#anyways this was a huge comic to colour

[wu-does-art]

thinking about Nico adjusting to letting himself miss and long for the people he loves. based on these bits from the sun and the star:

" As Nico and Will followed the trogs, he thought about how much he missed Hazel. He was learning to make peace with that feeling. It was okay for him to miss people because that meant he wanted them around in his life. That idea was *very* new for him- he was used to either pushing people away or watching them recoil from his presence." *

" That was the most surreal thing of all... Was he happy? Nico wasn't very familiar with the sensation, but he couldn't deny that he felt wonderful in Will's presence. He even longed for the son of Apollo when they were apart. A funny thing had happened as the two grew closer: Nico suddenly understood all those cheesy, sappy love songs he'd always hated."

[amibeann]

I’ve started reading 2099’s 90s run and I like it a lot writing wise and comic miguel and lyla are great and funny. I just can’t with how inconsistant the art is. And I feel bad being so critical of it since no doubt they were working for pennies with short deadlines but still -_- it bothers meeee

[apatheticlexicographer]

i gots fairy lights in my room now and my dumb ass can't stop thinking "omg... just like in stranger things :333" like that's not the most 2016 cis girl cringe thing to think <///3

[lexezombie]

Alright before I go on vacation and can't draw: HERES A BUNCH OF TROLLS OCS!! (cus Ibby and their server have been watching them,,, haven't made it to 3 yet but eee)

No one got names yet but the colours are based on albums from specific bands <3

Ok I know VOCALOID isn't a genre specifically but like,,, hehe robo troll hehe

oops a sona,,, tbh the band I based it on is considered nu-metal + alt rock; given they use classical instruments quite often and the classical trolls have wings uhhhh *wing beam be upon yee*

Pop-Punk my beloved, save me Pop-Punk, Pop-Punk save me

I like this design way more than I thought I would??? Given I'm not a huge fan of the Techno-Trolls design wise - anyway oooo rock-troll/techno-troll hybrid ooo (beautiful they/thems my weakness)

OK SO THIS ONE COVERS BOTH SINCE THEYRE QUITE SIMILAR,,, insert death metal scream here (he's actually very nice dont worry)

Hehe cute <3

editing to add this Scene troll too

---

I prommy i probably wont be doing more troll stuff- other than ocs every now and again cus the designs r fun -- spiderman still goin strong in my brain rn along w/ fnaf

Prohibited Wish comic is still in progress (tryin to make it look high quality <<' )

[tiny-vermin]

I want to know more about the m9 artist au!! I remember reading a post or two about it a billion years ago (and would love to read them again) 💜

hi jess!!!! thank u for being interested hehe :")

so ever since i drew that lil thing of essek painting a frank stella inspired painting (or even before), ive been thinking of what kinds of art each of the m9 would do. essek ofc is inspired by a minimalist show that i went to here, all the big names from that movement were shown, but those really dark, sinkhole-like paintings are speaking to me. another artwork of boxes made of mirrors also seems like the thing he would do too

there's a kiln here that we visited which was huge, and surrounding it were artists' studios and some other ceramic sellers, i imagine the clay family having a place like this in the middle of nowhere amongst the trees, and caleb would do his work there

anyways because at heart im a shadowgast luver its centred around them,, they meet at an artist residency or something like that and its an incredibly slow burn that involves talking and not-talking and looking and not-looking. in the end i am but a simple wong kar wai fan so. that kinda vibes would definitely influence this, i would describe it as a quiet burning i guess?? time skipy and words that are not said

i think im gonna rant a bit more about their different mediums and styles so i'll keep it under the cut

i think caleb sculpts figures and portraits, but in a sad, kathe kollwitz charcoal vibe. maybe some funky looking animals, perhaps some pots and vases to look at the pretty glazes. he's interested in using fire to burn texture into different mediums, like ive seen it being used on shellac to make a really cool net of ink looking structure.. but yknow, just seeing the aftermath of glazed ceramic from the kiln is enough, and probably better for him to keep his distance anyways

the clay family produces most of the ceramic to sell, vases, pots, plates, cups, teapots, yknow just a whole array. and its really colourful too, depicting every family members different style. i think caduceus would do some matte glazes with a lot of different colours, theyre all a little wonky but theyre better off that way anyways. he does some really mean ink calligraphy and painting though

jester definitely does,, everything, whatever her heart desires kinda thang. she makes pastel textile installations and lighthearted cute paintings, but theyre always so contemplative and soothing. she gets m9 a lot of work cus her mom has connections, etc etc. i really love the idea of jester creating works that talk about the female body and femininity (definitely not projecting no)

beau is a printmaker and photographer who's really experimental, she loves cyanotypes and printing flowers (for yasha), idk she seems like she would put fabric and rocks into the washing machine to see what would happen. u would probably catch her in someone elses studio learning about what they do or in the library learning about what old people did

veth works in a museum as a curator, getting beau to help her sometimes with gathering artworks and artists etc. she probably organises community art projects for kids and public art installations. her house is full of m9's artworks and various other artists shes worked with.

yasha does bouquets as her post-retirement part time job, prior to that no one really knows what she did ("she probably murdered a bunch of people and is now hiding from the government"). fjord draws comics for fun but is also not a job for him, molly is a question mark for me. but these guys probably wont be in it as much anyways

im still not sure what format i wanna do this in, im actually having fun just writing it in my notebook now (digital does not facilitate the creative juices) but i do want to do some visuals like fake movie stills or storyboards. maybe they will work together well???? dunno. working on the other shadowgasty thing im doing made me realise how much easier it is to draw when there's a script already there, so im writing the script for myself

im definitely not as practiced in writing as i am in drawing, but idk im just gonna have some fun and see where that takes me, meanwhile try not to feel too bad that its fanart HAHA (very bad habit)

edit: i just saw my previous thoughts on beau being an art journalist, but i kinda like this better.. but maybe she can do both muah

[eschergirls]

February 2024 Update & Patron Thank You!

