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pansear-doodles · 10 months

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what's your process for making comics ? how do you plan them out ? the panels ? the dialogue ? do you plan it all out in advance or is it more spontaneous

sometimes if the comic requires a lot of dialogue, i make the transcript first. (and it helps because once i get to the step of actually putting in the dialogue to the comic, i make improvements along the way)

usually the process of paneling it is... very mixed. im not an expert in comic making and there are honestly better rain world artists out there who do much better in that field (trying to not compare myself to them is a mental struggle i really fucking hate but it does help me strive to work better and study how they do it(pansear i swear to god stop looking at the NUMBERS)). ive actually been one to make comics and story telling for quite a while but not much a full length big comic series.

when i make anthro au comics, i usually have the "ok this is what i want to go" in my head. since a majority of them are sketched, i dont really worry about how itll layout. i just need to get the idea out of my head. sometimes i think really hard on a scene and think to myself "ok this part is really dramatic and important so i must make it bigger than the rest". sometimes it is for comedic effect like in helm where there is an entire page dedicated to the lizard exploding over a jpeg, sometimes its for scenic feels (like echoes showing themselves upon the characters and making foreboding(though also strange) dialogue), and other times its when the character is saying something or doing something incredibly crucial like whatever saint was doing to arti in heretic.

sometimes id do it without dividers (which is actually easier for me personally). sometimes id do it experimentally like with the ghost arti and zombie hunter comic.

i suppose what i prioritize more is to tell a story rather than to tell the story in flair, so its best to not entirely heed to my advice if you want stylized-looking comics. it probably doesnt help that i might have some sort of attention deficiency because its difficult for me to get back on a project thats stored away for another.

some of the really great rw comic artists i can think on the top of my head are:

@lynxmisnomer who has a really great ongoing series called The Curse of Metropolis and has made a really cool comic of Monk and Survivor

@ninten-draw who makes really colorful stylized comics about certain rain world characters including the ones you wouldn't think of and nails on the story-telling without words

@lyss-butterscotch who puts a lot of effort to her gijinka au stuff (if you ask me which of her comics is my favorite- come on. you already know the answer based on who's writing this LOL)

@snailfen for having cutesy and detailed comics (i read ruff and ruff like garfield comics- they're not as frequent but i get this unexplainable feeling of happiness whenever i see it)

@toxictoxicities whose comics are??? scenic??? holy shit.

and you of course!

#ask

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dark-elf-writes · 3 months

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DM: Two guards stand in front of a large window panel, each wearing shinra trooper gear. Their helmets have been knocked astray from the earlier encounter so when you look in their eyes you can tell there’s-

Aerith player cackling: lust! They just saw blondie over here practically finger his bike’s clutch, it’s gotta be lust.

Cloud player: …I throw my sword at them.

DM: A-are you sure? When they saw you their weapons lowered just a little and you can tell they probably won’t attack you.

Cloud player: I. Throw. My. Sword.

DM whose plan to hint that cloud wasn’t actually a SOLDIER by having the troopers recognize him immediately backfired: Just roll •_•

Cloud: nat 20

DM: we’ll fuck. Tell me what you’re going to do.

Cloud player: I throw my sword between the two guards but as it’s passing by them the camera zooms in on the blade cutting a little bit of hair off both off the guards before it slams into the glass making little pieces of glass shatter onto the highway bellow.

DM: okay…I hate to ask this, but is that it?

Cloud player: nay, nay my friend. Because you see, you just fell for my trap. By saying “okay” to my description of what happened you just solidified the layout of the building-

DM: oh fuck

Tifa player: oh fuck!

Cloud: -which means there’s now canonically a street right below us and we can simply drive out the now broken window :)

The DM slamming his head on the table as he once again activates Cloud’s player’s trap card to allow him to do something over the top and physics breaking again to reassert that he is in fact the main character.

#the elf talks #ff7 #he never lives down the ‘I attack the helecopter’ moment

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floofrights · 3 months

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Hi. As someone who hopes to one day start my own webcomic, I'm fascinated by how your deleted scenes archive features almost complete art that follows a widly different route that that of the final narrative. It's a bit mindblowing to me, honestly.

If I may ask, how does your process work? Do you follow the conventional script -> sketch -> final art workflow and just take "kill your darlings" to heart regardless of which step you're in, or do you use the art itself as part of your writing (and consequently rewriting) process?

My process is very unconventional and also very flawed in a lot of ways. But it's the process that works for me. Sometimes.

(This is gonna be really long by the way and also it's probably gonna be wonky and messy so be warned lol)

When it comes to making a chilli issue, and just most of my comics in general, I don't write scripts. Would making comics be a lot easier if I did? Probably. Certainly. Absolutely. But it's not my process. At some point I'd like to start writing scripts before I work on an issue, but it always just felt easier not to.

Instead of a script, I write a very rough outline in my sketchbook, with notes so illegible only I could read them. I often deviate from these notes as I'm making pages however. Sometimes I'm about to hit a story beat and I decide it can be done in a slightly different way, so I do that instead. But I don't differ too much from these notes. For the most part.

When it comes to dialogue, it's very on the fly. I may have specific character quotes in my head when I'm planning out an issue, but most of it is only written in the moment when I'm actually making the page.

In terms of art, Chilli has a very "simple" style, and that was on purpose. I used to draw final lineart in my webcomics, and I found it very tedious. What I'd often find is I'd like the undersketch of a panel more than the final art. So when I started making Chilli, I just used the undersketch AS the final lineart, and I developed and refined that style as time went on.

When actually making an issue, I start off by figuring out the panel layout of a page. Sometimes this can be edited as I work on a page, but this is where I visualize the panels ahead of time. Once the border is done, I begin to draw the lineart. Sometimes I make a rough undersketch for a panel if it's particularly complicated, but usually I don't do that.

Once the lineart's done, I go back and give a thick outline to all the characters, and any other elements in panel, to make them pop from the background. It also makes it easier to color the page. Because the coloring process in Chilli is so simple, I often just use the paint bucket tool.

Now for dialogue! Again, this is usually only written at this point in the process. Even if I know what HAS to be said, HOW I say it can be tricky to figure out. Once the dialogue's done, I create the speech bubbles, and then boom! Finished page.

On an average day, I can draw four pages of an issue, but this is far from my limit. If i really wanted to, I could make 5-6 pages a day, but my wrist would absolutely not like that lmao.

And so day by day, I work through an issue, four pages at a time, until eventually, I have a finished draft! Does this mean the issue is finished? Nope!

Once a draft is complete, I do a mini "round of edits," where go through and make little changes fit to my liking. This could range from editing dialogue to make it less clunky, to redoing an entire panel. Once this round is finished, I set the issue aside. I don't work on it. I don't even look at it. I need it fresh out of my mind.

Eventually, usually about a couple weeks before it's released, I go through the issue and do an even bigger "round of edits," rewriting even more dialogue and redrawing even more panels. I do at least a few more rounds of edits until I'm finally satisfied, and that's when the issue's released.

Sometimes however, things can go horribly wrong.

