#ambient generative sketch

[kakief]

Why Artists Are Turning to Code for Stillness | The Way of Code & Generative Art

A still from the interactive response to the prompt “What if it was weightless?” — where sound, motion, and silence become an invitation to simply be. We often think of coding as something reserved for engineers—a world of syntax, logic, and technical skill. But with tools like artificial intelligence, the doors are opening. Today, even those of us who don’t identify as coders can explore…

[mseden-fries]

Someone asked me a question earlier, but it wouldn’t let me respond to it so I’ll try my best to sum up some of the things they asked me. they asked me about my comic making process. I should be honest I’m almost a complete amateur. I wanna say I’m self-taught, but that’s not to take away from all of the YouTube videos and tutorials that I’ve watched online. Somehow I just ended up putting them together and into what I have now.

To start off with I almost always try to write my script first. after the script, what’s most important to me is the expressions on the characters faces. I think more than anything that gives me the best direction to my writing. As you can see with my first image, sometimes it can be as simple as just drawing stick figures this just gives me a directional idea of how my paneling’s gonna look. I’d say on average. I do up to three drafts the first draft direction. The second draft is a better idea of that direction and the third draft is all the cleanup so it’s ready for line art 

I usually separate my characters by specific color. This is so when I go into color, it’s easier to see which characters need what.

You can call me a bit of a cheater, but I like to use closed lines when I draw my characters. that way I can use a reference layer to just fill in the colors instead of having to do it manually or using my magic wand tool. 

I also utilize the pallets on Procreate to pick their colors

When it comes to shading, I like to use multiplayer layers and erase out the lighting. I might use some ambient lighting here and there with a dark pinkish purple this is going to depend on where your scene is taking place, but since mine is an alleyway, my multiplayer layer is at 40 opacity. For the characters, I usually use my syrup brush to blend in some of the less harsh shades. When it comes to my backgrounds, I like to use my glowing brush to erase out the lighting.

I still myself have a hard time drawing backgrounds I struggle to find where to put my characters in place some people find it easier to draw the background first and then the characters and although I do agree, that’s easier to establish the shot, I need focus on my characters. So what I usually do is draw my characters in a box and then draw that box in a space and that space becomes my background.

 I play around a lot with the Procreate effects that they have I use a pen called, burst for dramatic feelings, like a burst of energy or a burst of emotions I might use a comic dotted layer for something more comedic or action based. 

When it comes to brushes, I use a pencil for the sketch, a gloaming for the shading and syrup for the outline. Those are the main pens I use and everything else is effects. 

My organization isn’t always the best either, but this is how I usually do it. Panels and bubbles are at top, including the special effects like for example if I were to write the word ‘shake’ If Helga was shaking or blush, if Arnold was blushing, this would be in the bubble layer.  under that would be panels under that would be characters and in that folder I would have line art, then lighting and shading then color and that follows the same formula for background. 

This is a general breakdown of what I do in my comic, and I couldn’t say at all, but I hope it gives you an idea of what I do. again I’m no professional and you should take all my advice with a grain of salt. My best advice is learned by doing I think if you looked at my first chapter and saw my latest chapter, you’ll see my improvement and my paneling in my expressions in my establishing shots and in my color shading. So if you wanna make a comic, just make it and learn as you go, your first one isn’t gonna be a banger more than likely but it’ll be the best learning experience, in my opinion. If you guys have any questions, I am an open book! Feel free to ask me anything.I stream on my TikTok when I make my comics so if you want to watch the process, you’re more than welcome to tune into that but I’m not gonna lie. It’s a bit tedious to watch 😂 I’m @eden_fries on most platforms.  

[seiishindraws]

Hii, I saw your latest post and your art style is so pretty?? What?? I have a question though. How do you do the paint one? Or rendering in general. Like genuinely, I have a problem with rendering and I can't seem to quite understand it on my own. Do you just start with flat colors? Do you do lineart or colors right after the sketch? Is the "lineart" just added later? Painted over? Erased to give thinner and thicker lines?? I'm really curious!!

hi! im not the best painter tbh! though i do have a background in painting but ill try my best to explain

diff artists have different approaches to how they paint but generally yes, you would start out with big shapes first and then go into the details - work big picture first. like, if you squint and the drawing makes sense in terms of value and colour and shape, youre on the right path.

i can kinda show this with a warmup in-class speedpaint exercise we did a couple weeks ago where we were tasked with painting an eye in about 30 minutes (i was late and only had 20 lol)

luckily ive got the layers for this. i start of with a base layer, kind of like a underpaint layer since that's how i personally learned to paint traditionally. i did have a sketch before laying down this base layer under it but i ended up using it for final rendering details lol

after that i started laying down the big blocks of colour. i wasn't necessarily aiming for complete colour accuracy here, i just wanted to match the value. i chose a pink underlayer to influence my colour choices because the underlayer will peak through the blocks of colour i paint over it

and then (forgive me if this seems like "draw the rest of the owl" in terms of progression) but this is where i started going in with finer detail. i did the rest of the render on the sketch layer i had so you can see some of the lines from the sketch here

here's the layers completely seperate from each other

even for the flat colour version of my character, i had an underpaint layer! i used yellow and orange since i wanted her colours to be warm and used a semi-opaque brush to put her colours in rather than using a completely opaque brush