Hi everybody!

It's a new month, so it's time for an update and, of course, thank all our wonderful Patreon subscribers. :3  

For I fixed up a LOT of posts across the DC Comics tag, though because it's so big, I still have a lot that aren't formatted correctly or have images without alt-text, but I'm slowly working my way through it.  Many of the broken or lost images or images deleted by Tumblr due to mistaken algorithmic flagging should be fixed though.

One of the big restoration projects was fixing up the posts that stemmed from that infamous Catwoman vol. 4 #0 cover image that led to a ton of redraws and also to DC actually changing the cover before it came out.  A lot of the redraws didn't get imported when we moved the site from Tumblr, but I've managed to find them again and restore the posts (as well as adding alt-text and fixing formatting, etc).

Here's a list of the redraws, some serious, some humorous:

Catwoman as an assemblage boobs and butt by Josh Rodgers

Catwoman in a true cat pose by @rosalarian

What Catwoman would look like from the side by Cameron Stewart

Catwoman before and after animated gif redraw by @miracleisyou

As well as that post, I've also restored this post featuring Pagan from Batman #479 looking terrifying in two different poses, and a pretty good redraw of the cover by Glitchy.

There's also another Catwoman picture (from Batman: Arkham Unhinged) inspired people to do a lot of humorous takes on it, such as Kainu's take on how she looks from various angles and this animated gif joke by le-mec which is very good.  I fixed up all 3 posts, found the broken pictures, and added alt-text to everything.

And finally, two other DC posts that I found images for when they broke and reformatted & added full transcription for screen readers:

this page of Artemis from Artemis: Requiem #3 offering some... interesting ideas of gender & what Y chromosomes do

this post about All-Star Batman & Robin & it's depiction of Vicki Vale as well as the infamous script notes from Frank Miller to Jim Lee (the script notes are fully transcribed by me for screen readers too)

I've restored a lot of other posts too, but those are the main ones I wanted to highlight for those who haven't seen them before (or weren't able to see them before) and would be interested in!

And as usual, I've been working my way through the Tumblr inbox backlog (which means that like very old submissions might start to show up too... I developed a huge backlog over the years and because Tumblr's inbox works from most recent to least, it means that older stuff becomes more difficult to reach as I get more submissions).  I've also been working my way through contesting all the mistaken flagging Tumblr's algorithm keeps doing (such as flagging any solid colour piece of clothing as nudity).

For those who want to follow us without using Tumblr, we have an RSS feed. (For newbies, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is basically a feed you can read using an RSS reader. Simply copy and paste https://eschergirls.com/rss.xml into an RSS reader and it will keep you up to date on Escher Girls!)

Tumblr's occasional changes of policies and its random algorithmic flagging of posts and sudden removal of posts are reasons why I decided to self-host and why I am so appreciative of people helping me to keep the site up and pay for hosting, domain registration, and general site upkeep and improvements. :)   

Anyway, now I want to thank everybody who supported Escher Girls on Patreon in January!

Thank you so so much to:

Cat Mara CheerfulOptimistic Chris McKenzie Em Bardon First Time Trek Greg Sepelak Ian Cameron Ken Trosaurus Kevin Carson Kim Wincen Kristoffer Illern Holmén Leak Manuel Dalton Mary Kuhner Max Schwarz Michael Mazur Miriam Pody Morgan McEvoy randomisedmongoose Rebecca Breu Ringoko Ryan Gerber Sam Mikes Sean Sea SpecialRandomCast Thomas

And thank you to everybody for reading, submitting, and just generally commenting and engaging with Escher Girls.  It makes running the site so worth it, and your comments always make me smile. 

Thank you all so much,

Ami

If you have any issues with the site or suggestions to improve it, please do not hesitate to contact me and let me know!

If you wish to support Escher Girls, you can subscribe to our Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/ami_angelwings or donate through Ko-Fi at: https://ko-fi.com/amiangelwings.

[smolsix]

-blows dust off this blog-

So

Little Nightmares III, huh???

I was trying to avoid being excited about it because no solid release date and 2024 could be a few months from now or a year from now and Idk how long I can handle being so fuckin hyped for this game YEEHAW

BUT I CAN'T, I KEEP THINKING ABT THE GAME AAHAHHGAGA

so here are my thoughts, if you wanted to know

FIRST OF ALL, i am so glad that after we saw LTNM II we thought it'd be co-op but it was just an AI, that we finally get co-op! AND ONLINE TOO, i spent the first day worried it'd be shared screen same room situation since i wasn't trying to get my hopes up but then I realised I can just.. google it.. AND IT IS!!! ONLINE!! IDK WHO I AM GONNA PLAY IT W FIRST AAAAAAAA

anyways, you can definitely tell it's a new studio working on this game, the world feels mostly the same but the character designs themselves are definitely stylistically similar, but not the same. With Six especially, the MC designs were very simplistic and realistic but used colour (or for Mono, a single design quirk being the bag) to stand out against their backgrounds and against the enemies which are largely neutral colours. But these new ones feel... "over designed"? On their own they definitely aren't, but in comparison to Mono, Six, Seven, and even NPCs like the flashlight girl, they have a lot more going on (especially the little wrench kid, Idk which one is Alone and which one is Low yet btw OOP)

Despite it being a new studio and you can tell, new puzzles and environments, they're still doing their best to have the OGs vibes and whatnot to feel familiar, namely in the trailer they bring back the fuses, and the additional gameplay video there's a short scene with an environment with all the shelves you can find in LTNM 1s gnome section (the one with the cart that is affected by the Maws swaying).

But regardless, it still feels different enough my brain is still nervous about it. I also feel In A Way about Tarsier having LTNM II explode and their franchise getting the attention it deserves, only to have it stuck with Bandai and now it's going to likely explode again and they aren't involved. Idk how anyone on that team feels about it, but if it were me omg.

