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cuddlytogas · 1 month

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So I accidentally almost got into an argument on Twitter, and now I'm thinking about bad historical costuming tropes. Specifically, Action Hero Leather Pants.

See, I was light-heartedly pointing out the inaccuracies of the costumes in Black Sails, and someone came out of the woodwork to defend the show. The misunderstanding was that they thought I was dismissing the show just for its costumes, which I wasn't - I was simply pointing out that it can't entirely care about material history (meaning specifically physical objects/culture) if it treats its clothes like that.

But this person was slightly offended on behalf of their show - especially, quote, "And from a fan of OFMD, no less!" Which got me thinking - it's true! I can abide a lot more historical costuming inaccuracy from Our Flag than I can Black Sails or Vikings. And I don't think it's just because one has my blorbos in it. But really, when it comes down to it...

What is the difference between this and this?

Here's the thing. Leather pants in period dramas isn't new. You've got your Vikings, Tudors, Outlander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Once Upon a Time, Will, The Musketeers, even Shakespeare in Love - they love to shove people in leather and call it a day. But where does this come from?

Obviously we have the modern connotations. Modern leather clothes developed in a few subcultures: cowboys drew on Native American clothing. (Allegedly. This is a little beyond my purview, I haven't seen any solid evidence, and it sounds like the kind of fact that people repeat a lot but is based on an assumption. I wouldn't know, though.) Leather was used in some WWI and II uniforms.

But the big boom came in the mid-C20th in motorcycle, punk/goth, and gay subcultures, all intertwined with each other and the above. Motorcyclists wear leather as practical protective gear, and it gets picked up by rock and punk artists as a symbol of counterculture, and transferred to movie designs. It gets wrapped up in gay and kink communities, with even more countercultural and taboo meanings. By the late C20th, leather has entered mainstream fashion, but it still carries those references to goths, punks, BDSM, and motorbike gangs, to James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Mick Jagger. This is whence we get our Spikes and Dave Listers in 1980s/90s media, bad boys and working-class punks.

And some of the above "historical" design choices clearly build on these meanings. William Shakespeare is dressed in a black leather doublet to evoke the swaggering bad boy artist heartthrob, probably down on his luck. So is Kit Marlowe.

But the associations get a little fuzzier after that. Hook, with his eyeliner and jewellery, sure. King Henry, yeah, I see it. It's hideously ahistorical, but sure. But what about Jamie and Will and Ragnar, in their browns and shabby, battle-ready chic? Well, here we get the other strain of Bad Period Drama Leather.

See, designers like to point to history, but it's just not true. Leather armour, especially in the western/European world, is very, very rare, and not just because it decays faster than metal. (Yes, even in ancient Greece/Rome, despite many articles claiming that as the start of the leather armour trend!) It simply wasn't used a lot, because it's frankly useless at defending the body compared to metal. Leather was used as a backing for some splint armour pieces, and for belts, sheathes, and buckles, but it simply wasn't worn like the costumes above. It's heavy, uncomfortable, and hard to repair - it's simply not practical for a garment when you have perfectly comfortable, insulating, and widely available linen, wool, and cotton!

As far as I can see, the real influence on leather in period dramas is fantasy. Fantasy media has proliferated the idea of leather armour as the lightweight choice for rangers, elves, and rogues, a natural, quiet, flexible material, less flashy or restrictive than metal. And it is cheaper for a costume department to make, and easier for an actor to wear on set. It's in Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Runescape, and World of Warcraft.

And I think this is how we get to characters like Ragnar and Vane. This idea of leather as practical gear and light armour, it's fantasy, but it has this lineage, behind which sits cowboy chaps and bomber/flight jackets. It's usually brown compared to the punk bad boy's black, less shiny, and more often piecemeal or decorated. In fact, there's a great distinction between the two Period Leather Modes within the same piece of media: Robin Hood (2006)! Compare the brooding, fascist-coded villain Guy of Gisborne with the shabby, bow-wielding, forest-dwelling Robin:

So, back to the original question: What's the difference between Charles Vane in Black Sails, and Edward Teach in Our Flag Means Death?

Simply put, it's intention. There is nothing intentional about Vane's leather in Black Sails. It's not the only leather in the show, and it only says what all shabby period leather says, relying on the same tropes as fantasy armour: he's a bad boy and a fighter in workaday leather, poor, flexible, and practical. None of these connotations are based in reality or history, and they've been done countless times before. It's boring design, neither historically accurate nor particularly creative, but much the same as all the other shabby chic fighters on our screens. He has a broad lineage in Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean and such, but that's it.

In Our Flag, however, the lineage is much, much more intentional. Ed is a direct homage to Mad Max, the costuming in which is both practical (Max is an ex-cop and road warrior), and draws on punk and kink designs to evoke a counterculture gone mad to the point of social breakdown, exploiting the thrill of the taboo to frighten and titillate the audience.

In particular, Ed is styled after Max in the second movie, having lost his family, been badly injured, and watched the world turn into an apocalypse. He's a broken man, withdrawn, violent, and deliberately cutting himself off from others to avoid getting hurt again. The plot of Mad Max 2 is him learning to open up and help others, making himself vulnerable to more loss, but more human in the process.

This ties directly into the themes of Our Flag - it's a deliberate intertext. Ed's emotional journey is also one from isolation and pain to vulnerability, community, and love. Mad Max (intentionally and unintentionally) explores themes of masculinity, violence, and power, while Max has become simplified in the popular imagination as a stoic, badass action hero rather than the more complex character he is, struggling with loss and humanity. Similarly, Our Flag explores masculinity, both textually (Stede is trying to build a less abusive pirate culture) and metatextually (the show champions complex, banal, and tender masculinities, especially when we're used to only seeing pirates in either gritty action movies or childish comedies).

Our Flag also draws on the specific countercultures of motorcycles, rockers, and gay/BDSM culture in its design and themes. Naturally, in such a queer show, one can't help but make the connection between leather pirates and leather daddies, and the design certainly nods at this, with its vests and studs. I always think about this guy, with his flat cap so reminiscient of gay leather fashions.

More overtly, though, Blackbeard and his crew are styled as both violent gangsters and countercultural rockstars. They rove the seas like a bikie gang, free and violent, and are seen as icons, bad boys and celebrities. Other pirates revere Blackbeard and wish they could be on his crew, while civilians are awed by his reputation, desperate for juicy, gory details.

This isn't all of why I like the costuming in Our Flag Means Death (especially season 1). Stede's outfits are by no means accurate, but they're a lot more accurate than most pirate media, and they're bright and colourful, with accurate and delightful silks, lace, velvets, and brocades, and lovely, puffy skirts on his jackets. Many of the Revenge crew wear recognisable sailor's trousers, and practical but bright, varied gear that easily conveys personality and flair. There is a surprising dedication to little details, like changing Ed's trousers to fall-fronts for a historical feel, Izzy's puffy sleeves, the handmade fringe on Lucius's red jacket, or the increasing absurdity of navy uniform cuffs between Nigel and Chauncey.

A really big one is the fact that they don't shy away from historical footwear! In almost every example above, we see the period drama's obsession with putting men in skinny jeans and bucket-top boots, but not only does Stede wear his little red-heeled shoes with stockings, but most of his crew, and the ordinary people of Barbados, wear low boots or pumps, and even rough, masculine characters like Pete wear knee breeches and bright colours. It's inaccurate, but at least it's a new kind of inaccuracy, that builds much more on actual historical fashions, and eschews the shortcuts of other, grittier period dramas in favour of colour and personality.

But also. At least it fucking says something with its leather.

#everyone say 'thank you togas' for not including a long tangent about evil rimmer in red dwarf 5x05 #Our Flag Means Death #Togas does meta #and yes these principles DO fall apart slightly in s2 and i DON'T like those costumes as much #don't get me wrong they're fun and gorgeous - but generally a bit less deep and more inaccurate. so. :(#I'm not sure this really says anything new about Our Flag but I just needed to get my thoughts out #i hate hate hate Gritty Period Drama costumes they're so boring and so ugly and so wrong #god bless OFMD for using more than 3 muted colours and actually putting men in heels (and not as a shorthand for rich/foppish villainy) <3 #looking at that Tudors still is insane like they really will go to any lengths to not make men feel like they've got bare legs XD #image descriptions in alt text #and yes i DID just sink about two hours into those so you'd better appreciate them

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deblklesb · 8 months

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[Head Over Heels — Abby x Reader Oneshot]

[rugby player!abby, artist!reader, fluff, pining]

cw: reader is a total mess, abby is brother's friend. there's not explicit content but still MDNI.

a/n: I've put my whole simpussy in this, like... reader is a loser lesbian and this fact is totally self-inserted, sorry not sorry. again, so so sorry for the wait! this is just some fluff with reader being a simp, a mess, all over the place for abby anderson teheehee 👉🏾👈🏾, i hope you like it anon!!!

word count: 3,4k | not proof read

!reblogs are highly appreciated!