when i wanted to do the painted version, i put the lineart on multiply and reduced the opacity and brushed in some some quick shadows on seperate layer on hard light mode to give me a good base to start painting with

and then i did all the rendering and details on a new layer ontop of everything. i keep the lineart light so i can paint over it easily and also colour pick from it when i want a more distinct line to seperate certain shapes. i unfortunately dont know how to explain this part because a lot of this is intuitive to me and i'm still learning. but you gotta make use of different types of "edges" in painting, and you would generally have more contrast in the focal point of your painting than in other places to draw the eye to that point. i suggest researching the use of edges in painting if you really wanna learn more - because im a terrible teacher haha

for fun here's what the rendering layer for this one looks like on its own and the finished thing for comparison

there's other things you need to learn too, like bounce light, atmospheric perspective, ambient occlusion... and colour theory is always important! i could go on for a long time. there's a lot of pieces to the puzzle and it may seem overwhelming but there's tons of resources online and it will all become second nature to you as you keep practicing

uhh hope that helps!

[inhurtandincomfort]

For Jowan and Eldwin!

16 - What makes them like someone instantly? 17 - What artistic medium would they be best at? (painting, photography, sculpting, etc.) 26 - What would their Youtube recommendations look like?

Thanks for the ask!

JOWAN

16 - What makes them like someone instantly?

Answered this a bit here, but I also want to add that curiosity in general! He loves people indulging in their curiosity and people with a thirst for knowledge.

17 - What artistic medium would they be best at? (painting, photography, sculpting, etc.)

I think he'd be good at sculpting! He's not so good at just like, conjuring images from his imagination and making them reality, but with a model or reference... he's patient and good with his hands of course, I think he'd create amazingly intricate and realistic sculptures.

26 - What would their Youtube recommendations look like?

Cool scientific discoveries, lots of weird nature shit like deep sea creatures and rare bugs, random tiktok compilations. It's honestly all over the place, if he had youtube he'd be hopping from one thing to another all the time lol

Ooh and slime videos he'd like those

ELDWIN

16 - What makes them like someone instantly?

Hmm. It's very hard for him to like people. Maybe someone who's honest. He lies so much and is surrounded by people who lie, I think someone being honest for a change would be refreshing. He still may not necessarily trust them, it takes a LONG time to gain his trust. But he's appreciate someone who... you get what you see, you know?

17 - What artistic medium would they be best at? (painting, photography, sculpting, etc.)

Although he does sketch, more out of boredom than anything else, I could see him really enjoying photography especially in a modern au where cameras are so much better. He'd like scenic photography, capturing beautiful places.

26 - What would their Youtube recommendations look like?

Lots of cat videos of course. Sleep meditations and ambient sounds. Documentaries too, nature, history... and those simple living channels where they built themselves a cabin in the wild or something. Maybe minecraft videos.

[luckyarchivist]

You're Mhin hcs are so fun to read!! Do you have any Vere hcs you'd like to share as well? (No pressure 😅😅)

Gonna be honest with you, anon: I never have ANYTHING in my head to share. It's empty in there. But since you asked, here's some things that came to mind!

General Vere HCs

Because he's literally a fox Monster, I think a lot of my HCs are based around that! For example:

He's destructive. Yeah. He destroyed Kuras's office because he hates him, but I also think he can't help it. His own place probably has scratches and bite marks on appropriate posts, too, though not as many—it is his space after all, he wants it to be good enough for him.

He will sometimes bite (not too hard) as a sign of affection. Very "rawr XD girlfriend who nom :3 uwu"-coded of him.

Yes, he does like to be pet, and scritched. However, he doesn't like 99% of people who try to, so best not to attempt it. For any brave soul out there: Scritches on the sides of his neck, where his hairline is, will get him super relaxed.

He can get the urge to "laugh" if he's really happy or excited about something, which he tries to suppress—he's better at keeping a lid on it than he is about hiding his tail wagging. This "laugh" sounds different from his sultry, cultivated "ha-ha~ you're funny~" laugh; it's more like a high-pitched, hiccupy giggle. It can make him sound a little crazy. Shame he won't weaponize it to be even more evil.

I also have non-fox-related headcanons for Vere, though, lol.

We already know he's a talented artist; I think his preferred mediums are pencil and charcoal.

This is a shippy headcanon, but I do think he has a lot of drawings of Ais's side profile in his sketchbook—one of the reasons why people are not allowed to leaf through it. Other things in his sketchbook include figure drawings, rough sketches of people who catch his fleeting interest, and symbols or beings from his dreams.

On the subject of dreams: Vere puts some stock into their contents. Maybe because of his unique constitution, he feels his dreams can have hints, warnings, and premonitions mixed in with the shit that doesn't make any sense. That's why, if something sticks out to him in a dream, he'll draw it.

Even with his heeled shoes off, Vere prefers to walk primarily on his toes. He's like a Barbie doll!

He generally likes slower, soothing music. In the modern day, he'd probably be a fan of old-school ballads and even ambient music.

This is a weird one, but I think Vere is really good at imitating people's voices. His voice is too unique to sound exactly like other people, but he can get pretty damn close, enough to fool someone on a first listen.

Thanks so much for your ask!

[budderdomo]

My Paint Tool Sai Brushes/Painting Process Tutorial!

