#assistant colorist

[rgravesedit]

Here to Help (2023)

[corvidaedream]

finished the test sheets for the coloring gig for my former professor that im fighting tooth and nail for and also got an email today offering a job interview from a part-time job in providence i applied for that would get me more experience and connections in a field i actually want to work in, so everythings finally feeling like maybe i can leave tourism soon...

[dilfosaur]

well i haven't spilled my guts on tumblr since i was in college but it's the platform that's felt The Most Mine thru the years, so

let's talk!

i've had a huge chip on my shoulder that i wanted off before the year ends. very bad professional experience to follow

so firstly to get ahead of the speculating, i'm not naming names or anything. some of you will puzzle out who i'm talking about, but please don't bother anyone especially not on my behalf. i've worked hard to distance myself from them the past few months. shit happens, especially when you're a dumb bitch (that's me!)

but also this person was someone i considered a close friend and it makes me uneasy to possibly direct backlash at them. "then why post about it" bc i did intermittent work for them for over a year. this is just about that. so hear me out

basically it started off fine. i initially did some commission work for good pay, then was invited to become more involved with their team. unfortunately as i became more involved with their operation it became more disorganized over time. projects started then forgotten, constantly shifting schedules, lapsing communication between roles, confusing financials, and often inconsistent if not late payments. during mid 2023 i was doing colorist work, sometimes on a one day turnaround (all while also preparing drawfee's summer merch launch). the payroll wasn't set up correctly so i wasn't paid for that work for over a year (more on that later), tho to be fair that was largely my own fault at first as i just didnt realize the payments didn't go thru lol

i always consider myself decently capable of separating friendship and coworker-ship; i run a company with 4 wonderful friends, going strong for almost 5 years. that didn't really work out in this case. by early this year our friendship was on the rocks; work issues fed into personal issues and vice versa. so as the rest of this shit plays out, we had just had our first "big fight" which i felt very bad about and added to all the upcoming tension

a huge point of friction was the fact that i really wanted to work with them to make a music video for one of their songs. i've always wanted a chance to make a music video, was confident in a concept i came up with, and even did some concept art for the idea. everyone insisted they loved the concept and that we should do it, but we kept pushing it back for various reasons. it ended up becoming a huge sticking point for my frustrations, which i tried to express productively. TLDR, we eventually got around to discussing it seriously around april.

i planned to ask for $4000 with negotiable add-on for the whole project, which was my Friend Discount price. i was offered a contract for $1000 flat rate, as they insisted that was the only budget they had for it.

don't ask me why i signed it lol. i didn't even counter offer

there was some girlmath to it: i wanted an extra 1k for a student scholarship i provide every spring and well, there it was. but if i had to guess, i saw it as something i just couldn't back down from any more. i caused these folks- my friends- a lot of problems bc i dug my heels in so deep to chase this project, so fuck it we ball

i had about 4 months to solo a 3 minute music video. they wanted it done in august so they could release it before summer ended, bc "it was a summer song". to be fair i was asked if i needed them to pay for anything extra like assistants (which i would have to find and manage) but i was so immediately overwhelmed that i didn't wanna slow down to wait on that process lol. there was very minimal communication other than brief progress check-ins every few weeks. i did everything for that project myself: the original concept, character designs, storyboards, layouts, backgrounds. i even did the editing/compositing for the final cut of the MV. the only favor i did myself was limiting the amount of it that was actually animated to simple loops and motions. hardly my best work but it was work still done

i did it all in between my full time job. i ended up having to take nearly a month away from most of my drawfee duties (with the support of the others) to make the august deadline. i only ever asked for a 3 day extension (notice given about a week in advance, around the same time i was given the final song file lol). i finished the music video at 6am on the final deadline and recorded drawfee the next day on 2 hours of sleep

but it was done, coolies. the team was very happy with the final product. honestly, without getting into it, those were a very emotionally taxing 4 months. on the professional side, i regretted agreeing to the project and especially for the dogshit rate they offered. i felt like a hypocrite- as someone who always wanted to advocate for younger artists demanding their worth in a world that's getting increasingly hostile toward creatives, i failed myself

so when i met with the manager to discuss the release plan, i told them to do whatever worked best for them as i only had one request: i wanted my credit removed from the project

tbh... like... lmao this dramatic bitch right!! but really, i decided that bad practices only breed worse business. friends or not, it was unprofessional of me to accept such a low paying job so i just didn't want my name used in association. everything felt so muddled to me and i was just really tired at this point

the manager was very understanding and then offered that i could be paid more. they said that their team "was surprised" i accepted their low rate and they would be happy to up the amount. this confused me as the initial budget seemed pretty set and at no point between april and august was i offered a better rate. i knew these guys weren't made of money. so, i declined. i didn't want to put anyone out of their means over work that was already done and agreed upon. but more importantly, i was over the whole thing and didn't want to prolong the project with a contract renegotiation. i just insisted my name be removed

they decided to use a pseudonym (which i was fine with) so they could create a story about a character who made the MV (this sounds really convoluted but i don't know how better to put it without getting specific, sorry). that way if people asked about the credit, they could speak comfortably about it without signaling that something went wrong behind the scenes. ok, kind of a silly narrative imo but whatevs. and maybe this is where i finally went truly wrong but. yolo i guess

i gave the name "D. Smithee", D as in dilfosaur and Smithee as in Alan Smithee. look it up for fun film trivia ig! was it passive aggressive of me to reference that in this context? yeah, honestly. but i thought it was kinda funny and really not that deep. if it was a problem, i have other real, non-cheeky pseudonyms i regularly use. the manager accepted it and all i had to do was wait for them to post the video and i could leave the whole experience behind me

a week later i received a message from the manager that my pseudonym had been denied by the rest of the team bc one of them got the reference. fair enough lol. however, they decided that rather than ask for a different name, the were going to make one up for me that they liked and would "fit the [story]", without asking me

and that! is when i finally snapped!

