#referential sketches

[mysticdragon3art]

Sano Gaku (Kamen Rider Gaim's Kazuraba Kouta) sketch in color pencils.

I need more practice drawing realistic references. So I'm thinking of sketching the actors for my favorite Kamen Riders this month.

4/1/2024. Koh-i-noor Woodless Color Pencils 8750/2 and 8750/9. I drew him in orange, since the orange fruit is Kamen Rider Gaim's motif, but the scan came out red. So I had to adjust some hue and lighting in Krita.

Reference: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/447474912959975090/

#kamen rider gaim #kazuraba kouta #gaku sano #tokusatsu #actors #fanart #referential sketches #kamen rider #sano gaku

[kallockpaintings]

Self View, pencil on paper, 10 by 12 in. Emilia Kallock 2022

View On WordPress

#2022 #art #drawing #emilia kallock #figure #northwest art #pencil on paper #pencil sketch #portrait #self portrait #self referential #sketches #woman

[daftpatience]

hi daft I love the way u draw fat people!!! Is there a tutorial you like specifically for drawing fat people?? -signed a bby artist who is fat and wants to draw my sona, who is a fat rat lady

ive got FOUR tips for you!!!

look at yourself and draw yourself. self study is so so useful. take pics of yourself to draw, sketch in front of a mirror, etc! most of my fat art is self referential. trace yourself for practice, even! and for those of you who dont feel like you're fat enough for this to be useful (ive gotten messages about this before) - definitely do steps 2-4 as well, but i think it is important for all of you to come to accept that even you have body fat. you shouldn't shy away from studying what fat you do have. hunch over in the mirror, examine your stomach. bend side to side, see what parts of you fold. what jiggles? what sags when you lean in different ways? what parts of you are soft? this is still useful information to learn from, and i think coming to terms with the fact that body fat is a natural part of your and every body will help you come to have a deeper appreciation and understanding of bigger people than you.

study good books like morpho fat and folds. it's a fantastic reference!

draw fat people from reference. a lot of life drawing sites tend to lack body diversity, but i've found there are lots of fantastic fat models compiled on pinterest!

watch videos of the heavy weight type sports they do on the olympics. shot put and weight lifting and stuff. there tend to be fewer photos of actually fat athletes even though plenty of athletes are fat, and i think it's because everyone likes to try really hard to pretend they don't exist lol. you'll generally see more body diversity in the vids! i used to watch the olympics and do real quick sketches of general shapes of people and it's very fun. plus seeing people do such complicated and interesting actions is invaluable visual-spatial information for an artist!

#drawing fat people

[flawseer]

Since we are at the mercy of Tumblr's layout, here is a pinned post to hopefully add some structure to this blog and future-proof it.

About this blog

This is a blog where some random internet person (me) airs their thoughts and talks people's ears off as a hobby, mostly about dragons, more specifically about the Wings of Fire novel series written by Tui T. Sutherland. Sometimes I also draw pictures and/or sketches.

Navigation

Here's what's what to help you find your way around. More categories may get added in the future as they become relevant. Images will usually have descriptions in alt text.

Stand-alone posts:

#flawseer art - Artwork that was drawn by me.

#flawseer scribble - Also artwork by me, but less polished/more experimental.

#flawseer talk - Posts where I ramble about something, mostly my own headcanons. I don't expect anyone to take them seriously, but maybe you'll have fun reading them regardless.

#flawseer story - Posts that have a narrative element, be it a written story, script, or comic.

#flawseer stupid - Miscellaneous and sometimes inane nonsense posted on a whim.

Referential posts:

#flawseer reblog - Post made by another person that I reblogged, with or without commentary.

#flawseer reply - Reblogs that I've added commentary to, or responses to prompts submitted to me.

Content Tags:

Preferences and sensibilities vary from person to person, and not everyone wants to see every piece of content. I will add these tags to my posts if they are relevant so you can block content you don't want to be exposed to. More tags will likely be added over time.

swearing - Will tag if expletives are used. Some of the less severe swears might remain untagged.

romance - I'm a very sappy and sentimental person myself, but I also want this place to be welcoming to people with ARO or ACE viewing preferences, so if a post contains romantic overtones, I will tag.

Notable Projects:

On Seawing insults - (link)

On Mudwing culture - (link)

Wings of Earth - (link)

Foeslayer's Lament - (#1) (#2)

JMA students collage - (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5) (#6) (#7) (#8) (#9)

3000 AS collage - (#1) (#2)

Also check out the blog of my partner, Flamebringer.

[notablenotation]

Crossposting stuff from my twitter to my tumblr and vice versa, because I've finally got half the mind to do it

I was briefly into No Straight Roads the Game at the time and these are based off of existing ocs I have lol

Thoughts & lore I had at the time preserved under the cut for posterity

These are all based on existing ocs I have that I modified to sorta "fit" NSR's Lore and Feel. Originally I was more intent on imitating the style of NSR, but it went away more and more when I originally sketched all of them lmao (I colored and cleaned up the actual sketches about a year apart from when they where first sketched).

The overall aesthetic of each character was loosely based off different punk/rock to adjacent genres with indeterminant success. I think I imagined at the time if they were to function gameplay wise, Scratch, Temp, and Rhythm would actually end up being Mayday's allies, with Scratch's jazz club being an unlockable area in the game for extra content.

