#BUT IMAGINE... IF I HAD A TABLET AND COULD USE IT WITH MY CLIP STUDIO PAINT..... ouu.. one day...

[luckyashes-art]

hrhrhgghhr thinking about the doodles I made.. especially the Tsukasa

while i still dont actually own a tablet ☝️the 2 drawings are smth i whipped up . so fast (kinda sorta not rlly they took me an hour each LMAO)

[dunmeshistash]

Interview to celebrate the opening of the Ryoko Kui Exhibition

About Delicious in Dungeon: Story making

Q1. Your first long-running series has lasted for about 9 and a half years. Has it been different from your previous experience drawing short stories?

A1. Compared to short stories, the series has been easier because the same characters appear each time. But I was surprised to find that I got tired of drawing the same characters too many times.

Q2. You have said before that the overall structure of the story was decided before serialization began, but how much of that had you communicated to your editor? Also, what kind of communication did you have during the series production?

A2. The goal was something we discussed and had decided on from the beginning. The goal itself was simple, but the path to get there was more difficult and took longer than imagined.

Q3. Regarding the overall story concept and development, did you write out or put anything down in writing (such as the plot)?

A3. I did, but it was simple.

Q4. Did you come up with the dishes based on the monsters you wanted in the story? Or did you come up with the monsters based on the dishes?

A4. It depended on the story, but usually the story came first followed by the monsters or food. I feel like that was most often the order.

Q5. As you progressed in drawing the series, what elements of the characters, story, or world expanded or grew in the most unexpected way?

A5. Nothing particularly unexpected perhaps. When I used to draw web manga, I tended to think up inconsequential settings. So, from the beginning I tried to restrain myself as much as possible and not expand too much. I was surprised when my editor said "Let's expand it more," in the second half of the series.

Q6. "Delicious in Dungeon" starts with a relatively simple setting, but as the series and the labyrinth exploration continues, the map slowly expands little by little in the readers' minds. It becomes more three-dimensional, revealing the secrets of the world, and taking on a multilayered structure. Are there any sources that you used as a reference, or which influenced you in creating this multilayered structure?

A6. A long time ago, when I was working on my personal web manga (fantasy), I drew it however I wanted, thinking that "Only people who can read this will read it," but I regularly received feedback that it was "unreadable", so I tried to make it as easily. accessible as possible.

Q7. The series combines many elements, including "fantasy", "gourmet", "battles", and "puzzle solving", but I think it's also important that it is a "comedy" which makes people laugh. Could you let us know if you have a creative commitment towards depicting humor?

A7. My hopes are that I can make it fun for people to read.

[page 5]

About Delicious in Dungeon: Drawing manga

Q1. Please tell us about the drawing tools you currently use, both digital and analogue.

A1. In terms of analogue tools, I use a light box, a G pen, a round pen, and a brush pen. And for digital, I use CLIP STUDIO PAINT and a Wacom LCD tablet. Screentone pasting is always done on the computer, so ultimately it all ends up as a digital manuscript.

Q2. Do you have any rules or reasons for using digital and analog separately?

A2. I'm always looking for ways to draw better and save time, so the exact approach is probably different for almost every chapter. Personally, I feel that analogue methods create more appealing lines, but I feel like digital saves time, so maybe I'll do a digital rough sketch and do the inking by hand… I might have been using a G pen, and maybe I'll try out a turnip pen, or this time I'm short on time so I'll draw it entirely digitally, but with digital I can redo it over and over, so maybe analogue is still faster, and so on and so forth. I'm indecisive in this way and so haven't developed a consistent process.

Q3. I understand that you prepare 3D data for your assistants to draw the backgrounds. What kind of data did you make for "Delicious in Dungeon" ?

A3. You could call it 3D, but it's not a proper model, just something to help with the rough sketching. I line up cubes to share the perspective and sense of scale, and they use it as a reference.

Q4. At the beginning of the series, the characters and backgrounds were somewhat simply drawn, and it seems like they became richly detailed over the progression of the story. What was your intention behind using these different styles?

A4. It's simply that my technique isn't stable. I thought I'd put a lot of effort in at the start. I remember being confused when my editor asked me to add more in to the drawing, and I wondered "Where…?"

Q5. Thinking about the food, were there any menu illustrations that you were particularly satisfied with, or which you struggled with?

A5. I've never liked my own food illustrations. But the times when I read other people's manga and thought "That looks delicious," I think it's been more an influence of the movement, the staging, and the situation than the drawings.

Q6. For the world maps and the terrain of each continent, did you refer to any maps of the real world? I feel like the shape of the 'island' is similar to the shape of Fukuoka Prefecture or Kyushu.

A6. I didn't reference any specific geography, but I did try to put thought into things like whether a developed city would be near a river or the sea, and what the coastline would look like. I'm pleased if it feels similar to a real place, because it means my interpretation was pretty accurate.

About Delicious in Dungeon: Other

Q1. Which is your favorite monster?

A1. Nightmare.

Q2. I'm sure you have received a lot of feedback from readers in countries and regions outside of Japan. Please tell us if there was anything from them that made you happy, was unexpected, or which made a lasting impression on you.

A2. When you play foreign games, there are times when you think "Why did they translate it into Japanese like that?" But having been on the side of having something translated, I've realized some things are unavoidable, or endless, and there are many things that don't matter either way from the author's perspective, so it was interesting.

About Ryoko Kui's short story collections and herself

Q1. Dragons are a consistent and important motif in your work. Was there any particular work or experience which inspired this? Also, are there points about drawing dragons which you find interesting or have had to work hard on?

A1. It's less about liking dragons, and more that I'm interested in the worlds in which dragons exist. When I draw dragons, the depiction in itself has a sweet feeling to it. I have never had a pet reptile, so I don't have a very good understanding of them.

Q2. Unomiya University in your story "The dragon's school is on top of the mountain" has a Faculty of Dragons, Department of Environmental Studies, and Department of Technology Studies, and a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. If you were to enroll in the university, which department or faculty would you like to enter?

A2. I probably wouldn't be accepted….

Q3. The collection includes a short story staged as an essay manga. Are you a fan of essay manga? Please tell us about any genres of essay manga that you like.

A3. I love all kinds of essay manga. I read them often.

Q4. If you were to make your own game, what kind of game would you like to make?

A4. I prefer being a player when it comes to games.

Q5. When did you first start drawing illustrations (doodles)?

A5. I don't exactly remember when I first drew a picture, but I think I started drawing manga around the fourth or fifth grade of elementary school. in my notebooks and had my friends read them.

Q6. What is the most fun part about drawing manga?

A6. Every part is fun and hard in its own way.

Q7. Please tell us if there is anything you "just can't stop no matter what".

A7. My procrastination habit.

Q8. Could you please tell us if there's something you want to draw now?

A8. I've been working continuously since the serialization, so I'd like to take about 2 to 3 months to just draw whatever I want.

[butahumbleguest]

Go-to traditional medium is still mechanical pencil- I've done some good stuff with that and slightly-nicer-than-printer paper. Second is any firm brush pen- faber castille and micron have good ones, I liked the tombow ones too. I don't really do colored stuff traditionally, so not much input there

For digital art I know there are cheaper tablets available now. I've had my current one for years though so I don't know what's out there. I used to use FireAlpaca (free), and I liked that. My old laptop couldn't handle Krita (also free), but I've heard good things about it. Now I use the non-pro version of Clip Studio Paint (paid) and it serves me well. Blender (free) is good for animating in 3d and 2d with the grease pencil tool, but the learning curve is steep (and my laptop could barely handle that too so I haven't used it much)

Youtube has so many good resources -Proko is a solid channel and I've learned a ton from watching Sinix's paint over series. Drawfee has some good class VODs on their extra channel. Also just watching speedpaint videos to get an idea of other people's processes has been helpful.

I used internet archive for one of my perspective textbooks, there's probably more there too.

One of the key things that have helped me as an artist is just practicing observational drawing. From life, but also from photos and based on other people's art. Try to imagine what simple 3d shapes come together to form what you're looking at. Then you can focus on stylizing and details after. Developing your eye as an artist to break down what you're seeing is super important. Pay attention to what you like in other people's art, what you actually like to do, and what your goals are in art and your style will naturally develop.

ARTISTS!!! what are some of your favourite art supplies (medium/brand) and (free) resources ??

[archangeldraws]

How long have you been drawing? did it take you a long time to learn to draw? what tip could you give me to learn how to draw and improve the line? And that I always dreamed of being a kaijus illustrator, and you inspire me a lot.

Well, I've always loved to draw, since I was very little. I started drawing in Kindergarten, mostly drawing dinosaurs and unicorns or cartoon characters, like from the lion king.

It's always been my hobby. I started collecting art and anatomy books as a teen, trying to learn the human figure. I watched a lot of How to Draw videos on youtube to help me. Thing developed much quicker when I turned 16, which I hit that Sonic X fan phase X'D

I started drawing on a daily basis, mostly Sonic, but also tried anime, like Inuyasha. I was drawing with colored pencils then, until I bought myself my very first drawing tablet at around... 18 I think? By then we already had a computer. I started with paint, then switched to Photoshop, learned new tricks to work with digital art. Finally found Paint Tool Sai, which I had been using until a few months ago. Now I use Clip Studio Paint EX. Worth every penny!

I'd like to say, practice is key. BUT! Do't force yourself to practice. Draw when you feel like it. And switch things up. You don't even need to use your imagination all the time, because people only have so many ideas until the run out. I want to point out tracing is a bad thing to do. If you, for example, like a pose an artist did, please ask them beforehand if you can use that pose in a drawing. It's polite and the right thing to do.

I learned by watching others, picking out the things I liked. Like, that one person did some great shading. That other person makes really pretty eyes. This person knows how to match colors and how to draw things like clothing.

Let yourself be inspired by the things around you and slowly built yourself up. You'll develope your own style without even noticing it!

I also tried many different things, so it won't get boring. Cartoon, traditional, digital, realism, portraits, anatomy, painting, I did pottery, I worked with wood (made a little race car), nature art. Try it out, you'll figure out what suits you best ^^

And line art... That just takes time. I don't like drawing line art actually, since you need to be patient while working. And sometimes I just want to go ahead of myself :P

And last but not least, thank you for your kind words. I'm glad I can somehow inspire others with the things I do ^^

[stardancerluv]

When Gotham Almost Won

Summary: You are Roman’s weakness.

Arthur’s Note: This is after Creative Fervor & Sugary Kisses and Broken Glasses, but is before Roman’s Luck is His Lady & Gotham Lockdown 2020

A glass went sailing past you. “Why don’t you fucking understand ?”

“No one fucking cares about me!” You hollered back.

He came around his desk. He grabbed you before you could draw a breath. His gloved hands wrapped around you, and he shook you. “Yes, they fucking do.”

You could not bite back, the sound the pain it pulled from you. He barely flinched. Roman was in the midst of one of his blind angry tirades. Sometimes, you couldn’t even get him out of them.

“Fucking listen.” He shook you again. “I am in a war to gain the upper hand for Gotham.” His breath was hot in your face, when he exhaled. “You are my only weakness.”

That echoed in your heart. The screaming hadn’t, him holding you as he was which would most likely leave bruises didn’t but those words did.

You wilted, you stopped fighting.

“If anyone fucking grabbed you it would be over.” He stopped, and finally noticed that you gave up. “Y/N?”

“Alright.” You finally said. Your voice was scratchy from screaming. “I believe you. I won’t let them get the upper hand.”

He sighed and smiled. “That’s my girl.” His hands released you. But he wrapped his arms around you. As he held you, you could feel how hard and fast his heart was beating. You weakly hugged him back.

******

You waited till you heard his breathing deepened and evened. Very carefully, you slipped out of the bed you shared with Roman.

Grabbing a small bag, you packed a silly tshirt he bought you at The Booby Trap. Across the front, in bright colors it exclaimed that you both survived, its famous roller coaster.

Next, with tears in your eyes, you grabbed Millie and Max the stuffed cows he had won for you. Those two days at the Booby Trap, it felt like you were just a normal couple in love. Not of one where you were dating the infamous Roman Sionis

It had just been you and him, no fancy suits, and no fake smiles. It was a special time for the two of you, away from all of it.

All the while in the back of his mind, you were his weakness. No wonder, he had laughed when you were scared in the haunted house. The real threat, you should have been scared of was the Joker or Scarecrow. Unlike the fake monsters in the haunted house, one of them could snatch you away and kill you.

You loved him enough to not be what could bring him down, after all he had worked for.

Quickly, you slipped warmer clothes over what you had worn to bed. With tears sliding down your cheeks you watched, as Roman grumbled something incoherently in his sleep before be grew silent once again and you zipped up your boots. Grabbing, your purse you then went over to his office.

Looking, through his stuff you found sheets of paper with his initials embossed in an elegant black script.

Roman

I love you.

But that is why I have left.

Your club, your life should not be brought down by me, your only weakness.

Don’t go looking for me.

Let me read in the papers how you made them pay and how you became the king of Gotham.

I love you, goodbye.

Y/N

Your hand shook writing this. It really hurt. You had not expected to love him ever this much. Damn, you never thought it would last more then a month. Eight months of being with Roman had been amazing.

His darkness and his surprising tenderness was all you had ever needed. He cared and loved you the way you wanted.

Grabbing another sheet of paper. You quickly scrawled the following.

Roman Sionis is becoming fucking unstoppable.

You all better watch out.