The cool winter wind was reaching your face as you pedaled to your class, high speed across campus because you were late. The alarm didn't clock, you took too much time eating breakfast, and now you wish to all the heavens the teacher has not arrived yet.

Your brother was very much confused when you started to run around the house this morning.

"I didn't know you had class, you usually wake up first so I assumed…"

"The alarm didn't clock", you yelled from the bathroom, brushing your teeth as fast as you could, but decently.

Now, the open buttons of your shirt allowed the wind to come in so you wouldn't be as sweaty. Fixing your hair after parking and locking your bicycle, you greeted someone working and headed to the room, so frustrated to get late to your favorite class.

"You're lucky our model for today is more late than you", the teacher said as soon as you got inside.

"Sorry, Ms. Addams", your smile was weak. You wanted to disappear, that was your favorite teacher.

The only tripod available was in the front, no one liked it because the lightning from there was so confusing it messed up every sketch. Lucky for you, during winter the sun isn't that bright, so you fixed your stuff and just got a moment to breathe. Being a teacher's pet didn't mean sitting in the front, that was new for you.

"Hey, what happened?" Gloria, your friend, reached out. "You're never late"

"My alarm", you shudder, sighing. "Well, I'm here now. We just have to wait for the model"

"I heard is some girl from the rugby team"

Well, that's news. Your teacher is doing some work indeed, trying to expose her students to different body shapes and all.

"Nice. Perhaps she's nice and will carry me around, my legs are burning from pedaling so hard", it was a joke, a silly one, but as soon as a woman who wasn't enrolled in that class got in, you knew she could definitely carry you around. You also knew that because you knew her.

She was probably the biggest woman you've seen in person, and absolutely the most beautiful.

Freckled, creamy skin on her arms and face, honey-blonde hair in a braid that fell on her shoulder, a firm and strong body worthy of an athlete. Her clothes were simple, just cargo pants with a plain shirt and boots, but boy, oh boy, she was looking gorgeous. As always.

"Sorry for the time, boss, I had to get out later from early practice", for some unknown reason, her voice, too, sounded too good to be true and made you melt inside with just a simple phrase that wasn't even directed to you. "Hope it doesn't mess around with the class"

"It's okay, Abigail. And you don't have to call me boss, we've talked about it", your teacher smiled fondly, hugging the tall woman and making obvious the size difference. You were probably the same height as the dark-skinned woman, so that means you were as high as Abby's chin. Being next to her on other situations made you very self-aware of that fact.

This useless information would always make you squirm. This time it was on the chair in the middle of the class, hoping for all the God's nobody noticed.

"Kids, this is Abby. She will be our model for today and two other classes, so make use of the anatomy to study properly", she was very comfortable next to the rugby player, which made you deduce they knew each other well. "Well, now go prep yourself, darling, we have to start"

"Do I… Take everything, or something?" Just the mention of her being nude made your mind buzz around and it wasn't a good sign, considering you had to focus to draw.

"Keep your underwear, please", the older woman smiled sympathetically, turning around and heading to the back of the room, her usual initial spot in every live reference class.

Abby took off her boots and left next to an empty chair, starting to undress then.

Nobody was looking at you, but you tried to keep it cool and professional. Ignoring the heat on your face and the sweat arising on your palms, you looked at Gloria to hide your embarrassment and noticed she was looking back at you trying not to laugh.

"You're very gay", she whispered, making you roll your eyes and then look at your empty sketchbook. She wasn't wrong, though, you were very much a lesbian and it was obvious.

Those type of reactions were normal whenever Abby was around, but you could definitely go through that class without it.

You put effort into abstracting the sensations and feelings that make room into you as soon as Abby stands in the small, lifted platform in the center of the room, the ambient light hitting her just right. She positioned herself in a simple form, waving briefly at you from there when she spotted you in the front. You did the same back, a small smile to be nice - but not too big to give it away that being around her made you almost piss your pants - and then you all started to work

It was a figure drawing training, something you usually hated because you had to think too much about form, proportion, perspective and lightning. You loved to do loose sketches and grew very fond of gesture drawing, too much for your liking, so that now that you had to stick to the forms and not the rhythm and movement, your mind froze a little. Despite that, you loved doing art and loved that class even though it had nothing directly linked to your major.

Abby had strong features, in the sense of focus. The muscles of the arms and legs, the shape of her face, the abdomen and her whole posture caught your attention too much. It wasn't just the imagery, but a whole set of little elements that formed a distinctive energy. Even the braided hair was part of that, and at each second, each line traced and marked shadow, you tried to remind yourself that it was a class.

After 10 minutes or so, she took a break - admittedly, you had no idea how those models stood still for so long. While she stretched and relaxed her muscles, people started to talk with each other around the room, the small buzz of conversations surrounding, as you turned to Gloria.

"I'm dying here", you whispered, stretching your hands and fingers a bit. "She's so pretty"

"I have to admit… She is very handsome. I don't usually hang out in your brother's dorm so I don't see her often…"

"They're together all the time, I am very lucky to have my face shoved into a book all the time because then I don't have to have buckled knees around her" Gloria laughed at your despair, the whispers almost a cry for help.

"Let's gather our focus, people", Ms. Addams called, and just like that the break ended.

Although the object of analysis was Abby's body and structure, you just had to make a small drawing of her face. Shading and putting too much effort, you ended up doing another one. And by the time the class ended, you had a main figure drawing of her body in the first pose, two others of her face and another simple sketch. A very productive class, and you felt yourself bursting with inspiration still.

"I have a class in five minutes, so I'll have to go now, boss!", the blonde reached to her clothes as people started to pack their stuff. You tried not to look at her figure too much, but took your time putting the material in place just because, y'know… Care. It had nothing to do with the possibility to look at her from afar a little bit more.

"That's okay, Abigail. Thank you for your help, same time next week. Send a hug to your father!", Ms. Addams waved goodbye.

"Hey" you looked up from your backpack when Gloria tapped your shoulder. She pointed to the door, where Abby was standing, ready to go. The blonde was looking at you, a smile on her face. "Tell your brother he owes me twenty bucks. See ya!"

"Okay, bye", you nodded and chuckled lightly at the comment, imagining the type of bet they both must've done this time.

As soon as the other students started to get out, your friend gave you small punches in the arm, giggling.

"Stop!", you felt your face warm, it was so fucking ridiculous to be like this around her every time. And the worst part is that she didn't even notice you that much, so you were a head over heels with zero hope.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

"What do you mean you were naked around my sister?!" You rolled your eyes with the discussion, ready for the mess your brother was about to make.

"Nobody was naked, I had underwear!" Abby's voice was playful, but you knew your brother was two steps from going serious about it.

"Stop being a drama king, asshole", you grunted while going to the kitchen, not even looking at them to escape the risk of drooling over the tall woman sitting on the couch.

"Hey, I'm the big brother here, I was supposed to be looking over you!" His voice started to get a pitch higher, you could imagine the indignant face already.

"You don't even give me rides home, too busy with your flings", you shout from the kitchen now, filling up your bottle.

You were trying so hard to focus on studying a subject you were not interested in, ready to throw it in the air to watch some Ghibli movies instead. Filling the water bottle was almost an excuse to get out of that madness, but having to hold your reactions because of Abby's presence was not ideal.

"That's right, get him again! Get him for me!" And now her voice is closer, almost like she's in the kitchen with you. It makes you flinch slightly, almost dropping the bottle before you turn around to see her strong figure on the entrance.

"Look, you touch her and I will fucking throw that rugby ball right into your face!"

"Jesus Christ, Matt, shut up! Nobody is keeping you from your shit, leave me alone?! It's just Abby!"

Your mom would be annoyed to be around you both, good thing you lived together alone.

"Yeah, Matt, it's just Abby!" She repeats.

You finally look at her properly. She has a simple shirt on and sweatpants, it's casual but it looks too good on her - as usual. Her hair is down - you loved her hair down - and a scrunchie lies on her wrist. Her freckles are so visible from where you stand, it's almost like cute details painted directly on her face to compose the most beautiful work of art.

"I would like to see it, by the way", you snap out of your trance with her words directed to you.

Her hips touch the kitchen counter when she's one step closer, a sympathetic smile making your hands tingle and her tone weaker now that she's just talking to you.

"What?"

"Your drawings. From the class"

"Oh-", you look away, trying to come up with an excuse. "But… We still have other classes to go. It's better to see it at the end and all… And they're not even that good", you're holding that water bottle for your dear life, afraid that it slips from your hands due to the sweat.

"You don't wanna show me, that's fine", she chuckle, hands up in acceptance.

"It's not that, it's just-"

"No, I'm not being funny, it's serious. If you don't wanna show me, it's okay. Was just curious y'know, after all I'm just standing there. Don't know how you do whatever you're doing"

That's the most you've ever talked to Abby, and she's so nice. Genuinely trying to make you comfortable. And it makes you fucking sick, you just wanna spit out that you would like to have her posing for you every day for ever, to have her like your muse, to kiss her face after drawing it millions of times- You're such a loser.

