#also remember that fanart isn't meant to be perfect

[genocidalfetus]

Cyberpunk Fandom Leave The Old Man Alone And Stop Spreading Toxic Bullshit Challenge......

FAILED.

[creepylittlelady]

wait, I don't understand why fanon Masky is so hated?? /genq (I was never really that interested in him tbh so I only know shit about him.)

OKAY, I can answer this one!

I'm happy that the whole fandom turned around on Fanon Masky recently (at least, I believe it must have been recently considering Cheesecake Masky was a thing before I 'left' the fandom), since that version of him is a bit problematic lol

If you've watched Marble Hornets, then you'll know that Masky and Hoody are REALLY scary (seriously, I had nightmares about Masky for absolute weeks), and work against the Operator. However 'fanon' Masky is a loyal employee of Slenderman/The Operator (I'm gonna make a post addressing the differences one day), and isn't really all that scary?? From what I remember, he was mainly joked about as being the 'Sensible one' of the Proxy trio (Him, Hoody and Toby), who was basically the dude always tired of their bullshit. Not only is this the complete opposite of how Masky is, as he would NEVER work FOR his enemy, who literally ruined his life from childhood, but it also sort of flanderised him and no longer made him scary, which is something the Creepypasta fandom tends to do a lot lmao

Another thing is his sudden change of character design. A lot of old Creepypasta fanart depicting him from 2013-2017 show him with lighter brown hair and a yellow jacket, which isn't what he looks like at all?? Actual Masky has much darker hair and I don't think he's ever seen with that ugly ass highlighter coloured jacket.

There's also the complete change in his body type, definitely one of the most controversial things about Fanon Masky. Let me first say that I do not believe that Tim Sutton (Masky's original actor) is fat, I'm not sure WHERE the old Creepypasta fandom got that idea from. Fandom in general, especially the Creepypasta fandom, is quite 'fatphobic' from my experience. What this basically means is that if you're not a skinny twink you will be body shamed in every way possible. The Creepypasta character market has always been oversaturated with men who basically were twinks, with slim and pale bodies, such as Jeff the Killer.

I believe that making Masky so thin came from the fact that when the Creepypasta fandom really took off around 2013-ish, a lot of Creepypasta fans looked for content and eventually I believe that a lot of them must have stumbled across Marble Hornets. Upon seeing Masky and Hoody, two characters that could have passed off as Creepypasta characters (as most of the other characters in Marble Hornets looked like ordinary people), the fandom probably adopted them and adapted them to 'their tastes', no matter how good they were or not. It might have also been a game of telephone too, as maybe a Creepypasta fan's friend of a friend told them some info about Masky and they misunderstood and instead of who Masky actually was, saw him more as the silly goofy masked guy. And to be honest, I don't think the Creepypasta fandom has ever really been known for actually doing their research, so that misconstrued version of him just became canon in everyones minds.

Not that it was always that innocent though...

One titular thing about fanon Masky was his strange love of Cheesecake. I myself saw a lot of it in 2016 sewed into every bit of content for his character, and was confused on where it came from. Then, I found out that it was meant to be a joke SHAMING him for 'being fat'. I originally stumbled across this for the first time in a satire comic, where one of the panels is Hoody chastising Masky for eating cheesecake, stating that Masky will become fat. The cheesecake joke is one I've seen in some fandoms before, albeit in different ways and with different foods. For the life of me I cannot figure out why everyone decided to associate him with Cheesecake, but everyone just did.

Fanon Masky is a perfect example on how fandoms can flanderise characters to the point where they're unrecognisable; pull up a picture of Masky in the Marble Hornets and then a Masky fanart from 2015. The difference is STAGGERING. The Creepypasta fandom is very much infamous for flanderising characters, such as making Jeff a misunderstood bad boy, Toby a waffles-obsessed manchild, and Masky a Slenderman-loving, Crayons and Paper-having, Toby-hating, Cheesecake-eating twink.

TL;DR: Fanon Masky was made as a shitty misconstrued fat joke.

[millennialmoviereviews]

I am a recovering elitist. What that means is I have spent a lot of time and energy getting angry about shit nobody cares about.