So the main idea was that The Lonely Hearts Club was the original band started by the four of them, who met up in Scratch's jazz club originally and became friends. The band would eventually fade into obscurity as Ryme started a solo career during the events of NSR as EDM musician, SNOW QUEEN, under the NSR label (I forgot what exact genre it would've been). The remaining three members of the band would continue the jazz/music club and still frequently meet up, inviting Ryme as well (although he typically was a no-show due to his career obligations). Eventually they would become concerned for Ryme, who disappeared after the release of their first album, and travel to the semi-abandoned district of Vinyl City where he was based to find him, meeting Mayday and Zuke along the way. Basically Ryme was kind of like a secret boss you would have to beat to unlock the jazz club?

The "Snow Queen" epithet alludes to the theme of the boss, which was a sense of perfectionism and the pressure of popularity and criticism leading to a creative block/burnout and eventual self-isolation and depression. The other members of Lonely Hearts Club would have been npc allies in the fight, modifying stage conditions during it. Fun fact: their color schemes are based off the fire diamond. Additionally, the snake (while it has symbolic significance of like, crushing pressure) is also the speaker/microphone and is referential to Scratch. Scratch and Ryme are implied to be in a romantic relationship with each other :)

If you've read this far thanks for reading lmao. It's a fun exercise to think of how this kind of thing would legitimately fit into other projects, as a part of concepting ideas and such haha

#no straight roads #nsr fanart #nsr #digital art #oc #nsr oc #my art #fanart #anyways don't follow me for NSR i'm unlikely to be doing anything NSR related in the forseeable future #unless.... i can be persuaded #khajiit has wares if you have the coin etc etc lmao

[milflaszlo]

i think my biggest problem with glass onion is that ultimately it’s more concerned with being funny/referential/subversive than with telling a solid, emotionally resonant story. this is especially puzzling to me because rian johnson has stated that the premise - a group of close friends who ultimately are driven apart by success and fame - draws inspiration from the musical merrily we roll along, which is about three friends who start out together but over the course of 20 years are driven apart by simmering resentment and their differing views of success.

but what makes merrily we roll along impactful in the first place is its emphasis on sketching out each character’s motivations - it’s told in reverse chronological order, so we start out seeing how the three main friends’ relationship has already been damaged irreparably before going back through the years and seeing what led up to their fallout, ending with the scene where the three meet for the first time and talk about their hopes and dreams for the future, a scene now tinged with bittersweet melancholy because we the audience already know where they’re going to end up. they’re all going to get what they wanted, but it’s going to come at the cost of their friendship.

when you take that into account, glass onion just feels so much more... cynical? it’s already a pretty irreverent movie and i would have just taken it as it was, but now knowing that rian was inspired by merrily we roll along i’m like... a bit confused cause we see that the core characters were friends, but do we even know why? do we have any reason to be invested in their friendship and then sad about how it ultimately turns out? no - the movie pretty much skips past that because it’s too busy trying to fit in more jabs at the billionaire of your choice. basically the characters are almost all too cartoonish and broad to sustain a genuinely emotional narrative and we’re not given much reason to care about them as more than just caricatures of the rich and powerful, which is fine i guess but overall the movie doesn’t really match the sincerity of the thing it was drawing inspiration from so it feels off to me

#glass onion #knives out #long post #text #movies

[wdillustration]

Deciding to sketch in a referential comic by PEANUTS and having an idea the fact that Barnacles is putting himself a puppet show just for fun, Hope it's worth to like!!!

#art #fanart #comic art #octonauts #captain barnacles #octonauts vegimals #pj masks #pj masks greg #fancy nancy #peanuts #puppet show

[babyboybuckley]

Anyway designed a bunch of referential (and a couple of blatant!) Taylor Swift themed tattoos over the past week!!! I'm not gonna get any except MAYBE the electric touch one lol but it was a fun little design project that was very tiring lol. I used references for each of these obviously and some of them were physical sketches I cleaned up digitally bc my tablet isn't great and I have more control using my regular ol hands. Pretty proud of these and excited to do another round of music tatts soon!

#art #my art #digital art #taylor swift #eras tour #tattoos #tattoo designs #electric touch #blank space #right where you left me #marjorie #cruel summer #getaway car #the great war #all too well (10 minute version) #taylor swift tattoo

[milvvk]

OPENING THESE AGAIN!!

If you like my work, please consider commissioning me <3

TOS:

• I will ask for 50% of the price before I start, after the sketch is approved, the rest should be paid. In the $5-7 price range, the full prince is paid right away.

• The payments are via paypal or ko-fi.

• No full price refunds for already started pieces.

• If I take more than a month on a comm, a partial refund is allowed. The amount depends on the stage the commission is.

• Prices are referential and might increase based on complexity.

• Only 1 free big change is allowed in the sketch stage (ex: changing the whole pose). Color changes are free, but every other change on more advanced stages will be charged depending on difficulty.

• I might post the illustration on social media as an example, if you don't want this, please let me know.

• All commissions are for personal use.

• Extra characters are +50% of the base price.

#drawing commissions #commission sheet #artists on tumblr #art #commissions #art tag: #milvk archives

[dinoburger]

Do you have any fun facts about Sam? They are one of my favorites from Oblivious! And have you ever drawn them? ^_^

I'm kind of surprised I didn't include any concept art of them or anything, I haven't drawn them too much? I knew I had more somewhere, this is from 2019.... feels so dated...

ok so interesting tidbit, I've always envisioned them as having started as a construction worker (thus their familiarity with the ol' sledgehammer, that lead to them getting their nickname), having been part of the construction gang for a while, going rogue and then proving their chops for the Rando army as a lone wanderer

so I have some concept sketches related to that premise

their particular role in the army was clearing out Joy Mutants from the area, which is also how they got the scars on their belly

I think I put them around... late 30's?