Issue 12 was supposed to be a completely different issue. It was supposed to be the start of a new arc, but as I was making the issue, I just found myself unsatisfied and not that confident in the story I was setting up. So I scrapped that attempt halfway through, and instead began work on the issue 12 that would eventually release.

"Red Meat" in particular was a very troubling arc to make. I made probably about 300+ pages for that arc, and I ended up scrapping over a third of that. I did not do a good job at planning out the story for that arc, and it ended up biting me in the ass later when I realized I didn't like where the arc was headed.

Issues 25 & 26 were both drafted at this point, and I didn't like either of them, issue 26 specifically. The problems they had couldn't really be fixed in rounds of edits either, they were fundamental problems. If I wanted to fix them, I'd have to scrap a lot of what I'd already made.

So I did.

I redid a lot of issue 25, and I scrapped that version of issue 26 entirely. It was for the best ultimately, but in the moment it felt very demoralizing having to scrap so many finished pages.

Issue 27 also ended up being way too long (like almost 70 pages) so I had to cut a lot of (finished) pages in that one too to keep the pacing up. I cut out a lot of good stuff from that issue, but it was for the best. Even after those cuts the issue's still tied with issue 12 as the longest chilli issue.

What happened in Red Meat was a worst case scenario though, and going forward, im gonna make sure that something like that never happens again. Because, fuck. It didn't feel good scrapping those finished pages lol.

My process is very messy and slightly taxing, but it's the process I'm familiar with. I would not recommend doing what I do, especially if you've never made a webcomic before, but instead to try and develop your own method that works for you! Different processes work for different people

Thank you for your ask! Good luck on your webcomic journey, wherever it takes ya!

#ctvo #comic

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chidoroki · 9 months

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182 Days of TPN - Day 110

Chapter 110: “What I Can Do”

Their concerns are all valid. Both dads were indeed injured and sorta trapped for a little bit, but it’s far too risky to go back and check on them without knowing the status of the enemy. Poor Ray, always being the logical one and dealing out the hard truths no one wants to hear.

At least he feels bad for the outburst. Can’t really blame him for losing his cool either. Everyone’s emotions are a mess at the moment and we already know Ray doesn’t take loses well when it comes to family.

Sandy is such a sweetheart to the younger kids. (I wonder who actually made his little broccoli eyepatch though. it’s adorable.)

You would think I would be making a comment about the Seven Walls or Emma’s dilemma with these panels, but surprise, it’s actually gonna be about Ray. Listen, I dunno the exact layout of the tunnels or how close everyone is to one another right now, but Ray had to be yelling so loud if Emma was able to hear him from her spot next to Chris, a place where I assume she hasn’t moved from since they arrived underground. It’s just amusing to me since Ray is usually level headed and quieter than most of the other kids, even compared to Emma & Norman.

Precious child quite literally being that perfect ray of sunshine everyone needs and brightening the mood in these dark times.

Y’all are so lucky that call came through when it did and not a couple minutes after when Andrew & his men showed up.

So convenient that it was Lucas who was down there to answer the call too. If it was anyone from GF, they might’ve picked up on Norman’s voice.

For real though, even if someone couldn’t realize the difference between James & Norman’s voices, their way of speaking and their plans are very different. A bit surprised Lucas didn’t notice that since he happen to listen to both recordings, or maybe he did and we just never knew because.. well, very dramatic life changing reasons. Either way, I’m glad Emma figures out both WMs are different.

Someone tell me why this bastard gets plot armor and not either one of our bunker dads? Or literally any other human we love? like fucking hell, how can Andrew survive a close up explosion unlike Yuugo & Lucas and Isabella dies by being stabbed by a demon, especially when both Emma & Barbara suffer similar wounds and walk away relatively fine?? I just.. really hate this man okay.

Favorite panel/moment:

I can’t remember all the wholesome father & son moments of everyone off the top of my head, but they all probably belong to Lucas & Oliver and this one in particular is one of the best despite it being so heartbreaking.

#the promised neverland #tpn manga #182daysoftpn #chidoroki used chatter

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aghhtdraws · 2 months

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22!!

Thank you for this ask! What an interesting question :D

22. What's something you'd love to draw but haven't yet?

Hmm... I feel like of all things I haven't drawn, I'd definitely like to start on the ones I plan to draw! Like for one thing, all my unfinished and unstarted comics (both original and fancomics) but also, more generally, I'd like to draw more quiet scenes because I feel like those subtle and calm scenes can be really hard to do compared to action! I'm so used to practicing action that it would be interesting to practice more of the opposite as well haha :D

Also maybe talking scenes. Those are hard to picture for me in comics, but feel easier to imagine as animation (because of the one camera), so maybe I should practice more of those too.

These are old comics, but I'm reminded of these ancient fancomics from 2016. The sparring comic was fun to do (even if it looks old and unclear now) but in comparison, this talking-heads page from the same year feels more boring to look at, even if the planning was sorta the same (I was more focused on trying to figure out a good and easier way to letter and speechbubble the comic and left the layout really simple)

Maybe one thing I'd like to draw more, is just these looser and more energetic pages, like this newer comic from around 2020

more stuff like this, even if it's much sketchier, it feels more clear because the intention is stronger here than the older comics, where I often fumbled around with the lines a lot and redrew things as I kept looking for the "right line" instead of just going with the flow.

so i guess, lol, just more comics? more fancomics on day!!

uhhh, but these are all sorta things I've already tried drawing so.... of things I haven't drawn yet... yeah, maybe comics with non-human characters, like robots or aliens. or maybe something easier to draw, where the moments between the panels, the flow of the story become a bigger part than the drawings alone. that would be interesting to draw if I get there one day :P Maybe I should pick something more realistic haha! of general work, I'd definitely like to one day animate more animals. I actually have a dragon animation in the works right now that I'm still doodling along and thinking about.

of general fanart topics... I wanna draw Yamato from One Piece right now this past month!! I've been wanting draw him for a long time but just haven't found the moment to sit down yet, so I'm looking forward to it haha xD What a cool guy! I think he'll be fun to draw. I definitely put too many expectations on myself, even with fanart, so that's why I never finish or even start some drawings... I'm just imagining something bigger than I can draw at that moment!! but lol I'll definitely get over that hesitation now, I've been in the mood to draw much more as of late than before. I'll just think of the fun moments of drawing!!

What about you? you don't have to answer it, but I'm curious now xD

#aghhtdraws askbox #okenki #thank u this was interesting to think about #fancomics #aghhtdraws

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salami-dono · 1 year

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DR. JESTER

I recreated a Sonic OC I made when I was 10. The layout of the model sheet is based on the IDW ones. :) They were very helpful. This reference took a long time to complete. I’m finally ready to introduce the evil Dr. Jester! (Most of what I write here will not be things I thought of when I was 10-12 years old.)

Here is a description of his appearance:

Dr. Jester is a robot hedgehog with a grey face and pastel pink quills. He stands at a rather tall 4 ft or 123 cm. The three quills adorning his head are tri-colored. The three colors are pink, white and pale turquoise. Peridot-colored eyes light up on a black screen. The color and shape of his eyes sometimes change depending on his mood. His original stumpy tail was replaced with a crocodile tail. It is the same pale turquoise as one of his jester quills and has magenta scutes. (There is no explanation for the new tail’s existence. It just looks cool.) His hands are black with grey palms. The joints of the fingers and thumbs are magenta.

