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sinfulshelbys · 2 years

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PEAKY BLINDERS SEASON 6 EPISODE 1 PERSONAL REVIEW (contains spoilers)

this post has been tagged for those who haven't seen the episode. DO NOT READ IF YOU DONT WANT SPOILERS.

okay first things first, where the hell was red right hand?! nah, for real though HAHA. i noticed in season 5 that theyve slowly stopped putting in like actual background music, and have opted for sounds that add to the atmosphere of the scene, if that makes sense? the shift in the way that the show is produced and directed was super evident in the jump from S4 to S5, but honestly, i like the new style of production (slightly) more than the earlier seasons, and seeing season s6 produced in the same way has been great!

right, now i also want to touch on the way they honoured helen (our aunt polly) this episode. i wasnt sure how steven knight was going to work around helens passing, nor was i sure if helen had previously shot scenes for s6 that would be included. but truly, the way they sent aunt polly off felt like a way for not only the characters to say goodbye, but also us, as the audience to do so as well. SK if you ever potentially read this, thank you. helen would've loved it.

now in the words of negan from the walking dead "back to it!"

michael fucking gray. do i need to say more? he and gina pissed me off so bloody much in s5, and somehow continued to annoy me further in the span of 50 minutes! yay congratulations to the couple i hate most on the show, lets get a round of applause.

no but seriously, michael fuck off. you cant beat tommy shelby. facts. end of story.

enough about michael and more about tommy! firstly who tf is this new and improved thomas shelby and what have you done to the old one? i did not predict tommy to be sober, reciting poetry and speaking french but hey, the man is full of surprises.

(also honourable mentions for the dog that followed him at the start, we need more of that cutie! and RIP pigeon that was brutally shot at point blank range)

tommy setting michael up and getting him arrested? chefs kiss x1000

tommy and ginas scene was so full of tension, like yall if tommy fucks gina its over. i quit lmao. im just playing, but something about two brilliant actors (yes anya i love you, gina is played so well that i want to shoot her like tommy shot that pigeon) together in a scene with nothing but great dialogue is so thrilling to me. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

plus the casual way tommy mentions the solomons family lmaooo, like yes bring on s6 alfie!!

moving on from my husband for a second.

ADA NAMED HER DAUGHTER ELIZABETH AFTER POLLY. POSSIBLY THE CUTEST THING EVER. JUST MIGHT CRY, SOMEONE HOLD ME.

Ada baby i missed you though. also, shoutout to arthur for making me laugh and want to give him the biggest hug this episode. while he didnt get to be the best santa in the world, he still made an effort to play with the kids while drunk and i think he deserves all the love in the world for that. (seriously though steven, please be easy on arthur, he deserves the world)

subtle brag from lizzie about having a projector from charlie chaplin. go off queen.

lizzie was absolutely flawless this episode and its so refreshing to see a relationship between her and tommy not being forced down our throats, especially when theres obviously not an emotional connection between the two of them. while i think they both love each other, its just not in the way the other needs, and to see them be (somewhat) okay with that is nice.

johnny dogs and his fucking kids, am i right ada?

ruby getting polly's gifts is the cutest but also most painful thing ever. like precious angel has possibly been cursed and i swear if anything happens to her i will actually track SK down and personally fight him (with my words, i cant throw hands at someone who made an amazing show)

the way tommy instantly steps into concerned dad mode had me sobbing (yes i have severe daddy issues, leave me alone).

also the romani!!! (hardest thing to translate, please steven i beg you, help a girl out)

in short, DONT HURT RUBY SHELBY I BEG YOU

theres so much more i can talk about, the ways that particular things could be symbolism (the mud covering half of tommys face, the use of animals, etc.) but i dont want to make this any longer.

if you read this far, thank you. feel free to comment your thoughts if youve seen the episode!!

#peaky blinders season 6 #peaky blinders s6 #peaky season 6 #peaky blinders spoilers #spoilers #season 6 #pb s6 #went on a tangible rant #please let me be

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shaydensdoodle · 4 years

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A Q&A with Oneshi Press, and others! Let’s talk Tracy Queen Vol. 2!

(above artwork by myself of Tracy Queen! @shaydensdoodle)

On March 18th I had the pleasure of talking to some talented creatives over at Oneshi Press, a small business that write, illustrate, and distribute small comics and graphic novels. Their work is full of sox positivity (censored for those nasty algorithms!) and feminist messages. It’s got all kinds of titles from Children of Gaia, to the more current being kickstarted Tracy Queen series under its belt. The independent press also promote a lot of smaller artists and writers, even work by myself! The co-founders Jayel Draco and Lynsey G are a dynamic duo of writing, illustrating and generally promoting strong ideals that really do promote all-round progressiveness. My work has been featured in Oneshi press’ releases multiple times, once in their Oneshi Press Quarterly Anthology #5 and for promotional material in articles and cover illustrations for a chapter in their new volume of Tracy Queen!