OH here's something I haven't mentioned yet, Sam's theme Go Down is a direct reference to Give Up - the melody with the bell in Go Down is directly based on the ambient bell sounds in Give Up, also the titles being sort of referential

this is kind of a weird one but I was really inspired by the Confrontation from Les Miserables when thinking about Sticky and Sam's encounter

...... I forgot that I resprited Sam at some point last year for shits and giggles???

#asklies #the oblivious #sorry digging up old art took me a while

[waterlinkedgirl]

I'd love to know your thoughts on Versus, if that's okay?

Aaaaaa I'm more than delighted to! Of course!!!! What ends up on here is mostly translations, but aside from translating I like writing meta, as well as writing in general (I finished a 12k historical KogiMika fic the other day! I might post a link to it here if anyone is interested), so more than anything I am THRILLED to get an ask like this and I answer with joy in my heart AAAAAAAA

To begin with, I think live songs hold this interesting place where they may reference back to the events and themes of the myu, but don't *need* to relate back to it in any fashion. The first example that springs to mind is kakumeizenya, TKO live's opening number; picking out two distinct references that aren't quite up to interpretation of what TKO is, they'd be "I haven't experienced it yet, there is no right answer" referencing back to Sui and the girl, and "Straight ahead, faster than a bolt of lightning" referencing back to Masakado's first myu song ("mounted onto a bolt of lightning"), while the song itself is more about reinventing oneself. Of course, there's examples like Real Love and Can you guess what? and S where the content of the song (and even the characterisation present in it) isn't precisely according to what the myu informs, and then there's songs like Timeline (in my opinion, if you or anyone else is interested in the essay I'll gladly, GLADLY write and post it! Just shoot me an ask!) or Illusion of my heart, or even Tears from kousui, where the lyrics are so directly back-referential to events in myu they may have much more value being interpreted from a myu lens than otherwise.

In other words, not all characterisation present in songs is characterisation fully canon to myu characterisation, but since songs may (at times even strongly) back-reference myu, depending on the song, there may be value in looking exactly how it ties back!

So without further ado, let me try to take a look at the lyrics, one by one and bit by bit! And improving on my translation a bit compared to kotobuki as I go along, ahahaha, I will probably edit my subs a little to fix minor mistakes like these! I do warn, though, since I'm invested in what toumyu has sketched us of Kogi and Mika's relationship (and yes, I ship them, if they don't think of another as brothers they are not by virtue of them being steel objects), I may make extra references to that.

Under the mask of our smiles, we tame our hatred Everyone is weighing the weight of love

These lines are the very reason I wrote down my little disclaimery thing above, because right off the bat, I don't think either of these lines applies back to tsuwamono in any literal capacity. After all, Kogitsunemaru's concerns towards Mikazuki after their fight rules out any hatred being in play, and if this refers to that regardless, that would mean the following 'love' must apply to it as well. On top of that, I don't think "Taming one's hatred behind the mask of a smile" fits with what's shown of *game* Kogi either, since there doesn't seem to be any negative feelings underlying his politeness at all. However, if you regard this line within just the canon of the song, then I'd say it's very effective at setting up the "He can be your angel or your devil" thing the song has got going on! If I had to interpret these lines, it'd be "Under the mask of our smiles, everyone tames their hatred, no one is telling what they truly think. Yet we make decisions weighing the love we feel against that hatred, because in spite of it, it's present and important."

In a way, this line also immediately introduces the theme of contrasts this song has. With 'smile' as front, 'hate' in the back, and then the second line's 'love' as the back behind the back blurring the ability to make a clear front/back distinction, it makes for a fascinating setup for the rest of the song.

That conflictingness of emotions, rather than the precise emotions involved, Does fit pretty well with the position Kogi was in during tsuwamono. Pretending he wasn't overhearing all kinds of things about Mikazuki doing things behind the scenes, he confronted him first on a good-terms basis, before facing off against him when the evidence is damning and nothing else-- because he believes they as Touken Danshi must fulfil their mission just the way Master tells them to, and any direct interference with history to change things from how they had been, like what Mikazuki is doing, cannot be any different from what the HRA is doing.

It is precisely because it is implied, not just through his faces throughout tsuwa, but also through the choreography of their fight and through the fact the Saniwa pretty much implies Kogi holds a biased eye towards Mikazuki as the Genjis were intended to watch Mikazuki with an unbiased eye over someone who knows Mikazuki better, that Kogitsunemaru thinks of Mikazuki as pretty dear, and that emotionally, he doesn't wish to fight Mikazuki, but Mikazuki's actions against Kogitsunemaru's faithfulness to their mission leaves him with no choice.

"Weighing the weight of his feelings of dearness for Mikazuki against his mission, hiding his conflictedness behind his smile as he talks to him, Kogitsunemaru chooses to fight him in spite of those feelings," is a way of phrasing that situation that unifies the vibe of the song lyric with what actually happens in myu. I think this case, because of its mention of love, it's best interpreted in a 'simple' angel-or-devil kind of way, aimed in a romantic sense at the listener, but this would be the way it relates back to what happened in myu.

Light and shadow, the past and the future, the front and back of man It's an age where it’s difficult to see what's right and what's a mistake

The first line of these strongly emphasizes Kogitsunemaru's relation to omote/ura (literally "front and back", but in this sense "the front you show people" and "the feelings you hide inside or behind you/your true intentions"), even more than the double contrast the previous set of lines struck. Omote/ura is a theme that ever since the start of tsuwamono has been connected to Kogitsunemaru, because he was smithed with the inscription "Munechika" on the front, and "Kogitsune" on the back, and adoutsukoe emphasizes this by repeating it twice. I would also argue tsuwamono itself sets Mikazuki-- "Be as pure as this flower, behind it lies..." as he holds the lotus up and implicitly sketches himself as the "behind" in the form of the muddied water-- up as the ura, to Kogitsunemaru's omote-- emphasized through his devotion to the upfront mission they follow and his ability to encourage Iwatooshi to follow it, in spite of holding doubts in his heart himself. And it's very likely he holds those doubts, after all, there must be a meaning to him singing mamorubeki mono, his second solo from the story part beyond stating what has already been stated, at least from how I see it. 