I was that Well, Actually fan for So Long. I used to describe myself as a slave to canon. And this is because, during my teens and early 20s, critical analysis and "Correct" characterization was something I felt like I could have control over, because I had "canon" to back up my claims, so when people argued with me about an opinion I had, I could just lean back and tap the sign and say "Nope, it says so right here on page 22 of Issue #138" and feel that knowledge, in some way, made me superior to other fans who had interpreted the story differently than I had.

At one point, I had become such a canon purist that I left a rude comment (not crass, but unnecessary) on someone else's artwork. It probably wasn't the first time I did, but it was the first time a mutual called me out on it. I said something wasn't canon and I didn't understand fanart that did this certain trope, and they said 'why does that matter?' I made a big long (separate) post about how I, personally, didn't like when people credited creators for representation that didn't exist in canon by pretending these characters exist that way. Very passionate. Very vulnerable. They replied "That sounds really personal but that has nothing to do with [artist's] work."

Just Like That, I realized that's how I'd been treating everything I interacted with. Like I was the center of the universe, and everything in the path of my consumption was meant to cater to me, personally. I thanked my mutual, I removed my comment on the post, I sent the artist an ask to apologize for my selfishness (which they were very gracious about), and I have tried to stay aware of my interactions with media ever since.

Because aside from it being rude to address every piece of media (especially media created for free, by strangers) as if it was meant to be designed specifically to your tastes, it's also very limiting to your own creativity to seal yourself in a bubble and reject any ideas that challenge the ones you already have.

I'm in my 30s, now, and I have met wonderful fans and friends that had vastly different takes, perspectives, ideas, and interpretations than I do. My work has never been better, I've never been happier, and I find it's much easier to find, make, and keep friends and have fun when you allow yourself to simply Enjoy things.

When you don't have to be Right about something subjective, it allows you to view a piece of art from all angles. It allows you to be curious, and be interested, and find new things you might not have come up with on your own.

When I was younger, and more insecure, I thought of art as a solitary practice. It's not! It's best when it's collaborative. You will find such joy in creation and development when you share your ideas and learn to have ideas shared with you. When you learn to sit at a metaphorical table and swap ideas with people -- from mundane, realistic headcanons to absolutely absurd and goofy thoughts -- it's so much easier and more enjoyable to find golden threads by going out and playing in the mud with friends than it is holed up on a pedestal alone.

I have slipped on my ego many times, and I will continue to do that, but recovering isn't about being perfect right away, it's about putting in the effort. If you struggle with ideas that challenge your comfort character/series headcanons, I hope that you let yourself try to enjoy different ideas. You don't have to adopt them, you don't have to change your mind, but we also don't need to take conflicting ideas as personal attacks. There is plenty of room in the sandbox.

Remember: Fandom is a shared space, full of all different people, who are all going to take different things away from the material. It's not a bad thing! Our varied perspectives, our favored tropes, our personal creativities, these are collaborative qualities we can use to make each other better at exploring and expressing. These are ways we can connect with and share ourselves with each other.

All this to say, life gets so much better when you can acknowledge interpretations as a labor of love. Even if they're not your interpretation, even if that interpretation isn't your flavor, someone out there loves something enough to invest time into the exploration of it, and we shouldn't be vilifying each other for that.

If you, too, are an artist of any kind, I offer a personal challenge:

Take the time to ask yourself why you do or do not like something, really try to understand and analyze where that response comes from, and what brought it about. It will teach you so much, and you can then use that knowledge to communicate and evoke those feelings more effectively your own work!

[icharchivist]

I love characters that look human and then have little uncanny quirks like their eyes reflect too much sunlight or straight up glow. It's so fun

I remember that fanart with Zack and Cloud so I shall second your HC that this is in fact what happens

yeah same!!!

and i think with ff7 it's also so effective due to the whole ecological nature of the plotline and the way Shinra is trying to alter nature to exploit it to their own gain. Because that's what the Soldier program is in particular, especially Sephiroth. Sephiroth was grown in a lab, Zack and Cloud came to the company because of propaganda, and then they were experimented on against their will, and while Zack already had Mako eyes this is where Cloud got his.

