favorites that star him. I really like what he’s going through with Shelly, and in the next episode, his grandpa. One things that makes me laugh with South Park is just how the violence is portrayed with the animations - just how Shelly flings Stan like she’s literally throwing him across the room. I know that was a smaller thing, but I find those scenes funnier than a lot of the other kinds of jokes.

Anyways, I really liked Kyle’s persistence in this episode, and how Chef helps the kids with thinking of a ‘pocket-sized’ elephant pig. When Chefs tries to get the mood right for the elephant and the pig, I could not stop laughing. I loved that scene, so much. It is one of my favorites from the entire season.

I also found Dr. Alphonse to be pretty funny at parts. I found him funnier in the season finale, but I’ll get to that in a little bit.

The last scene when the clone of Stan and Shelly made this episode solid for me. I would definitely mark this in my top three episodes for the entire season.

I realize I haven’t talked much about Chef this season either, but I feel like if you’ve seen Chef, you know Chef. I love him as a character, and this episode made me love him even more.

Death: Stan's grandfather attempts suicide and tries to enlist the boy's help.

I’m not really going to spend much time talking about the Terrence and Phillip side-plot, but I will say that seeing Sheila in this position earlier on in the season was a pleasant sight. I was wondering if there was going to be any Jewish mother rage before the movie, and I’m glad to see that there was.

This episode had a good plot going with Stan’s grandfather, but I feel like depending on the person you are, you’ll either find this episode brilliant or boring. I personally found it more boring than anything, even though there was a great scene where the boys call Jesus on his talk show and Stan asks about whether he should take someone’s like when that person wants it gone so badly. That point in the episode was what it needed, and definitely was what I would say to be the highlight.

Didn’t really think much of the episode after watching it. I guess for that one scene, I’d come back to it, but for anything else, I’d probably pass.

The way that Kenny dies in this episode was pretty funny, though.

Pinkeye: Kenny is killed by the Mir space station and becomes a zombie. This goes unnoticed as he is thought to have dressed up for Halloween.

When I went back to look at the episodes after watching the first season, I actually forgot this episode was a thing. I would say it’s the more forgettable episode of the entire season.

It wasn’t as if the episode was bad, it was just really bland. Kenny acting as a zombie is a funny premise, especially on a Halloween special, but the execution wasn’t played that well but only for a few things.

The side-plot with Cartman dressing up as Hitler and eventually a KKK member was really funny. That was probably the one thing I remember from this episode.

Not really going to go into too much detail with this one, but even though I love a lot of episodes this season, there are also a lot that could definitely be skipped.

Starvin’ Martin: A starving Ethiopian child is accidentally sent to South Park. Cartman is sent back to Ethiopia instead, while mutant turkeys begin rampaging the town.

This episode was absolutely a joy to watch. I loved the commentary with Marvin as well as the tone of the episode. It could have easily slipped in the discomforting direction and I’m so glad they didn’t take that route. The actual design of Marvin was excellently done, I am not going to forget the way Marvin looked. And the way that the boys behaved around Marvin (except for Cartman, of course) was super sweet.

it also reminded me of the toy-craze regarding watches in the late 90′s, earlier 2000′s.

My favorite scene from the episode was when Cartman walked into all the food being stowed away by Sally Struthers (who I also had to look up...I’m not good with celebrities, okay?). It made me want to eat cake.

The ending to this episode was also fantastic, and I really loved it overall. I definitely will be finding time to watch it again.

The music was already really good in this season. I really love how Matt and Trey are putting in their musical talents for the show, it’s awesome.

Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo: As a Jew, Kyle feels excluded from the rest of the town during Christmas and is comforted by Mr. Hankey, a talking, singing feces.

I love this episode and definitely put it next to a future episode as my favorite of this season. Kyle is my second favorite South Park character, and I enjoyed everything about his characterization. The holiday episodes of this season were a lot better than some of the others in this season, and this one was my personal favorites.

My favorite part was when Cartman sang about Kyle’s mom (like he did in the movie, which I thought was kind of cool that the song was in the series, as well), and they all thought Mr. Hankey was actually Kyle’s poop that he threw on Cartman. The Kyle and Cartman interactions in this episode were great, I love how they actually talk more like kids earlier on than in later seasons.

