#artists and writers and everything alike

[visiblespiketrap]

You know, one of my favorite tidbits in ace attorney fanfiction is seeing all the ways people incorporate descriptions of the games' sprites into each character's movements in their own words.

Like Edgeworth gripping his arm, Phoenix scratching the back of his neck. Trucy putting her hands on her hips and so on.

I love seeing their ticks made apparent in the game being written and expanded upon. It seems obvious that they're a good reference and way to call back to the game and characters, but somehow I'm delighted each and every time.

[keylovesstuff]

My turn!

🏅for the ask game.

🏅 What is the fic you’re most proud of?

Ooooh, this is a little toughie!!! I try to feel really confident when it comes to everything I post (I be like "Yo this is the most amazing thing I've ever done," and all that stuff) cause If I don't feel it then I don't think others will (even though it's online and you can't really tell...I hope I'm making sense).

I'm proud of all my fics for different reasons lol...but I think I'd have to choose "Lost and Found" for several different reasons.

It was the first story I posted in an entirely different fandom

First story I posted where I didn't run it by my beta reader

Finally, it was the first story I ever posted where I shared it somewhere else (here) other than where I posted it. (Up until recently, I just would post it on FFN or on AO3 and just keep it moving for the day 🤭)

I think what really made me want to share it on here was interacting with others and seeing them share their stuff and just how nice and supportive everyone is and I know different fandoms can be like that but it's just something about the Mario fandom on here that's like really sweet and I love it!! 🥰🥰🥰

[pascalpvnk]

take it from me

pairing: bilingual!joel miller x f!afab!reader

summary: joel is a simple man who simply finds pleasure in pleasing you.

warnings: moodboard used for aesthetic purposes - does not represent the reader description, 18+ MDNI, no timeline, no specified ages, no mention of sarah or ellie, LATINO JOEL (most translations within the text except for some reused pet names/common phrases). This is porn with minimal plot (but unrelated plot I canon—his favorite artist is Linda Ronstadt and I stand by it.), Joel maneuvers reader, manhandling essentially, no other descriptions of reader other than nipple piercings, body worship(?), Joel’s filthy fucking mouth, mention of thigh riding, oral (both receiving), unprotected p in v, multiple orgasms, mentions of intense emotions, aftercare.

word count: 3.3k

HOW TO SUPPORT PALESTINE // IMPORTANT FOR TLOU READERS & WRITERS

a/n: fun fact, I’m a virgin, so if it seems far fetched it’s probably because it is. anyways, a special shoutout to ramon nomar for being the muse for this piece, another to @mrsswilliams for beta-ing and fueling my horny antics, thank you to my spanish teachers for guiding me to this moment (probably not your intention but I digress), and to you for taking the time to be here and hopefully enjoying! happy reading xx (banners & dividers by @saradika-graphics)

Addicting is the only word Joel Miller can muster up to describe you as his mind clouds with lust each night he’s alone, bucking into his own fist and spilling his sins after he’d met you. Of course you’re beautiful and charming above all things, but he can’t help the way his cock stirs after simply a phone call from you describing your day. How you miss him and want to meet up again soon.

Joel isn’t the brightest man, which he is very self aware of. But what he craves to learn about you, what your favorite flower is, favorite ice cream, your desires, outranks any level of intelligence a man could hold. He wants to please you, not for a superficial reason to use against you down the line. He enjoys your smile and the way your eyes crinkle, your dimple making an appearance on occasion, and it makes him feel good. The little things shine a light in his chest, ever the people pleaser.

However, he finds a red, hot desire to rouse you, make you squirm under his tender touch. To watch every fiber of control and tension dissipate from your being.

But he’s cautious.

He’s treading on thin ice within himself. He wants to give and give and give, but he’d never forgive himself if he overwhelmed and alarmed you. Your wit keeps him on his toes, tempting and trying his willpower to take things at a palatable pace.

But he’s just a man at his simplest form, a glutton for pleasure wanting to carve himself a home within you and give everything he has to please you. 

You found yourself perched upon his lap, a forgotten movie droning in the background as hands and lips explore new territory. Joel firmly guided your hips, firstly against his own, then he aided you across his denim clad thigh after you wriggled your pants to the floor. 

Choruses of Spanish praises, filth, ‘mamita, use me’, and phrases alike rolled off his tongue effortlessly as he found pleasure within your own. Consuming every moan, gasp, and ‘don’t stop’ you were so eager to give.

He struggled to deny your beautiful pleas to get him off as he had for you. You knew he wanted you to, there was no doubt in your mind considering the prominent bulge straining and begging you to. He reassured you, or rather made excuses for himself to ease the guilt he felt at your subtle disappointment.

I’m not coming in my jeans in front of the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.

You said you had work in the morning, anyhow. We outta get’cha home, preciosa.

Joel kissed you softly as he pulled up your pants, grabbed his keys, opened his truck door for you, waited at red lights, and finally as he dropped you off at your apartment building, sealing the night with melted wax, branding himself on your heart until you meet next.

Made it home okay, sweetheart. Hope to see you again soon.

And he does.

His head is already spinning at the thought of going out with you again. He’s showered, trimmed, even ironed his flannel before making sure it’s buttoned and tucked properly. Well rested is not one of the qualities he’s adorning—no thanks to you running his imagination rampant—but the adrenaline he feels, and the coffee he drank at noon, make up for his lack of preparedness.

At the end of the day, those things don’t even matter. Joel Miller makes it as far as his front door when you ring, bringing you inside with the intention of grabbing his own keys. His hands find you instead, your face in a gentle caress as he compliments your attire, your appearance as a whole, and your waist as he kisses you with increasing fervor. You don’t stop him, and he doesn’t stop himself.

“Ay dios. Couldn’t stop thinkin’ about you all day,” he mumbles against your neck, walking you backwards to his bedroom. His shirt wrinkles under your tight grip, suffocating him until you pop each button open one by one. You leave him in his black undershirt, half untucked in his dark washed jeans.

The back of your knees find his mattress before you even realize, forcing you to sit parallel with his waist. He takes his time, always calculated with his hands on every sweet spot he can reach. Joel cups your jaw, admiring your blown out pupils and the raw lust overtaking your features.

“Wanna take good care of ya, now,” he soothes. “Just say the word and I’ll stop, you know I’ll stop for ya, promise.”

It’s half of a promise to you, half of him asking you to promise to tell him if it becomes too much. You nod, reaching for him once again.

“No, chiquita,” he holds your hand to his chest. “¿Me prometes? You promise me?”

“I promise,” you say clearly and wholeheartedly. “On my life.”

With your renewed consent, he folds himself over to kiss you deeply. His tongue dances with yours, similarly to a few nights prior but with increased desperation. Fingertips graze up your sides, nerves twitching under his subtle touch, only unlatching your lips to lift your top over your head. His eyes fixate on the pebbled flesh and metal protruding your bra, making quick work of the clasp before removing it.

“I knew you had something hiding underneath this,” he muses, toying with the fabric of your bra between his first two fingers. “Just when I thought you couldn’t get any prettier, hm?”

Joel skims his thumbs on the underside of both of your breasts, attaching his mouth to your collarbone. He suckles your delicate skin, committing the taste of your sweet musk and desire to his memory. He softly licks over one of your nipples, taking in how your head tips back with a sigh. He brings it into his mouth, nipping and assuaging the pierced bud until you manage to free his shirt out of his waistline.

“Paciencia, amor. Patience, sweetheart, please,” he pacifies as he guides your hand out of reach from his belt. “Just wanna savor you. Can I?”

You nod and opt to tangle your fingers in his curls. Approval seeps through his smirk as he continues his ministrations for as long as he pleases, feeling accomplished each time your hips chase his.

Joel stands up straight, running his calloused hands over one of your clothed legs, meticulously pulling each shoe and sock off and tossing them to the side to find later. 

“Do I need a condom, baby?” He mutters against your knee, toying with the hemline of your pants.

You tell him no and quickly explain you’re clean and protected. Something in him visibly switches, desire becoming carnal. He clings tight to his sense of control, desperately willing himself to give himself to you, not give into himself.

Joel drags both layers of bottoms down your legs, watching you challenge him by keeping them clamped together. He exhales heavily through his nose, your limbs relaxing slightly, but just enough for him to retake control.

“Christ, looks like I was wrong again,” he sighs, smoothing his flattened palms over your open thighs. You can get prettier. “Oh she’s pretty, mamita. All this for me?”

A gasp falls between your lips as you’re tugged closer to the edge of the mattress. Your head spins, the only thought crossing it is Joel. His hands. His words. His filthy mouth and how it’s mere centimeters from where you want him to be. Need him to be.

“Joel,” you whine, feeling the scratch of his blunt facial hair on your inner thighs. His lips tease the sensitive skin around your pussy.

“What?” He coos, fingernails biting your flesh. “Dime, baby. Tell me what you want.”

It feels pathetic, you’re completely at his mercy, stripped down on his bed while he remains fully clothed over you. He has you in the palm of his hand, putty waiting to be molded and shaped however he pleases. Bliss has already warped your features, the anticipation of what’s to come already numbing your brain.

“I want you,” you cry simply.

“You have me, don’t ya? I’m gonna need you to be more specific.”