In a livestream with JayelDraco, LynseyLags and PeteTheHeat I was fortunate enough to ask some questions on their process, and their new up and coming comic which is a mashup of sexual empowerment, sci-fi and a talking racoon sidekick... And here is how it went! (All answers aren’t quotes! I took notes and summarised the answers for ease of reading)

Q:Do you think about the composition of the whole page when sketching the comic, or do you focus on each individual frame?

Jayel responded that his way of working tends to focus more on what frames need to be within the page and then negotiate how the images work within these frames.

Q: How much focus do you put on world building and setting, compared to the characters... or do you find them too integrated with one another to see them as separate aspects of Tracy Queen?

“It starts off with the little things.” He continues saying how it’ll be for example a fictional store in the background of one frame which goes on to be repeated through a series. his work in Mr. Guy and PACK also show many of the same small details between them. He says about how it’s these subtle things that build the world.

Q: How important is colour to your character designs and comics?

In Tracy queen he mentions how there are two distinct colour palettes of Tracy. One of which is softer purples and textures which is very much the protagonist in her own comfortable environment, which contrasts with the greens and yellows of her battle armour she uses to fight the forces of evil! As a consumer of Jayel’s work I have noticed this use of earth tones which really is unique, and makes his illustrations stand out. When asked about this he just replied with “I just test colours out, and then just make what feels right and intellectualise it afterward.” which is something I needed to hear. So often we are taught to overthink and overly intellectualise our visual choices.. but sometimes we need to just go for it!

Q: When Lynsey writes Tracy queen.. does she provide you with a script format or a book format?

Lynsey immediately replied with saying its done in a script format, but there’s “no set rules to it”, Pete as an author also gave some insight into this adding how its important to give the artist some bases to work off of. “Go into it as if you’re going to micro-manage the artist.. then take a step back. It’s important that you don’t over direct.” It’s clear that its a fine line working as an author alongside an illustrator in terms of allowing for room for creativity equally on both sides, this is something I feel Lynsey and Jayel have balanced perfectly. Both of their personal voices shine brightly through this new upcoming comic and I really can’t wait to see it get funded and put out into the world!

As conversation naturally flowed here are a few more things I picked up on! Jayel spoke about how Tracy is sexy, theres no doubt about it , but he’s proud of how he can show her being gross and slob like at times and not be afraid of it. It’s Tracy’s SELF-EMPOWERMENT and CONFIDENCE that makes her sexy. And I feel like this message of self empowerment is something I really hope to also take forward in my own work as an illustrator. This message of self-empowerment is something we NEED in this political climate in the western world right now, and we need to do this from the ground up starting with small aspects of visual culture eventually leading to it being promoted on a larger scale in pop-culture.

As whacky and weird as this sex positive sci-fi about a Love Warrior and a talking racoon sidekick is. It’s beautiful. If you get the chance PLEASE go check out their current kickstarter campaign and if you can’t do that then at least help them by spreading the word! Let’s get this comic funded, and let’s help promote these small indie creatives as much as we can.

Oneshi press | Tracy Queen Kickstarter | My Socials

Lynsey G is an award winning author, publisher, journalist and all around badass creative. Her works are always very forward thinking, sox positive and full of eye opening content surrounding the P*rn industry, sox workers and the role of women in writing and the sox industry. A co-founder of Oneshi Press.

Jayel Draco is a visual artist who’s career spans from visual effects, graphic design, web design, photography all the way to illustration and narrative design. His work is reminiscent of Golden Age comics, without being too directly referential and always shows an empathic view of the world and our experiences on planet earth. A co-founder of Oneshi Press.