And there's this idea of losing your humanity as the industrial corporate world is trying to control the earth more and more it will strip the humanity of anyone that would help them reach this goal. Of making false promises and creating a narrative that will bring people into accepting this deshumanization for themselves or be subjected to it, because there is no escape from this ghouling capitalism culture in a society that is led by its fundamental core.

you have no choice but to participate in the denaturization and the way it impact the planet, you can't opt out, even realizing the micro impact you bring to it isn't going to save the Planet.

Sephiroth was never given a choice, he is the perfect product of the intention to get back the culture of the Ancients and instead being made from a destructive force who was always meant to poison the earth, before being sent to do just that by his corporate overload, until the horrors became more than what Shinra bargain for. Because the specific way industrialization is trying to take control of the Earth is blowing back in the face of those who thought they could control it.

but the core of Shinra's politics have been deshumanization in some degree, it is about keeping you in the dark enough for you to accept their progress only to realize later just how it made you contribute to the horrors you didn't even know where going on under the surface.

So the idea that the physical proof of that is in the glow of their eyes.

something Zack was proud to parade about when he was 16 and still influenceable, and something he came to resent as he was 19 and aware of just how there is never any turning back, they leashed him like a dog with a long leash that he wouldn't notice as long as he was running into the garden until he tries to move past that and it comes back to choke him.

Something Cloud just accept as something that happened to him regardless of the fact he can't even remember it, because you are not left with any options in this type of system, the decisions are made for you and you become complicit whether you like it or not.

Something Sephiroth never had a choice on because he's the ultimate person who has been deshumanized from this structure glorifying a culture they have no understanding on in the way to keep a tighter grasp on nature, never human enough and never capable to run away enough.

The deshumanization process of Shinra and the specific way it is used to weaponize the passivity you have no choice but to take in a culture dominated by this type of progress ends up showing pretty radically in just this little things; Glowing eyes neither of them question, that they find cool in some way, yet working as a rope tightening around your neck more and more everyday.

so yeah </3

[lozislaw]

HELLOOOOO, I LOVE YOUR ART 💗💗💗💗 but I want to know if you have some tips for anatomy??? CUZ I WANNA LEARN TOO, or do you know some artists that may have some tips for anatomy? 🥺especially HANDS cuz omg they’re a total pain 😩😩

I love you btw 🖤

Oh god oh jeez. I have no idea what advice I could possibly give that wouldn't sound like a goose trying to learn English with a parrot translator. But goddammit I'm gonna try my way.

This is embarrassing because I'm literally in art school and I'm lacking fundamental advice for anatomy like those incredibly clever art-tips you see online. But I've picked things up along the way I swear. Maybe not exactly what you're asking for (probably definitely not - so I apologise in advance), but I think they're good to know anyway. Bear with me as I vomit them out.

Firstly, I'm gonna play a broken record to you on repeat here, which is the most important thing when it comes to improvement. You guessed it: PRACTISE (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

I know - Trust me I know it sounds tiring, and the idea is much easier than actually picking up your tool and doing it. But there's no way around it. Not even the most talented and incredible artists in the world become that way at the moment of birth; they're spending their lives practising and learning new things. Whether professionally or not, you don't become amazing overnight. It takes effort; and whether you want to treat that effort as work, or fun, is completely up to you. Being one or the other doesn't change your skill - it only changes the way you view your practise. Personally; I view my practise as fun, because it feels like more of an achievement when I make something I'm proud of. It's a win-win. Also because fanart is extremely fun always XD

If you keep practising - even if you hate your work at first and want it burned, I fucking promise you it'll pay off, even if it takes years. The best part about it is looking back on your progress and thinking: wow, I'm so proud of myself. For example here is my own evolution, one from August 2020 - to September 2021

(I was brand new to digital art with a purely traditional background, so I was extremely naive about the whole concept. Looking at multitudes of fanart is my only education XD)

This is the evolution of practice and studying the shit out of other peoples art; experimenting like crazy and teaching yourself from the basics to the advanced. Spend one week practising curls and nothing else. Spend another learning how to render skin. And another doing nothing but hands and fingers and wrists galore. Draw a hand using a photo, even trace over it. Learn your shapes first and then you can advance to the next step. Dip your toes in and you won't get overwhelmed <3

I know this isn't exactly nitty-gritty anatomy tips, but at the end of the day any advice is just more education; it helps all around. I'm gonna give you something else - a much more specific tip; an exercise. It's fun I promise, because there's no such thing as a bad result, they're all equally bad XD Shit - I can hear my teacher scowling, I meant good.