Explanations and Examples down below

Disclaimer: long post

Hello! I wanted to first thank everyone for liking/reblogging my most recent art piece (the Darkiplier one) It has become my first post with over 1000 notes which is just insane for me. I just wanted to do something to thank you guys for that.

Anyway, this post will be divided like this, so scroll to the title if you want specific things

Introduction

Brush textures/shapes for download

Overall process -> Terms and Definitions

How I use each brush (+ examples) -> Sketch -> Lineart (only do this sometimes) -> Rendering -> Textures + Post Processing

Conclusion

Introduction

This post is mainly for me in the future to look back on how my painting process was. My process changes ALL the time, sometimes I use lineart, sometimes I paint, sometimes I don't use textures, sometimes I have 100 layers, sometimes I have 1. It just changes depending on the piece. There is no "correct" way to do art. Do what you want!

Second of all, I feel I should point out you don't need fancy brushes or many brushes to make good art. I painted this piece with 1 brush.

That's right, 1 brush (it was the P A I N T brush shown in main). I didn't have a sketch, I didn't have any lines, I started with big shapes and went from there.

Third of all, I use Paint Tool SAI (the first one). So this will be specific to that program. I'm sorry, it's just what I know how to use.

Brush Textures/Shapes

You may see in my brushes that there are textures/shapes that don't come with the standard SAI program. I tried to find the links for you to download them yourself.

Arrow: https://www.deviantart.com/digikat04/art/Custom-SAI-Brush-I-265506547

All texture brushes: https://painttoolsaibrushes.splstc.com/painttool-sai-textures/

For some reason I can't find where I got marble pt. 2 or chalk so here's the png files. (You can convert them to .bmp files) (Hopefully that works!)

Chalk : Marble pt. 2

Overall Process

Before I go over my process I'm going to define some terms I'll be using and what I mean by them:

Flats - base colors

Rendering - Includes shading, lighting, small details, and texturing to define a form

Blending - mixing two separate colors together

Reduction - Once you've made a line/shape, reduction is the act of erasing part of it -> At the bottom of my brushes (in the images up above) you can see a checkered box which makes your brush transparent. I use the erasing brush to Reduce the red circle.

Persistence - How well the brush can create a new shape/color on top of pre-existing colors (If the brush blends a lot on top of other colors it has low persistence)

"Hard" vs "Soft" brushes - How well defined an edge is on a brush

Stabilizer - Turns trembly lines into smooth lines

So, I draw a different way each time. My canvas size is normally between 2500 pixels and 4000. I usually do around 3000 though. In general for my paintings I usually do

A sketch

Flats

Hue Shifts

Lighting/Shadows

Brighter Light/Deeper Shadows (Highlights/Ambient Occlusion)

Smaller Details

Texturing

Post Processing

For my bigger compositions, I make thumbnails. And for my "comic book" style I use lineart and layer modes (like multiply, luminosity)

How I Use Each Brush (+ Examples!)

Sketch

I have 2 sketch brushes. "pencil" and "sketch" For most of my life I have been using the default pencil brush on size 1. But recently I have been using this softer "sketch" brush on size ~20 or so. Either way works, but I find that the "pencil" brush is easier for linework and the "sketch" brush is easier to blend into paintings

"Pencil" : "Sketch" examples

Lineart (opt.)

Nowadays I don't use lineart that often, but if I do it's with my "Softlines" brush. It's great for both very thick and very thin lines. I lower the opacity of my sketch and put lineart on a new layer on top of it

"Softlines" brush examples

Flats

With lineart I seperate each new color with a new layer. For painting I'm now using one color as an underpainting color and working on top of that layer. So I render one thing at a time while working on the same layer.

I lower the opacity of the sketch and create a new layer under my sketch. I use my "pencil" brush to lay out the underpainting color and "blur" for hue shifts. And then I reduce it to the silhouette using my "sketch" brush (This gives a softer outline)

Rendering

This would take way too long to explain every step of how I do it. So I'll explain how I use my brushes in this step.

"Arrow!!!" - I use this brush for laying out intial shapes, big areas of color, shading, lighting. The arrow shape has a point on the end that's really great for triangular shapes. It's not very good at small details because of the texture applied to it.

"Sketch" - I use this brush during the rendering as well. It's great for small details that you want a softer look of. It has a high persistence so it's great for working on the same layer.

"P A I N T" - This is a brush that's good at very many things. It has higher blending than "sketch" or "Arrow!!!" and it's shape is square. Great for blending, general painting, small details, reduction, etc.

"blur" - great for gradients or to smooth something out a lot

"Gaussian" - is a gaussian blur. Great for making things out of focus or fuzzy

"square TEX" - texture brush that has high persistence with some blending

"metal TEX" - texture brush with high blending and a spread shape.

"speckle TEX" - texture brush for kind of a sparkly look. High persistence

"water TEX" - texture brush that works kind of like a glaze. You can use for flair/fun

example

Post-Processing

Typically I use more filters for this. Paint Tool Sai has sliders to change hue, saturation, brightness, contrast, luminosity, and color deepen. So I tend to mess with those. I also add effects like chromatic aberration

The tutorial I follow for chromatic aberration in Paint Tool Sai: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thmaephD9Ec&t=169s

I also add particles like dust and other objects.