i was so tired of giving them concessions at this point and having a credit made up for me without any input from me felt genuinely violating and unethical. i started to Panic bc of how stressed i was, and asked for my overdue payments (aka the $500 still owed on the MV, and the colorist rate from a year prior that was never paid even tho i reported it in january) to be scheduled ASAP as i was leaving the work discord immediately

i finally told them off for exploiting me throughout the months while i kept trying to just be nice and finish my contact cleanly. in return i was told that it was unfair to say that as i agreed to everything- i accepted their cheap rate and denied further payment so that was all settled, and it was ok to change my credit without my consent bc i "said they could do whatever with the release". i called bullshit, ended the convo as kindly as i could, and cried lol. they agreed to ditch the pseudonym and just give no credit. that night was the last i heard from anyone on that team

and the real kicker?

august came and went. then september, october... and they never released the music video

and i don't know why, because i was never contacted about it. i've been removed from the picture entirely i guess. 4 months and boatloads of stress. just. up in smoke. i don't know what i expected honestly

it's hard to not take everything that happened personally and as done in bad faith. i really do, honestly. i've had plenty of shitty deals in my almost 10 year art career, but it hits different from people you saw as friends. but to the point of "why not keep it private", i have never felt so disrespected as a professional as i did this past year. i can toy with money and credits and other formalities all i want, but my work- my ideas, my labor, my effort- is still so important to me. i felt like the biggest idiot for doing so much work, pouring so much of myself into a piece for someone's use, for what has amounted to nothing

but more importantly i hated myself for undervaluing my work, even if initially i thought this person was a trusted friend. money is not really an issue for me- drawfee is my main job and i am fine and comfortable. it's so important to pay artists appropriately but i often undersell my own work bc i value the collaboration and passion between creatives more than the reward. i think a lot of artists tend to feel the same, and it often makes us easy to take advantage of. it's so difficult to find the balance between passion and making a fair living, and i think there's some shame within ourselves when artists choose to prioritize that passion

i wanted to finally get all this off my chest bc i was ashamed of every choice i made. things like this happen all the time i'm sure and hiding these mistakes only make it easier for it to happen to other people

tldr always value your work and protect your passion from people who just see it as a product. and don't give cheeky pseudonyms i guess lol

(and again pls don't bother anyone involved about this. a lot of chaos has left my life as i moved past all this, and this is me closing a door without opening new ones hopefully lol)

this shit was truly

so ass.

but i'm moving past it now

but on a nicer note. outside of all of this nonsense, i made lots of good memories this year. i'm truly so grateful to the many wonderful people in my life who keep me going even when i fuck up big time!

and thank you to all of you strangers who, despite everything, give me the time of day. especially if you read this whole thing. you're a real one :')

happy new year!

[colleendoran]

About a month left to go.

Thank you so much to Dunmanifestin for their kind patience while I recovered from cancer. And thank you to all the fans for your patience as well.

While I intended to color the entire project myself and did a good chunk of the book already, I'm very grateful to the colorist team who is helping me bring this project home. If I finish it all myself it would take another three months and it takes at least two months simply to run the printing press for a print run this large. And you don't want that.

Thank you to Sean Lee, Logan and Lisa Lubrera, and Daniel Junior.

Thank you also to Lois Buhalis whose lettering is fantastic.

For obvious reasons, I am focusing entirely on this and not getting into anything else online. So don't drag me into anything, don't even try. Because my assistant is screening everything, and I need that shield.

As you all know, times have been difficult beyond belief, but I owe it to the fans and the family of Terry Pratchett to do right by this project.

Thirty days from now I'll be walking away, with gratitude, with sadness, and with hope.

That's all.

[rayleearts]

Hey all! I know you’ve been waiting for an update on when you can expect the next half of season 2. Right now, we’re looking at around April this year.

Chronic illness and moving has been a LOT. Please send well wishes to one of my colorist assistants, who got a severe ear infection that landed them in the ER. To keep ourselves on a schedule that doesn’t degrade our health, we’re going the long route.

Thank you for being so patient!! As a treat, here’s a sneak peak at what’s to come :)

[littleeyesofpallas]

Just picking at ye olde Hell material in Bleach again, just for funsies. It's something I've kinda fleetingly covered in pieces but never really done one solid bit on. This isn't going to be very focused and it's gonna involve a lot of tangents and rambling, so buckle up i guess... big ass text wall beneath the cut. (I'll try to include pictures to break things up, but don't expect it to make it much more readable)

Digging up the old hell gate art it's interesting that Kubo and the film team almost immediately came into conflict:

Kubo's original Gate of Hell from the end of the Shrieker fight has nondescript plain fusuma paper screen doors, as a neat kind of complement to the shinigami's shoji screen gates between worlds --the anime later opts to give them an unclear texture and odd purple coloration, which the digital colorist retroactively applies to the color manga-- and the movie team embellishes this with fusuma-e paintings of hellfire and bones, and sculpted metal frames, giving an impression much more akin to the heavy wooden exterior doors of a temple, rather than the more delicate interior doors referenced prior. As you might expect, this Buddhist reference, however non-canonical, is very on brand for the series' themes... but we'll get to more of that later

But when Kubo does his own promo art in the original serial print of chapter 428, he draws the gate completely differently... He gives the "paper" screen doors a new bone-like texture, very similar to the carpet of shattered bones lining the Dangai --something notably more distinctive in the manga than in the anime, where they were a lot sparser with the bones-- and accordingly the color of mixed yellowed and bleached bones has a hue in line with rice paper doors.

Incidentally the scale of the doors and the nature of the giant skeletons seems to nod at least superficially to the gashadokuro, a yokai noted for being a giant skeleton made up of the bones of the people it devours.

It also evokes the Jigokuhen[地獄変]: "Hell Screen" which both literally describes a Japanese triptych style of screen art depicting hell, but also references a short story of the same name (although sometimes alternatively translated as "Panorama of Hell" or "Portrait of Hell".) by famed Japanese novelist, Ryunosuke Akutagawa. In it, a painter is commissioned, by a cruel and wealthy patron, to paint elaborate scenes of torture in the Buddhist realms of penance, the Naraka, but of course more commonly just translated as "hell." He becomes obsessed with the work, seemingly possessed, and begins torturing his art assistants for reference until the spiral into madness drives him to suicide.