You can do this digitally if you prefer, but I like using simple pencil and paper, it feels more fluid. There are two ways to practise accessing the right-side of your brain (the creative side). Or in a less pretentious way to say: how to stop giving a fuck about being perfect.

The first way is called blind continuous line-drawing. It’s pretty self-explanatory: you either use a reference in front of you or just on memory, and draw it without ever lifting your pencil up. But you don’t look at your paper at all, you’re letting your hand and your memory guide you. The more you practise this, the more you stop worrying about making it neat and perfect, you can fucking let loose. Make music that sounds like cats shoved into a washing machine. This exercise will follow you on your other art pursuits, even if you don’t realise it. Remember, practise baby~

Next exercise, and my personal favourite is loose line sketches. They’re similar to continuous line in the way that you’re encouraged to let your inhibitions go and make a mess. You can lift your pencil, and you can look at your paper, and essentially it’s like sketching... if your sketching was like an ice-addict having a seizure. Which is beautiful! And unique, and dammit you don’t need to feel embarrassed, but none of these are meant to be perfect.

See the heavy loose lines that I use sparingly in the sources of light, and condensed in the spaces of darkness. I put away that little devil telling me to be perfect and concise, and just have fun and go bonkers. It teaches you about form and light without spending 5 hours trying to make it photorealistic. These all took less than 5 minutes, that’s how little I gave a fuck about making them perfect. And goddamn it helps. Give them a try, spend no more than five minutes on them, and see how you go <3 It works digitally too!

Okay this answer is so long and I’m so sorry, I don’t even know if I’ve answered your question at this point, I’ve gone off the rails. Hands... okay hands. Hands are the most difficult thing for me to draw, which is just cruel irony because they’re also my favourite aside from faces. The most I can offer at this point is that practise will save your life. Observe other artists and how they draw, take the time to notice things about their art that you wouldn't at first glance. The highlights and source of light? The length of their fingers? Are they thick or delicate? Are they anime hands and fucking massive? Is that body slender or thicc? Where are they putting the curves, fat and muscle on their person (or furson, furries are welcome here ❤). Decide through this observation and your own practise what kind of style you aspire to have out of your art. Do what makes you proudest, what you find the most enjoyable, and as I've said, stop giving a fuck about anyone, including yourself. You have your own unique take on reality and it's beautiful <3 You can draw blob hands and it's okay, because they're your blob hands :3

And anon? I love you too ;3;

[sutzrainbow]

"He's not scary. He's my friend."

Yesterday it was too damn hot to do anything but sit in front of a fan. So I did, and I drew some self-indulgent fanart. (Kind of absolutely inspired by this gorgeous piece by @outwiththeodd)

It’s legit the first time I've had a go at drawing Abe full-bodied for at least a decade, but I'm pretty pleased. I know his right leg's a little too thick, and his left arm's a bit too long, but it's still not bad for a first go. I did try his signature crouching pose, but I couldn't work out where his legs went lol! I was also very lucky that I managed to dig out some ancient pencils which flowed well and were perfect Abe-colours! I decided to give him feathers instead of the sock-looking-thing, because that's what they were always meant to be, but stuck with his original colouring from Oddysee and New 'N' Tasty - his feathers are orange and pink in those games, but yellow and purple in Soulstorm.

And yep, that's meant to be me at the age I was when my cousins and I first played the demo of Oddysee in 1997. Yes, you read that correctly, the demo. I didn't see the rest of the game until I was about eighteen, over a decade later. I became an Oddworld fan because of a single play session of the first tenth of the game when I was five years old.