The entire debate regarding religious incorporation into schools and performances was something really interesting. I am sure they’re going to tackle it again in a future season, but this was a really good way to take time for this topic. I like how the controversial things they talk about in this season aren’t blown up compared to later seasons, and they can take the time for more jokes with the satire rather than establish their points of what they’re making fun of. It’s great.

If anything, I would recommend this episode from any other besides Anal Probe in this season. It was a great holiday episode, and I hope we’ll see Mr. Hankey again.

Damien: A new student arranges a boxing match between Satan and Jesus.

This is going to sound pretty strange, but I felt as though I preferred the Satan and Jesus boxing fight to any characterization from Damien.

Damien isn’t a bad character, but I found him uninteresting in this episode, even though his interactions with Pip were pretty funny. It’s kind of humorous to know that people ship him with Pip even though I can’t really see much of the dynamic, but I know that they’re both in the movie and when I rewatch it, I’ll get more of a liking towards Damien - probably? I don’t know. I haven’t seen the actual movie in many years. Either way, I found him a tad bland, but hopefully it’ll change.

Cartman’s side-plot in this episode with his birthday was alright. I felt like if they spent more time with Damien, it would benefit the episode - how Damien works with the others kids, or maybe if he was more of a threat at Cartman’s party. I will say the scene where Kyle gave him the game instead of the action figure was hilarious. I don’t really see how telling your friends what you want for your birthday is too much of a selfish thing, I mean, it is your birthday and they’re going to be asking what you want anyways, so...

The Jesus and Satan stuff was pretty great, though. Chef and Jesus training together was one of my favorite scenes, and one that I’ll definitely remember.

This episode was alright with one plot, but pretty freaking solid in the other.

Tom’s Rhinoplasty: Mr. Garrison gets a rhinoplasty and quits teaching to become a model

The past few episodes spare a couple were not as great as I felt these next three episodes were. I absolutely adored this episode. Natasha did a great job on her role as Ms. Ellen and oh my god, if I could fall in love harder with a voice...

I guess that’s Ms. Ellen getting to me, too.

I loved Wendy in this role. Kind of reminds me of a certain someone when their man got taken from them...(Basically I’m getting at her similarities to Cartman in Cartman Finds Love, but whatever. I’ll be getting to that one, eventually).

I laughed the most at Mr. Garrison though. I take it that he looks like Hasselhoff, but I didn’t know when I watched it (Looking it up, I was right, thanks Spongebob). This episode was a great laugh after a few boring episodes, and I loved when the boys were trying to be lesbians by licking Cartman’s carpet from what Liane said.

Definitely a great episode. I can’t really think about anything negative except that sometimes Wendy would annoy me with her yelling, but it could just be the voice acting.

Mecha-Streisand: Mr. Garrison takes his class on an archaeological dig where Cartman finds a mysterious triangle.

This episode was just as well-written as the previous one.

I really liked how Cartman and Kyle were at each other’s throats this episode - and how Cartman snuck in just to get the triangle. Looks like old habits are going to die hard, or never die? Who knows.

I don’t listen to much of her, but I did recognize Streisand with this episode, and her turning into an Evangelion-like robot at the second half of the episode was hysterical. I loved with Sheila came up to her to ask for an autograph during the attack on South Park - she would be the type of person to adore her. Overall, the second half of this episode was a lot more enjoyable than the first. I found that actually letting the crazier stuff unfold and the boys trying to figure out what to do about it was pleasant. This isn’t my favorite episode of the season, but I really liked what they did with it.

Can’t really say anything else than it was great, just like the last episode, and one I’ll definitely watch again.

Cartman’s Mom is a Dirty Slut: Cartman attempts to find his real father only to find that his mother slept with just about every man in town.

This episode was a good watch. I really liked the concept of Cartman wanting to know who his father was, just because it was kind of weird going through the season not having that brought up. The pilot was its own thing, but not everyone is going to know about it when watching the season, so it felt off. However, I’m glad they at least got to address it.

Cartman is my favorite character of the show, so of course I found this episode enjoyable just because he was in it for most of the screentime. I kind of found it annoying how Kyle and Stan put the video of Cartman for 10,000 dollars and didn’t really apologize for it when Cartman found out (even though he got to use the money), and I mean, I get it. Kyle isn’t really dug out to be his morally righteous self yet, and as of right now, they have plenty of the same characteristics, but it still felt weird and didn’t sit well.