(Ironically, Kubo actually did consultant art design for an adaptation of this short story, for the anthology anime Aoi Bungaku:"Blue Literature." although of the three different stories that used his character designs Hell Screen was the only one that didn't actually get any promotional art by Kubo himself)

The title also alludes to a genre of classical Buddhist art in Japan, but perhaps more common in China, of long continuous panoramic scrolls depicting various scenes of the naraka. But that's getting kind of away from the point here...

But more to the point, with the two big weird skeletons that each only have one half of a giant shared ribcage between the two of them, Kubo very conspicuously added a pair of little devil's horns that both weren't on his original drawing and weren't communicated to anyone on the movie's art team, because they're absent in both the movie itself and the concurrent ad material. And Kubo keeps these little horns when he draws the gate again in the New Breaths From Hell oneshot --although Kubo does do away with the bandages and the daoist talismans, so consistency is in question. And unlike their original otherwise mostly humanoid implication, this raises a question about demons/oni, which Bleach has never really directly addressed but definitely doesn't not have a motif about horned demons and/or ogres...

Akon has always been a weird mystery with loose yokai adjacent vibes...

Love has oni motifs seemingly centered around fairytales more than religious lore.

Zaraki's stupid unnamed bankai is just a random unexplained demon/oni.

Ichigo's hollow form is unambiguously demon-like, but in more of a play on being his literal inner-demon.

Komamura's Tenken is almost explicitly a "jailer of hell" in the buddhist cosmological sense, often conflated with oni in Japanese specific buddhist interpretation.

And then Szayel's appearance in the New Breaths From Hell oneshot has very overtly demonic horns in, ironically, a distinctly western derived style, although his prisoner's robes are verymuch buddhist.

They are both bandaged but also have paper talisman wards(we'll be back for those in a sec...) against evil spirits plastered onto them, and...

...they're seemingly pinned into place by shakujo, the metal ring adorned staves used by traveling buddhist monks. (They are pretty famously a cool self defense weapon in stuff like anime, with some very real martial arts history to that, but more commonly they made good walking sticks for long travel, the metal rings were actually very good to scaring away wild animals like bears, and as mendicant monks they were useful for making noise to get attention while begging for alms, since as monks they didn't really deal with money or personal possessions whenever possible they lived off what they could carry on their person and what could be given by the charity of others.)

But anyway guess who has a shakujo and little faux devil horns? Tessai and Hacchi as captain and lieutenant of the Kidou Corps. And we remember what Kidou is, right? Ki-dou[鬼道]: "demon way" or with a little liberty, "demon discipline"/"demon teaching." Which we really don't get any more detail to chew on beyond that vague parallel, but it sure does seem to suggest that soul society's magic system is something they developed or otherwise stole from an unspecified race of demons/oni.

Which is curious, because even though the TBtP arc screwed things up by being lazy and uninteresting in making them structurally derivative of the gotei 13, originally the Kidou Corps were supposed to be their own organization within soul society and very conspicuously not samurai.

Other than just favoring magic over swords, their uniforms were based on the aesthetics of buddhist warrior monks and nuns, and as it was originally explained the kidou sorps, gotei 13, onmitsukido(prior to being merged with teh 2nd division) and the Central 46 were all distinctly separate entities within soul society. And given the onmitsukido's clear ninja aesthetic and seeming preference of hand to hand combat, it seemed pretty self evident that the role of the kidou corps was also uniquely outside the bounds of the gotei's assigned shihakusho and zanpakutou samurai styled system --it was only the appearance of Tessai and Hacchi in generic shihakusho that contradicted this.

Even putting aside the full covering robes used for Rukia's escorts, when it came to the Kidou Corps members presiding over Rukia's execution, the manga colorist, the anime, and even the enemy models in BBS all seems to have defaulted to making the Kidou Corps uniforms a variation of the shihakuhso, even though, the way Kubo originally drew them, they were very distinctly not solid black the way an actual shihakusho is; he used screen tone indicating some kind of middling tone color.

There's also the odd case of Ururu's talisman sealed missile pod? The anime got a little lazy and just skipped out on any semblance of the written calligraphy on each paper seal, and makes it look more like it's wrapped in bandages, but the original art is very clear that those are paper wards; the type used to seal away a cursed object.

They're fundamentally daoist in origin, but similar traditions seeped into buddhist and shinto practice. Typically you'd expect them to be either white with black, or yellow with red ink, but red paper with black ink wasn't unheard of. The manga's digital colorist(s?) waffled between a couple options, but at least one of them matches Kubo's choice of color combo for the seals on the skeletons of the Hell gate.

Oh and only tangentially linked to all this is also Jinta and his ridiculously sized kanabo/tetsubo club. A favorite of fairytale oni. He only barely even begins to factor into this set of themes, he just happens to also be conspicuously in proximity of louder contributors like Ururu's thing and Tessai. He also sorta falls in line with a bit of Love's shtick, and Love's got his oni mask to reinforce it which almost strengthens Jinta's case by proxy? sort of???

Anyway... All those aesthetic loose ends aside just to point out that Bleach directly names several naraka directly. Of the 8 Hot Naraka...

Toukatsu Jigoku[等活地獄]: "The Ongoing Resuscitation Hell"

Kokujou Jigoku[黒縄地獄]: "The Black Rope Hell"

Shugou Jigoku[衆合地獄]: "The Mass Sum(of weight) Hell"

Kyoukan Jigoku[叫喚地獄]: "The Scream(ing) Hell"

Dai-Kyoukan Jigoku[大叫喚地獄]: "The Great Scream(ing) Hell"

Shounetsu Jigoku[焦熱地獄]／Ennetsu Jigoku[���熱地獄]: "The Charring Heat Hell" / "The Blazing Heat Hell"

Dai-Shounetsu Jigoku[大焦熱地獄]／Dai-Ennetsu Jigoku[大炎熱地獄] / Gokunetsu Jigoku[極熱地獄]: "The Great Charring Heat Hell" / "Great Blazing Heat Hell" / "The (Most)Extreme Heat Hell"

Mugen[無間] / Abi Jigoku[阿鼻地獄]: "The Ceaseless(ness)"(lit.: "No Gap/Interval") / "The Avi(ci) Hell"(just a phonetic approximation of the sanskrit Avīci[अवीचि] itself meaning "Waveless" from which the Mugen's meaning of "without intervals" as in "without variation" as in "unchanging"/"ending" derives)

Toukatsu it isn't directly referenced but its basic description as a hell where you're repeatedly beaten unconscious only to be revived to be beaten again does seem to match the profile of Unohana's bankai and how she used it in Zaraki's training.