Frustration bubbles in your belly. You’re truly not annoyed, but the tension might snap you in half before he gets the chance to.

“Want you to touch me,” you plead. “Want you to make me come, please.”

Joel hums with content, thumbs pulling your cunt open from the outer lips. A slick, sticky mess you are, hardly touched and begging to come. Arousal seeps from you, finding its way to your tight hole. You watch Joel wet his lips, the self restraint slowly dwindling from his gaze. 

“Show me,” he huffs. “Be good and fuck your hand f’me. Wanna see how you like it.”

The sound of his metal belt buckle clanking against itself is enough for your hand to fly below your hips. Relief floods your nervous system the moment you circle your clit, hips lifting and chasing the friction. Sighs leave your parted lips, eyelids falling shut with pleasure.

“Ah ah,” he corrects. “Eyes on me, beba. Sigue jugando con esa flor bonita. Mírame.” Keep playing with that pretty flower. Look at me.

You comply with his request, half lidded but maintaining eye contact nonetheless. Your fingers toy with your cunt lazily, eyes settling between his burning gaze and his taut boxers. His length strains beneath the thin fabric and his hand twitches at his side.

“I love watching you, mami,” Joel purrs. “Wish y’could see how perfect you look right now…perfectly wrecked just for me.”

His words egg you on, pace quickening on your throbbing clit. Moans spill from you as you watch Joel squeeze at his seemingly uncomfortable erection for his own relief. His other palm keeps your legs spread for him, kneading desperately at your thighs as you work yourself towards the edge.

“¿Quieres que te ayude, mamita?” Do you want me to help you?

Joel settles on his knees, both palms splayed against your skin to keep you pinned down. He licks a broad stripe from your asshole to your clit, sucking harshly on your labia before diving into your weeping cunt, all while audibly sighing with delight at your taste. Your hand instinctively rushes to grip his curls.

“I didn’t tell you to stop,” he grumbles while putting your hand back where he says it belongs. “Keep playing with yourself. Make this pretty pussy cry all over my face, cosa dulce.” Sweet thing. 

Your digits pulse against the nerve bundle, shocked by the sensation of his tongue swirling inside of you. It’s absolutely obscene. He slurps up everything you have to give, edging you until your legs clamp over his ears. Joel sings into your cunt, a delicious melody that sends you into a frenzy. Your walls flutter around him as he guides you through your orgasm, nose nudging your hand out of the way to make more room for himself.

Your gaze drops from the ceiling to his blissful face, thick eyelashes brushing his flushed cheeks as he savors you. It all begins to feel like too much as you grip onto his shirt. You pull the cloth towards you and he gets the hint, dragging his mouth away from your pussy and removing his top.

“So desperate to come, mamita, already finished with me?” He cants, smoothing a thumb over your kneecap.

“No- just need a breath,” you pant. You take in his features, broad shoulders with a strong chest, thick arms. His hair alone has you running laps, the sparseness of it littered on his torso and below his belly button, his curls tousled already from your hands, and his beard—fuck his beard—is absolutely soaked with your arousal. He makes no attempt to wipe it clean before kissing you. The taste of your cunt dances on your tongue as he licks into your mouth.

“Joel,” you sigh, his lips leaving yours and trailing down your neck. “I wanna suck your cock, please.”

“You wanna suck it?” He smirks, slipping his hand beneath his boxers before shoving them off of his thighs. His fingers slip through your folds briefly before he deposits your cum onto the tip of his dick. Mischief plays on his expression as he opens your legs once more.

Joel slowly stuffs his cock into you, not your mouth but your pussy. A gasp escapes you, morphing itself into a moan. Your legs wrap around his waist, heels digging into his ass to pull him in deeper.

“Thought you wanted to suck it,” he grunts with a devilish grin, grinding his hips down into yours.

“Hmm, I’ll suck it later,” you draw out with a smile.

He leans down to suck your bottom lip into his mouth, gently nibbling on the sensitive skin before pulling off. 

“God, mamita,” he exhales. “Love fucking this pussy. Takin’ me so well.”

His hips drive into yours at a devastating pace, only using a portion of his length to massage your pussy. You quickly adjust to him, allowing him to thrust deeper into you. You cry his name while simultaneously having all of the oxygen punched out of your lungs. Joel swallows your wails whole, moaning against your lips in return.

Your legs tense around his body, face twisting up with pleasure under the weight of his. Lips drag against your skin, anywhere he can reach. The room spins around you, eyes rolling back into your head as his hand snakes down to play with your clit. You desperately claw at Joel, gripping his curls in one hand and bruising his back with the other. 

“Dámelo. Give it to me like I want, sugar,” Joel coaxes. 

The bundles of twine prickling your flesh and holding you together in one piece snap, your body completely shattering into a million fragments underneath him. He stays buried inside you as you pulse around his cock, humming into your neck and soothing his hands over your burning skin. 

Joel gently settles onto his side near you, cupping your jaw and kissing you feverishly. You shift your body to face away from him, pushing back against his soaked erection. His eyebrows furrow, grunts of detest coming from him.

“No, mami, I want to look at you while I fuck you. Ven aquí, come here,” he corrects, grasping your arm to guide you to press up chest to chest with him. A brief hiss escapes him as the cool jewelry brushes up against his nipples.

“These’ll be the death of me,” he sighs, latching his mouth to yours once more as he maneuvers you the way he wants. 

His cock slips easily back into your wet heat, arms trapping your upper half against his as his legs anchor to the bed to buck into you. He grips onto your ass for leverage and you find yourself holding onto it with your own palm. It’s slower, intimate, reeling you in to take more, to take it all.

He draws another orgasm from you. Your heart thrums against his hardened chest, his pounding against the confines of his ribcage. He collapses on his back with a breathy groan, sweat perspiring on his forehead. You push back his sticky curls as he catches his breath this time.

“You still wanna suck it?” He chuckles cheekily, offering but not forcing. 

He’s surprised as you eagerly crawl down his body, curling over his thigh while taking his cock in your fist. Your back is to him once more, but beggars can’t be choosers, especially while he’s stuffed in your mouth so perfectly. His fingers drag along your spine, palm splaying flat to soothe the sensation quickly after. His hand stills and stomach flexes as you take as much of him as you can, pumping your tight fist over the remainder of his length.

“Fuck me,” he shutters mindlessly, “feels so good, amor. Treating me so good.”

The praises fuel you, moaning around his tip as he continues to trace shapeless trails onto your back. Your mind feels cloudy, not thunderstorms and impending doom cloudy, but rather a sunny, breezy, nothing could ever go wrong kind of cloudy. You feel taken care of for once, free to slip into a warm, blissful state with Joel. He feels safe.

“Come back, preciosa,” he grins as you make your way back up his body. He doesn’t hesitate to kiss you deeply once more, running his hands gently all over your skin as you settle on top of him.

“Missed ya,” he chuckles, kissing your swollen pout a few more times before wetting his fingertips with his spit. He reaches down, circling your clit as his cock twitches against your seam. Your head falls beside his, feeling too heavy to hold up on your own.

Joel protrudes your cunt once more, nestling into you carefully at first. You writhe over him at the push and pull of his cock inside your fluttering walls, hips snapping down against his with subtle slaps of skin rejoicing. He picks up his pace beneath you, overwhelming your senses a bit too quickly.

You work your core to sit up, fully sheathed with his length as you grind against him. He grips onto your hips, watching you use him for your own pleasure. 

“Tan bonita, amor,” he hums smugly, his fingertips dancing along your bare thigh, his other hand tucked behind his head to prop himself up. “So pretty, mami, fuck.”

He tweaks his fingers against your nipples, pinching the pebbled flesh carefully as you ride his lap. Tufts of his neat pubic hair scratch at your clit, the friction of everything causing you to soak his lap further. You’re being pushed to your limits, throat dry and voice hoarse. Joel wishes to have put water on his bedside table, he would’ve had he’d known you’d end up here so quickly. 

“Doin’ okay, sweetheart?” He checks in, toying with your fingers that have found a home on his chest. You silently nod, eyelids low and face contoured with bliss.

“Think you can give me one more, bebita? Come on my cock one more time and I’ll give you whatever you need.”

Your voice hardly sounds like your own, but you mean it when you tell him yes, please. He feels it when you clamp down on his length, his thighs tensing so tight they almost cramp. His legs hinge at the knee, body pivoting you forward into his chest. Joel grabs fistfuls of your ass as he fucks up into you, all of the air leaving your lungs.

His grunts and groans become less calculated and intentional, thrusts becoming sloppier and instinctual. You squeeze him tight, toes curling as you already tumble towards your impending high.

“Mierda,” he hisses, strong arms pressing your torso firmly to his. His lips consume your every breath, whine and borderline scream.

“Take it, use me, amor. Dámelo, cariño, and I’ll give you my cum. Take it from me,” he grunts sharply, pressing into you impossibly deeper and faster. Your skin bursts into flames, embers showering your body as he pulls that final high from you. You shutter above him, dead weight against his body as he uses you to finish himself off. He evacuates your warmth and pumps out his load between your sticky, worn out figures with a drawn out groan. 

Joel makes the first move to stand up, cock softening and hanging between his legs. He starts to step towards his en suite bathroom to find a towel, but you reach for him.