Considering I am actually in the process of writing a Cartman-centered fic of the moment, knowing more about Liane from this episode was a great thing. I really loved the flashback scenes with her and the men she had slept with. The thought of Mr. Garrison being Cartman’s father was really weird though, I’m glad he’s not actually his dad.

My favorite part of the episode was when Cartman first thought that Runningwind was his dad and he dressed up as a Native-American. It was hilarious and now I’m not going to get the image out of my head.

This episode was a tight way to end the series, even if the ending made me shake my head a couple times.

If you guys think I should do more of these for other shows (I’ve been thinking Hey Arnold or Bojack), please let me know. I’d be interested to see what you guys think.

#south park #bri binges south park #south park season 1

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mysticsparklewings · 4 years

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A Monster Trap

Happy Halloween! :D I hadn't originally planned on making a piece specifically for Halloween, or at least nothing more so than my Spoopy Kitty I did back in September. But one night a few nights ago, I was feeling artistically inclined but with no solid/good ideas to run with. After scrolling through some photos on my phone I'd taken or saved specifically for inspiration, I came across one I'd taken about a year ago, of a Halloween decoration one of my friends got from Michaels. A pretty gnarly plastic Venus Flytrap that I think very few of us would be eager to encounter if it was real and alive. That night I was just having a really hard time trying to draw much of anything--the want to make art was there, but evidently, something integral to the process was not, or was just very very off--so I struggled through a few preliminary sketches before managing to tackle one that I felt was half-decent. Still, but the time I got that far, it was late and I was tired, so I let the sketches rest for the night. I came back to them later, naturally. I'd had plans to draw this thing for so long and I had finally sort-of started; maybe something could be salvaged and turned into a final piece. Fortunately, upon coming back to it something had shifted back into place and I had a much easier time finishing up the sketch and decided what to do and where to take it afterward. Recently, I acquired some 400 series watercolor paper by Strathmore, which has seemed to be a little divisive among watercolor artists I watch/follow. Some use it as their standard, go-to watercolor paper, others say it's eh, okay but not great or their first choice and others swear it off entirely because it's not 100% cotton. I don't think I've ever seen one specific paper have so many wildly differing opinions among upper-tier artists. This is largely why I wanted to get some; I wanted to see what it was like for myself. And in general, I've been trying out different walks of watercolor paper to see what the best buying option for me is. I'm not going to do a super in-depth review like you might expect when I come home with some new pencils or markers or whatever, as I don't feel like I have enough knowledge of paper to do that, but I am here to tell you that I liked the paper just fine. In a way, I think it lands somewhere between the 100% cotton paper that I've tried (Canson L'Aquarelle Heritage) and the Canson XL that's usually "artists' first watercolor paper" because it's so accessible and cheap. It doesn't behave quite like the cotton paper--the paint dries a little more quickly and flows a bit differently--but I think it's close enough for my taste that it'll work just fine when I run out of my current cotton stash and am too frugal to spend $20+ on some more. (My current stash consists of lucky clearance finds that were like $5 each, for reference.) That is coming from someone that isn't a professional at watercolor and hasn't grown attached to using 100% cotton paper, though. So maybe take my thoughts with a grain of salt, depending on your situation? This was also my first time since I was a very small child in using a Micron pen (I don't know why I had one in my possession to use back then; I didn't even know what it was at the time, I just remember that distinct beige barrel and the various markings on the outside of the pen that define it as what it is). Hard to believe, right? Microns are such an artist staple! I've just had other options in my possession that work just fine for me before. But the same day I picked up the watercolor paper, I had coupons to use and decided to pick one up and finally try them out. And no complaints there; it didn't move at all once I started in with the water and paint, which is all I could really ask for. The real test is going to be seeing how it resists smudging with alcohol markers, but that's for another day. Anyway. Point is, I chose to try out that paper for the first time here since I didn't think what I wanted to do with this piece would be a good fit for alcohol markers and I didn't feel like investing the time it would take to do it in colored pencils, either. I wanted something that was looser and quicker, which led me to watercolor. Well, sort of. Watercolor can be quick for me depending on what I'm doing. For certain projects, it's more time and hassle than I'm willing to put up with. And it also depends on which paints I'm reaching for too. This time I decided to revisit my Viviva watercolor sheets since I haven't used them much lately but by their very nature, they're one of the quick'n'easiest sets I have. I used them for the entirety of the plant/creature, including his pot. The colors aren't quite as they are in my reference photo, but I knew that wouldn't be the case going in. The colors might also be a little funky/shaded strangely because I didn't feel like dragging out a mixing palette, so I just used the colors straight off the sheets and any mixing was done on-the-fly. And by fly I mean paper. Which created some interesting things inside the mouth that I rather like. The hardest part was getting the red on the leaves without the colors turning to mud, but even that turned out pretty alright. And after that, the plan was to be done. But it felt...empty. It needed more. Once I gave it some thought, I picked out a black, gray, and a metallic (though that part doesn't show up on the scan) pale spring green color in my Faber Castell Gelatos and scribbled in a few places in the background, then uses my watercolor brush to spread the color around and blend things together a little. Then I went back and forth on that process for a bit to get it all just right. I went with the gelatos because I wanted the flat, bright colors of my plant monster thing to still stand out, but I didn't think the soft look of adding some PanPastel in the background would suit the tone here. Additionally, this was a test of new watercolor paper, and I thought using the water-soluble gelatos for some texture might be a good way to push its limits a little more. And yet even after that, it was still missing something. I'm not sure where the idea came from, but eventually, it came upon me to do a faux-blood-splatter, primarily stemming from the bottom right corner. For this, I ended up using one of my Jane Davenport Mermaid Markers, since I tried an Inktense pencil and it wasn't doing much of anything, and I didn't feel like dragging out a more involved form of watercolor to do it. It took some patience and trial and error (and a paper mask so I wouldn't get any on Mr. Flytrap), but I did manage to get pretty much what I wanted out of it in the end. And...I guess that's pretty much the end of the story of my monstrous venus flytrap (Which is where the title came from; he's one monster of a venus flytrap!) He's not terribly complicated, but I like him. And it's something a little less conventional for a Halloween piece, which makes me happy. My plans for today/tonight so far don't go beyond posting this and dropping by Krispy Kreme (because tonight if you go in-costume you get a free donut), but that's more than I had planned for last year, so I'll take it. Do you guys have anything fun planned for All Hallows this Eve? ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