Kokujou is obviously the namesake of Komamura's bankai; initially it seemed to imply that he was himself the hell jailer punishing criminals, but later developments in the wolfman lore actually suggest that as a criminal reincarnated as an animal as karmic punishment, he was himself a prisoner of the Black Rope Hell. The nature of zanpakutou and bankai suggest that the jailer has imprinted as part of his identity because in his heart of hearts he remains in hell and punished for the sins/crimes he seeks to atone for, and that that moral need for atonement is what makes him more human than animal. His self identity is one anchored to guilt, penance, and self flagellation

Shugou is only ever name dropped, never seen, as the 3rd level of Soul Society's massive prison complex, that Tessai was supposed to be sentenced to for the events of Turn Back the Pendulum.

Kyoukan isn't directly referenced but it does share a root with Kyougoku[叫谷]: "The Valley of Screams" which is itself a homonym with the contraction of Kyoukan Jigoku.

And the Muken[無間] is the lowest level of the prison where Unohana and Zaraki fought, as well as where Aizen was imprisoned. It's written identically to Mugen[無間] just with a slight variation in pronunciation.

Notably of these references, the Shugou and Muken are levels 3 and 8 of the 8 tier Shinou Chika Dai-kangoku[央地下大監獄]: "Central Underground Great Prison" which is a prison facility in and run by Soul Society, rather than a part of the distinct realm of Hell.

The distinctive structure of layered realms of punishment are used again for the Hell Verse movie, although they've only got the 5 layers, and they only loosely mirror superficial elements of existing naraka; motifs of lotuses and fire. Incidentally there's the fun cultural closed circuit of Dante's Inferno seemingly influenced by naraka lore via Chinese cultural exchange along the silk road, looping back around to being the most globally iconic image of hell and in turn influencing pop culture like anime and manga.

And on the more obscure side, the Cold Naraka...

Abuda[頞部陀]: is just a phonetic approximation of the sanskrit Arbuda[अर्बुद] which i believe is supposed to describe a shape that, depending on context, could either describe a fetus or a tumor or a sore, but in the context of how this cold hell works seems to be translated as "Blister" like what happens from hypothermia. (Chilblains?) So round about way to say it reads as "(Hypothermia) Blister(s)"

Nirabuda[尼剌部陀]: as you might have guessed another approximation of sanskrit, this time apending the prefix Nir- to the Arbuda. Nirarbuda[निरर्बुद] means "No Blisters" but given descriptions seems to reference the fact that here the hypothermia blisters pop, inflicting all the associated pains that come with that.

Atata[頞哳吒]: Again, this game of telephone from India to China to Japan; from Aṭaṭa[अटट] which as far as I can tell is supposed to be an onomatopoeia for the sound of chattering teeth.

Kakaba[臛臛婆]: a much looser approximation, from Hahava[हहव] similar to the above I think this is supposed to just be the sound of like a deep crying or wailing or maybe "groaning" is a better word for it.

Kokoba[虎虎婆]: you know the deal here.... from Huhuva[हुहुव] which i think it supposed to be the sound of like sniveling in the cold, not quite a "sneeze" but I've seen it compared to "A-chu!"

Ubara[嗢鉢羅]: from Utpala[उत्पल]: "water lily"/"bluelotus"

Padoma[鉢特摩] / Guren Jigoku[紅蓮地獄]: and suddenly we're back to actual readable japanese, and the jigoku:"hell" epithets are back! Means "The CrimsonLotus Hell" and derives its meaning from Padma[पद्म]: "lotus."

Maka-Padoma[摩訶鉢特摩]: / Dai-Guren Jigoku[大紅蓮地獄]: The sanskrit Mahāpadma[महापद्म] means "Great Lotus" and in turn gives us the Japanese, "The Great CrimsonLotus Hell."

So obviously the big one here is Hitsugaya's bankai, Dai-Guren Hyourinmaru[大紅蓮氷輪丸].

But surprisingly the rest of the cold naraka don't really get much attention. maybe because they don't have a nice cleanly understood Japanese meaning? I'm actually really not sure why these use so many distinctly Chinese style phonetic approximating characters, rather than having either just kana like most loan words, or uniquely Japanese translated terms. Maybe the cold hells are less utilized in Japanese Buddhism in general? I wouldn't really know.

I guess that just leaves... The Jigoku-no-Gokuri[地獄の獄吏]: "Jailer/Gaoler of Hell" epithet?

It's the phrase Szayel uses that retroactively identifies the big arm and kabuki-like face behind the doors in the original appearance; It's what actual buddhist lore calls the kind of monsters that torture people in naraka, which Tengen Myouou ends up being based on, and that are conflated with Japan's indigenous oni lore when buddhism comes to Japan.

The Hell Verse movie really boringly seemed to explain that first appearance as the Kushanada --seemingly named after the place in India where the buddha died, Kushinagar-- by bringing back the giant arm, a kind of knife weapon, and the shoulder armor, but they don't meaningfully build on anything or otherwise offer any real insight.

There's some extremely tangential avenue to argue that Chad's Left Arm of The Devil is derived from whatever this category of creature the Jailers are, not just because of the tribal tattoo-like patterns, but also because the original Jailer of Hell does appear to be left handed. His kanji uses a different word for a demon/evil spirit though, akuma[悪魔]: lit. "evil spirit/demon" which is different from the oni/ki[鬼]: "ogre/demon/ghost."

Notably it also wields a shirasaya tanto, rather than a katana; it's a wooden handle (no hand wrap) typical for storing a blade (not for wielding in combat --although it is a popular weapon of yakuza in fiction), lacks a distinctive crossguard that would otherwise identify a unique shinigami's zanpakutou. This is kind of curious once we find out that Ukitake has taken up the role of Jailer in the No Breathes From Hell oneshot, where he uses his zanpakutou, now proportionally huge, in place of a tanto.