“I’m just gettin’ somethin’ to clean you up, honey,” he smiles before seeing a sadness in your eyes, longing for him to come back. Tears prickle your eyes and Joel quickly makes his way back to the bed.

“Okay, okay, I’ll stay, baby, cálmate,” he hushes carefully, holding you close to him. “We’ll getcha cleaned up in a little bit, I’ll make you whatever you fancy for supper and relax with you, sound good?”

A nod suffices his question, knowing you trust him enough to stay rather than run off eases him as he grounds you back to reality with his warm embrace.

to stay up to date on when I post fics, follow @pascalpvnk-writes and turn on notifications! i hope you enjoyed xx

[kcggggg]

I've been following your work for most of my adult life. You are one of the most important artists I know. I know you've had a difficult time. I really do hope you win.

My difficulties lie within my childish notions that I still cling onto. Notions that my work can change everything in the entire world as if I'm the band Dethklok in Metalocalypse, a whole world dedicated to metal. That may seem like a big ego trip kinda thinking, but comics and humor are simultaneously important and seen as a childish medium in the eyes of most normal people and critics alike. Everyone knows the meme, but people think it's a public use. Everyone loves a joke, but writers had to strike to get fairly paid, etc.

I feel like I have to live in a hypocritical realm of never being taken seriously and always got a laugh on hand. And that's not a new zone for entertainers the more I get comfortable myself in it.

The other side is that maybe I am delusional and my comics aren't as good as I think. But I am on mostly solid ground with my work and I know when I'm proud of something I've done. So let's keep the delusion going as long as we can.

image unrelated.

[nerfpuncher]

HAPPY MAY THE 4TH Y'ALL!!

I'd like to tell yall a story.

As well all know, 3 years ago today The Bad Batch premiered. We were in the thick of Tritcale Harvest (like we are now lol). I was too excited to wait till I got home to watch. So I propped my phone up on the tractor steering colum, used my head phones, and watched the pilot while driving tractor. It was wonderful.

At the same time, my big red mare was over due to foal by two weeks. She could release the hostage at any time. I had checked on her at 4am when I left for the field, she showed no signs of foaling.

A surprise bout of rain at 10am shut us down that day. So I went home and drove out to check her just in case.

This is what I found

He was dry, standing and nursing. I'm guessing she had him not long after I had checked in the morning.

A perfect clone of his mother right down to the star on his head. After a few days, when he mother would nicker, he would too.

So of course he had to be named Echo❤️

In the same way I have loved this show over the past 3 years and watched the fandom grow, I watched Echo grow as well.

He is curious and kind. First to meet you at the gate when called. He is playful by nature, stealing hats, gloves, or anything else left unattended.

He is a fast learner with more try than any other horse iv started (and iv started a lot of colts)

Anyway

A few days ago, I once again left my house at 4am, propped my phone up on the tractor steering colum, and watched the series final the same way i did when it first aired. It was so bitter sweet.

Then as if it was meant to be, a suprise bout of rain hit at 10am, and shut us down again.

I figures I only had one choice.

A few days shy of his 3rd birthday, I put the first ride on my ARC trooper in training. I felt how he moves under saddle for the first time.

He is a horse that very few ranchers get to ride in their lifetime. He is brave in the face of the unknown. Calm in the chaos. Everything I want in a cow horse and then some. I can only imagine him 5 years down for road

My how he has grown into his name

Why did I feel the need to write all this?

While our favorite show has ended, Echo here will live another 25 years with me if I'm lucky.

And every time I swing my leg over him, I'll think of this wonderful fandom iv come to be apart of. Of the artists and writers who put their hearts and souls into their work for us to enjoy. I'll think of the amazing people I got the privilege to know and call friends. ❤️

I'll think of all the Echo posts. Funny and angsty alike.

So while the show my have come to a bitter sweet end.

I'll have my sweet Echo to remind me of why I fell in love with the show and fandom in the first place ❤️

[z0mbiefrank]

Transcript for Marina Toybina on the Designing Hollywood podcast

I've seen a couple people searching for a transcript of her discussing Gerard Way's stage costumes, so I have made one! Feel free to share/link as a resource. Popular quotes are bolded.

Link to source video. MCR's section starts around 22 minutes in.

The transcript is beneath the cut.

Interviewer: Well now you’ve just finished working with My Chemical Romance, which is a band that I dig. Gerard Way is also a comic book writer and artist, created the Umbrella Academy. So, first of all, how did you get that job? Because there’s a design, I mean the look of that band and what they like to do, what they’re influenced by, they’re not just your typical rock band. So what was it like? How did you get that job? You designed the whole tour right?

Marina: I Collaborated with the lead singer, yes, with Gerard. Uhm, okay everything kinda has it’s place in time. About 15 years ago, 15 to 20 years ago, I was a huge fan. I’m a rock girl at heart, and back then a lot of their music was like music to my soul. It got me through some of the harder times. A lot of my friends were musicians. I never saw them live, never could afford to get to their shows, but knew one day in my heart there probably will be an opportunity, they were in like my top 5 favorite bands. He was an artist I’ve always wanted to work with. This past summer, while I was designing So You Think You Can Dance, I just happened to turn on their music - nope- let me rewind I'm so sorry. So a year ago I was reading a release that they're coming back together on tour and they're playing LA on my birthday. I looked at my team and I was like "I'm gonna be at that show. We're gonna go to the show, we're all gonna go together." And I just jokingly said “I'll probably dress them!” A lot of things in my career have happened to manifestation, I'm a huge believer in that. I think my intentions were so clear into the universe. I believed in it so much. That happened a year ago. Then this past summer, I was driving to work, I was listening to their music and I just happened to text my agent. I'm like “You know I really want to get back into music. It's what I used to do. I used to do a lot of live performances. I used to do a lot of music videos. I need to feel that again, even though I'm surrounded with music all the time and I'm doing all these shows. But there was a disconnect in my career, to where it's like I love live entertainment.” And she’s like “Who do you want? Like are we going after pop stars?” And I'm like “No I've done all that. I want to go back to my roots. I want like Incubus or My Chemical Romance or Red Hot Chili Peppers. Get me back to rock and roll.” And she was like “Well, you know, they're touring, but it's probably… I don’t know, let's put it out there.” Then within two weeks I get an email from her like “Hey their managers want to meet with you, he wants to meet with you.” One of the biggest things about their aesthetic is one of my probably top three costume designers, Colleen Atwood, did their black parade album and it was so incredible. Back then, I was always a step behind. It's like they did The Black Parade and then I met the photographer later. Then I worked on a project with him. So it was always like some better-late-than-never I guess. And I'm like “I'm gonna work with her someday, I love her work. I've been told by many people we're a lot alike.” You know? And I'm like “Why not?” And so we get this email “He would like to take a meeting, see what we can do.” I never expected to do a tour, I just wanted to open this door of opportunity, to just collaborate, maybe do one thing together. And he just showed up in my studio and it was just an amazing artistic energy.

Interviewer: Were you starstruck?

Marina: I was trying to hold it together. I mean before they came in, I can't tell you how much I paced. Usually, there's like 15 - 20 people at my studio. This was the time and day that I was alone. I didn't know what to do. Of course, my expectations were just to present myself and see if I would be a good asset to them because I love their music and I love what he's about. Also, it’s not just the frontman for me, I think he's a brilliant artist. So there's a lot of things. I just wanted our worlds to merge somehow. Within the first five minutes of our conversation, I'm like “Oh I get his brain.” I told them my story. I told him that this is like 20 years in the making. You know, I probably sound like a crazy-fan costume designer. But we share ideas, he walked me through the concepts of things he wants to do on this particular tour and they haven't started doing the US leg of the tour. I didn't know if they had a designer. Then he did mention Colleen was doing something for him and I was like “Okay, how - can this be a triangle? You know? Can I come in in the picture?” It was just a beautiful collaboration. It was a genuine artist to artist conversation. Like “Let's do something interesting.” He walked me through his concepts, his ideas and I'm like “Alright well, let me come up with some creatives, see if we're on the same page.” Again, as much as I wanted to be like “Hey we're doing this tomorrow!” I also felt like it's important now in my career and possibly in his, to make sure the relationship is good, that this is the right artistic match to one another and… it worked! From there it was just amazing fittings, amazing collaboration and some iconic things that went viral!

Interviewer: I love hearing this from you because this is like the joyous experience of 'oh my god I dreamt of working with somebody and you finally get to do it'. But I want to take you back to that because I'm curious. How would that process even begin? You're working with somebody that you already know their music, you already know his vibe. And Colleen Atwood, who I've interviewed by the way, on the show, she's incredible. Our interview had to - she was in the middle of a work day, so it was only it was a short interview. But how does a collaboration like that work with somebody like Gerard Way? How do you guys start working together? How is that process?

