tallships-and-starlights

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Not me using leftover yarn so that just can better visualize how braiding and weaving tresses would look like. Not me also realizing how inherently difficult it is to do with more than 5 strands at a time.

#this made such a mess #yautja #yautja culture #predator #tallships and starlights #worldbuilding #original yautja clan

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you’re hearing it more and more

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this showed up in my FB memories, the lightning bolt trick! I don't sketch out the lightning bolt much nowadays but it's still super helpful when I need to lay out tricky arms and leg poses. And I still apply the logic of it, especially with how I draw arms :' ) Biggest thing it helps with is shape breakdown and visualization, we gotta use whatever works to break down shapes into simpler concepts for our brains 👏💓

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Basics from the clan that most of my OC's hail from that most of you know nothing about

The Ju'dha-Vak'ra, or Vak'ra for short, are a unique Yautja clan deeply connected to the sea, embodying the spirit of Earth Mediterranean cultures in their family and community structures. Despite their fearsome reputation as hunters, the Vak'ra are known for their jovial and friendly demeanor, fostering strong bonds within their clan and with neighboring communities.

Clan Name and Meaning: Ju'dha-Vak'ra, meaning "water weavers," signifies their mastery of the sea and the intricate weaving of their lives with its rhythms.

Settlement Design:

The Vak'ra settlement is carved into a sheer cliffside overlooking the sea. Homes are constructed halfway between the sea level and the cliff's top, ensuring safety even during storms.

Interconnected by bridges and ladders, the homes form a tight-knit community where families thrive.

Below the cliff, a sandy beach provides a natural harbor for the clan's boats. Docks line the shore, bustling with activity as fishermen prepare for their journeys.

At the summit of the cliff, guild artisan buildings stand proudly, each dedicated to a specific craft such as boat building, weaving, and other traditional arts.

Beyond the settlement, farmer's fields sprawl out, where livestock graze and crops are cultivated. This sustains the clan's agricultural needs and reinforces their self-sufficiency.

The surrounding forests act as a protective barrier, shielding the clan from outside threats and providing a hunting ground for game.

Family and Community Structure:

The Vak'ra emphasize strong family ties and communal bonds. Extended families often reside together in the same home, fostering a sense of unity and support.

Clan gatherings and celebrations are frequent, with feasts and festivals celebrating the sea's bounty and the clan's achievements.

Elders hold revered positions within the clan, serving as guides and advisors, passing down traditions and wisdom to younger generations.

Each member of the clan contributes to its prosperity, whether through fishing, boat building, weaving, or other crafts. Cooperation and collaboration are fundamental values.

Cultural Practices:

Rituals honoring the sea and its creatures are central to Vak'ra culture. Offerings are made to appease sea spirits and ensure bountiful catches.

Traditional dances and music are passed down through generations, reflecting the rhythm of the waves and the spirit of the sea.

The Vak'ra hold a deep respect for nature, viewing themselves as stewards of the land and sea. Sustainable practices are employed in fishing, farming, and resource management.

Hospitality is a cornerstone of Vak'ra culture, with travelers welcomed warmly into their homes and feasted upon with generosity.

Relations with Other Clans:

Despite their amiable nature, the Vak'ra are fiercely protective of their territory and resources. They maintain diplomatic relations with neighboring clans but are prepared to defend their homeland if necessary.

Trade and alliances are forged with coastal and maritime clans, exchanging goods and knowledge to mutual benefit.

The Vak'ra's reputation as skilled fishermen and artisans earns them respect among other Yautja clans, enhancing their standing within the broader community.

Education and Training:

Young Vak'ra children begin their schooling at a young age, where they are taught the history of the clan, including its traditions, legends, and the pantheon of gods and deities they worship.

As they progress through their education, they are trained in essential skills such as combat, hunting (both on land and at sea), and weaving. These skills are crucial for survival and play integral roles in Vak'ra society.

Graduation from schooling requires mastery of these skills. Students must demonstrate proficiency in combat techniques, hunting strategies, and weaving techniques before they can proceed to the next stage of their lives.

Chiva - Rite of Passage:

Upon graduation, students are formed into groups of three, each member possessing a different set of skills learned during their schooling.

