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#yeah just because i want to develop my art style a bit
theroundbartable · 2 years
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Challenge me to art :)
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canmom · 2 months
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Comics mini-Comints: Dungeon Meshi
reread dungeon meshi through to the end. still such a great manga. here are immediate thoughts - if I end up having time and energy I hope I can write something that goes deeper!
ironically i was only a few chapters from the end when I stopped keeping up, but I was struggling to remember all the characters and context, so reading it through in one go was definitely an ideal way to achieve maximum impact there.
ryoko kui does a very elegant job of handling a transition from 'silly antics' to 'big dramatic fantasy' while still keeping the central thematic throughline - eating and being eaten, belonging to an ecosystem, the significance of sacrificing others to achieve your own desires. a lot of setups pay off in a way that feels meticulously planned - and of course the crux of the final showdown revolves around characters attempting to eat each other, of course the big payoff is a huge feast that symbolically unites all the conflicting factions. it is maybe a bit too neat and happy for my taste, but it's undeniably tightly executed - it never loses sight of what it's about. especially compared to something like Frieren, it's an incredibly coherent serialisation, up there with e.g. Fullmetal Alchemist.
kui's art style deserves all kinds of praise - it feels effortlessly simple, but it clearly communicates all sorts of different shapes and body types and it's really fun to see her play around with remixing the different visual elements when she switches the races around. in general Laius's autistic monster loving ways clearly reflect kui's own deeply felt appreciation for all the ways people and animals live (accentuated further by all the extra sketches the scanlators tuck in). in a way you could kinda call it like Parts Unknown the fantasy manga.
the stakes of the final conflict are interesting - there is much to be said about the framing of 'desire' and its fulfilment, of this occult idea of 'the infinite'. lots you could put in relation to other manga, and also buddhism. (in particular I really want to develop a comparison to Made In Abyss, there are so many parallels, it just might be too spicy for tumblr lmao).
one thing I really like about it is how much its fantasy dungeon-exploring setting owes to D&D and other TTRPGs, rather than videogames. monster ecology has been a fascination of that game since the early days of Dragon magazine, and Kui sharply zeroes in on some of the intrinsic conflicts baked in to that fantasy milieu, notably the lifespan thing, while smartly avoiding the traps of 'evil races'. there's some really fun nods to the weirder monster manual entries. and in a story with so many characters and factions, it does a genuinely incredible job of furnishing everyone with understandable, reasonable motivations, conflicts drawn from their context just like the monsters are explained by their ecology.
and one thing that I particularly appreciate is like... how much it is able to simultaneously understand and sympathise with a character and also show us how and why they'd rub others the wrong way. it's impossible not to like our main group, they're all such charming dorks and the manga leads you along with all the crazy rpg party shit they do, but at the same time you definitely find yourself thinking 'guy's got a point' in the kabru chapters lmao. I'm projecting hard bc i don't really know a thing about ryōko kui but laius def feels like the sort of depiction of having an autism that you can only do if you've lived it.
but yeah, it's a fuzzy ending where it all turns out well. but what's the deeper thrust of it all? there's a funny moment where marcille is like 'maybe in the end our journey is about learning to accept death' and the grouchy old gnome guy completely laughs this off as naive, because death doesn't mean anything. and indeed their big plan pays off, and falin does indeed come back just fine. but still, through all of this it asks you to bite the bullet that being a living creature means eating to survive, at the cost of other creatures, with the other side being that one day you too will be eaten. in contrast to this honest way of being is the beguiling fantasy of infinity, where all your desires are immediately fulfilled - this is shown as a dangerous path of corruption that produces madness and manipulability. having limits and rubbing up against the wishes of others, or 'doing things you don't want to do' as izutsumi's arc puts it, becomes necessary for having some kind of definition as a subject. the thing that makes the demon concrete as an entity is a desire, or appetite, that can't immediately be fulfilled.
of course we can connect this to the idea of narrative conflict. a standard advice for putting together a plot is to ask what each character wants and why they can't get it. wanting something implies movement. and indeed over the course of this story, we see that while having too many desires fulfilled too readily leads to incoherence and callousness, equally a character who is left catatonic as their desires have been eaten by the demon must be reawakened to activity by finding a new desire.
it's kinda Buddhist innit. neither the opulence of the palace nor asceticism. desires are what tie you to the world. but mixed with ecology: what a creature does to find the energy to live is what defines its lifestyle, its form.
this is probably where I'd start talking about entropy gradients and shit if i wasn't typing this on a phone at 1:30am lmao.
but yeah - it's a powerful move to go from 'D&D monster recipe show sendup' to 'living with the inherently violent nature of being an organism fated to live in a finite sum game' and yet Dungeon Meshi makes it feel natural and convincing, while remaining tremendously charming and funny throughout. ryōko kui is definitely some kind of genius, and I can't wait to see what her next act is gonna be. it's all definitely making me appreciate the act of eating a lot more.
next story on my plate is probably The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere, which sounds like it will present a very gnarly thematic contrast.
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chochuuya · 4 months
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manga genres.
matsuno chifuyu x fem!reader
disclaimer/note: lots of bickering, chifuyu is a hardcore, he called you a dork and actually roasts you bad but.. finally breaks his christmas curse? (。- .•)
wc: 1.6k [1668]
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you both can never get along when it comes to your manga preferences.
“shut up.” chifuyu sneers.
“no, you shut up!” you say in return.
it’s been about 30 minutes since you first started arguing. chifuyu is a softie at heart, and enjoyed the romance genre. while you were a person of action, enjoying the thriller genre much more.
“the art style is so much better. i don’t even know how you can read a story with such bad flow!” he argued.
you scoffed, turning your head away for a second before looking back at him.
“bad story flow? how dare you. as if your fav isn’t so predictable and mundane, chifuyu. trust me, action is sooo much better than romance.”
“well at least my favourite doesn’t have bad character development! at least they have likeable characters with diverse personalities, compared to your fav show where everyone is plain and boring.” chifuyu says, clearly not going to budge.
“oh, and your fav also has shitty romance.” he adds with a smirk.
he’s getting annoying, you swear you could punch his dumb face but you decided against it.
“well, at least my manga has plot twists and actually keeps their audience wanting for more! your romance? twelve episodes and we’re done. you can just read another of the same genre and you’ll get same plot every time.”
“oh no plot twists, huh?” chifuyu retorts gleefully.
“like who died in the latest chapter or some other bullcrap like that? i rather read and watch something where i can relax and enjoy.” the blond says, “you know, something that doesn't overstimulate your brain.”
“and plus, with romance i get to enjoy some sweet and spicy scenes that i like so much.”
he adds cheekily, “besides, i hate waiting a week for the next chapter. romance is much better than that.”
you scoffed in disbelief. the audacity and ego of his is something else.
“maybe your attention span is just too short to be watching or reading action, chifuyu!”
“and maybe your brain is a bit too simple compared to mine.” he retorts snarkily, “maybe you need constant action and stimulation to keep you entertained, because you get bored too easily.”
“and, it doesn’t matter how long a manga or anime is, it’s the enjoyment and the quality of it that counts. and clearly romance does it best.” he adds smugly, knowing he’s won in his eyes.
you actually rolled my eyes at his reasoning.
“maybe your authors keep dragging the story because they know romance and slice of life is just too simple without any action in it! yeah, what about that?”
“not to mention some of your favourites are quite questionable, chifuyu. what was it again.. oshi no ko? fruits basket? yuck!” you added.
chifuyu chuckles in amusement at your annoyance.
“you know what else is funny? i bet you can’t watch a romantic comedy without feeling cringe or getting embarrassed. and i mean real romcoms, like wotakoi and kaguya-sama.”
"and yeah, they’re my favourites, the anime just elevated them more. i mean come on, they’re cute and funny! and oshi no ko’s mystery and drama, even the comedy at times! how can you hate them?!” he states, annoyed.
“you bet i do, i don’t know how you feel all giddy inside when watching or reading them. maybe you’re just a hopeless romantic!”
you laughed wholeheartedly at your own remark.
“kaguya-sama? even i know better romances than you, ao haru ride and kimi ni todoke is so much better.”
“you know nothing, (y/n).” chifuyu says, amused.
“i admit kaguya-sama has its flaws, but it’s so damn good too. and ao haru ride is nothing but a sad, slow-burn romance that is painfully boring." he says, feeling a bit annoyed at your remark.
“and kimi ni todoke? again, slow-burn that is a bit too cliché.” he adds before saying, “i’d rather read or watch wotakoi. that’s a much better romance manga.”
you sighed in defeat. just hurts your throat trying to even get your argument against him.
chifuyu laughs, “told you! you clearly don’t know enough about manga and anime. you should learn from me, (y/n)!”
“and maybe, just maybe, if you try to change your tastes in manga and anime, you’d start attracting people who like the same thing as you.” he smirks, knowing he hit a nerve with that last comment of his.
you nudged him.
“you say that as if i don’t hear you complaining every christmas that you can’t get a girl, chifuyu. shut up!”
he goes silent, a slight redness creeping into his skin, “h-hey, c’mon! you didn’t have to point that out!” he says, trying to defend himself.
“besides, one day i’ll get a girlfriend.. just you wait—” he grumbles, looking away.
“yeah, whatever. i would probably be dead before you even can get yourself a girl.”
he goes silent again. his face seems to get redder, his annoyance clear.
“what’s that supposed to mean? you think i can’t have a girlfriend?” chifuyu retorts, annoyed.
he didn’t appreciate you mocking him like that.
“um, yeah. every time a girl talks to you, you chicken out. be grateful that i stayed.”
his face turns to disbelief at your words, still red with anger.
