Not satisfied with this but :/ Sanxingdui-inspired Erlang Shen design brainstorm because I have a pet theory that the numerous blue-green skinned designs of him might be due in part to his Shu heritage (modern Sichuan area, where the sanxingdui artifacts were unearthed). Also his Heavenly Eye being interpreted as a third eye too but that's less so relevant to this design.
[ID: A bust portrait of Erlang Shen, with screenshots of sanxingdui artifacts and three green-blue-skinned adaptations of him beside him. He has light green-blue skin with black eyes and a golden third eye. His eyebrows extend up into a curlicue design and his two normal eyes have golden eye shadow. Atop his head is a helmet, the front of which echoes the design of several of the sanxingdui artifacts next to him. His head and helmet are colored and shaded, but his chest piece is only a sketch. Like his helmet, the chest piece has curlicue designs echoing sanxingdui artifacts. End ID]
EDIT: Link to more of my thoughts on this because I think it's an interesting connection even if I'm unsure how historically supported it is in reality :>
239 notes
·
View notes
With the latest bp album dropping today and seeing that nothing has changed the last two years, I’m curious if you can help me understand why I find it all so….mediocre. I can tell that part of it is the effect you’ve brought up with Hybe of too much money smoothing out all character. I also feel like this is a case where keeping the same collaborators has meant doing the same song with tiny changes 5 times, unlike a lot of other groups where they still have variety while keeping a more consistent overall identity. But they feel very bland in a different way than hybe groups do, and I can’t put my finger on why.
nothing blackpink does has a concept.
well, that's mildly facetious: their concepts are 'what if we were cool and influencers and most importantly GIRLS', and that's a non-entity at this point. visually, none of that means anything and all of it is indistinguishable from each other.
i think this is a great question to illustrate exactly why spectacle (the form) is not as simple as slapping together the most bombastic set pieces and ideas you can think of and calling it a day. in order to make good spectacle, you have to put just as much work in as you do with any other type of art. your ideas have to be grounded in a visual logic that drives the entire world you create: sets, costumes, lighting, even text and sound all have to be interlinked, to communicate with each other.
since it's also on everyone's minds right now, let's use nct 127 as an example. specifically, let's use 2 baddies and sticker. both of these mvs superficially carry the same basic visual ideas: there's very bright and highly saturated colouring and a lot of neon, there's a car, and there's a lot of highly decorated costuming. but each of these mvs have highly specific themes and concepts in which they ground both these more general principles.
sticker draws a direct comparative between the old west and the aestheticized neo(n) techno future that has a basis in science fiction and techno orientalism, and within that comparative there's a line drawn between hackers and cowboys, as figures that operate outside of the law on their own moral codes. throwing in the lowrider is another connection to operating outside the law, as lowriders can only be created via modding/customization and the mods themselves are technically illegal. one can pick apart several different meanings from sticker however they desire, but my point is here that the concept has a context and logic. the imagery and production design are all based around that specific theme, and the styling is uses very obvious markers from cowboy/western fashion to further drive the point home.
and 2 baddies. oh there are some LAYERS to 2 baddies. firstly, one of the main visual motifs is geometric art deco style patterning, which is an arts and design movement that started in the mid 1920s and continued up until around the 40s. this movement did not just impact visual arts, but it also heavily impacted commercial and industrial design, which included both architecture (famously, the chrysler building) and, very notably: cars. this era is the boom of the automobile and the art deco movement in particular produced some of THE most beautiful cars of all time, including:
the bugatti aerolithe
the delahaye 177 rs
the delahaye 165 cabriolet
and one of my personal favourites, the phantom corsair
you know who else was designing cars in the 1930s and 40s? porsche:
the porsche type 12, 1931
the porsche 356 no. 1, 1948
and just as an extra fun lil detail, in the chorus of the actual song, there's a sample of a vintage car horn (it's right after the line 'don and manner'), which is the horn of a ford model a, which was ford's second model that replaced the model t, the car that popularized driving. and when was the model a produced?
and like with sticker, the styling draws directly from the clothing associated with concept, as it has very distinctive visual signifiers. we haven't seen any of the stages yet but i'm willing to bet that most of the styling is going to be based around motorsport gear. this goes across the board for pretty much every 127 styling: it is very obvious which era a performance is from just by looking at the costumes, because they use those very distinctive unified visual signifiers.
now, can you do this with a blackpink cb? name me a significant visual difference between any of their mvs. any of their stylings. all their mvs are colour graded the same, they reuse the same general imagery, there's no coherent theme holding anything together, and all their outfits are typical heightened kpop girl group. using just pure bombast works once or twice, but like as we've seen with their music, when you reuse the same imagery over and over again it loses impact. there's no spark. it gets boring.