Marina: For us, it was just like an initial conversation. I introduced myself, my work. They already did some background checking up to see where I stand, what my aesthetic was like. And I felt I was in a place in my life, in my career, where I was able to bring something new. That's where my confidence I think came from. At the same time I didn't want to change the artist that's in front of me. I think that's always so important for me when working with music. You're dealing with a fan base, and a reputation, an aesthetic approach that's far beyond any artistic reach of anybody new coming in. So for me it was having a conversation, understanding what characters he wanted to bring forward. This was a very playful tour. This wasn't about dressing up the whole band. This was about him being in this world of iconic characters. And how can we bring this to life? What can we do that's still very recognizable to his fans but at the same time a little bit of a shock value? But at the same time, I wanted him to be him, you know? He was in this beautiful place in his life and career where he felt great and felt confident and I just wanted to uplift that. We did our creative decks, went through the conversations of which characters we wanted to go with, these are the shows that he had. I knew which city, we kind of wanted to play off where was the right time. Halloween was right around the corner, what do we do? So it was like very strategic conversations but at the same time so much room to play and be creative. So I just gathered the top 10 characters that we had discussed and kind of started doing my own thing, and keeping him and the music in mind. Had an amazing fitting. I've never worked with an artist that's so clear. It was not just directional and very precise and very distinct on his own style, but it was clear for me when we were doing fittings, this is somebody that knows his body. This is somebody who knows his aesthetic on stage. This is somebody that knows how they're going to perform. So it just made it so much easier for me to be able to fall into his world and do the fittings like “Is this going to come off? Is this piece staying on? Are we going to do options? Is the character going to evolve on stage? Is the character going to come down on stage?” So all those conversations happen in our fittings and then I just packed it all up, with distinct notes, send them off, and then kept checking in, making sure everything was okay.

Interviewer: So when you had a direction for the characters, were you doing sketches first?

Marina: No, not at all. This was something that I felt like needed to have the research. It wasn't just about designing something on paper. When he mentioned to me “I wanted to be a vintage cheerleader” I'm like “Okay, what era are we in? 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 40’s?” and then he was like “Find me something that's within possibly this color scheme.” The image that went viral when he did wear the cheer uniform, it was probably like 10 different vintage stores that we went to. And I'm like “Okay everything's size zero.” or like “What am I gonna do? This stuff doesn't exist anymore. If I get it from Etsy it's not going to come in time.” There's like so much and it happened to be as we were leaving one of the stores I looked on a sale rack and I saw this damaged, weird, vintage cheer dress that had no zipper, that had no hem. And I was like “I love this! I love this because I can reconstruct it. I can go and get the fabrics that we need to still keep it original and authentic. And that's how we start working. I build out a mannequin his size at my studio, put it on, we reshaped it, took the whole thing apart, reconstructed it to be his measurements, and still kept it authentic. After he wore it, the pattern for the actual thing was sold out. Fans loved it so much that we were getting notifications that people actually found the original pattern of this 1940s uniform and were buying it out.

Interviewer: That's crazy, okay!

Marina: Oh it's amazing! I think, to me, that's when things are just meant to be. When not only did my work translate into something beautiful on stage, but then he becomes this incredible persona on stage that then delivers the character and plays it off. We did that throughout every single look. Every single look when it became a fan favorite or craze.

Interviewer: In terms of time, what was the process when you first got the gig and then to the first show that was performing using your work? What was the time frame?

Marina: I think I had about a month to get it all together.

Interviewer: Wow! That’s not much!

Marina: Yeh and at the same time, I had another huge project in the works so it was going back and forth. But I could not tell you, I've had difficult projects in the past, I've had difficult times with artists, or finding our own language, or how to execute some things. This was so easy that time didn't matter to me. It was such a great collaboration, it flowed, like Bruce Lee would say, like water. It just made sense and no matter how difficult my other project was or what was going on at the same time, it was like oh this is the universe showing me this is how it's supposed to be. This is what's inspiring me. And at the end of the day, the one thing I told Gerard was “You made me fall in love with music again. You came into my life as an artist that I've admired and wanted to work with for almost 20 years. There was a big part of my beginning that made me look back at this now and be like “Oh that's what. That was that feeling that I had when I was 16 or 20.”

[determunition]

hey everyone! inscryptober is just around the corner once again :D i'm excited to run this little fandom art/writing challenge for a third year, and extra excited to see what everyone comes up with this time!

i'm currently putting together the themes for this year's event, and as always my askbox is open for any suggestions you might have for them! if you're new to the event feel free to check out the previous year's themes here and here to get a feel for the kind of prompts i tend to go with ^^

also, if you'd like a more direct hand in brainstorming ideas both before and during the event, feel free to join my discord server! i use it for both scrybruary and inscryptober, as well as just to chat with fellow inscryption fans! you can find the link right here

super excited to get everything set up again, and hoping to see a good turnout from awesome artists and writers alike this year! ^^

[campbyler]

our chapters average at 27,000 words, the total fic length is already 3x the average novel length, and we lost one of the authors working on this fic. it must be so nice to only have to endure the wait for a chapter to be uploaded so that you can interact with it rather than being the one to actually write it.

im going to be cruel (no pun intended) to be kind: this is such an intense externalisation of blame. you are the ones in control of the fic length; the chapters could handle some heavy editing and it wouldnt make them any less wonderful (such as regarding the descriptions of mike and will's internal thoughts, not the action between the characters themselves). fic is free and its a gift to be able to read works that inspire our hearts and minds while we wait for the show, but then again, when at the stern of a juggernaut work such as this, one that will inevitably have many followers chomping at the bit on tumblr as well as ao3 (as you designed it to have!), you surely must be aware of something that only usually exists in professional marketing spaces involving customers + brand IP: the relationship between consumer and creator, and what they can give each other.

not 'owe each other' - nothing is owed, except perhaps basic human kindness. fans want your work, and its free, so we should be grateful; likewise, you want readers, feedback and clicks, and that should be free, too. but in order for this to work smoothly, there has to be fair give and take. i mean, if you wanted to monetize the fic i'm sure many people would pay to read it, but thats beside the point here.

what fans of this fic simply want is the same honesty and self-awareness from you that they might expect from any artist who has embarked on such am ambitious project. and this doesnt just mean transparency about potential uploading dates (which is already much appreciated by the majority!), or notifications about how hard it is to balance work and life (something most people on the planet struggle with). it means total honesty and hard answers. people like to know where they stand. plenty of writers (both professional and fan alike) abandon works for months, years at a time, and if the work is THAT good, people will always be thrilled to see a return. it's the mucking people about that is what destroys relationships - no matter how good your reasons are.

your fic is wonderful and very, very memorable. you could take a big, undefined hiatus and people would, im sure, return, including me. seeing you admit that you have been prioritizing this fic over your mental health does not inspire confidence either, or even comfort - do i want to read something that has caused the creator such harm?

i think everything about this process would be happier for everyone if you set boundaries that work for you and didn't place blame elsewhere. after all, as you said, it's just a fanfic. it doesnt matter if you don't finish it. it doesnt matter if it takes all the way to s5 for 10.2 to release. everyone would, though, appreciate you taking a stance and being consistent (and therefore fair) to both yourselves and the readers.

please feel free to not post this publicly or do as you wish with it.

hello! thank you for your feedback and for sharing it in a way that is both kind and respectful. you make many valid points that i agree with -- we are in control of the word counts and could stand to edit down more, and we do recognize where being transparent about the reasons behind the chapter delays might not inspire confidence or comfort. i do, however, think that isolating one response/chain of responses to a particular ask is a little unfair, so i'd like to provide additional context.

i do not think that it's fair to say that we haven't been honest, self-aware, or fair, because we have been incredibly transparent throughout the entire run of the fic (over a year) about our writing process. just last month suni said she hadn't been working on 10.2 at all because abby had been visiting her house, and readily took ownership of that fact. there was a 4-month wait between chapters 9.1 and 9.2, and i was very open about the fact that i simply needed a break for at least the first of those months because i didn't want to write it. we have continued to maintain several times that we are not abandoning the fic, even if it takes longer between chapters, and have tried to stay as active as possible on the blog because we know that seeing us interact with asks Does inspire confidence. if you just scroll down and see how we have answered other asks inquiring about the upload, we responded kindly and respectfully.

what you interpreted as externalization of blame in that one (1!) ask response was me trying to provide perspective to someone who clearly lacked it. we understand that people will be frustrated about chapter delays, especially if we keep pushing them back, and this is also something that we have received feedback about before and tried to implement; however, it is also a double-edged sword where if we don't give an estimated upload, people get upset, or we give an estimated upload that we think is completely reasonable for us to achieve and then hurdles get in the way, whether it's writer's block or work or time with friends. i absolutely get the frustration on the receiving end, but something i have learned from being in this fandom for two years is that a pretty big majority of those who are interacting with fanworks are not creating it themselves, hence why my response -- while snippy and annoyed, because i was matching the energy, and will not apologize for that -- was contextualizing the whys behind the chapter delay: the chapters are long, the fic is long, we are down one entire body from where we started. the intention was not to shuck blame off of ourselves, but i get that intentions don't always translate into effect, so it's understandable that it was received differently.

we don't always respond to things perfectly. when we have a million and one asks inquiring about the next upload, one stray one that comes off the wrong way is likely going to set us off, because we are people, and this is not a job. we have set a boundary by disabling anon, and again, i cannot stress enough how much i appreciate that you've come to us with this feedback off-anon and with respect and decency. i get where you are coming from and again, agree with a lot of your points.

the only other thing i want to make clear is that this fic, no matter how much attention its garnered, should not be treated as a creator/consumer relationship that mirrors anything where the exchange of money is involved. not only is it unfair to apply this standard to fanworks, where it is illegal to monetize such content, but the entire purpose of fanworks is to celebrate what you are a fan of together. when you apply expectations on either end -- i am a fan of this work, therefore, people should create timely content for it; i am creating this fanwork, therefore, people should interact with it -- defeats the entire nature of fan-created work as a whole. while we have continued to be vocally grateful for the love and support our fic has been shown, we both maintain that we would continue writing and continue uploading even if we were getting less than half of the amount of interaction that we do. it's nice to have interaction, but not necessary, because we what write and post is done because we love it, and it's shared so that we can look back on it, so our friends can enjoy it, and anyone else who might want to. we are, of course, excited to share that world with anyone who cares -- we created the blog and the promo because we wanted to share it -- but that does not mean that the relationship between us and our readers should have expectations. we are all creating and enjoying this work for free for the sake of love for the characters, as the star trek obsessed housewives of the 60s (and the law) have intended.

i feel like this response is a bit jumbled so i apologize if anything isn't clear or hard to understand. thank you again for your time!