“i chicken out? chicken out?! that’s rich coming from you, who’s too scared to ask anyone out on a date.” he says, not backing down.
“and at least i’m not an introvert who gets anxiety whenever they meet new people, scared of embarrassing themselves and avoiding any and all social situations.” he adds, being as brutal as he can be.
your jaw dropped but you quickly compose yourself. don’t let him get to you just yet!
“h-huh? what do you even know about dating?! i bet i have more chance than you do, chifuyu.”
he chuckles in amusement at your outburst.
“oh you’re just all bark, no bite, (y/n). i’ve been on a few dates, sure maybe none of them really lasted, but at least i’ve been on some. you can’t say the same, can you?”
“and i doubt anyone would wanna go out with a dork like you anyway,” he adds with a smirk.
you had enough. you stood up from the floor of his room and exited the door. wow, so much of a hangout!
“hey hey hey, where do you think you’re going, (y/n)?” chifuyu taunts, standing up and walking towards you.
“the conversation isn’t over yet, now is it?” he adds.
“i’m going home.” you said plainly as you walk down the hallway.
“no, you’re not," he says, grabbing you by the arm and stopping you from continuing your walk.
“who says you can leave now?” he asks, annoyed and determined to carry on with his argument.
you nudged your shoulder, removing your arm from his grasp as you continue to ignore him.
coincidentally, baji came and opened the door. poor guy must be confused to see you leave right after. he stepped aside as chifuyu tried to chase after you.
“hey! what gives you the right to ignore me like that?!” chifuyu shouts, watching you walk out of the front door.
“damn it!” he yells angrily at you as you walk away with your nose in the air.
“way to go, chifuyu.”
“kindly shut up, baji-san.”
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the next day at school, you were not in the mood. maybe his words got to you yesterday.
you stare into the void of your locker as you got your books out slowly.
chifuyu notices something is off with you. he decides to walk up to you as he sees you get your books out slowly, looking at you with a concerned expression.
he decides not to bring up the argument you had yesterday, for he knows his words can cut deep sometimes.
“hey (y/n), are you alright?” he asks quietly.
“hm.” you simply hummed in response as you shove your books into your backpack. you adjusted the straps before closing the locker and walks towards your class.
chifuyu follows you. he decides not to follow up with his previous question, and instead makes an attempt at being friendly.
“can i walk with you?”
“sure.”
he walks alongside you, feeling quite uncomfortable with your silence.
“so, um, do you mind if i ask what’s got you so down?” he asks, as he walks with you to class.
“was it that argument we had? or something else..?” he asks again, genuinely curious.
“maybe next time don’t call me a dork when you know i dislike it, chifuyu. i get it, i’m sensitive sometimes but—”
“that was yesterday, is that why you’re pissed at me still?” he asks, not fully understanding the situation.
“besides, i wasn’t being serious, (y/n)! we’re friends, you’re no dork.. i’m sorry okay?” he says, feeling a bit saddened.
“and besides, i like it when you’re sensitive. it’s adorable.” chifuyu says with a small smile. he felt that admitting that is rather embarrassing, but he wanted to reconcile with you.
you paused on your tracks as you look up to him. “did he just.. call me adorable?”
“come again?”
“you heard me.” he smirked.
“you being overly sensitive is such an adorable trait to have. not to mention, i would prefer my future girlfriend to be somewhat sensitive, instead of being a cold and mean person.”
he said it all so boldly that makes your mouth hangs open slightly. your cheeks are betraying you already.
“what..?”
he can see your cheeks getting slightly red tinted now. he was getting flustered himself.
“i.. uh..” he stammers.
“i mean, everyone would want their future partner to be someone they like. and i like you, (y/n).”
“plus, what i said is the truth. people do think you’re cute and adorable whenever you’re overly sensitive. even your anger is adorable.” he adds, giving it his all to persuade you into admitting you like him.
he’s clearly into you now.
and, you have no choice but to answer.
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please do not steal, copy, translate, repost to other sites or claim my writings as your own. plagiarism is real!
chifuyu is so cute (i am biased) and a fluffy fluff is what he deserves (ง ˃ ³ ˂)ว ⁼³₌₃⁼³ i hope you like this one~ all reblogs & likes are vv appreciated!
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captainmera · 7 months
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What are some other hairstyles you imaging the group in? Any fun ones that Hunter tried (or was forced into by Willow, Amity, etc) as his hair got longer?
THIS IS A LONG ONE (with art) SO I'M PUTTING IT UNDER A READ MORE! :)
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first of all I think GUS would be the one with the most hairstyles, hats and drip in general - he loves the human world's culture and their way of using fashion to express themselves uniquely - including hair. I mean, he also has curly hair. So he would have durag styles, various protection styles, twists and braids. And, because his hair curls, he could vary between long and shorter styles.
I also think Gus would have styles that are more typically "feminine" too, as he is very gender-non-conforming in the crew's art of him.
Though, I will say, it works for Gus in-canon that he only keeps one style at first (narratively speaking, not realistic haircare - I think?) because then that would emphasise his time in the human realm later on to be an important developing arc for him (assuming they would actually give him various styles, as indicative of the bits we got of him in episode 1.)
I think, had season 3 happened, we would have gotten a more vibrant Gus. He wants to be an ambassador, he loves the human realm, whom else than GUS to be the one to have an arc where he explores and embodies the full-on SELFEXPRESSION!
Fashion and hair is a way to express the uniqueness of yourself. If Luz' wish as the main character is to be understood, then the (positive) characters around her will (one way or another) embody different lessons for that theme. Gus: Self-expression. (Fashion, style, hair, charisma) Hunter: Identity. (Confidence, self-love, self-respect) Willow: Inner self. (Vulnerability, self-care, self-acceptance) Amity: Outer self. (Presentation of your truth, pride of oneself.) Vee: Voice. (Standing up for yourself, perseverance) Camila: Support. (Union of group, accepting and giving love)
And I think their fashions/hair aka - character designs would reflect these various things!
On a more fun note I think the only reason Hunter could pull off his own unique style is because Gus helps him combine them properly.
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Hunter really said dollhouse fairycore and Gus ran with it.
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AMITY: Basic styles, probably thinking of her siblings to feel closer to them. Especially Emira's hairstyles. :) I think, because her mom was so controlling of how her hair presented, I think Amity moves away from doing too much with it and rather let it be adventurous and free.
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WILLOW: Lots of braids and pigtails. I think she likes to have practical hairstyles as well as more "gentle" ones. The practical ones to reflect her jock-side, and the lose ones to reflect her more gentile and sensitive side! :)
<3
HUNTER: I think just keeps his in a ponytail or (as in the canon) just loose and shaggy without much care. Showing his early stages of being a blank slate. Just let things have it's course to see what "grows" from it, y'know? And then he gets his iconic haircut scene and literally "starts over" with a new arc. :)
<3
I think LUZ just keeps her iconic style that she's had through the show, with the additional tiny low-pinned ponytail that makes her look like a rouge adventurer! Kinda like Amity. I also think Luz hair grows a bit more wavy the longer it gets! :)
<3
VEE is also someone who goes through the most changes, but in her body and face rather than fashion. I think her style would be of the alternative side, perhaps a bit of a concert-kid vibe and basic comfy stuff. She's visually been shown to have the opposite expressions of Luz, quite literally being from opposite realms and having opposite personalities. Where Luz felt hopeful Vee was quick to give up. Our basilisk girl also seem to fit in more with the human realm, enjoying being a normie - after all, her life wasn't normal up till that point. So it makes sense for her to seek it and even find her safety in her own baseline.
BUT YEAH!
I THINK THAT'S IT????
ENJOY MY THOUGHTS.
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fernsnailz · 9 months
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Not sure if you’re familiar with Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time but I feel like Sonic Prime is the animated version of that game like the plot/style doesn’t really fit Sonic games while Crash both stays in that arcade jungle setting AND has the shattered time and space themes which they focus heavily on the recent game. The villains already are a bunch of scientists and I feel like either the team from Crash games or someone specific like Nicholas Cole just slapped Sonic Prime on the script for a Crash Netflix show and edited some characters
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okay i understand the point you’re trying to make, but unfortunately you sent this ask to someone who works in animation and i need to set the record straight here: that is not how TV animation works
first, you’re right that Nicholas Kole worked on both Crash 4 and Sonic Prime! he’s also done work for the Spyro series, some Disney projects, and a bunch of other cool stuff. however, he specializes almost entirely in character design and concept art. this means that he helped develop specific parts of the visual look for Prime REALLY early on, such as designing some of the characters like Knuckles the Dread. however, that was likely the extent of his involvement in the show. character designers and concept artists normally do not edit the script, and often these artists draw their concepts before the script is even finished.
this is all stuff that happens VERY early in a show’s development, so Kole’s work on the show is probably multiple years old by now. and yeah, that jungle art DOES look a bit like the stuff that he did on Crash 4… because that’s just what Kole's art style looks like. he uses bright colors and varied shapes in a really distinct way on EVERY project he works on, which is probably why they hired him on Prime!
but even if that concept art was inspired by Crash, the jungle universe doesn’t even look like the concept art in the final version of the show! because it was concept art!! it was meant to be an exploration in styles, not a definitive look at the final product. this jungle below is a COMPLETELY different look than what was explored in the concept art. it sooooorta looks like the style of Crash 4, but it's FAR different from the initial concepts presented earlier.