Oh but curiously Kubo changed the doors. They swing out now instead of sliding. It's funny because until now he was consistent about them being sliding doors, both in style and function, and it was only the movie promo art that went for the big swinging temple doors.

So we have something (loosely) associated with big temple gates, held in place by magical buddhist exorcist tools, with skeletal demons, leading to hell.

And we have a seemingly monastic order of magic users, practicing "demon arts", with hair mimicking devil horns --where Tessai in particular is both wielding a shakujo and presumably had some hand in making Ururu's cursed seal anti-hollow weapon.

We know there are at least two types of beings directly associated with/from hell sporting horns(although they're noticeably more demonic/ram-like) and then a second subset of horned characters who aren't directly tied to hell in lore, but do have more of an oni short-horn design matching the horns on the gate itself.

We know Ukitake serves as a Jailer and appears to have grown in size accordingly. So in reverse we can assume the first jailer seen was once human sized.

But the first jailer's weapon does not appear to be a zanpakutou, implying not a shinigami

but he is wearing samurai armor; a sode in particular, but without any accompanying kote forearm guards. (It's a bit of a long shot, but this kind of points away from samurai proper, and possibly to something more like a peasant soldier, or something like a war-torn era bandit in stolen/scavenged armor.)

there's also the weird loose thread about tribal tattoos and devils and kabuki makeup that never come up past the original appearance of hell, and has no direct links or parallels in other lore, but do very loosely kind of align with Chad's Left Arm.

Also the tanto and shirasaya are pretty in line with possible yakuza theming but so are tattoos at least in the superficial sense, the tribal shapes shown however aren't really in any yakuza related style. (i dunno where else to plug it in but here's a post on some criminal tattoo stuff seemingly referenced in Bleach. Also unrelated yakuza stuff.)

Come to think of it, there's a lot of stuff kinda orbiting these bits about yakuza and a gates and kabuki that don't touch on the hell themes directly but do all kinda half orbit the subject... Monstrous gate guardians like the oni-like ni-oh come close to the hell jailers. gate guardian names as part of a yakuza type when the tanto the jailer uses is kind of a yakuza thing. the ni-oh style tasuki being a kabuki thing, and that brushing up against the jailer's kabuki villain makeup pattern. The two yakuza lieutenants serving captains with hell jailer and oni themes... again, it's not a direct hit but it's all kinda lingering around in the background....

Oh and the LN tries to handwave hell as not part of the broader origin story and cosmology, but other than not being canon, apart from the handful of little designs and names Kubo lent to it, they're also just badly written and don't really engage with Bleach's (admittedly very messy) web of themes and symbols in any functional or satisfying ways.

Oh and if it wasn't clear the lore of the Hell Verse movie really isn't being taken into any meaningful consideration here, apart from how it can contextualize Kubo's choices made in opposition to it. Like how the gate isn't actually designed like temple doors, but the movie choice to change that comes from the presence of buddhist elements already in it. But I'm not going to really dig into the kushanada or the togabito at all...

Oh right and then there's just the actual explicit lore from the oneshot. There's not really any digging to do with that, so i nearly forgot. But the Jigoku-no-Rinki[地獄の燐気]"Hell's PhosphorousEnergy" has some weird little implications in it, although it's hard to really pin down clear intent from it. For one, rinki is a homonym with rinki[悋気]: "jealousy" where the kanji swapped out is very specifically Rin[燐]: "phosphorous" the chemical. It's seemingly used almost exclusively in the context of chemistry, but a variety of pop culture stuff like Touhou and Blue Exorcist have taken to using it as synonymous with onibi[鬼火] lit. "ghost fire" the phenomenon known as ignis fatuus or a will-o-wisp.

The association seems to be from the blue-green hues of white phosphorous in the dark and the typical white-blue appearances of ghost fire. However phosphorous is also used in a orthodox catholic ritual called "holy fire" where its properties as a self-igniting are used to produce a "miraculous" inextinguishable flame. And on a similar christian note, the word phosphorous itself comes from the greek Phōsphóros[Φωσφόρος] meaning "Light Bringer" in reference to Venus, aka "the day star" as the only celestial body visible to the naked eye in daylight; and of course that greek epithet is where the Latin translation LUCIFER comes from.

So go figure, it's a holy, ghostly, ever-burning fire from hell synonymous with Lucifer and Jealousy, associated with gaki/preta: "hungry ghosts" condemned to be possessed of unfulfilled desires and forever jealous of the living and their indulgences...

Right right, I guess I need to add a but on the gaki themselves. they are of course a part of buddhist cosmology, called preta[प्रेत] in sanskrit, a kind of ghost in realm parallel to the naraka, in a similar way that animals exist parallel to humans, and asura parallel the deva. They are driven by instinct rather than intellect and as such get to sort of half escape imprisonment in hell; still tormented by those desires, forever emaciated and starving, despite bloated and full bellies, but free to roam the world of the living and spirits alike.

It's kind of unclear if Kubo ment this as a formal term or if Szayel called them that as a sort of slang; although it's a little oldfashioned, gakidomo[餓鬼共] can be used to describe rambunctious, often thieving kids. Essentially calling them too driven by greed and thinking of nothing but food, and kind of derogatory toward poor kids. In english it often gets roughly localized as something like "you brats!" or "damn kids." "little rascals" or "gremlins" or "little devils" might be comparable phrasing too, if still a little too clunky for casual english.

Yeah, okay, I think I'm out of steam here... I dunno if i missed anything, either actual details I missed in the text, or conceptual links I failed to make... but this is the end. I desperately need Kubo to put out some kind of new content. But like, actual content, not shitty google translate transcripts of some random interview where none of the questions matter and he just does that awkward professional thing where he tries to "yes, and..." everything even when there's clearly no real answer. Hopefully when the final season ends it'll coincide with some kind of manga sequel, even if it's just another oneshot...

[celestialalpacaron]

Ayo, someone by the name of Curly-B-Blog is redlining art of yours from 2020 (while pretending that it's actually Sai Scribble's work), and kind of being a dick about it. just thought you should know.

You know, originally I was just gonna brush it off, but then I went back to look at my old SU art from 2020 and did so much self reflection from then till now.