Peter Lampasona wrote War & Horses from Children of Gaia series. He also provides fight choreography &consultation for several Oneshi Press projects. Find out more here: http://www.oneshipress.com/team-credits/

#kickstarter #indiecomics #sockspositive #comic #comicartist #illustration #interview #oneshipress #tracyqueen

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memedokies · 7 years

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(almost) every anon ask since fall 2016

if u havent noticed i am BAD at answering asks so here’s a Big Dump of most of the asks i’ve gotten in the past few months

ps; i’ve excluded pokemon suggestions bc i plan on getting to them at some point

Hihihi!!! What brushes do you use in fire alpaca?? i dont do much in firealpaca (esp not lately lol) but when i did use it a lot i just used the fill bucket and the standard/default brush to fill in gaps n such lol! i dont really draw in it, i used flash/adobe animate for the lineart and just fill in color in firealpaca :3

when did you start animating? uhh when i was around 11 or 12 when i started digital art i guess? i just used photoshop for the longest time then got flash when i was like 15 or so

How did you get flash? i got the creative cloud dealie, its technically required for my school :—-0

hello!! what are you majoring in in vcu?? im thinking about going there for college im in communication arts! omg cool lmk if u come here ill tell u where to get the best bubble tea

how many fps do you use for your wiggly animations? i work at 24 fps in flash on twos but just end up using photoshop’s 0 second frame delay/ “no delay”?

Hey love your animations! What do you animate with? adobe animate 2017! (previously flash)

You mentioned a YouTube channel but I can’t seem to find a link to it? Do you post processes on there? https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCovvoZxlQjFaIA7A3w_94Zw theres not much atm but i plan on posting a lot more, including process/speedpaints!

i really like your art style gosh darn!!! everythings so fluid and stylized and nice aaa (also ur animations are goals) do u have any tips for someone still developing their artstyle???? WAH TYSM!!!!! compile art you already like and incorporate aspects from their styles into yours, BUT dont limit urself to one style! if u like something then try it out! do straight up copies (as PRACTICE, DONT CLAIM IT as your own ofc) of stuff you like to see how they work and what you’re clicking with. spending time on fundamentals is MEGA helpful so keep going back to that too! USE REFERENCES!!! draw …from ur soul…what makes u ..FEEL good

how do you make that burn effect on your lineart? it makes it your pieces look sharper and even more interesting, it’s super cool!! when i used to use flash for lineart and firealpaca for coloring a lot, setting the lineart layer on BURN with the coloring layer seeping a lil past the lineart would get this effect automatically

(like on the whiskers. u can see it gets a brighter brown(?) and the warmer yellow on the ears)

but since then i’ve been using sai+photoshop more so i just do it manually! i’ll use this funny pic of me and my cat as an example lol

^i select the lineart/everything i want the funky color around

^slam that INCREMENT button a couple times

^make a new layer under the lineart

^fill that puppo with ur preferred color! something brighter works best, or even straight up white

that’ll give you something like this

then i open it in photoshop

and i mess with the pink line layer’s blending mode..color burn usually does the trick but depending on the Look you’re going for, saturation, multiply and overlay have some similar effects that look cool.

i also usually get rid of the outermost edge of pink line that’s visible around the lineart, just so it looks a little cleaner? to do that you just select around your lineart, increment/expand selection, and delete/erase in the selection of the pink line layer

uhh yeah! lmk if anyone needs clarification on this, i have some other #TIPS on makin ur art look crusty and funky so…lemme know if you’re interested :—3

What do you use to animate? And, a more specific question, how do you make transparent animated gifs? adobe animate 2017! (previously flash) i export my animation from flash as a png sequence then open it in photoshop, where the background will be transparent and save it as a gif from there nyaaa

if anyone needs more clarification lmk and i’ll make a proper walkthrough :-0

Hello!! Ur art is rlly pretty and so inspirational and nice to look at!! 💗💗 I was wonderin’ if ya had any tips on choosing shapes for characters? Like, when you draw shapes for a certain character, it looks rlly like it fits with the character’s personality n stuff!! ( e.g: Your Love Live! drawings!! The characters look so good in your style.) I’ve always admired how u did that n was hoping for some tips maybe?? Anyways, have a good day!!💛💖💟💜💝💞💖 HOOGA!! TYSM!!! and YEA you basically guessed it, i mainly just think about the character’s personality and translate that into a shape or Pheeling…

especially for anime characters i look at the Very Subtle differences in the character’s original design..or possibly canon implications…for example kotori has slightly different eyes (it also says on her wiki page she has soft droopy eyes!) so i make sure to incorporate that Detãile

anime wiki pages that have details like that is nice, for love live they have cute lil “charm points” which is really cool n helpful! listening to how a character is described in their world can give clues to what differentiates them which you can make more clear in your design

taking into account each characters context is good too, what they do/hobby/personality and how that could affect their appearance/posture/attitude

YEAH its really fun to figure out certain characteristics and make it evident in their appearance! or. idk thats just what i do lol. hopefully this helps!