[petricorah]

i wanna start making comics but like. i dont really know how??? are there any tips that you could give me perhaps?

hi!

i've been working on trying to compile a list of resources for people (@aangsfrogs--i didn't forget!) who want to make comics for a long time. It would consist of some of my personal tips and a lot of links to other people's PDFs and youtubes. But that's...a hefty project, so if you had any specific questions for the meantime, my askbox is open!

But, for just beginning, here would be my tips:

Read comics. Read manga and webcomics and cartoons and medical comics. There is so much out there, and reading is such a big way to learn. If you see something you like, take a moment to think about why you like it. Are the expressions or colors appealing? Did it make you feel a certain emotion? Analyze what the artist may have done to get across what they did. (Is it the camera angle? the style they chose to draw in? the paneling? the pacing? the color? etc.) Doing this over time will help you recognize the tools available for telling stories through this medium, and you'll be able to put them in your own work.

Try to think about what you want to make comics about. What moves you? What topics interest you? What ideas or tropes do you love in media or think about often? What do you hate and wish was done better? What characters are you drawn to, or what characters do you want to create? (What about them compels you?) I find it's hard to create an idea out of thin air, but if you start writing down random ideas you have, you'll start thinking about them, and over time, you'll have a bank of things to pull from when you want to create.

Lastly, anatomical skill or knowledge of color does not a comic make! You don't have to know much to begin, and there aren't rules. Just start drawing what is meaningful to you!

This is just cursory and doesn't get into super specifics like paneling or scripts or plotting or colors or thumbnailing or....etc, but I'll try to expand my list of resources and get that out! And, hmu if you have any specific questions on topics!

happy drawing~

Book list under readmore:

Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and his Making Comics. These books are taught in like, every comic class ever. While not my complete favorite, they do a good job of showing some history and fundamentals, and how easy it is to make comics even if you don't have a lot of drawing experience.

99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style by Matt Madden: Really good if you don't know how to start analyzing comics. (Also it's just a fun visual exercise.) It shows the same short story done in 99 different styles with different emphasis on different moods and points of view.

The PreHistory of The Far Side: A 10th Anniversary Exhibit by Gary Larson and The Calvin and Hobbes: Tenth Anniversary Book by Bill Watterson: Two great books with work from my two favorite cartoonists. They both have writings from the author about getting ideas, developing stories, and being a comic artist.

Uncanny Bodies: Superhero Comics and Disability, edited by Scott T. Smith and José Alaniz and Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation, edited by Sheena C. Howard and Ronald L. Jackson II: These two aren't really about making comics, but they are great collections of analysis about old and new comics alike.

By no means a complete list, but some good ones that I can think of off the top of my head.

There's also the book Webtoon School: Everything you need to know about webtoon creation and story writing. To be honest, I didn't read this completely through because it was a bit more fundamental than I was expecting, but it gives a good cursory look of how to write comics if you're just starting out! It covers some history, how to write stories and arcs, etc.

Also, look to your favorite writers! A lot of webtoon/webcomic artists do tutorials or youtube videos. for instance, velnxi has this great tutorial up I really suggest looking at here.

[ailesswhumptober]

All About Us! -->asks are currently open<-- AI-less Whumptober 2024 Prompts

-->Our Discord<--

~Who are the Tumblr Mods?~ Mod Missy: She/They, Writer --will sign >Mod Missy when answering questions Mod Radio: They/It, Artist --will sign >Mod Radio when answering questions

Mod Shae: They/Them, Writer --will sign >Mod Shae when answering questions ~Some Frequently Asked Questions~

Q:Why did you make a separate Whumptober? A: We noticed the usual Whumptober has taken a strange stance in regards to AI, particularly a non-stance that doesn't seem to discourage AI usage in the way we and some others were hoping. This included saying AI had a place in writing as well as art, and saying defending against it was going down on an already burning hill. We disagree with this wholeheartedly. (read this for more info) Q:What is AI-less Whumptober? A: Well, it's basically Whumptober...But with a firm stance against AI content. AI-less Whumptober will essentially function the same, with a list of prompts every day for the month of October, with the difference being that we actively disavow AI content and discourage it strongly

Q: What's so bad about AI?

A: AI in itself is a theft. It works off of cannibalizing other people's works, often without permission, and it CANNOT be used without this theft. The argument that you can just train it on your own work is entirely false, as even then with the AI apps used it compares, contrasts, and includes work that is plagiarized and stolen from artists and writers alike. It is also downright terrible for the environment. AI IS NOT AN ACCESSIBILITY TOOL! Q: Okay, but is AI really that bad though? A: Yes, yes it is. here are some links. > the negative impacts of AI art on Artists >The Intellectual Property Problem

>AI in the publishing world: Are AI novels theft? >ChatGPT: The fight against AI Q: Do you have to post every single day? A: Nope! You can post any of the days you'd like. You can bounce around and do 10 different ones, or just 1, or all 31! If you're posting content you made under the hashtag #AIlesswhumptober2024, congratulations, you've participated in AI-less Whumptober! Q: Can I post NSFW? A: Absolutely! Just please keep everything under the read more, otherwise known as the cut. NSFW content will not be allowed in the Discord server. Q: Can I post OC content? A: Yes! AI-less Whumptober is a multi-fandom event that can include different fandoms or original content Q: Will your list of prompts be different from the regular Whumptober? A: Yes. The mods of AI-less Whumptober have come up with the 31 different prompts, as well as a few extras in case the theme of the day just isn't vibing with you! 3. How do I protect my work from AI?

Glaze is a great tool for protecting the art that you post, made by the awesome people at University of Chicago. As for writing, we're looking at finding solutions for this. We're open to suggestion! -->Our Discord<--

[arom-antix]

Yuri!!! On Cards collaboration!

So, I know I've been pretty inactive recently, at least in posting my own art but for good reason! In the Yuri on the Web Discord server artists and writers alike have all collaborated to illustrate a deck of cards and write stories for each of them. And as a resident artist myself, I couldn't not take the opportunity to draw for this project UuU

Oh and if anyone was wondering, yes, I am to blame for inflicting this giant project onto the server BUT I REGRET NOTHING AND NEITHER WILL YOU IF YOU CHECK OUT EVERYONE ELSE'S WORKS. Trust me, they are amazing! The masterpost can be found here!

GIANT thanks to @lines-on-ice and @yaoiconnoisseur for helping so much and being amazing co-administrators and basically making this entire thing possible! You really saved me from my own overambition XD

The guidelines for this project can be found on the Yuri!!! On Cards blog as can the masterpost with all the links to everything. All the art that gets posted to Tumblr will also be reblogged by the blog.

With all that said, here's the actual art I made! (Break for those who don't want their dash to die UuU)

Okay, I lied. First, I'd heavily recommend for you to check out the guideline posts, both the general and artists' and even the writers' if you're up to it to get a grasp of the perimeters of this project. There's also some vague lore and AU stuff about the whole thing to find which will give you context for why the art looks the way it does to a certain extent.

You can also just jump right in and take everything as I ramble about it which, I mean, I won't stop you, the guideline posts aren't short. I will not blame you. You can still just look at the art. If that's your choice, go on ahead!

First up!

Ace of the Kingdom Otabek, The Deep Shadow

Being of the Kingdom of Diamonds, he's skillful and sharp. He moves quietly as a shadow and is just as mysterious.

Okay, I can't comment much on how he actually is, you'll have find that out by reading his fic(let?). They were supposed to be ficlets but as writers tend to do, none of us could manage that so take "ficlet" with a big grain of salt for every written work.

I've, by the way, not read any of the ficlets for this project beside my own so I'll get to experience the reveal with y'all and I'm gonna perish waiting.

Anyway, about the art. The yellow of course comes from the Kingdom of Diamonds' designated colour. As for the outfit, it's based on this handsome fellow I found who's supposed to be a Kazakh archer which I thought fit Otabek's whole shadow thing perfectly (and Writingfromtheshadow's fic Equivalent Exchange has me in an iron grip and I don't want to be released).

If there are any Kazakhs in the audience, you are free to laugh at me for any inaccuracies or missteps, I am but a humble little not-Kazakh, I don't expect to have gotten it all right UuU

Next up!

King Yuuri, Wanderer of Dreams

The ruler of his realm, he is as the mind flows. Kind and benevolent yet of fickle thoughts, the spirals of the subconscious are ones he both masters and bows to.