Finally I use my Gaussian blur to make things out of focus/motion blur

Conclusion

I hope this helps! I feel like I'm at a point in my art journey where I'm good enough to give advice. So hopefully this helps someone out there with their art journey! Obviously I have a long way to go, but I'm pretty proud of where I've come. I remember watching speedpaints and tutorials trying to become better at art. So I kind of want to add to that cycle for artists. :D Have a great day!

[iztea]

hi! I saw your post about critiquing another persons art work and it made me realize i dont like my current drawing process

Mostly because I have shaky hands and don’t really like line art because it takes me too long and i still dont like how it looks so im trying to switch to a more painterly style

Do you have any advice? Particularly on defining 3d forms?

P.S.

(I love your art style! You draw so beautifully and I love how you stylize anatomy and hair particularly)

yeah i feel you, i think everyone starts digital art with a lineart heavy style in mind and then gradually drop it as it is pretty hard to master

i'm not sure i'm the best person to ask about defining 3D forms as i myself struggle with that, but i thing that i noticed is that if you don't have a stable base or foundation to paint over then the process will become exponentially harder. So what i do is i make sure i have a cohesive sketch. Not a clean one, not a pretty one, but one where i am sure where everything goes and one that helps me predict and better visualize how things will end up once i get there. If the sketch is so messy to the point where i can't tell a leg apart or i don't know the general form of the fabric then i'll have a much, much harder time rendering later on.. So i think making sure the "skeleton" of your art is set in place. Again it's not about it looking good or clean it's about knowing what you'll be doing with it in the later stages.

But let's say you do have a clean sketch, or even lineart. I think the easiest way to give form to your subject is by choosing a light source ( it doesn't have to be dramatic, it can just be ambient light ) and then paint shadows in the areas where light can't reach. It depends on your style really, but for me i use a darker (but still saturated) color under the chin, under the eyes, where the bangs/hair meets the face and for the nose area i kinda just make a blob (i don't paint noses that much as you might have noticed bdshj but you know,, check out other artists you like and examine how they handle shading). Just try to think of everything as oversimplified shapes. limbs are cylinders, the torso is like a parallelipiped or a box or a sack of beans or whatever you see fit, the head another box etc... just keep it simple, Less is more

Oh and also, for a painterly style, i suggest avoiding overkilling it with the rendering. Let the brush strokes speak for themselves and keep it vague/ abstract. Our brains are smart and they loove filling in blanks for us if they're given some general information so let the viewer do the hard work, don't explain everything.. this is also a good way to practice developing an artstyle but i'm getting off topic if i wasn't blabbering enough already. A painterly style is imperfect and messy and vague at times and you should let it be that way, don't force perfection onto it as you'll deprive it of humanity these are my two cents on the matter hope it made sense and helped in any way? if not you can always watch yt videos or listen to more qualified people than me

[scifantasygentlemanoftaste]

One last sketch for the Law Enforcers of Berthingtonn's South Town for The Brewing War by @awritingcaitlin. This Guard is a member of a Precinct Investigation Team.

Inking and color to come later.

Due to the high prevalence of Mages and magic in general in the Tyrysius setting, it is only natural that law enforcement agencies hire and train specialists in the art of Pnemamancy (Spirit Magic) to act as investigators. Their skill in this magic allows them to trace the ambient magic left in the wake of a crime, and if investigated quickly enough, this residual magic can often lead them directly to the perpetrator.

As one would expect, these techniques are not fool-proof and experienced Mages can cast spells to hide their tracks or otherwise confuse an investigator, leading to a sort of arms race among investigators and magically gifted criminals.

In this vane, the Investigation Teams have invested in both magical and mundane tools, such as the Focus Hood, worn by this investigator, which filters out stray emotional magic, and Piercing Goggles, (also worn) which enable a user to see through most Illusion spells.

AI poisoning by Glaze and Nightshade.

[bvannn]

Weekly update July 26, 2024

I’m still sick. Pretty sure it’s a normal cold, not much to be worried about. It’s lasted a while but google says I don’t need to see a doctor about it for another week yet, so if it doesn’t clear up by next week then I’ll start to get worried. I’ve been a bit slower on stuff in general this week but still got a fair amount done.

Artfight is still kicking, I have a few more sketches on backlog to get done but the event was extended a couple days so I’m not too concerned about it. I’ll try to get at least one done tomorrow, because I’m trying to take it easy tonight. I want to mess with more of that watercolor strategy I tried on the one but I’m going to maybe watch a tutorial on how to use actual watercolors first. I think I’m maybe not doing the lines the way I should, and I want to use the style for a music video.

Music: I’ve been listening to my own songs the past few days and have a few that I like that either are finished or almost finished. There’s a gabber/breakcore one I want to add some samples to but I’ve had the unfinished track on loop today and yesterday, which is great. Made some progress on the SOS medley but it needs to be mixed, sound balanced, EQed, and the last chorus is still missing. RR and BATB are basically done until vocals get done, and RR has an in-progress VPR that I plan to continue on tonight. There’s also an ambient instrumental that’s done-done, but I’m waiting for next month to have time to put together some visuals for it. Got a nice comment on my last ambient piece on Newgrounds the other day so hoping this one goes over well too.

OEB has hit a point where it’s probably not getting any better than it already is, so next month I’ll get to finishing up the storyboards and puppet rig. The storyboards need to get imported into Adobe and then split up into shots, but it’s going pretty quick so hopefully shouldn’t be too bad.