Have you ever seen the anime jojos bizarre adventure? alas i have not..i have some friends whom are into it so i’ll prob end up watching it sometime lol

sorry if this is obvious but!! are you the creator of Fork and Knife: Food Fighters?? your gif of fork is super cute btw!! yes i am!! wah tysm!!

Hey my little sister found your animation on an online art gallery and she really loved it! omg cool, thanks so much!!

Your style is so lovely!! OHG thanks!

your blog is so precious i love it a lot! your art is so cute too ^u^ waa thanks!!

Your art and animations art really cool! Keep up the good work! You are amazing!! aahg thank you!! :’333

your art is fuckening amazing hh broe…tysm

Oh my gee, I used to follow you on Deviant Art, and now here I am, finding you on accident. You’re still as talented as ever. =w= b hUIOpugh deviantart, my homeland..my origin.. thank you!!!

- O mg I love your art! 💕💕💕 thank you!! heart emojis!!! 💖💖💖

- your art and animations give me so much inspiration, thank you! everything about your style is so fun and it cheers me up omg this validates my top tier goal in life, im so glad!! thank you SO much!

Your style is so charming and adorable ;__; thank you!!

ur art is so gross in the best way possible this is the biggest compliment ive gotten thank u so much. i love making gross squishy awful drawings

IM SO HAPPY I FOUND YOU!!!! IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU FOR AGES!!!!!!!!! I LIVE FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL ART!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! BHOLY CRAP THANK YOU!!!

your art style is very cute ! 🌱 oohg thanks!! thanks for the little sprout emoji, i love her

GOOD ART!!!! good art good art good art EVERYWHERE I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! OHHGG THANK YUO

how do ya draw such cutely its driving me nuts Nuts NUTS !!! I LOVE SPARKLES AND BRIGHT COLORS AND FUNNY ANIMALS..its my lifeblood..thank u..

You’re a really rad artist! I’m Glad there’s some cool artists that are local! Have a good time at VCU! oh wow thanks!!

Ur shapes r so good thanks i LOVE a nice wholesome shape!

I rlly like ur art style my dude thanks!!

hi! just wanted to let u know that you’re wonderful and i wish u well in everything u do this is making me bVERY HAPPY THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

Im love You!! IM L OVE YIOU

that meowth boy is so good. i love him as he is my son THANK YUO i too, love meowth a Lot

I love how your art is basically lines and curves, it’s very cute oo thanks!

i love your art style so much!! it’s so zesty? i cant think of a better word to describe but its like. zesty & refreshing & rly rly cool !!! THATS A BEAUTIFUL ADJECTIVE I LOVE IT thank u so much!!!

You seem like you would watch Osomatsu-san. I could see you drawin dem bois in you hella rad art style. osomatsu was the wildest ride of my life. tho i dont think i could physically be able to sit down and draw them seriously ever…

Pls make more angry cat comics theyr so halarious plllls 👀 more are on the way!!!!!!

Have you done a meet the artist i sketched one when the meme was still poppin..is it too late lol? maybe i’ll still do it

#asks

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musicvideoprojectakamuka · 5 years

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Music Video

Ideas

Originally for this project I was planning on lip syncing a song but then I found out that it wasn’t allowed because of copyright laws, so I was really lost on what to do. I considered contacting a dancing group to dance cover a song, but I just couldn’t see it with out a few lip syncing.

I also contacted a grime group but things didn’t work out between me and them so I had to find something else.

So after a lot of thought I decided to go with one of funniest songs I know, Moustache from ‘A million ways to die in the West’.

youtube

I love this catch song, filled with moments that make you just want to dance. Also the light hearted nature of it makes even more enjoyable to listen to.

Before I get into this project let me tell you about the music I listen to and what I like to see in a music video.

Music and visual taste:

I literally listen to anything that sounds good, doesn’t matter if I understand it or not, as long as it is “music to my ears” then I will play it, and if it happens to have a good video with then that’s a bonus.

A genre in particular that never fails to disappoint with their music video is k-pop. I love me some k-pop. The genre is based on songs that have a choreography to it which makes it easy and perfect to sync, but the visual effects and concepts they come up with is just crazy and so inspiring.

Take Idol by BTS.

youtube

There are so many creative concepts that inspire me not just musically but visually in general.

The over the top outfits complimented by the over the top art style goes so well, there is much colour and you could see all of it, on the left side its more warm, but towards the right its cooler.

More vivid colours and patterns, creating a frame for the singer who is also dressed in a colourful fashion.

This shot in particular caught my attention when I saw it, its so in your face and loud you’d want to go back and replay it.