"Oh, I get it…" you nod, trying to come up with a good response. "Well, I guess after the classes, I mean when you stop posing for us, I could show you whatever I did. Just wanna be more confident, it takes a little bit more of time to be familiar to the subject"

"If that's your saying, boss lady, I absolutely believe it", she's smiling wider now and you just wanna scream into a pillow about how incredibly cute her cheeks are.

"Okay, ahm… I have to go back to the room… To study other stuff that is not art, unfortunately", you point to the corridor, mind going blank with the mere proximity between you both. "So, uh… See you later?"

"Hope so. Good study session", Abby gives you space to get out of the kitchen.

The rest of the afternoon you keep repeating that interaction in your mind. Analyzing you every word and wondering if she thought you were, like, embarrassing.

Still, the image of her cute cheeks when she smiled at you and the way she seemed really interested in your drawings took over your attention, it was all you could think about the rest of the day because you're such a simp and she's so beautiful. Fuck this.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

It's now game season, which means that the college campus is a mess. Everybody seems so agitated, a buzz surrounds each corner while posters adorn the walls and murals, calling for the next big rugby game.

The hype around the event kinda mobilizes you too, even though you're not even that into sports. You're actually so out of this type of entertainment, but eventually if you sit to watch with your brother you get so excited and exalted that it almost looks like you've been following the teams forever. Matt actually thinks it is so funny that you keep asking him the rules and then start to scream at the TV once you'd pick it up enough to finally enjoy the match.

"If they don't kick their asses I'll actually lose fifty bucks" Gloria reveals as you both enter the building for the art class.

"Fifty?!" Your eyes almost jump from your skull. "Do you have that much faith in our team?"

"Well, don't you?"

"I don't know", she laughs. "Really, I don't follow them… But if you bet fifty bucks, they must be at least decent"

"Your girlfriend is a good player, if that's what you wanna ask", the taller woman smiles at you with that suggestive manner.

"I didn't ask!"

"But you were thinking about it"

"Shut up." You definitely were. "And she's not my girlfriend" Unfortunately.

As you both enter the room, early enough this time, you recall the fact that it's your last class with Abby as a model. Something inside of you mourns the future absence of such a big source of inspiration for you. Your sketchbook (the personal one) has pages filled with drawings of her - you didn't tell anyone, but you went through her instagram page and used some gym photos as references.

One night you brother stormed in your room and you had to close the book as fast as possible, trying to mask your embarrassment. If he knew that you were so into Abby, he would be a hundred percent more unbearable.

"Hey, teacher", the tall woman soon walked in the class, backpack and a massive bottle of water on one hand. "Last day, uh?"

"Yes, dear", people started to settle for the beginning of the session, fixing materials and angles. "I would like to thank you for your time and disposition, I imagine it isn't easy to stand in front of a class of stranges that are meticulously looking at you", everybody chuckled. Abby took her shirt in the corner, putting the clothes on a chair. Against your will, you absolutely checked on her. But life wouldn't let you have it, and so, like being conscious of your actions, the blonde glanced back at you, which caused you to face away immediately. Jesus fucking Christ, could you be more obvious? "So thank you, again, and I hope you somehow enjoyed the experience"

"I certainly did, boss" She smirked friendly, going to the small platform in front part of the room and standing with arms on her back, legs slightly spareted. Why on earth was she so good looking? "I don't really mind the looks, after all there are dozens of people staring at the games and judging us all the time, so… Well, thank you too for inviting me, it was truly nice! Needing againg, I'm here for it!"

You felt a tap on your shoulder and looked to the side, Gloria was smirking like she knew something you didn't.

"You'll get your pages wet with all the drooling", she muttered.

"Wanna see who gets the pages wet?" You playfully put a hand on your own watter bottle, having her giggling.

"Well, let's begin, shall we?"

Einstein for sure had a point with relativity, because that class flew away like a lightning for you. The biggest pity of all, since Abby wouldn't be there after that day.

Once again you end up doing a main drawing of her body, using the remaining time to put some doodles of her face around it. It was like this for every class, different than the ones she wasn't the model. However, by that time you were already used to sketching her - hence the alone sessions in your room - so you could do much easier work now. You hoped no one noticed this fact, because a question about how you got so instinctive when drawing Abby would be blatantly dodged.

You already could tell in detail the difference between her arm muscles and the last model, for example, but not only the imagery of it: you thought about the biological singularity of her muscle development.

As soon as the class ended, you closed the sketchbook and tried not to think too deeply about the whole situation. It would be fine. Abby would stop being the model and so you would see her less, consequently thinking about her less and moving on so easily. Like, so easily.

"Hey", you froze with her voice, more specifically when noticing that it was almost next to you. Her face was the first thing you saw when looking up from your backpack. "Are you coming to the game tonight?"

"Should I?"

"Well… I could use some cheers", she was still shirtless. Heck, she was still in her intimate clothes.

You were not thinking about how she used a simple bra and nice black boxers.

"I thought you had plenty. With all the staring", why were you being so sarcastic?

"Your staring is kinda different, if that's what you wanna hear", she smirked, crossing her arms. Good lord, save me from barking in front of her with all this attitude. "And I would like you there"

"So maybe I'll go", you shrugged, trying to be cool about it. Something inside of you said that maybe you were being too cool about it, maybe she would think you don't really care; that's not what you want her to think. Shit, were you doing this wrong?

"Don't tell your brother I asked you this while almost nude, I don't think he would let me get close to you ever again", her chuckles were so cute, she was so cute. You were so done.

"Oh, do you want to get close to me again?" Abby stepped back while still smirking, everybody seemed to be out already - though you couldn't tell exactly, she was still your main focus.

"Maybe" Now she shrugged, finally getting close to her clothes again. "Preferably when he's not around"

What was that? Oh, probably your heart skipping several beats.

"Talking like that, I might as well think you're hitting on me, Abby" The most surprising thing was how you weren't laying down on a puddle at this point. Instead, you were chuckling back, hands sweaty and stomach twisting in a rush.

"Am I?" She grabbed her pants. "You'll probably have to come to the game and see!"

After another smirk from her, you just shook your head and walked away from the room with a simple "See you later then".

The interaction started to play again in your mind, Gloria was standing outside with wide eyes and a smile fighting to appear. That adrenaline rush made your mind a whirlwind.

"What the fuck was that?!" Your friend whispered, holding your arm and following your steps.

[png dividers by @cafekitsune]

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dee-the-red-witch · 2 months

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Fresh month, fresh pinned bio....

Why did I decide to do it this way again? Oh, right, because it's FUN.

Anyways, Hi.

I'm Dee. 46 year old trans woman. On HRT for almost 3 years now. Queer lesbian. Poly and kinky. Absolutely Not Your Responsible Adult (I will not screen off porn, sex positivity, body positivity, and a few other things. if you need censor your own experience for whatever reason, don't follow me, because I will not censor myself for you.)

Got the basics? Good. Now for the advanced. I still don't know what a jerma is, nor do I want to, I don't sell content, I do absolutely support those who do, and so should you. Yes there's a discord. Yes you have to actually ask me for an invite. No, I really am only 5'6". Yes, I'll still record voice requests, even scripted bits. No, you may not call me mommy. I work full time when I'm not being a mom (which has, unfortunately eaten a LOT more of my time than normal this year) as an artist, writer, and leatherworker. You'll find a lot of it available for purchase right here: http://tormentedartifacts.com Here's a few highlights:

I'm also working on teaching myself tattooing, both on myself (Over the last 4 years, yes most of the ink in my selfies was done by me) and a few other willing victims. Which also means building up a collection of flashwork to put on people. Here's some of that:

I'm a writer and occultist as I said before as well, and my first book and companion tarot deck are available through my site, or you can catch me doing weekly card readings and media reviews over here.

The absolute biggest thing right now, though, is my surgery fund- My Gender Confirmation and Facial Feminization operations both happen this November over a two week span, and I'm trying to get enough in to cover my stay and the downtime I'm going to have to take off from everything up there.

So here's the link for my GoFundMe for that.

if you can kick in on that, or just spread word around of it elsewhere, I'd REALLY appreciate it.

Terfs, swerfs, bigots, conservaties, and other fash can fuck directly off. Tipping should be mandatory. Plastics suck, and yes that includes your vegan leather do not start me on that rant. Landlords and borders should be immediately expunged. Give the fucking Land Back. Do make it weird, do it alone if you have to, don't make it creepy. Start HRT if you haven't already. Do make it terrifying, otherworldly, and possibly even wondrous. Buy more leather.

Otherwise, that's it. My inbox or messages are open if you've got questions

#monthly pinned #selfie #bio #self id #station identification #still never sorry about the wall of text #y'all ASKED for it this time

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elliespectacular · 1 month

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Any tips on how to correctly credit clips used in YTP? I'm very lost when it comes to finding copyright info and stuff like that.

The stakes are pretty low for YouTube Poop and crediting clips in the video/description is not standard practice - but it's a good thing to do! That said I am not an authority on this and even my method has some blind spots. These are just some generally good ideas for being a slightly-more-courteous-than-average shitposter.