Writing going decent too, got unstuck on an outline for O’Malley yesterday. I also have been outlining a first chapter for Backstage as well, seeing as Josh has been a surprisingly popular character on here and on Artfight (which is great because he is the lead), but I’m at a writing hangup there too. I think I need to watch more media for inspiration, so I’ll try to do that at work next week (don’t worry boss knows and it’s allowed). I’ve been jittery because I’ve been sick but once that subsides I’ll get Epithet TTRPG statblocks done too, hopefully. I did get a bit of comic paneling done this week too, but not as much as I’d like. Again, that’s mostly going to be an issue for next month.

Next month is going to be a bit of a challenge to balance all the stuff I want to do, but I’ll try to get a schedule done over the weekend so I can be as optimal with my time as possible. The first week after Artfight ends I’m going to go easy on myself, so I’ll write up a list of less physically intensive tasks to dedicate my breaks and evening to that week, then the following week I’ll go back to animation and comic paneling.

[vile-worm]

Your fur always looks so nice, how do you do it?

Aw thank you so much anon! I'm not the best at explaining stuff so I hope this makes sense!

For reference, I use Paint tool Sai or procreate for my art. In both cases I only ever use a simple round brush for all my sketching/coloring and blending.

I typically start with the darkest color as a base coat and block out the basic shape. Can be sloppy. From there I make my brush thinner and just run lighter strokes across the form to define the strands a bit more. Each lighter shade I layer on top, I make the brush thinner. On the second to last step, I add a multiply overlay and deepen the general shadows, and in the final step I add additional highlighting, ambient occlusion and also clean up the form!

This is generally my process for all my coloring. I did a rough step by step so hope this helps you out!

[xxlittle0birdxx]

WIP: Obi-Wan raising Luke

The ambient noise of the palace didn't penetrate this deeply underground.  Obi-wan had a hazy memory of Satine making a rough sketch of traditional Mandalorian homes, and the center chamber that would have been the site of a clan's last stand.  New Mandalorian architecture had eschewed this sort of feature.  Instead, they designed buildings that were the complete opposite of this round and windowless room.  Luke had fallen asleep almost as soon as their dinner plates had been cleared away, his head pillowed on Obi-wan's thigh.  Obi-wan didn't blame him.  He had struggled a little with acclimating to the press of so many people around them.  It seemed to overwhelm the boy at times.  But here, in the karyai, the thick walls muffled the presence of others.  The tension knotting Luke's shoulders eased almost from the moment Korkie closed the door behind them. 

Bo-Katan watched him stroke Luke's hair for a moment, then murmured, 'You could stay here, you know.'  She sipped her shig, without taking her eyes off him.  

Obi-wan picked up his own shig, inhaling the citrus-infused steam.  Dozens of past memories assaulted him, but he managed to sip it without betraying his inner turmoil by so much as a trembling hand.  'To what purpose?' he asked.  'Sell the boy and me to the Empire in order to take their attention away from you and your attempts to undermine and overthrow Gar Saxon?'

Bo-Katan snorted.  'Cynical, much?'  She shook her head.  'No.  You would become a member of clan Kryze.'  She looked down at her interlaced hands.  'It’s what she would want.'

Obi-wan blinked the sudden sting from his eyes.  'I thank you,' he replied in a hoarse voice, 'but I wouldn't want to bring the Empire down on your heads by hiding here.'  The corner of his mouth quirked up.  'I'm still wanted, you know.'

'Obi-wan Kenobi, maybe, but not Ben Kryze,' Korkie said.

Obi-wan's wry grin turned into a rueful smile.  'Yes, but I still have Obi-wan Kenobi's face.'

Korkie shared a pleading look with his aunt.  She sat back with a sigh and gave him a single reluctant nod.  'You can wear my great-great-grandfather's armor.  It belonged to my mother’s maternal grandfather.  You can reforge it.  Make it yours.  You would never have to remove your helmet outside the palace, should you choose.'  

His naked longing was almost too much to bear.  Obi-wan allowed himself a brief moment to consider it. He could come to know his son, a joyous reminder of Satine. Proof that she had once walked on this earth.  He could give Luke a family.  He would grow surrounded by love and affection.  He knew beyond all certainty that, should the occasion arise, Korkie would protect Luke. It was part of the Mandalorian Creed.  But Obi-wan had witnessed the lengths the Empire would go to in order to find him.   And if they found him, they would find Luke.  He couldn’t in good conscience subject Mandalore to the Empire’s tender mercies. They had suffered enough as it was.  'This is an extraordinarily generous offer.  If I only had to think of myself, I would accept it immediately.  As it is…'  He tilted his head toward Luke.

'You think we wouldn't care for your son as well?' Bo-Katan scoffed.  'He's a foundling.  No foundling ever goes neglected on Mandalore.'  A smirk twisted her mouth.  'This is the way.'

'It isn't that.'  Obi-wan tucked the edge of the blanket around Luke's shoulders.  'He may not be my biological son, but we do share a similar trait.'

'Jetii?' Korkie asked.

Obi-wan nodded  'Yes.  He will be.'

Bo-Katan snorted louder.  'You should let it die.  What has it done but brought anyone a lifetime of pain?'

'Auntie!' Korkie hissed.