Also the only boss we've seen so far (i hope they add more and i def want some to be a surprise so im not gonna assume this is the only one for now) feels... out of place? it has the design qualities of a LTNM boss, but the size of it makes it more of a spectacle than a warped/corruption of an adult. All the previous bosses fit in their environment, we are the small ones and they are scaled to the world around them. This is the first time, outside monster Six who imo is a bit of an outlier anyways due to her circumstances, we're getting a boss who is this huge and doesn't even fit their own environment. I hope we get a lore reason for this in some way, because currently the boss doesn't have the same vibe as the others and it's throwing me off a bit. Don't get me wrong, it'll be terrifying, but looking at the picture as a whole they are sort of out of place for me rn. I don't hate the bitch either, I'm not gonna be like omg get rid of it or change it, but it does strike me as odd seeing it for now.

And yes the tall man is too tall for a lot of things, but he's not THAT big. He's more like yer tall guy who hits his head off doorways, which happens irl anyways LMAO

Little Nightmares primarily tries to capture the feeling of being a small child and how everything is big and scary, but a doll that huge is out of the realm of reality set up for us already. It's gone from scary corrupted animal to godzilla, if that makes sense.

OH AND THE MIRRORS ARE VERY LTNM COMICS OF THEM TEE HEE < 3

[rustyelias]

This ask/character dissection contains events from Red Valley, including major spoilers, blood and injury, and the fear of death.

*takes a breath*

Okay so I have become some what of a Clive Schill blog of late, and given that Red Valley in of itself isn’t wildly popular, and that Clive Schill is simultaneously the comic relief and antagonist of the show, there aren’t many people to talk about him with.

Initially, he comes off as just an arse. He’s mean to the protagonists, seems to have no remorse for his actions and is generally shown to also just be bad at his job? His main character traits are his “colourful” insults and his status as the Redval sugar daddy.

This doesn’t really change until near the end of season two, at which point he’s noticed Bryony’s treatment of the mc (Warren) and steps in. His concern is framed as a need for Warren to be in the best shape possible, for presenting to the world as a “solution to cryosleep”, but I do think he was also genuinely uncomfortable with the situation and wanted to get Warren out of there.

This all goes tits up when they return to Red Valley and the season finale happens. Won’t go into details but this winds up with Clive getting shot in the knees. Warren has simultaneously had a brain haemorrhage, and Gordon (mc no.2) has also just been shot. The focus is placed on getting the two mc’s inside of cryopods before they both bleed out. Clive is left forgotten on the floor of the lab.

He is eventually helped by someone else, and doesn’t die, but I think this is an incredibly important moment for his character. His entire story revolves around moving up the corporate ladder, and his desire to be the first to crack hypersleep is Always framed as a desire for recognition (and money).

Clive Schill is terrified of being forgotten. This also ties into his fear of death. He is terrified of dying and nobody remembering him. I think this fear translates into why he’s always so loud, so quick to argue and insult. He’s trying to be noticed.

So when he’s left on the floor bleeding out, with everyone else focusing on saving Warren + Gordon, it’s a huge fucking moment for him.

He goes on to form a business partnership with the person who saves him, they make Aloha Eternity, a cruise ship that utilises cryopreservation. He gets his recognition.

And then…

There’s growing unrest surrounding cryogenics. The world is rapidly going to shit thanks to climate change, partially due to big companies like Overhead (this is the one Clive, Bryony and the entire Red Valley team work for). The leaders and higher ups of said companies all plan to hypersleep (in cryopods) for 1000 years until the world’s unfucked itself. Clive helps this happen with the tech development he’s funded.

And when the time comes, he is not offered a place in the cryopods. Instead, he is made CEO of Overhead Industries. He got his fucking dream come true, because he was deemed expendable enough to let die in the real world. (Before this his cruise ship got blown up by terrorists, truly he has nothing)

So yeah uh there are some mildly coherent thoughts about Clive Schill. There is more where that came from but from here the thoughts get a Lot more incoherent.

Such as Bryony referring to Clive as “the shovel bit of the shovel”

She uses him for his status in Overhead and his money.

Also I think Clive is incredibly touch starved. Never comes up in the show because the only time people get close to him is when they’re hurting him (Warren’s headbutt)

Oh and he looks like Alexander J Newall. And Murph from D20. Just a mix of those two.

And he’s a musician. Like a really talented musician. I have no basis for this hc other than the fact I feel it in my soul.

Anyway if you’ve read this thanks so fucking much, and if not it was still great screaming into the pit

raaah!!! i love him! it's been a while since I last listened to red valley but omg! he is such a character to say he is treated like the comic relief or what I called him that prick™️ he has SO much going on!

Bro really gave his whole life to this business only for them to basically leave him to die in the fucked up world :( also the fucking cruise business bsjdjdjjdj

I love how I went from loving him because he was just the worst to loving him because he is a complex character. Gosh after he was shot man :(

jskskxkdkjd he is SO touch staved you get it! you get it!!

“Also he looks like Alexander J newall” oh god oh fuck its him:

Okay yeah after my relisten of rqg I am 100% going to listen to Red Valley

[inlocusmads]

countdown to 2024 - artists edition

Okay but like four is too few of a number to shout out but I'll still try my best! @choicesfandomappreciation

@cassie-thorne: Max's art is literally the best and I love her work so much! She puts out bangers after bangers and I absolutely loved watching her style evolve and grow this year and I'm looking forward to seeing it next year too! I especially absolutely love how Max tackles lighting and backgrounds in her work, like it's so unique and each piece tells its own story too. Some of my favourites: The Barbie Premier, Aislinn!, be gay solve crimes, themm and Cameron x Astrid

@fairymatchmaker : Joy's art is actually a masterpiece, like this is not just your everyday artist sorcery-shenaniganing, this is like the chad version. I absolutely love love love how they draw outfits and poses, like their attention to the small things is just insane. Thank you for sharing your wonderful art and being around in the fandom! Here are some of my favs: Waiting for Trystan , the Crimes MCs and F!Trystan's fits

@mydemonsdrivealimo: MJ's stuff exhuberates this 'cool' energy, like my guy, you could actually design those energy drink logos or comic book covers because each piece is just SO FUN, okay? I'm def looking forward to how it'll be in 2024. (tattoo-shop au when??) Some of my favs: Jensen in weird lil tees, THE PIRATE AU, jenseeennnnn and virtually everything (I'm especially a fan of MJ's little doodles like this and the cutest thing ever)

@hydn-jpg: I love Hayden's work partially because each piece of art has its own fanbase (as it should). Last year I got a giveaway piece from them and it is still something I look back frequently because it's just so goddamn beautiful. Some of my favourites from them: just follow my lead, this adorable pick-up line, literally everything they'd created for the expression-memes this year, long time no see partner and okay, technically this is cheating but this is a piece from 2022, but this portrait of artura is just i'mma cry okay?