I would say that each of the three contrasts as sketched here is in fact emphasized by tsuwamono itself, with light and dark being highlighted through the metaphor of the light of the crescent moon and the darkness that gives shape to it, as highlighted by Higekiri near the beginning ("Is the part of the moon you can't see also part of it? Or is it true darkness?") and Mikazuki himself near the end ("I am only a crescent moon at best. But, don't you think that is better than no light at all?"). Then, past and future is most strongly set through Mikazuki and Yasuhira's dialogue, and the songs that relate to them; Mikazuki sings of "A lotus pedestal to share the world of yore," and Yasuhira asks how the people will think of Hiraizumi in the world to follow. With Mikazuki sharing his duty with Yasuhira, and sympathising with him as they are both certain shapes, I think there's enough basis to call that a contrast sketched. And lastly, omote/ura, or front and back as it's translated here, which I highlighted in the previous section.

That last one and the context behind it actually connects pretty smoothly to the next line. After all, ascertaining whether Mikazuki's workings are right or wrong is one of the main conflicts driving Kogitsunemaru through tsuwamono. Kogitsunemaru in tsuwamono is in the fun position where he gets relied on to make level judgements of situations, whether that be assessing the enemy's intentions, ascertaining whether the Saniwa has thought adding Higekiri and Hizamaru to the formation through, down to Iwatooshi coming to confide in him that he's thinking about his existence. Kogitsunemaru choosing to fight is another choice he must've weighed whether it was right or a mistake. In the end, Kogitsunemaru comes to the conclusion that he doesn't think Mikazuki's methods are right, but he can't say he's wrong, either. However, the use of 'age' in the line stands out. After all, while Mikazuki emphasizes that it's hard to truly know what happened 1000 years ago, it is not as much the age itself that causes the line between what's right and what's a mistake to blur, but Mikazuki and his choices in this age. Because of that, it's also easy enough to return to the out-of-tsuwamono interpretation, and interpret this age as the modern age. I think the most straightforward interpretation, in that case, would be Kogitsunemaru finding it hard to discern whether him involving himself with the recipient of the song is a mistake, this time because it is him carrying aforementioned set of contrasts within him.

An angel and a demon are whispering to me And my heart shakes vehemently The Jekyll and the Hyde, hidden in our hearts Who we join hands with, ah, all of that is decided by us!

Considering the sets of omote/ura in the previous lyrics, this becomes really fun. After all, the common metaphor of an angel and a demon whispering to someone tends to symbolise one's sense of what's right fighting against one's desires. This is very similar to what actually ended up happening in utaawase! I've always thought utaawase's Kogi skit retroactively makes Kogitsunemaru in tsuwamono more complex, because it essentially denies what Mikazuki had thought of him. Kogitsunemaru isn't so single-minded that he can follow Master's orders without questioning, and he isn't as pure of heart that he can fight for what's right without feeling conflict, that he can draw a simple and clear black and white. Mikazuki keeping his mouth shut about the truth of this timeline is an emotionally motivated decision, since he thinks Kogitsunemaru wouldn't understand, much like Yoritomo each and every time, and since he wishes not even the Saniwa to know protecting history isn't as straightforward as it should be, let alone someone whose single-mindedness he envies. But, the existence of a side that's tempted by desire importantly implies that, while Kogitsunemaru fighting Mikazuki is a decision born out of reason, he doesn't wish to fight Mikazuki. And I would say the fight choreo supports that. Instead, Kogitsunemaru wishes to understand him, but Mikazuki doesn't speak. All they can do is fight. To add to this, upon hearing of the extent what Mikazuki has been doing, the very first thing Kogitsunemaru does is express concern for him; "You did... All alone?!"

I think that emotional conflict is a very nice thing about that scene, and that this is how it comes back in Versus.

Then, continuing with the idea of omote/ura, it's very interesting that the lyrics choose to invoke Jekyll and Hyde here. I'm not sure how great a Japanese lyricist's expected awareness is of the gothic novel, but in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and My Hyde, Hyde is a transformation of the good-mannered Dr Jekyll, acting out all vices Jekyll kept in his heart, evil, self-indulgent, and caring about none but himself. At first, Jekyll controls his transformations with use of a serum, but eventually, Jekyll loses control of when he transforms. This shares some core similarities with what later happens to Kogitsunemaru in utaawase, with the key difference that Kogitsunemaru's transformation, while self-indulgent, is benign. Considering Hyde is outright evil, though, it is hard to relate this back to tsuwamono. There's no "evil" to join hands with, considering Kogitsunemaru comes to the conclusion Mikazuki is neither right nor wrong. While I would love for Kogitsunemaru to eventually come to commit time crimes with Mikazuki, the invocation of the listener (in the form of what I interpret as the general 'oneself' -> 'us' (jibun)) calls the song back to the listener-aimed interpretation, in other words, this comes to show once again he can be your angle OR yuor devil, but which side comes out depends on you.

Hiding our true intents in the deepest of our hearts With a fabricated smile, everyone is desperately feeling one another out

Once more, the song calls back to the concept of omote/ura! This time, it comes with the association of wanting to know what the other is really thinking. One thing I quite like about these lines is how they involve 'everyone'. It gives the sense that the things Kogitsunemaru is singing about are things that pertain to general humanity, and he and the listener both participate in that as well.