'Satine and I…'  Obi-wan pinched the bridge of his nose.  'We…'  He inhaled, and found a spot on the ceiling on which to focus until his emotions were once more under his control.  'We understood the consequences of our choices.'  He met Bo-Katan's disconcertingly direct gaze.  'Even until the very end.'  He  brushed a lock of Luke’s hair away from his forehead.  ‘Just as I’m fully aware of the consequences of this life. I won’t put anyone else in danger.’

[grandhotelabyss]

What kind of music do you typically listen to? Are there any musicians that have inspired or influenced your work in any way?

I pretty much answered this one here back at the end of 2023. For an update and more specific answer to your question about inspiration: lately, I've been trying to listen to at least period-specific music as I work on the Invisible College research and preparation, like Beethoven and Chopin paired with the Romantics, some Wagner with Shaw, Rachmaninov with Conrad, etc. I'll make an attempt at Schoenberg when I get to Beckett for the full Adorno trip. The algorithm has really been insisting on Sibelius lately, however, which I'm guessing Adorno would call fascist. (I never read Adorno's music criticism, though I studied—mainly visual art and literature—with one of its distinguished translators.) Also, speaking of fascism, even though I gave Dune: Part Two a bad review, I have been listening to that soundtrack for better or worse; this is a plebeian taste, I'm sure, or maybe "Reddit" or whatever other insult, but I like a lot of the ambient soundtrack music popular on YouTube: Zimmer, Einaudi, Richter, that style of material. For some reason, maybe also algorithmic, I lately went back to that electronica group I remembered from the '90s, VNV Nation, and was interested to see they had some new material; this has been a recent favorite, somewhat relatable lyrics if you ask me. Speaking of the '90s or even the '80s, I listened to a lot of music from that era when I was writing Major Arcana last year to create the appropriate late-20th-century Dark-Age-of-Comics mood, everything from Joy Division and The Smiths up through Portishead and Massive Attack and the like, and Americans, too, my melodramatic preference for Tori Amos and the Smashing Pumpkins being well-known to my regular readers, as well as "Malibu"-era Hole (even if she [allegedly] did kill Kurt, I like "Malibu" better than any of his stuff). That and some of the jazz favored by my character Ellen Chandler, especially Sketches of Spain and A Love Supreme, which are thematically crucial to the novel. What else? I'm excited for the apparent Joanna Newsom revival-comeback. She might be the most inspirational musical artist of my generation just by her example: create your own strange world, and listeners will come. (I wrote a little tribute to her on here a few years ago.) The aforementioned algorithm knows I compared Lana to Shakespeare 10 years ago—she had to forgive the rest of you for how you treated her; she didn't have to forgive me!—so I usually happily let it give me all the visionary "sad girls" past and present. But, and just in case this was a subtext of your question, there being so few ways nowadays to draw the line between macroculture and meso- and microcultures, I must halt at the frontier of Ms. Swift's empire.

[cesium-sheep]

tattoo get, report for @ceylonsilvergirl below <3

I went to Rhiannon at Strange Magic Tattoo, they were very communicative and easy to talk to, very invested in my comfort etc. they used a cordless needle gun, which they say is much quieter. this was on my left thigh.

pain: it feels about the same as digging out an ingrown hair with sharp tweezers. better than getting a line set for a blood draw even accounting for the relative durations. I would say that it feels like it's about to punch through and hurt worse than it actually does which may psych people out into thinking it's more painful than it is, but it always stays on the near side of that little barrier. this took technically an hour but I would guess like 40 minutes of actual inking? and it was very easy. but bear in mind I have chronic pain and am a professional patient so I have to sit through worse for less all the time anyway. tbh my random ambient aches like the patch that reacted to my exfoliant last night are currently worse than the site, although it was sprayed with bactine which is a topical anesthetic.

appointment scheduling: this shop was appointment only, they had both a google form and a contact email that went to the main shop who then gave me the artist's email. I had to follow up once after the initial email as they had just come back from vacation and the forwarded email probably got lost. I sent them the image I had drawn and a description of what it was and where I wanted it as well as some relevant info like this is my first tattoo, I'd like to have someone with me for cripple reasons, etc. they gave me their hourly rate and a time estimate. this shop also requires a deposit to hold the appointment, which counts towards the total bill and which I was able to send to the artist directly.

the actual appointment: skipped the two closest doses of prescribed aspirin, filled out a consent form, got the area cleaned/shaved and the stencil applied for approval, let that dry down and then lay down with my leg supported. they spent time talking through what they used, what they were doing, and what they were going to do. the music was a little too loud but whatever. we chatted amiably while they worked and it was generally very easy. I wore my loose pajama pants so I could roll them up to expose the site without cutting off circulation. they use second skin, so I basically just don't touch it for 3 days then regularly clean and moisturize after that. showering etc is still fine from the getgo. there were minor modifications to the design that were not sketched out but were verbally agreed upon beforehand. the artist, matt, and me were the only ones there.

price: another shop gave me an estimate of $350 for the same design, but possibly due to more communication beforehand this was $180+tip for 1 hour of work. I tipped 20% since I have heard that's standard and also it was all the money I technically had spendable plus $2.

[socvinc]

Sorry, but if i may, in a similar vein;

Artist's version!!

Draw traditionally (If you already are, use a different medium!)

Try to draw outside/or at a different location, like a change of room.

Doodle, look at artist's you enjoys work

Look up art prompts and poses. Doodle.

Take a break. Do something different. Comeback to it later.