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(any person who modeled and painted this environment would ALSO have to be a dedicated Crash fan if they wanted to just turn Sonic Prime into Crash Prime)
and so far, this is completely ignoring the fact that the jungle concept art included in the ask probably isn't even Kole's. it looks very different from his style to me, and as far as i can find no artist has actually been credited for the leaked Prime concept art floating around. Kole has only mentioned his contributions to the character designs on Prime.
this is all a HUGE tanget from the actual argument you're trying to make in this ask, and i apologize for that - but my main point here is that this is a trend i see a lot in online fandoms, where people really like to place blame for issues in media onto one specific person and say "hey it's THIS guy's fault that this show is bad." what a lot of people don’t seem to understand is that these are collaborative art forms. there are so, so many people who worked on Prime, all the way from the first draft of the script to when it was being exported for Netflix, and a lot of these people probably don’t even show up in the credits! if there’s something you don’t like about this show, it’s unfair to single out a specific person to blame because TV shows are not made by one person. they come from a team of artists all working together to try and make something great, not one of the concept artists trying to turn the new sonic show into Crash 5. Nicholas Kole is a single character designer that worked on Prime. he is not solely responsible for an artstyle that you may dislike, because he is not the only person that developed the artstyle. there is no specific person to blame here.
regardless, i can’t really say much about your main point concerning the similarities between Crash 4 and Prime because i don't know as much about Crash series. my instinct is to just go “yeah of course they’re similar, multiverse stories with brightly colored rocks are the big trend in all franchises right now and they’re both 3D platformers from similar eras of gaming that have always featured cartoon talking animals fighting evil scientists, so of course they’ll seem alike.” but hey i mean what do i know
that's all, please know that this isn't meant to be an attack against you or anything! i'm just really used to seeing people blame individual artists and animators for stuff that isn't their fault, and i'm just. kinda tired of it. i will also spare you from my second ramble/disagreement about a sonic game or show in the crash style. because i think that would look fuckin INCREDIBLE
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lurrkingly · 4 months
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Do you have any tips for a young artist?
okay GOOD QUESTION so I'm gonna just start typing about some things I wish I had known as a young artist and keep adding to the draft of this answer as I think of things. LOL.
Advice I'm definitely qualified to give young artists:
1) If you are primarily an artist that draws humans or humanoid characters, I need you to internalize this very important fact: There is NO race, shape, type of body, etc. that you are 'unable' to draw. Y'all it is 2023 and Twitter is a cesspool of idiots running around INSISTING that they simply "can't draw black people", "can't color dark skin", or that "black people don't fit into my style."
But you, young artist anon, YOU know better now! Go tell all your friends! Spread the good news! There is no fundamental inability to include diversity in the subjects of your art--there is only unwillingness to learn.
Because that's the thing--a lot of people who say these kinds of silly things will also say that the don't want to 'get it wrong' (I typed and deleted a whole other tangent here. lol). The important thing about approaching diversity in your art is that you are earnestly trying, respectful, and open to being corrected. Hard to go wrong that way! There are tutorials abound--research is your friend!
2) Related: encourage yourself to explore and celebrate variety as you cultivate your unique style. and DON'T SKIMP ON THE FUNDAMENTALS! DO NOT!
I'm going to talk a little bit about what it was like for me when I started "really" drawing at like. 9 or 10. (cont'd.)
I got really into drawing because some friends of mine liked to draw anime in their free time in class. I centered my early drawing life around emulating a style that was strictly anime. Drawing realism or semi-realism seemed so ugly to me! I had no interest in it.
In addition, I came away with a message that harmed my self-esteem greatly, even if I didn't know it at the time: black people don't look good in an anime style. You just can't do it!
So I never tried to. I had a narrow focus, and I was reluctant to explore outside of it. If I'm being honest with myself, I hamstrung myself pretty hard by not being open to exploring a variety of styles. I also thought that the fundamentals of art (principles of lighting, color, shape, and the human figure, etc.) were a waste of time for me to study up on. I knew what I wanted my art to look like--pretty anime pictures! Lol.
All of the above is why I don't think I actually started to get "good" at art until September of 2019, roughly a trillion years after I started to draw. I know that because of those art summary memes, lol. Here, for reference:
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tumblr compressed the image to shit, so you'll have to take my word for it, but yeah! lol.
Anyways, the point is this:
You will go through many stylistic phases in your life as an artist. This is normal, and honestly, I'd celebrate it! Be open to any number of unlikely stylistic influences. They may take your artistic sensibilities in a direction you'd never expect. All in service of developing your unique artistic voice.
If you want to be good at what you do, you will need to create a strong base of knowledge for yourself. This is what intentional study of the fundamentals does. Get that shit in your brain while you're young!!! You will be planting the seedling of your artistic prowess in much nicer soil, and future you will thank you for it.
3) Developing artistic skill is NOT A RACE! You will hear this advice a lot, but I'd like to talk about a specific nuance that I think is important.
There are a number of reasons why it would make sense for you to think that it is, in fact, a race. For instance, there are roughly a kajillion other artists in your age range. A lot of them are on social media, cultivating a following. A lot of them will be "better" than you.
Do not get attached to the idea of being a brilliant young artist. You will not be young forever. If your idea of skill is entwined with your identity as a young person, what happens as you get older? I'll tell you: You start to see more and more people who are way more talented than you, and at least five years younger, and it can really really hurt you because you have not been set up for success with the right mindset. Your pride and joy was not being a creator--it was being a young creator.
Being an artist, especially in the age of social media (jesus, i sound so old) is an emotional investment as well as a practical, skill-based one. If you do not take care of yourself emotionally, if you do not approach creating art and posting it online with the right mindset, you will destroy yourself. Worst case, you end up bitter and hating art altogether.
If you are able to remain reasonably detached from social media response in general--great! That bodes well for you. But that's a skill, like anything else, so it's much more likely that the way your art is received on social media will affect you.
If you are very young, say, in your teens, and your art is exemplary, you will probably receive a lot of comments about this! They might be astonished that you, at so young an age, are so advanced in your skill. It is GREAT to be proud of yourself for accomplishing so much at a young age, don't get me wrong. Feels nice! But just like you will be advised not to let mean comments go to your head, you need to be thoughtful about how you receive comments that praise you for your age specifically. You need to be firm in the understanding that your age is not what makes your art exceptional. Your art is exceptional because YOU made it and because YOU honed your skills!
Beyond that, stuff that you probably already know: comparison to your artistic peers can be very encouraging and motivating; conversely, it can also be stressful and lead to unfortunate emotional spirals. You know yourself best--engage with or steer clear of comparison according to your comfort. You're not on your friend's artistic journey. You're on your own one. This is a very cursory thought on the topic of comparison, but I don't think I could offer you anything you don't already know about it, y'know?
4) This one... I'm gonna try to get across a very specific point. My point is this: Know what success looks like to you, and be honest with yourself.
The definition of 'success' may evolve for you as you develop, but I don't think it's ever too early to have a frank conversation with yourself about what it means for you, specifically, to be a successful artist.
Do you want to develop the skill to draw or create a specific idea in particular? Do you want a kajillion followers on instagram? Do you want to build a portfolio that will get you into a specific creative industry? Do you want to cultivate a steady stream of commissioners? Do you just want to relax and get ideas out of your head? And any other infinite goals.
Obviously I'm saying this without placing a value judgement on anyone's definition of artistic success. This is a highly personal sort of thing.
The reason I encourage this is because it can provide additional direction to a young artist, for whom the world is an oyster. Different enduring goals will require slightly different approaches to art as a field. This goal may inform what you draw, what medium you use, your higher education & career plans, where you choose to post your art (if at all), how much effort you must invest in building a brand for yourself, the role of social media in your life as an artist, the kinds of artists you devote energy to being peers with, etc. Hope that makes sense!
Anyways, I hope this advice is helpful. I'm always happy to answer other questions related to this sort of thing. Go forth, young artiste--I believe in you!
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tulipsempai · 20 days
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I first wanted to ask if you prefere a long or short answer but... I know even if I try to make it short it could be a long one.
Let's improvise!
First, Iris. I like her. She's a good characters for so many reasons. It's been kinda a long time since I haven't like an OC like this. She is smart, vicious and she has nerve. She has a less than laudable goal at the start and it gets worse when she finds herself face to face with Purple. And in a way I understand her anger and resentment. That doesn't excuse everything but she has valid reasons for acting the way she does. And even with all the unforeseen circumstances and the magnitude of the situation, she’s doing really well!
Yellow ! I am obliged to dedicate a few words and a reverence. I loved that she took the situation into her hands and asked everyone to calm down. Bravo Yellow, without you, you will probably still be in the desert. So, yeah, she deserve some applause !
I also really love that readers discover at the same time as the characters that Iris has taken Purple's place. Doubt was really well done and I loved the idea. Too bad Iris didn't take the time to learn more to avoid the Orange's trap. But that's good, it lasted long enough.
I make this one quickly because it's valid for every series, short and even just art : your style is amazing ! Succeed transcribing the emotions and personalities of Stick Figures into drawings, without drawing faces and complete details... I love it. There is nothing more to say. You are a truly incredible artist and it's always a pleasure to receive notifications. For an update of the series or even just ask's answers. And I think I could say everyone would agree this words.
Okay, I make a cookies break because even if I really try to make it short... Eeeeeh... It's already really long... Here are the cookies 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪 and some milk🥛🥛🥛
What's next... (I just went to dinner, I don't know where I was)...
Obviously, I like the whole scenario. It is well paced, between the actions, the dialogues, the informations, the development... But this also applies to other series !
Finally... Big up MT. I'm a fan of the way he holds Iris like a "big fish". And... Damn, he breaks my heart. When his memory comes back to him and he realizes absolutely everything... My heart is broken too. And it breaks every time. This scene is as magnificent as it is painful. And that's my favorite. This guy need and deserved an happy ending. No, this father deserved an happy ending. And a big hug. Okay, I am the one who need an hug when I read this part.