He wears a white lab coat and white pants. An asymmetrical panel with three large buttons is connected to the collar with a magenta strip. He wears black safety boots with magenta accents. The soles are grey. The sides have screws, and the top part is white.

The most time-consuming part of his design by far was choosing the color palette. The second and third things would be his quills and limbs. From the beginning, I wanted to use a light color for his body to match the greyscale of my old art. There isn’t a single drawing of Dr. Jester with color, nor did I leave any clues in my writing. I wanted pastel pink to work because it’s a nostalgic color. It reminds me of my pink baby blanket, my old room, pink pigs (my favorite animal when I was very young), and a pink dress—very early childhood memories.

Like all of my Sonic OCs, Dr. Jester hails from another universe. It’s more of a “perpendicular” universe to Sonic’s universe than a parallel one. Their universes interact in a way that doesn’t affect spacetime. Traveling there is as easy as entering a Special Stage. No one you know is there (and neither are you), but familiar personalities do exist in that universe. Similar locations also appear. Sonic’s Green Hill is their Emerald Hill. The idea of an alternate universe was based on a very early issue of the Archie comics that introduced the “Anti-Sonic.”

Dr. Jester is a villain of the same caliber as Dr. Eggman, or so he thinks. How did those two meet? That’s what I’d like to know… Dr. Jester referred to him as Dr. Robotnik the first time they were seen together before he learned he was going by the name “Eggman,” and Eggman called him an old friend. Eggman’s robots thought Dr. Jester was mean and unpleasant, but his robot underlings were much more friendly. They’re right.

Dr. Jester earned his name the same way Eggman did. The only difference is that Dr. Jester was called a jester since he was a kid. After a lifetime of torment, he made it his own! He’s proud of it, alright? It doesn’t matter what his real name is.

Just because he’s a robot, that doesn’t make him unemotional. Far from it! Dr. Jester is animated. He’s spiteful and cynical. Things like love and romance disgust him. He’s easily provoked and reacts strongly to insults. If his favorite robot left him, he’d be upset. Still, he smiles and laughs a lot. He’s jolly when things go his way. He enjoys puns, especially of the egg variety. Dr. Jester does not share Eggman’s short-sightedness regarding Sonic the Hedgehog with his own nemesis. When there is a plan, he sticks to it. He loves to trick others and dish out revenge whenever he can with a cold and calculated fury. Eggman is not exempt.

Of course, he also has an uglier, more dangerous side. He doesn’t care for the basic needs of living things: clean air, clean water, food and shelter. His operations threaten the health of the planet, and that endangers everyone. He’s been a robot for some time; he’s detached. It would be better if organic beings gave in and became robots. They could live forever, free from all biological constraints.

Before his mechanical transformation, Dr. Jester was once a living, breathing hedgehog. The process included a mind transfer, also called a soul/consciousness transfer, and therefore irreversible. It’s an alternate method of Robotization. (I can’t say Roboticization. lol) The power source of his robot body is a mystical gem I call the Fluorite Brain, the new home of his consciousness. A robot with a soul, that’s what he is.

For some reason, it is difficult to replicate his level of awareness in other machines. That’s just a risk you’ll have to take when becoming a robot. What kind of person wants to become a robot anyway?

One of the most bizarre abilities of Dr. Jester’s mechanical body that I came across was that he could consume food and drink. I assume he had a habit of drinking coffee when he was alive. He could probably keep up with specific tasks for long periods, but he would get bored doing so. He sleeps to pass the time.

Surprisingly, he has some basic combat skills. He’s a slugger! His main attacks are paralyzing electric-shock punches and sweeps from his metal tail. The tail may be organic because I mentioned that it “turned into steel” before he used it. It’s a magical crocodile tail! Dr. Jester can wield the Chaos Emeralds as well. He used a pink one from his universe to hover in the air and deflect beams and missiles fired by the G.U.N. military.

I was ecstatic to see him in action. I thought he was a wimp! He even defeated his nemesis in a one-on-one battle. I believe his true strengths are his elemental resistance and highly durable body. He does his best to avoid damage to his body. He will run away if he has to. He’s actually better at fleeing than fighting.

Dr. Jester is strong, but he has weaknesses. He is weak to the type of magic that controls electrical signals. It’s possible to take control of his mechanical body, but he is immune to mind control. He fears that magic. In the Archie comics, it’s called Magitek.

He’s also weak to kindness. He couldn’t understand why anyone would show him mercy, let alone his nemesis. In this specific scene, he was completely silent but I wonder what was going through his mind. What did they see in him? Humanity? Laughable. Is there goodness in that metal carapace? All of their problems could have been solved if they had just let him be destroyed with the Egg Carrier.

It was meant to be a humorous scene, but I noticed how strangely Dr. Jester acted during it.

Here is the line that seemingly ended Dr. Jester’s story—without context:

“Dr. Jester is long gone...”

He’s good at running away.

By the way, if you’re familiar with the character Dr. 0 (voiced by James Urbaniak) from Fallout: New Vegas, that’s the voice I think Dr. Jester would have. They have similar personalities, and he’s sort of a think tank himself.

#sonic #sonic the hedgehog #archie sonic #sonic oc #Dr. Jester #my artwork #I love the T poses

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cosmignon · 4 months

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11, 16, 23! :)

11. Favorite comment you’ve ever recieved on your work?

Oh that's such a hard question bc I've gotten a lot of sweet comments over the years! But one that sticks in my head from recently is one of my regulars for my commissions commented that he's appreciated seeing my art improve over the years thru the comms themselves and it made me really happy! Like aw shucks, you liked my art enough then and continue to enjoy it more as I improve and grow?! Golly! Wow!!

16. What’s the most daunting part of your process? Ex, planning, sketching, lineart, rendering etc

Planning and composition can be so hard esp if I need to rope everyone into a background!! Once I've gotten past the sketch I can usually get on with things smooth sailing but oh the planning... for comic pages it's hard to get the panel layouts to look good, I still struggle with that a lot too.

23. Do you listen to music or watch shows while you work? If so, what’s your favourite?

Definitely lotta music and youtube vids and podcasts! There's definitely too many to list favorites properly!! but I'll just go through a small sampling of the more recent go to's

Dice Funk! I love Dice Funk theyre wrapping up their current season Rezubian this Sunday and I highly recommend that one it's a good goofy scifi adventure for ppl who like something of a star trek/spelljammer type setting. Ya Like Ilithids? come get em.

I've had AJR's new Album Maybe Man on loop. and by the album I mean Inertia and a handful of the other songs, tho they're all good!

I also continuously compile playlists for all my projects, like Runaway Drakaina, my DnD comic I'm chipping away at, concepts I'd like to work on someday... the RD playlist is 6 hours long and rn the most recent addition is Gone by Morning by Madilyn Mei

I have been slowly (slowly...) watching hbomberguy's donkey kong nightmare stream after seeing him share his side channel, like on and off when I want something really in the background. no paying attention head empty just listening to a man struggle with an old game while raising bonkers $$$ for a good cause

I like watching speedpaints where the artists really go into their process, ABDIllustrates and GinjaNinjaOwO are two big favs in that department! they inspire me a lot esp when it comes to character creation!