I think this was around the time I was just learning how to do perspective and tried to use the perspective tool on Procreate for the first time? :0 and I remember telling Sai “Sai I have this STUPID idea, I CANT believe it this stupid joke it’s so DUMBBBB, it’s living rent free in my BRAIN I SWEAR THIS IS GONNA BE SO STUPID DCIUWHEFIUWHIRFUIW4F” and being super excited to show her the finished product. People still think Sai created the Cursed Skin Gloves comic and I think it’s hilarious wjhwnuhwijwuiw

The comic was received very well and it made LOTS of people laugh and I’m still proud of this comic to this very day! :D and tbh if it wasn’t for my obsession for Sai’s Switcheroo AU I never would have found my passion in comic work! (love you you stinky hoe @saiscribbles 🩷)

HOWEVER…. I definitely still had lots to learn! I wasn’t very good at perspective at the time I’ll admit, but I was definitely having lots of fun learning :3

And throughout the past 4 years, ALOT has happened.

I graduated from college with TWO fancy pieces of expensive papers in Visual Development in Animation and Illustration learning from Will Kim and Jeff Soto, and as a I was working with the funny voice man Cougar MacDowall as a comic/story artist and reached in total around 7 million views for my fan series FNAF Security Malware Breached (it was even #21 on the trending list around the time of my birthday 🩷 what a lovely gift), had an insane opportunity to work with Mike Geno and with the voice cast from The Amazing Digital Circus for a fan song as a background and character asset artist, Vivienne Medrano liking and sharing my silly Overlord Husk AU comics, currently on my route to getting my certificate from Aaron Blaise’s Character design program and graduating from Marc Brunet Art School, and now I am completing my first year as professional colorist and art assistant for my storyboard and comic mentor Michelle Lam, aka Mewtripled! (Also I’ll be heading out to Lightbox Expo 2024 on October 26 with Michelle and the team so if y’all ever wanna meetup hahahajaj wink wink wink wink wink)

So you can say I learned ALOT and I enjoyed every minute of what I do :D I try to be humble about my accomplishments because blah blah being humble good yes yes but this time I wanna be selfish and say HELL YEAH I DID ALL THIS!!! AND IM SO EXTREMELY PROUD OF MYSELF FIUGEIURGERGGRS

Now here’s my most recent comic page that I posted like 2 days ago without the text.

That’s pretty freakin wild to me, I can’t believe I used to draw Steven Universe art like that back in 2020 LOL LIKE GUYS I DREW THIS!! WITH!!! MY HANDS!!! IS THAT NOT INSANE!!!???

Anyways moral of the story:

Learn from everyone and everything! Yes, even then mean ones too! If you can learn to work with anyone, I promise you’ll get to where you want to be faster. People can be a little mean on the internet, but that shouldn’t stop you from being where you want to be in the future. I’m so EXTREMELY grateful for all the opportunities and to all the kind professionals who were willing to give me a chance. Seriously, I’m so graciously thankful for everything, and I hope everyone here will support me and my silly little comics I will do now and in the future!

And one more thing:

Don’t be a jerk. Be to be nice to everyone :D nothing good comes out when you’re bad to everyone.

[klkbass]

Finally! It's Been Released!

After almost three years of waiting, it's finally out.

I was excited, of course. The announcement of this comic is essentially what started this blog. But, I was also hesitant to read it. This will likely be the last piece of official LotK media we are going to get, and certainly the only one featuring Mako. I didn't want it to "end." (I'm a fanfic writer. The story never ends.)

However, I did eventually read it, and I loved it. The story, the artwork--everything about it was great. Although, really, it would have needed to be absolute trash for me not to like it.

There was one thing about the comic that made me pause (several, but I will keep my editor brain in check). To take a line from Dan Larson host of the Secret Galaxy YouTube channel:

"Is it canon?"

The answer...Maybe?

First, let's ignore Mako's hair style and the fact that the brothers are living together. Hair can be whatever, and it's possible that Bolin couldn't make it on his own once his mover career ended.

Taking those two things off the table, it could be assumed that this story might have taken place between season three and four of the cartoon.

However, there are two pieces of evidence that contradict that theory.

If Korra and Asami are together, and Bolin is a presidential assistant, this puts the story solidly after the events of "Turf Wars." But that isn't right either.

Allow me to present exhibit B:

Did you catch it?

The scar is missing from Mako's left arm, which means this would have had to have happened before the end of season four. He even had the scar in the previous comics, so it's a thing.

Now, I don't know the real reason why the scar is missing. Was it a colorist thing? Was it the penciler? Was it simply omitted from the original writing? What's to say...But, it does throw a bit of a monkey wrench in the timeline.

Anyway, that's my two-bits.

Buy the comic, support the series, let the creators know we want more LoK content and here's hoping this won't be the last piece of official media.

[sunlit-mess]

Since your in multimedia arts is it okay if you could show one of your projects? It's totally up to you ofcourse I'm just really curious

UHM.... I UH.. I KIND OF.. I'M NOT REALLY.. GOOD.. AHHAHAA BUT I'M TRYING 🎀

Projects I'm proud of I guess?

1st year:

Was an art director, storyboard artist, background & character designer, lighting/colorist, and clean-up artist in a short 2D animation project for finals

Had done project exhibits

2nd year:

Part of Indy Films team as sound designer

Worked on storyboards and art lead ( VFX, E-games, World-literature )

Had done 3D modeling, rigging, and 3D animation (blender), as well as game dev/ minimal coding (GDevelop, unity, Visual Studio)

Lead Game Designer (project: puzzle platformer game)

Had done projects for photography & interactive media/novels

Passed the official license exam for Adobe InDesign

One of the Graphic designers for the school's Esports organization

3rd year 1st sem:

Storyboard Artist for an ad, Creative Assistant & Digital Media Tech for branding (advertising and brand communication project)

Had done mid-fidelity wireframes

Designed a mobile application for the school's merchandise store

2nd sem (PRESENT)

Currently working as a storyboard Artist and Makeup Artist for a music video for an Indie Singer.

PS: Yes, we work on real brands, local artists, clients, and more.

[sonicboomrevisited]

Hii! I had a few questions (I have no idea if they’ve already been answered) about the production of the comic:

How long does it typically take to make one full page with the production team?