And, this is a purely personal opinion, but Blue is the one who suffered the most. I mean, when Purple was accused, they explained that they hadn't left each other and they was just ignored most of the time. They saw their family and friends accuse each other and tear each other apart without they being able to do much about it. Added to that Green was injured and terrified because of an impostor. Imposter who tried to blow them up and forced Yellow to end up badly injured. Adding Purple's death and MT's death; having witnessed his realization and confession... Blue was the one who had the WORST day. They witnessed all the events of the day helplessly. They deserves all the netherwart of the world but I know it would be the worst idea (but at least one stack). Blue is definitely the best friend there could be in this story.
And maybe I should stop now because it's actually a very, very, very long message...
Sorry for this 🥹
I dont mind long asks at all but i have to admit there are a bit intimidating for me to answer since.. its at lot to read > >' which its why it took me so long to answer! Sorry for making you wait but I really appreciate reading your comment about the characters 🥹💕
About Iris: So happy that you like her! You see, it was never my intention to make her a sadistic character who just want to cause trouble but shes bad. Im saying that bc there was a lot of comments on my old.version of the comic describing her to be only evil and that she needs to die. She does have her reasons why shes acting like that.
Sure it was bad of her to kidnap Green, to rob him and to literally leave him in a hole. Yes all that makes her bad because she's a thief. But why then she is getting worse? well because she was kidnapped and threated to be killed by MT and later by Orange. She feels in danger and has to do everything to get out. Which its why she is causing so much trouble to CG -v-' and her anger toward Purple for discovering how her life was ruined just was another piece for making her a enemy to CG.
..What im saying that Iris isnt an evil character to the bone like most comments say ^^' She is just really angry and really scared, but ressourceful and ready to do everything to survive. thats my iris :>
I also hesistated making the part about her past with King Purple because I didnt want to make the story too much about my OC you see? -v-' But im glad I did because it explains more the reason why she got beef with Purp.
About Yellow: She is kind of my MVP in that story. Like you said, she calmed everyone about the impostor situation by taking charge. Her being strict was inspired by the episode were she taught CG about redstone and I loved her strict and hard 'listen to me!' attitude. And not gonna lie, this whole part was me having fun making a ace attorney scenario -v- (a game about solving murder mysteries). I love to use Yellow -v-
The confusion part was sooooo fun! I really wanted to have something like that in the story because duh the story is about an impostor! And that was also to show how good Iris is similar to Purple, but she is a bit more aggressive than them when comes on accusation.
Purple does make accusations when angry, but they also have the habit to blame themself and to beg to be trusted, things that Iris (while being Purple) doesnt do at all, she just accuses and makes Orange feels guilty to doubt.
That scene was so much fun and I am so happy that many didnt know if it was Iris or Purple :D I did something similar with Orchid being MT for a part, but it wasnt exactly the same but I liked that people found 'MT' was acting strange in it ^^
About the style: Aww óvò you are so kind for adding that kind of comment. I am really happy that you like my artstyle and about anything that I do ^^' hehehe~ im flattered!
Yay cookies~ 🍪🍪🍪 You deserve a rest after typing all that -v-
The pace: Oof, that is something. Thatvseries is the first time that I work with 2 scenarios happening at the same time but still have an connection to the other (MT vs Iris // CG+Purp finding Green and understand theres an impostor) So deciding when showing things in what order was a bit tricky. I also wanted to make everything happening on the same parts but that would have been too confusing. Just saying that i worked on the pacing ans im happy that you like how things are presented ^^' (yippee!)
The information... That was also a tricky part, because the comic was made before the end of King arc. So MT's amnesia still wasnt clear what I was gonna do with it until part 17. Part 2 was modified and was added more details about his amnesia situation after ep30 (part2 only had 10panels originally lol).
Plus after King arc, I had to make some changes in the dialogues to make it more consistent with the main series.
Now MT... Yeeesss he is hokding her like a big fish xD you have no idea how happy you are noticing that. My MT is a fisherman and god that I love that you pointed that out lol
But boy, maybe I went a bit too hard when he recovered his memories ^^' making him relive the loss of his kid and make him terribly devasted, heartbroken. The first draft had him attacking Iris brutally when he learned that she killed Purp, but his angry was during King arc, so instead all he has left in that scenario is the loss of 2 kids, so yeah, heartbreak was all that could be felt. Soooo maybe he does deserve a hug after everything >v>'
And yep, Blue is having a hard day, the poor guy ^-^' I have to admit that it is intentional storywise but i cant say much about it rn
Oh dont apologizes for your long ask xD' I am actually really happy about it ^^ You make me want to focus on this comic actually hehe -v- thank you so much again for your comment, i really appreciated that óvò
and sorry for elaborating and sharing useless info about the story 👉👈 its not everyday that i get the chance to ramble about my ideas and thoughts about my past comics so i thought taking advantages of that hehe ^-^'
have a good day or night!
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thefirstknife · 15 days
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lightfall was a lot of fun, i think the only gripes i have with it is that i wish the patrol zone was a bit bigger and i wish there were more of those little holo-cats. i’m almost tempted to speculate that the people getting so up in arms were partially looking for a reason to call it a bad expansion because of nimbus.
the main criticism i saw was about the tone of the expansion not being tense enough, but i don’t think it would’ve worked to make lightfall a super tense and grim expansion because there wouldn’t’ve been much payoff for it
Yeah agreed. People got SUPER obsessed with the placeholder art we got 3 years before Lightfall which was... placeholder art. But it was basic black-and-white image that looked edgy and if you look at the fashion Destiny players prefer, you know that they like their edginess. Lmao! But yeah, the complaints about "placeholder art was a better direction of Lightfall" is so bizarre to me because like. It's placeholder. Lightfall wasn't being developed yet at the time. There was no direction.
But people wanted some incredibly grimdark expansion which is insane to me because like... This is Destiny? It does have exceptionally dark themes and background stuff, but on the surface it's never been grimdark. Even the most serious expansions have humour and whimsy in it. I also think that Lightfall was fairly tense due to the high-paced action and the looming threat of "The Witness wants this incomprehensible paracausal entity to finish the Collapse and we have no clue how it means to do that, but we know what the Collapse is and we have to prevent this at all costs."
I personally think that a lot of people just do not understand the aesthetic Lightfall went with on the account of not being old enough to know it. I don't know how much merit there is to this and there's definitely people who DID understand the aesthetic, but just don't really like it, which is fine; we all have different preferences! I personally do not vibe AT ALL with the aesthetic of Forsaken. However, I understand what they wanted to do with that aesthetic and I understand that they nailed that aesthetic for those that do love it and that made the campaign click really well for them. Lightfall wasn't made "wrong;" it had a really well defined and perfectly executed style. It's just not everyone likes that style. This is true for every expansion as well.
The 80s action movie vibe has a goofy and campy feel, but to me it did not detract from the real threats and tension because that's just how that vibe works. And I'm a huge fan of that vibe so Lightfall landed perfectly for me. There's a really silly and over-the-top quality to it, but it's underlined with a lot of emotional journeys between characters and larger-than-life threats.
Also! I really enjoy how Destiny does genre switching with each expansion and even each season. It's one of my favourite things about the setting: the flexibility to just do whatever, without messing up the base of the setting. It's probably the reason why I genuinely have NO issues with any of the campaigns or seasons. They all have problems naturally, but I can never pick what's my favourite or least favourite because they all fill different niches for me.
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feverdreamjohnny · 7 months
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Orbo's Odyssey - Post Mortem
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My Feelings About The Game
It's an odd thing to try and pull together your thoughts about something so chaotic.
I guess it'd be easier to just catalogue how my emotions evolved as the project went on, and then wrap it up by trying to pull apart how I feel now, as arcane as that is.
I've been a part of a private developer community for a bit now, and during a majority of my time there I felt sort of like a fish out of water. I guess it was just weird seeing people at the top of their craft while my work sort of paled in comparison. A majority of them had a background in developing character action games or platformers with intricate movement systems, and that was absolutely outside the range of what I understood.
Late 2022 I decided to try and make a movement system with a really strong focus on momentum so I could feel "at home" with the other devs. So I made a small tech demo where most of Orbo's moveset was formed.
In the end it didn't really make me feel more confident in my work, but at least I proved to myself that I could tackle unfamiliar waters and make headway. Regardless, I left the tech demo where it was and continued to work on Nowhere, MI for the next few months.
I made a lot of progress on Nowhere, and around late November a publisher reached out to me to offer help. I was desperate, after all. I didn't have a lot of money to my name and this was the kind of lifeline I needed to secure so I could finish the game.
To cut a long story short, they kept delaying talks about the game over and over and it became increasingly clear to me that my dream of being funded wasn't going to happen.
I was sort of in a bad spot now. It was early 2023 at this point, and I was going to have to make a tough decision: delay Nowhere and get a retail job to make money (potentially losing sight of the project in the process), or find some other solution to secure funding. No other publishers were going to pick me up (and I really didn't trust a majority of them so I only had my sights set on a handful I felt I could trust), so I came to a new conclusion:
What if I just made something short, say in the span of a month or two, and sell it? Surely that would be easy.
Surely.
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The Game
In March of 2023, I began working on the game. I wasn't sure what sort of format I wanted for the game at first, and I had initially considered a rogue-like arena combat game where you'd use the game's momentum mechanics to fight enemies, collect upgrades to improve your abilities, rinse and repeat.
The idea ended up feeling sort of strange when I began pre-production, so I ended up scrapping it.
I thought about the movement system some more and realized that it had a strange kinship to a game I had played just a month earlier: Super Kiwi 64.