BobbyBroccoli got me to engage in a feature length documentary abt Nortel when I don't particularly care for the history of like... tech companies. so glowing endorsement he makes great docs abt tech/science related scandals

I could go on and on but we would be here All Day

#sarasks #wishjacked

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gerec · 2 years

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Au-gust 2022

Find previous prompts here: AU-gust Challenge 2022

7. Science Fantasy

Pairing(s): Cherik Warnings: None

Star Wars AU! Follows after my ficlet Hunting for Beskar :D

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Erik mutters, as they slip quietly up the gangway of the docked Imperial Cruiser. They’ve managed to evade the spaceport patrols thanks to Summers’ intel, while McCoy has managed to override the security systems without triggering any alarms. So far, everything is going exactly to Erik’s plan – intercept on Brentaal, midway on the Hydian Way trade route between Corellia and Ord Mantell – and it certainly looks as though they’ll actually get away with stealing the shipment of Beskar from his former employers.

Except that everything has gone just a touch too smoothly, given the intricacy of their planned heist and the size of their payload, and Erik has been doing this for too long to believe that the luck they’ve had so far is going to hold.

At his side, Charles grins at him, as though he knows exactly what Erik’s thinking, and he curses again for ever agreeing to another one of Xavier’s mad and always lethal operations. As fantastic as the sex is every time, he’s not sure it’s worth getting a blaster shot in the face (there was that one time too where he was almost fed to a Rancor on Nal Hutta) though Erik has a bad habit of forgoing all common sense around the Xavier siblings.

Behind them, their motley crew of smugglers and mercenaries follow, armed to the teeth with enough ordnance to take out a few Imperial platoons. And that’s not even counting the Mandalorian who hired them for the job, who Erik hasn’t actually heard speak to anyone except Charles. Between ‘Howlett’, Raven, Summers and two of Erik’s own – Angel and Janos – there should hopefully be enough people on hand to haul the Beskar back to the ship.

(His co-pilot Azazel and McCoy are waiting for their signal, ready to come in turrets blazing to extract them if needed.)

His knowledge of the cruiser’s layout has them bypassing all the hot spots and chokepoints, and soon enough they’re on the detention level where he knows the Beskar is stored. The cargo bays are entirely too open and difficult to defend, so anything of real value ends up being stowed away in cells behind security doors and shield generators.

(That’s a rule Erik himself recommended and implemented fleet-wide, while he was still working under Shaw’s command.)

Of course, once they get there, the Beskar isn’t the only thing they discover, and Charles’ face drains entirely of color before he’s shooting the panel to the cell door and setting off every conceivable alarm.

“What the kriffing Bantha’s ass are you doing, you maniac!” he seethes, as Charles shoves past him to quickly rewire the doors. Only Raven seems unfazed by her brother losing his damn mind, going wildly off plan to very quietly get in and get out without alerting the Imps. “You’re going to bring the entire ship to our location and get us all killed.”

“I know,” Charles says, his voice stripped of all its usual smugness and irreverence. There’s a determined look in his eye that Erik doesn’t know – has never seen in all the time they’ve spent together on and off-mission – and he realizes in an instant that something very big and very terrible is about to be revealed. “Erik, I need you to take Howlett, Angel and Janos and grab all the Beskar you can carry. I’ll create a diversion to buy you some time to contact the Genosha for pickup.”

Snarling, Erik grabs Charles by the arm and doesn’t let go, anger and fear making him less than amenable to taking orders from his some-time lover. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.”

McCoy’s voice comes over the comlink then, crackling with static and barely discernable from the sirens blaring overhead.

Charles, whatever you’re doing you’ve got T-minus one minute to do it. Stormtroopers on your level, headed your way.

And that’s also when the contents of the cell reveal themselves to Erik and the others; three young teens all wearing force suppression collars, who fling their arms around Charles and hold on to him like a lifeline.

“Master Charles,” one of the girls whispers, as Charles hugs them all fiercely, hand gently stroking the girl’s long red hair. “I knew you weren’t dead.”

“It’s alright, Jean. I’m here,” Charles says.

“He will be if we don’t all get out of here,” Howlett interjects. “Run now. Talk later.”

Too stunned to argue, Erik can only nod in agreement, and hope they make it out alive so he can get some much-needed answers.

#gerec writes #cherik #day 7 #science fantasy #au-gust 2022 #star wars au

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lovelywingsart · 1 year

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Here's an update, I promise I am alive!!!

I actually just got done playing Resident Evil 4 Remake, as well as replaying Village for a 4th time to work out some more details for Metalworks!

- RE4R was AWESOME, and it's officially the second RE game I've finished!!! I really loved it even though I did need some help from friends, and I do plan on eventually playing the other games as well! 😊💙 My favorite character was Luis, and yes I shot Krouser in the face with a rocket launcher. If you know, you know.

- Despite it being my 4th playthrough of Village(which I hopped into last night immediately after finishing 4R), I actually noticed a few things I hadn't before, specifically in Donnas section, which of course led into a few new headcanons both for Donnas part AND Karls(mostly Emelia), and even RE8!Mica thanks to Donna. I actually took a bunch of screenshots when playing as well, because I have... plans. 👀 Screenshot 'rendering' plans, like the one I did a while ago for Emelia. 👀👀👀

- This requires its own section because I'm including pictures, BUT- I also took the chance while going through the factory to write out some details about Emelias part of the game!

I've been meaning to write it out with a bit more detail, and I'm actually ADDING detail to it to flesh it out a bit more; but once the initial meeting in the Foundry is fleshed out, y'all are getting a Metalworks Main Timeline story for the first time in fucking forever. I'll *eventually* work out the meeting in the Survival AU, because there are some massive differences (other than the obvious). But I worked through the initial meeting as well as placement and all (done while looking around the room in game and all), and a nice chunk for what would be her Mini-Boss fight. What I DONT have is, obviously, the inclusion of items and all you'd be able to pick up for the fight, or the placement of her own 'diary' except for the very last page you find. I ALSO didn't include the part with selling the crystals to Duke which I just noticed, but I'll add that in later!

I dont think I'll play Shadows of Rose again immediately since it's also pretty fresh in my brain, and its easier to watch a playthrough since it's a simple layout/story instead of 'so much detail that a YouTuber would typically skip over but I need'. I'll work more on that at a later time when I'm farther into the Survival AU and get done alot of other things I want to do!

**If I DO write fully for the DLC, it will most likely be, like, 2 stories. One for her meeting Rose and another for when they beat Miranda again. There isn't too much in between.

But... yeah!! There's my massive text wall update.

Uploading to Instagram has been paused for a bit and I've been suffering through a depressingly large bour of art block(and probably impostor syndrome), hence why I played Village. It definitely helped, and I have a bunch of ideas for warm up before other big things.