Draw something else. (A different WIP, a sketch, a quick warmup, etc.)

Find inspiring drawing music playlists on YouTube. (Themed music, POV playlists, ambient music, etc.)

Do some character or story prompts/questions to get a better idea of who or what you’re drawing/doodling. Look up relevant references for parts of a piece you're struggling with.

Figure studies/studies in general. Timed, so you have to move on quick.

Set your own goals and deadlines.

Doodle sketches around/about the characters/things in your WIP, like them in different scenarios (They don't have to be relevant)

Draw something you'll never post, without any threads attached

Put the thing you're drawing in different scenarios. Different outfits, different setting etc even different seasons if it's an environment. (these don't have to be fully formed thoughts)

Change the atmosphere (in the drawing)

Some of my writer’s block cures:

Handwrite. (If you already are, write in a different coloured pen.)

Write outside or at a different location.

Read.

Look up some writing prompts.

Take a break. Do something different. Comeback to it later.

Write something else. (A different WIP, a poem, a quick short story, etc.)

Find inspiring writing music playlists on YouTube. (Themed music, POV playlists, ambient music, etc.)

Do some character or story prompts/questions to get a better idea of who or what you’re writing.

Word sprints. Set a timer and write as much as you can. Not a lot of time to overthink things.

Set your own goals and deadlines.

Write another scene from your WIP. (You don’t have to write in order.) Write a scene you want to write, or the ending. (You can change it or scrap it if it doesn’t fit into your story later.)

Write a scene for your WIP that you will never post/add to your story. A prologue, a different P.O.V., how your characters would react in a situation that’s not in your story, a flashback, etc.

Write down a bunch of ideas. Things that could happen, thing that will never happen, good things, bad things.

Change the weather (in the story of course.)

Feel free to add your own.

[dg-marketingtech]

Google Veo 3

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Google Veo 3: Usheringin the Future of AI-Powered Video Creation

In an era where artificial intelligence continues to disrupt creative industries, Google has once again raised the bar with its latest innovation—Veo 3, an AI video generation model that not only produces high-quality visuals but also generates synchronized audio, including music, sound effects, and even dialogue. Introduced at Google I/O 2025, Veo 3 represents a massive leap forward in the field of generative media, bringing us one step closer to truly intelligent, automated filmmaking.

This article explores the core features, technological breakthroughs, potential applications, and the broader implications of Veo 3 on content creation and digital storytelling.

What Is Google Veo 3?

Veo 3 is the third generation of Google DeepMind's generative video model. While earlier versions of Veo focused primarily on creating high-fidelity visuals from text prompts, Veo 3 introduces a groundbreaking feature: native audio generation.

With Veo 3, users can generate complete video scenes—visuals, music, sound effects, and dialogue—all from a single text prompt. This all-in-one approach differentiates it from other models in the market, such as OpenAI’s Sora, which currently does not support audio.

Imagine typing: "A cinematic scene of a pirate ship in stormy seas, with thunderclaps, creaking wood, and the captain shouting commands." Veo 3 will not only animate the scene but also generate realistic sound effects, synchronized dialogue, and even appropriate background music—without requiring any external editing tools.

Key Features of Veo 3

🎞️ High-Fidelity Video Generation

Veo 3 can generate videos up to 1080p resolution with realistic motion, lighting, and textures. The model understands physics, perspective, and cinematographic principles, allowing users to control camera angles, movement, and zoom—features previously reserved for professional filmmakers.

🔊 Native Audio Generation

One of the most revolutionary upgrades in Veo 3 is its ability to generate high-quality, synchronized audio, including:

Ambient sounds (e.g., rain, footsteps, crowd noise)

Dialogue that matches lip movements

Music tailored to the scene’s mood

This eliminates the need for third-party audio tools, simplifying the creative workflow and enabling a more immersive storytelling experience.

🧠 Multimodal Prompting

Veo 3 supports multimodal inputs, including text, images, and even sketches. Creators can refine scenes using references or tweak outputs through conversational feedback via integration with Gemini, Google’s multimodal AI assistant.

Flow: The New Creative Companion

To support Veo 3, Google also introduced Flow, an AI-powered creative suite that integrates:

Veo 3 for video generation

Imagen for image creation

Gemini for natural-language prompting

Flow is designed for storytellers, marketers, and educators, allowing them to storyboard, generate, and iterate on video projects with intuitive tools.

For example, a user can use Flow to plan a short film, describe scenes in plain English, visualize them using Imagen, and bring everything to life with Veo 3—all within the same interface.

Availability and Pricing

As of May 2025, Veo 3 is available in the U.S. via the Gemini Advanced subscription, part of the Google One AI Premium Plan, which costs $250 per month. Enterprise access is available through Google Cloud’s Vertex AI, where businesses can integrate Veo into their workflows at scale.

While the price point targets professional and enterprise users for now, Google has indicated plans to expand availability and lower the barrier to entry in future versions.

Real-World Applications

🎬 Filmmaking and Animation

Independent filmmakers and studios can now prototype or even produce full scenes using Veo 3. The integrated audio and visual capabilities allow creators to bypass expensive equipment and post-production, accelerating the creative process.

📚 Education

Educators can quickly create engaging video content for lessons, lectures, and tutorials. Imagine a history teacher generating a vivid reenactment of the signing of the Declaration of Independence with authentic visuals and voiceovers—all from a prompt.