@oh-so-youre-a-nerd: Thia's work is nothing short of frightening (affectionate) witchcraft and I mean this in the most sincere way possible lmaoo. I still have a lot of their stuff to explore, stalk and fan over, but their Raine artwork is just S-tier for me, like look at THESE THINGS: The villain arc, head empty still thinking about this, Trystan in a flowy lil dress and ofc their entire Raine x Aerin stuff because that's either the most depressing, poetic thing ever or a massive serotonin boost. I hope to see more of your stuff on my dash next year <33

@erixafleur: I came across Erica's work after lurking in the Blades side of the fandom and I loved their MC Raya's redesign so much! Plus I loved the art style too because it gives me Disney animation vibes. I hope to explore your work even more next year! Some of my favs include: This vanity fair-themed art and oh my god their eyes, it def gives 'i'm so judging you' and I'm here for it XD , the cutest owlbear sketch EVER and this piece of Raya & Tyril

@rosefuckinggenius: Rose's been a consistent force in the Choices fandom and I absolutely live for their work, okay? And I'm not just saying because I received this UNIT of an art piece from them for Trys and Nora - like I'm still in just awe. I'm also such a fan of the fact that their work is just really soft (if I can describe it that way) to look at - like I'm a sucker for soft colour palettes, okay? My favs include: this Beelzebub piece (not Choices but yknow what how about i put it in here anyway?) and this piece for @jerzwriter featuring Eli's family .

***

And like a huge shoutout to basically all artists in the fandom! You guys have actually inspired me to like not go down several rabbit-holes trying to find faceclaims and moodboards and instead, try to make some of my own art and see where it goes! It is so fun! Thank you for being super inspirational, kind, understanding and just pure awesome and I hope 2024 is just as kind and gentle to you guys <33 Much love and cheers!

[archandshri]

22nd March ‘24 - [arch] Mad About Munch, Warm-up sketches and daaarknesss???

Good evening, Shri! I forgot that it is Friday, but at the beginning of writing this, I have an hour and 27 minutes until Friday is over, so I WILL be on time!

Wow, like a lot has happened? But I also don’t have tons to show for it. (it’s because I’m working on cool secret project that I’m not allowed to talk about which is fun!)

Stuff i have been doing

Museums :0!!!! I have been travelling and in my old age apparently, I like old art now???

Gathering a lot of reference images - photos, but also general inspiration

Finally organising my digital space a bit! I backed up like 3 years' worth of Procreate images and cleared out half my iPad

Getting some of my sketchbooks, especially comic development, digitised and onto Google Slides! I follow a similar process to when I was at uni still, with a huge PowerPoint for a project that contains reference images, inspiration, plot bullet points, and links to google docs where I write the scripts, development sketches and finals. It makes it super easy to go back to important parts of the development and be reminded of things I might have lost in the development process

Warm-up sketches because you bullied me into it (affectionate)

Continuing to explore colour

2 things I would like to tell you more about: 1) Edvard Munch!!!!!! If you ever get the chance to visit the Munch Museum in Oslo, do it!! I hadn’t seen a whole museum dedicated to one guy before, but seeing so much of his work in one place, in person really helped me understand it better. They also had a fantastic audio tour to rent that made it super accessible. I had just come from thinking about colour last week and becoming more comfortable with darker colours, and I had been thinking about personality and narrative in settings and backgrounds - both of which he does really well. In particular, The Sick Child, Eye in Eye, and The Sun stood out to me.

2) Play. AGAIN!!!!! I feel like I’m constantly having to fight myself, reminding myself to let go, play around, and explore without the expectation of a final outcome. You told me to try some 20 min warm-up and cool-down sketches - which I’ve been doing and has been going great! They’re not all perfect and aren’t supposed to be, but I’ve also had some really fun outcomes that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. I also feel like I’m getting more of a grip on colour :0

Plus, I’ve found that I haven’t wanted to post my terrible sketches or even my better ones?? Which has been nice to make without the need for sharing. However, I have found myself craving a final image to share with all of Tumblr and Instagram, thinking of possible images that would do well on those platforms. I think there is a small part of me that wants to create those because it would be fun, but I think it’s mostly to fix the number-shaped hole :/ Hank Green made a good video which mentioned the fact that platforms are EXTRA BAD with teaching creators to be addicted to them, even more so than consumers. Video here. It’s good.

I was listening to the Imp and Skizz podcast earlier (Episode - Rendog pt 1), it’s a great podcast, they chat about Hermitcraft a bit but mostly about what being alive is like and being a creator, I really recommend them too. Anyway, Skizz said he was once told to ‘create videos that he wanted to watch.’ And I think it’s a good approach to have when creating. What do I wanna see/ read?

I would love to chat to you about the balance between dark tones and silliness in storytelling too, but it is 11pm and I do have to get up early tomorrow. Plus, I’m not sure I have enough thoughts yet. But for now, it’s left me thinking: what do I want to make? Am I campable of silliness in stories? I want to tell stories with an undertone of darkness, that discusses difficult themes, but how to we do that while keeping it entertaining and not just Too Much(™)?