Sincerely the girl who once got to love him.

You put that note into his fax machine. You didn’t care if that would severe any future job prospects with any of them. You also made sure it was emailed to all the important people.

It would be for the best if they all knew you were over and who’s side you were on.

Instead of taking the elevator, you took the stairs. As the frigid air pulled hard on you. But you managed to hail a cab to your studio.

It was ice cold in your studio. You no longer kept anything important there, except supplies. You would have to make it your home again. Right now, this was seriously more painful then you ever imagined it would be.

Going, over to your sofa you practically collapsed onto it. You pulled down the knitted blanket. You got Millie the purple cow out of your bag.

Opening, the drawer of the end table by the sofa. You felt around. It was where you kept your melatonin, feeling the small jar you smiled.

Sometimes when you worked hard, your excitement over a new project it would steal sleep from you. So the melatonin helped! You took two tablets.

Now you wanted to sleep to forget. You wanted to not feel any pain. Maybe when you’d wake up, knowing you made the right decision, perhaps you then would not be in so much pain.

*******

Roman, rolled over and pulled you close; still half asleep. “I’m sorry I got so angry. Let’s stay in and forget the world baby.” He squeezed you. “Watch bad tv, maybe have a pizza made and not even chan...” His eyes snapped open. He pushed away the pillow, he had mistaken in his sleepy state as you.

Panic seized him, he took a breath. Maybe you were you up and working in your temporary studio or perhaps you were making breakfast.

Stretching, he ran his fingers through his hair. Wondering where you were he went in search of you.

You were nowhere. Hot anger and worry filled him. He had thought, you finally realized you couldn’t just run off. You needed Zsasz or someone with you. Or at the very least tell him.

Going, to his office he didn’t care how early it fucking was, he needed a drink. Never did he think, this would happen to him. He fucking, cared for you as much as he cared about himself. Well, if her were to be honest, he cared for you more.

He knew what he was capable of and he was fully aware what he’d do to maintain his control. You did not deserve to suffer anything because he was a cruel man.

He stopped, when he saw a bunch of faxes coming in fast. Some had had already fallen to the ground pushed aside from the faxes that came before it. The single sheet of paper in the middle of his desk made him curious. This was not how he had left his office.

A scream erupted from him before he even finished reading the fucking note. He crumpled it and ran back to the bedroom.

Once in the closet, he saw that you had taken Millie and Max, this was serious. He tore off his pajamas, and pulled on some clothes.

Opening, a drawer he took out his wallet, a set keys and one of his custom made hand guns, which he made sure was loaded. Eyeing the elevator, he decided to take the stairs. He took the stairs two at a time.

******

Leaving the parking garage, the sun momentarily blinded him. Blinking he watched the traffic and merging, he was off to get you back. He knew exactly where you’d go.

It did not take long for him to get over to where your studio was. He remembered that first time be went there with you.

There he had watched as you remained strong. You showed him the aftermath of what a former friend; a now serious competition had done. Your studio had been destroyed. You had not let it destroy you.

At that point, he had been incredibly sexually attracted to you. It was easy you were by far loviest girl he laid his eyes on.

Though watching you as you took in all the damage; especially to those prized scissors he thought you could be the one. Over the course of these eight months, you knew now that you were the one.

With every fiber of who he was, he wanted to protect you from all that he was. You were the reason why finally felt fear. He knew what he was capable of, so he was keenly aware what they could do to you. The idea caused bile rise in his mouth, he swallowed it down.

Cutting the engine, he got out of the car. He hoped that maybe you had left the door unlocked.

You had not. Good baby, he mused at least you had done that.

He remembered you had a spare key, luckily it was still there. He didn’t know what he was going to say when he saw you.

Once, inside he locked the door behind him. He walked over to your spiral staircase. He wrapped hands wrapping around the cool metal of the railing.

A soft sigh, came from behind him. He went over to the sofa, looking over he saw you there.

The blanket barely covered you, you held onto Millie and anguish was splashed across your face. Usually when you slept, he always had enjoyed seeing how peaceful you were. He hated seeing the pain.

He came around, and knelt beside the sofa. He watched you longer.

“Y/N,” He finally said your name. “Wake up we have to talk.”

You didn’t stir. “Y/N, baby wake up.”

You stirred.

“There you are.”

Blinking your eyes opened, as you saw him and turned away. “What are you doing here?” He heard you ask, despite being muffled by the sofa cushions.

Taking a breath, he reached and turned you to face him. You fought. “Listen, we have to talk.” He tried again.

Your eyes burned, when you finally relented and faced him. Your hair was a wild, he would have pulled you close for a kiss if it had been any other time.

“Y/N.” He still didn’t know what else to say, he honestly thought he had said it all yesterday.

“You made it clear, I am your weakness. So I left.” Your voice was clipped.

“You are.” He agreed. He saw the fire in your eyes flicker.

“So then let me go.” You swallowed.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because, because I could ruin everything.”

“How would you do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Now look,” You had really ensnared him as he looked at you. He couldn’t imagine not having you at his side. “You are my weakness because I care about you. You don’t make me weak.”

Confusion crossed your face.

Finally, he was sure he understood. “Before you, there was nothing they could use to fight me. Blow up my club, my car? I can replace all of that.”

Swallowing, he had thought you knew that. He thought you knew how he felt. The words lingered on his tongue.

“Listen,” He inhaled then exhaled. “Fuck,” He barked. “If they did anything you, I wouldn’t want anyone else after you.”

“Roman!” You cried and launched yourself at him. Wrapping your arms around him, you held on tight. Your breath was warm as it tickled his throat as you exhaled. “Really?” You whispered.

“Yes, you silly girl. I want you by my side as I take over Gotham.” He chuckled and you held onto him tighter.

*****

Once outside, beside his car he pulled your woolen cap down further on your head. You smiled up at him as he did. “Let’s get you home where you belong.”

“I promise I won’t leave. And I’ll be careful when I do.”

“You better not.” Tilting your head up. He watched as the sun danced across your face. He pressed a kiss to your lips, as a gust of icy wind swirled around the two of you.

******

He had been eyeing that last piece of the pizza for awhile. You had not made a move for it and neither had he in case you also wanted it. From now on he’d have to tell the chef, equal pieces. This just wasn’t fair.

Leaning over holding your legs in his lap, he grabbed the remote. He paused the movie.

You looked over at him. “Should I grab us some ice cream?” Your eyes were playful.

He pointed. “But there is still a slice of pizza.”

“After that big bowl of popcorn and the pizza, I really have a hankering for ice cream.”

“You’ll get cold.” Whenever you ate it, you ended shivering even before you’d finish a bowl.

“You’ll just have to warm me up.”

Smirking, moving he easily came over to your side of the sofa. As he looked down at you, he brushed aside you hair that fell into your face. Damn, he loved looking at you. He pressed a kiss to your lips.

“What about the pizza?” You giggled, lightly.

“I think I found something tastier.”

He kissed you again this time as he did you easily deepened it. He smiled against your lips when he felt your fingers nestle in his hair.

@darling-i-read-it @spn-obsessed-dean @vintagemichelle91 @xxxeatyourh3artoutxxx @ewanfuckingmcgregor @zodiyack @angel98624 @frenchgirlinlondon @nebulastarr @emyliabernstein @thepeachreads @itsknife2meetu @omghappilyuniquebouquetlove @nomnomnomnamja @poe-kadot26 @top-rumbelle-fan @babydoll97 @hazel-nuss @vcat55 @feelthemadnessinside @rosionis @queenofgotham800 @brookisbi @peachthatdrinkslemonade @johallzy @foreverhockeytrash @frostypenguinoz @rentskenobi @starwarsslytherin @proffesionalclown @chogisss @dance-like-russia-isnt-watching @shantellorraine @xxinvisiblexx @pooshnulooshnu @speedypartyducksuitcase @blondekel77 @corey-clown @drarrylov3r

[killfaeh]

Gul Dukat and timed inking tests

Hi everyone! So as promised last time, today I'm going to talk to you about drawing, and even more precisely about inking techniques and timed tests. I had been thinking for months about making a black and white illustration and inking it several times with different techniques while timing myself to see which one was the fastest. This approach is part of my search for optimization in the time it takes to produce my comics. So there are all the drawing tricks, 3D, Clip Studio Paint's tools, the programs and softwares developed by myself with which I saved a lot of time, but there is still this inking phase whose execution time tends to resist any form of compression. At the beginning of the year 2021 I made a penciled illustration, and it seemed to me to be a perfect candidate for the exercise: a character, scenery elements and various texture effects. The illustration in question:

To introduce you a little bit to the man, it is Gul Dukat a villain from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series, a humanoid alien with some reptilian attributes. This is my favorite character of the show. You know me now, I like charismatic bad guys with complicated stories. x) Let's go back to the illustration itself. Concerning the pencil phase, I refined it more than necessary, but it's because I wanted to make a beautiful illustration and it was my pleasure. That said, I still used some tricks to make the work easier. Basically, I drew the different elements of the illustration separately and then scanned and assembled them by computer. This allowed me to draw them carefully without getting bogged down in their interaction and optimize the final composition.

Then I printed copies of the final composition that I have already shown you in magenta for my timed inking experiments. I have made exactly 6 versions of them, as follows. (You can click on them to enlarge them).

Well, if you have the impression to see 6 times the same thing, it's normal, the goal is obviously to have an identical or almost identical result with different methods, the finality being to get the fastest one to use it on my next comics projects. Let's go through them to dissect the different methods. The first version, I made it with liners.

It took me 5 hours. The main drawback of this method is that the clip on the liner cap presses on my « comic artist ball ». A callus ball that formed on my middle finger over time by dint of drawing, where the pencil rests. And after a while it's painful, so it limits the duration of the work sessions.

Then comes the brush version.

This is the version that took me the longest: 6 hours and 20 minutes. The main waste of time is during the inking of the background. It has many geometrical shapes and the brush is unsuitable for that. On the other hand, for the character, it goes just as fast. In any case, the holding of the brush is pleasant, the handle is thin, so it never hurts me. I can work as long as I want with this technique. It is difficult to evaluate at this resolution, but overall the lines drawn with the brush are cleaner and sharper than those drawn with a liner. So! Longer, but prettier and more pleasant.

Then, the 3rd version I made it entirely with the graphics tablet and the software Clip Studio Paint.

This attempt is the fastest so far: 4 hours 15 minutes. The inking of the character does not go faster the flaw being that the pen slides much more easily on the tablet than a traditional technique on paper, so it is more difficult to control the line and I use a lot of ctrl+Z. Moreover, the pen tip does not deform under pressure, so it is more difficult to anticipate the width of the line and you have to repeat the process several times. The big advantage on the other hand is for the background and its geometric shapes (circles, parallel lines, ellipses). The rulers integrated in Clip Studio Paint allow you to draw them really quickly and cleanly. Also, for all textures and particle effects, I created a lot of brushes for Clip Studio Paint. So, I only had to make a click to draw each of the stars. As on this version I had the impression that I was wastig time on the character, so I decided to try a hybrid technique: the brush for the character, the CSP for the rest.

This version took me as long as the one entirely digital. It seems impossible to reduce the work time on the character below 3 hours and I have confirmation that digital mainly saves time on the geometric patterns and elements and effects that can be drawn with brushes. I leave these tests a few weeks and then I had a new idea. Here is the result. I let you guess which tool I used, you have 4 hours before I pick up the papers. :p

Well, I stop making you marinate, here is the answer in picture. :p

And yes! It's simply a mechanical pencil! :p The idea was to see if I work faster than with the usual inking methods and if by playing with the contrasts in the scan I could make it look like inking. For this version, it took me about 5 hours. I was a little faster for the character than the other attempts, but for the background, it's always the digital that wins hands down. The problem with the mechanical pencil is that to have an intensity of black roughly constant is that I hold it strongly to press down enough for a long time and I ended up crushing my thumb, so I had a hard time finishing the background. I think it slowed me down quite a bit at the end. So! No tool is perfect on its own. As a result, I still had one last thing to test: making the character with mechanical pencil and the background with graphic tablet.

And this time I managed to go below 4 hours of work. :D 3 hours and 40 minutes more exactly. I managed to ink the character in 2h20 then before moving to the background I had to do some cleaning up because of an unwise choice to do some textures partly in pencil and partly in digital. I think I have a way to spare a few more minutes of work by optimizing some choices. I'm happy to have finally carried out these timed tests. Used alone, there is no ideal tool. Now I know that, once again, it is in the hybridization of techniques that I will have to look for optimization. I have the idea that in the future I should imagine a small roadmap to ink or at to clean my comic pages. I will put all this into practice in the next project. That's all for today! Next time I will make again a small compilation of our online Drink'N'Draw sessions. Have a nice week-end and see you soon! :D Suisei

P.S. If you want miss no news and if you haven't already done so, you can subscribe to the newsletter here : https://www.suiseipark.com/User/SubscribeNewsletter/language/english/

Source : https://www.suiseipark.com/News/Entry/id/304/

[wolfpawn]

I Hate You, I Love You, Chapter 96

Chapter Summary -  Danielle and Tom go for lunch with Kenneth Branagh.