These groups are tasked with a significant challenge: to build a boat, weave a sail, and craft necessary weapons for their Chiva, or rite of passage.

The group isolates themselves on the beach, living in their own homes for a period of six to seven moon cycles (roughly six to seven months). During this time, they dedicate themselves entirely to their work, honing their skills and preparing for the ultimate test.

Once the boat is completed and the necessary equipment is crafted, the group sets sail to hunt a large sea serpent, believed to be the progeny of the sea god's mount.

Successfully defeating the sea serpent is a symbol of maturity and prowess. The entire serpent's body is brought back to the clan, where it is utilized in various ways, including consumption of its flesh and crafting of clothing, weapons, and trophies.

The group that felled the beast is now considered adults within the clan, earning them the right to participate in mating season and to build their own homes within the cliffside settlement.

Career Paths:

As adults, Vak'ra clan members have the freedom to choose their career paths, based on their skills, interests, and the needs of the clan.

Career options include weaving, boat building, smithing, farming, soldiering, fishing, or dedicating oneself to the role of healer, which involves serving in the clan's temple and providing spiritual and physical aid to fellow clan members.

God of the Sea:

The god of the sea is depicted as a powerful figure, with large tusked lower mandibles and a scaled cape, wielding a massive bone spear.

He rides atop a massive serpent, using it to traverse the depths of the sea and reach the horizon to meet his lover, the goddess of the moon.

The tale of the sea god's love for the moon goddess begins with his declaration of love. Despite his swimming prowess, he cannot reach the horizon to meet her.

The moon goddess sends down a serpent from the heavens, tasking the sea god with taming it to ride to the horizon. After days of relentless effort, he successfully tames the beast using a net woven from ocean plants.

Riding the serpent, the sea god reaches the horizon and weds the moon goddess, uniting the realms of sea and sky.

Goddess of the Moon:

The goddess of the moon is portrayed as ethereal, with a large crest adorned with a white mark symbolizing the cradle of the moon.

She calls to the sea god, inviting him to meet her on the horizon for their wedding. When he struggles to reach her, she sends him the serpent as a means of transportation.

The moon goddess's union with the sea god results in the birth of twin boys, who became the twin suns that illuminate the earth.

However, the playful nature of the sun's leads to them scalding the sea, revealing the land beneath. To console her husband, the moon goddess molds clouds into various animals, which she casts into the sea to amuse him.

Despite her efforts, the sea god grows lonely over time. In his loneliness, he swims to the edge of the sea and creates a daughter from the clay formed by the waves battering the rocky coast.

The daughter of the land becomes the steward of the earth, shaping its landscapes and populating it with flora and fauna. Her creation of life brings balance to the world and sustains both sea and land.

These myths, passed down through generations, serve to explain the origins of the natural world and reinforce the interconnectedness of the sea, the land, and the celestial realms in the eyes of the Vak'ra people.

God of the Sea: [God of the hunt and weaving]

Name: Thal'rok, meaning "Master of the Depths"

Goddess of the Moon: [Goddess of light, creation, fertility]

Sel'thara - Combining "Sel," referencing the moon, with "Thara," representing divinity

Twin Suns: [Gods of light, fire and mischief]

Names: Ra'kar and Ra'thar, signifying "Sunrise" and "Sunset" respectively

Daughter of the Land: [Goddess of art, fertility, earth and the hunt]

Drakara - Combining "Draka," meaning earth, with a suffix denoting femininity

If you actually read this whole thing than you are the coolest person ever thank you so much. Please feel free to ask me questions. I will be posting more art about this soon. Been drawing everything traditionally so...

#yautja culture #yautja oc #worldbuilding #tallships and starlights #avp #original yautja clan #original species #yautja #predator #okuill #sa'vaak

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(source)

Unsplash -  photography, illustration, & art

Pixabay - same as unsplash

Pexels - stock photos and videos

Getty Images - photography & illustration

Veceezy - vectors and clipart

Gumroad - photoshop brushes (and more)

StockSnap.io - stock photos

Canva - needs login but has lots of templates

Library of Congress - historical posters and photos

NASA - you guessed it

Creative Commons - all kinds of stuff, homie

Even Adobe has some free images

There are so many ways to make moodboards, bookcovers, and icons without plagiarizing! As artists, authors, and other creatives, we need to be especially careful not to use someone else’s work and pass it off as our own. 