Then I thought about Siactro's other games, how they were similarly small-scope platformers that seemed to perform well on Steam and Switch, and I realized that if there was something that would suit my own development style (focused around exploration and secrets), it was a 3D platformer.
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The first month was fairly strong. I moved at lightning-speed, hammering systems into the game piece by piece. Collectables were done. Time trials (and their records) were done. Movement had been refined further and felt better than in the initial tech demo. There was also a lot of underlying structuring that I won't get into because it's boring (but important).
About a week in I even started working with my friend Tim (who's a professional environment artist), and we began working together on the hub environment (we brainstormed the layout, I designed the greybox, and he wrapped it up with the environment art).
It was going great, but as March was nearing its end I began to realize what I was dealing with.
"Oh, well yeah I mean I knew it wasn't going to be possible in a month! I'm sure if I grit my teeth it'll be done by the end of April!"
So April came along. Tim and I finished the hub area, I got the world portals set up, and eventually we moved to the first level of the game, Shlarp City.
Tim managed to get a decent chunk of the decorative props done, but circumstances were changing and he had a fulltime job in the industry to attend to, so he had to leave the project.
I reasoned "well, I sort of know how to do environment art and I guess I can just go on without help."
Shlarp's greybox was done, and I was sort of happy about the layout. Some friends playtested the game and liked the movement, so I felt a bit more optimistic about the project.
Despite the boost in optimism, I was starting to feel some kind of dread leaking in. My nights were becoming more frantic and troubled, more than they already had been.
I moved onto the next level, reasoning that it'd be best to get the greyboxes for all of the levels finished first, then return for an art pass afterwards. It was the sensible thing to do, after all.
So I began work on Dunbarrow Mines, and this time I was alone. I finished the greybox, and while I wasn't a huge fan of the level, at least it was done. I moved onto Sleepytime Manor and similarly got the greybox finished. Even since the beginning of the month, something was starting to grow inside of me. April was coming to a close, and I still had another level to greybox, a boss fight, secret areas to add, and an art pass on the entire thing. I hadn't really developed much of a game at that point, just 3 barren levels.
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And so May came along.
And this was where it all went to hell.
I had been suffering from a lot of issues in my personal life for a while. The year prior had been particularly traumatic and the waves coming from it weren't done passing over yet. If anything the terror was that the major event from the last year hadn't even finished coming to fruition. The stress from everything had caused me to develop a disorder that made my blood acidic, melting away at my nerves. I fought hard and managed to improve my health, but the damage was done and the occasional return of the neuropathy was just a reminder that my life was spiraling downward.
I entered a period of intense stress and depression as waves of terrible memories came over me. I became neurotic. Started having trouble designing levels. It was already an issue for me, but as my mental state deteriorated I was hitting brick walls over and over.
I had my back against the wall. Game development was my only purpose in life, after all. I had been built for it, sacrificed so many hours to it, put everything else aside for it. The only thought going through my head was that I was dying, and that this stupid game was going to be my graveyard.
So roughly two months came by, with sparing work on the game. I finished Monolith station, but it had to be redesigned 3 times to reach the version you currently see in the game today.
The neurosis made me insane. Constantly seeing my peers succeeding while I flailed desperately in a pit was definitely not helping matters.
But something changed in June.
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The Garden
I always had an on-and-off again relationship with plants. I had a sort of preternatural skill with growing things, but my interest waxed and waned a lot. The main thing that stuck through this on-and-off relationship were herbs, since they were easy to cultivate and they needed very little maintenance during the periods where I was losing interest.
As I began to take game development more seriously around halfway into 2021, I stopped gardening entirely.
But something very strange happened in the June of 2023. I was frantically compelled to return to it. I raked, toiled and weeded until I had a plot. Then I started buying seeds and began cultivating vegetables again for the first time in 2 years.
And for the first time in this nightmare I was finally happy about something. I don't know what compelled me to start cultivating plants again, but whatever it was, it rescued me from a very long, dark road.
After 2 weeks, I finally finished the final boss of Orbo's Odyssey.
The game needed a lot more work, but I was finally getting a foothold after months of misery.
Eventually my friend Ben was able to help me with the project, and we made a lot of headway. We brainstormed new ideas for how the player could get gear parts. He modeled a load of props. I scripted a load of systems. Finally, the game actually began to look like a game.
Ben was really important. He was optimistic about the project and wasn't suffering from burnout the way I did, and he helped me get out of my fugue. I can't thank him enough for his help.
After around half a year of hammering, we finished the game.
3 weeks after that, we released it to steam.
And about 2 weeks after the release, we're here now.
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The Takeaway
Typically in post-mortems you talk about what you would've done differently, but I think this ending might be a bit different.
I'm not really proud of the level design. I think I also could've done better with my share of the environment art in some levels. I think there could've been more details. I think there could've been more content.
But there's no use kicking myself for what could've been. Of course the next game will be better. The mental state I was in during the development of this game was dire and it had a major impact on the quality of my work. I had to break out of a really bad mindset and try to find a better way of engaging with my life. That wasn't easy.
I think some gamers like to imagine that something that's fun to play was fun to make. It's true that sometimes there are moments where you get excited during game development, but at the end of the day the majority of it is just pure work and toil.
In the end, the reviews on Orbo were very kind. Even the negative reviews were at bare minimum sorta funny.
Hilariously the reviews that bothered me the most were actually positive. The perspective of these reviews was that the game was really the story of some little kid taking his thumb out of his mouth and naively making something he thought was fun. It mainly felt like a way for the reviewers to excuse the weaker elements of the game.
These are the reviews I hate the most. I don't care that they were positive. They're infantilizing. It makes it come across as though the shoddier elements of the game weren't a product of a person having a mental breakdown, but of a child smacking blocks together and making mistakes because he didn't know better.
If you really view art like that, I want you to lean in very closely and listen: Most of the time, people suffered to make something you could enjoy. You're welcome to praise or shun the art by itself, but don't patronize the creator for their effort. I didn't have fun making Orbo. I hated it. And even though I hated it I still tried to put passion into it, because I care about my work.
Anyway I'm glad it's over with. If I attempted to develop the game now it would probably be significantly better, but that's mostly because I've found better methods of managing my mental health.
I have to get back to work on Nowhere, and eventually I have to work on Peeb Adventures. For now, though, I'm taking a break. I'm tired.
Before I go I just want to thank some people.
Thank you Ben for being supportive and helping me make this game happen. I couldn't have done it without you, and I mean it.
Thank you Socpens and Grayfruit for streaming the game and for your kind words. It really means a lot to me, and it gave me a lot more confidence about Orbo's Odyssey post-release.
Thank you Tim for helping early on. I know it was a brief period between us, but I do appreciate the work you did.
Thank you (in no particular order) Bryce, Simone, Jett, Aaron, Quinn, Drew, Ian, and Cosme for being supportive of my work.
Thank you for the folks in the private dev server who were particularly supportive as well.
Thanks for reading.
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fipindustries · 27 days
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not a question but basically any time i remember your art exists im looking it up and down and trying to take inspiration from it. your expression work is always top notch, and the way you depict faces is the perfect balance between cartoony and well defined
oh my god this is such an amazing compliment! thank you so much!
you know, i think this has been a long time coming. im going to take this as a chance to go in depth about how my style works, why i do what i do and how i do it. do keep in mind that none of this is me saying "this is the objectively correct way of doing art" but rather just how my own process works, what I like to see in my own art.
that balance that you speak of comes from a commitment to underlying structures. what im going to call the stylization sandwich
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i start with a clear, well defined solid structure, i add whatever wacky cartoony features i want on top of it (none the less strongly tied and guided by the underlying structure) and then i refine by adding as many more realistic, grounding details i want, although you can go too far with it so i gotta be careful or ill end up with those shitty "cartoon character IRL would look scary!" clickbait drawings.
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(quick aside, this trend fucking sucks, its obvious the artist went out of their way to make the drawing creepy, this pretension that "actually the character would look scary irl" deliberatly misundertands the principles of stylization, its as creatively bankrupt as jokes about mario eating mushrooms)
getting back on topic, the point is that, as long as the underlying structures are solid you can build whatever you want on top of them and it will make sense
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a key tool here is internalizing the way the proportions on the face work. and i say internalize because obviously i dont actually have the golden ratio memorized inside my head nor do i stop and measure and calculate all the proportions in the features. i just read a lot about drawing, i drew a lot, i tried to always keep a critical eye to what im drawing and see if it "feels" disproportionate. once you get an eye for it then you know how far you can push things before they complitely break
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let me give you another example of what i feel is a botched execution of this.
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if you look closely at the face on the left there are a lot of things that dont make sense. the corners of the eyebrows dip down into the eyes when usually the eyes are enveloped by the eyebrows, the way the beard grows around the nose is just not how facial hair is distributed, the mouth is too big, etc. on the left i used photoshop to reorganize the factions into something that makes a bit more sense to me
(another quick aside, the real big problem at the heart of the original drawing were not so much the proportions but the tangents, when different lines touch each other like this that is usually a big no no but that is a topic for another day)
also a lot of it is just me cheating. yeah i cheat. you ever heard how people say there is no innate talent and its all practisce and hard work. well, yeah, that is mostly true, but is also true that some people are born with inherent advantages. either taller or more predisposed to being thin or with better facial structures or better innate hand-eye coordination. i was born with an uncanny capacity to visualize stuff. i have whatever the opposite of aphantasia is. i can borderline hallucinate things if i want to. and that goes coupled with the visual intuitions i developed through practisce and training.