Previous Chapter

Rating - Mature (some chapters contain smut)

Triggers - references to Tom Hiddleston’s work with the #MeToo Movement. That chapter will be tagged accordingly.

authors Note - I have been working on this for the last 3 years, it is currently 180+ chapters long.  This will be updated daily, so long as I can get time to do so, obviously.

tags: @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog​​ @jessibelle-nerdy-mum​​ @nonsensicalobsessions​​ @damalseer​​ @hiddlesbitch1​​ @winterisakiller​​ @fairlightswiftly​​ @salempoe​​​ @wolfsmom1​​​

If you wish to be tagged, please let me know.

“Ready?”

“Tom, I am having kittens, of course, I am not ready,” Danielle informed him as she walked up the steps of the central London hotel.

“Why do you say such peculiar phrases?” Tom laughed.

“It was either say that or go for a non-PG comment.” She stated.

“Fair enough, it does not make it any less odd of a statement.” He pulled her to him. “Kenneth is a lovely man, honestly, just be yourself, don’t fret and it will be fine.”

“He is the one that got you the Thor gig, isn’t he?”

“Yes, I was fortunate to get Wallander with him, then he directed Thor, he told me the job and I applied, as Thor, but as soon as he saw it was me, he gave me Loki’s script, and the rest, as they say, is history.” He grinned. “Wouldn’t it be odd if he is the one that gets you the ability to do as you wanted and work for yourself?”

“We’d owe him a lot.”

“Everything.”

“Not everything, I mean, if you did not put your heart and soul into Loki, then it would not have mattered, as it stands, your performance has made him the undeniable King of Marvel villains. You did that, but yes, without Branagh saying to take the script, it would all not matter.” She pointed out. Inhaling deeply, she stopped outside the restaurant. “Jesus, this is hard.”

Tom watched as she readied herself, breathing deeply to try and prevent her nerves showing. “Elle,” She looked at him. “You are incredibly dedicated and you have had nothing but amazing things said about you by your previous employers, you will do wonderfully at this.” He smiled encouragingly.

“I know, but this is big. I mean Game of Thrones is big, obviously, but a war movie, Tom, you did War Horse, think of that with more weapons, it’s going to be a logistical and hazard shit-storm, if I get it right, I am leapfrogging steps again, if I get it wrong, it is actually dangerous.” She paced slightly. “What is wrong with me, I was never this anxious before.”

“I don’t know, but you have no reason to worry, just breathe.” She did as he instructed. “Ready?” She nodded slightly. Taking her hand in his, Tom walked into the restaurant. The Maître d’ smiling politely at them as they did. “Branagh table.”

“Of course, Mr Hiddleston, this way.” The man brought two menus and a wine list and escorted the pair to a small alcove in the very corner of the restaurant, slightly hidden from the rest of the patrons.

There in the corner was Branagh, a thick file in front of him, as well as a tablet, looking over something. As though sensing someone was approaching, he looked up from his work. It took only a moment for him to recognise who it was and he rose to his feet. “Tom.” He walked around the table and embraced the younger man fondly. “How are you?”

“Great, it’s great to see you, you look well, what’s new with you?”

“Well, getting this off the ground.” He pointed to the file in front of him before looked to Danielle, “I can assume you are Ms Hughes?” he reached out to shake her hand, his face one of politeness and friendliness.

“Yes, thank you for considering me, Mr Branagh.” She took his hand and shook.

“You’re Irish?” He seemed somewhat surprised.

Remembering that she had read somewhere that his family came from the North during the Troubles, Danielle was worried for a moment that her Southern accent and nationality would be an issue. “Yes, Galway.”

“Lovely spot, went there on holidays a few times, especially Connemara, never could understand a word they said, most of it was in Irish, I loved it, never got to learn it though.”

“I grew up there, it’s taught from preschool when it’s all you hear six hours a day, it becomes second nature, I still do sums in Irish in my head.” She admitted, relieved that he seemed to be unbothered by her nationality.

“Fair dues, well, let’s order something to eat and talk business then, alright? Order whatever you want, the studio is paying.” He winked.

“Dangerous words.” Tom joked as he and Danielle sat down and looked at the menu. As soon as he read the first main course, he knew what Danielle would have, he smiled when he glanced to the side to see her focus on that order and none other.

“Stop, we could get you the side of a cow and you’ll still be as lithe as you are.” Kenneth dismissed. “There’s nothing on you. We were in Sweden, filming Wallander, and he put away a 14-ounce steak, honestly.” Branagh explained to Danielle.

“I remember, when I first came over, he was at his mam's, and I had cooked a lasagne, I cook big meals and freeze them, handier, and he polished off half a family-sized dish of it, then an hour later, I swear to God, comes in and grouses to his mum that he was hungry,” Danielle added.

Branagh nodded. “I’d well believe it. So, you know each a while then?” He looked between the pair interestedly.

“Six years.” Tom answered, “we finally only got our acts together back in October.”

“Well, better late than never,” Kenneth beamed.

The waitress arrived and both men paused for a moment, silently expecting Danielle to go first. She had read before that politely yet firmly assuming control was a coveted trait in set personnel of higher roles, so smiling courteously, she looked to the waitress. “May I have a goat’s cheese to start and then the duck, all the trimmings please and I am fine with just water, thank you.” The waitress took her menu, then looked to the men.

Tom grinned, knowing Danielle would never decline duck. He ordered his own food as well as a sparkling water before Branagh ordered his own.

“Good to see someone in film not afraid to actually eat,” Branagh commented. Danielle said nothing back, “I don’t mean that in an offensive manner.”

“I assumed not,” Danielle smiled. “My mother would go insane if she thought I had started starving myself.”

“All Irish mothers are prone to that.” Branagh agreed. “So,” he turned on the screen of the tablet. “The general premise, as you can imagine, is fairly simple, planes, tanks, guns and ships, ground soldiers and civilians; what I wanted to do, and that is why I was hoping for Lucas, but am very relieved he sent you to me since he is otherwise disposed of, is I want to perform a series of shot that incorporates the city bombings also. So…”

“St Pauls with the incendiaries, Balham station, the parts of London that nearly were burnt away, general destruction, and if I am not mistaken, you even mentioned Belfast and Dublin.”

“Yes,” Branagh beamed, elated that she seemed to get his idea. “You did your homework.”

“Didn’t need to, my father was an avid history lover and I spent most days he had a few hours off watching documentaries, willingly or otherwise.” She admitted. “I have to confess I still watch them now.”

“Brilliant, then you know the scale we are talking about.”

Tom knew a lot about film, RADA taught him more than just acting, it taught him a plethora of behind the camera work also, directing, producing, camera work, and such things, but what Danielle was talking about, the detail and her terminology made him realise he knew nothing of her job. He remembered the times stunt coordinators were working with him in different shows and movies, they were meticulous yet focused on the task, in truth, he rarely heard of safety officers before, they were simply just there. Danielle’s pace of talk and her focus on what Branagh had said he wanted showed she was incredibly capable and astute to the details of her job.

By the time the food came, Branagh had declared that he would have the studio send out her contract and that she need not worry about flights and accommodation, she was sorted where needed. “I am delighted that Lucas told me about you, you have no idea the sheer level of naysayers there are that will not even consider such ideas.”

“Probably frightened of the paperwork,” Danielle commented. She had noted such working with others, the loathed the paperwork, she thrived on it, used to having to go into detail with being a paramedic.

“I think so.”

“Excuse me a moment please.” Danielle rose from her chair and walked to the bathroom. She had not wanted to go, but she could tell that Tom was somewhat lost in the conversation that was taking place and she wanted to let him speak with his friend, so she went away for a moment to allow it to happen. Standing in front of the mirror in the women’s bathroom, she checked her hair and makeup. She had not done much, just put her hair back in a clip and made sure her face was somewhat tidy. She smiled at the outfit she had chosen, neat and yet not making her seem like she was in her fifties, Tom had looked at her with a surprised, yet approving smile when she came down after her shower before they left. Satisfied that she had left it long enough, she turned to return to the men.

"I don’t think I have heard of you being serious with someone since Thor,” Kenneth noted after Danielle left the room.

“I have not been,” Tom admitted.

“I take it she is someone very special then.”

Tom couldn’t help but smile. “She is.”

“How do you feel about her leaving for work?”

“What can I say, I was gone for three weeks not too long ago, I am leaving again in April and will be doing other work this year. It would be a tad rich of me to be against her leaving for work. Besides, you have not seen how hard she works, Danielle is dedicated to her work and loves it, I could never even consider asking her to stop and she would be the same. We have to juggle it, the same as everyone else in the business.”

“It’s not easy, but it can work; as long as you don’t do what I did and mess up,” Branagh warned. “I screwed up before.”

“Most everyone has,” Tom pointed out. “I spent so long pretending I didn’t love Elle, that I almost lost the chance to ever have her.”

“Well, it worked out in the end.” Branagh smiled. “Lucas Waters is a very hard man to get approval from, why do you think your girl has him ringing me demanding I take her?”

“Elle apparently made him feel foolish, she tore his work apart.”

“I am aware of that, but this is a closed shop Tom, our side of things has limited breakouts but behind the scenes, you have to all but sell your soul to breakthrough, what is it she has that made a man who has crushed many a dream and studio’s hearts ringing me and tell me no one else is worth my while?” Branagh looked to Tom for the answer. “What about her makes you want to be around her?”

“She is incredibly strong-willed, not in a stubborn manner, though she can be when needed, but when others would have shied away, she kept going. She is intelligent, as you have seen, she is an avid reader, so her knowledge about what you need for this movie, that is all her, no brown-nosing, she genuinely reads that much.”

“Shakespeare?” Branagh asked with a smile.

“Yeats, Shakespeare, Wilde, all of them and more, she will check the documentary channels long before she ever looks at anything else on TV other than sport. She has self- motivation, she does triathlons as well as work. When she injured her wrist at Christmas, she did not let that hamper her, she went straight to studying for this, in under two months, she went through a six-month course.” Branagh nodded. “She is an incredible person, she does not alter herself for others, the woman you have been sitting across from for the past hour is the same woman that will sit on the couch beside me later with our dog watching TV talking happily about the show she recorded last night at some obscure hour of the night.” Tom smiled as he recalled the excited squeak Danielle had made when something she wanted to watch was on late last night. “She is not afraid to be herself and sometimes that means not agreeing with you, she will fight for what she believes in, even if it means risking things she loves because it is right.”

Branagh noticed Tom swallow at that. “What did she do?”

“Made me see sense, but to do that, she had to risk everything, but she did it, hurting herself to do so.”

“It was worth it though.”

“I think so.” Tom smiled. “You won’t be disappointed, you’ll see that this Lucas guy saw, what other people she has worked with have seen. She is amiable, hardworking and will not disappoint, I promise.”

“Any woman that has you speaking about ‘our’ dog must be something serious and special.”

“Are you happy with what she is talking about?”

“I trust Lucas, I have worked with him for years when he said this is the person, I trusted his instincts, having met her, I can see she is incredibly able. Her line of work is male-dominated and she is better than most every one of them.” Tom smiled proudly. “So, how is Loki these days, I read he is coming out again this year?” Branagh asked, a smug smile on his face.

*

Tom parked the car in the driveway, they had said hardly anything since they had left the restaurant, but the mood was pleasant. He took the keys out of the ignition and looked at Danielle, who was staring straight ahead. “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” she nodded, not looking at him. “Just daunted.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everything he wants, rubble, flooded tube stations, the weapons,” She started laughing slightly. “I am going to go grey.”

“You will not, you heard him, you will have your own team.”

“I cannot believe I am heading a team,” she shook her head in disbelief before the smile fell from her face. “What if they don’t respect what I say because I am a woman?”

Tom’s brows knitted together. “You know that’s not going to happen; if it does, there are protocols to go through.”

“I know,” she leant in against him “I am just wondering how I will make their murders seem like an accident.”

Immediately Tom started laughing. “Yes, that can be bothersome.” He kissed her temple. “Come on, Mac is not best pleased.”

Looking at the window, the pair laughed at the indignant look on Mac’s face inside the sitting room, looking out at them. “No, he does not, he probably wants to go to the bathroom.” Danielle got out of the car and went into the house, Mac dancing around her feet, leading her to the back door, where he stared between it and his owner, trying to explain to her his issue. “Alright buddy, here you go.” She opened the door and Mac ran out immediately. Shaking her head as she closed it again, she walked to the hallway just as Tom closed the front door. “The poor guy was bursting.” Tom rushed forward, putting his arms around Danielle’s waist before kissing her almost ferociously. “What has gotten into you?” She smiled against his lips.

“You are incredible.” Tom pulled her right in against him. “So fucking incredible.” His voice almost three octaves lower as he kissed her again.

“Did me talking shop turn you on?” Danielle seemed to realise what it was that had Tom so frisky.

“Mmhmm….” His hands made their way towards her ass, hoisting her up as he pressed them into the hallway wall. “You know I have a thing for your incredible brains.”

Part of Danielle was about to make a quip about Swift, but she decided it was not worth it and thought of something far more pleasurable instead. “Bedroom?”

“We haven’t christened the hall.” Tom reminded her.

[battle-of-alberta]

BoAB Meta Essay 1: 5 W’s

Hello and welcome to this strange and silly yet semi-serious project of mine. Battle of Alberta is a Hetalia-inspired comic and ask blog following the adventures and mishaps of rival Canadian cities Edmonton and Calgary. I started this blog in 2018, though I first created the characters a decade ago in 2010 as fan characters for the I Am Matthewian Project. This little illustrated essay is just an introduction to me, my orientation towards this project, and why the heckaroonie I’m doing this.  