I dunno, just thoughts I’ve been having. I wanna get them down, even if I don’t have any solutions yet. In the meantime, please accept these sketchbook pages in lieu of philosophical answers. 

Thank you for listening to my rambles once again!

Love <3 Archie

Ps. I saw Frozen the musical and it was Very Sibling, and I cried. It made me think of you and I think you would like it (it’s only a bit different to the film but it makes such a difference omg)

[juney-blues]

How's the comic going along? have anything fancy or little secrets planned? Looking forward to more :D

ps I like the sketch style pps what art thing do you use ppps smorestuck -> 🍞🍫⚪🍞 🏠

ghfdjkgdfgjkhg didn't get any work done last week as i was busy with commission stuff~

come monday i'm gonna get back to work on it (and try to balance it with the remaining comms as best i can, so update mightttt be the week after that? art hard </3)

also eheehehehe you have NO idea how many secrets i got planned >:)

the art thing i use is krita!! i like the way that program works + it has good animation tools which helps with some stuff~

i use a modified version of krita's pixel brush, (i hit f5 to open the brush editor and set the shape to square instead of circle)

my process is mostly trying to get as much done as i can in as few layers as possible?

a LOT of my panels are just first draft rough sketches (this is to help me get pages out at something resembling a reasonable rate, because i have the constitution of a poor victorian orphan chimney sweep)

i generally just have a colour/value layer, a rough sketch layer, and then another layer for dialogue/text/what have you. (though i'll often end up using more if it's just convenient for other stuff to have it's own layer, or if i'm having trouble drawing something specific and just wanna keep trying at it without effecting the stuff around it)

oh and i do huge swathes of the comic in just one file because i'm insane

(though for pages with animation i tend to just copy and paste the page's layer group into it's own new file and do the animation there because i severely doubt krita can handle BOTH animation, AND like a hundred fucking layers at the same time)

OH and i do all my typesetting in GIMP because krita doesn't let me do non-antialiased text for some reason

for this i just type it out in gimp, 14pt courier new as our god homestuck intended

(and depending on what i'm using it for i'll probably scale it up an integer amount)

and then i paste it into my image and usually rotate or transform it a bit (with nearest neighbour scaling <3)

small peak into my artistic process, this doesn't cover dissonance logs and such but that's like a whole different thing, messy messy spaghetti code and html~

i realise you didn't ask for most of this but i felt like sharing anyway lmao

also om nom smore stuck

[decepti-thots]

knowing almost nothing abt the comics industry I've no idea how likely this actually is, but; is it possible Hasbro hasn't granted the the license to do tf comics to anyone else bc they're setting up their own in house comics company (Hasbro having their own in house animation studio sets just enough precedent for this thought to refuse to stop haunting me)

Possible? In the literal sense, sure; Hasbro are a multibillion dollar entertainment behemouth, and there would be nothing stopping them from doing so.

Realistically? No chance, IMO.

American comic markets of the sort Transformers naturally occupy given the assumed demographics at play- the ~22 page monthly release that comic shops have a near-monopoly on- are infamously a money pit that is dying by slow agonizing degrees, and even if you are the most successful non-big two publisher (so not Marvel or DC) out there, all that means is that you aren't actively going broke. (Hey, did we all see the news about IDW, by the way?) The average "successful" monthly release American comic sells jack shit compared to other industries, tbh. Marvel, in the 80s and early 90s, could leverage an issue of X-Men into sales of literally millions with the right PR boost*. Now, in a post-superhero movie world where superheroes are the default mode of pop culture, they're lucky to hit 100,000. Very lucky. You're more often seeing even some of the biggest names getting 50k or less shifted a month. For a non-big two company, you're looking at under 30k for your biggest hit a lot of the time. The exceptions are notable largely for being exceptions. (Skybound, I'll note, has had a couple: Invincible is the most notable.)

(*well, OK, the 90s also had the speculator boom which eventually caused many issues later on, which accounts for part of this. but big name comics were still selling much better before that becomes a factor, and it does not account for all of it.)

To make breaking into an industry in these dire straits worth it, you have to be sure you can compete with the biggest (non big-two) players, because anything less is a huge amount of time and effort and coordination for scant profits at best and losses at worst. (Comics are a pain in the ass to produce, at least comics of that sort; any given issue will have at least a writer, an artist, a colourist and a letterer. Many will also have some or all of the following: an interiors artist doing just pencils, an inker, a dedicated colour flatter, a layout designer, backup artists and writers...) And. Well. Why would you? That's a bad deal! Plus, Hasbro would have to pump out quite a few series to make it worth it, and while they do theoretically have the IP to do so, they've never focused that much on comics and would be starting from the ground up for most of those franchises in an industry where again, "success" does not look like a lot of money. (And they haven't even pulled all their licenses from IDW; many of their IPs still sit happily with other publishers with no sign of that changing.)

The flipside to this is the place where American comics are doing much better; publishing graphic novels in bookstores, not monthly releases in comic book stores. But if you have a big, recognizable IP, the thing is, now suddenly the traditional publishing industry handles that. Sure, there are dedicated comics publishers in that sphere, but if you have a guaranteed winner of a pop culture franchise, HarperCollins and the like are interested. And there is no reason not to go with one of the big five conventional book publishers then, because they have SO much infrastructure in place that it would take you years to even begin to catch up... and you won't anyway, because that infrastructure exists because they publish so many books a year that they can sustain massive publishing empires that make publishing those graphic novels comparatively trivial, which no specialist publishing outfit can hope to reach at a smaller scale.

What it boils down to is: getting into the comics industry when you don't have to is a bad idea and everyone knows it. Outsourcing to the people already established is overwhelmingly the better option. If you're doing monthlies, anything else has a 99% chance of failing, and even if you manage it, you now have a ton of work and minimal profits. (Marvel doesn't make money on comics. It makes money on Literally Everything Else. Its IP makes money, it's just that Marvel's IP is historically generated through comics.) And if you wanna do graphic novels and you have recognisability already, book publishers are the obvious way to go.

