philipwstoop

[philipwstoop]

I honestly didn’t expect my review to blow up as much as it did, so I want to address a few things.

If Magpie does see this, I want to remind them once again that I said NOT to make this public. And I have a very good reason to ask this. Before I had made the post, I made them aware privately why I didn’t want a public response from them.

And the reason I @ them was that as an artist, critiques on work are key to growing and improving. And I hoped he would understand and take it as a way to improve for their upcoming projects. But past experiences with them made me nervous to speak.

I've had three years of my work get critiques, and especially in an online setting, these critiques might come off much harsher than I want them to. And to anyone who sees this, I want to know I had no intention to come off as aggressive or rude.

I know the painful details that they went through as well as the sweeter side of them, and I know how excited they were. And I can admit I was excited too, and at first I shared that just to give them the spotlight he deserved. Because it was 2 years of work and so much struggle. And only later, when the hype died down, did I share my true thoughts with the hopes that he would take it and learn.

And for Magpie fans, rushing to their defence doesn't help. If he's upset, that’s between me and them, and how we handle it is between us. If he has something to say, I told them to reach out to me. The fans getting as aggressive as they are is not helping the situation at all on both sides. And makes it worse for both of us to calm down enough to have a meaningful conversation.

Saying I’m mad is an understatement; I'm furious and heartbroken. My review was very clearly meant to be informative and to spread no hate to them, because I still care. They were my idol, someone I had very high respect for. And if I made them upset, I would have loved to talk it out with them privately. But in return, they’ve disrespected me. When in truth I have never hated them or wished anything horrible about the project. Heck! I didn't even dislike the project!

And to answer the question Magpie asked, I do know the feeling of being critiqued after working so hard. Talking with them about it is like I’m seeing my younger self dealing with the heartbreak that I’m imperfect. (and trust me I know how much it hurts) And if he’s seeing this, I want them to know that I understand and sympathize.

All I ask is that he take the posts he made about me down, and if he’s reading this, I am still open to chatting. I would love to explain myself better if I worded something wrong, because I can admit I’m bad with writing tone. And I have no intention of hurting anyone. Especially someone I looked up to so highly.

[philipwstoop]

Reblog

My review for @a-magpie-in-gravesfield 's new project: Masked and Modeled

So after a few other artists started making reviews, I gathered the courage to make my own.

Just as a disclaimer: this is not meant to be or spread hate; this is just my opinion, and if Magpie takes this as something to improve, that's on them.

I didn't go to share my thoughts right away because I was horrified of possible backlash, and I wanted to give Magpie the spotlight because he’s worked so incredibly hard on this project, but now that I've seen others speak up, I thought I should too.

This is meant to be informative, not aggressive.

But I want to speak about the songwriting. It is the entire project and is not perfect, but also not horrible. There are only a few things I want to point out that I feel would make the songs just a bit better.

First off, almost all the songs try so hard to rhyme with every end, and because of that, a lot of the lyrics sounded basic and plain, which is a very common mistake I've seen with other beginner songwriters. Not all lyrics have to rhyme; freestyle does exist and is very common.

Going off that, a lot of words were repeated unnecessarily often. “Play,” “pretend,” and “witch” were the most overused. And those words especially witch are hard to work with lyrics that are trying to rhyme. Mainly in the beginning three songs.

For example, “Left Behind” with the line that Philip talks about the mask, “gaze at the mask” followed by “put on the mask” is dragging it and something that didn't need to be repeated.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that Magpie puts more effort into Belos’ songs than Caleb’s. While I get that the story does follow Belos more, the songs that Caleb has are very lacking, especially when Caleb’s “I want” song doesn't show anything wrong and therefore puts no strength into the lyrics and makes the song overall pointless. Not only that, but a majority of Caleb’s art during those songs looked exactly from frames from the show. And it is so easy to tell when Magpie’s very soft art style turns sharper with face shapes and body type. If you are writing a story about the Wittebanes, especially Belos’ upbringing, Caleb is key to that, and how Caleb was written makes Caleb’s death justifiable. And makes Belos’ villain arc lacking drive.

The song “Murder” is incredibly out of place with the lyrics and instrumental. While I do get that it's meant to show Belos’ anger, it makes no sense with the rest of the music and the instruments used in past songs. When it comes to writing a soundtrack, keeping the same instruments is key to keeping it understandable and recognizable. But that was the only song that didn't fit; the rest of the instrumentals are very nicely done.

The song “What now?” “Grimwalkers” and “CURSE” are my favorite, but they also have their issues.

“What now?” didn't have any build-up for the lyrics to be as powerful as they could have been. The notes didn't match what the lyrics ask. Belos questioning what he was doing was for nothing, sounded monotone, and had less power and drive. When he goes forward to make it clear that he needed to go on it has no build-up and seems like it was just being written to end the song.

“Grimwalkers” have a lot of repeated lyrics, but show sympathy and come from nothing, and do nothing to Belos’ character and drive to go on.

“CURSE” beautifully captures the horror and panic that Belos has, and the eerie work with the instruments perfectly follows the notes of the singer. But once again has no buildup and no follow-up to that state of mind.

“The once familiar smile, now frozen into a glare by death” is my favorite line because it sets the room and the atmosphere very well. And also explains Caleb’s change that haunts him.

“Keep in the grief” lacks the panic that makes him struggle to calm down, however. And overall, i feel it should be removed from the song entirely.

The very last song i feel should have been removed entirely. it keeps adding on when it should have ended right there with CURSE. Because the audience already knows what happens after that from the show itself.

But that is all I will write for now, because writing this has me through so much distress that I feel incredibly sick and nauseous. So i might take a bit to gather myself. @calebsrottingcorpse , @azure-blaze92 , and @thatbloodstainfromcaleb know what I'm talking about

Magpie, if you see this, if you want more information from me, just DM me. i do not want this to be a public argument

-thank you

[philipwstoop]

Im philip i like looking at art on here! What else do i say I don't post. I liked some wittebane stuff here and there