At five, I could understand the basic premise of Oddysee - that Abe lived and worked in this awful factory, discovered the 'bad aliens' were going to eat him and his friends, and was trying to escape. And I know I had some kind of reaction to him, because I remember my cousins (who were in their early teens) telling me "No, he isn't scary, he's sweet." And of course, as we started playing, I saw that he was. I loved listening to him talk. I loved the atmosphere, unsettled as I was by it. Lots of people say the early games scared them - that was true with me, too, but it made me more invested. I don't know if I intuitively knew how special Oddworld was. Maybe I did. But I do know that by the end of the afternoon, I'd gone from being scared of Abe, to deciding that he was my friend.

24 years later, he's still my friend. I love our brave, brilliant bird boy, and I'm glad he's still here.

[togetherhearted]

So,today's @madeon birthday and I had to make something to celebrate!☆

But this isn't going to be like every post I made,where I just drop a fanart and go back to my quiet corner,producing more.This time I actually want to expose myself,I feel like this is the right time to talk about my experience with his music,I want to do this,without regrets,without feeling anxious or embarassed so whoever is going to read this,Hugo or not,prepare yourself for a wall of text. Don't want to? It's understandable and you'll save a couple of minutes...I want to take these feelings out of my chest and end this post satisfied and happy with what I achieved and that's a little step out my comfort zone.

"The city" was the first one I heard.Took me one listen to fall in love and I just knew he was the one,you know?THAT one artist who would be by your side on the good and bad days. After that went immediately to listen to all "Adventure" and I re-listened to it for days,months,years,I still listen to it! No matter how many artists I discovered in these past years I always came back to him.

It was with "Good Faith" that something happened . It was so different from Adventure and with the first listen to the album,suddenly,a new powerful wave of emotion just crashed into me. I still can't grasp it,but I think it was...happiness?hope? And they were so strong! I spent hours looking at the ceiling of my bedroom trying to understand what the absolute hecc was happening to me. Many years spent to be the perfect child my parents always wanted,tried so hard to make myself boring and dull to other people's eyes in order leave me alone. Shut myself in my dark room,scared of the outside and suddenly this young,talented,man offered me his hand and helped me.It was like seeing again an old friend and that old friend was telling me that I could be fine again,that I could heal and I wasn't alone like I always thought.Then I felt the urge to create something out of his music. My hands were trembling when I picked up the pencils to sketch something based on every song of his album. My mind was going insane! Never felt this rush of creativity before and it was amazing!

This is where my journey as a fanartist began. I've made so many little pieces of art to keep this place alive and I hope I'll be able to inspire others like he did with me. Now with The Prince I'm working hard to create my own version of the story,I'm not joking! I'm going to make a mini-comic about it! but if Hugo's going to read this and doesn't approve he can tell me and I will stop. Don't want him to despise me.

I also owe him an apology for that one time I wanted to celebrate with a friend of mine and sent a message to him that was meant to her.Panicked,deleted everything and cried till I fell asleep. I'm really sorry. That wasn't nice of me.

I close this post with another "Happy birthday hugo"! I'll be here,silenty supporting you like the others. I may be quiet and try to hide as much as I can but your music means a lot to me.Gave me an infinite inspiration and I'm truly grateful.(Also I still remember about the time you asked me to respost the fanart of your animal crossing ver. I destroyed my retinas but it was worthy and it really made me happy both as a beginner artist and fan) You probably got tons and tons of messages like this one,you're loved and I bet you know this.

Thank you to all the people who had the patience to read all of this.I feel like I made a sappy and cringey post but now I'm light as a feather so it's fine. I hope I didn't made many mistakes. I only know basic english and while writing this I almost cried,I'm not good at controlling my emotions and my mind wasn't thinking straight either. I tried to write some notes yesterday but I tossed them aside and decided that the words had to come from my heart. It's a mess,it's rushed but I put all my heart in it.

Enough with my ramblings,I sure do write a lot hehe,have a wonderful day everyone!! Hope your future will be bright like the stars!