Another music video I looked at was also from BTS called Mic Drop

youtube

There are couple of great shots and synchronization in this music video.

When the beat drops the clinch their fists and explosion goes of behind them... SO AWESOME.

But this shot/technique is what I love the most, having the background slow mo while the foreground is moving at normal speed. So everything in the blue outline is slow mo’d and the solo singer is moving and dancing at real time.

Another music video that adapted that technique was also from a k-pop group called TWICE.

https://youtu.be/V2hlQkVJZhE?t=123

They must’ve filmed the background singers separately and the main singer, the one that will play at normal speed on a green screen, then keyed her and composited her into the footage.

I really want to adapt this technique into my work.

The final k-pop video I would like to mention is Exid: ah yeah

https://youtu.be/egqDPipqIAg?t=104

What I like about this is that they have split personality/alter egos to help get their narrative across.

Synchronization:

What makes music videos so powerful is the syncing of the music and the visuals, this could be done either through a visual effect technique, clever editing or physical movement.

The following are example starting of at the syncing part

https://youtu.be/V2hlQkVJZhE?t=184

The dancing is so in sync with the music that even the little “dundun” the dancer shakes her thigh, also the cinematographer also played a huge part in the sync zooming in and out, and the editor changing the setting while maintaining the dance’s continuity.

https://youtu.be/9_k_goMr5ZI?t=136

This one is more subtle but I love it, when the rapper says “life styyyyyyyle” the camera pans for the duration of “yyyyyyyyle” giving it a very nice sync feel.

https://youtu.be/6ONRf7h3Mdk?t=289

I could write a whole essay on Sicko Mode, how the variation of the vfx styles match the variation of flows on the song. But lets talk about the specific syncing example, the jagged flips are so sudden and quick they match the beat perfectly, but they’re so subtle yet so obvious, but it syncs to the beat so we just accept it with out really thinking about it.

Cartoon Music videos:

Everything I’ve spoken about up till now was to do with live action, I would’ve implemented some of these techniques into my project but I decided to go down the motion graphics side.

youtube

I really like this because of the simplicity of the art style and the retro look which reminds you of an old game. There is little movement in it but it doesn’t feel like a flat image because the elements are animated which gives it more life.

https://youtu.be/oHKVS-vphXA

This one is dear to me because its from my favourite anime, ‘Gintama’, the first half of it is very artistic with simple animations with little movement, but its done in such a tasteful way, they added shadow drops to the characters to make them stand out and I really like. The second half is your standard anime animation.

youtube

This one is a beast, the animators really out did themselves, on the contrary to the previous cartoon videos I mentioned, this one is full of movement and effects. This really shows that the only diffrenece between this and an live action music video is that these are cartoons, but other than that it really does feel like a music video.

https://youtu.be/rQvIR1oL1vE

Bojack horseman opening is also very simplistic but it gave me the idea to use simple cartoon 3D using maya’s toon shaders.

Moustache Music Video:

I decided that it was only suitable to have a moustache lead singer for this song.

But I had to decide what style of moustache, an audition if you will.

In the end I decided to go with this, I like how detailed it looks but it could still fit a light hearted role.

The vibe I was going for is to give him human features since he’s performing, so I gave him legs which are basically stick legs, I’ve tried adding a guitar and hands but it didn’t look good at all.

But that hat worked out well, I kind of animated it in an overly cartoony way which I think fits the theme and the vibe of the song.

In this song I kind of decided to take a satire political approach by getting two moustache-less gentlemen and placing moustaches on them to give them “looks” and “dash”.

Hitler and Stalin moustaches.

The borders for the portraits is made of from smaller moustaches aligned a rectangular border. I thought it would give it more flavour instead of just having a plain rectangular border.

To add to this scene I added the moustache dancing along to give the feel that the moustache is dancing around the video environment and acting almost like a host.

Character animation:

This was my first time trying to animate a character, so I don’t really know how to optimise and use my time efficiently, so I ended up duplicating a lot of the layers, and some of the layers were animated frame by frame.

But then I figured out the time remapping expression which allows you to loop animations and that really came in hand.

Also in order to give the moustache a bit more life I used the puppet tool on some of the animations to give it a bit of a dynamic wind blow.

3D Toon:

I decided to make some sort of sign and I wanted it to look 3D, orginally I attempted doing it in after effects using roto, but then I figured I would just use maya toon shader.

I made two versions of each light sign, lighting one and skipping one. This gives the illusion of animation.

There were some problem as you imagine using the toon shader for the first time, for example some of the outline over lined, some lights bugged out and didn’t display their textures.

But the outline was great it really was the cherry on top for the toon effect.