Dear Mother is one of those things, as I've been stuck in the middle of the sketch because I hit a blank when halfway done. 🙃 BUT I'm gonna do a few things beforehand while hopefully chipping away at it, and once I get over the little speed bump of a panel I should be good!

I hope yall are as excited as I am, I'm really hoping that my brain works out fully to actually do everything I want. Its been a cycle of 'on and off again' for a good few weeks... hence why I took a break to play Resi. I figured it might help me clear my head a little and give some new ideas.

Here's hoping it works!! 💙

#update #im still alive i promise

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lostinthevale · 2 years

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Hi all! Hope you're well.

Here to say the final pages of chapter 2 will be posted in the next couple weeks. I'm finishing up final touches on the brand new pages and working on the official cover art for chapter 1. I've also been going back to old pages and refreshing the art a bit here and there and fixing continuity errors, etc. (The image above is a new redraw of a panel from page 4. I still have a couple of pages I'm retouching right now. I just can't abide some of that old art now after almost a decade.) I just really want the comic to be in its best form when Chapter 2 concludes. Then I can start chapter 3 with nothing hanging over my head.

Speaking of which, Alan (husband, writer) has scripted the comic all the way to chapter 6, layouts for several issues past that, and the entire first story arc planned out through chapter 20. (There will be 2 arcs, 40 chapters total, each chapter staying somewhere near 20 pages.)

I'll post when the pages are live. For now, if you're of a mind, you can visit the website and read the first 37 pages, many of which have new art.

➡️ lostinthevale.com ⬅️

We're going to change the commenting system over to disqus soon, since that seems to be the general system for almost all webcomic sites.

Thanks so much to any of you guys that have stuck around with me for the past several years of hiatus. You guys mean a lot to me and I hope we'll make a story that was worth waiting for.

#lost in the vale #webcomic #litv #webcomics #comics #comic #art #illustration #artists on tumblr #fantasy

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geocyclist · 2 months

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One of two side panels for a compost sifter in progress. Loose plans in my head based on materials that are on hand.

Verticals are pressure treated posts that were resawn and milled to be ~1” by 3.5”. All sawdust and shavings were swept and bagged separately since it can’t be composted.

Layout of white ash stickers milled to fit the groove made by a 3/4” router bit. Horizontal grooves routed at 90 degrees with mating verticals matched. The diagonal was brought together and routed together so that the angle will match.

Glued up with as many clamps as possible then the ends of the braces were trimmed and rounded.

Next is the sifter frame, then the actual sifter will be last. Each part is built relative to the previous one rather than hard design measurements.

#woodworking is all relative #woodworking #compost sifter #composting #woodworking tools #band saw #jointer #planer #router #clamps #so many clamps

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itsdirector · 4 months

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The New Species 2

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Chapter 2

Subject: Ship-Head Uleena

Species: Urakari

Description: Reptilian humanoid, no tail. 5'3" (1.6 m) avg height. 135 lbs (61 kg) avg weight. 105 year life expectancy.

Ship: RSV Lowelana {Fights with Honor}

Location: Sol

The bridge was silent as we all watched the holographic display of the massive ship that had come to our rescue. The armor plating of the ship gave it the shape of driftwood. Or something an artist would try to create with driftwood before they gave up part of the way through. Flat-semi round and very, very thick plates covered almost the entirety of the vessel with the exception of a few spots. It took me some time to realize that those spots were likely weapon ports. Or maybe even fighter bays.

There were four obvious weapons, two at the top and two at the bottom, pointing in separate directions. Judging from the shape, they had to be some sort of magnetically accelerated cannon. They were bigger than the Lowelana.

"Sir, part of the unknown vessel is opening up and something is detaching from the interior," Kriin informed me in a voice just above a whisper. "It looks like... it's another ship."

A ship that was a little larger than our own separated from the unknown vessel and positioned itself alongside the Lowelana. An even smaller ship then left that one and began a course for us.

"We're being hailed by the small vessel," Liwna croaked, struggling to find his voice.

I cleared my throat and said, "Put them through."

The speaker crackled to life and the voice on the other end said, "RSV Lowelana this is Lieutenant Sergey Babanin of the USSS Valor. Please respond."

"We're here, Lieutenant Sergey Babanin of the USSS Valor. I am ship-head Uleena and this is the RSV Lowelana. You have permission to come aboard," I said, trying to mask the tension in my voice.

This was the worst-case scenario for a first contact from a species outside of the Republic. Indebting ourselves at first contact is definitely going to have some political backlash, especially with some of the more xenophobic member species. You would think that going to war would be, but being indebted to someone you don't know is usually a lose-lose scenario. Either we're out something by repaying the debt, or we don't repay the debt and go to war anyway.

"Uh, well..." Lt. Babanin began hesitantly, "we're not quite ready for boarding yet. We're showing several hull breaches and your structural integrity is... well..."

"Our frame is damaged, we know."

"It's not just damaged, capt... er... ship-head. It's cracked. Your frame is being held together by your hull and your hull has holes in it. If we're not extremely precise with our docking maneuver you're going to fall to bits."

I gave Liwna a bewildered look. He returned my stare with one of his own before looking back at his instrument panel.

"By the Suns, he's right. Apologies ship-head, the damage is much more severe than we originally assessed," he said.

"What can we do?" I asked, trying not to sound panicked. I don't want to lose any more of my crew.

"I... I don't know," Liwna said, nearly losing his composure.

"Don't worry too much ship-head, we're going to be able to extract you," Lt. Babanin interjected. "We are just going to need precision guidance. We're downloading the software required right now."

"Do you have compatible docking equipment? Clamps and such?" I asked.

"Well, we're currently waiting for the download to finish to solidify our plan of action, but I think our best bet is to use an umbilical. Looking at your ship's layout and the holes in it, we can probably attach to the hole in your... I think that's your living quarters? It's the room near your bridge."

I did some mental mapping, "Yes, that's right. That area's sealed off due to depressurization though."

"That won't be a problem," Lt. Babanin said cheerily. "We've brought enough gas to repressurize your entire ship. Once we're attached and the room is repressurized you'll be able to unseal it and exit through the umbilical."

The plan was solid but one thing bothered me, "If you're going to be using an umbilical then why do you need precision guidance software?"

"We're not familiar with your ship's construction methods or composition," he began. "For all we know just getting close to your ship can cause it to break apart due to the forces generated by our proximity. We'll need to be in a position far enough away that we won't be affecting you, aim and guide the umbilical to the proper position, and fire it gently enough that it won't send a shockwave that will shatter your ship."

"Understood," I said, satisfied by the explanation.

"Alright. Do you have pressure suits available?" he asked.

Liwna shook his head and said, "We don't have pressure suits but we do have respirators. They won't last long if we're exposed to vacuum, though."

"Well, that's better than nothing. I suggest you prep them. We'll be in touch when we're ready to begin."

"Acknowledged. Ship-head Uleena, out."

The comms light winked out as the connection was severed. The crew sat in silence for a time, unsure of what to say. Something was bothering me about that interaction, but I couldn't quite place it. It was Kriin who made it click into place.

"Their sensors must be much more advanced than ours," she said in a hushed tone.