Are the pages already mapped out or do you start once the previous ones are posted?

What is most complicated thing to do?

Is it hard to work with a weekly deadline?

Are the dialogues written like a script and if so, could you post how you write them?

(I might be back with more questions because I’ve been wanting to start my own fan-comic for a few years now)

Hello, Ani! Great questions! I'm going to answer these in reverse order so I don't end up repeating myself. This will be a long one so bare with me. I'm putting this under the break:

Are the dialogues written like a script and if so, could you post how you write them?

First a foremost, before any drawing starts, a script is written out for the entire story-arc. Meaning Issues 1-4 have been written for a good year now with subtle adjustment and improvements being made overtime as the drawings are worked on. Multi (that's me!) does most of the principle writing with @mama-qwerty assisting. She makes sure my ideas run smoothly and also helps me avoid writer's block.

This is the script for the latest page released. Every script is divided up by page and labelled with the appropriate panel estimate. What is detailed in the script may not necessarily end up on the page. Sometimes things you see in your head might not make any sense when you put them on paper, so its important to let yourself be flexible.

Is it hard to work with a weekly deadline? / Are the pages already mapped out or do you start once the previous ones are posted?

We DO NOT work within a weekly deadline. Everything is mapped out and planned MONTHS before posting. By the time you're seeing page one of an issue that page has been sitting, finished, on my computer for about three months in advance.

The basic process is.

Myself and Qwerty script.

I map out all the pages for an issue in 2 to 3 days.

I toil away at penciling for a month or more.

I toil away at inking for a month or more.

@star-stages colors while I'm toiling away at inking.

I letter the pages Star has colored.

Once all 20 or more pages are finished, we announce a release date.

Why don't we just post all the pages at once, you ask? Because then the wait between issues would be longer and I would feel bad. Spreading them out over a few months gives me time to work on other projects or the next issue of Revisited without stress.

What is most complicated thing to do?

Paneling. This is the, "taking what's in the script and figuring out how to get it onto a page" stage. It's stressful and frustrating because, as an artist, you second guess your skills a lot during the process. You've all seen how horrid my first sketches are. The results are always worth it, though.

How long does it typically take to make one full page with the production team?

Sorta... difficult to measure since certain steps are done in bulk, but the most important steps--penciling, inking, and coloring--take about a day or two each if Star (colorist) and I (penciller and Inker) aren't interrupted by normal life stuff!

I would guess, if you compressed the time we spend on one page, you'd end up with a little under a weeks time spent on a single page.

Thank you for your questions, Ani. I hope this all made sense. If it didn't or you have any more questions, don't be afraid to shoot us another ask!

[poisonousquinzel]

i love the way bud and lou follow her so effortlessly and without hesitation. like they see her whack a cop with her mallet and are just like "mother is going to war, we shall assist :D"

no commands or requests on her part, they know what to do. they're a pack and they follow the lead of their alpha

a family :')

Harley Quinn (2021-) #44

Writer: Elliott Kalan • Artist: Mindy Lee • Colorist: Tríona Farrell • Letterer: Lucas Gattoni

[boondocktalks]

There has been ongoing discussion about the lack of black women as part of the main cast in “The Boondocks,” which is something I also noticed when I watched the show years ago.

Jazmine was the only recurring female character connected to the black community. However, some people don’t count her because she’s biracial, though to me, she’s still a black-coded character.

Other black women who appeared in the series were typically introduced as Granddad’s dates, only to never be seen or mentioned again. Beyond that, most were background characters, and were often portrayed in a negative light.

The only black women depicted positively were Aunt Cookie, Thelma, who was an ancestor of Huey and Riley, and Ebony Brown. Even then, Ebony faced criticism for being a “Mary Sue” and “too perfect.” Also, given that Uncle Ruckus referred to Thelma as a “high yellow mulatto jezebel hussy” in his version of Catcher Freeman’s story, it’s possible she was also biracial.

From what I recall, Aaron McGruder was hesitant to include monoracial black women and girls prominently because he was aware of how sensitive many of us are about our representation in the media. That said, this statement seems somewhat as a contradiction, considering how the show often portrayed black women and girls as walking stereotypes— Jazmine included, to a degree. Even her racial identity was seen as a joke.

On the contrary, I have to remind myself that “The Boondocks” was a show based off satire, and no one was off limits. Each character, even Huey, was a caricature. Almost all of them were overtly exaggerated, and they didn’t hold back any punches.

Even with that being said, most of the girls and women, particularly those of color, were one dimensional at best. Jazmine definitely matured throughout the series, but even then, her character was slowly being faded away, especially in Season 4. We rarely even got to see or hear from her, and her and Huey didn’t interact much in that season either. Which was out of character for the both of them.

The meaning of this post is in no way an attempt to take away from Aaron’s talents, or the cultural impact “The Boondocks” has on many people to this day. I still hold it very dear to my heart, and it will forever be one of my favorite animated shows next to “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” But, I do believe that when it came to writing black women and girls that did appear in the series, he had some obvious shortcomings.

This isn’t to say that Aaron has a disdain for black women, unless some legit proof suggests otherwise. And, no. Him marrying an Asian woman doesn’t count unless he did it for colorist reasons. Nor would I say that “The Boondocks” is anti black like other people have said in the past.

However, it was definitely a missed opportunity for this legendary show to have a well developed black female character such as Isis, a character that was scrapped from the comics for some reason. Despite the limited information and pictures we have of her, I am happy to hear that some Boondocks fans remember her, and even illustrated pictures of her as well.

I just wish Aaron had put the same amount of effort in writing female stories like he did with Huey and Riley. Or, at least have a black woman assist him in continuing Isis’ development. She had so much potential, and I’m still upset that she wasn’t in the strip or in the show.

[colleendoran]

Good Omens graphic novel assistant colorist Logan Lubrera raising money for cancer treatment. Please help out if you can.

[inside-black-moon]

I can't...Get out your handkerchiefs...

This is me. 695 days ago I was like this - a small scared girl hiding inside a huge necramech. Now I have become like a necramech myself and I do not hide, but go straight ahead. At that time, I tried to join some clan. I strove for socialization, movement, the flow of cyber-ninja energy. It was all useless. Even here I felt separated from everyone. My condition was aggravated by the terrible events in my real life, which maximally increased the feeling of isolation.