The acknowledgement is the most important part, stating outright what the names of the sources are. Pay attention to the official titles of what you use and try to trace them to their original form - for example in The Price is Rice COMPLETE I wanted to credit the gamer-themed Dust-Off commercial I used in The Price is Rice Jr. Usually ads are more difficult to track down than other kinds of televised media, so often "___ TV Spot" does the job, but a quick peek at the official YouTube channel reveals that the ad's actual name was How to properly clean your gaming computer.

Then there's an acknowledgement of the owner. I try to list composers for music, directors for film, and of course artists for art. You aren't required to give an exhaustive list of every single contributor to the art you've sampled, but make sure you credit the person/company it belongs to at the very least. Going back to the Dust-Off example, the YouTube video contained a link to dust-off . com which now redirects to falconsafety . com - I lucked out because the top of the page indicates clearly that Dust-Off is a product owned by Falcon Safety Products Inc. but this info is often in the About section of a website or at the bottom of the page.

I like to throw the year on each YTP credit as well. Academic citations usually require a more precise publication date if available. Among other benefits it helps distinguish between things with the same name/owner that were rebooted later - for example there are multiple games called Sonic the Hedgehog owned by SEGA from different years (In fact in this example there are two games from 1991 so it's also important to note what system the game is for!) Generally your source credits should communicate to a viewer where to start looking for a specific thing or who to ask.

You can use Wikipedia to orient yourself if you need a lead on where to start tracking down copyright information for popular media, but make sure you cross-reference what's there with other sources. For Movies/TV I usually just look at the very end of their credits which usually has the copyright info. For music I use Discogs. Sometimes for more obscure or less-documented things I have to do some search-engine sleuthing.

If you're stuck, ask a friend for help! It can be fun and rewarding to track down something that isn't answered by a quick google search, and like most things turning it into a collaborative effort makes it less of a slog.

Copyright acknowledgement is tricky to do correctly and not every Best Practice applies to each situation. There may come a day when MLA-style citations become normal or required even for shitposts and your due diligence will become greater. Do your best, give credit where it's due, and you'll be fine :)

#ytp #youtube poop #ask

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pussycat-scribbles · 8 months

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Help!!! Tips for drawing digitally? Every time I draw digitally it gets and wiggily and lop sided :(

I'm SO sorry about the delay in replying to this!

I guess my main tips for avoiding wiggly lopsidedness in digital art would be to:

flip your canvas regularly so you can see the art with "fresh" eyes, allowing you to spot any weird and wobbly bits more easily

use a line stabilizer (also called smoothing in some programs) if you don't have a steady hand. There's no shame in using the tools available to you if it makes creating more enjoyable and the outcome more pleasing to you!

if you're in the habit of using small, choppy strokes with your pen, try zooming out a bit and using longer, smooth strokes instead (and keep one hand on the undo shortcut so you can draw > undo > draw until you hit just the right line)

if you're really struggling with a piece, or are super unhappy but don't know how to proceed, take a break for a day or three and come back to it. It probably isn't as wonky as you've convinced yourself it is!

I hope that helps a little. I'm no master artist by any stretch of the imagination, and I draw a LOT of wobbly, lopsided drawings. Most of my pieces start out totally wonky, if I'm honest! But the process of ironing out all of that to get to a finished piece that I'm happy with, aesthetically speaking, is often more satisfying than the finished piece itself.

We're all a little wiggly and lopsided here...and there ain't no shame in that :D

#Art Advice #Art Tips #pussycat responds

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insertdisc5 · 11 months

Text

Devlog #14: Big News Incoming and Illustrations

Hello everyone! Welcome to this month’s devlog!

If you just stumbled upon this, I am Adrienne, also known as insertdisc5! I’m the developer, writer, artist, main programmer, etc of the game. The game being In Stars and Time, a timeloop RPG, which is also the next and final game in the START AGAIN series, following START AGAIN: a prologue (available here!). You can find out more about In Stars and Time here!!!

LET’S GET TO IT. This month has some Big News about Big News Incoming! And also some illustrations!

The Big News Incoming first: In Stars and Time will be a part of Future of Play Direct on June 10, 8:00am PT | 11:00am ET | 5:00 pm CET! Future of Play is part of the Summer Games Fest and showcases a lot of incredible indie games, so I hope you’ll tune in. There might be a little something for you to see :> And...

In Stars and Time will also be a part of The Mix on June 8th! The Mix is an amazing games showcase over in LA. There will be a lot of press there, so I’m very excited to get some eyes on ISAT! Please stop by the booth and say hi to the lovely people from my publisher, Armor Games Studios, if you get the chance!

Alright! That’s it for the big news. Now for other big news.

Porting the game to Switch seems to be close to done! Currently, the porting team is taking care of optimization thingy things. The game is playable, but tends to drop frames every so often, so the team is optimizing the game to make sure it’s playing smoothly so Switch players can have the best possible experience! And…

The (hopefully) final round of Japanese localization is underway! Last April, the localization team sent back a couple of sentences that should be reworded now that they have further context. Now that those changes are implemented, they are playing it one more time to make sure everything works as intended!

I sadly don’t have a Fun Gamedev Thing to talk about this month (or… last month either…) because I moved elsewhere back in April and have been taking care of many things so my move went smoothly. Did you know that moving and getting used to a new town is hard work? So, here’s some things I posted on social media in the last couple months!

Here’s an illustration I drew a while back but only posted recently! I imagine that during their journey, everyone must’ve shared a bed at least once. This is also an occasion to show everyone’s sleepytimes clothes. Siffrin on that honk shoo honk shoo fit

Like many people, I have seen the Barbie movie trailer. So of course I had to redraw these iconic frames.

And someone over on Tumblr asked me about how I picked everyone’s names! Here it is copy-pasted for your convenience.

Siffrin: i think. i will wait until the game comes out before saying how i picked their name. ask me again later (it’s not a spoiler its just silly)

Mirabelle: her name was actually Prunille for the longest time, but I kept mixing it up and calling her Bonnie… so I went looking for another fruit sounding name (prunille>prune>plum in french) and Mirabelle fit her perfectly :> (Mirabelle is a kind of plum!)

Isabeau: it’s just a nice name. It actually is a girl name but i refuse to accept it because “beau” is the masculine form for “beautiful”, but either way it fits his character pretty well…

Odile: old sounding french name. that’s it. when i was early in preproduction her name was Isabeau actually (and she had a WAY different personality)

Bonnie: it’s a nickname and not their full name. have i said their full name yet? (checks the wiki) i did. Boniface is just a name that I had never heard before, and I could easily imagine Bonnie not liking it because it sounds “old and lame”. i think as they get older they would like it more and more

This is also a reminder that In Stars and Time has a wiki page. I am so grateful that this is a thing someone made. You know you've made it when your game has a wiki page!!!

That’s all I have to say for today! Let me know if you have any questions, or if there’s any aspect of the game development struggle you’d like me to talk about! See you next time!!!

AND DON’T FORGET TO WISHLIST THE GAME ON STEAM ALSO IT REALLY HELPS BECAUSE STEAM’S ALGORITHM IS MORE LIKELY TO SHOW OFF GAMES WITH A HIGH AMOUNT OF WISHLISTS THAT’S THE REASON WHY GAME DEVS ALWAYS ASK TO WISHLIST!!! OKAY BYE!!!!

#in stars and time #devlog #game dev #indie game #game development #start again start again start again

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misc-obeyme · 8 months

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For the event, may I request “Let me try.” with Solomon? (Not sure if that prompt has been taken already lol)

Anyhow, have a wonderful day/evening ^^

Hello, anon!

That prompt was indeed available, so you're good! I really debated with myself about whether to make this one angsty or not, but in the end I went with fluff. This is because several prompts have been chosen for Solomon and I have no doubt that at least a few of them will end up on the angsty side of things! Also I took some artistic liberties with potion ingredients, so there's that lol.

Thank you for participating!

1,000 Followers Event!

GN!MC x Solomon with prompt "Let me try."

Warnings: none!

There was something all consuming about trying to master a potion, especially when the ingredients needed to have precise measurements, the concoction called for exact swirling motions, and the complexity of it both challenged and excited you.

It was already past dinner, but you couldn't tear yourself away from the potions lab at RAD. It was your last class and you had told Belphie to go on home without you. The professor had given you permission to stay late and work on it. Neither of them had likely realized just how long you would stay there, completely distracted by your attempts to make the potion work.

The table you were working at was full of discarded bottles, bits of ingredients, and several loose pages of notes you had been making as you went along.

You had turned off the sound on your D.D.D. so that you could concentrate. It was sitting face down on the table nearby, most likely full of notifications from concerned demons. You were sure that Belphie had told the others you had decided to stay behind, but they likely thought you'd have come home by now.

You didn't have time to worry about that, though. You were going to make this potion work if it meant staying up all night long.

It wasn't that this particular potion did anything that mattered to you. In fact, you were pretty sure it was only meant to give the drinker heightened hearing. A fairly basic thing, but for some reason the potion itself was complicated. You'd likely never use it for anything, but that wasn't the point anymore.