Meetings and partings, dreams and setbacks, feelings are contrary The answer I had so long searched for may not even exist

Another row of contrasts, culminating with something ("contrary") implying two sides of a coin. This one, though, is a lot less strongly connected to omote/ura, and a lot less straightforward to connect back to Kogitsunemaru. Yes, Mikazuki has met and parted with Yasuhira countless, countless times, yes, Imanotsurugi and Iwatooshi meet with Hizamaru and Higekiri, and Imanotsurugi parts with Yoshitsune, but that's not something that relates as strongly back to what tsuwamono sketches as its themes (not like musuhaji does), nor does it relate back to Kogitsunemaru. Similarly, while 'the warrior's dreams' is a key concept in tsuwamono, the setbacks experienced are either those personal to the historical figures, Mikazuki's failure of being able to convince Yoritomo, or in the form of Iwa and Ima discovering they don't exist. Kogitsunemaru doesn't have a clear dream or setback! But, as sketched before, contrary feelings are very much a Kogitsunemaru thing, and the second line closely mirrors his resolution at the end of tsuwamono. After all, what Mikazuki is doing is neither right, nor wrong.

Truth and lies are intertwining Even the truth is meaningless by now The love and hate I bear in my heart Which one I'll choose, ah, that is always decided by you, my dear!

It's a bit unfortunate that 'truth' is both the most suitable translation for 'hontou' in this case and 'shinjitsu', because, well, I like mimicking different word choices w  But, both in terms of tsuwamono and in terms of Kogitsunemaru, this line is one that fits well! After all, tsuwamono is a myu in which only part of the fictional, being several heroic events from the Tale of the Heike as well as the importance of Benkei, truly happened, and part of what's regarded as fact wouldn't naturally occur if this timeline was allowed to happen without interference. To borrow Suishinshi's words, "History was just written by the victors, isn't that right? No one remembers what truly happened."

The end result of tsuwamono is that it doesn't matter if history isn't followed to the precisest word, just like in Mihotose, as long as the form is correct, the precise details can (and here even need to) be fudged a little.

In terms of Kogitsunemaru, he himself also walks the border of being real and fictional. More specifically, while Kogitsunemaru himself is clearly and decidedly the Noh play, his line in Touken Ranbu the song ("If the golden beast dances, hear, peals of thunder resound!") implies he is in some way connected to the real Kogitsunemaru swords that have existed (since the most famous of those, the one owned by the Kujou Fujiwara, is said to have repelled a lightning storm), and Kogitsunemaru's crest incorporating the Fujiwara crest lightly supports that. In Kogitsunemaru's own case, he regards it as "A difficult question," all the while knowing of his Noh background: in the trial performance, Mikazuki quotes the "Fuujinkaden" treatises by Zeami, the founder of Noh, and Kogitsunemaru identifies it as such, in one of the srs22 higawari Kogitsunemaru quotes those same treatises saying he "hasn't forgotten his [newcomer's] heart." And in his kiwame, too, while it is highly curious he managed to go down to Munechika in Ichijo's reign considering Mikazuki says he himself was smithed in the late 11th century, his resolution essentially boils down to 'something has happened'. While it is certainly up to interpretation how Kogitsunemaru sees himself in myu, I like to see it as that Kogitsunemaru can't deny his own existence, even while identifying more with his story than with his real blades, precisely because he has experienced being smithed in that story. If he in his experience has been smithed by the hands of Munechika and Inari, and has now obtained a physical shape reflecting that, how is that truly different from being real?

The latter two lines are just about literally the core of the song. Depending on what you do, he can be your angle or yuor devil, or more metaphorically, depending on Mikazuki's actions, he can resolve to fight him or accept him.

I picked something more akin to the 'lover-level familiar' interpretation for 'anata' here to contrast with the earlier 'jibun'-- while Kogitsunemaru normally addresses Mikazuki as 'anata', I think this is part of his normal polite speech rather than an expression of intimate familiarity. However, this song doesn't use Kogitsunemaru's polite speech patterns, hence my choice to emphasize it.

For all the times we repeat mistakes, we come to know what's right

This, too, is a close reference back to tsuwamono! Iwatooshi told Mikazuki "It is through making mistakes and taking detours, over and over again, that we grow," and after Iwatooshi left, Mikazuki echoed him as "Over and over... Over and over, huh?"

If there's any 'mistake' that you could say Kogitsunemaru himself repeated, that would eventually lead to him coming to learn what's 'right', it would be his fight against Mikazuki. As a sidenote, it also reflects Kogitsunemaru's attitude from atsuibun that some things are better learned through experience and one's own thinking, rather than being handed an answer.

I don't think this line applies as strongly to Kogitsunemaru accepting Mikazuki's chagashi, by the way. After all, right before that happens Kogitsunemaru tells Mikazuki he thinks his methods are neither right nor wrong, and essentially says he will condone but not join Mikazuki's time crimes. If anything, Kogitsunemaru, by as readily accepting Mikazuki's chagashi as he does, says it's no mistake for him to stay by Mikazuki's side.