Who: About the Author 

My name is Hapo. As I’m writing this, I’m a graduate student at the University of Toronto and hope to have that wrapped up in the spring of 2020. Though I’ve been dragged around the continent for one reason or another (usually the result of a gravitational pull of a university town), I consider Edmonton to be my hometown and fully acknowledge and relish in the resulting bias I was raised with. I am a 3rd or 5th generation Albertan depending on how you count it and a settler on Treaty 6 territory. My educational background is in Classics, Ancient Societies and Cultures, Linguistics, Archives, and Museum Studies; my academic interests kind of revolve around the construction of culture and memory. I also tend to enjoy challenging stereotypes and misconceptions and disturbing ideas about seemingly hierarchical top-down, center-periphery relationships. Most of all, I love drawing satirical comics of varying degrees of silliness and sharing them with people. I currently use a Wacom tablet and Clip Studio Paint for my comics.

What: Writing About Cities

I chose to focus on cities because it’s the kind of granularity I like to write about; I find writing from a national perspective too broad and difficult to rationalize from my own experience and while I’ve written from the provincial level in the past, I most enjoy the level of nuance and every day information that comes from living in and studying cities. My other comic, @athensandspartaadventures​, kicked off my love of writing city-states, and my travels to other Canadian cities over the course of my post-secondary studies fueled my desire to learn more about municipal histories. 

Listening to the news, joining protests, and navigating my way through adulthood pushed me to learn how to participate politically on a local level as well. The 10th Annual Hurtig Lecture at the University of Alberta featuring mayors Don Iveson and Naheed Nenshi on the future of cities is an event I feel shaped my attitude towards cities in general, but it also encouraged me to look at the cities I knew with a different, optimistic perspective. I want to inspire readers to understand their own municipalities as complicated, messy, and in need of love and support from the inside.  

When: Then and Now

While I wouldn’t define myself as a historian per se, I tend to look at many things through a historical lens. The history is an integral part of the story that shapes these characters, and while I don’t mean to use history to justify one narrative over others, I do have to make some decisions and choices about the stories that I tell and the characters I am building for consistency’s sake. 

What sets interpretations of personifications apart is the author’s own experience, and at the end of the day it’s my interpretations, gut reactions, and personal experience that colour my work and my view of history. I recognize that I have my own biases and ways of thinking that are rooted in my view of the world as it is today, and I also recognize that those understandings can change. This blog is less a chronicle of one monolithic view of history and more a chronicle of my own perspective and growth. 

During this project, I won’t be shying away from certain historical periods and certainly not modern politics. That said, I also will not be answering asks that are deliberately politically or historically insensitive, nor will I be going out of my way to render explicit periods of great pain or violence. My own discretion is not perfect, but I will be using it as I see fit and trying my best to be responsive about it.

Where: Oil Country

Gavin Crawford probably says it best in his Wild West miniseries satirizing a wide cast of provincial stereotypes: “What do I like best about Alberta? It’s where I live.” My family settled in Alberta before it was a province and while I was not born there originally, it is where I would always leave from and come home to, it was where I went to school and kept all my things, it was where I formed my fond childhood memories and my political attitudes as an adult, and whether I was living in sub-rural or suburban Alberta or across the continent from it, it was always Where I Lived and Where I Would Go if I could click my heels three times. 

I was born in the economic fall out after the NEP reinforced divisions with the rest of the country. I was in grade school while Klein was handing out prosperity bonuses at the height of the boom when we still couldn’t afford textbooks from after the fall of the Soviet Union let alone teacher’s salaries. I didn’t really understand the ire we drew from the rest of the country and the world until I joined the I Am Matthewian Project in high school, and suddenly I had to make a lot of decisions about my own political identity I hadn’t previously considered. 

I understand what it’s like to live in a (tongue-in-cheek) ‘petro-archy' and the culture shock of stepping outside it. I know how it is to feel constantly under siege by the rest of the world to the point that all rhetoric is reduced to calling out hypocrisy while refusing to analyze yourself. I have felt inexplicable rage boil up when hearing jokes or perceptions of my backyard from people in central Canada or other countries, and then having nothing to fall back on when being accused of having no history or culture. Most of all, I get what it’s like to be bombarded with all this stuff as a teenager and as a young adult, and I get how difficult it can be to navigate when you’re constantly and almost exclusively met with “everybody hates Alberta”. My province is dumb, it should be criticized, but I also love it fiercely and I dare everyone, Albertan or otherwise, to start to imagine it better.

Why: Battling it Out

We’ve been through why I am writing about cities, why I’m looking through a historical lens, and why I am a little obsessed with the problematic image of my home province. I think the final question is: why frame it with the Battle? The Battle of Alberta is an age-old rivalry that transcends the sporting events it is commonly associated with, as I touch on in Chapter 1. It’s the source of a lot of amusement for me when reading headlines and listening to petty jabs whether on the radio or in restaurants. It’s something that dies down with each new generation only to flare up again over some issue or another. 

Most of all though, I like to think of it as the start and the end of a healthy relationship, a competitive spirit that makes us strive to be better than each other and better than ourselves. It’s the thesis statement of this project and the wish I have for the future. I don’t mind whether you want to read it as petty or serious, as platonic or romantic, but it’s enduring, it’s constant, and I believe at the end of the day it can be used for good.  

That’s all from me for now, I look forward to your questions and comments as well as to writing more meta stuff like this!  

Hapo

[nuclearblastuk]

MEMORIAM | Release official video clip for 'The Veteran'

The war rages on! The third album from old school metal veterans MEMORIAM, 'Requiem For Mankind', was released last Friday. Just a year after the release of their second album 'The Silent Vigil', the band returns with an authentic, raw offering packed with old school death metal destruction. Once again, the groove is monstrous, the riffs are merciless, and the atmosphere is oppressive, paralyzing, even overwhelming. Willett's aggressive vocals are rousing and relentless.  Today, the band presents a very special video for new album track The Veteran. The video was created by Daniel Dodd. Daniel was a soldier in the British Army, who came back from Iraq as a veteran in 2007. He is now a photographer, who uses his work to address the traumas he faced during, and since his deployment. Daniel Dodd states: "I joined the British Army as an Infantryman in January 2005 and served a 7 month tour of Iraq in 2006, returning home in May 2007. I was medically discharged with PTSD in late 2011 just 6 months prior to another deployment, this time to Afghanistan. Within twelve months of being back in the UK after my operational tour I was noticing considerable amounts of differences in my behaviour, from the amount of alcohol I would consume on a weekly basis to escape the replay of disturbing thoughts I would have, which would lead me to losing sleep and also resulting in an addiction to sleeping tablets, falling into severe depression. I became very aggressive and I was arrested multiple times for fighting both sober and under the influence, I had a thrist for confrontation at this point and I felt uncontrollable.  I suffered with survivors guilt after losing close friends to the enemy during my deployment, but as a result of my own physical injuries which I sustained whilst in a firefight, I believed I should have also been killed and felt that I was better off dead than I was alive, as I still could not escape the nightmares, the flashbacks, lack of sleep etc. So after a few years of being in and out of therapy and being on medication, I found that my escape was no longer alcohol or violence but walking, going on adventures alone with my camera and capturing memories that were positive and working on those rather than the ones I was battling against. In regards to making the self portraits that visually represent Psychosis and other mental health issues, I was a little reluctant to put myself back into that particular frame of mind for the sake of my work - especially as I had only encountered my first and hopefully my last episode of Psychosis last Christmas. It was still very raw with me but I took that opportunity to create the most honest photographs that I possibly could with how I was feeling at that time, and I felt that it was important for me to document those times and how I was seeing myself - as I document most things in my life now and use them to build a stronger and better relationship with not only myself, but everybody around me.  I think it is great that Memoriam are using the subject of veterans in their music and highlighting the issues that are very relevant in not only veterans who have served in wars post 2003, but prior to that. Also I couldn't imagine anybody who has been in my position, similar or worse, not relating to even one of the matters that Memoriam have expressed in the song The Veteran. The music may not be to everybody's taste but neither is War, and unfortunately there is truth to be told and found in both of those. I really enjoyed creating the video for The Veteran though and I found it to be a way of therapy for myself thankfully and I surprised myself, it's the first time I have used my work in this way, so I am thankful for the opportunity given to me by a dear friend of mine Timm Sonnenschien. I would be interested in creating some more work of a similar nature in the future." You can find Daniel’s work via Instagram here www.instagram.com/amongst_the_pines_photography The official video of The Veteran can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uTsdsc3cys Order Requiem For Mankind: http://nblast.de/Memoriam-RFM Memoriam's full current UK show dates read as follows: 21 Jul –  Gloucestershire, Eastington (Amplified Festival) 6 Sept - Dublin, The Grand Social 7 Sept - Limerick, Dolans 18 Oct – Manchester, Rebellion 19 Oct – Glasgow, Slay Watch and listen to 'Shell Shock': https://youtu.be/2olgPmHY-84 Watch and listen to 'Undefeated': https://youtu.be/zlhLxXD5ERw The track list for Requiem For Mankind racks up as follows: 01. Shell Shock 02. Undefeated 03. Never The Victim 04. Austerity Kills 05. In The Midst Of Desolation 06. Refuse To Be Led 07. The Veteran 08. Requiem For Mankind 09. Fixed Bayonets 10. Interment The album's impressive artwork was created again by Dan Seagrave (BENEDICTION, DISMEMBER, HYPOCRISY, SUFFOCATION,...) The colossal songwriting and the first-class recordings have been immortalised through the sublime production work of Russ Russell (NAPALM DEATH, DIMMU BORGIR, AT THE GATES, AMORPHIS, etc.) at Parlour Studios, giving the record raw production values, whilst providing the perfect scenario to showcase the musicianship so beautifully displayed on the album.

Frank and Karl discuss working with Russ Russell (NAPALM DEATH, DIMMU BORGIR, AT THE GATES etc) at Parlour Studios: https://youtu.be/1_YkgvtGqc8  Frank and Karl discuss enlisting the legendary artist Dan Seagrave once again to create the art for their new offering and how Karl introduced the idea of doing a trilogy of albums on the band’s first promo trip to Nuclear Blast HQ in Donzdorf: https://youtu.be/ovs1R47Cp-o In a new album trailer released today, Frank and Karl discuss the vocal style and lyrics on the new record. Watch here: https://youtu.be/jlMOXCwsMb4 Watch Frank and Karl discuss the vocal style and lyrics on the new record: https://youtu.be/jlMOXCwsMb4 Watch Karl discuss 'Undefeated': https://youtu.be/0MewrEcqIRE Karl and drummer Andy discuss the evolution of the band’s sound over their 3 albums: https://youtu.be/F4jhnzvweIU

[poemofeverybodyssouls]

Atlus Is Currently Hiring! Interview With "Persona" Character Designer Shigenori Soejima #DESKWATCH

2017.04.28

#DESKWATCH is a project that shines the spotlight on creators of illustrations, manga, anime, videos, music…. and their work environment. Discover how these gems of creativity are born, and what kind of tools professional creators use through photos and interviews!

Interview & article by Momoka Ito (vi) Pictures by Satopon

This time we visited Atlus, the video game studio behind groundbreaking titles such as Shin Megami Tensei, Persona and Etrian Odyssey. We were also lucky enough to have the chance to interview Shigenori Soejima, character designer for the Persona series and art director of Atlus new project Project Re Fantasy. We asked him about his illustrations and about the way he does design.

▲ Project Re Fantasy is a brand new project that is still under development. It's produced by Katsura Hashino, who also produced Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, and character designer Shigenori Soejima tagged along. 

 We also heard that Atlus is looking for new staff, and we decided to give you all a chance by creating a special platform on pixiv to make your entry! In you're interested, please check the application form at the end of the article.

▲ This time we visited Soejima's workspace, a.k.a. the "P・STUDIO" floor.. At the entrance, we were greeted by Persona 4 mascotte Teddie and a vending machine.

I started to work at Atlus right after graduating. What is it like to work at Atlus?

-- I guess every video game fan already knows what Atlus is, but can you tell us something about your company? What are your most representative titles?

The most famous ones are without any doubt Shin Megami Tensei and the Persona series. Other representative titles are the Etrian Odyssey series and the most recent Catherine. 

 -- How did you start working at Atlus?

It was 1995. I just graduated, and Atlus had just started to produce Revelations: Persona. I started working there as a designer, but at the time the separation between tasks wasn't so harsh so I ended up doing a little bit of everything. Even pixel art. 

-- Why did you choose Atlus?

It was because it wasn't such a big company at the time. (laughs) I thought if I were to enter a big company, I wouldn't have had much freedom to do whatever I pleased. On the other hand, at a company like Atlus I had many opportunities to give my contribution. 

 -- What software are you using mainly?

Paint Tool SAI and Photoshop.

For the part where I use my pen tablet, I use SAI. So lines, coloring... I use Photoshop mainly to adjust the colors and to add special effects. Sometimes I also use CLIP STUDIO. 

 -- Do you use a LCD tablet or a regular one?

I've been using a regular tablet for the longest time, 'cause I didn't like the idea of hiding my illustrations with my hand. However, I heard so many times about how great LCD tablets are that I'm thinking to get one. (laughs) I'm a creature of habit. If there's a device I like to use, I'll keep using even after it gets obsolete. Other members of the staff, though, use much newer things.

▲ His PC is a Windows 7, Intel Core i7 - 6700 32GB memory at 3.4 GHz. Soejima's favorite pen tablet is an "Intuos 3" from 10 years ago. A good workman does not blame his tools! 