#halloween

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mysticsparklewings · 5 years

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Derwent Inktense Pencil Tests

Hope nobody thought I'd be abandoning my regular supply tests now that I have a Worksheet specifically for Colored Pencils! :D (Truth be told I got these before I finished designing the worksheet, but even so, I still think proper field tests like this are necessary to really get a feel for what pencils are like to use, so I wasn't planning on ditching them anyway; and this set I'm not sure would work well with the worksheet set up, but I do plan on trying it out to see.) So just like with the Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencils, the nature of these pencils insisted on having separate Dry (on the left; no water) and Wet (on the right; water) tests. The Derwent Inktense, as the name might imply, are ink-based pencils and are also water-soluble (both of which are selling points). The first time I heard of these, the ink-based concept really intrigued me. Typically, pencils are wax or oil based, or they're watercolor. And then you have oddballs like the Crayola Signature Colored Pencils, which are said to be gel based. Likewise, I noticed pretty quickly once I started these tests that they are very much their own unique creature like the Crayola oddballs were. Before I get into that though, a little about the particular set I got: Fresh off some commission money, I was on eBay looking around and stumbled upon this Inktense Portable Pencil Stand, listed at $30. It came with 18 pencils, a brush, eraser, sharpener, and of course the stand/case. Even at $30, considering the regular tin with no bonuses of 24 pencils goes for around $30 on Amazon (and closer to $50 elsewhere), it seemed like a good deal. I tried to look up this specific set to compare, but miraculously it seems to have vanished from the internet save for a few blog posts. Still, taking into consideration what's here, what I know about Derwent's prices, and colored pencil set prices in general, I would guesstimate it probably sold for around $40 at least. Me being me, I took advantage of the "Make an Offer" feature and haggled the seller down to $23. After having the set in my hands, it makes more sense why it's disappeared; to my surprise, the set came with a little leaflet kind of like the Faber Castell Polychromos did that talks about the pencils and shows you all 72 colors available. The cover of said leaflet features the packaging/artwork Derwent was using years ago. In the past year or so, they've switched the packaging up from a dark blue/Peacock motif to a light blue/Underwater one, but there was a switch before that (I'm guessing at least five years ago or so) going from an indigo/flowers theme to the Peacock one. The flower packaging is what's on the pamphlet. Said paper also taught me after a little looking that this set actually has different colors than water you would find in 12 or 24 sets. If you were to purchase the 12 set in addition to this one, you'd only get one repeat color, and if you purchased the 24 set you'd have five. And yet this set manages to still have a fair color range. This impressed me. (And I'm actually thinking about getting the 12 set to expand my color choices). However, there is a bit of a downside here. Even though the set was in its case and still factory-sealed in plastic with a cardboard sleeve, it shows its age. Some of the text printed on the pencils has gone dark and is hard to see, a couple had cracks on the paint-dipped ends (and I have managed to get a noticeable chip on one as a result), and most notably of a all; the zipper on the case (which structurally reminds me a lot of the case that the Prismacolor Brush 24 & 48 marker sets come in) after a few pulls just sort of fell apart in my fingers, in no less than three pieces. I have never in my life seen such a thing happen, and I can only guess that it was just old an no longer structurally sound as a result. Fortunately, that doesn't ruin everything; the case could be held shut with something like a rubber band, and I'm very sure you could just replace the little zipper bit, as the track for it is still intact. Me personally, I'm just slipping on the cardboard sleeve since I don't really travel with my supplies and I have a dedicated place on a shelf for the set. Other