📈 Marketing and Advertising

Brands can generate promotional videos tailored to specific demographics and platforms, reducing time-to-market and creative costs. Whether it's a product teaser, explainer video, or branded content, Veo 3 offers massive efficiency gains.

🧪 Scientific and Technical Visualization

Scientists and researchers can use Veo 3 to simulate complex systems, illustrate theories, or produce educational content in domains like biology, physics, or medicine.

Limitations and Ethical Concerns

While Veo 3 is a technological marvel, it also raises several concerns:

Deepfakes and misinformation: The realism of AI-generated video and audio could be exploited to produce convincing fake news or impersonations.

Creative authenticity: Some creators worry that AI might devalue traditional artistry by flooding the internet with synthetic content.

Access and equity: At $250/month, Veo 3 is currently inaccessible to hobbyists and small creators, potentially widening the digital divide.

To address these issues, Google has implemented watermarking and metadata tagging for all AI-generated videos and continues to advocate for responsible AI use.

How Does Veo 3 Compare to Competitors?

Feature

Google Veo 3

OpenAI Sora

Runway Gen-3 (rumored)

Video Resolution

Up to 1080p

Up to 1080p

Up to 4K

Audio Generation

✅ Native audio

❌ Not supported

❓ Unknown

Lip Sync

✅ Yes

❌ No

❓ Unknown

Prompt Control

✅ Text, Image

✅ Text only

❓ TBD

Access Model

Subscription

Closed preview

Beta preview

Veo 3 clearly leads in audio integration and prompt flexibility, though future competitors may close the gap.

Final Thoughts

Google Veo 3 is not just another AI tool—it’s a pivotal moment in the evolution of digital storytelling. By combining visual and audio generation in a single model, it simplifies the video creation process and democratizes access to high-quality multimedia production—at least for those who can afford it.

As the technology matures, and as ethical frameworks evolve alongside it, we may be witnessing the dawn of a new creative era where ideas turn into cinematic realities within minutes. For now, Veo 3 is both a glimpse into the future and a powerful new tool for those on the frontlines of content creation.

[yompthoria]

Art time! This is a mixed media tradigital poetry illustrationy piece from 2025 called "Spawn of Polarity."

It is a digitally played-with, digitally colored collage of two pages of pencil sketches from my sketchbook.

It is also some cut-up internet screenshots that I put into the brain blender and reassembled into nonlinear magnetic poetry.

It is kind of about non-duality at its core, if that makes any sense out of context? Non-duality in general but also "embryos from emotional dimorphism" and ecologically significant demons and stuff like that.

This is one of my favorite pieces so far because it is a little deeper into my exploration of collage poetry illustrations and I went harder on both giving the illustration a particular moody ambience but also tried to be a little more sparse with the word collage in order to concentrate more meaning juice inside it without it getting cluttered or diluted, and I think it creates some neat stuff.

I love collage poetry so much.

I repeat this a lot when I talk about this but it feels SOOOO good to take my POV of the internet across a 2-week period or longer, let my intuition influence which screenshots I recue from the garbag pile, then put it in the fucking brain blender and see what happens when I free-associate new things from it.

I am no longer a passive consumer of internet opinions nor am I solely an individualistic beacon of internet opinions.... I synthesize! Synthesis! Synthesis!

One of my favorite conversations I've had with people about this piece while boothing at art markets was one that happened whilst meeting a someone who was dyslexic and noted that the non-linear format uniquely felt like how she reads and thinks related to writing. I wanna channel this SO hard. This convo inspired me SO much. I love connecting with people who have similar but different neurodivergent ways of interacting with things I make. I l o v e it.

Readable image description thingy under the cut in case you need it.

Art description from image alt text:

Strange creatures glisten in an autumn colored haze of red, orange, and green tendrils. Two creatures are small cylinders from which bud-shaped protrusion and long tentacley branching round-ended root systems grow. The biggest creature is a large pumpkin shaped fruit thing sliced open to reveal a vivid tangerine and blood orange colored inside full of granular seed-like pockets, and similar soft root tentacles poke into and grow into it like worms. An orange slice looking chunk of it floats nearby, leaking. Below these from left to right are a squishy floppy balloon sausage eared creature with a turtle shell, an anguished worm, another turtle shell creature variant with a mushroom cap shaped head and spindly long legs, a smaller turtle shell creature variant, a froglike face emerging from the tendrils, a weevil shaped disembodied head with nonsensical kinky legs, and another turtle shell creature variant with a long oblong face that is like 5 times the size of its body being ridden with a bridle and reins by a horned humanoid character.

The poetry between the drawings reads, in no particular order: "this demon produces a litmus test substance to care for his mind noise/ preternature.7.1.0001/ initiated to a larger group will that governs his species/ through this process he tends to collapse duality/ his welfare says demons are a vital tool of desire that generates other non-demon animals!/ with noise and glorified ambient preintellectual behavior/ seeing things as they are/ a holistic perception/align all 3 brains together/ seeing the spectrum/ varying degrees of masculine and feminine development overlapping/ he's already aware of a spiritual awakening/ the consummation of its body is the highest affirmation of his life/ the merging of polarity/ over a thousand embryos from emotional dimorphism/ for my friends man and animal instinct is experienced as it strives to percieve polarity/ we naturally start becoming a threat to categorization"