I also used the toon shader on a piano to place on the stage since I felt it was sort of empty.

3D no toon

3D with toon.

Another thing I did to make things not seem so bland is give the sign a wood texture in after effects just to give it more character.

Evaluation:

Overall I didn’t optimise my time for this project and kind of did the whole thing in a week and a half. But am half impressed with my results, but theres so much more that could be improved. For example adding more animations and doing more of the song. However I am really pleased with the toon shading turn out and I will defiantly try play around with it more, same thing with the puppet tool.

I didn’t have time towards the end so I reused the animations at the beginning, I was planning on adding some other characters alongside the moustache, like a scissor playing the piano and a comb dancing on the side.

I might also look into more basic character animation just for fun, because it is enjoyable to see the results.

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thesffcorner · 5 years

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February Wrap Up

Despite being the shortest month of the year, I read 7 books and 10 graphic novels, or 17 things in total. It was also another month where I read a lot of diverse genres: I read 10 contemporaries, 4 of which were thriller/mysteries, and 6 of which were romance; 4 sci-fi, 1 speculative historical romance, 1 fantasy romance and 1 historical fantasy. Instead of doing highest to lowest, since I have so many graphic novels and some are part of the same series, I decided to group them by the date read, so without further ado, let’s get into it.

Fence vol. 1-3 by C S Pacat and Joanna the Mad (3, 4, 3 stars)

I wanted to read this series for a while, and I finally binged it this February. Fence follows Nicholas, a young fencer with a complicated past and poor background who comes to Kings Row, a school with the fourth best fencing programs in the country. There, to his shock he finds Senji, a junior champion with Olympic aspirations; and the two can’t stand each-other.

This series is just a whole lot of fun. It’s written like a Western style sports anime/manga, and Joanna the Mad’s artstyle is very reminiscent of manga, with lots of action line, pretty boys and expressive, large eyes. The first volume is a fine set up of Nicholas’ first confrontation with Senj, and arriving at the school, while the second and third volume deal with the qualifications at the school for who will make the fencing team. As Nick is on an athletic scholarship, he has to qualify or he gets kicked out, but like many of these series go, he has some stiff competition, and develops friendships with said competition.

I really enjoyed the dynamic between all the characters, especially Senji and Nicholas, and if you’re a fan of sports anime, cute queer comics, or painfully slow-burn enemies to lovers stories, check this out.

Check, Please! Year 3 by Ngozi Ukazu (4 stars)

The first thing I read in February was the third volume of Check, Please! This was as cute as the previous 2 volumes, as it follows Bittie’s third year in college. What struck out to me upon rereading this specific year, is that it actually has way more angst and conflict than I remember it having; there’s a lot here about Bittie and Jack coming to terms with not just their long distance relationship, but also coming out and finding acceptance within the confines of a major sports league like the NHL. It also deals a lot with Bittie coming to terms with the hockey team changing as Ransom, Holster and Lardo graduate. Overall, a good continuation of the story.

Deadly Class vol 1-2 by Rick Remender and Wes Craig (3, 2, 2 stars)

Deadly Class is a series that if I had started reading when I was in late high school, early college, I know I would have loved. However now, as an adult, I find it grating, pretentious, and far too extreme for no real reason. The story aspects that I liked the most, I’ve also already seen or read in far better works; it doesn’t help that up to volume 3, there are only 2 characters left that I remotely care about, and one of them just got introduced in that volume.

The series follows a group of kids who go to an elite training school for assassins. We mostly follow Marcus, the son of a Nicaraguan expats, who ends up at the school after he meets Saya and a few of the other students during a stick up. Though the first volume started out promising, volumes 2 and 3 kept getting less and less good, and unless something drastically changes in my life, I can’t see myself continuing on with this series.

Contagion by Erin Bowman (3 stars)

This is a sci-fi book set in the near-distant future, and it follows the crew of Odyssey, a research vessel that is sent to Black Quarry to investigate a distress signal. Once there, the crew realizes that something bad has happened, as they find bodies and a potentially deadly thing haunting them; and the mysterious ‘young boy’ the engineer of Black Quarry warns them about is not making matters any easier.

This was a rather mediocre sci-fi, but I still enjoyed it. As it’s part of a duology I will definitely be finishing the story out, but as is it doesn’t do too much with this well-tread premise. Bowman does have a good grasp on action and suspense, but a lot of the character decisions in the novel were akin to ones characters in Blumhouse horrors make, and considering most of them are some form of scientists, that wasn’t an ideal route to take. Still if you enjoy stories about aliens, sentient viruses, isolated space incidents and horror, it’s worth checking out.