You carefully poured a flask of sparkling liquid into the little bowl you were using to mix ingredients.

A single drop caused the potion to explode.

You yelped, backing up and waving at the air around you, which was now full of noxious green smoke.

"MC?"

You whirled around, startled. Who would be here at RAD at this hour?

You relaxed as you recognized Solomon standing in the doorway to the lab.

You let out a breath. "Solomon, you scared me."

Solomon came into the room to stand beside you. He smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that. I heard you yell, so I wanted to make sure you were all right. What are you doing?"

You told him about the potion and how you couldn't seem to make it work right.

"Hmm," Solomon said, looking over your piles of ingredients and pages of notes. "I'm sure you won't be happy to hear this, but I think you've mixed up some of the ingredients."

You frowned. "That can't be right. I've been using this list all night." You picked up a page from your pile, indicating the list you had jotted down during the lecture earlier that afternoon.

Solomon took the paper from your hand and leaned in to show you what he was looking at. He pointed at one of the items on your list. "This says you need devil grass, but the ingredient is actually devil sweetgrass. And this lists powdered devilstone, but it should be powered bloodstone."

"How did I write down two ingredients wrong?" you asked.

Solomon chuckled. "I don't know, MC, but that's likely the problem. Do you want me to help you try it with the right ingredients?"

You turned to look at him, about to refuse his help, but you paused. Solomon had been standing quite close to you so that you could see the ingredient list in his hand. Now you found yourself looking into his eyes. You took in the soft smile on his lips, the way he seemed to be looking at you with an overwhelming fondness.

And even though you were determined to get the potion right because now it was a matter of pride, you found you also didn't want him to leave.

"You don't mind?" you asked. "I know it's late."

"You should know by now that I don't mind helping you at any hour," Solomon said. "You're my apprentice, after all. What kind of teacher would I be if I left you to struggle with this alone?"

You huffed and took the list out of his hand. "I just can't believe I wrote these down wrong. I have to make the potion now or I'll never be able to rest."

"You're almost there," Solomon said, looking at the ingredients on the table. "You just need to change those two things."

Solomon found the missing ingredients in the lab's supply closet and brought them back over to you. The potion's meticulous instructions required the devil sweetgrass to be chopped in a specific way. You had been chopping the wrong ingredient, but you were fairly certain you had been doing it correctly.

You picked up the knife and were about to start, but Solomon stopped you by putting his hand over yours.

"You need to tilt the knife a little more like this," Solomon said, repositioning your hand.

The feeling of his hand on yours, the way you could sense him standing so close behind you, made you forget what you were doing momentarily.

You took a deep breath and began to chop. "Like this?"

"You're doing great, MC," Solomon said, still standing close behind you.

He lifted his hand from yours and let you continue on your own, but you instantly missed his touch. You scolded yourself mentally. You were here to make a potion and Solomon was here to help you. You shouldn't be letting yourself get distracted like this.

You were hyper aware of everything Solomon was doing as he guided you through the steps of making the potion. Every time he passed you some ingredients, your fingers brushed against his. You found you had a hard time looking away from his hands when he was demonstrating how to stir the potion properly. And he was always meeting your eyes, causing you to feel a little twist in your stomach.

You did your best to pretend that you were completely focused on the potion you were making. You hoped it was enough to cover up how distracted you were just by Solomon's presence.

When the potion was finally done, you looked down at the bowl and smiled. It was the correct shade of light green and nothing had exploded at all.

You grinned at Solomon. "It worked! Finally! I thought I was going to be here all night!"

Solomon smiled back at you. "Are you sure it worked? Don't you want to test it?"

You looked back down at the green potion. Certainly a potion for enhancing your hearing wouldn't be dangerous to test, right? But for some reason you were apprehensive. Probably because you had seen all the failed versions of it you had made previously.

Solomon seemed to know what you were thinking. He laughed lightly. "Why don't I test it, instead?"

You were about to protest, but you didn't have a chance. Solomon picked up the bowl and took a sip of the potion you had finally finished making.

You stared at him, eyes wide. "Did it work?"

Solomon met your eyes. "I can hear the clock ticking in the next room over. I would say that's a success."

You slumped in relief. You had been afraid something terrible was going to happen to him.

Solomon put a hand on your arm and smiled at you. "Well done, MC. I'm proud of you."

These words, his touch, caused a thrill to go through you. You tried to act nonchalant, smiling back at him.

Solomon cocked his head a little, as though listening. "MC, I can hear your heart racing."

All hope you had of keeping your composure vanished as you felt the heat rising in your face. You instantly covered it with your hands, backing away from him in your embarrassment.

Solomon laughed a little, reaching out to stop you. "You don't have to be embarrassed."

You peeked at him from between your fingers. "You're teasing me on purpose, aren't you? You've been doing it this whole time."

Solomon's amused chuckle revealed all. "You got me. How can I make it up to you?"

You turned your back to him, face still covered by your hands. "You can't!"

You were truly embarrassed and you didn't think your blush would be dying down any time soon.

You didn't move as you felt Solomon come up behind you, putting a hand on your back.

"Let me try," he said quietly into your ear.

That fluttering feeling returned to your stomach. You let him turn you around, let him gently pull your hands away from your face, let him tilt your chin to make you look at him.

When Solomon kissed you, you let yourself step into the circle of his arms, let yourself embrace that flutter in your gut, let yourself forget your embarrassment as you lost yourself in the feeling of his lips on yours.

You let yourself give in because you were beginning to realize just how much Solomon meant to you. When you were struggling, he was there to help you, even if he teased you along the way. It was how he let you know that despite his status as the most powerful sorcerer in the three worlds, he still just wanted to be with you. And who were you to hold that against him?

1,000 Followers Event | masterlist | Thank you for reading!

#obey me #obey me nightbringer #obey me shall we date #omswd #obey me solomon #om solomon #obey me solomon x reader #obey me solomon x mc #solomon x reader #solomon x mc #om x reader #obey me fanfiction #obey me fanfic #misc 1k event #misc writes

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freyatarotreadings8 · 7 months

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OCTOBER 2023 | PAC

Pick a picture 1 - 2 - 3

Hello, Pile 1! In October you may be on a crossroad. You will need to make significant choices/decisions regarding personal relationships. (any bonds you share with others, but especially romantic). Some of you may start a new relationship, but majority may say "Goodbye" to a toxic person, who stops you from personal growth and so many other positive things. That's why there may be some disagreements or conflicts. You may be fed up with it. So, you may need to walk away from conflicts that aren't win-win for you or where there's no clear resolution in sight. Don't waste your energy and time by trying to change someone's decision or vision. It's better to reflect on your actions and intentions, ensuring they align with who you want to be. Deep introspections are coming your way. You may spend time alone, delving into your thoughts, feelings and experiences. It's a time for seeking wisdom, answers and understanding. You may get clarity via psy consultations, coaching, personal tarot readings (I'll be glad to help you!), deep meditations, books about spirituality, self-awareness. Then you may become a source of guidance and light for others, offering wisdom or clarity in their moments of darkness. Personal readings are available! Donations - https://destream.net/live/FreyaTarot/donate 🧚🏻

Hello, Pile 2! October may be a time for you to assess the progress you've made in certain areas of your life (work, finances or personal projects). Take a moment to reflect on what you've planted and nurtured thus far. It may be an excellent time to manage your finances (budgeting, investing) or finding ways to increase your income. Remember that your efforts will eventually bear fruit. You may want to spend more time outdoors, do gardening or any activity that helps you connect with the earth. You also may buy some crystals that can clean your personal energy and energy of your house. Citrine can bring luck and abundance into your life. Talking about your home, you may have a focus on home, family and daily responsibilities. You will have a chance to improve your relationships with your mom. Clear communication is essential during negotiations, daily interactions. Additionally, you may need to make decisions based on logic rather than emotions. . You also may consult/interact with someone who smart, logical and authoritative. Upholding your principles, being truthful will be highlighted. Personal readings are available! Donations - https://destream.net/live/FreyaTarot/donate 🧚🏻

Hello, Pile 2! October might present unexpected emotional news or insights. It may come in a form of a new romantic interest, a rekindling of feelings or a fresh creative inspiration. Some of you may meet a potential partner during a trip, travel. Listen to your intuitive side. Pay attention to your dreams, your emotions and the subtle signs around you. A great month to do something artistic or creative, expressing your innermost feelings through art. October will be filled with spontaneous adventures or unexpected journeys, travels (some of you may even move somewhere else or have contact with foreigners). You'll be encouraged to chase after what sets your heart ablaze. Take bold steps or make significant moves in areas that you're passionate about. Expect a significant forward thrust. You may be called to pursue your goals with heightened energy and direction. Moreover, you may be managing conflicts or trying to bring harmony to contrasting viewpoints.

Personal readings are available! Donations - https://destream.net/live/FreyaTarot/donate 🧚🏻

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mayakern · 2 years

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Hello Maya! I don't know if you've talked about it, but how do you tackle the task of making a pin design?

