#but cartoon and anime and similar style really are the more popular things in this community

[ashendalia]

I understand the people who get upset that F/Os and selfships who's sources aren't cartoon or anime or similar vein based get less less attention

[catbountry]

Kill. Murder. Rape. Suicide. Pedophile. Nazi. Hitler. Covid. Dead. Death.

When's the last time you watched a YouTube video or a TikTok video where some or even all of these words were censored, either by being bleeped out like what used to be reserved solely for swear words, or having sound-alike stand-ins (sewer slide, PDF File) or euphemisms (unalive)?

I'm not sure exactly where "unalive" came from, but I want to say it was in a similar batch of Roblox screencaps of children trying to creatively get past wordfilters by telling people to "go commit die." And I guess Fortnite played a role as well. Apparently "game-end" is attributed to a short film covered by Pyrocynical which was made to be family friendly, but I swear I have this memory of official Epic Games promo material using the term and I don't know if this real or not. I don't play Fortnite and I never will, so this was not considered important enough to really properly commit it to memory.

EDIT: It came from a Spider-man cartoon where Deadpool used it in an incredibly in-character way. Thanks, Guy I'm Going to Reference Later in this Post.

It's an incredibly childish word. It seems like it was one that used to be used ironically until TikTok, being owned by a Chinese company where censorship laws are much stricter than here in the U.S., decided that words like "dead" and "death" and even "hole" were too dangerous of something, causing users to start getting creative and adapting these absurd euphemisms and they became so popular that people started using it who weren't even using it as a cheeky way to get around these word filters, on other sites that didn't have these same restrictions.

YouTubers can say the word "death" and "die" and (usually) don't have to worry about demonitization. The self-censoring that I remember starting on this very website, done as a way to either prevent posts being found through search or possibly offending the most sensitive of followers, is now being used by users to get around the restrictions set by giant faceless corporations to protect The Children, whose parents are giving them unrestricted access to the internet at younger and younger ages. I watched a video from an adult YouTuber crying about Newgrounds-style animations that were on YouTube about My Little Pony and about how traumatized he was by these, while also insisting he had good parents.

Good parents would not have let you have unrestricted access to 2012 YouTube unsupervised at age seven. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I gotta be the one to tell you this. I'm sure your parents are very nice people, but they could have easily used the internet to find out what kind of stuff was available on the internet. That was an oversight.

I was an adult on the internet in 2012. If I saw a parent just sit their toddler in front of YouTube, I would have asked them what the hell was wrong with them. Now, I see my cousin's children with their iPads watching videos of a faceless person playing with Paw Patrol figures, and I feel uneasy, but a little more hesitant to say something since my cousin seems well aware of the kind of place the internet is, and is always nearby when his kids are watching things. The internet was a constant presence for me in middle and high school, in the late 90's to early 2000's, and I saw some shit I should not have seen. But the trade-off was that I had a space where I could express myself openly, a place my mom didn't care about and wouldn't see. I clicked things I know I shouldn't have because I was a dumb, curious kid, and my mom was happy to not have to deal with me and have me be quiet, I guess. And my cousin is only a year older than I am, so I imagine our experiences on the early internet weren't that much different, considering he's also a bit of a nerd.

So this YouTuber aims his ire at the animators, who were making animations for other adult fans of the show (which he acknowledges), for daring to make edgy content of something made for children, holding up this children's media as a sort of sacred cow. For comparison, in middle and high school I was watching crude animations of frogs in blenders, stick figures bashing each other's heads into walls, and torture simulators featuring anyone from Pikachu and Elmo to Osama bin Laden. But because kids like him, kids brought up in the age of web 2.0, found these videos and watched them before their age had hit double-digits, those videos got lots of views from other children. And from that, we got Elsagate and Finger Family, videos that are still around but have mutated from featuring Elsa and Spider-man to now featuring Huggy Wuggy from Poppy's Playtime, or Pomni from The Amazing Digital Circus or Bluey from, uh, Bluey. These aren't edgy animations made for and by teenagers and young adults for a laugh, they're videos presumably made by teams of adults to mass produce and fill with as much shocking, click-baity content that doesn't even require being able to understand English to understand the plot, all to get watch-time to make money. There's no artistic merit to it. It's neither satire, nor is it an earnest expression of love for the source material, the latter of which, whether you like it or not, is where most rule 34 falls. No, these videos have only ever been content slop since this started around 2016. And this shit is still happening.

That same YouTuber has made a video about how we need to stop saying "unalive," which is part of what inspired me to post this at all, and I can't help but feel like this dude takes himself way too goddamn seriously, frowning upon "commit toaster bath" and "late term fetus deletus," which my edgelord, former 4channer millennial brain finds funny (it is too late for me, lads). This dude is in his early 20's and it's really interesting seeing someone discover pretty much things I've known since I was his age, but acting like they're these huge revelations. Like yeah, I've known about media influence on culture since I was in middle school, because of the internet, which was new and unrestricted by the Standards and Practices that shackled old media like radio and television. That used to be something that pretty much everybody on the internet was aware of; it's the reason why we came here in the first place. And you are right that giant corporations are censoring people, but also, the internet being corralled into a small handful of websites makes internet culture more homogenized and disposable. People can still meet life-long friends through the internet, but the sites where I first met some of my best friends are digital ghost towns, if they still exist at all, or they've become overrun with users infected by political brainworms that make them have incredibly strong opinions on a one-off promotional video done by Budweiser with a transgender TikTok influencer. You've got better luck making life-long friends through playing in the same Minecraft server together than you do being mutuals on Instagram or Twitter. And while Discord is the closest thing I've been able to find that replicates the feeling of both forum culture and chatrooms of the past, it's got its own set of problems unique to it. I can just say "Discord kitten" and most people who use Discord will know exactly what I mean.