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so first come the learned wisdom, and then comes the innate talent that helps me exploit that learned wisdom to its full potential
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on top of that is corporeality, i try to draw in such a way that it conveys depth and weight to the things im drawing, certain kinds of stylizations dont care about that and choose instead to have their drawing look flat, a classic one is the UPA style
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is a very fun style! very cute, very dynamic, very expressive in its simplicity. it became very popular in the 60's and 70's. personally i choose to go in a different direction. i draw in such a way that if one were to turn my drawings into 3d models not a lot would get lost in the process.
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whereas other artists....
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...not so much
but yeah, ultimatly it all goes back to underlying structure. any drawing can work
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as long as you have a strong foundation underneath.
PS: if you like my style i cannot reccomend enough the art of @rezuaq i feel they follow a lot of the same principles i talked about here but i could be wrong.
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they have been my biggest inspiration as of the last 4 years, i shamelssly stole the design of one of their characters for jennyffer. go to their blog and give them a like
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cozylittleartblog · 2 months
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Just wanted to mention this to someone who does art and get their opinion on it:
Sometimes I see some artists do redraws of their old artworks or characters and think "Wow, uh... their older art looks better." Sometimes it's only mildly better, but other times it's vastly better. Like the Upgrade, Go Back! meme.
I understand that art skills are supposed to develop and change, hopefully for the better, but sometimes it just feels like they got... worse? Somehow? Idk. Maybe it's because they were copying another artist's style while finding their own, and it's their own style that doesn't vibe with me? Just curious what your thoughts are about this.
Also, your art has consistently been great, so this isn't directed at you.
I do see this on occasion yeah! usually (in my experience anyway) its because people take a sharp turn towards a stylization that either isn't to your or most people's tastes, or that they don't understand or are still developing. switching up how you stylize your art is like starting over in a sense, you're changing from what you have practice with and that's always going to cause you to revert some as you have to re-learn things you understood in your previous style. i had a pretty big style shift in 2014 when i took up the basis for how my art looks now, and i remember feeling like some of the stuff i was drawing might have looked better if i was using my older style instead. that's something artists just have to push through and figure out, and they'll likely come out of it a better artist than they were before. constructive critiques are a good way for them to figure out why their art might not be as "good" as it used to be, if they're open for those.
art is not always a linear journey, and i would also say things like passion and motivation have a part in it too. feeling inspired sparks you to make something the best it can be, if you're not feeling it (and esp if that feeling lasts for a long time) it'll leave you making decisions you otherwise would not have let fly, and that can result in worse art. and some of it is just personal preference! it's not that their art is better or worse, it's just different now, and maybe that doesn't vibe with you the same way their old stuff did. and that's fine 👍
(thank you! :3 i admittedly struggle a bit with Not Feeling It sometimes like i just described, so it's nice to know people still enjoy what i make when that feeling hits.)
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ebonysplendor · 3 months
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Mushroom Oasis (Demo) Review 🍄
TL;DR: Mychael deadass wants to be MYchael, and it gets to a point where you're so wrapped up in the wholesome, you actively ignore the red flags. Also, there's butterflies and chickens. No, we don't forage those for food.
Game Link: https://deerspherestudios.itch.io/mushroom-oasis
Notable Features: Gender Neutral MC, Reader insert, Yandere LI Spiciness: O/5 -- very wholesome, no explicit content LI Red Flags: 2/5 -- Manipulative, gaslighter
Want to know more? Well let's get into it!
Where do I start with this?
I am so overwhelmed with how good this game is. Let's get into the general aesthetics of the game. When I tell you that it's so satisfyingly pretty, I don't think you really get it. The art style is so captivating like...I can't explain it, but you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it. It's something straight out of a children's storybook. It's so whimsical and so cozy and so...like look at this.
LOOK AT THIS.
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These are the woods that we get lost in. I understand that we were supposed to be nervous for our life in this frame, but look at the scenery! And if you think that looks pretty, just look at this man Mychael's HOUSE.
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He really said that this could be us all day, everyday. He done made his house into a home. And don't get me started on his garden area.
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Ugh, I could literally go on and on about how much I loved the art style in this game. I am literally obsessed. Enough about that though, let's get into the real deal: the game.
I'm really excited about the development of this game, so bear with me. I'm going to give as much detail without giving away the story because I NEED you to play this for yourself, and I don't want to take its charm away by telling you exactly what happened. Trust me, it's so worth it! Remember though: it's just a demo.
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So, boom, this whole thing kicks off because we lost our cat.
Obviously, we have to go looking for our family, so we take off one day and pretty much raw-dog it in these woods, but we had a little bit of sense -- we brought a compass. It proves to be useless though because, tell me why, as soon as we get lost, it gets lost, too. Like lmao what?
It's no big deal though because this kind stranger comes along and takes care of us. This stranger's name is Mychael. Say "hey" to the bae, everybody.
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Hey, boo~!
All right, so we're chilling in his house, and he makes us some bomb food with some tea but...things get a little awkward at dinner. We basically find out that the spelling of Mychael's name isn't the only thing about him that's different -- it's actually him that's different, too. This is bae though, so, we just accept him for who he is because the man is so sweet ... then again, I'm not entirely sure if these are our own thoughts right now, but he does feel safe, and he isn't exactly treating us bad. Like, the man gave us his bed to sleep in while he just made camp on the floor. Talk about a gentleman.
So, the next day comes along, and he's pretty excited because, not only are we here to enjoy the next day with him, he has a surprise for us. Okay bet! We get ready in a, surprisingly, nice bathroom with some more than decent plumbing, enjoy some bomb food once again (courtesy of Mychael, thanks bae), and head on out. We see his garden and, oh my gosh, he has chickens!! Look at this cutie with his chicken.
LOOK AT HIM
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But as cute as he is ... we still haven't found our cat. Unfortunately, we kind've had to remind him we had to go home because at the end of the day, he hasn't put a ring on it, we have a whole job, and yeah, gots to go. Of course, he's sad about this, and he's like "Well, let me just show you this one other thing, and I promise, I'll take you straight home!" Mychael is literally as wholesome as they come at this point -- how could one refuse? Then again, are we even able to refuse him...?
So, yeah, we go with him, and it is so worth it because where he took us was so magical! There are no words to describe the beauty of where he took us. I'm so tempted to show you guys, but I don't want to ruin more than I already have. I won't leave you hanging though! Just picture this clearing with all these butterflies and flowers and just the absolutely perfect amount of sunlight to set the whole "this place is amazing!" mood and just the right amount of shade to enjoy it all in. If you're picturing it correctly, that scenery should be on point, and you should feel an instant sense of calm and awe mixed into one.
Aside from that though, as nice as this was, we still had to get home. So, we remind him -- for, like, the third time -- "Hey, I really need to head out", because granted, the man knows this forest, but we still didn't want to run the risk of it getting dark and us walking around in it for however long it takes us to get back. Here's where it starts to get weird...
If it wasn't obvious, Mychael is laying down the rizz somewhat thick. He may not understand the concept of cosplay or family or even how it's "mama mia" and not "maummer mee-ya", but he knows how to woo a person! or at least manipulate them Like, he is putting in work to be MYchael, you feel me? So much so, he just brushes off that whole speech about us needing to go home, and instead, just tells us to relax. I don't know what it is about that man, but ooh, his voice. You just can't say "no" sometimes! So, we do. We relax, and frankly, feel kind've sleepy because we are so relaxed. Mychael seizes opportunity and starts showing off his musical skillz. Man's literally serenading -- well, more specifically lulling -- us, playing the most calmest of tunes on his little instrument. Everything just feels so nice, relaxing, and safe... oh shit!
We snap awake. We done fell asleep on this man, which is cute and all, but we have to get home neow! Mychael stops playing games finally, and for real, for real starts to take us home. Before we get too far though, we stop at a creek so we can freshen up. We catch a glimpse of Mychael in our reflection, and he catches a glimpse of us which makes him look at himself, and...the reaction was so heartbreaking yet so relateable.
You know how sometimes when you look in the mirror, all you see is your flaws, and it gives you (hopefully, only) a brief sense of ick? Well, his was past that. It was completely self-loathing in that look, and nu-uh, we do not support Mychael slander in this household! So, now it's our time to turn on the charm, and...we may have laid it too thick and too well because now he's blushing, we're blushing, and then he whispers something to himself, and now Mr. Righteous comes out.
Now, he's determined to try to find our cat (...lmao), but he's like "That means you've gotta stay for another day, though!" with this really intense look on his face. Once again -- and for like the fifth time now! The man is sweet, but he has a poor concept of "no means no" -- we're like "That's sweet, but I gots to go". Boom. We start feeling sick, real sick. Like, we had this weird feeling before while we had been hanging out with him, but now it's intense, and it literally takes us down. Mychael had to catch us or else we were gonna hit the ground. So, now, we don't have a choice. We had to go back with Mychael. We's in the thick of it now bois ... AND THEN THE DEMO ENDED!! AUGH!!
DEVESTATED. I. was. DEVESTATED. Lol it was getting so good! Like, you know how you know the demo is coming to the end, but you're hoping there's just a touch more afterwards? That's how I was feeling. It was getting so good, and I wanted to see more! Hell, it IS good, and I WANT to see more!
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So far, so great! I'm really excited to see what Day 3 brings us! I understand that Mychael is toxic or whatever, but he's just lonely and a little weird looking. I can fix him!
Honestly speaking though, with how sweet he is, you genuinely don't even feel like he's "ugly" or "scary" looking anymore. His gentle personality and literal down-to-earth nature completely overtakes his looks. He honestly isn't even bad looking! He really is cute in that other-worldly, fantasy being kind of way. But if I saw him in real life, there's a good chance I probably would've freaked out and get the bad ending lol
But, no, seriously, this game is fantastic! This is such a fun experience so far, and the story is really captivating! Just a little tip from me, be sure that when you play through, you pay attention to those text color changes! It helps bring some understanding/context to the story as to what's going on/happening around you.