I've seen many pin designs and as much the difference between artists' styles is understandable there are some that work better. Im guessing it has something to do with simplicity? Because some details might be lost when translating it into the pin and the limitations it conveys.

So the question is, how do you fit a pin design so it works and looks amazing?, because all your body of work is 👌👌👌👌👌

Do you like making pins?

Is there any insight you could share with us?

i’ve talked about this previously, but it’s been a while i think! there’s also a ton of youtube videos like this one that can help you out with the basics. i also strongly recommend buying copies of “welcome to pin hell” and “the inner circles of pin hell” by hannako lambert. she is a true master of the medium and knows far more than i ever will.

enamel pins are really their own medium and how much you can do with them is really just limited by your own understanding and your budget. you can go as simple and cheap as a simple line drawing with the “fill” areas left empty to be recessed metal, like i did for my bee pin.

working like this, because the metal linework is raised and unfilled, has the highest amount of fidelity between your original artwork and the end product. you have to remember that enamel pins are extremely small and so intricate work can easily be lost if you’re not careful.

you can also have the empty spaces filled with enamel, like i did with the anodized version of my bee pin.

this is called soft enamel. this also has a relatively high amount of fidelity to the original artwork. pins like this can also have special treatments of the metal, like the anodization above (i.e. the rainbow), that are only available for soft enamel pin or pins without any enamel. similarly, glitter enamel and similar speciality enamels are only available for soft enamel. i don’t often use soft enamel as it doesn’t suit most of my work, but it was the right fit for the bee pin because the recessed metal/fill did the best job of accentuating the design.

if you fill your pin and then grind down the metal so that it is flush with the enamel, this is called hard enamel. it creates a seamless, cohesive and polished look but because the metal is ground down, it decreases the fidelity of your line work. think of it as a tattoo: soft enamel or no fill is the fresh tattoo, it looks essentially as intended, though if the artist doesn’t know what they’re doing there can already be a loss of detail. hard enamel is like a healed tattoo: the ink will spread and, similarly, when the metal is ground down it may widen slightly. different factories will have different degrees of loss in fidelity depending on the skill of the workers and also how quickly they’re having to work.

the above pin uses a combination of hard enamel and recessed metal (the lines in the leaves are recessed). this is a pin with a very detailed design that can easily go wrong when not handled carefully. the recessed metal not only looks good and cohesive with the metal, but it also preserves a higher amount of line work fidelity than an enamel fill would, allowing me to be a little more detailed in the design. i also used cut outs give a more delicate feel, despite the sheer size of this thing.

and this is what that same pin looks like when made less skillfully. i would only make pins this detailed if you have history with your manufacturer and know the quality of their work—and if you’re willing to eat the cost of a bad batch. we’d been working with this manu for a few years when they sent us this back and let me tell you, i was crushed. this is maybe my favorite pin i’ve ever designs and apart from hating to waste money and material, it’s disheartening to see my work translated so poorly.

with enamel, each color must be contained by metal. it’s like a little pocket that you inject color into it. but, you can also screenprint on pins! this is a bit hit or miss, as pins are tiny and it’s super easy for the screen to be misaligned and have it totally fuck up your design, but when it works it’s really lovely! (the white spots on the mushroom and the yellow portion of the flames are screenprinted)

one of my personal favorite techniques with pins is to use the metal itself not just as line work, but as its own “fill”

these are the most basic techniques, but there’s tons more, including stained glass enamel and pins that are fully 3D sculpted, but i’ve never done those so i’d recommend checking out hannako’s books for info on those.

with all of this, when you work with a manufacturer, you’ll provide them a jpeg not just with the artwork, but with a “guide” for any processes (cuts, recessed metal, metal treatment, screen printing, etc.) and for the pantones. here’s what that looks like (the “x” denotes a cut)

if you plan to make a lot of enamel pins i highly recommend getting the set of pantone solid coated and uncoated books so you can accurately pick colors. also these books are expensive so store them out of the light so that their color remains accurate for as long as possible, because they will fade. 🤪

i also highly, highly recommend that you create a backing stamp for your pins. this is a name/logo that just gets pressed into the back. this not only helps people know where their pin is from, but also protects you in the case that a major company decides to steal your pin design.

and since i’ve typed up this whole informational post for y’all, here’s a quick reminder that my pins are currently on sale 😘😘😘

#enamel pin #enamel pin design #art tutorial #tutorial #artists on tumblr #art #maya draws things #art tips #faq #ask

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boxturret · 1 year

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"One Sec Lol"

[disclaimer]I'm not insulting anyone's work on the project, everyone did amazing work and the project was shaping up to be amazing with everything I had seen.

I worked on the fan game Bionicle Masks of Power for nearly 2 years. I worked really hard on it, learned many things, used a lot of programs I'd never done before, actually worked up the nerve to use a mic for the first time, etc. Over time I got promoted to the head of two departments, 3d art and level design, basically because I was around a lot and kept things organised.

Then one day, with a "One sec lol" I was completely demoted, in a dehumanising, buzzword filled message. It called working on the game a "Journey". Now the reason I was demoted I won't really dispute, I was under a lot of stress, and sometimes I'd get upset, but these things don't happen in a vacuum, I don't get stressed for no reason.

The team was for the most part a bunch of really good, talented people that I enjoyed working with immensely, but there were some who were more focused on the glory (of making a free fan game for a 20 year old dead toy line... look, getting 200k views on the teaser went to their heads) so there was this constant push to get things...not done, because that wasn't really their concern, it was get things in a state where they could be shown off. And not a "here's a work in progress asset" sort of shown off, a "2 Paragraphs of fluff about the game, talking like it's already done, not actually mentioning the assets we're meant to be showing off" sort of thing.

The image in this tweet was meant to show off the newly (semi) completed UI, you know, that thing on the edge you can't see?

The 80/20 rule seemed foreign to them, where 80% of the work takes 20% of the time, and the final 20% of the work takes 80%, so someone would get a quick rough draft of an asset done in like a day, and they'd start pushing us to get it complete so we could show off, even though it would normally be months for something to get there.

This image here, of Pohatu in the desert. Do you know what it was supposed to show off? If you guessed the desert, no! That whole scene was thrown together by one person in like a day, it's completely fake, no work had been done on the desert at all. It was supposed to show off the Toa, as we'd just reached a pretty big milestone of completing and texturing all the parts and most importantly the masks. You know, that tiny thing that's facing away from the screen?

Originally the idea was to just show off the Toa in all their glory in their biome, but it mutated in to that...thing. There was work on a second one, but everyone finally realised that it was just looking bad so it was cancelled, thankfully.

This constant push to get things done to show off was so pervasive, and always seemed to fall on my shoulders, being the 3d art and level design lead, even though the real bottle neck was programming. We only had 3-4 programmers of very limited availability. When I first joined the team as a 3d artist I was basically given makework tasks to do, things of no real consequence, most of which got thrown out. (why make random set dressing objects for Ta-Koro, a place that hasn't even been roughly sketched out yet, for example)

This only got worse when I was put in charge of level design. The levels themselves are the prime thing to show off things in, so there was this constant push to get the levels finished, which I always pushed back against because, and I need to really stress this, the game was in a suuuper early state, and still is. If you've played the stand alone game Trials of the Great Spirit, that area was initially supposed to be the intro to BMOP proper, but the gameplay evolved so much that it became unplayable. At one point there was even the suggestion of keeping the TOGS area with the old player movement. As this was supposed to be the player movement tutorial this was dire and shows the danger of putting work in to making a level look nice too early, you run in to the sunk cost fallacy. Making a level look nice takes a lot of work, it's very fiddly, moving around little decorative objects and getting textures right, and you don't want to have to redo it a lot, which is why most games are blocked out first, meaning that the basic level geometry is created with basic shapes, and once everything is refined then they move on to actually making it look nice. As level design lead I insisted that we do this, because most previous attempts at making levels had spent way too much time worrying about the looks.

One of the first things I was tasked with as a 3d artist was to make a series of modular tree bits:

youtube

I was given nothing but a pair of images as guides of what they wanted.

So I worked really hard to try and make a modular system that would allow some interesting level layouts. Once I made the rough version pictured do you know what I was asked to do? Texture it. Make them in to final assets. No testing at all, no time to see if they'd work for the levels they wanted, nothing. Just rough>final for platforming assets immediately.

Well I knew that if I did that it would just end up getting tossed out eventually so I refused, and guess what? These were made before the movement refactoring so they're completely useless now![emphasis added because people keep missing the important part]

So now you see why making sure everything was finalized before doing final art was so important, which is why I would always fight against moving on to set dressing in the demo, because the demo wasn't and still isn't done, not even close. Having been put in that situation where I was told to work on something that would inevitably be tossed out later, I didn't want to put anyone in the teams I was responsible for in that situation, it's not like there wasn't a shortage of things to work on anyway.