 -- What are your must-have items?

My headphones. I use BOSE and AKG. The latter are the result of a collaboration between AKG and Persona 5.

▲ These "AKG K845BT" feature Persona 5 character Sakura Futaba.

 -- Since headphones are your must-have item, I imagine you listen to a lot of music while you work!

Yes, mainly video game music. Or better, the music from the game I'm currently working for.

The atmosphere of my illustrations changes quite a lot according to what kind of music I'm listening, so I always try to get the BGM music data in advance to use it while I'm drawing.

-- I see, so you're using the BGM of the title you're working on. I'm kinda jealous of your work environment!

Creators can move freely at Atlus

-- If you're a creator, you have two choices: to work as a freelancer and to work for a company. Can you tell us the advantages and disadvantages of being an employee?

One of the advantages is that you have always people around you. If you're working as a freelancer, you always have to contact your editor via phone or chat. If you work for a company, though, everyone is already there - you just need to go to their office and you can talk to them right away.

▲ In the company's common space, we found plenty of "P・STUDIO" paraphernalia.

▲ Daiichi Production, the studio behind "Shin Megami Tensei" and "Etrian Odyssey", has a shared tatami space inside the office.

▲ The common space of Studio Zero, the studio working on"Project Re Fantasy". The layout facilitates the communication between each floor.

▲ A one-of-a-kind controller to commemorate the advent of Persona 5 sent from someone who works at Atlus USA. We need this...!

When you're a creator of any kind, it can be hard to complete a project or gather all necessary ideas by yourself. Having a group of people around you can really help!

Also, you can get all the equipment you need. If you tell someone "I need this thing for my work", they're gonna buy it for you. And I'm not only talking about hardware - they'll gather resources and whatever else you need. One of the merits of working in a company is that the environment built around you is thought for work.

However, the thing I like the most is the dynamism that working for a game company creates. Many brains mean many ideas, many illustrations, many people involved in the game. I really love this about Atlus.

The disadvantage is... Having a last train home. (laughs) There are limitations on how much we can work, so if I end up staying too late someone is gonna get angry at me.

But let's think about it. You need to learn self-management this way, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. 

  -- Can you tell us something more about Atlus work rules?

Core time is from 11 until 16. During that time span, you should be at the company. But since work hours are flexible, they tend not to be too strict. You can get to work early in the morning and go home 8 hours later, or you can get to the office just in time for core time, at 11 o'clock.

  -- It's nice to have that kind of freedom! How many hours do you work?

When deadlines are approaching, I can work all day every day... (laughs) But basically, I work according to the rules.

 -- What do you do in order to rest your eyes and hands?

I think it's really important to choose the perfect chair. My company really values a nice work environment, so everyone is usually sitting on a very nice chair.

Us designers, unlike illustrations, don't really keep drawing for hours and hours. We often look at materials and resources or have meetings. That's why I don't think the burden on our bodies is too big.

What are the limitations on character design? Joys and sorrows of group work

-- Can you tell what goes inside the head of a character designer? How can you become good at it?

"Character design" means to create the setting for a certain character, but I think that the ability to draw is a prerequisite in order to be able to convey all their characteristics.

A thing I realized when I entered this company is that even if you're good at drawing, that doesn't mean you will make a good character designer. Competitions inside the company can get pretty harsh, but sometimes it can happen that designs from people who can't draw end up being adopted. For the initial concept, stick figures are usually better than super detailed characters.

It might be hard to get good at design if you're not that good at drawing, but I'm pretty sure that "drawing skills" and "design skills" are two completely different things. I realized all these things after joining Atlus, and since then I've always been drawing to increase my skills as a designer. 

 -- What is the best way to increase your skills as a designer?

Of course, it's important to observe what's around you... But there's something less vague that you could do. Personally, I started from asking myself: "What's the thing that I enjoy the most?" I think when you start drawing something you're always influenced by what's popular at that time. Then, you start looking for ways to be different from the popular creators. However, you don't always get results right away. I was even scolded by my boss because I couldn't find a satisfying output, a way to be different. (laughs) He told me to just be myself and to draw what I felt like drawing.  Since that moment I started actively thinking about how to create something that was different from whatever came in the past. I started to find the things I was missing. It's important to continuously try to perfect yourself, both by studying and by finding new interests.

▲ Even a successful designer like Soejima was scolded at the start of his career.

-- What's the most fun thing about character design?

To give shape to a character that has only a vague image gives me a blast every time.

Characters are not something that I make on my own, but that our team creates together. I like sharing what I made with the team, and everyone usually reacts with "Oh, so this is what this character was like!"

When I have to design a character, I start with written indications. Going from that to an actual physical image... That's the most fun that I have during my job.

-- And what's the most frustrating thing?

Since design is quite different from plain art, there are many things that I have to consider when creating a character. I have to think that that same character will be made into a 3D model and animated... And if, for example, character A and character B are brothers they should resemble each other.  I have to base my drawings on character settings, and that leads to some limitations. It's very hard to respect those limitations while creating a good character.

▲ Character creation is something that various members of the staff collaborate on. It doesn't matter how small a character is, there's always much thought going into it.

-- I think that the designs for "personas" appearing in the Persona series are very cool and stylish. How are these creatures born?

The first thing that I consider is what kind of impression that persona will leave when it meets the eye of the player.

Do you want it to be cool? Scary? I mix different ingredients according to the kind of persona I want to create.

However, designs that are too easy to understand can end up resulting quite boring. I like to add elements that create a little mystery... I want the players to think "why does this persona look like this?". My intent is not only to create good looking creatures but also to make the player curious about the original setting for each of them.

-- What would you recommend to all those who're aiming for a career as an illustrator or character designer?

I think the best method to learn something is "to make it into a job". If you only do something as a hobby, you'll tend to be biased towards things you like.

By entering a company, you'll have the chance to draw both things from your specialty field and things outside of it. 

When I joined Atlus I was quite confident about my skills, but I can't say the same about drawing something outside my field of interest. I remember clearly what one of my senpai said to me back then: "Soejima, you pretend like you can draw anything, but you actually can't draw at all". (laughs) So instead of working at your desk and thinking "I'd like to make this into a job one day", get out there and make it into a job. And I hope you will choose our company!

▲ Soejima drew Persona 5 character Makoto Niijima just for us. How beautiful is this!?

Atlus is currently hiring! Apply through pixiv!

-- I would like to ask you something about recruiting. What made you decide to recruit new staff?

After Persona 5 was released, the same team is considering to work on another project, Project Re Fantasy by Studio Zero, which I'm working on as an art director. Apart from that, Atlus is planning to launch a new project for Shin Megami Tensei 25th anniversary, but we don't have enough staff to cover all that...

We are especially looking for artists, and we heard that the best place to find them is a certain treasure cave called pixiv.

▲ Studio Zero, the freshly established studio that deals with Atlus new project. To stimulate further growth and to follow the tradition of existing Atlus projects, they are hiring new personnel.

-- Is this offer limited to newly graduated students?

No, we don't really care about that. You can apply even if you're in the middle of your career, or if you were a student quite a few years ago. People who are currently working as freelancers are also welcome to apply. We are looking for graphic creators to join our team at Atlus.

-- Isn't gonna be hard to get hired at a company like Atlus, that produces such original games?

Thank you for complimenting our company. However, it's not like people without original ideas can't find a job at Atlus! And it's not like you have to know anything and everything about Atlus if you want to join. If you played Shin Megami Tensei you probably have this image of Atlas as a super serious company, but rest assured that the creators and members of the staff are only serious when doing their job. (laughs) We are very passionate about creating original contents, but as a team we are pretty standard. It's a regular company.The tendency is to join everyone's forces when it comes to creating a new title. If you're interested in this creative side of the production, please apply! So if you're interested in becoming a character designer or an illustrator, we will be more than happy to have you! 

 -- Thank you so much! And to all artists out there who dream to work at Atlus... Please send your application using the form below!

     ★ ATLUS - Creators Wanted! Application Form ★

Make your dreams come true "right now", and not "some other day"!

Such a wholesome interview, the one we had with Atlus character designer Soejima! He told us that, rather than practice at your desk, it's way better to just find a job to get your skills up! Is it just a chance that Atlus is currently hiring new creators and staff? If you want to have a chance to make your dreams come true right now, don't miss this unique opportunity! #DESKWATCH checks out the inspiring desks of creators and observes as they strive to deliver the best quality work.

[finsterhund]

Learning to use Clip Studio Paint

If you guys remember that I was able to buy clip studio paint during a sale because of Fishy, I finally have gotten around to installing it and getting it to run on this temporary laptop.

My first impressions weren't the highest because I discovered it was less straight forward, run it out of the gate like Paint Tool Sai was, and you actually had to open up a “Clip Studio” and then open up the paint program, which I’m not too keen on “creator studio compilations” like what Adobe does. They advertise contests from the website and crap when you open up the program each time. Yuck. *Edit* I realized I could skip this by pinning Clip Studio Paint to my taskbar. All is well. Also didn't like the whole cloud storage, username integration for an art program. I’d rather I just install it, and use it. You know? But that was optional, and once I got into the program itself, I've been having fun. It will be a learning curve, but I hope to start making test doodles soon.

Early tests were iffy. It’s a new program and I’m reacting acordingly. The stablizers weren’t anywhere near as strong as I like them to be, and I don’t think I particularly like the first sketch and line brushes I immediately used right off the bat. Some things like copying, selecting, cropping, I feel more comfortable when I use Sai. I will continue to test this program. I’m seeing similar issues that I have with sai in regards to line issues. I think it may just be my tablet being old or not having a particularly good computer. Here are my first doodles with the program. Featured are Red and Whisky with the default sketch brush and Andy with the default line brush. It doesn’t feel as comfortable as Sai but I imagine that’s just because I haven’t found “my” brushes and haven’t broken it in yet.

yeah, definitely not my best, even for test sketches, but this is the first attempt I have ever made drawing with the new program. I like the look of the sketch brush, but I guess I’ll have to mess around to get a better feel for the program and break in the default setting to suit my own needs.

[xladymalice]

Frequently asked Questions & Answers

Q&A

Most frequently asked Questions & Answers

Since I heard that some of you are mobile users only, I decided to copy this into an ordinary post. But I might not edit this one all that much…

So yeah, I hope it helps you cookies :)

- - -  I do not take requests. I sometimes react to suggestions, but don’t expect me do draw it - - -

How can I call you? Mali��� Mali is fine. Some go by “M'lady”, but I prefer Mali :)

Can I call you senpai? Please no… that’s just wrong.

Pronouns? She/her

When is your birthday? 8th April

Where are you from? Germany.

What languages do you speak? German, english and russian (only speaking and some reading) Oh yeah, I can read a little bit french :D

Where do you work? I won’t talk about private stuff :) So please accept that.

Private stuff? Nop, I won’t answer them, if I don’t want to.

I’d like to talk to you but I am so shy…. Don’t be. I always try to respond everyone who writes me. Sometimes I need time for that…. sometimes I reply at once. It really doesn’t matter, but I do reply and I am always kind :)

What tools do you use? Mouse and my Wacom Intous Pen -graphic tablet. I also draw a lot of traditional stuff. Pen and Paper ftw.

Programs? Photoshop Elements 7(yes.), Clip Studio Paint, Sai, Manga Studio Debut 4.0

You’re so talented! I’m not… honestly. I’ve been drawing for 10 years now, it’s all practise. And I stopped drawing alot… losing motivation and strength for it.

Arts School? Arts profession? Nop, all self-taught. No arts profession here.

You’re being rude… I’m sassy, I’m rude and I’m honest. Deal with it.

How did you learn to draw??

Do you stream? Sometimes…. rarely… Here

—

Swapfell Dawn is my AU and my take on on the term “Swapfell” and has nothing to do with it’s original creator Kkhopangg(KH) or Fellswap.

The comics I’m doing use the base of my AU. They are different to the popular versions and their story and personality belong to me. I was inspired by other artists on their design, but I developed them all alone.

Do you have a masterlist for Swapfell Dawn/Sympathy? Yes, but it’s only available for PC users… I am too lazy to make an extra post that I have to update too… sorry.

My Swapfells are inspired by yours! Credit always the person with the original idea. I also stated that KH had the original idea. But I didn’t know them back then and just started a story with the term “Swapfell = A Swap that fell”

I love the swapfells because of you! You are the Creator of Swapfell for me! I feel very, very honored about this statement, but it’s wrong in some way. The first idea was given by KH and I don’t want to take their title. And I don’t want people to force to take it. But I am very happy that I could make this AU interesting for you. Since that Swapfell/Fellswap debate I am even more determined to call my Swapfells “Sfd!sans aka. Black” and “sfd!papyrus aka Pup”. They belong to the Swapfell Dawn universe that splits from the mainstream line, so I won’t disturb the peace there. Of couse you can see it as your headcanon for Swapfell, I will feel more than honored. After all there was no real plot for them so far and this is just my take on…. Mweh

I want to hug your sfbros! This is a hugfree zone. Please stop sending me asks about that.

I want to hug you! I’m spiky, get the fck away from me. I am picky about hugs D:

Hugs? Never.

I want to hug you/Black/Pup! These asks will be ignored. You can go and hug stripper Jerry.

Can I create my own stories with your Swapfell Dawn boys?

No. Because I am still working on Dawn and I don’t want others to use my idea for them in their stories. If it’s about fanart/fanfictions for my story then it’s okay. But don’t make your own thing with them.