But we mustn't forget that, even so, humans are greedy and mutually desiring living beings

And this is what makes the song so nicely foreshadowing of utaawase! At its heart, utaawase is about Kogitsunemaru's struggle between what's right and where his desires lay, told through the lighthearted medium of his desire to eat aburage. These lines say that, in pursuit of greed and through desire for one another, because we are human and living beings, we will willingly make mistakes even if we've come to know what's right. The contrast, or rather, question, whether the toudan are human or objects is one that has been alluded to since srs16, while the subject was introduced in atsuibun. I highlight this bit in particular not just because utaawase repeats it, but because I believe it's an important motif in tsuwamono and the broader plot of myu. Tsuwamono is a musical that humanises Mikazuki, while kishou is a musical that renders Mikazuki closer to an object-- a function. TKO essentially deifies Mikazuki, but that's a sidetangent I won't go into at the moment, haha.

Both myus each have their lines that showcase this; tsuwamono has "No one truly knows what goes on in a [human: hito]'s mind, not even oneself," and kishou aside from calling him a function has Mikazuki calling the humans he's approached the "Mononobe", 'servants of objects'. In tsuwamono, this contrast between 'object' and 'human' finds itself in the contrast between Kogitsunemaru, who is intent on following the Saniwa's orders without questioning, single-mindedly, and Mikazuki, whose humanity drives him to make complicated decisions out of kindness.

While Kogitsunemaru is the 'object' between the two in tsuwamono until their confrontation, these lines (and utaawase) re-emphasise Kogitsunemaru's humanity. It's that same humanity that makes Kogitsunemaru want to understand Mikazuki before actually laying a hand on him, and that same humanity that drives Kogitsunemaru to worry for him, and in the end, to ask him to dance with him in battle.

While I do think Kogitsunemaru being the object of Mikazuki's desires and Mikazuki being the object of Kogitsunemaru's desires, in the name of which he wilfully makes mistakes, is very sexy, I don't think it applies to Kogitsunemaru and Mikazuki's resolution in the end of tsuwamono, as I wrote in the analysis of the previous lyrics. Though, interpreting his initial unwillingness to go full force against Mikazuki as a mistake he makes out of a desire not to slay the person he is closest to is pretty readily done. It is also easy enough to regard Mikazuki keeping his mouth shut to Kogitsunemaru as a mistake he makes out of caring for him and the Saniwa, and the mistakes he makes in the form of telling Yasuhira about his duty over and over again instead of simply controlling him is another mistake made out of kindness. But all of those are different from greed and desiring one another.

What I could see happen, in a further future, hopefully it's still somewhere on the table after Goumyu (my extremely worried/depressed What Goumyu May Have Done To Kogitsunemaru Through Evoking His Themes essay is also on request), is Kogitsunemaru making the 'mistake' of covering for Mikazuki in his want to stay by his side. This could be either in the form of Kogitsunemaru fending off the swords of the Citadel as they try to pursue Mikazuki when he's gone too far, aiding Mikazuki in ways that don't directly interfere with the flow of history (for example by becoming a bridge like the Gous), or even eventually coming to commit minor time offences himself.

Once again, because of the implication of a relationship more desireful than myu is likely to intend for KogiMika, I think interpreting these in a listener-aimed romantic light is the more straightforward thing to do. In these lines, Kogitsunemaru says it's human nature to wilfully make mistakes in the name of love and desire. This turns the song from "he can be your angle or yuor devil (kinda dangerous)" to "he can be your angle or yuor devil (sexy)." He may have conflicting sides as a lover, but he is always weighing its weight, and will make mistakes in name of love and desire because that, as well as being two-sided, is human nature. And I think that that change of angles (actual angles in this case) is neat, precisely because Kogitsunemaru holds the cusp between various things in myu, either within himself or together with Mikazuki.

Ah!

To close off, if you can, please listen to kotobuki (senshuuraku) Kogizono's 'Ah!' it is so powerful I had to include it as text when I subbed kotobuki. He's grown from a nice to a pretty dang amazing singer, even if not as conventional as the likes of Tsuru, Hori, or Tonbo. Please Recognise His Power 🥺 For me 🥺

And as tl;dr; While I think Versus is most straightforwardly interpreted as a song aimed romantically towards a listener, it builds strongly off of the events and themes introduced in Tsuwamono, and so, as extension of that, it calls back to Mikazuki and Kogitsunemaru's relationship in a less direct way. I also think it leads up to Kogitsunemaru's utaawase skit really well! Though not everything fits either myu!Kogi or game!Kogi, it's a fun "I can be your angle or yuor devil" song that solidifies Kogitsunemaru's connection to the omote/ura theme utaawase and kotobuki come back on, which is fun to see. Overall, especially in post-srs18 Versus performances, it showcases Kitazono's vocal ability, topped off by him adding the Wham Note AAAA after the bridge.

This was fun to write! It may have ended up a bit big, but I hope it's nonetheless a fun read! This goes to everyone who came up to here (thank you so much for reading!), but let me know if there's anything toumyu you'd like my thoughts on! I have plenty of them, especially about kogi/mika/kogimika, so little essays about those would tend to be a bit more longer and elaborate, like this one 😌

#touken ranbu #toumyu #Kogitsunemaru #Water's meta #tsuwamono #KogiMika #probably good to tag that too haha #Mikazuki Munechika #who lives rent-free in the theming of myu but especially Kogitsunemaru's plotline in tsuwamono #the super short tl;dr is 'it's probably standalone yume but it strongly relates back to tsuwa so highlighting the mika relation has value' #also I love getting and answering asks like this aaaaa! #I can't promise anything near this level of elaborateness if it's something other than kogi/mika/kogimika but on the other hand #that also means I likely can if it is! #so just shoot me an ask and I'll more than gladly give my thoughts!

[mysticdragon3art]

Mitsuzane "Micchy" Kureshima from Kamen Rider Gaim's final episode 47, sketch in color pencil. Kamen Rider Ryugen played by Mahiro Takasugi.