Nah. They'll charge a publisher money for the license and then, if it goes tits up, all they've lost is the hypothetical profit that success would have given them, and at least they can still pocket their fee. Film and animation are different because they can bring in big money on a scale comics can't match.

As always, I recommend the Twine essay "The Problem With Comics" for a deep dive into the historical issues that caused this situation in the American comics industry.

[hamsternamedmarinette]

I love all your art and comics so much! I saw that someone already told you this (as they should) and I think they’re completely right. Your posts, and I really don’t just mean your comics, are always fun to read or go through and I show them to my friends all the time! (A lot of them don’t have tumblr but you’d have at least 10 more followers if they did) I think it’s honestly really inspiring that although your art style is so simple (as in there isn’t always shading, colours, etc), you still have great content and I really do love your blog.

Anyway, thanks for sharing everything with us, have a nice day!

(Or night. Depending on what time you’re seeing this)

🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

First of all, apologies because I've had this in my inbox for so long 😭 second of all, thank you so much 😭🥹 I've had, shall we say, a very interesting year-- not a bad year overall, in fact a pretty good one, but it had some very tough moments that had me questioning whether I had any redeeming qualities at all. This blog isn't a huge thing, but it does make me happy to know that my dumb little comics have brightened people's days.

Also wow I never really thought about how my comics being so simple could be inspiring, but I can see that now! I like the idea of people without much of an art background seeing my little haphazard doodles and thinking that they, too, can and should draw their own little ideas and not worry about how professional it looks. Let's just pretend that this is my intent with my simple doodles. Definitely not that I'm lazy 👍

But seriously thank you so much for this ask, it really brightened my day when I read it 💞 have a great night and merry Christmas if you celebrate!!!

[hotwaterandmilk]

Our household suffered a loss over the Christmas period, so I'm going to post some random comments about stupid shit to help divert my focus away from being depressed.

New BLOOD+ Anthology!

I received my copy of this year's BLOOD+ Petit Event Anthology this week. The title of this year's volume is "Season Calls Me" and like, the previous anthology, it contains a solid mix of short comics and novels by the small band of active Japanese fandom members for the series.

There are a couple of great little comics (that actually feature my faves, surprisingly) plus, like last time, Fujisaku Jun'ichi and Ishii Akiharu participated as well so we got some great additional content that makes it worth the effort of BUYING RIGHT NOW. What do I mean by this? Brand new colour illustrations from Ishii again, baby!

David smiling is so awkward, I love it. Ishii you have truly blessed us.

I won't be scanning in these images because this is a brand new publication. I ask that you please support all the wonderful fans involved in this doujinshi and purchase your own copy before it sells out.

Kotobuki Tsukasa draws ADG art again!

Kotobuki Tsukasa drew a new version of his Aphrodite illustration that was used for the first Akihabara Dennou Gumi ED sequence. The pic will be featured on his Comiket postcard for this year (2023 is the 25th anniversary of ADG) and I reeeeeaaaaaally want it. Edit: He just posted, it's limited to 127 units & has asked people not to resell so there goes my chance lol. :(

Kotobuki doesn't have the original image anymore so he had to use an online pic as reference and honestly, I think it looks pretty great even without the full studio finish (I particularly love that he incorporated Hibari's expression into Aphrodite as this is the fusion version from the movie).

大切なものなんですか... (it's stuck in your head now, watch here)

In a comment to someone mentioning the possibility of an art book he did say he'd discussed it but it hadn't progressed further. Please, for the love of god, I need an art book to happen! I WOULD PREORDER THE SHIT OUT OF THAT! I just love my '90s anime girls with faces like half-sucked mangos that much, ok?!

I Have an Autographed Yamamoto Yohko Novel!

Honestly this isn't a huge deal, back when the novel series received a kanzenban release Shouji Takashi autographed a lot of books for fans and they surface again every so often for sale. I happened to score one and now I have his autograph.

I'm not a big autograph person, but because the series was canned in 2001-ish the 12th kanzenban volume is the only way to get Shouji's conclusion to the story so I figured two birds with one stone and all that (not that I can read anything these days).

Anyway, it's nice to have. Maybe one of these days I'll work on my TBR pile.

I had actually planned to spend my few days off over the New Year catching up on things, then everything kind of just went to shit. So instead of me achieving anything you get this post of random nonsense while I struggle to process my grief, sorry.

[elvenbeard]

Elven goes Comic Park Artist Alley 2023

Here it is, the post I threatened to make! It's gonna be long and full of ramblings, but I wanted to write everything down and idk, maybe you'll find it interesting to read! xD

So, this was my first time tabling at an artist alley. I had applied to another con near-ish me a couple of times in the past but never got accepted, so I was quite floored when it worked here at first try this time around xD I was hella nervous all the way up until the day I actually had to go and leave for some reason. Beforehand, I gathered some inspo at other cons for table setups and invested a little bit in one of those wire-shelf thingies, cause since it's very modular I would have also been able to make good use of it if it turns out artist alleys aren't my thing after all. I got a small collection of prints printed, I wanted to stick with a theme (namely, my original fantasy stuff, since fanart is a legal grey area and I wanted to be on the safe side - also, themes are nice!).

I managed to fit everything I needed for the table into two big Ikea bags and left on Friday noon for the con (we were allowed to set up starting at 2pm that day, the actual con starting on Saturday at 9am). I also set up two small shelf units for putting on the table upfront to save some time!

My cat was not impressed.

Setup and everything worked out without problems, the helpers were all super kind and welcoming. The only thing that was kinda chaotic was that the con organizers and the owners of the location (the artist alleay was in a whole new building, and the location overall is insanely pretty) seemed to kinda work against each other in a way xD Communication didn't quite work, and I think if we as artists and our helpers had received at least some kinda document or ID or a little coloured wristband that said "exhibitor" or something, it would have prevented a lot of arguments and delays. But alas, maybe next year!