Please add on if you know any more resources for free images <3

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So I’ve been thinking about rational vs. irrational character decisions.

An irrational decision is great when your story is driven by your character’s personal flaws and struggles, and for crafting situations where your audience knows that these decisions are unavoidable because they are perfectly in character. Having your characters be perfectly able to solve their problems if they weren’t, y’know, themselves, is so very hard-hitting, and can be a fantastic part of a narrative.

The downfall with irrational decisions is that it can make situations seem less dire or make your antagonists seem less dangerous. If your characters are falling over themselves and their own personal issues, then it’s hard to show how the external problems in your story pose a serious threat, because you can’t demonstrate how they’re hard to deal with if your characters aren’t making solidly competent attempts in the first place.

Rational decisions are great for stories where most of your problems are external, like your characters trying to build a spaceship or infiltrate the bad guy’s lair. It’s also key to any horror writing, where you need your characters to be competent in order for your danger to be credible; if your audience spends the entire time wondering why your protagonists aren’t doing very obvious things to solve their problems, it’ll be a lot harder to get a properly spooky atmosphere going. But if your characters are only ever making the most optimal, logical choices without ever struggling, they won’t be very compelling, so just like with irrational decision-making, there’s a time and a place for this.

Ideally, you want some combination of both rational and irrational character choices. And maybe even more importantly, whatever choice a character’s making needs to be one that makes sense for them given everything you’ve already shown in the narrative so far. If the decision feels forced or contrived, then it doesn’t matter if it’s rational or not, because it’s not a choice that fits with the rest of the story.

But, yeah, ultimately, both types of character decisions are useful tools, and it’s less about one or the other being right, and more about both of these tools being useful for different types of situations.

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hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

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Fish food for the fish tank for you

Featuring Blorbos that you know nothing about:

It was a fatal moment of weakness, an illusion of safety and familiarity that felt too much like home. He knew that she only let him stay by her side because he intrigued her. His culture and his habits differing so much from her own isolated upbringing amongst the stars. He told her of his tribe, his family and in turn his brother. He told her of his fate and his sacrifice to destroy the xenomorph outbreak. "He died an honorable death."

He decided then not to mention how his brother had become infected and how he had to run him through, because the med pods were all destroyed and that his brother did not go out in a blaze of glory like he had weaved the story of his chiva for her. He could not bear the thought of whatever insult he was sure would be thrown at him if he did. Ship dwellers and their lack of bedside manner and empathy never ceased to make his skin crawl.

"What of the aura wielder?"

Had he known that humans were seen as simply pray and nothing more by her people, then he never would have opened his fucking mouth. With the high of sex still reeling in his mind and body, he was far too loose with his tongue. He never would have imagined what carnage would be wrought with his words. He should have kept his mouth shut.

Okuill didn't know what he did was wrong until he felt Saat's hands grow still on his chest. She splayed her palm against his ribs as she sat up. "The ooman is on the surface?"

Okuill simply nodded his head. A small click leaving his teeth in reply. He was far too lethargic and lightheaded to notice the flex of his paramore's claws until she had grabbed his throat and tore his stomach open.

He didn't even have enough forethought to howl out from the blinding pain as he desperately tried to keep his organs from spilling onto the bed. All he could do was gasp for air like a fish. His stomach pooling blood, like some kind of macabre play where the curtains of his skin was jammed shut by the death grip he had on them. Saat slowly lifted herself off of him and backed up to the door of her room all the while glowering at him as he gaped at her.

She glanced down at her stomach and pushed her hand from her waist to her navel with the same clawed hand that was drenched in his blood all the while sneering at him from his place on her bed, his death bed no doubt.

She continued this motion a few more times before spitting in his direction and stomping out the door no doubt to inform the elders of his transgression. After a few moments he realized what it was she was doing. She was trying to remove his seed from her womb, now that she made it abundantly clear how much of a disgrace he was in her eyes. He hoped it would stick if only to spite her.