I need more practice drawing realistic references. So I'm thinking of sketching the actors for my favorite Kamen Riders this month.

4/3/2024. Koh-i-noor Woodless Color Pencil 8750/8. I drew him in purple, since grapes are Kamen Rider Ryugen's motif. But the scan came out a little gray, so I had to adjust some hue and lighting in Krita.

Reference: https://youtu.be/iGZZuzaLwoQ?si=_lK_Ov59xFDEvJjV

#kamen rider gaim #kamen rider ryugen #kureshima mitsuzane #mitsuzane kureshima #micchy kureshima #kureshima micchy #micchy #takasugi mahiro #tokusatsu #actors #fanart #referential sketches #kamen rider

[sinceileftyoublog]

Ryuichi Sakamoto Album Review: 12

Album art by Lee Ufan

(Milan)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

After async, legendary Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto spent time doing film soundtracks and commissions and, unfortunately, receiving treatment for a recurrence of cancer. (He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015, rectal cancer in 2021.) His remarkable new album 12, then, is the ultimate freedom of expression. Written not for another medium but entirely for himself, the dozen compositions were recorded in Tokyo while he was recovering from treatment. They’re dated and presented largely in chronological order, understated, diaristic synth sketches that proved to be as healing for Sakamoto as they are moving for us to listen to. Really, these songs are like a diary: Some are months apart, the first time Sakamoto revisited his piano and synthesizer in a long while, and others were put to tape on consecutive days. You don’t so much wonder where Sakamoto was in his recovery process or mental state of mind when making the songs; rather, you, like Sakamoto, appreciate the mix between referential sounds and abstract textures, between the tactile nature of the piano keys and the otherworldly hum of the synths. 12 envelops all.

The first half of 12 is generally longer-form pieces, the latter half closer to vignettes. Either way, it’s clear that Sakamoto is living in the moment, almost letting his instruments lead his hands and mind. The gradually rising, stubbly synths of “20210310″ go high and low, delving at times into complete quiet, whereas the palpable echo of the piano on “20211130″ makes the music comparatively tangible. Sure, you’re reminded of the human being behind the instruments and compositions on “20211201″, where you can hear Sakamoto’s breaths, the ultimate differentiator between life and death. But then it’s the synthesizers that take on an almost vocal-like character on the dark “20220214″; it reminds me of Johann Johannsson’s Drone Mass, swelling orchestrally when contrasted with light ripples of sound.

Intentionally or not, a few of the tracks on 12 are simply haunting, especially in the context of Sakamoto’s health. The layered slabs of synth on “2022020″ are borderline metallic and dystopian. On “20220207″, Sakomoto plays a repeated piano line with one hand, flourishes with the other, recalling his film scores, but the electroacoustic nature of the synths present it from being cinematic, the emanating sounds more like the inside of a hospital than anything else. Most emotive is “20220123″, which contrasts sprinkles of piano with decaying synthesizers, a too-perfect metaphor for the coming and going of energy we all feel, but especially those who are sick or dying. If it felt like albums like Blackstar or You Want It Darker were known final statements from some of the greatest artists of our time, 12 is even more prescient. That is, it’s the sound of a man who simply knows that he’s going to die, maybe someday soon, maybe not, but that it’s nonetheless important to document his creative prowess while he still can.

#album review #ryuichi sakamoto #milan #12 #lee ufan #milan records #async #johann johannsson #drone mass #blackstar #you want it darker

[tomorrowedblog]

First look at Animaniacs S3

A new trailer has been released for the third season of Animaniacs, which is set to release February 17, 2023.

Yakko, Wakko and Dot return with big laughs and the occasional epic takedown of authority figures in serious need of an ego check. The new season of the Emmy award-winning series is packed with enough comedy sketches, pop culture parodies, musical comedy, and self-referential antics to fill a water tower.

#TV #Animaniacs #News

[isosymmetry]

The Image (as compulsion art)

Written May 25th, 2022. Partially edited for clarity, still referential writing. Some information is outdated or incorrect.

So yeah, compulsion art… I've never been open about OC-like stuff I have since forever but it only ever really took a future epiphany for me to solve the question: Why did I make so much stuff in 2020? While I spent a long time trying to find out what motivated me through that time to produce as much as I've never done before, I thought it was just an unattainable inspiration that came from some unknown divine source, but not really.

The truth was more down to earth and negative: it was a compulsion caused by extreme stress. A lot of things happened that year, and it was difficult to cope. While half of my work was positive and from a place where I felt free to experiment and explore as an artist, at some point (around the time I started college) my art also became either destructive, or a consequence of a negative environment. That's how I formed some drawing habits, specifically about Stanley.

It's not a bad thing to draw to cool off from a rough day with a sketch, but what happened to me was a feedback loop that grew as my presence grew in general. It's not bad to get praise, but for me it fed the rumination. Note that I'm speaking from pre-incident. While the cycle of rumination could have ran on its own until I get tired, outside perception motivated me to dive deeper into that to the point of exhaustion, regardless. This is around January 2021. Numerous personal issues have shown themselves, and I was also exhausted from finishing my last semester. The exhaustion crept deep into my psyche, where slowly I notice that I am not producing as much as I did in 20. I paid it no mind, as I needed the rest.

I'm going to skim over the escalation that happened last year and instead focus on how this manifested from interest to something that was pretty much obsession. Also... this isn't the only compulsion I have. This one just makes sense to bring up right now.