"What do you mean?" asked Liwna.

I spoke up, "They were able to tell that our frame was fractured before we were. They were also able to determine our ship's layout to a degree that allowed them to formulate a rescue plan without consulting us. Not only that, but they were able to scan our databases well enough to be able to extrapolate and translate our language."

More silence. We hadn't just indebted ourselves in first contact with an unknown alien species. We'd indebted ourselves with a more advanced unknown alien species. I spent the next few minutes wondering what I should wear to my hearing. I took solace in the fact that what's left of my crew might live.

"We're being hailed, sir," Liwna informed me.

"Open a channel."

Lt. Babanin sounded more cheerful as he said, "We're ready to rescue you. Turns out my plan held up to scrutiny so we'll be proceeding with it. The only change is that we'll be sending some of our people aboard to assist with the evacuation, and I'll be joining the away team. Once everyone is safely off the ship, the USSS Thanatos will scoop it up so we can begin repairs."

Even though it was likely a very accurate description of what will happen, something deeply bothered me about the idea of a ship that can crew 50 people being 'scooped up'.

"Understood," I replied. "You have my permission to board. We'll begin evacuation preparation immediately. I'll see you on the bridge, Uleena out."

The comms light once again flashed off and the crew gathered around the holographic display in anticipation. We watched as the alien ship expertly maneuvered into a position far enough away that its magnetic fields and gravity wouldn't effect us enough to break us into pieces. We held our breath as the umbilical was fired and slowly traveled the distance between us. There was a time delay of half a second so we actually heard the ever-so-soft thud of the umbilical making contact before we saw it.

"The umbilical has hit its mark, and we're holding steady!" Kriin said joyfully.

The tension in the air evaporated as the crew allowed themselves a little celebration. For my part, I exhaled the breath I had been holding in. We're almost safe.

"Don't celebrate too heartily. We'll be having guests soon, and I want everyone on their best behavior. No staring," I said with a smile.

"Short-band signal coming in, sir," Kriin said, holding her hand to her ear, "it's the lieutenant. He and his team are proceeding through the umbilical."

"Okay everyone, respirators on. I want the injured evacuated first. Then the non-essentials. Kriin, Liwna, you'll be evacuating with me," I said with as much authority as I could muster.

"Yes, sir!" the remaining crew said unanimously.

"Sir, they're aboard. The lieutenant is headed this way," Kriin said.

I heard the thudding footsteps before I saw what they belonged to. The first one through the door was huge. I was fooled at first because it had to slump through the door, but then it rose to its full height. At least 6'5" {195 cm} and very wide. It was obviously wearing a pressure suit, but the suit looked more like body armor. The helmet was completely opaque, with what looked like lights and cameras installed. There were thick plates strategically placed on what looked like a rubbery weaved body suit. The body suit was black, but everything else was navy blue.

We were all staring in a shocked silence when the other two monstrosities crouched through the door. They were both 7' {216 cm} tall and wearing a similar pressure suit but in olive drab. Even under such seemingly cumbersome attire, it was obvious that their musculature would put our most avid body-builders to shame. I fought my fight-or-flight instincts as I briefly wondered if they were even organic at all.

"Air's safe, lieutenant," one of the green monsters said.

The one in blue took off his helmet to reveal soft, beige skin with golden high-cut hair. His piercing blue eyes scanned the room like a predator before he affixed his gaze to me. His lips curled in what could be mistaken for a snarl, showing four pointed teeth and several flat ones. This actually set me at ease because I recognized the expression as a smile. Several primate species have similar expressions. Even the Urakari have our own variation.

"You must be cap... ship-head Uleena," it said.

"Y-yes. And you must be lieutenant Babanin. W-welcome aboard," I said, trying my best not to stammer.

"I'm sorry if we look frightening. These are designed to do that, but they're all we had on hand."

"I understand. You're... uh... quite larger than we pictured," I said as I rubbed the back of my neck nervously.

One of the green monsters chuckled slightly. The other turned to look at him with what I assume was a glare.

"The suits add to our size by an inch or two. It doesn't sound like it makes a difference, but it definitely does," he gestured to his left, "This is Corporal Simmons," then he gestured to his right, "This is Lance-Corporal Johnson."

"Nice to meet you," Johnson said in a gruff voice. I nodded in acknowledgment, unable to speak.

"Well then, let's get you rescued, shall we?" Lt. Babanin said with another smile.

I was about to agree when the proximity alert chimed again. This time I definitely recognized the sound. I had been hearing it more and more lately, and the last time I heard it was right before we found ourselves in this situation. My hearts skipped a beat.

Kriin looked up from her station and shouted, "SIR! OMNI-UNION SHIPS!"

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#stories #story #the new species #science fiction #scifi #novel

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baileytomkinsviscomblog · 5 months

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'Intersections' planning & experimentation - Pt. 2

I initially spent a while researching deeper into the comic book design process. I watched several YouTube videos that helped improve my knowledge about the different stages involved in creating a comic keyword as well as tips for saving time. Talking to Utku was also helpful. One crucial piece of information that I learned was the importance of planning, spending a while on concept art, developing character designs, and then creating thumbnails. Thumbnails are small sketches created by comic book or graphic design artists that give them the ability to get a basic overview of the narrative as well as the final format and structure that they'll be following. All that's needed after this step is filling in the final lines and details.

Another aspect of the comic book story format that I learned about is the establishing shot. Similar to in movies and TV, the establishing shot in comics is often used at the start of a scene to give the reader some helpful visual context about the story, for example, the setting in which the scene is taking place. These establishing shot panels are usually a lot larger and more detailed than standard panels.

After deciding that I would be creating a short graphic novel, I began experimenting with the concept art and character designs. I wanted to create a style that wasn't too cartoony or bold but also wasn't too complex, especially since I learned from my comic book art research that when creating character designs, you should aim for simplicity because it will make the process of redrawing them multiple times a lot easier and quicker. When examining the style I ended up with, it's clear that it has been influenced by the work of Bryan Lee O'Malley; in fact, it was even mentioned to me by a peer who saw the similarity. I found that I tend to gravitate towards a specific approach when it comes to character design; this is something that I believe happens to most artists. Trying to break away from this habit and draw in different styles was very difficult for me, and it's something I will need to work on a lot more since I believe that versatility is an important aspect of working in the creative industry.

Once I had found the look I was happy with I started experimenting with the format and layout of the pages. I went into this without any particular plan, starting by creating a two-page spread and then using random shapes and border styles for the panels. Once I had created the borders I began creating a loose story structure that would fill the pages. Although this process was helpful in developing the mood and visual narrative that I would be using, I found that jumping straight into creating detailed panels without a plan or a properly organised structure was also somewhat detrimental to the design process since it was very time-consuming. Despite not being overly beneficial, this experiment did help me to realise the difficulties of working small scale and also that creating overly detailed panels was unnecessary and potentially distracting from the flow of the narrative.