Again, gonna be waiting for his fic with everyone else but like. It's Yuuri. Anxiety is kind of a given.

In terms of art, I don't know if you can tell but this was where I started writing my will because oh my stars, what did I get myself into. If you follow me or my art, you'll know that I don't draw lineless. Like ever. And apparently I decided this project on a deadline that others were depending on me making look nice was the place to go all out.

And the worst part is that I'm not even mad at it so I have no argument to not do it again.

Anyway, the blue is from the designated colour of spades and yes, you've guessed right as to why this colour was picked for this suit. I'm predictable, leave me alone. As for the rest, the outfit is inspired by traditional Japanese dress that the Internet told me about (again, Japanese may laugh at me all they want UuU Your culture is very cool but also there was so much info, I hope I got it at least a bit right).

Also I spent like eight hours looking at hanakotoba for this and I've never been this happy about a decision I regretted so much while I was having to draw that many flowers. And you know I had to include The Gay Flower^(TM).

The Japanese iris is now Yuuri's btw.

All the flowers used are: Japanese irises, Jasmine flowers, Forget-me-nots, cherry blossoms, white roses, green carnations and blue roses (Viktor's flower. Read: I am predictable).

And finally!

Queen Minako, Tamer of Minds

Of the Realm of Dreams, she sees your fears, the snares laid by the subconscious and, strict and blunt as she is, she clears a path for the motivated and lets no potential go to waste.

Again, haven't read a word of the fic.

This one was by far the one that I made the fastest and I would've loved to do more with it but like deadlines. I'm gracefully skipping over the fact that I set the deadline and am fully to blame for being late.

But, as with Yuuri, blue is for spades. And since I wanted her to have a leotard but still match Yuuri and make her outfit look even slightly Japanese inspired, sheer fabric to the rescue! With cherry blossoms, of course, because CSP had the pattern preinstalled UuU

And I don't know if it worked but I tried to make her hair both look like her signature style, traditional Japanese hairstyles I found on the good ol' Interwebs and then kind of a spade by having that middle stick be the stem and the hair the spade's butt.

Also this probably goes without saying but the ranks of the characters are just titles. Yuuri is not married to Minako, she is just the Queen and he the King, don't worry.

Again, a BIG thank you to everyone who also participated, it was so fun to work together on this and see everyone's progress! Nic and Lil, you're amazing, thank you so much for everything you've done for this!

And to everyone who's made it this far, thank you for sticking around and please go check out all the other art and the ficlets! I promise it's worth it!

Masterpost | AO3 collection

[mikefaistinfo]

West Side Story’s Mike Faist Wishes He Got to Sing ‘America’

By Nate Jones, a Vulture senior writer covering movies and pop culture

From the very first trailers for Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, one character popped off the screen — the scraggly John Mulaney lookalike playing Riff, leader of the Jets. Without taking anything away from Russ Tamblyn’s jovial performance in the 1961 film, this new Riff is something different. He’s a true street rat, almost feral with a live-wire charisma. Since the film started screening, viewers and critics alike have been asking: Who is this guy?

That guy is 29-year-old Broadway veteran Mike Faist, whom theater buffs will recognize as one of the newsies in Newsies as well as the depressed teen whose death kick-started the plot of Dear Evan Hansen. (Faist got nominated for a Tony but declined to reprise the role for the movie — a wise decision in retrospect.) West Side Story is his 14th screen credit but his first major film role, and it’s a true breakout performance: Alongside Ariana DeBose’s Anita, Faist’s Riff has been spotlighted as one of the best things about the new film, the personification of Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner’s more historically grounded take on the material.

The praise is a long time coming for Faist, who shot West Side Story back in the summer of 2019. As he told Vulture over Zoom recently, he’s spent the intervening months looking for projects that would live up to the experience, living that #VanLife, and thinking about what he actually wants to get out of acting.

In the most recent interview I read, you’d left New York and were living out of a van.

The pandemic did a lot of weird things to everybody. I was working in Austin when everything shut down. They were going to send us back to New York. I’m in Austin. I have all this space, the sunshine. I’m not going to go back to New York and just hang out in my apartment during a pandemic. So I had my dog, and we drove around the country a bunch. I would purposefully stay away from people. I would find people that had farmland. They were nice enough to let me set up a tent. I actually sold my apartment in New York this summer. Got rid of it.

This is maybe a heavy question for early in the interview, but what did you learn about yourself from that experience?

I didn’t know that I liked being alone. I think it’s important to really get quiet. I lived in New York for 13 years. And when you’re here, it’s just like constant adrenaline. Which I love. But I think when you’re here, you don’t realize the toll that it takes until you leave it.

In that interview, you also said you weren’t sure if you hated acting or loved it. That was six months ago — have you come closer to an answer?

I’m embarrassed by this because everyone’s asking. It’s so strange. I don’t know, man. Ultimately, the issue really was that I had come off shooting West Side Story, which was such an incredible experience artistically. It was everything I wanted to do as an actor in terms of how I wanted to approach the work, what I demanded out of myself. And then I had to leave. Jumping into the next project wasn’t a negative experience. But one was such a fulfilling thing, and the other one, I was going to work.

So I was thinking, To what end do I do this? Ultimately, what am I trying to get out of this thing? Do I really need attention that bad? What are the things that I really want to do? Because if it’s just to go from job to job — which is a gift, so I’m not trying to knock it. But it was more just asking myself all these questions about what my goal was. And ultimately, I came to the conclusion recently that I love it. I love it too much, maybe to a fault. I’m a little precious about the craft of it all. I’m learning not to take myself too seriously. Enjoy it, let things come when they come.

You shot West Side Story two and a half years ago. What’s it like watching it after all this time?

It’s so weird. All that time was passing, and there was this thing floating there in the ether. And eventually, maybe the world was going to see it. I remember calling Steven over the pandemic, and I said, “For me, if nobody saw the movie, it wouldn’t matter because the experience was amazing.” Then you go and see the film for the first time, and you’re in a theater with only five people, and you’re just like, Huh.

How so?

In that initial screening, I wasn’t able to relive the experience of making it. You can’t help but watch yourself, and you can’t help but critique. While I was making the film, I felt like I was giving it everything that I had. And then when I saw the film, I was like, Oh, buddy, maybe you need to go find a different job. We’ve all talked about it as a cast. We drove home back to the hotel, and we were all like, “It’s a good movie. But man, I’m bad.” And everyone else was like, “No, you are great, I’m bad.” And I think Steven and Tony sensed that we were all too close to it to actually see what was going on. So they invited us back for another screening. The second time around, I was like, Stop being such an egomaniac and just watch the movie. And being able to remove myself more, I thought it was a great movie. But still, it was an entire theater with four people. At the premiere, I realized why it’s very important to have a collective experience of going to the theater. There’s something about communal experiences that allow you to see aspects of art that you wouldn’t necessarily experience if you were by yourself. And that’s the same thing for when you’re performing onstage in front of an audience. We’re all co-creators in this thing that’s happening right now.

I know the Bruce Davidson portraits of 1950s Brooklyn gang members were a key bit of inspiration for you. What struck you about those photos?

When I saw those photos, I knew that these were the guys. These are the Jets, visually, for me. I’m not trying to knock any production of West Side in the past, but there felt like there was maybe something missing — a certain groundedness, a seriousness or desperateness, that I started understanding as I was doing research. I think that pops off the page with Bruce’s photos. You see these guys, and they’re emaciated, they’re nihilistic, they just don’t care. You can tell that they cannot see what’s beyond tomorrow. And then as you do more research, you find out they’re all orphans. None of these people have families; the only family that they have is each other. And then on top of that, too, they’re heroin addicts. They’re broke. At the end of the day, they would pool money, and instead of really eating, they would just buy wine and get wasted. They just feel so lost.

Tony Kushner also does a good job of making the Jets the embodiment of 1950s white resentment. I’m curious how you approach that element of the character.

Can you elaborate on that a little bit more?

Sure. I mean the way they’re a community that sees people moving in from Puerto Rico and feels like they are an existential threat. They act out in ways that are, to modern eyes, quite racist. But obviously, it still gets at the fact that these are desperate orphans.

Where Tony really nails that, and Steven as well, is the setup of the film. The opening shot, where you see the demolition of all these homes so that Lincoln Center can get built. Everybody’s getting kicked out. It’s like the only thing constant is change. And that’s why this story’s going to be able to be told over and over again. Humans’ inability to deal with change, that’s what makes this story super fascinating to me.

It’s an interesting thing. There are racist acts that happen in this movie. Are the Jets racist? I don’t know. I couldn’t approach that from my point of view: being the actor, trying to empathize with this character who’s doing these really questionable things.

Because you’d be putting a judgement on it?

Yeah. I can’t do that as the actor. My job is to be like, “No, this guy’s the victim.” Now, I accept that this guy does a lot of racist stuff. But where it’s coming from is the xenophobia of it all. It’s the fear of the unknown. And from Riff’s point of view specifically, his home’s getting taken away. His best friend doesn’t want to be his best friend anymore. It comes down to this weird codependent relationship between Tony and Riff. I keep joking that it’s like Thanksgiving. Tony’s a guy who wants to not be that way anymore, but he’s still trying to be loving and have a conversation. But Riff doesn’t have the emotional intelligence to understand that.