Basically I was put in the situation where I had to constantly say no to all these, I'll call them what they were, marketing ideas, due to the game not actually being in the state it was being presented as. The video released on 8/10 this year was cobbled together from a bunch of unfished assets, barely functioning in an area that was designed just as a goal for set dressing to reach in a real level. It took the poor dev who had a computer good enough to run it hundreds of playthroughs until they got one good enough to show off, avoiding most of the bugs. And now seeing all this, know that I had to spend literal DAYS trying to convince everyone we should have that tiny disclaimer on the screen (every one else was worried about the aesthetics).

So this was the source of most of my stress, trying to focus on making a game while fighting against those that wanted instead to act like we had made a game. That's what lead to my stress and occasional outbursts, and me just in general getting fed up with working on the game.

After I was demoted, for the next week or so I was miserable. The way it was done just completely destroyed any sort of comfort I had in the team. I'm very shy and introverted, it takes me a long time to warm up to people or a place, and when something like that happens, it's all gone in an instant.

I didn't feel comfortable in the chats anymore so I left, I tried to explain myself to the person who demoted me and they just ignored me for several days at a time, leaving it to all spiral out of control in my head, another person said conflicting things that just made it worse. "It's not a punitive measure" "We appreciate your work" "You should be thanking me you didn't just get kicked off entirely" forcing me to grovel at their feet etc. It was all so much.

The final straw, and what got me kicked off, was do do with a document I had spent 9 months creating, that outlined a possible way of structuring the whole game. Before I started trying to get some structure in to it, the game design just seemed to be a big question mark. 6 playable characters needing to collect 11 upgrades, it's quite a complex thing that doesn't really track to any other game I've seen. The first version, Legacy, was simply a fully open map with the masks scattered about, but that wouldn't do with the level of detail and gameplay complexity we were aiming for. I eventually worked out something I thought would work, using a system of context sensitive gates, and I wrote and did many diagrams on the subject.

After I was kicked out of the leads, not a week later they announced big sweeping changes that were basically what I had been pushing for for months. There was something I was unclear on, a sort of gate for Kopaka involving wind, and I asked what it was. The new level design lead, the person who I had explained the concept of gates too, then proceeded to tell me what a gate was.

This was it. I was done. A week after I get kicked off the lead team and I'm treated like I didn't do anything. Then later I was confronted by another lead, and forced to post PROOF that I'd actually posted this document I'd spent 9 months publicly working on, that we'd had a whole meeting about with the story team, the document that got me promoted to level design lead.

In the moment, was too much for me, with everything going on with the game project and stuff in my personal life being stressful at the time, I genuinely didn't want to be around anymore, it was too much for me, I wanted to disappear. I tried to tell one of the leads this, and was ignored, I tried to speak openly to the team about it, I was censored, probated, then the next day, before I'd even woke up, kicked off the team. For being "negative". I was then told that if I didn't want things I'd made to be used I could ask them, but the only things they listed were the makuta totems and some jungle assets which I didn't even know what they meant.

So 2 years of work, and all I'd done for them by their account was a noodle and some wood.

[clarification]I'm not implying that they stole anything or are using assets without my permission, it's more that I've worked on this game for nearly 2 years and made sooo many things, yet all they could list were the things I did in the past month. Sorry for any confusion.

Just keep working like a good little drone, no matter how much disrespect we throw at you. This is Team Kanohi.

I wanted to put this all behind me, but someone on the team had the gall to request the very document I was accused of pretending to have made (I mean who ever asked for it on the team, not who asked me personally, just to be clear) , so I'm just so fed up with them. I was paying to host the bulk of the parts and 3d assets out of my own pocket, and it took them like a month to bother moving things, by which time I got charged.

Here's a quick overview of some of the things I worked on, it's not comprehensive at all, it barely mentions the atlas system, but I'm so emotionally drained that I don't really want to bother with all that. It's also not just a noodle and some bits of wood though.

I want to reiterate that I genuinely enjoyed working with most of the people on the team, and I wish them well.

I just want to add one more note: I was personally asked to join the team, I was asked to be 3D art lead, I was asked to take on the Level design leadership role, and even after I was demoted it was still seemingly thought that I would do everything I had been doing up until that point. I never asked for these roles, I accepted them because I believed in the game project and wanted to do everything in my power that I could to make the game as good as it could be.

#Youtube

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rosewaterconley · 8 months

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I solved a mystery that only I care about lol

ok so I have no clue what I'm doing and social media terrifies me. I will probably never touch this account again. why did I have to follow 3 algorithm-selected accounts to get into this website? I can actually name 3 people I'd want to follow on here and it's none of the people your fucking robot told me to follow. but hey, I feel like I have to post it here rather than my blogspot since nobody in the world actually uses blogspot and I want people to see this!

so anyway, there's this band out of the city of Milwaukee called Hero of a Hundred Fights. they dropped a couple CDs in the early 2000s and seem to have broken up, though all their members have been in bands since. that'll be important a little later. for now, Hero of a Hundred Fights are important to me on 2 levels:

I'm a Wisconsinite who has a tiny bit of an obsession with local history and art and really fuck with their weird mathy little corner of the 2000s hardcore scene

I'm a Faction Paradox fan and their 2001 EP The Remote, The Cold contains numerous references to the series! if you've heard of this EP before, it was probably in the context of some "music that references Faction Paradox" list or another

about #2... see, everyone already knows that track 2 is called Faction Paradox and track 3 is called The Celestis. we've all long since put together that the title is a reference to Lawrence Miles' Interference. but what about the lyrics? unfortunately, we don't know. they're not online, and the vocals are good, mind, but rather incoherent.

well, we didn't know. until I ordered a CD copy for like $8 lol. that's all it took! so here you go, the lyrics booklet plus some of the other artwork featured on the CD. artist Nick Slough did a great job on this art and it's a shame only the cover is widely available online (though that's hardly a problem unique to the physical version of this one album). turns out, this is some kinda concept album based on the Miles novel Interference. cool! really love the lyrics on Rope especially. "I need your blood to get this vessel running" and "my life was in your hands, I cut them off and now they're mine" are both raw as hell.

the cover art is pretty interesting. this album was recorded in 2000, released in 2001. the entire creative process occurred before the first standalone Faction Paradox release, The Book of the War. this means the album is entirely Doctor Who-based, not based on the FP series itself. it also means, if we assume the humanoid characters on the art are supposed to be the Remote, that this is the first-ever professional art depicting them!

disclaimer: the booklet lyrics don't 100% match up with what's said in the songs! it's mostly accurate but unfortunately there are some sections missing, some repeated bits that are only written once et al. that's all par for the course but I figured I'd mention it - especially in the case anybody wants to use this to transcribe the lyrics on Genius or some other site like that.

and while we're here, Hero 100 member William Zientara has been in a billion different bands, and I think he's probably the most responsible for the Doctor Who theme on this album. See, he was also in a short-lived band called Managara - named after a Doctor Who tie-in novel so obscure even I, owner of a complete set of Virgin New Adventures who spends my work breaks combing through digital copies of old fanzines, have only ever heard it discussed a handful of times. one of their songs is called Happiness Patrol. more recently, in 2021, he was in the band Fuiguirnet, who have a song called What Grows From the Seeds of Doom! which means Zientara has been randomly tossing Doctor Who references into songs from at least three different bands for twenty years!

so uhh without any further rambling here's the lyrics and art:

#faction paradox #hero of a hundred fights #music

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monstrousproductions · 8 months

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🤩 Episode One Hundred and Ten is live! 🎉

[Image: The Monstrous Agonies logo, teal against a black background. The logo is a complex puzzle cube with M on one face and A on another in a gothic font. End description.]

This week, a listener trying to handle sudden changes in their relationship; and someone finding it hard to communicate…

Listen on our website, on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Full transcript available online.

Tonight’s letter was submitted by Darla and this week's advert came from Bug. Thanks, friends 💖

Lots of thanks to get through this week because we have been blessed with a glut of guest voices! First up, the gorgeous Dom Guilfoyle returns as the voice of The CEO! 🥰

Dom is the creator of @the-mistholme-museum, which takes its listeners on a tour of a museum unlike any other, and @tales-from-the-low-city, an anthology series about a strange underground city and the people who call it home.

We also have Elizabeth Plant reprising her role as Mab, and doing it with as much aplomb as always! See more of her work at her website, at www.elizabethplant.com, and find her on Twitter @CelestielleVA.

This week also features a little cameo from everybody's favourite wine ant, The Understudy, voiced of course by Sophie B. When they're not sploshing about in the bath whittering about Cats (1998), Sophie is a fabulous artist and illustrator. Find them on tumblr @aestheticcluttercore and on Twitter and Instagram @trashlordbarbie

Finally, this is the episode you've all (or at least, some of you) have been waiting for, which features the voices of Monstrous Agonies listeners! Thank you so so much to everyone who contributed, it was a surprisingly emotional process and I'm so glad to have been able to include you in the show! 💞

If you're enjoying the show, remember to sign up for a monthly pledge on Patreon, or make a one-off donation at www.ko-fi.com/hrowen. And if you're not in a position to support it financially, it's always a huge help to share your love of the show and help us get more listeners tuning in! EDIT - and in all the excitement, I forgot to say! The inbox is now OPEN for your questions for the end of season Q&A. Send them in via DM on Tumblr or Twitter, by email, through the website, or send an Ask right here on Tumblr - though if you send an Ask, please specify that it's for the Q&A and let me know what your pronouns are! See you next week at the season finale!