My Swapfell Dawn bois are known as “Black” and “Pup”. Pup calls his Sans “M'lord, sire, lord or Sans”… Black calls him “Mutt, Pap, Papy (special cases), Papyrus or other creative names to degrade him”

Suggestions and HCs for the SFD bois? You can write me about them, but don’t expect me to adapt them :)

You didn’t answer my ask Sorry… sometimes I delay answering stuff and I get honestly a ton more asks than I would’ve dared to imagine…. I love you all but shit… please don’t be mad if I take my time or don’t answer at all…. x.x

That music fits your Sfd!Bois! Feel free to send me stuff! I always listen to it, but I didn’t come to answer the previous suggestions… ahh.. so lazy me…

Is Sympathy on hold? Yes and no…. I will draw it when I feel like it.

Will Sympathy be continued at all? At some later point yes. I won’t stop that project.

When do you update your comics? That depends on my free time and mood. It’s always different. Sometimes I just need breaks….

There are different designs for your SFD!Bois… I change them from time to time. Sometimes depending on what I display and if it happened before or after Sympathy. Sympathy influences the final design of the Swapfell Dawn bois.

Can I call your AU still Swapfell? Yes, but since it’s my Au with MY story, MY design and MY interpretation, I’ve decided to give it an extra name so people won’t get confused about it anymore. I’m not using the design of others anymore.

—

Do not repost my art/comics without my permission. Do not sell/edit/whatever my art. If you want to have prints, then you can purchase the art and I’ll send you a higher resolution.

Can I use your art as icon? As BG on my Phone/PC…. Yes, but please to credit me. And I don’t mind if you use my stuff as background for your devices! What an honor!

I want to translate your comics…. First write me and get permission. I will talk about this with you.

My art/idea was inspired by yours… Credit me then. Because it’s rude and unfair to state it was your idea all alone. This involves character design, such as using my Swapfell bois as reference.

Can I draw SFD!Sans/SFD!Papyrus/SFD!Muffet/SFD!….? Can I write a fanfiction about them? Yes, sure! I don’t know why you want to do fanart for me, but jfc just do it! I am always happy to see my bois/my AU figures drawn in your style! Why would I not allow it? I love them and if you love them too, then it’s even better! And yes, you can also write fanfictions about my story, my pictures or whatever! Many talented writers already gifted me fantastic short fanfictions! I’ll be more than eager to read them! But sometimes I don’t have that much time, so please don’t be disappointed D:

Just please credit that you used my design/my AU there :D Less confusion for others and respect for me. Please don’t pretend it’s your design/idea, that’s what I wouldn’t like to see. And please don’t forget it’s your creation, so it’s not part of my AU unless I state that it’s an addition for it.

I drew fanart for you! I wrote a fanfiction for you! Just pm me, tag me or whatever, so I can see it. I usually always review stuff I get and comment on it. But don’t expect me to reblog it. It’s my decision after all. And please make sure that people don’t think that your fanfiction or art is part of the actual story, if you do art of it more often :) I tag stuff that belongs to the AUs I am working on.

Can I cosplay your Swapfells? YES!? Just credit my stuff and SHOW ME JFC

Requests? No.

I want a commission! Take a look at my commission page!

I want to support you! Comments, Reblogs, Pms…. I take it all.

I am also a huge fan of reading tags. They are sooooo cool at times.

You can also support me with Hot Chocolate <3</p>

—

Translation List:

French Translation by @yskmoscanyaoifr

Russian Translator  by forgot their tumblr.. fck xD PM ME Who else did I forget?

How to react if you see my stuff stolen/reuploaded/sold…. First off: Just pm and link me. I will check if I know that guy, talk to them…and if they ignore me then I’ll try to report them or something.  I guess I have to learn to deal with this too. It’s just sad to see how they don’t respect work of others. I mean this happens to every artists. Don’t panic… i I just want people to be honest and some are not…

[procreate-brushes]

Brush Reviews & Customer Feedback

Please feel free to follow me and share your feedback in the Procreate Forum. Thanks for your great support. You're awesome! :D

joe12south: George, thank you SO much for these amazing brushes! I was very disappointed in the ink brushes included with Procreate, and was dreading the hours that I would have to spend to create suitable inking brushes, when I discovered your set. Not only did you save me untold hours, but the quality is almost certainly better than I would have achieved on my own. The combination of the Apple Pencil + Procreate + your brushes yields an amazingly natural drawing experience. I've used every drawing tablet ever made since the Koala Pad (1984) and this is the first time I don't feel like I'm losing something by not using pencil/pen and paper. ... I've been using Georg's brushes for my morning warm-up sketches all week. Tons of fun. I've also fell in LOVE with the Dupa pencil brush. Previously, I really liked the 6B included with Procreate, but I find the Dupa brush superior in every way. My guess is most people buy this pack for the ink brushes, and may have overlooked this gem. For the first time, I feel like I could throw away my black and white Prismacolor pencils and never look back! ... Savage Interactive needs to seriously consider working a deal with Georg to include these brushes. I love Procreate, but the base included ink brushes are not "inky" at all. ... Lest you think Georg's brushes are only for cartooning, here's a portrait commission I did this morning using only the upcoming "BRISTLY" brush.

Wizard of Zog: Thanks so much again for making such awesome brushes. I hope the folks at Procreate send you all kinds of free stuff because your brushes are what truly makes that app sing for me.

Kazart: Thanks Georg for your work, i already found my favourites brushes wich allow me to draw like my traditionnal style. Here is a sample, a space assassin! Thanks again. 

kewlpack: Georg - Thanks for continuing to make the MegaPack an INCREDIBLE value with these updates. Fantastic customer service right there.

dftaylor: Just a quick note, since I've already harassed Georg on Twitter, that these brushes are wonderful. I've used nearly every art app out there, and between Georg's brushes for Procreate and Frenden's brushes for Manga Ex, I can work on my comics on my iPad Pro and my Surface Pro seamlessly. They're just brilliant tools - my favourites are the Penciler, the DUPA pencil, the Eisner, the Watterson, and the Underzo (both the texture brush and the lettering brush). I've used them on everything I've drawn since I got them. Great work and amazing value for money. Here's my most recent piece.

jollyrein: I LOVE LOVE LOVE The COPICESQUE set! Absolutely magical :D It's exactly what I was look for! Thank you so much Georg.

Vezinho: Hi Georg ! Just wanted to say that i bought your megapack and i find your brushes fantastically natural to use, very precise !  ... Fantastic Georg You ROCK The link appeared… A lot to play with !! These are all fantastic Top quality And the watercolor serie already seems a joy to use It will take a bit of time to get the feeling of everyone Once again thanks a lot ! I will post some portraits soon. By the way i exclusively use your brushes for now!

Finch: Beautiful brushes. Thank you for making these!

monarobot: I just got the G-pen and woooow it's the o my brush I've found that is anywhere close the feel of the clip studio version, awesome job!

pixelsnplay: You had so many great brushes for free too that I went ahead and bought your MegaPack. Thanks for sharing :)

dankelby: Hi Georg, just wanted to drop in and say that I love all of your inkers, great job! I just purchased them and can't wait to work with them. Cheers!

Bos: Just tried the ELDER, and immediately bought the Megapack. Wonderful. I like how you inclined the shape of the brushes (a thing I had planned but not had the time to try) and played with pressure AND velocity together. I've redrawn a panel of mine to try, and love the Watterson, the Peyo and the Uderzo especially (but haven't had the time to ding into them all, yet). Very flowing, very natural, with and without the textures.

FranklinKendrick: I just purchased the mega pack as well and am blown away at how natural the brushes are. Haven't tried the pencil yet (I should have time later) but, now you really make me want to play around with it! I stayed up way too late doodling with some of the inks. These are so much better than the ones included by default in Procreate - and well worth the money. I originally got into Procreate because I wanted to do some detailed ink work and just never had the tools to do it digitally. Now, with my iPad Pro, I feel like I have the tablet I always dreamed of having ever since I learned that digital drawing was a possibility. Thank-you Georg vW! I am so excited to try drawing cartoons again with these brushes.

Philip R: I really love the brushes, Georg! Thanks for all the hard work! My main favorites are The PEYO, The BREUGAL, and The FURBALL. I can finally create digital art the way I imagine. I mainly use the brushes for cartoon illustrations.

bem69: Bought your MegaPack too, and enjoying all of the brushes. Awesome! ... I love your ink brushes. So much potential and so fun to use. Totally recommended for those who are still considering.  ... CAN'T WAIT FOR THE UPDATE! 

Batsquatch: yo georg, when are we getting the update- your brushes have CHANGED MY DIGITAL CARTOONING LIFE! I'm jonesin' for the new brushes! -Phil

kawoody: Hey Georg! I'm totally about to buy all these brushes. They look amazing! Just what I've been wanting!

Bas0411: Hi Georg, your brushes are great! My favourites at this moment are the Bruegel, the Watterson and the Yellow Kid, all of which I use daily. 

tmp2209: Thanks so much for the option Georg the brushes are spectacular, I picked them up last night and have been very happy with the results and look forward to your future brushes. Thanks again!

Klaas: I have been testing your brushes, George! They are great!

Caricature Shop: Truly enjoy these brushes!  ... Really appreciate the MegaPack addition! I was eagerly anticipating the DAVIS, but have to say that my new favorite is the STRATMORE. It's feel, flow and responsiveness makes it a notch above, in my experience. Thanks George!

DougHardy: Oh my god these are AMAZING

sajishtr: Installed cartoons Brush set. Installation was smooth as I used AirDrop to transfer .brush file from mac to ipad. (Pls. include this instruction in your website). I tried Watterson first, to my surprise I was able to achieve a lot in the very first attempt itself. Pls. find the sketch with the original on the side. THANKS A LOT!!

Kris_Lap: Hi, Done a Crumb copy from blue layer. Always with excellent Mort Drucker Brush. Better traditional feeling using those brushes / Procreate than with Manga Studio. (...) Keep up your genius work ! ... A MANGA STUDIO Robert Crumb Copy with Astropad Please compare previous post with Procreate copy and Georg vW Mort Drucker Brush, above. The Procreate app / Georg vW brushes combo is a far superior inking tool. I would tell it to the world (if i was famous)... 

Patman: Impressive brushes! 

Ripples: These are wonderful, Georg, and thank you very much again; an honour that you used the names, and I love the other names and set too. Looking forward to doing a painting over the next couple of days, and will post it up! Thanks so much for making these.

Anne R. Cutler: This is a crazy good deal… thank you! The Air-Drop method worked perfectly. 

nylontoast: I just bought your MegaPack, fantastic! wonderful work, can't wait to use all the brushes! 

Silpi: Thank´s GEORG wonderful work Hug

Jennifer Bannink: Exactly what I was looking for! Thank you so much, it's an amazing brush :)!! 

timskirven: Hi Georg - these brushes are fantastic!! Thanks for all your hard work.

Doomsayer: Thanks mate - love the set / have been playing with it all morning while my Christmas presents gather dust :) I did a bunch of alterations to the G-pen and it is really solid / I made it so that it can get a very scratchy, scetchy feel - first 2 panels are my old brushes / 2nd two is the new ones. Love the tone brushes btw!

Brush Feedback via Twitter

[i-globalone]