At one stage of the design process, I decided to experiment with a negative drawing style. I did this as I was looking for ways that I could make the piece more exciting and unconventional. In addition to this, I thought that it might be an interesting idea to have one side of the story completely negative, not only to further differentiate from the other story but to reinforce the themes of negativity and hopelessness that the character was imagining in his head. This look was achieved by using black paper and a white gel pen. One of the main issues I had with this style was that it's very difficult to create rough sketches on black paper, meaning I had to go straight into applying the final lines. This meant that I was very anxious about making mistakes, which increased the time that it took to complete the drawings. One solution I found was using a black sharpie to cover over any mistakes, which was somewhat effective but not overly practical. Despite being a fan of this effect, I decided that the cons of creating several pages in this style, such as the complexity and time-consuming factor, would far outweigh the pros. However, I did decide that I would still create one page in this style.

After these initial experiments with style and formatting, I decided to do a bit more research into the comic book structure and the steps to take when creating a comic book or graphic novel. I looked at some articles, YouTube videos, and even spoke to a comic book artist on Instagram. I learned a lot about how to effectively plan your piece, including the importance of thumbnails and rough sketches. In addition to this, I found out more information about page layouts and how to make your narrative flow from panel to panel.

Another important decision that I made at this stage was to shorten and simplify my piece, limiting the number of pages to six per story and making the layout of my panels a lot more basic and consistent. I began by creating a rough layout of all the pages and then proceeded to add the thumbnail designs. Finally, I added small dialogue notes that gave me an idea of what the characters would be thinking or saying in each scene.

After creating the thumbnail images, I started drawing out the panels on the A5 pages, using 6 panels per page apart from pages that would include larger panels for important things such as establishing shots and ending scenes. Unfortunately, the style I chose was largely symmetrical, with specific details that had to remain consistent throughout the piece, meaning that adding the final designs to the panels ended up being a lot more time-consuming than I had originally planned for. Another factor that led to this final stage being so difficult was the fact that I was working at such a small scale, meaning that adding the small details was a fairly complex task that required a lot of focus and patience.

One solution that I came up with was duplicating some of the panels; not only was this useful in recreating scenes that were exactly the same, but it also offered me a good starting point for the scenes that had the same point of view and characters but with certain differences, such as the body language and facial expressions. I initially thought of this as I decided that it would be interesting to change the format of the piece so that the stories were more like mirror images of each other, emphasising the similarities between the two rather than intentionally making them different from the start. An example of this would be the scenes in the Edgar Wright film "Shaun of the Dead." In both of these scenes, Shaun is performing his usual morning routine of walking to and from the local shop; both of these scenes are shot more or less identically; however, Shaun's second trip to the shop is following an outbreak of zombies. The genius and hilarity of this scene is in the fact that Shaun is completely oblivious to the changes around him, such as the general destruction of his environment, bloody puddles, and handprints, as well as multiple zombies roaming the streets. I took a lot of inspiration from these scenes.

Once I finished the final designs I gathered them and took them in for scanning. Unfortunately when examining the final pages I found quite a few blemishes such as smudged ink and creases, however, I found out that these could be removed with some digital editing.

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fragile-practice · 6 months

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The Robots Rise and Sandworm Strikes Back

Week in Review: Nov 6th - 12th

Welcome or welcome back! Plenty of interesting topics this week, which led to this growing longer. AI continues to dominate tech news cycles, instability on the web continues, and digital privacy is basically non-existent is most of the world.

Enjoy, and handle with care.

Technology

Nvidia Trains Custom Ai to Assist Chip Designers – Hackaday; Donald Papp

Nvidia has developed a custom AI system called DAPPER that can help chip designers optimize their layouts and improve performance.

The system was able to achieve a 40% improvement in power for performance.

iPhone 16 Likely to Get Exclusive AI Features in iOS 18 – MacRumors; Tim Hardwick

Apple is reportedly working on advanced face recognition, emotion detection, scene understanding, and natural language generation.

Note: More than any other tech company, Apple has been strictly avoiding talking about AI applications but has been cramming neural engines into all their chips faster than anyone. My prediction is that there is a major AI product to be released in the next year or so. Apple may think a revamped AI is essential to using the Vision Pro.

With the power of AI, you can be mediocre, too – TechCrunch; Haje Jan Kamps

Haje argues that AI is likely to lower the standards and expectations of quality of content.

Note: It is probably more complicated. AI is well suited to for certain tasks, and those likely will be ceded and widely understood to almost always be AI-generated. I think Haje’s argument holds up for pushing generative models to do ‘creative’ things.

AI is about to completely change how you use computers - GateNotes; Bill Gates

Bill Gates predicts that AI will enable more natural and intuitive computer interfaces, such as voice, gesture, and eye tracking.

Gates suggests AI might also augment human memory, learning, and decision-making.

Las Vegas Sphere reports $98.4 million loss; CFO quits – Las Vegas Sun; Ray Brewer

Note: Realistically, how long can this place function? What happens when panels start burning out?

The AI Debate Is Happening in a Cocoon – The Atlantic; Amba Kak and Sarah Myers West

Kak and West argue that the AI debate is disconnected from the realities and perspectives of most of the world’s population.

Flipping Processor Design On Its Head – Semiconductor Engineering; Ann Mutschler

Mutschler discusses a new processor design approach called bottom-up design, which aims to optimize the processor for specific tasks and domains, such as image processing, natural language processing, and cryptography.

Bottom-up design should lead to higher performance, lower power consumption, and reduced complexity compared to the traditional top-down design.

Tesla plans to build its $25,000 electric car at Gigafactory Berlin – Electrek; Fred Lambert

Tesla’s “Model 2” will be Tesla’s cheapest and most affordable model, targeting the mass market but also featuring Tesla’s latest technologies like the 4680 battery cells, structural battery pack, and full self-driving system.

Samsung Introduces ‘Gauss’: A New AI-Language Model to Challenge the ChatGPT Reign – Marktechpost; Asif Razzaq

Samsung claims Gauss outperforms ChatGPT in accuracy, diversity, and coherence.

Note: I’m considering developing a set of test prompts to try to benchmark chatbots as they come up and get updates. Chime in if you’d be interested in seeing something like that, or have ideas for prompts that would test a certain aspect of the AI.

MacBook Air vs. MacBook Pro Buyer's Guide – MacRumors; Hartley Chalton

Note: 15in M2 MacBook Air with 16gb of unified memory is probably the best computer for 90% of people, in my opinion. Personally - for the $300 premium- it would be hard not to splurge for the 14in M3 Pro. Apple pricing schemes are both evil and effective.

Quantum computing next (very) cold war? US House reps want to blow billions to outrun China – The Register; Tobias Mann

The US House of Representatives aims to boost the US’s leadership and competitiveness in quantum computing by allocating $10 billion over 10 years to fund research.

China-U.S. AI Arms Race Heats Up as Chinese Startup Unveils Powerful New AI – Motherboard; Maxwell Stachan

Chinese AI startup 01.AI released a large language model called Yi-34B that claims to outperform Meta’s LLaMA

01.AI is led by Kai-Fu Lee, a former Google executive and a prominent AI expert who advocates for China’s AI leadership

Beijing prepares for imminent rise of humanoid robots – The Register; Laura Dobberstein

Beijing issues guidelines on the development of humanoid robots, with the goal of mass-producing them by 2025 and having a reliable supply chain by 2027.