than that, I do actually really like the case and it works quite well for holding everything. Plus, it has enough room for up to 36 pencils, so if I do purchase the 12 set in addition to these, I could fit them right in if I wanted to. (Or if I did want to travel with the set I have I could slip in a few other supplies to take with me.) As for working with the pencils themselves... To put it bluntly, they aren't really that impressive dry. They require quite a few layers to get smooth, rich color laydown, otherwise, they're particularly rough/scratchy looking. However they do layer up pretty nicely; I didn't really notice them eventually having that feeling of "I am not going to layer properly anymore and you can't make me," and they actually layer light colors on top of dark better than I would've expected. You can see where I layered a bit of yellow overtop of several layers of pink and purple a lot better here than I would say it normal. It's not perfectly opaque, mind you, but it did surprise me. Also, some of the colors do come out notably darker dry than when you hit them with water. For example, this set didn't come with the blackest Inktense pencil; instead, the darkest is "Sepia Ink" which is a particularly dark brown. I used that in place of black both times, and I would say it still did the job nicely both times. (Just to make sure it read as black I did go over it a bit with the dark blue on the wet version, but on the dry version even without mixing other colors in I feel like you'd never know the difference without putting it next to a true black.) Even though it does still look decent and my gel pen didn't fight me overtop of these, I was underwhelmed by using the pencils completely dry. (The white being specifically disappointing.) I think it's fairly obvious these become a little more special when you use them with water. For one thing, most of the colors become more vibrant when wet, and mixing and blending them together feels better. And yet they retain that same quality of the lighter colors going over the dark colors really well. The only thing is they don't melt down the way watercolors do; it takes more water the get the texture of the pencil to fade away and to really get them going. Or to re-activate if you didn't fully activate them the first time. (As they're supposed to dry permanent if you've fully activated them). Whether this is a good or bad thing really just depends on what you're trying to do. Fortunately for me, this strange nature lends itself to fairly nice textures for galaxies. But if you're expecting the smooth, easy texture of watercolors or watercolor pencils, you're going to be disappointed. And possibly frustrated. Although, using them wet I was able to pick up the pigment directly from the pencil tip with the brush (and I did use the one they came with; no issues there) and tip the brush to get some splattering, and I have to say that I did try just dipping the pencil tips straight in the water and it made them very temporarily really nice and creamy to lay down. And that method also made the white much more opaque and better to work with for the stars. I wasn't too surprised that my gel pen was pretty agreeable with both versions; the ink base in the pencils made me suspect they'd be compatible and get along okay, and I was right. The most important thing about the pencils, after testing, I'd have to say is all in the name: Inktense. The colors of the pencils are intense, deep colors, like what you would get out of an ink pen. Even with all 72 colors, I don't think you'd have much in terms of bright, pastel colors. to work with. They can be very vibrant, but they're very saturated colors. I think this might also be why there's only 72 to being with; there's probably a limit to what kinds and how many colors you can make with the ink base. Overall, I do like them, but I don't really recommend just using them dry with no water. They just take some getting used to since they are really different. I'm not sure I'd recommend them for beginners because of that. Still, I know I will be asking the Easter Bunny to bring me the 72 set in a few weeks. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be waiting with bated breath for some other supplies and a book to come in the mail. ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

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