Since I had a quite long drive and didn't wanna do that twice every day, I stayed at a hotel nearby. It felt a little like a mini vacation, which was nice xD Cost-wise, I would have ended up paying the same amount in gas that I paid in hotel fees.

As I said, as soon as my table was set up, all nervousness from before had kinda vanished and despite my days starting super early and ending very late, I had a blast overall xD Only thing is, I didn't sleep well (but I rarely do when I know I have to get up early, the anxiety of missing my alarm haunts me in my dreams).

My view for the weekend xD I love how creative some of the other artists' setup was, let alone how amazing their art was! There was a huge variety of styles and products, from prints to pins to handmade jewelry and plushies, and I didn't even get the chance to see it all xD

I guess this being my first table and the fear of accidentally missing out on a conversation with someone who likes my stuff I kinda didn't dare to venture very far from my table xD So I didn't see much of the rest of the con, but thankfully a lot of people found their way to the artist alley anyway! My personal highlight was having the ultimate, first-hand V experience. I randomly look to the right, and suddenly:

Johnny fucking Silverhand! Including an ominous duffle bag that might have said NUKE... or NIKE, not sure... (find him on instagram @_iggyizzy_). Had a short convo with him both days, he was absolutely living his role, and yes xD Best quote that'll stay with me: "Don't make me laugh, or my beard is gonna come off!" Cosplay problems, I relate so hard :D

Some other highlights:

Explaining my dark fantasy world and setting with the target group "21+" to some very enthusiastic young kids who liked the pretty pictures xD

Talking to other creative people and seeing their projects - also loved the fact that there were several others tabling for the first time, and they all had different approaches that I all loved!

In general being told my art is good by complete strangers who know nothing about it was a huge ego and morale boost xD And being able to talk about a very dear-to-me project I'm passionate about in general was awesome

Talking to likeminded people who got inspired what I was doing <3

Nerding about my favourite video games with people

People really liking my inktober stuff a lot, which I wouldn't have expected

Ending the con with a long conversation with two cosplayers/gamers/creative people discussing tabletop games, Dragon Age, and Cyberpunk for about half an hour :D Was such a nice note to end the weekend on!

As I said, upfront I read up on some random resources online, some dos and donts and useful tips for artist alleys. Some of the tips really paid off ("pack a little emergency bag containing all sorts of materials to improvise if need be") which was useful to adjust some price tags and stuff! Others didn't quite turn out to be as accurate, with my most expensive item selling best in comparison to more affordable ones. I also hadn't planned on offering doodle commissions (which I'd seen people do at other cons) but I will definitely do if I ever get a table spot again, cause they were quite popular. And they made me realize once more why I miss doing commissions and will get back into them soon here, too!

Kinda negative things that come to mind regarding the whole experience are really minor actually, as I mentioned already the slightly chaotic organization here and there, but overall there were always good workarounds to that available, too. And I think/hope next time will work out better! A personal annoyance (but that is just my life in general xD) was getting misgendered quite a bit cause I'm not really passing, and me being too scared of irl confrontation in that reagard to correct people XD But I'm working on it. On the other hand, also had a really nice convo with a fellow queer dude about the abundance of pride flags and stuff, which was fun xD

And what I also learned is that the majority of people who do this regularly work Monday-Friday jobs... which makes sense, that enables you to go to cons on weekends, cause you always have the weekend off. Me, I get one weekend off per month at random (I could request specific days, but they're never guaranteed). So yeh... time to find a better dayjob I guess, if I wanna do this professionally xD Or luck out with my day off requests.

Anyway though... my personal takeaway and what I'd do differently next time:

I enjoyed the whole thing a lot more than I would have guessed

I'd make my stand more visibly lgbtq+ themed, to get people interested in queer fantasy art and writings that would walk past generic-looking dark elves

Also I'd add somewhere that this is an original project I'm working on, cause most people I got talking to assumed "oh this is just dnd stuff" and were pleasantly surprised when they learned "no, this is actually a whole setting and story"

I'm gonna wear a name tag with my pronouns on it (I wanted to do it this time but chickened out at the last moment, cause I'm just with one toe out of the closet irl and got too scared XD one challenge at a time)

I did like how my table was set up overall though and apart from some minor tweaks would set it up like this again

I would like to try to walk around more and get talking to other artists more, but I was too glued to my seat and table and everything (also, mild social anxiety, but everyone that I did talk to was so kind, so yeh XD one challenge at a time!!)

So yes. So much to my report on being at an artist alley the first time XD Would love to try it again some time, cause I had a blast, and cause of the stuff I'd like to improve on.

I still have a bunch of leftovers, too, posters, postcards, and a few booklets... But for now I'm gonna set up a Ko-Fi-Shop (which I'd wanted to do for a while) and put some things there for the time being. Once it's up and running a post will follow!

And if you read this far: thanks for reading ♥ xD

[freakingoutthesquares]

Cocker Lips Now! Words: Johnny Dee, Photographer: Derek Ridgers Taken from the New Musical Express, 4 December 1993 Transcription: Acrylic Afternoons

He's raw sex in hipsters, he's old enough to know better and he's out to make his strange suburban madness a household brand. Johnny Dee braves the shoddiest TV show in the world to bring you Pulp - and the gospel according to Jarvis Cocker.

Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker, a man with the deadpan attitude of Alan Bennett and the raw sexuality of Barry White, doesn't like the idea of Virtual Reality. He doesn't like it at all. "I don't want to sound like an old guffer," he apologises, "but a dose of reality would be better for most people interested in Virtual Reality. I mean, most people would be freaked out if you went round and, you know gagged 'em, drugged 'em or something, stuck them in the boot of a car and dumped them in the middle of a field in North Yorkshire. That would freak most people out more than having some headset on."

The Pulp members - Russell (guitar/violin), Steve (bass), Candida (keyboards), Nick (drums) - are used to such typical Jarvis pronouncements, all delivered with a sanguine matter-of-factness. Jarvis is forever calm and unflustered, a man who'd refuse to panic if his arse was on fire. But this time he's gone too far.