Some productions of Romeo and Juliet add a romantic subtext to the relationship between Romeo and Mercutio. Was that something you guys were playing around with as well?

Romantic?

I mean, Riff is sleeping with Tony’s ex. I was wondering if there’s a little transference there.

I think it says something more about Graziella: She has to be with whoever’s the alpha at that moment. I’m not sure if it is romantic. If an audience member wants to interpret it that way, go ahead. That’s fine. But for me, I keep going back to the familial kind of love. Tony and Riff raised each other because there was no one else. They were their only line of defense. It spread out among other guys, but it all started within these two. Which is what we see in gangs, right? You don’t have a family, well, we got you. We will do this for you, but you have to do this for us. You don’t have power in that situation, but you feel accepted.

The new movie shuffles around the musical numbers in terms of who gets to sing what. Is there a song you wish you could sing, even if it doesn’t make sense for Riff?

I mean, “America” is amazing. Those dancers are incredible, man. They’re absolutely amazing. I would love to be in that number. I think all the Jet boys got a little FOMO from that one.

One thing that I and many others who’ve seen the movie have noted is your remarkable resemblance to John Mulaney in this film. Is that something you got before West Side Story, or is it Riff specific?

No, you’re not the first person to say that. People have come up to me and been like, “You ever get that you look like John Mulaney?” It’s fun. It would be fun to see John Mulaney as Riff in West Side Story, though.

He’s got the limbs for it.

For sure. He’s definitely got the nothing-but-arms-and-legs thing going on, like myself.

You said you’re trying to be a little more intentional about where you go from here. What’re the ideal next few years for you?

Tony used the word “stewardship.” And that’s very accurate. We had a deep respect for this story and the legends that have told it in the past. I feel like I have a great responsibility here to do this right. And on top of that, to tackle roles that force me to find the pieces of myself that I didn’t know existed.

What part of yourself did you find here?

I was reading this interview from a while back where Tom Hanks and Steven were talking about Saving Private Ryan. And Tom said there was this weird thing that Steven subliminally did in terms of, you have to step up and take charge of the group. I felt that way too. It wasn’t ever explicitly said. It was just an energy thing he was putting out there, like, “You know what you’ve got to do.” I’m in charge of 15 other guys. Some of them have done some movies, and others this was their first time, they’ve never done this before. I guess what I had learned was that I’m able to do that. I demanded of them. When it was time to have fun, it was time to have fun. And when it was time to shut up and do the thing, it was time to shut up and do the thing. And they ran with that. We did this thing together. They elevated me, and I elevated them.

Find this article on: https://www.vulture.com/2021/12/west-side-story-riff-actor-mike-faist-interview.html

[ignis-scientia-estrogen-brigade]

Today marks the 6th anniversary of Final Fantasy XV’s release, and though I started writing a brief tribute to the game over on Twitter, I quickly realized I had much more to say about today’s milestone than Twitter’s character limit would allow for.

So I came back to where it all started for me, here on Tumblr. That I could scarcely remember my password goes to show how regrettably I’ve neglected this account, despite the fact that XV still means a great deal to me. I wish I could say it was because I was more active on Twitter, but even over there I have struggled to post regular updates and engage with the XV community (which I am happy to report still has quite the active fanbase and has even seen some growth by my observations).

In truth, much of my identity has been defined by FFXV these past six years—for better or worse. It’s not an exaggeration to say XV changed the trajectory of my life; it landed in my lap immediately following the worst professional failure of my life, comforted me through the loss of a parent, and brought me in touch with people from around the globe, many of whom have become dear friends to me. My abilities as both a writer and an artist saw the kind of growth I never thought possible for myself. I got to play XV with Adam Croasdell in my own home, got to raise thousands of dollars for charity with the help of the XV cast and dozens of other artists, and I was able to support myself financially for the first time in my entire adult life through the sales of my art. In short, I owe everything from the last six years to Final Fantasy XV.

So as one might imagine, it caused somewhat of an identity crisis in me when the one thing that had brought me such joy began to no longer fuel my passion the way it had in years past. Call it burnout, call it depression, call it a sensitivity to the current events of the world, I don’t know—all I know is, something caused me to lose all motivation to work on anything. Where once I had felt like I had an ocean of inspiration I could tap into at any time, it suddenly felt like a dry well. Even today, my tablet sits mostly unused, waiting for the day that that spark returns.

It certainly is not because I have lost my love for XV. This game, which objectively is deeply flawed yet is somehow greater than the sum of its parts, still resides comfortably in my mind. I play a great deal of Final Fantasy XIV these days, which I enjoy very much and is arguably a better game in many ways, and yet it has not come close to capturing my muse the way XV did. I still have pipe dreams of streaming the entirety of XV on Twitch, not in one 24-hour session like I did for Extra Life Game Day in 2020, but slowly over the course of many weeks, exploring the game thoroughly and experiencing the journey with old and new viewers alike. And someday, I vow to roll back to an earlier patch so that I can unlock those unlockable Comrades trophies on PS4 and finally Platinum the game.

So anyway. That’s a lot of rambling haha. TL;DR: I still love XV, even if I can’t express that love through content the way I used to. I still hope to produce a few pieces here and there, and if I do, you know where to find me. (And if you don’t, you can find me here, here, and here.) Happy Anniversary, XV. As always, you guys... are the best. ♡

[gaasaku-fanfests]

ABOUT

A place to celebrate everything GaaSaku. All the fluff, angst, and angry darkness we know and love about them. Keep an eye out for the gift exchanges, holiday challenges, and drabble prompts.💕💕 

This entire endeavour is because of the lovely nsart. My eternal love and respect to you, girl.

This is a celebration of GaaSaku. And of the fans -- writers, readers, artists alike.

I am devoted to it, so please don’t hesitate to contact this blog (or mika080) if you have questions, concerns, or even ideas for more events. This fandom is so giving and accepting. Let’s keep this alive by working together to ensure the future of this beautiful ship!!!!😋😎😍😘💕💞💓💖

[imadeoutwithmikeywayonwarpedtour]

transcript for the marina toybina interview

if you haven’t seen it already, gerard’s costume designer for the us leg of the tour, marina toybina recently did an interview for the john campea show. i saw some people looking for a transcript and i didn’t see that someone already made one so i did one!

here’s the link, the interview starts around 22:06

transcript under cut :)

INT (Robert Meyer Burnett): Well, now you just finished working with My Chemical Romance, which is a band that I dig. Gerard Way, is also a comic book writer and artist, created the Umbrella Academy.

MARINA TOYBINA: Yeah. 

INT: So first of all: how did you get that job, because there’s a design, there’s a design—the look of that band and what they like to do and what they’re influenced by, they’re not just your typical rock band. So what was it like, how did you get that job? And you designed the whole tour, right?

M: Um, I collaborated with the lead singer, yes, with Gerard. Um, okay. Everything kind of has its place in time.

M: 15 years ago, 15-20 years ago, I was a huge fan. I am a rock girl at heart. Back then, a lot of their music was like, music to my soul. It got me through some of the harder times, a lot of my friends were musicians, and I-I never saw them live, never could afford tickets to their shows, but knew one day that in my heart, I’m like, there probably will be an opportunity one day. They were like my top five favourite bands and he was just already an artist I’ve always wanted to work with. And, this past summer when I was designing So You Think you Can Dance, I just happened to turn on their music—nope, let me rewind, I’m so sorry.

M: So a year ago, I was reading a release that they’re coming back together on tour and they’re playing LA on my birthday. And I look at my team and I was like, I’m gonna be at that show, we’re gonna go to the show, we’re all gonna go together and I just jokingly said I’m like, “I’ll probably dress them.”

M: And a lot of things in my career have happened to manifestation, like I’m a huge believer in that. And I think my intentions were so clear into the universe and I believed in it so much that that happened a year ago, and then this past summer, I was driving to work, I was listening to their music, and I just happened to text my agent and I’m like, you know I really wanna get back into music. It’s what I used to do, I used to do a lot of live performances, I used to do a lot of music videos. I need to feel that again. Even though I’m surrounded by music all the time, and I’m doing all these shows. But there’s some—there was a disconnect in my career where it’s like, I love live entertainment.

M: And she’s like “Who do you want, like are we going after pop stars?” And I’m like no, I’ve done all that. I want to go back to my roots, like I want Incubus or My Chemical Romance—

INT: Nice!

M: Red Hot Chili Peppers, I’m like, get me back to rock and roll. 

M: And she was like, “Well, they’re touring but, let’s just put it out there.” 

M: And then, within two weeks I get an email from her and be like “Hey, their managers want to meet with you, he wants to meet with you.” And one of the biggest things about their aesthetic is—probably one of my top 3 costume designers is Colleen Atwood, [and she] did their Black Parade album, and it was so incredible and I, back then, I was always a step behind. It’s like, they did the Black Parade, and then I met the photographer later, then I worked on a project with him. So it was always like, some better late than never I guess. And I’m like, I’m gonna work with him someday, I love her work, I’ve been told by many people we’re a lot alike, you know? And I’m like, why not.

M: And so, we get this email that he would like to take a meeting, see what we can do. And I never expected to do the tour. I just wanted to open this door of opportunity to just collaborate, maybe do one thing together.