#monstrous agonies #new episode #podcast recommendations #queer fiction #horror podcast #advice podcast #queer creator #lgbt #writblr #short fiction #urban fantasy #dark academia #liminal #mistholme #the mistholme museum of mystery morbidity and mortality #tales of the low city #this is a big one i had to do Sound Design #and we all know how i feel about that #i hope yous like ittttt

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dee-the-red-witch · 3 months

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Okay, let's do this. February Pinned post GO!

Hiya, I'm Dee.

I'm a forty-something queer lesbian poly trans woman. I'm an artist, writer, leatherworker, and tattooist. I'm a shitposter, a mom, and a few other things I've spaced on for the moment. I'm also Not Your Responsible Adult, and will hand you kids pamphlets on sex and kink education, a couple double espressos, and a bag of fireworks or a puppy. I fully believe in sex, kink, and body positivity and reblog as such- if you need censor your own experience for whatever reason, don't follow me, because I will not censor myself for you.

I also post a lot of my work here, but you'll also find a lot of it available for purchase right here: http://tormentedartifacts.com Here's a few highlights:

As I said before, I'm also a tattooist- self-taught and primarily working on myself (yes, about 90% of all that ink in my selfies is my own handiwork, no I'm not taking professional clients yet, more just the occasional test subject)- here's some of the flashwork I've been doing for my own portfolio:

So here's the link for my GoFundMe for that.

if you can kick in on that, or just spread word around of it elsewhere, I'd REALLY appreciate it.

And to answer a few specifics:

If you're contacting me about an order the best way is using the email on my site, not messaging me- I will answer when I can, but I'm also backed up and almost constantly low on spoons. Tumblr's where I come to dopamine-mine among other things.

No, I don't sell content to use the current parlance. I do absolutely support those who do, and so should you.

Yes there's a discord. Yes you have to actually ask me for an invite.

No, I really am only 5'6". Half the rumors are true, but so are some of the outright lies. Yes, I'll still record voice requests, even scripted bits. No, you may not call me mommy. Terfs, swerfs, bigots, conservaties, and other fash can fuck directly off. Tipping should be mandatory. Plastics suck. Landlords and borders should be immediately expunged. Give the fucking Land Back. Do make it weird, don't make it creepy. Do make it terrifying, otherworldly, and possibly even wondrous. Buy more leather.

Otherwise, that's it. My inbox or messages are open if you've got questions

#monthly pinned #Still never sorry about the wall of text #selfie #self id #station identification

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pencopanko · 6 months

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There has been an influx of followers here goodness meー

Hi hi, hello! Penco here! If you've come across my blog and have decided to follow me, welcome! I have been on this hellsite for more than ten years though I took a break until a month ago. I post art, fanart and fanfic (mostly Coco-related as you can probably tell by the Tsum Tsums on my avatar's head) along with others, and as of lately I also share a lot of pro-Palestine posts and have written a thought piece or two myself.

You can check my writing tag here on penco writes. I also have an AO3!

You can check my artworks under the tag penco draws. I also have an art blog! I am also available for commissions, and you can check my VGen here!

This blog is also queer friendly (not exactly straight myself wkwkwk tho I do have some restraint due to religious reasons), and as of the so-called DNI list that the kids like to use these days, I think we'll just stick to the basics. When it comes to politics... I think it should be obvious at this point. Don't be an ass.

Otherwise, welcome! Enjoy your stay!

#yupyupyup #penco rambles #penco draws #penco says hi!

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starry-eyesanddaydreams · 4 months

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Prompt 15 of @deepperplexity 's Rickmas2023 prompts

December 15: Coal and Cards

Sinclair Bryant x Reader

You've recently moved to the outer suburbs of London and run into a beautiful, sweet, talkative man.

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Maybe you had gone a little bit overboard, you thought as you balanced the bags in your arms. But in your defence, you loved Christmas. And the stores along the high street of the town you’d recently moved to had so many beautiful holiday things. So now you were balancing two paper shopping bags of last-minute gifts, decorations and the ingredients for gingerbread cookies, along with a bag of coal. Your new flat had a cute potbelly stove in one corner that was in working order and you couldn’t wait to get it fired up and making your flat nice and cozy. It had snowed the night before, covering the street and sidewalks in beautiful white coat. But while it looked lovely, it made walking a bit perilous, as you soon found out as your foot skidded on an icier patch of snow and you felt yourself starting to topple. On instinct, you dropped the bad of coal in one arm and grabbed hold of the nearest thing available, a streetlight, which stopped you hiding the ground. Getting your bearings back, you saw that a few items had fallen from one of your shopping bags and bobbed down, setting the bags on the ground and collecting the fallen pieces. “Are you okay?” You heard a deep voice ask. You looked up and saw a man who had bobbed down in front of you. Your breath caught in your chest at the sight of him. He had warm hazel eyes, strong features and fluffy blond hair that fell across his brow. The most uniquely handsome man you’d ever seen. “Um, yeah,” you blinked, “I’m fine. Just slipped a little.” “Do you want some help with these? It looks heavy.” He asked, picking up the last piece of your fallen shopping and handing it back to you. “Actually, that would be very nice. My eyes were a bit more than my arms could handle.” You laughed and he smiled in return. He had a beautiful, bright smile. The man picked up on of the shopping bags and the coal bag in each arm and stood. You grabbed the last bag with your baking supplies and stood too. “Thank you for helping me.” You said, “I’m y/n.” “Sinclar Bryant. And it’s my pleasure. Where were you headed?” “Oh, my flat, it’s just at the end of the street.”

You and Sinclar headed down the street, taking their time navigating the snow-covered path. “Have you been living here long?” He asked. “Actually, I just moved in a few weeks ago. I used to live in London and needed a change of scene. It’s so lovely and peaceful out here.” “It is. I work in London. Living out here is a wonderful break from the chaos. You walked quietly for a few moments before Sinclar glanced at the bag he was carrying. Sitting on top was a packet of hand painted Christmas cards. “Did you know Christmas cards were invented by a man who had too many friends to write too?” “No, I didn’t know that.” Sinclar hummed and kept talking, almost absent mindedly, “Henry Cole in 1843. The new penny post system meant a lot more people could send letters and he got so many Christmas letters he couldn’t answer them all properly. And in those days it was considered very bad manners not to answer mail. He worked out an idea with an artist friend, JC Horsely, to design a card with pictures of a family celebrating Christmas and helping the poor. He printed a thousand of them to send out to people. Over time, others started copying his idea and it became fashion to send Christmas cards.” You looked up at him, perplexed by the sudden history lesson but also finding the way he spoke endearing.

Sinclar’ train of thought apparently drifted to the other bundle in his arms and he continued, “You know in Italy, they have the tradition of a Christmas witch called La Befana. Legend is she tried to follow the three wise men to find the baby Jesus, but couldn’t find them, so she gave out her gifts to good children and gave lumps of coal to the bad ones. Today the give out sweets that look loke coal called Carbone Dolce as a joke instead.” Sinclar looked at you and saw your expression, a mix of confusion and amusement, and he blushed slightly, “I’m sorry, I have a habit of talking too much. I apologise if it’s annoying you.” Something in his eyes as he said that tugged at your heart. “You’re not.” You assured him, “It’s actually very charming. And interesting, I didn’t know either of those stories? A Christmas witch? It sounds fun.” Sinclair smiled again and the two of you kept talking more as you walked, first about random Christmas traditions and then about the town. He’s been living there a few years now and you were happy to hear his recommendations about the areas shops and events.

Sinclair felt happier than he’d felt in a long time right now. You were clever and curious. Talking with you was so easy. You’re smile was beautiful and your eyes were so warm and gentle, he found the persistent knot that had sat inside his chest for months finally starting to loosen. “Oh, and you have to try this bakery, Lenora’s. It’s near the library. The best pain au chocolat and pasties you’ve ever tried. And at Christmas they make amazing hot chocolate.” He stopped, turning to face you properly, taking an impulsive chance, “Are you hungry? If you’re not busy I could take you there, show you around a bit.” He asked, hope and slight nerves colouring his voice. To his relief, you nodded, “I am hungry, actually. And that sounds great, I’d love to have lunch with you.”

You reached your flat and you quickly stashed your shopping just inside the door and headed back out with Sinclar. You walked towards the bakery, arms occasionally bumping into each other, and chatting idly about anything that came to mind, not yet realising that this was the start of something very special.

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Hope who reads this likes it. Sinclair deserves so much love. I want to hug him so bad. I am planning a continuation of this with another prompt.

#alan rickman #rickmas 2023 #rickmas2023 #sinclair bryant #Close my eyes #sinclair bryant x reader

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