Fair warning, the "yandere" element isn't showing too much yet, but you can tell that it's just a pacing thing, of which I think is being executed just right! I guess you could consider this to be a slow burn type of story, but because it's so fitting, it doesn't feel like slow pacing at all. If you were planning to jump right into the psycho, crazy Mychael as soon as you were at home with him and made it aware you wanted to leave, it's going to seem slow, but if you don't mind the build up to the plot, even prefer it, this will be great to you. For me, the build up is doing the story justice as there's not really a dull moment. The pace that the dev is going is purposeful, and it's not just slow for the sake of being slow.
That being said, I think I'll end my raving here! Really anticipating what the developer is coming out with next, and I can't wait to see just how far Mychael is willing to go for the sake of companionship. If you're contemplating trying this game out, stop contemplating and just play it! It is so worth it, and you will find yourself just as excited as I am for the full release! Be sure to leave your comments on the dev's page if you feel like they're doing a good job, and you want to give them that extra reassurance. Of course, donations are always helpful to them as well! Like mentioned at the top, here is the link to the game if you'd like to try it out yourself! I highly recommend that you do. It really is a great game.
That's all from me! Drink water, don't be dumb, and hope to see you around! Until next time~!
Mushroom Oasis Game Link and Page
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noatpad · 4 months
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I've been rather busy with grad school projects lately (and it'll probably last a bit longer), but recently a friend surprised me with some gift art of my dnd lad and his own. Since the campaign has been put on hold (and also wanting to scribble another idea related to it), I had an itch to scratch.
This is a "what if" redesign of my boy, alongside some of my personal scribbles I've done of him over the past few months that I'm still fond of
So a bit of exposition!
I say "what if", 'cause Tint here is a special case where his design was intentionally left untouched, or well, intended to keep his outfit and general look the same as my art style matured. Reason why is that I wanted to keep it consistent with his ongoing campaign, and I found it fun to draw things as it developed. So any different takes of him I did (which there is at least one of, that being his Metronome look) was like an AU or was what actually part of the campaign, which you'll see with all the scribbles below.
Though the thing was that back then, I made Tint as more so a one-time, hypothetical character. At the time, I actually didn't think I'd ever get the chance to play dnd 'cause of constraints I had (how wrong I was). But hearing a couple of friends talk about how fun it was for them, I basically made him just to imagine that "what if" (just noticed that that first sketch was actually posted here, and yeah I even said it was a hypothetical on the canvas, hah).
Because of that though, I went for a rather basic design: purple tunic, round glasses, long scarf. Fun fact: foxfolk was picked mostly just because I was comfortable drawing it after scribbling Note and Clef so much (and magic seemed rather fitting for a fox given the ethereal side of folklore involving them). I still like him since I grew attached to playing him, don't get me wrong! But now that I know a good bit better on anatomy & character design, and Tint's story took shape, I figured it'd be fun to explore what he'd look like if I were to redesign him.
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As a tangent, gosh it's so surprising to me how my ability to do anatomy and structure on a character has grown in just the past couple of years. Not to say I dislike it, but I conditioned myself to only be capable of drawing that style consistently. I think I only could've had this growth because of the friends and inspirations I slowly learned from.
And yeah! There's a lot more intent on his palette being themed around light or radiance (and I've been informed it looks reminiscent to the colors on Isaac from Golden Sun, which is a funny coincidence), and hopefully he looks more adventurous yet studious type of mage!
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soia-jpg · 6 months
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I love your show-inspired fanart of Percy,Annabeth and Grover,especially the small details. Annabeth appeared to be infodumping about architecture(she seems to be the kind of nerd that's always welcoming to truly interested newbies) and Percy making heart eyes at Annabeth's infodumping. Also,Percy being low-key effeminate is a pretty neat headcanon. Do you truly imagine him as effeminate or was it just an artistic experiment?
Aww thank you! That was one of the first more complex art I made after the casting! I’m still really attached to it sigh, it’s definitely one of my faves. As for Percy well, I’m not sure I have an answer, thing is that I try to portrait them as more teens than adults, I know a lot of artist kinda draw them looking like 18/20 yo with a full developed body that looks more masculine (omg I’m sorry I don’t know how to describe this in English, but like, between 10 yo and 18 yo teens change A LOT due to the hormonal development and my goal is always to try and portrait that phase of their life, where they look a bit in the middle of evolving, so baby faces, long necks, lanky frame) so yeah I’m not sure I can answer to this, I just don’t want to make him look like an adult but not a kid, just, a teen a bit in the middle and definitely not buff.
Plus I like the idea of him having a round face and that doesn’t help sigh
And I honestly like the idea of him trying more stereotypical feminine products or items, like nail polish! I have a whole hc about how he starts wearing nail polish to piss off Gabe and then discovering that he kinda likes having colored nails and just keeps doing it! Or having longish hair! In my brain Percy starts his rebellious phase against Gabe and ends up liking a lot of what he does initially out of spite. That’s also why he has longish hair, because usually a “real boy” has a more undercut type of style and not a longish hairstyle accordingly to many people that have a Gabe vibe.
I’m honestly just struggling with that and for some reason he always looks a bit more feminine, I am trying to develop a more strong but still soft style to be able to properly portrait people but yeah, that’s the thing, it’s mostly my inability to draw teens mixed with the intent of drawing a Percy in the middle of puberty and not too buff (while in my brain Jason looks more masculine presenting than Percy, idk I just go based on vibes)
It probably doesn’t make sense but that’s it
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kerubimcrepin · 2 months
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Episode 31 - The Break
It will be so refreshing to liveblog an episode that isn't heavy on characterization or analysis, oh god, I am tired of typing words.
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He is so sad and for no reason... I just want to wrap him in a heated blanket.
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World's most serious case of Sads, finished off with an evil little glare.
I can imagine adult Joris doing the same thing to Kerubim even by Wakfu times. Just a cunty, unamused little gaze. I can see it so clearly. This will happen in season 4, mark my words.
Also, inside me are two wolves. One of them wants to say "perhaps it's unusual for Joris to not go hook line and sinker for whatever ideas Keke proposes", and the other wants to say "Joris and Kerubim having psychic vibe battles moment #5"
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He is so unserious.
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Joris loses this round in the game of mutual psychological manipulations.
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(Guy who notices landmarks in this show voice) (Also, guy who, for some reason, has developed a parasocial relationship with this setpiece in a kids show voice) THE TOWER. THE FUCKING TOWER
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I've already spoken on this topic, but Kerubim already being known to sell stuff and have strong opinions on the ethics of museums makes me so unwell. Especially with implications of the Crepin family being salespeople.
I am not going to elaborate. You've read my other posts. Just... yeah.
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Can I get some love for non-Cra archers in this universe? The degree of unemployment must be hellish.
Also Lou has two swords, and Nella has two quivers. They are so normal.
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Some may think that Kerubim is out of shape, but I will argue that this is his Farm Boy shape. His "not constantly on the road and fighting monsters while worrying about travelling supplies" shape.
He's still muscular, because Herding Animals is Serious Business, but he's got a bit of a gut going on, because there's no food insecurity, and the food he has is mostly meat and milk.
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Considering old Kerubim also has the gut, — and is, notably, still very agile, — I think that this is just, like, Kerubim's natural shape when he's eating well and living like a normal person.
Sorry for overanalysing his body. I just wanted to talk about my "adventuring should be deconstructed as a concept and examined more closely, considering the multiple characters who had been ready to die "to become legends" about it. Like is all the trauma, food insecurity, and violence worth it, when the only way for people to truly respect you in this career, is to die in a cool way?" agenda.
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The resemblance between young Keke in this episode and his older self is actually scary.
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Say NO to alcohol, say YES to being a calcium-based lifeform.
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I've never mentioned this before on this blog, but it's very likely that Kerubim is kind-of-sort-of accidentally implied to have an underbite.
It varies, whether he has his teeth in a normal bite, or an underbite, — and it is an art style choice, it happens to some other characters, albeit nowhere near as often as it does to Kerubim, — but, once you see it, and know what I'm talking about, you can't unsee it. Hell, it's on half the screenshots in this episode already!
Underbites are something that goes in families, which fits really well.
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Because, like... yeah. That sure does seem like a family thing.
Together with the "pale-ish brown pigmentation around an eye or both eyes" thing, and the triangle-ish shape of their heads and snouts, Keke and Atch are the Bouba and Kiki of siblinghood.
Anyway, for transparency's sake, despite the underbite being one of Atcham's very notable character features, he is also sometimes drawn with a normal bite. Which might point towards Kerubim's underbite also being a genuine part of his character design, — instead of it being a case of animators liking the look of it a lot.
Personally, I like to think that both of them had been trying to fix his underbite his whole life by simply willing it away, and it's Not working.
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If they actually realized they care about one another, and could be chill about it instead of immediately starting a Doomed Toxic Cottagecore Farm, Pangaea would reform.
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Oh? You like Kerubim and Lou? Well, then, do you think Lou and Kerubim efficiently utilized girl power when they, Bontarians, went to their oh-so-hated Sidimote Moors and Brakmar, to conduct what they call a "slaughter-safari"?
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This is not a Divorce Theory I usually subscribe to, but my funny crack theory is that she left him to go adventure around the world because he wanted to settle down and adopt a kid or whatever.
Truly, the possibilities of kerulou divorce theories are endless.
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If they formed a polycule, Pangaea would explode.