M: And he just showed up in my studio, and it was just, an amazing artistic, like-

INT: Were you starstruck? I mean Gerard Way is like, one of your-

M: I was trying to hold it together! I mean, before they came in, I can’t tell you how much I paced. And usually there’s like, 15-20 people at my studio, and this was the time, the day that I was alone, you know. I didn’t know what to do. And of course, my expectations were just to do like, present myself, and see if I would be a good asset to them, or something, because I love their music. I love what he’s about, and it’s also like, it’s not just the frontman for me. I think he’s a brilliant artist.

M: So there were a lot of things, I just wanted our worlds to merge somehow. And within the first five minutes of a conversation, I’m like “Oh, I get his brain.”

M: And I told him my story, I told him that this is like, 20 years in the making, and probably sound like a crazy fan costume designer. We shared ideas, he kind of walked me through the concepts of things he wants to do on this particular tour. They haven’t started doing the US leg of the tour, I didn’t know if they had a designer, and he did mention Colleen was doing something for him. And I was like, okay, how can this-can this be a triangle? [laughs] Can I come in on the picture?

M: It was just a beautiful collaboration. It was like, a genuine artist to artist conversation. Like. “Let’s do something interesting.” He walked me through his concepts, his ideas. And I’m like. alright, let me come up with some creatives, see if we’re on the same page. Again, as much as I wanted to be like, “Hey, we’re doing this tomorrow.” I also felt like it’s important, now, in my career and possibly in his, to make sure the relationship is good, you know? Like this is the right artistic match to one another. And it worked.

M: From there it was just like, amazing fittings, amazing collaboration, and some iconic things that went viral.

INT: I love hearing this from you, because this is like, the joyous experience when, “Oh my God, I’ve dreamt of working with somebody.” And you finally get to do it. 

INT: But I want to take you back to that, because I’m curious. How would that process even begin?

M: Right.

INT: You’re working with somebody that, you already know their music, you already know his vibe. And Colleen Atwood, who I’ve interviewed on the show by the way, she’s incredible. Our interview, she was in the middle of the work day so it was a short interview. But, how does a collaboration like that work with somebody like Gerard Way? How do you guys start working together? How is that process?

M: It was just like, an initial conversation, you know? I introduced myself, my work. They already did some background, kind of checking out to see where I stand, what my aesthetic was like. And I felt like, in a place in my life right now, in my career, I was able to bring something new. And that’s where my confidence, I think, came from. At the same time, I didn’t want to change the artist that’s in front of me. I think that’s always so important when working with music. You’re dealing with a fanbase and a reputation, an aesthetic approach that’s far beyond any artistic reach of anybody coming in.

INT: Right.

M: So for me it was, you know. Having a conversation, understanding what characters he wanted to bring forward. This was a very playful tour. This wasn’t about dressing up the whole band. This was about him being in this world of iconic characters and, how can we bring this to life, and what can we do that’s very recognizable to his fans, at the same time, a little bit of a shock value, you know.

M: But at the same time, I wanted him to be him. And he was in this beautiful place in his life and career right now, where he felt great, felt confident, and I just wanted to uplift that. We went through the creative decks, went through the conversations, which characters we wanted to go with. These are the shows that he had, I knew which city we kind of wanted to play off, like where was the right time, like Halloween was right around the corner, what do we do. 

M: So it was like, very strategic conversations, but at the same time, room to play and be creative. So I had just gathered the top 10 characters that we had discussed, and kind of started doing my own thing, and keeping him and the music in mind, and had an amazing fitting.

M: And I’ve never worked with an artist that’s so clear. Not just like, directional and very precise and very distinct on his own style, but it was just even clear for me when we were doing fittings that this is somebody that knows his body. This is somebody who knows his aesthetic on stage. This is somebody that knows how they’re going to perform. It just made it so much easier for me to be able to fall into his world. And do the fittings to where: Is this going to come off, is this piece staying on, are we going to do options, you know, is the character going to evolve on stage, is the character going to come down on stage. All those conversations happen in our fittings and then I just packed it all up with distinct notes, and sent them off, and then kept checking in making sure everything was okay, and yeah.

INT: So would you, when you had a direction for the characters, were you doing sketches first?

M: No, not at all! This was something that I kind of felt like, needed to have the research? It wasn’t just about designing something on paper.

INT: Right, okay.

M: When he mentioned to me, “I want to be a vintage cheerleader.” I’m like, okay what era are we in? 50s, 60s, 70s, you know, 40s? And then he was like, “Find me something that’s within, possibly, this color scheme.”

INT: Okay.

M: And for me it was like, the image that went viral when he did wear the cheer uniform. It was probably like 10 different vintage stores that we went to. And I’m like, okay everything’s size zero, or like, what am I gonna do, you know? This stuff doesn’t exist anymore, if I get it from Etsy it’s not gonna come in on time. There was so much.

M: And it happened to be as we were leaving one of the stores I look on the sale rack. And I find this damaged, weird, like, vintage cheer dress that had no zipper, that had no hem, and I was like. I love this. 

M: I love this because I can reconstruct it, I can go and get the fabrics we need to still keep it original and authentic. And that’s how we start working. I build out a dress size, I had a mannequin his size at my studio. Put it on, we reshaped it, took the whole thing apart, reconstructed it to be his measurements, and still kept it authentic.

M: And after he wore it, the pattern I think for the actual thing was sold out.

INT: Wow.

M: His fans loved it so much that we were getting notifications that people actually found the original pattern of this 1940s uniform and were buying it out.

INT: That’s crazy!

M: Oh it’s amazing. I think, to me, it’s like that’s when things are just meant to be. Not only did my work translate into something beautiful on stage, but then he becomes this incredible persona on stage that then delivers the character and plays it off. We did that throughout every single look, every single look went like, became a fan favourite, or crazy yeah.

INT: in terms of time, what was the process when you first got the gig and then to the first show that was performed using your work? What was the time-frame?

M: I think I had about a month to get it all together.

INT: Wow, so that’s not much.

M: At the same time, I had another huge project in the works. So it was going back in forth, but. I could not tell you, like, I’ve had difficult projects in the past. And I’ve had difficult times with artists, you know, finding our own language, how to execute some things. This was so easy, that time didn’t matter to me.

M: It was such a great collaboration and so it flowed, like Bruce Lee would say, like water. It just made sense. No matter how difficult my other project was, or what was going on at the same time, it was like, the universe showing me: this is how it’s supposed to be. This is what’s inspiring me. 

M: And at the end of the day, the one thing I told Gerard, “You made me fall in love with music again. You came into my life as an artist that I’ve admired and wanted to work with for almost 20 years.” And there was a big part of my beginning, that just made me look back at this now and be like oh. That was that feeling that I had when I was 16, 20.

INT: Well that’s amazing. Congratulations on that. 

M: Thank you.

INT: What an exciting project! That you did so quickly.

M: Yeah, it was amazing.

[knbposting]

pinned post !

hello i'm robyn, and this is (obviously) a knb sideblog attached to @robynrileyart ♥ i'm (again, obviously) an artist and a writer and i've been making knb fanworks for over a decade now hehehe

here's my knb art tag!!!! in there you'll find mostly kagami because he's my little darling, and also aokaga because they're fucking stupid idiots and i hate them

(new) aokaga fics masterlist:

FINDING LOVE ON A THURSDAY. - set before the winter cup. pre-established unrequited pining. kagami helps momoi track down touou's elusive ace and discovers that perhaps they're more alike than he thought.

GROWING PAINS. - set after the winter cup but before vorpal swords. pre-established "unrequited" pining. it's a slow burn baby! kagami is having a very bad time on his mother's birthday, helped in no way by his dad calling him late at night. he bumps into aomine who "reluctantly" offers a helping hand.

APRIL SHOWERS. - set after the winter cup but before vorpal swords. pre-established. kagami and aomine get caught out in the rain during a one-on-one and head back to kagami's place to dry off. aomine continues to severely annoy him, and kagami really doesn't know why he puts up with him, but they end up having a really nice day. it's chill. aomine is... chill.

APRIL SHOWERS. (AOMINE POV) - have you ever wondered what aomine's thinking when he's glaring at kagami? have you ever wondered if he was, in fact, still annoyed that kagami tripped them up? have you ever thought: hey, what the fuck is aomine's problem? why can't he be normal? well, have i got a good fic for you

THE LONG WAY HOME. - kagami is injured and sad about it when aomine asks him out. what is it he could possibly want, they can't even play basketball today?! kagami gets himself hurt even worse and has to rely on aomine in order to get home (which is inconvenient because kagami has a crush on the guy and wants to appear as cool as possible to him at all times.)

HAND HOLDING COMPETITIONS. - kagami, aomine, kuroko, kise, and momoi are hanging out at maji's having crossed paths unexpectedly one night. aomine hasn't hung out with all of them together in a while but since when are kise and kagami such close friends? why are they getting along so well? it's so disgusting because kise is so ugly and stupid like... what does kagami even see in him? (read: this is in aomine pov and he gets BITCHY when he's jealous.)

SACRED COURAGE. - aomine is out of sorts during their one-on-one, and kagami is getting sick the fuck of it!!!!!! he confronts aomine, little did he realise that everything would be changing. yes, this is what you think it is. ohhhh my god.