"Bloody hell, Jarvis," says Russell, wrapped up in a tight pale blue PVC jacket that matches his eye shadow. "Well," says Jarvis Cocker. "You'd take the gag off afterwards."

Who needs Virtual Reality anyway? Close your eyes and imagine an endless, white corridor. Here, years ago, a perm-haired kids TV presenter called Mick Robertson crouched on his knees at the end of a row of coins denoting the success of the latest Magpie charity appeal. At the end of the corridor is Room 101 - Pulp's dressing room for the night. We are in TV world...

Well, we're in Teddington Lock, Middlesex for the filming of The Word in a TV centre that feels like a maximum security Holiday Inn. Since fellow guests Onyx have received several death threats throughout the day, there are uniformed men resembling Viz comic parkies stationed at the end of each hallway. On every wall there are unnervingly huge colour pictures of celebrities - Eric Morecambe, Cilia Black, Judith Chalmers. The Magpie appeals no longer worm their way around the maze of studios, but in the canteen, Rory Bremner is tucking into quiche and chips.

In Room 101 Pulp siphon Smirnoff into a Highland Spring bottle to beat the draconian on-set alcohol ban. They've been here since 11am: drinking, having their shirts ironed (since guests get their clothes pressed for free, they've all bought along a week's washing) and make-up done and arguing about "the gap".

Their new single 'Lip Gloss' has a two-second break in the middle, which The Word's people maintain isn't on the record (it is) and are worried that the audience will think it's the end of the song and start clapping like chimps (they do). "The gap" becomes an incredibly significant Pulp moment. If they agree to cut it out they'll be compromising. So Sheffield's finest popmongers decide to make the gap longer. Much longer.

It's been a long day spent in stardom's waiting room, but little things have made it worthwhile. Drummer Nick, for instance, overheard Dani Behr call someone "a f***in' c***". Russell saw a raincoated man bent over and struggling with a heavy box in the gents' loo. He opened the door for him and the man flashed a cheesy grin. "It was Des O'Connor! Des O' flippin' Connor!"

It's now 9pm and Pulp are on stage for the last dress rehearsal. It feels more than just a rehearsal for a sensationalist TV show; it feels like a rehearsal for stardom itself. Pulp have been together with various line-ups for ten years now through punk, new romance, C86 and grunge - always defiantly different.

They've survived disasters: Jarvis once being confined to a wheelchair after he jumped from a window to impress a girl; Fire Records putting their third album on hold for two years during legal wrangles. And they've coped with personality crises, too: Russell going through a disciplinary dictator phase, when Pulp ran to a strict regimented timetable; ex-drummer Magnus leaving the band and going barmy after deciding he was the moon... But over the past two years each successive single has been better and sold more than the last, and their audience has got bigger and younger. Now, incredibly, they're on a major label, their records are available in Woolworths, they're on daytime radio and on TV.

Huge day-glo shapes hang from the ceiling as they perform 'Lip Gloss' to a barren studio, Jarvis snaking across the stage in too-tight, thick, purple corduroy trousers, shaping hand movements not witnessed since Alvin Stardust rolled his ringladen fingers for the Pops' cameras. The only people here to witness this are skivvies fussing around with clip-boards, and the dancers - looking like clichéd Freemans catalogue versions of teenagers - who are paid to show off. As Jarvis sings of lipstick-stained fags and being chucked, these young bucks, with bare, greased-up torsos vogue over-enthusiastically on podiums. Half-naked 18-year-olds pretending to rave and having a fake wild time is bizarre enough but then so are Pulp. The camera cuts from Jarvis in karate mode to someone's bum cheek escaping from a pair of midget Homme pants and then back again to bassist Steve, desperately trying not to laugh.

The lovers portrayed in 'Lip Gloss' are worlds away from this forced environment of The Word. Like many Pulp songs, 'Lip Gloss' celebrates the strangeness of the ordinary and stretches a subject so mundane no-one's dared sing about it before. In this case, being pissed off after you've been chucked because you wasted time getting to know his/her mates who you never liked in the first place.

"I've got a bit of a hang-up about songs and films presenting an idealised version of things," explains Jarvis. "It makes people dissatisfied with their own lot in life. But it's something that never existed, it's just been made up by someone. Yes, we do glamorise the everyday but, you know, a bus journey can be exciting. You can treat it just like a journey and sit there like a plank or you can wonder what other people on the bus do with their lives."

Read any article about Pulp and at least three, if not all of these things will be mentioned alongside "the 'w' word" (wacky) or "the 'k' word" (kitsch). Perhaps all the detritus and trash that's associated with Pulp has masked something fantastic. Maybe Pulp really are going to be pop stars. At 11.35pm on Friday night, watching the TV set in room 101, Pulp's manager, Geoff Travis - who was previously the boss of Rough Trade - is sure of it. Tonight is a turning point, Pulp are contenders.

Do Pulp really want fame or are they content to carry on as nearly-made-it confectionery for the talking classes? Is siphoning vodka into water bottles, moaning about "gaps", getting your clothes ironed for free the behaviour of pop stars or forever sixth-form underachievers?

"Oh, we want to be famous," claims Jarvis. "It's what we've always wanted." But do you honestly believe you can appeal to 15-year-old girls? "I'm always trying. We want to appeal to everyone. I'd like to think we're not only trying to appeal to students and grocers. You can't choose who buys your record - it's in a shop, it could be murderers or bakers. But, we've been going so long it's not like we expect to get to Number One or anything."

It could happen, Pulp could really become stars. They'll never be on the cover of teen magazines, flashing torsos or sporting exotic hairstyles they're too old for all that. But it could be fun - Jarvis on What's Up, Doc? corrupting the nation's youth with dark tales of urban normality. Yet... why do they want to go through it, why do they want fame? Jarvis smiles and puffs on an Embassy regal.