As he lay there, gasping and reeling at the dizzying pain and blood loss he prayed to his gods with all his dying might that they protect his family, his people and that they would not suffer from his mistakes. If only he had heeded his father's words.

Never trust a star walker.

#yautja #yautja culture #predator #yautja oc #Subtle Musings of the Damned and Forgotten #Okuill #Saat #sa'vaak #tallships and starlights #i made this in 30 minutes there is no grammer check whatsoever

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You draw anatomy and faces so well, besides just doing studies was there any sources you found really helpful?

Thank you so much! I appreciate you saying that.

Studies and reference will always be helpful of course, and just drawing drawing drawing. But in terms of specific sources for getting better at them, hmm...

A site that I still go back to now and again when I'm feeling rusty is hitokaku, which is an old japanese site that shows you how to draw different parts of the body. Definitely recommend exploring that.

Manga Materials goes into some nitty gritty of anatomy in a really in depth way that can be overwhelming if you're just getting started but is really fascinating to look at. I follow them on patreon, but I think they might have notes available for free and stuff on their twitter or other socials.

Character Design References has pinterest boards just full full full of materials to look at. Less specifically anatomy practice, but there's some anatomy materials in there you can take a look at, but also just huge databases of character sheets and things too. I get lost in this place.

Anatomy360 is a great reference, they even have some free materials that I have used for muscle reference dozens of times

I also look thru adorkastock sometimes for poses or just plain old practice.

Also if you can get your hands on any of the Morpho anatomy books, I would recommend those in a heartbeat. I have like 5 of them. Their subjects range from general anatomy, simplifying forms, exaggerated muscles, how to draw fat folds--really great stuff, mostly made up of drawings. I have referred to these books *so* many times.

Anyway...apart from that, I look at a lot of images of athletes or bodybuilders (looking at specific sports gets you different body types, so it's fun to explore), I practice faces by having a sketchbook and trying to draw people in videos i'm watching (used to be at cafes but I don't do that as much w/ the pandemic and all that). Helps you capture shapes and likenesses better if you're trying to do it fast and symbolically, you learn what details make up a person's "look," it's a lot of fun.

This is what i can think of off the top of my head. Mostly I just draw a lot and practice and do my best ;~;

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“Notes on skirts and pants”

Source: miyuli on twitter

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how it feels "trusting the process" as a writer/artist

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reminder to worldbuilders: don't get caught up in things that aren't important to the story you're writing, like plot and characters! instead, try to focus on what readers actually care about: detailed plate tectonics

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some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.

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How to create an atmosphere: Supermarket

Sight

advertisements for products

big signs showing discounts

aisles full of colorful products

fresh produce

employees in matching uniforms

all different kinds of costumers

with shopping carts

with children running around

with a stroller or toddlers sitting in the shopping cart

with a service dog by their side

Hearing

the sound of shopping carts being pushed and bumping into shelves

parents calling for their children

people talking on the phone

a man asking his wife if they still have enough toilet paper at home

someone asking the employee where they can find something

music interrupted by announcements about promotions the store is doing

the surring and beeping sound of the cash register belt

the sound of the electronic doors opening and shutting again

Touch

the stickiness of the floors

the differents textures of each item they think about buying

the coldness and often stickiness of the handle of the shopping cart

the sudden wetness from some products that are either fresh produce or where the package is leaking

Smell

the smell of spilled drinks that someone dropped and left for the employees to clean up

the smell of cleaning products from them having to sweep it up

the smell of hand sanitizer

the smell of different products the costumer holds up to their face and smells to decide if they like it

the horrendous smell of deposit machines where you return your not quite empty beer bottles to and the leftover liquid spills everywhere

Taste

different samples offered at the supermarket

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It is imperative I practice but boy am I tired

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Dialogue Responses

"I thought you were dead!"

"Didn't stick."

"I kind of was..."

"Just wishful thinking."

"That was just a phase."

"Didn't work out for me."

"Wow, the miracle of life!"

"I thought the same thing."

"I did, but now I'm here again."

"You were supposed to think that."

"I'm so sorry! I'll explain everything to you."

All the Dialogue Responses can be found here.

If you like my blog and want to support me, you can buy me a coffee or become a member! 🥰