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I like to think that whatever Julith has going on is a cloak with a similar, but more complex enchantment.
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This item is real, but I can't really find the sword mentioned by Lou moments prior.
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I need to inject this image inside, intravenously.
...Anyway, you will never guess what my newest addition to the desktop wallpaper rotation is.
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flamingplay · 28 days
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Interview: Everything Everything’s Jonathan Higgs on AI, Education, & New LP ‘Mountainhead’
by Eric Schuster
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Atwood Magazine: Each album you all release has a unique style and theme. I read that Mountainhead draws from an allegory regarding “an alternate society whose existence is dedicated to endlessly growing a mountain by digging deeper at its foot — all in pursuit of a mythical mirror that sits atop its peak while avoiding a massive golden snake that lives in the pit below.” What are some of your favorite sci-fi films or novels?
Jonathan Higgs: Definitely Predator. Definitely Terminator. I like any sort of sci-fi slasher genre like that, like Alien where there’s people being picked off by a monster. It’s not very close to what I’ve written though, for this album. Yeah, I think I was looking for something that was simple enough to say in one sentence, but that could have a huge amount of different meanings if you wanted it to. I guess it would be something like, I don’t even know. It’s way too simple for a film. I think it would have to develop a hell of a lot more, but I think in terms of music, it’s sort of enough to hang everything off without it getting too complex and too bogged down with these rules of the world. It was more like, no, there’s just this big one, big idea and everything is sort of under the shadow of that rather than getting too conceptual kind of puts me off if particularly if albums get too wrapped up in detail and all that stuff. It’s fine for films or novels, it’s essential. But I think when you are making something like an album, it needs to be, the songs need to live without that knowledge. They need to be able to be good by themselves
That’s why it has such a simple setup, because I think anything, I think you can go a bit further, but I want you to keep it really monolithic and simple.
You tackle some big issues in Mountainhead, like the unsustainability of unlimited growth and income inequality and Raw Data Feel tackled the problems associated with AI. Do you see AI helping or exacerbating these issues?
Jonathan Higgs: I think it’ll help a little bit. I don’t see why it would make things worse. It’ll probably be some big tech advances that it’ll help speed up things like sustainability is the big one that everyone’s trying to do, so I don’t see how that could make things worse, but it does, of course, rely on some kind of thing. They keep mining for chips, right? I can’t remember. But there is quite a big environmental impact of making the brains of AI and obviously we’ve seen with crypto what sort of length people will go to improve their computing power and how much energy that uses, et cetera, et cetera. But no, I think it’s probably going to help bring about some of the stuff that we need to happen a bit more quickly, like renewable, wherever that may be. Some kind of advancement will probably occur thanks to ai, but it’s not just a one solution type thing. It’s more like it just looks through the options much more quickly. That’s kind of how I feel about it.
You all are very academic and methodical in your approach to writing music and creating art. Do you have any artists that you are currently listening to that are also pushing the boundaries of music?
Jonathan Higgs: I’m more in touch with what some visual people are doing. There’s this guy called Umami who makes these amazing short videos and he’s made this big long series of them and he does do music in it as well, but it’s primarily like an animation project, and I follow a lot of 3D horror guys. I mean, that’s not music either, really. And I guess musically, oh man, this year has been thin on the ground. It’s only a month in, it’s only a few weeks in. I don’t know. I’m not really tuned into anything new at the moment. I guess it’s because I’m working on other projects, I’m just trying to clear my head of musical stuff at the moment, so I can’t suggest anything.
Your website Edexhell mocked the exam quality that you were issued in school, what do you think of the current state of education?
Jonathan Higgs: I have no idea, is the truth. I don’t have any connection to people of that age. Well, my brother’s kids I guess are teenagers, but it’s Scotland and things tend to be better up there anyway. I don’t actually know. Actually, just about an hour ago I read a report saying that girls are doing better than boys at every age from primary up to uni. And that made me ponder for a moment. I dunno if that’s a problem with education, but there’s definitely something going on there, which is pretty odd. But also my mom, she’s retired now, but she was a teacher and teachers used to get it in the neck so much when I was growing up that I kind of made a soft promise to myself never to diss the education. Well, teachers in particular, I think it’s generally the same as it was. I don’t know, is the truth. I’m not involved.
Did you all see the movie Everything Everything and if so what did you think? How do you feel that they co-opted your name?
Jonathan Higgs: No, we didn’t see it. We were not very pleased with that, to be honest. It meant that 99% of Google searches for us just end up with that. Nothing against the film, but it can fuck off.
What job do you think you would have if you were not a musician?
Jonathan Higgs: I’d be in movies. I think I’d be making them, not in them. I’d be somewhere along the creative line, hopefully directing, but who knows? I could happily do that now. I do that now. I’ve directed, most of our music videos have been by me, so yeah, I enjoy that hugely.
Do you have any favorite directors?
Jonathan Higgs: Yeah, well, there’s a lot of good ones at the moment, aren’t there? I really liked Robert Eggers. I thought The Northman was brilliant. I know it was a bit silly, but I absolutely loved it. I just saw Poor Things. I thought that was pretty good. I think it’s actually a pretty great time for film at the moment. This year’s last year’s Oscar bait sort of, well, not Oscar bait, but just the things that are about to get awards in about a month and lots of really great stuff. I thought Anatomy of a Fall was amazing. I’ll always watch whatever Ridley s Scott’s up to. Yeah, I prefer, I get more excited, not prefer, but I get more excited about movies than albums recently just because I’m not, I feel like I’m so in bed with music that it’s a bit like work sometimes and movies is a bit more like I can be a fan rather than somebody who’s involved.
You mentioned that the mirror at the top of Mountainhead represents the fact that even if “you’ve got it all, what have you really got?” What is your favorite material item that you own and why?
Jonathan Higgs: Oh, my PC, no question. I’ve had a PC since I was in middle school, and then there was a long period where I didn’t have one and then I got one again and I was like, fuck, why did I have that period in my life without one? It’s the best tool a human has ever created, easily outside of the stick. It’s brilliant. I absolutely love it for creating. The power I have as one person now compared to when I was a kid on a computer is just extraordinary. The things I can make, the level of quality that you can make now the consumer can make is astounding.
This album deals with what it means to be a “human,” which is something that has been explored for centuries but has gotten harder to define as technology has infiltrated our everyday lives. What do you think are the best ways to connect with other people?
Jonathan Higgs: Sitting round a fire, the oldest one, it’s always being the best one, but if you can’t do that, then face-to-Face Place with breathable air is probably the next best thing. And obviously you can’t always do that, but doing what we’re doing now is okay.
A lot of songwriters seem to slow down as their careers progress, but you all are as prolific as ever, perhaps even more so now. Where do you find the creative energy (and literal energy) to keep creating such thought-provoking and high-intensity albums?
Jonathan Higgs: Well, I don’t have kids, so I’ve got all the energy I ever had, and a lot of my job is sitting down, so to be honest, I could use up more of my energy. In fact, a lot of my songs are about the fact that I don’t use my energy, don’t use my body. So I’ve never had a problem with that. We don’t really get, well, I don’t really get drained of juice because I don’t think making an album is very difficult. Really. We’ve done it seven times and making another one doesn’t sound difficult either. Making a good album is quite hard though.
You said it's not very physical, but that music video for Cold Reactor, you guys are out there in the cold and that looked pretty physical.
Jonathan Higgs: Well, that was a big day. We actually made five music videos that day.
Oh my god.
Jonathan Higgs: Yeah, we did all the whole album’s worth in one day, and there was a big storm that was coming into the Slate Mine, where we were. So that had a bit of a hard limit on it in terms of when we could be there. We were about to die, so that made it kind of fun.
Manchester is a modestly sized city in comparison to many other major cities in the world, yet some of the biggest and best bands of the last half-century have formed there. What do you think it is about Manchester that makes it such a hot-spot for artists?
Jonathan Higgs: It rains all the time. There’s lots and lots of venues that are good, and I think there’s good unis, so there’s good students starting bands, but there’s also this culture of music that’s already, what, forty years old, and I think people go there with the intention of being involved in music, whereas you wouldn’t get that in a lot of cities. I mean, I’m one of those people. I’m not really from Manchester, and I went there to start a band. I knew that was a place where bands could exist. It’s not like a fantastical idea that you might start a band, whereas there’s plenty of places you can go and no one will join your band. Manchester’s always been good for that. I think it self perpetuates really. Now we’ve got this culture and we’ve got this history. Then it generates more good bands.
You all have accomplished a ton in your Manchester is a modestly sized city in comparison to many other major cities in the world, yet some of the biggest and best bands of the last half-century have formed there. What do you think it is about Manchester that makes it such a hot-spot for artists?
Jonathan Higgins: It rains all the time. There’s lots and lots of venues that are good, and I think there’s good unis, so there’s good students starting bands, but there’s also this culture of music that’s already, what, forty years old, and I think people go there with the intention of being involved in music, whereas you wouldn’t get that in a lot of cities. I mean, I’m one of those people. I’m not really from Manchester, and I went there to start a band. I knew that was a place where bands could exist. It’s not like a fantastical idea that you might start a band, whereas there’s plenty of places you can go and no one will join your band. Manchester’s always been good for that. I think it self perpetuates really. Now we’ve got this culture and we’ve got this history. Then it generates more good bands.
You all have accomplished a ton in your tenure as a group. Is there anything you still hope to accomplish in your musical career?
Jonathan Higgs: Career? Oh yeah, definitely. We want a number one album. We want to headline Glastonbury Asbury, all the things that a band could ever want. I feel like we’ve achieved 1% of it, 8% of it. So yeah, you name it. I’d love to have a whole new chapter of the band.
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