30 notes
·
View notes
anyway funniest part of the rising movie is when barnaby literally imagines ryans gravity dome destroying sternbild just because ryan asked a genuine question about the legend of the justice goddess but it was so very suspicious to barnaby.
which really is the root of ryans issue of being wanted to be liked for who he is but he acts so weird that people have a hard time believing hes for real. but he is for real. he was born like that and hes not faking it, he treats everyone the same
part of the problem is that the way he treats everyone else is weird. not that hes evil or anything its just because hes weird. its fine when hes in a hero suit- its like his hero persona, thats fine. but then youre talking to him as a coworker in civilian wear and hes still acting the same.
seems so fake except its not fake since he doesnt even have a persona for being golden ryan. thats just his personality. hes not pretending, hes like that every day of his life. very tragic. love that guy btw
8 notes
·
View notes
At work....
*kathunk noise from Manager's office and audible gasp from manager*
*sounds of frenzied movement and a metal water bottle or tumbler being set on a desk*
I was halfway to her door with a handful of napkins when the closer-seated employee reached her door empty-handed to ask her if she needed any paper towels.
"You guys know me too well."
2 notes
·
View notes
being the oppressor kills ur soul like i think when we talk abt privilege sometimes it almost ends up implying that these systems are good for everyone except the people on the bottom of the heap and we basically rely on the people at the top just out of the kindness of their heart choosing to sacrifice some of their gains for the benefit of others like. i hated the whole heforshe thing i hate this ‘ummm can we talk about how the patriarchy hurts MEN?’ attitude but we do need some way of approaching the fact that overall living in this society which is structured around the oppression of women and minorities is making everyones lives worse. but like men do get material gains out of the subjugation of women so the whole ‘rights arent a pie’ thing doesnt really ring true, its just that i would argue the physical gains u make from exploiting women arent worth the cost of living in a society built on violence and fighting for dominance and dehumanising others like by dehumanising others u dehumanise urself in the process etc idk if that makes sense but yknow
4 notes
·
View notes
your guide to effortless glamour⋆.ೃ࿔*:・✨
personal branding - what does glamor mean to YOU. what makes your sense of glamor different from everyone else’s. personal branding is all about individuality. when everyones idea of glamor is identical to each other’s, everyones personal charm dissipates, and "glamor" loses its meaning. thats why its important to not conform to EVERY little trend, or try and copy someone else’s personal brand.
the difference with getting inspiration from someone and copying someone is simple. when ur inspired by someone, u can do something similar for personal branding, but the distinction between ur brand and INSPIRERS brand is very distinct.
confidence - the most glamorous people are ALWAYS the most confident. the thing about confidence is that nobody can ACTUALLY determine whether or not its real. because of that it is so easy to fake confidence. fake it till u make it. its SUPER easy to create confidence because of this fact.
my favorite way to work on my confidence is through self CONCEPT work. if ur a loa girlie then yk that self concept is the FOUNDATION for literally everything and i stress its importance relentlessly bcuz its JUST that important. im currently working on a big self concept post which is dropping soon, but for now i have lots of self concept posts already that u can reference if u dont know where to start.
treatment - when ur working towards effortless glamor, ofc you’re gonna TREAT yourself as the glamorous individual you are. and what i mean by that is -> treating urself with nothing short of respect and LOVE. some ways to implement effortless glamor into ur life are...
giving urself compliments
AFFIRM TO URSELF (vaunt, and rampage and affirm about how much u love urself, even if u dont at the moment it WILL come into fruition)
self care - pamper urself just like u deserve. take care of ur skin, hair and nails. when u look good u FEEL good. treat urself like a princess, with the upmost care.
pampering yourself - be EXTRAAA and be meticulous. take impeccably good care of ur body and ur health. when ur taking care of urself like u should, you'll glow from the inside out. when u make it a habit to put time into yourself, your confidence AND glamorous energy will skyrocket.
other resources ; i'll add youtubers, and other blogs that i take inspo from for ✨glamor✨ and ofc an affirmations list.
@prissygrlsorority - one of the most GLAMOROUS blogs that i've seen yet. overall a rly good resource.
misstada - one of my favorite youtubers, glamorous makeup tutorials and vlogs.
AFFIRMATIONS - my whole entire existence is so effortlessly glamorous. im the embodiment of the word fabulous. i have fabulous hair, fabulous style, and of COURSE that fabulous smile. im a star.
all in all, KNOW who you are, and remind urself of that ✨ - honey
1K notes
·
View notes