The engineering challenges were divided into three components: the brain, the cerebellum, and the limbs

The brain will use large AI models for environmental perception, behavioral control, human-machine interactions and cloud and edge integration

The cerebellum will control the robotic movements through an algorithm library and network control system architecture, with industry-specific simulation and training.

The limbs will rely on classic robotics, such as dexterous hands, lightweight materials, high-precision sensing, bionic transmission mechanisms, long-lasting batteries, and energy management solutions.

The Shifting Web

Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg details Tumblr’s future after re-org – Tech Crunch; Sarah Perez

Tumblr's plans post-reorganization emphasizes community-building and user engagement.

Hope to revitalize the platform with content creation tools.

iOS 17.2 hints at Apple moving towards letting users sideload apps from outside the App Store – 9 to 5 Mac; Fillipe Esposito

Note: Apple must see the writing on the wall given the current regulatory environment. Will they wait for a court order or try to be preemptive? I’d wager they wait.

Tumblr is downscaling after failing to ‘turn around’ the site – The Verge; Adi Robertson

Note: I love the changes Tumblr has made recently, but it is difficult to imagine a major resurgence. If ActivityPub really takes off, it could be the interface of choice for many people, given how well it handles diverse types of content.

How The Hell Did We Let $20 Skins Become A Thing? — Kotaku; Zacl Zwiezen

Note: Gamers have shown the ability to be, opinionated, coordinated, and exert influence (often problematically). For whatever reason, there are blind spots for microtransactions and gambling mechanics. It never should have been able to get this bad.

Surveillance & Digital Privacy

Russian Hackers Sandworm Cause Power Outage in Ukraine Amidst Missile Strikes – The Hacker News – Newsroom

Sandworm caused a power outage in Ukraine during missile strikes.

Note: The extent to which Sandworm has maintained access despite previous attacks and the rapidly changing Ukrainian grid is remarkable. Highly recommend Andy Greenberg’s book on Sandworm to anyone interested in Cyber warfare.

Meta, YouTube face criminal spying complaints in Ireland – The Register; Thomas Claburn

Note: Well done, Alexander Hanff. Hopefully this gets litigated, and others can replicate the suit in other jurisdictions.

It's perfectly legal for cars to harvest your texts, call logs – The Register; Brandon Vihliarolo

The automotive industry needs privacy-focused regulations.

Bad eIDAS: Europe ready to intercept, spy on your encrypted HTTPS connections – The Register; Thomas Claburn

Note: Good to remember that the EU doesn’t have it all figured out, despite their recent efforts.

The Government Surveillance Reform Act Would Rein in Some of the Worst Abuses of Section 702 - Brendan Gilligan; Electronic Frontier Foundation

Note: One can hope.

New Jupyter Infostealer Version Emerges with Sophisticated Stealth Tactics – The Hacker News; Newsroom

Jupyter Infostealer, also known as Polazert, SolarMarker, and Yellow Cockatoo, uses manipulated search engine optimization (SEO) tactics and malvertising to trick users into downloading it from dubious websites.

The malware leverages PowerShell command modifications and signatures of private keys to appear as a legitimately signed file and aims to establish a persistent foothold on compromised systems.

The new version presents various certificates to lend a veneer of legitimacy, only to activate the infection chain upon launch.

Substack Medium Mastodon Tumblr The Bad Place

Handle with care.

#ai #surveillance #technology #apple #data privacy #digital privacy #china #robots #robotics #quantum physics #quantum computing #cybersecurity #computer

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whitherwordswither · 8 months

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Dead Ringing, Pt. 4a

The main entrance of the facility was a sparsely decorated lobby. Spartan, clean. A couple fake plants. A waiting area with a small glass table sandwiched between two black couches that looked like they were fresh from the manufacturer. No litter of magazines on the table. Pristine. Untouched. I surveyed the empty reception desk, then leaned with my hip against the counter, fishing my pad from the inner-breast pocket of my coat. A few taps and I pulled up the layout of the facility from the bureau's database.

Mars poked at another wall panel, closing the doors and re-engaging the lock before pulling out her own pad as she sat against the arm of one of the couches. "You know, I've never actually been inside one of these places. I didn't realize they ran so deep underground." Her claws tapped against the screen of her pad, zooming out on the blueprints. The cold storage continued for a couple miles under ground. The lowest levels would be offline, disused, only there for expansion when the upper containment levels filled up. Future-proofing the keep of the dead.

"I've been in a couple smaller tombs, similar. I don't remember when the world shifted from dumping bodies in the ground to preserving them in places like this. Always found it a bit unsettling." Above ground there appeared to be roof access, offices and employee rec, and the lobby we were in. Below, labs and staging then two active storage levels followed by three more currently offline. It was an impressive monument to the deceased. "Providing they keep the lowest levels shut tight when not in use, I think we can skip digging down too far. Cursory intel says the only things missing are bodies. I'm thinking we start at Storage L2 and work up."

The cat zoomed in on the specified level, then nodded her head and closed down her pad, stuffing it back in the satchel at her side. "Sounds like a plan, boss." She stood, stretched, then let her hands rest on her hips as she waited for me to finish. I downloaded a copy of the blueprints to my device for reference and notes. I had learned after a few mishaps that doing so could alleviate a lot of potential stress. Sometimes you got yourself trapped in complex structures and lost network access and spent the better part of a night stumbling around in the dark trying to find your way back out. Yawning, I pushed my hat back and slid my pad back in to my jacket. "Alright…" Stepping away from the counter, I made a minute motion for Mars to follow. "Lets get this show on the road."

She perked up and darted ahead of me to the elevators, slapping a button then turning around to face me as she bounced from one foot to the other. "Tired already, old man?"

I scoffed, standing over her, glaring. She beamed up at me. I couldn't help but chuckle. Loren was right. She could always tell before I even had a hint at who I'd get along with. "Pfft. I'll be awake long after you run out of juice, Fritz. I ain't that old."

She bristled at the name, poking a claw in to my chest as we waited for the slowest elevator in the universe to make its way to the lobby from wherever it was. "I will bite your tongue off, mister."

"Threat or promise?" I leaned down, my snout inches from hers and stuck the tip of my tongue out. Her eyes widened, lips twitching in to a wild grin as she flashed her pointed teeth. We both jerked up suddenly when the elevator's piercing chime of arrival pinged around the lobby. My ears flattened against my skull. What a horrible sound. The doors slid sluggishly open and I found myself tensing, even though all I could smell was the sterile metal of our surroundings and Mars, who smelled faintly of outer-city dust and faint springtime; vibrant earth and warm sun. We locked eyes again for a brief moment, her tail swatting against my calf before we stepped in to the empty elevator.

Mars slumped leisurely against the back wall, arms folding over her chest, one arm slightly raised as she rolled her wrist in a mock dainty motion in the air. "Floor fourteen, good sir. I must adjourn to my suite."

I stared at her, expression blank, then rolled my eyes as I turned toward the wall panel, punching a button with a knuckle. "As the lady wishes." I drawled out in response.

The doors sighed closed to her cackling.

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