GarageBand is a quite popular audio production software utility for MacOS and iOS devices. Well, it isn’t the best DAW for professional use but if you want a portable DAW to play, learn, and record – GarageBand should help. However, no matter how good it is, it’s still not available for Windows. So, in this article, we’ll see if there’s a way to use GarageBand for Windows and if there isn’t – what are the GarageBand alternatives. Features Of GarageBand Thousands of Loops from popular genres like EDM, Hip Hop, and more. Near-to-perfection Virtual Drummer Kit. Synths with shape-shifting controls. Audio effect plug-ins. Share finished songs via social networks. GarageBand For Windows – Is It Possible? Although many users try to find a way to download GarageBand for Windows – nothing really works. We’ll recommend trying the alternatives instead of taking all the hassle to try using GarageBand in Windows. There’s no official support – so it’s completely useless to experiment – because, for Audio production software utilities to work properly, the software compatibility/hardware compatibility is very important (which isn’t present in this case). Note: Every alternative mentioned offers the same basic set of features required to make music. They only differ in their quality of production, VSTs, plugin support, and some proprietary tools. So, we have only mentioned the unique features for you to consider the best alternative for your use. Best GarageBand Alternatives for Windows PC 1. LMMS (Free) Features Overview: Playback instruments, Samples, plug-in support, SoundFont support and Open-Source. LMMS is a free and open-source cross-platform digital audio workstation that is an easy GarageBand alternative for Windows. It features a modern easy-to-use UI to let you easily operate it and create music. The software utility comes baked in with instrument and effect plugins, preset, sample loops, and VST. However, the VST database isn’t huge. So, if you are into music production for basic covers, instrumentals, background score, and so on, LMMS should do the trick. Pros: Free to use. Easy-to-use UI. SoundFont support. Open-source. Cons: Not a big pool of instruments baked in. Limited plug-in compatibility. Visit Website 2. CUBASE Elements 9.5 (Paid) Features Overview: Unique Drum editor, Arranger track, Chord Pads, Premium VSTs included and Over 40 audio effect processors included. CUBASE is one of the most popular GarageBand alternatives for Windows 10. It comes equipped with a lot of advanced tools. The Cubase Elements edition is much more appropriate if you just want to create music. If you’d like the ability to record vocals with effects, more VST support, and a lot of other professional features, Cubase Pro should be your choice. However, unlike LMMS, Cubase isn’t free. As a matter of fact, all the other GarageBand alternatives mentioned below (except Tracktion 6 & Pro Tools free edition) would need a purchase. In my opinion, if you want to create music forever (as a career/passion) – Cubase is worth purchasing. If you have the budget (100 Euros), I’d say that this is the GarageBand for Windows you’ve been looking for. Pros: Easy-to-use UI with Advanced options. Virtual Instruments like HALion Sonic SE Workstation included. Up to 24 Physical I/O. Cons: Basic score editing features for music notation and composition. 16 VST Slots (if you want more, you will have to upgrade it to CUBASE Artist). Visit Website 3.Studio One (Paid) Features Overview: MIDI sequence editor, Harmonic edition, Tuned for the best integration with PreSonus MIDI controller & other audio equipment from PreSonus. Studio One is yet another impressive GarageBand alternative for Windows. I’ve been using it personally (the Studio One Artist edition). It’s been priced almost the same as Cubase’s editions. If you want to utilize a limited but good VSTs, the artist version will suffice. But, if 3rd party VSTs are your preference, then you’ll have to consider the pro version of it. Studio One also supports a remote software for an iPad, Android tablet, or Windows tablet, to let you control the audio workstation from your mobile – so it’s more flexible and convenient at times. Pros: Modern UI. Harmonic Editing (printable notations). Advanced Sampler. Studio One Prime version available for free (for newbies). Cons: In-built effects and virtual instruments aren’t that impressive. Visit Website 4. Pro Tools (Free/Paid) Features Overview: Advanced monitoring capabilities, Track freeze, Over 60 plug-ins included, Cloud collaboration. Pro Tools is one of the best digital audio workstation available for professionals. If you’re fairly new to the music creation scene, Pro Tools First version should be your preference – which is available for free. You’ll get all the basic tools to create an amazing piece of music. Of course, the loop library will be much smaller than the paid version – but it’s doable. It’s way better than GarageBand – for obvious reasons. Pros: Pro Tools | First – free tool for beginners. MIDI editing enhancements. Pro Tools Subscription (you don’t need to pay a huge amount if you’re in need of a music production software temporarily). Cons: In-built plug-ins aren’t that great. Visit Website 5. FL Studio 20 (Paid) Features Overview: Automation Control, Multi-track audio recording with quick pitch shifting,  Over 80 plugins included, Multi-touch support, Mobile version available as well. FL Studio is a beast when it comes to creating music. It offers a huge library of loops, plugins, and instruments. Depending on what edition you purchase, you will get the loop content, samples, plugins, and instruments required for your project. I wouldn’t recommend FL Studio’s fruity edition – so if you plan to get FL Studio to replace using GarageBand – you should get the producer edition at least. Pros: Great automation control. Advanced beat making. A large pool of inbuilt plugins. Mobile version available (if that matters). Cons: MIDI controller support is not impressive (I’ve had errors when I used it). 3rd Party VST integrations are not good as well. Visit Website 6. Ableton (Paid) Features Overview: Instant mappings, Live community, Sampler, Perfectly tuned for Novation MIDI controllers. Ableton Live is the one you’d hear the most as a professional suggestion to have when you have a MIDI controller. Well, every DAW mentioned in this article is well-equipped with features to integrate a MIDI controller. However, Ableton Live seems to be a popular choice for that. If you have Ableton Push device – that’s a plus definitely. You’ll probably even forget why you’d want GarageBand for Windows. Pros: Good loop library. Easy-to-use Interface. Good 3rd Party plugin integration support. Cons: A bit expensive. Visit Website 7. Mixcraft 8 (Paid) Features Overview: Integrated Melodyne Tuning software, iZotope mastering tools. Acoustica’s Mixcraft 8 is a great tool to make music for all level of creators. And, for beginners, it is a must-have GarageBand replacement for Windows. Also, it isn’t heavy on the system resources – so even if you have an old laptop to experiment with, you can give it a shot. When compared to other DAWs, Mixcraft 8 is a cheaper alternative with all the advanced tools you can imagine for a music production software. Pros:  Easy-to-use Interface. Best for beginners. Loaded with a lot of inbuilt plugins and loops. Affordable pricing. Cons: Lacks 3rd party plugin integrations (with quite a few important VSTs). Visit Website 8. Reaper (Paid) Features Overview: MIDI Notation Editor, Rescript (Create anything from simple macros to complex new functionality), Real-time programming track while using a Video. A quite popular DAW which is a budget alternative to other expensive music production software utilities. It comes baked in with almost every essential tool required for a professional to make music. Pros: Affordable. Suitable for beginners. VST3 Support. Cons: Less built-in effects and plug-ins. Visit Website 9. SONAR by Cakewalk (Paid) Features Overview: MIDI routing support, Automation, Scripting, Control surfaces. SONAR is a quite similar digital audio workstation that can act as a powerful GarageBand replacement for Windows machines. Also, it offers better/cheaper pricing plans – in case you do not want to spend a fortune to experiment in making music. The best thing about it is – you can try the software for 30 days without requiring to provide your credit card details. So, yeah, it should be a great deal – when you already know what you’re getting, before purchasing it. Pros: A wide 3rd party integration support. Automation. Scripting. Cons: Less in-built effects and plugins. Visit Website 10. T6 DAW by Tracktion (Free) Features Overview: Clip Nesting,  Advanced MIDI controls, In-line step sequencing. T6 DAW is a free GarageBand alternative for Windows. It is absolutely free with no in-app purchases. You can perform all the basic music production stuff without spending a penny. However, if you want to utilize its rich plugin collection, enhanced virtual instruments, and more, you will have to separately purchase them. Pros: Free to use. Easy to use UI. Supports Linux platform as well. Cons: Lacks 3rd party plugin integration. Visit Website Conclusion We do realize that we cannot use GarageBand on Windows – because there’s no official support whatsoever. And, in addition, GarageBand isn’t really the best solution for you to create music. Yes, it could come handy if you have a MacBook and an iPad. However, for Windows, the alternatives offer better and more powerful features than GarageBand itself. So, you should try the alternatives – and if you’re a professional – Cubase, Studio One and Ableton Live would be my personal recommendation. source http://wtf.telenor.com.np/2019/12/24/10-best-garageband-alternatives-for-windows-updated-list-2020/

http://www.globalone.com.np/2019/12/10-best-garageband-alternatives-for.html

[adamthepastryguy]

So my Harry Potter themed  Afternoon Tea  has come and gone. The most immersive and most expensive Tea i have done to date. It took the longest to prepare for the decor and foods and hopefully is the most elaborate to date.

I visited the  Harry Potter Studio tour on Thursday for the 1st time and did pick up some wizarding world items to enhance the Tea for the sweets challenge. The props alone for this Tea have made it the most expensive to date and find how much at the end of the blog.

Just  like the films it takes many people to make it all happen, and would like to thanks my parents and also partner for their help in the decor and filming on the day. It took most of the 2nd half of the week to do the decor, prepare the props and plan, shop and bake/prepare the treats on offer.

The Tea has been in the planning for over a year, but on paper mainly, since i was visiting the Studio Tour the same week i decided to end the week with the Tea.

I searched the internet and many of Pinterest posts for inspiration for  treats and foods to make alongside my original ideas. I have never read the books but seen the films. A lot of the references i found came from the books and small snippets from the movies. I wrote them all down and done a shortlist and came up with my menu. I was happy with all i did but you always want more. I ran out of space on the table  I need a long banquet table !

SETTING THE SCENE

Whilst planning i came up with the name Platform 9 Tea/4 as my backdrop was to be the Hogwarts Express. I already had a trolley from my market stalls so used that with some loaded up luggage to set the scene I wanted a cage for Hedwig but knew it would be a waste getting it for a one off, so found an adorable but expensive Hedwig from Platform 9 3/4 shop online  for £35 originally £45 and the biggest one they make and exclusive to the shop also.  The backdrop came from Ebay as per my others.

I saw the Hogwarts letter pack in Sainsburys and decided to make my own Acceptance letters and also brought a wax sealer online and made 20 to hang on a wall to set the scene further. I made some floating Candles from hot glue and Paper towel holders and tealights and hung from the ceiling. These were all hung with invisible thread so did indeed appear to be floating besides the obvious sellotape mark on the ceiling.

I had the idea also to have Hogwarts on the table  and that came in 3d puzzle form. I was lucky to win 2 auctions on eBay hoping all the pieces were there! it took me 5 days to complete both of them myself and 1 piece was missing. I paired them with my Lego like Harry Potter Mini figures and think they went great together even if the scale is somewhat out lol. I had imagined this in the centre of the table and  cake stands on each end, but was naive and it had to go at the far end of the table but looked good anyway.

  SORTING HAT

I do have one of the original talking sorting Hats but it doesn’t work, i saw Argos had a sale on the new version for £17.49 i got it as they are usually £40+ within a week or so it was back to normal price so glad i got it. I used it as a prop and to sort everyone into their Houses before we begun the Tea.

    THE TEA

I was lucky to get hold of the Harry potter Teapots, 1 from Primark and 1 from eBay( from primark) and the House crest Mugs these were all reasonable compared to most around. I found a Round Marauders map Beach towel ( yes round) i used as a tablecloth with my Black cloth underneath. I knew i wanted a Birdcage cake stand for the Tea and found one on Amazon using my vouchers i got 2 and £30 off. I did not try my plates on it and last minute figured the big plates would not fit, so had to use the side plates as the stand plates and big plates as our plates to eat off

I just had a choice of Loose leaf plain Tea and regular Tea for this Tea.

MUSIC

My Dad is the sound man and he had the Harry Potter Soundtrack from the films playing in the Background which created some ambiance.

  THE FOOD

After gathering references and ideas it took 3 days plus of preparation to make it all happen with all the sweets and savories enough to feed Dumbledoores army!

The savouries

For the Sandwiches i made  Endless Bacon , Corned Beef ( Ron’s least favourite) and Chicken & Ham

Cheese wand Scones

Pumpkin Pasties – These are mentioned as being eaten on the Hogwarts express and no mention of sweet or savoury, a lot of recipes made them Pumpkin Pie type fillings. I saw some savoury i made mine into Curried Pumpkin which were really nice.

Mini Steak Pies

THE SWEET STUFF

Their was endless possibilities for sweet items and i whittled it down to several, haa i still had loads.

Golden Snitch Cake ball Truffles – Sprayed gold and complete with Rice paper wings.

Treacle Tarts – Harry`s favorite apparently who knew?

Hagrids Rock Cakes – A definite improvement on Hagrids version these mini Rock cakes were great.

Harry`s Birthday Cake – I made a small Vegan Chocolate Cake complete with Strawberry Pink icing and a rustic message ” Happee Birthdae Harry” with the crack down the middle.

Lemon Sherbet Eclairs – Filled with Vanilla Cream and topped with Lemon Sherbet icing and crumbled Sherbet sweets dust.

ButterBeer mini Cupcakes – If you have never had Butter beer it is a cross between a cream soda and Butterscotch topped with a cream like top layer. To replicate this i made a Butterscotch flavour sponge topped with Butterscotch buttercream and coloured yellow.

Chocolate Frogs– right from the start on the Train these were a definite to add to the Tea. I made my own in some moulds with Rice Crispies/Coco pops pieces inside. typically they contain a Holographic wizard Cards in their boxes.

Philosophers Scones – Love the name i found online. I topped my Scones with a lightening scar for added effect.

I recorded the Tea live, but much to my horror afterwards found once the tablet fell the sound had cut out after 9 mins!

Luckily my partner had made his own videos and i borrowed them from him allowing the whole thing to be relived in short clips. I always film them via Facebook live and with a new tripods thought this would be okay. Tripod needs sorting out for next time seemed to be top heavy with my tablet resting on it. Happy with the combined footage

SWEETS CHALLENGE

As part of the Tea i wanted to have a Bertie Botts sweet challenge afterwards ( The disgusting flavours) and also take the chance to try some other Harry Potter inspired  Sweets. I got from Universal studios the original Frog and the studio tour here i got the rest of the Honeydukes Sweets and around other places. I looked at reviews of some and picked the ones which got the best scores. Some for what they was i left. I was lucky to get some cheap and discounted in Tkmaxx in a hamper bundle for £5

The sweets i got were

Chocolate Frog in Box – Universal Studios Orlando

Chocolate Frog packs x2 – Chocolate & Puffed Rice Pieces

Fizzing whizzbees

Peppermint Toads

Exploding Bon Bons Orange & Pineapple

Bertie Botts every flavour Bean

Jelly Slugs

Gringotts Chocolate Coins

Lemon Sherbets

 SO HOW WAS THEY?

The Bertie Botts Bean challenge  we picked 3 Beans each and from the reactions we all got mostly disgusting ones. I got Grass and Toothpaste which tasted like deep heat lol. I mixed them in with Bean Boozled which have nice and nasty flavours.

The Chocolate frog in box from the states is Big and fills the box but however is American Chocolate! so could not eat much of that for it is not the best eating Chocolate.

The Puffed Rice Chocolate frog with Cards were also not that great and i could not believe the size of them once opened compared to the size of the packet. Disgraceful for the price.

The Exploding Pineapple & Orange Bonbons in White Chocolate were very nice but not much fizz with the Popping Candy for any of us.