Prince Charming by Rachel Hawkins (4 stars)

This is the first book in a series of contemporary romances, all centering around the fiction crown family of Scotland. In this first novel we follow Daisy, the younger sister of Eli, who gets engaged to Andrew, the Crown Prince of Scotland. After an incident in a parking lot with her ex, Daisy gets blackmailed into spending the summer in Scotland with her sister and fiance, and get acquainted with the royal family; cue shenanigans, romance and lots of sisterly yelling.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book; it was very funny and entertaining, and I haven’t related to a characters quite like I did to Daisy, since Princess Mia Thermopolis. While there are some tropes these stories tend to have, Hawkins manages to avoid a lot of the cliches, and she actually has some really good commentary on the economy of the royal family, the outdated and outright sexist traditions, the close-mindedness, and the prejudice that both sides are steeped in at the start. I found the romance very cute, the shenanigans were funny and entertaining, and I will definitely be reading the sequel.

Heart of Gold Part 1 by Eli and Viv (4 stars)

This is an webcomic that I stumbled onto by complete accident, but it blew me away. It follows Ionel, a concert pianist who is slowly losing his sight, and Kasper a priest with the power to heal people. Ionel moves to the small town and starts attending mass, in hopes that Kasper will heal him, but every time it gets close to, or his turn, Kasper refuses to help him. Through his attendance, the two become close, with Kasper seeming to have a crisis of faith, all while people from the town start dying; and they might be connected to Kasper.

This comic drew me in almost immediately. The art is absolutely beautiful, and it’s hard to believe that this is a free web comic. The story too is very mature and interesting; it deals a lot with religion, faith, and sacrifice, and the slow build of Isonel and Kaspar’s relationship feels very natural. I can’t wait for Act 2, and I’m really hoping the answers to what is happening in the town deliver on the build up we’ve gotten so far.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson (3 stars)

I heard about this book a lot when it came out, and I decided to check it out, since it’s a mystery following a girl who wants to become an FBI agent, coming to Ellingham Academy, a Montessori type private school, to solve an old cold case; that of the founder, Albert Ellingham’s daughter’s kidnapping.

I won’t lie; this book did not live up to the hype for me, though it was entertaining. I have a much longer and more detailed review of why, but it mostly boiled down to a few things. First, I didn’t like that it ends of a cliffhanger, and we get no answers; this is a bit odd for a mystery, especially a series which has more than two books. Second, I thought the way the past and present mystery connected wasn’t very well done, and I kept losing interest in the past, because of the way the book was written. And finally, I found some of the writing dry and lacking in proper atmosphere.

However, I still enjoyed the story, and the main character of Steve, and I will probably read the sequel, since I still want to know what happens.

S.T.A.G.S. by M A Bennet (3 stars)

S.T.A.G.S. is a British thriller, set in Saint Aidan the Great’s School or STAGS, a private boarding school with a long tradition. When new student Greer gets invited to a weekend of huntin, shootin, fishin at the estate of the leader of the most popular clique in the school, Henry, she accepts, not knowing what waits for her; and what does is a nightmare that might turn deadly, where the hunting, shooting, and fishing, might be a little too real and dangerous.

I really enjoyed this thriller; I thought it was entertaining, fast paced and had a plot that kept me invested to the end. I also weirdly enjoyed the subtle romance between two of the characters, which isn’t often the case.

However, this book isn’t without it’s problems. The ending is a bit predictable, and having seen the Riot Club, I knew what I was getting into, in terms of what the weekend actually entailed. I also found that the book lacked a lot of tension, because we found out early on who lives through it. However, it was still enjoyable, and if you like these types of thrillers set in boarding schools or private estates, I think you will enjoy this one.

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson (4 stars)

Like Prince Charming before, I was genuinely surprised at how much I ended up enjoying this book, because when I started it, I was really caught off guard by the humor. However, once I got used to it, this became one of the funniest things I read this month.

Undead Girl Gang is a horror/comedy that follows Mila, a Mexican-American teenager who practices Wicca. After her best friend Riley supposedly commits suicide, just a week after a double suicide of two of her other classmates, Mila decides to perform a spell and bring Riley back; but instead she brings all three of the girls back. The problem? They can’t stand each-other, and if they don’t want to be walking zombies, they need to stay within a 100 steps of Mila.

This book was hilarious and very dark. I really enjoyed all the relationships between the girls, and I found the look at grief very well done and moving. The ending was climactic, and the conclusions Mila comes to worked well for me; if you enjoyed the Craft, Mean Girls or Heathers, check this out, you will probably like it.

Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi (5 stars)

This was by far my favorite thing I read this month. I struggled writing a review for it, because I just didn’t know how to talk about it without just relegating to spoilers and gushing about the characters and the puzzles. It’s a book that follows a group of thieves, who steal magical artifacts, each with their own motivations and goals. When they steal a magical Chinese compass, the discover that it leads them to a Horus Eye; an artifact so powerful it can show them the way to the fabled Fragment of Babel.

It’s the Mummy, mixed with National Treasure, mixed with Ocean’s 11. It’s fun heist story, set during the Exposition Universelle, and if you are like me at all and like any of these things, you will love this book.

Sleepless vol. 1 by Sarah Vaughan (4 stars)

This was probably my favorite of the graphic novels I read; it’s a fantasy that follows Poppy, the illegitimate daughter of a King, and a famous star reader. When her father the King dies, Poppy is forced to navigate court life, as his brother takes the throne, but things become increasingly hard as several assassination attempts are made, and her Sleepless protector Cyrenic starts drifting.

There’s just something about this series that ticks all my boxes. The art is absolutely gorgeous, the story is interesting and a bit different from the usual fantasy I read, and the Sleepless vow is a very unique type of magic. To top it off, I really like the two leads, Poppy and Cyrenic and I’m curious to see what turn the story will take after the ending we get in issue 6.

Motor Crush vol. 1 by Brenden Fletcher (3 stars)

I’ve been meaning to start this series for a while, and I finally did in February, and man was it a great time to do this, fresh after seeing Battle Angel Alita.

This follows Domino, a bike racer, who is trying to make it big and qualify for the world circuit. However, to survive she needs Crash, an illegal substance that is used to fuel the bikes in this universe, but she needs to inhale it. Through the first volume we find out a bit about her mysterious past, her ex-girlfriend Lola, and a man who seems to either want to help her or kill her; all while she races to win the qualifications and the Crash.

This series was a fun, fast paced ride, but it’s not without its problems. The art is beautiful, but the story needs some more polishing; there’s too many plot threads and not enough time to develop them. I can’t imagine how things will resolve in the next volume after that climax, but I will definitely be continuing it; the world was gripping enough to have me enjoy it, and Domino was a character I definitely rooted for.

Umbrella Academy vol. 1 by Gerard Way (3 stars)

Since the show is all anyone talks about, I decided to finally start this series and boy is it cooky. We follow the Umbrella Academy, a group of 7, who were adopted by a crazy millionaire savant Reginald Hargreeves, after being born in a spontaneous event all over the world where 48 mothers gave birth. Hargreeves trains the kids to stop the apocalypse, and now 10 years after his death brings 6 of the 7 back to his house, unaware that the apocalypse is here; and it’s a direct consequence of their reunification.

There is a lot of good and a lot of weird in this series. The characters have glimpses of interesting personalities and the idea of 7 kids being raised from birth to be superheroes by a man who is a British version of Ra’s al Ghul is interesting. But unfortunately the series doesn’t fully explore this, and the ending is really abrupt. The humor is quirky, and sometimes it works, but more often it makes the tone weirdly uneven, as we swing from graphic, albeit cartoon violence to slapstick. I think the show does a much better job with the tone, and while this first volume gets a lot right, it’s by no means perfect.

Sadie by Courtney Summers (4 stars)

This was by far the hardest book I’ve read in a long time. It’s a mystery that follows Sadie, a girl who disappears after her younger sister is brutally assaulted and murdered; and West McCray, a podcast host who is retracing her steps, trying to find her. It’s a book about grief, assault, pedophilia, violence and the lies we tell ourselves so we don’t have to think about what happens to girls in this world, and it’s dower, dreary and oh so real. It made me feel things I don’t normally do when I read, and if you can stomach the content, I recommend it. If you can, get the audiobook; it’s a full cast and the podcast bits are done like a real podcast, which makes the story feel that much more immersive.

The Disasters by M K England (5 stars)

I needed something light and fun after the last two things I read in February, and this was the perfect way to end my month. This was my favorite book I read so far, maybe even more than the Gilded Wolves. It’s a sci-fi that follows a group of 4 rejects from Space Academy who have to work together to survive a terrorist attack, and prevent another one from happening. It’s fast paced, incredibly entertaining, and I fell in love with all the characters.

I absolutely cannot wait for whatever else M K England publishes, and I loved this to pieces.

#february 2019 wrap up #2019 reading #february wrap up #moni talks #book review

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