The reason I'm aware of this is because of where I am now. I'm still susceptible to all that rumination, only that it actually appears as it is: a maladaptive strategy. It's only more obvious because the feelings are negative, but it was the same pattern from before: an image, and the compulsion to make that image, usually caused by an external force or trigger. While I've had a pretty good tolerance threshold for the past few days, exhaustion and other physical limits can still cause the same discomfort. Why is it just him? Does it apply to Irene? In the end, you can't justify why a compulsion is a compulsion. He was repetitively drawn to the point where the image was everywhere, which had no end in sight. Two years later, it's still pretty much there. I just don't have the time to do it.

While I can't justify why I did all this, I can say that it wasn't done out of trying to fix the character or to make him perfect. It was simply a pattern that needed to occur. It was simply something that had to keep existing, and over time, so many angles, faces, emotions of this same image have been produced by me. There was never an end goal of being recognized or anything. That's also why I was unfazed about "losing" credit or credibility.

With regards to him turning into an icon of consumption, yes, some of it had shown up in my rumination. However, my perspective is completely different from the critique of capitalism the new stuff is pulling off, the concept of making a thing better over and over and over. Mine was simply powered by mostly by an illness and virtually just one month of pay for me. My story is still oddly personal. I'm not the person who can afford to do nerd capitalism and buy collector's items and other commodities. I am still behind the scenes and beneath the outer greater narrative of most of it. Sure, maybe we can talk about distribution of global workers, but that's another discussion for another time that doesn't faze me and is mostly irrelevant.

Conclusion: No, I still have no idea how to rid of this, especially since the wound is still open. My only hope is focusing on how I react to bullshit right now. Nevertheless, I probably won't let it consume me more than it already did. No, Irene is a more complicated case, and I made him. He's not an image forced into my mind.

Tangent: how do you balance your interest in a way that doesn't harm you? While you can't prevent being [psychologically] obsessed about an intrusive thought, usually I just do mindfulness over my actions. If I let it be, it's also just me STILL trying to process that entire shebang. If an obsession disrupts your everyday routine/life, has been present for a long amount of time (think above a few weeks), and tends to be your distraction from a stressful environment, PLEASE step back and try to see if you need mental help... Or, just some people to help check on your well-being.

End of text

Late note: I don't want people just thinking that the image is just a compulsion. It's more complicated than that. It just started that way.

#isotype

[iwasntfree]

Courbet’s The Wounded Man (1844-54)

Courbet's early self-portrait as a wounded man is a portrait of the dying artist wounded (thus, painted) by his own sword (brush). Not only will death "illustrate" the completion of this painting but swords often symbolize a brush and blood, paint. An expert has made these links before while others have noted how Courbet adopts the iconography of St. Sebastian, the supreme symbol of the self-referential artist.1 In addition, the sword's handle spells C for Courbet in mirror-form which in turn suggests that the surface of this mirror (the image) is the surface of the artist's mind.2

The composition we see today was painted over an earlier work by Courbet with his lover in his arms. A charcoal sketch gives us a good idea of what the couple once looked like, Courbet in a near-identical pose.3 Courbet's hand gesture is based on Sebastian's in Delacroix's 1836 canvas, analyzed yesterday in its own entry. What only one expert has noticed is that the open hand with separated thumb is a symbol for the palette-hand because an artist's thumb is typically inserted through  a palette's hole.4 The hand and its pose held the same meaning for Delacroix.

In the Wounded Man'sfinal version the only visible hand holds onto his cloak, the thumb still separated from the fingers by fabric. It is a pose Courbet used more obviously with greater exaggeration, and with the same meaning, in Man with the Leather Belt (c.1845-6).

In a much later pen sketch of the Wounded Man Courbet lets the shape of the whole sword rhyme with the initial G for Gustave in the lower left corner, also in mirror-fashion, while the hilt continues to resemble a C. 

Other important shapes include two subtle eye-forms above and on either side of Courbet's hand. On the near side an opening in his cloak allows us to see his white shirt as though it is a partly-opened eye crowned by an eye-lash, the waving hem. On the far side, curved folds suggest a closed eyelid. The artist's torso thus emerges from above two "eyes": one open to material reality, the other closed for insight. 

This, then, is how I perceive the scene. We are inside the artist's mind, as demonstrated both by the "letters" in mirror-reversal and the opening to the sky in the upper right distance formed as though it is the corner of a third eye. Inside the artist lies wounded, having painted himself with his own paintbrush, the sword. His other hand clutches his cloak to suggest a palette-hand. Thus the dying Courbet is both artist and painting, his head and torso merging with a great tree-trunk. The artist's image of himself inside his mind emerges from the combination of the two eye-forms in his cloak, representing the two forms of an artist's visual perception: insight and out-sight.

Notes:

1. Fried describing Courbet's Wounded Man recognizes the sword as a paintbrush, the hand as symbol for the palette and the blood as paint. Michael Fried, Courbet’s Realism (University of Chicago Press) 1990, p. 193; For Courbet's reference to Delacroix's St. Sebastian, see Linda Nochlin, "Gustave Courbet's Meeting: A Portrait of the Artist as a Wandering Jew", Art Bulletin 49, September 1967, p. 219 and Laurence des Cars in Gustave Courbet (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art) 2008, p.113. For more examples of swords as brushes, blood as paint, and strained thumbs indicating plaette-hands, see themes here titled Swords/Weapons as Brushes and Brush and Palette. For examples of St. Sebastian as the self-referential artist, see entries here on St. Sebastians by Mantegna, Dürer, Michelangelo, Hans Baldung Grien, Hans Memling, Carlo Crivelli, Antonio Campi, Lorenzo Lotto, Giordano, Delacroix and Egon Schiele.

2. For other examples see the theme Letters in Art.

3. Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) (Paris: Éditions des musées nationaux) 1977, pp. 122-3

4. Michael Fried, as above in n.1