Fizzing whizzbees – I liked the Chocolate shaped like Bees but again not much of a whizz or Fizz, think it must have flown away.

Mint Chocolate Toads – Dark Chocolate and extremely strong Mint taste, okay but a bit overpowering for most of us.

Jelly slugs- various flavours and small little Chewy gummy sweets these were okay.

Gringotts Chocolate Coins – Come in a little sack with an emblem on it, the Chocolate was okay on these a novelty more than anything.

Lemon sherbets – i got these from Tesco they are nice just plain Sherbets

These sweets were interesting to try but expensive for what you get

Fizzing Whizzbees £8

Peppermint Toads £5

Frogs packs £4.50

jelly beans packs £3-4 each

Sherbets – available anywhere  really from £1 or less

Explosing BonBons £8

Jelly Slugs £3-4 a pack

Chocolate frog in Box £8-10

It was an eventful evening and after such a lot of planning it came to an end. I invited my work colleague and friend Sharon to participate in the Tea rather than watch it from fb live. Hope she enjoyed her time on Platform 9 tea/4 and she went home with a goodie bag of treats and souvenirs.

This was the most expensive tea i have done in the 2 years i have been doing this project for fun. it came in at the cost of WAIT FOR IT!  £356.30 

The cost of food was low compared to the Props, Teaware and other  items that made this whole Tea what it was. Of course i have the props and plushies to keep for another time. Some i will sell on the things i do not need to keep. The rest will stay for the return to Hogwarts one day.

  My Platform 9 Tea/4 Harry Potter theme Afternoon Tea – behind the scenes So my Harry Potter themed  Afternoon Tea  has come and gone. The most immersive and most expensive Tea i have done to date.

[ulyssessklein]

Creating a good lyric video for less than $10

How to make a lyric video for your song (without using Motion or After Effects)

Lyric video: a video that shows your song lyrics while the music plays. [Pretty self-explanatory.]

Not only are lyric videos a great and manageable way to keep your video content coming in between bigger projects that involve more complicated production, but I’ve found they can actually be a lot of fun to make.

Below I’m going to talk about how I created six different lyric videos along with info on some of the FREE tools I used.

A few things to keep in mind:

I’m not a video guy. Every time I make one of my own lyric videos it’s a process of trial and error. A pro could probably create something twice as good in half the time, but I enjoy playing around to find solutions on my own. Plus, video budget? (Pshaw).

You can make really cool lyric videos with programs like Motion and After Effects. I didn’t. For one, those programs cost money (see pshaw above). But diving into one of those programs would mean I have yet another learning curve to climb. I’m interested in exploring Motion at some point, but in between family, work, and everything else, I’d rather use what time is leftover to make music and bang out some videos, not hunker down in the lab for days on end. Maybe those programs are easier to use than I’m imagining, and I’m missing out (let me know in the comments), but for the sake of this article, let’s just refer back to the zero-budget appeal of making lyric videos WITHOUT Motion or After Effects.

That leaves you with free video editing software like iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. Pros might scoff at these intro-level video production tools, but when you combine them with a few other tricks, plus some creativity, I think you can create compelling lyric videos with little more than what comes loaded on most desktops, tablets, or smartphones. [Full disclosure: I used Final Cut Pro X on some of the videos below, but I’d worked in iMovie for long enough before that to know most of the things I’m doing in FCPX can be done in iMovie.]

Beginner tips for making lyric videos

Open your movie-making software and set your new project’s aspect ratio to 16:9.

Import your song and any other media (like video clips, still images, logos, etc.) that you plan to use.

Move your first clip or background image to the project pane. If you plan to use one static background image the whole time, you can click and drag to adjust the duration that it appears so it’s long enough to display during your whole song.

Place your song into the project pane. If you want it to start playing right away, drag it all the way to the left. If you have a title page or some other introductory elements, you can leave a little room before the song starts.

Use “titles” to place the lyrics on the video at the appropriate time during the song, matching with the vocals.

Use a font size and style that’s readable (or that looks cool at the very least).

Position your titles on the video (again, by dragging) so they appear in a place that’s legible. For instance, if you’re using a still image of a sandy beach below a light gray sky, you don’t want white font to appear over that sky. Better to drag it down so it appears with starker contrast over the dark sand.

Make adjustments to the length of the titles (you can do this by clicking and dragging) to smooth out the transition from line to line.

Watch your whole video a few times through and make any needed fixes.

Export your video file and upload it to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, etc.

Some tricks to spice up your lyric videos

This is the lyric video for my single “Collapsing Star” — a long fade-out kind of song about devotion in the face of aging — so I thought the visuals should do exactly what the music and lyrics do: fade, shrink, collapse.

The creation of this video involved some really basic elements:

Still images of space that slowly evolve — I wanted there to be a extraterrestrial time-lapse effect, so I used some super hi-res photos from Unsplash, applied a very long cross-fade between each transition, and also used just an imperceptible touch of “Ken Burns” (an effect that creates some motion using a still image).

A shrinking sun — Scientifically speaking, I know stars don’t collapse in this way; they usually get big and bright before dwindling into white dwarfs or black holes. But I thought a slowly shrinking star would paint the lyrics in a haunting way, so I used Canva to create dozens of colored circles, each one small than the next. I then placed them on the timeline with overlap so that each one could (like the space images) fade into the next and depict shrinking. With the addition of some blur and some “stencil” effects, I was able to hint at dark sun spots and the rippling surface of a star, as well as the halo around a star.

The twinkle of space — Because I was using static images, I needed to add some other light effects that made for a kind of twinkle or oscillation in the background stars. The main one I relied on was the “sketch” effect in FCPX.

This is the lyric video to my song “Irretrievable Beauty.” To create it I followed all the basic steps mentioned above, but here are a few of the bonus elements I added for (hopefully) extra impact:

Additional text — No one ever said a lyric video should contain ONLY your lyrics. So I wrote a bunch of other text (a letter from the 22nd-Century) and placed my lyrics within it. Check out the video and what I’m describing will make more sense.

Color contrast of text — The actual lyrics of the song needed to be easily readable, so they’re all in black against a lighter background. The rest of the words are white, and it’s fine if they roll by without anyone being able to read them all. I intended to create the feeling of being flooded by text, so lots of it is supposed to wash over you.

Public domain image — I found a super hi-res image from 1905 to use for the background of the video (and my cover artwork too), and slowly zoomed in throughout the whole video.

Above is the lyric video for my song “1+1+1=3.” Some of the things I did to make this video:

Slow fade between different versions of the same photo — The background image for this video is the same as the cover artwork, a photo I took of arithmetic on a chalkboard. I then applied different filters to the photo to create three separate versions. While editing the video, I started by laying the three images out in a repeating pattern and then cross fading them all so it looks like there’s some kind of slow transformation happening.

More extra text — The additional text in this video is nowhere near as crazy as in “Irretrievable Beauty,” but I wanted to add a few bits here and there. You’ll spot ’em.

Directly reference the subject matter — The song is called “1+1+1=3.” Yes, it’s about love, but the math element was a fun visual reference point. Arithmetic on a chalkboard. Strange equations in the text. Etc. What’s the visual reference in your song?

Above is the lyric video for my song “Silently.” Some things I did to create this one:

Hyperlapse sunset — One afternoon when I was visiting Oregon, I ran up to the top of Mt. Tabor (an extinct volcano in the heart of Southeast Portland) and found a good spot to film the changing sky as dusk fell. I made sure to be out of the way of anyone who might walk in front of the camera and ruin the looooooong time-lapse shot. Hyperlapse is a free app from Instagram, and it makes it easy to shoot long videos and then speed them up at various rates. I think my 4-minute music video required about 45 minutes of footage.

Intro titles from Word Swag — If you read this blog frequently, you probably know I love Word Swag, a free app that lets you add cool fonts to images. I used Word Swag to create both the circle logo at the beginning with my name in it, and also the “Silently” title. You could use this app to create text for every single lyric, but that’d get time consuming so I just ended up using it for those two elements at the beginning. For this purpose, within Word Swag you’ll usually want to lay the font over a transparent background so you can fly it into whatever video you’re creating without disrupting the moving footage. [Note: I used Word Swag to create the intro text for all the lyric videos below.]

Sketch effect — I then added some built-in effects, including a color saturation effect and two doses of a sketch illustration effect, to make the video look grainy and lo-fi. Like I said above, this wasn’t premeditated. Just playing around with effects to see what looked promising. On that note…

Earthquake wobble effect — I used the earthquake effect because I thought it kind of made the text look like it was on a transparent slide overlay that was out of focus for a second.

Alternating pacing of lyric appearances — Sometimes the lyrics appear and disappear with the vocal. Sometimes certain lines linger. I just went by feel, and payed more attention to how the titles looked laid out across the screen than anything particularly musical.

Alternating the color of the text — This is another obvious way to add some variation if you feel like your lyric video is too much of the same thing: change the colors of the lyrics!

Here’s a video for a song called “Morning Edition” which I posted right before the election in 2016. The recording is actually just a super lo-fi Garageband demo, but I only had two weeks until election day, and I figured if I’m going to make some kind of statement, there’s no time to wait to get my band into a proper studio. So, a few notes about this lyric video:

A lyric video can still have live action — I’ve never really liked the distinction between “music video” and “lyric video,” as if one is more legit and exciting than the other. As someone who listens to lyrics just as much as the music, I love good lyric videos, and I think there can be an interesting hybrid between these two approaches. For “Morning Edition” I lip-synced to my song, 10 seconds at a time, while using the Face-Swap tool in Snapchat to graft a certain someone’s mug onto mine. Then I edited all those takes together and applied a sharp contrast filter to blend the background of the Snapchat clips with the large black borders on both sides of the clips.

Did I say the lyrics have to be legible? — Well sure, it’s good to have legible lyrics, but I don’t think they need to be HUGE if that means you’re ruining the aesthetic of the video. For this one I figured I’d keep the text in a thin minimalist font at the top of the screen, out of the way of my face, and anyone who really wanted to read along could watch the video in full-screen mode.

Here’s the lyric video for my song “Veterans Day.” By complete accident — again, lots of playing around with built-in options — it ended up with a kind of Zen art aesthetic. Here’s how:

Stock video — I looked through tons of stock video sites to find an affordable, hi-res clip that could be used as the background for the whole video. I ended up buying (for less than $10) a short video of milk being poured into a clear glass of water with a black background. But 6 seconds of video wasn’t going to cut it for a 5 minute song, so I…

Slowed the clip WAY down — I stretched the clip as long as it could go and still only had about 2.5 minutes’ worth. So then I…

Reversed the clip — By duplicating the clip I had 2.5 minutes of forward motion, and 2.5 minutes of backwards motion. So the result is like a palindrome, or like that famous bass solo on “Call Me Al.” Halfway through, the whole thing turns around and the milk goes back into the bottle by the end. Another accident that I ended up enjoying.

Color inversion — I used the built-in tools to invert the colors so the white milk became like black ink, and the black background turned to a light gray.

B&W — I then took that video and turned it to black and white, which ended up darkening the whole thing in a nice way.

Scrolling text — One of the built-in title options on many video software programs allows you to scroll text vertically, like the end credits of a film. I used this effect separately for each verse and chorus of the song. Then I did another layer of scrolling text with just a bunch of randomly spaced letters and symbols, with a high transparency on the font so it appears as a graphic element, and I think it gives the whole video a kind a translucent papery feel.

Here’s a few things you might be able to learn from the lyric video to my song “Premiere:”

Still photos are your friend — Check out royalty-free photo sites such as Unsplash. I made the entire video for “Premiere” using photos I found on that site. The one risk you run is that other artists use the same photos in their work, but you can always tweak the images so they’re barely recognizable as I did with the milk video in “Veterans Day.”

Don’t be afraid of Ken Burns — He has a built-in video effect named after him for a reason; that technique of zooming in and out on still photos can be really effective for creating mood. Dynamics! Don’t go crazy or anything with the motion, but a little Ken Burns here and there can make flat photos come to life.

Mix and match fonts — I used a bunch of different kinds of fonts on “Premiere,” giving each section of the song its own feel.

Apply effects and transitions to the titles (text) too — Don’t forget that many of the same effects you can use on pictures and video will work to give your lyrics an interesting look as well.

Don’t publish your video until you’ve proofread it a dozen times! — If you watched my lyric video for “Premiere” you might’ve found a typo. Whoops. I didn’t catch it until it’d been posted for over a week, and by then… oh well. Staring at text while you’re editing gets tiring. Your brain tricks you. While you’re in the process of creating, you might not catch something that seems glaringly incorrect later on. So get some bandmates and friends to watch the video a few times to make sure you don’t have any spelling or grammar issues on your lyrics (I mean, besides the usual grammar or syntactical issues that ALL lyrics have). Another way to limit errors is to…

Write your lyrics out in Word and then paste them into your titles — When you type your lyrics in Word first, you get the benefit of the program’s spellcheck system. Some of the popular video editing software doesn’t have spellcheck, so paste those lyrics in after you’ve vetted them in the external doc.

Okay, those are some of the tricks I’ve used to make my lyric videos more interesting than just white font on a black background, all without paying for extra software or expensive stock footage and images. Hopefully they’re helpful as you create your next video.

Do you have any advice to add? I’d love to hear it. Holler in the comments below and be sure to post a link to your best lyric videos on YouTube!

The post Creating a good lyric video for less than $10 appeared first on DIY Musician Blog.