But the world of warframe absorbed me so much that I didn't need help. I understood and understand that this is my special path both in the game and in understanding myself. Isolation helped me open my eyes to many things. And as a reward, I received something priceless.

He and She. I am inclined to deep self-analysis - it helps me survive in society. It turned out thanks to nature that I have a very non-standard perception of the world literally at the cellular level. Of course, with experience and age I have learned many social techniques, but some things remain behind the scenes. But this manifests itself in creativity and photography, including. Using a lot of techniques from ordinary coloristics to physiognomy, I reflect my worldview and attitude, emotions. This is, in fact, the only language of communication that I know perfectly. And this is a great way to "say" something to the audience.

Isolation leads to self-flagellation and searching for flaws in yourself. It took me a long time to get out of this very dangerous borderline state. And yes, self-analysis helped me with this and...Umbra. At some point, I started creating photo comics. There was a lot of text and these were even, rather, illustrated stories. The uncomplaining faithful Umbra was my partner and a kind of assistant in the game for creating illustrations. Self-analysis turned into stories, screenshots - into illustrations. And all this helped me more than once to cope with depression and inner demons. Do I feel gratitude to the character who can technically only repeat animations in the game? Yes, definitely. Without him, there would be no illustrations, without him, there would be no stories. Without him, I would not have gotten out of hell. I needed a strong hand, support, to survive. When you don't understand what depression can lead to and you take it lightly, it can be a fatal mistake. I was on the edge. One step away from very bad things. And he pulled me out.

I understand perfectly well that I pulled myself out, but through the work of my brain, mind, consciousness and subconscious. And Umbra was only an interlocutor. The silent one. But sometimes there are very dangerous situations when, in order to save your own life and mind, you need to fall out of reality and come back. And when you fall out of reality, then yes, the game characters become alive in a sense. I'm not talking about tangibility. But about their perception, the perception of the contribution of their existence to your real life. When you return to reality, the connection remains. Admiration and respect. Trepidation... I don't know how to describe these emotions. This is something special. Truly intimate, deep and valuable. Despite the fact that these are mind games.

And Arthur. How much... no, that's not the right word... I didn't know that the appearance of a talking character with whom you can interact would kick in a tightly sealed door deep in my subconscious. A lot came out, both things I would like to remember and things I would like to bury. Where are developers? I need to kiss their minds urgently. This won't make it to prime time, but if suddenly one of the developers actually sees this, then hear me - you have no idea what your game does to people. Your brainchild touches other people's minds and changes their lives. From me - thank you. You saved my life. More than once.

I kept this inside for too long.

[momtaku]

Excerpts from Shingeki Fly

I finally had time today to look closely at my copy of Shingeki Fly. I used my cell phone to translate bits of the interviews, so mileage may vary, but I am fairly confident the gist is more or less correct.

About the Shingeki Fly Color Art Book

Since Isayama prides himself on not being an excellent artist, he wanted the color art book to highlight the work Mr. Nakao, his colorist since the beginning of the series.

I really like this reflection regarding Mr. Nakao on his first chapter of Attack on Titan:

This is the first color manuscript that a presumptuous amateur, a newcomer who doesn't really know how to hold a pen left or right. The composition, panel layout, and everything else is terrible, but the way you colored it so nicely made me think that maybe I can make a living as a manga artist, and that manga doesn't have to be created by one person alone. I remember feeling hopeful that I would be able to participate in the unknown series that was about to begin.

Isayama's experience at Anime NYC in January 2022:

Isayama talks about how happy he was to visit Manhattan. Because he can't be normal for two seconds, he mentions that seeing the skyscrapers at night reminded him of the 1998 GODZILLA movie.

He also talks about the fan panel. My translation app says something like this: By actually seeing the crowd I was able to realize that Attack on Titan,'' which I had been drawing while holed up in my room in Tokyo, was connected to people far away from Japan and overseas. I was very happy to be able to see each fan's face and think, ``How happy are they?''

(I was able to attend that fan panel in person so I can attest how emotional he was by seeing us all there.)

Isayama's experience at Anglouleme in France in January 2023:

Being in France made him feel very far away from Japan because the city and architecture were so different from what he was used to. He described walking on the streets by the Eiffel tower in the middle of the night as thrilling.

While he set the landscape of Attack on Titan as French, German and Italian architecture, he understands now it was all from his Japanese perspective. Seeing the city is person was completely different from what he'd imagined.

How it felt drawing Levi after such a long time

Here is something I didn't know. At first Isayama was going to write a prequel set 100 years before the main story, but after meeting the fans in France he realized the idea of a one shot was to make them happy. Instead of an original idea, he settled the tea cup story, which is something he'd intended to write but had never had the chance.

He said is was surprisingly easy to draw Levi again after such a long break. The only thing he really had to think about is what Levi would sound like as a 10 year old.

"Bad Boy" was also his first time drawing manga on an iPad. Because he wasn't used to it, he had three assistants helping him. I really want a good translation of this bit because it seems funny. He mentions something about how what should've been digital remote work was more of an analog training camp. He said is was fun to reminisce about his "war era" when he would work while chatting with his assistants about trivial matters.

[takuto-katayama]

帝国喫茶『さよならより遠いどこかへ』MV アニメーションパート

帝国喫茶『さよならより遠いどこかへ』ミュージックビデオ内のアニメーションパートを担当いたしました。

帝国喫茶「さよならより遠いどこかへ」Music Video https://youtu.be/SqeLx48FSb0?si=ADh4NnSEH1u5gAPf

—

Director : Ao Inoue Animator : Takuto Katayama Cinematographer : Yuta Mushiaki Assistant Camera : Atsunori Nakata Lighting Director : Takahide Sakai Lighting Assistant : Sayumi Tsuji Colorist : Yuma Izuka Stylist : Hiroaki Iriyama Hair & Makeup : Yosuke Akizuki Production Assistant : Takuya Namba, Yugo Suzuki Production Manager : Ayaka Ito Producer : Mitsuaki Matsunaga Production : Cauch inc.