[sutzrainbow]

I posted 726 times in 2021

41 posts created (6%)

685 posts reblogged (94%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 16.7 posts.

I added 514 tags in 2021

#oddworld - 157 posts

#abe - 69 posts

#soulstorm - 48 posts

#sonic the hedgehog - 48 posts

#mudokon - 40 posts

#pokemon - 36 posts

#lol - 32 posts

#shadow the hedgehog - 30 posts

#oddworld soulstorm - 28 posts

#truth - 26 posts

Longest Tag: 107 characters

#mind you if we lose abe at the end of the series i wouldn't be at all surprised if those are his last words

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

"He's not scary. He's my friend."

Yesterday it was too damn hot to do anything but sit in front of a fan. So I did, and I drew some self-indulgent fanart. (Kind of absolutely inspired by this gorgeous piece by @outwiththeodd)

It’s legit the first time I've had a go at drawing Abe full-bodied for at least a decade, but I'm pretty pleased. I know his right leg's a little too thick, and his left arm's a bit too long, but it's still not bad for a first go. I did try his signature crouching pose, but I couldn't work out where his legs went lol! I was also very lucky that I managed to dig out some ancient pencils which flowed well and were perfect Abe-colours! I decided to give him feathers instead of the sock-looking-thing, because that's what they were always meant to be, but stuck with his original colouring from Oddysee and New 'N' Tasty - his feathers are orange and pink in those games, but yellow and purple in Soulstorm.

And yep, that's meant to be me at the age I was when my cousins and I first played the demo of Oddysee in 1997. Yes, you read that correctly, the demo. I didn't see the rest of the game until I was about eighteen, over a decade later. I became an Oddworld fan because of a single play session of the first tenth of the game when I was five years old.

At five, I could understand the basic premise of Oddysee - that Abe lived and worked in this awful factory, discovered the 'bad aliens' were going to eat him and his friends, and was trying to escape. And I know I had some kind of reaction to him, because I remember my cousins (who were in their early teens) telling me "No, he isn't scary, he's sweet." And of course, as we started playing, I saw that he was. I loved listening to him talk. I loved the atmosphere, unsettled as I was by it. Lots of people say the early games scared them - that was true with me, too, but it made me more invested. I don't know if I intuitively knew how special Oddworld was. Maybe I did. But I do know that by the end of the afternoon, I'd gone from being scared of Abe, to deciding that he was my friend.

24 years later, he's still my friend. I love our brave, brilliant bird boy, and I'm glad he's still here.

37 notes • Posted 2021-07-22 18:20:30 GMT

#4

No...

Oh, no, no, no. Abe, sweetheart, what did you see?

See the full post

58 notes • Posted 2021-04-06 05:00:48 GMT

#3

CGI gets a bad rep a lot of the time, but you know what I love about it, especially good CGI like this? Textures.

I don't mean this in a creepy way, but if there were a way for me to touch these characters, I love that I know exactly what I would feel. I love that I know how the bone structure works in a Mudokon's hands. I love knowing how the scars would feel. I love the fact that Abe's got a surgical scar on his left hand (look, near his thumb). My dad has one of those on his arm. I've got one on my shoulder from a busted collarbone some years ago. That level of detail tells me that either that scar isn't very old (mine took years to blend into my skin) or it was very crudely treated and didn't heal well (likely!). Even if the characters are stylised, details like that make them seem so much more real.

If it were possible to touch Abe's hand, I know the skin would be slightly leathery, hairless but possibly a little bumpy on the arms, pockmarked with scars of his rough life in the factory; you could feel veins and tendons and bone underneath, and it would be warm and soft and alive. You could take Abe's pulse, that's how convincing it is. I love that.

66 notes • Posted 2021-06-03 18:21:16 GMT

#2

The first cutscenes/gameplay of Oddworld: Soulstorm are going up on YouTube and I know this game is going to rip my heart out.

"I'm so tired. They're all tired."

See the full post

70 notes • Posted 2021-04-05 21:57:41 GMT

#1

See the full post

186 notes • Posted 2021-04-17 13:40:47 GMT

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