Whoever decided to stop teaching kids about how to be safe online should probably be shot. Facebook made putting your whole-ass name and face and location on the internet not just normal, but people will find you suspicious if you choose not to do that. God, I fucking hate Facebook so much.

He's right, though, about the social contagion effect of language. This was a concern for me on this website a decade ago, but that was all social pressure. There was no corporate mandate cracking down on people, making them type "st*pid" to get around restrictions. That was all moral peacocking, baby. People did that shit to themselves.

Tumblr nowadays feels more sane, just because those of us left after the porn ban got a couple of years to grow up and chill out. But because of the porn ban, we can only really talk about the effects of it and complain, rather than be able to post our smut openly. Human sexuality expresses itself in some genuinely weird ways; I should know, and you should probably donate to Archive of Our Own to make sure there's a space where these things can be expressed without fear of censorship to protect The Children. But "unalive" is a symptom of a much larger problem, which is to sand off all the edges of the internet to make it marketable; the free market is more than happy to cater to the whims of the CCCP if they think it can make them more money. There's a lot of people in China, after all. The internet has more people on it but they're confined to much smaller spaces. Children don't have their own spaces online, and when they do, they're not as carefully moderated, instead opting for either overworked humans overseas, or dumb robots that just filter certain words and just become an obstacle to maneuver around to tell something to kill themselves with the creativity of someone who's at a sixth-grade reading level. People in their 20's are uncomfortable with nudity and sex scenes in films, perhaps under the assumption that it's always exploitation, that these scenes can't have artistic merit and are solely there to titillate, and given the sort of dumbing down of art thanks to Marvel and Disney, this seems like the only natural result when combined with the trauma of finding things online that you shouldn't have at way too young of an age. I do not like where this is going, and it's really saying something that those brought up in a sex-negative, American puritanical mindset only start paying attention when the censorship is affecting how we talk about death, something we have absolutely no problem with glorifying in our culture.

And if you're wondering why I wrote yet another long-ass essay bemoaning the slow death of internet culture and the Weenie Hut Jr's-fication of younger generations, well, it's because of this screenshot from 4chan.

Now if only they could bully out the tradcaths.

[imapeanut]

(I wrote this on mobile.)

Someone has probably made this theory before but...

I have a theory that Sarah is a fangirl that has been transferred from the real world into The Amazing World Of Gumball and is trying to be apart of the story instead of a background character.

In S2 Ep36: The Sweaters. Is where we first meet Sarah. And one of the first things she talks about is Gumball and Darwin's 'reputation'. Witch hints about the show being one of Cartoon Network's popular shows and getting a big fanbase off of it.

And then awhile after, two people named Carlton and Troy from Sarah's old school appear, who haven't been introduced until now. Challenging Gumball and Darwin to see how 'hardcore' they really are. Their lips and poses move like 80-90's anime characters. Which I'll get to later.

Sarah then doesn't leave them alone for the rest of the episode, even when they start playing the tennis game, she's still there buy Gumball and Darwin don't care about her or any of the people of Richwood High.

The next time Sarah is important is S3 Ep2: The Fan. Where Gumball and Darwin are trying to stop the rainbow factory from blowing up but Sarah keeps interrupting. A key part of her story that shows that she is more determined to get their attention.

After they fail to stop it and are back at school, Sarah interrupts with a bad joke. Gumball and Darwin get annoyed by it and seem to notice her more now then they did previously. She then joins them at lunch and goes all fangirl mode on them, asking what kind of trope (or something.) she should be around them. She then decides to be the 'insanely obsessive one' and stalks Gumball and Darwin.

Something to hint about is the photos that were taken during the video, all of them are Gumball and Darwin's recent adventures that we never saw her in. Witch shows she might of put herself in the show somehow.

After they discover and watched the video, they are horrified and go to confront Sarah herself.

They confront her at her locker and see how Sarah thinks about them, witch is pretty horrifying if I would say as we see drawn pictures of them in a somewhat anime-ish style. Similar to Carlton and Troy but more girlish stariotype.

They then decide to reenact the comic they found, witch ends up in them fighting while Sarah watches. After Gumball almost burtualy injures Darwin because Sarah couldn't stop her tape, Gumball puts the paper in the fan witch shreads it up and they both are angry at her. She then starts singing the outro song in witch signals the end of the episode, another sign that she is not from this universe.

Part 2 here

[90smagicalgirl]

5 Social Sites and Online Games I Played Growing Up (ﾟ▽ﾟ*) ・‥…━━━★ﾟ+.・‥…━━━★ﾟ+.・‥…━━━★ﾟ+・‥…━━━★ﾟ+.・‥…━━━★

> Cartoon Doll Emporium CDE for short, I believe was created in 2005 and officially shut down in 2019. The site started out as a simple forums and dress up site where there would be dress up dolls from other sources and original artists. It went through a few good many changes through out the years, even having a full avatar based system and membership. I remember you would collect points by playing the dress up games and mini games to spend on your avatar items. I never personally really participated in the events or the forums since I was still a teen and felt too shy or nervous. Sadly, due to the death of flash, many of the early site flash dolls that were more original and simple are no longer able to be played even through the archives.

> Fantage Fantage was an online social site that I would compare to GaiaOnline. It was created in 2008 and officially shut down in 2018; I believe there is a single player/ private server somewhere that was created, but I've never looked or seen it myself so I can't say for sure! You had your avatar and a world to explore. Different parts of the map had different locations like a beach, city, etc.. You even had access to your own home where you could host parties with other players or join parties. This one also had a premium membership, I remember almost having the membership but was too discouraged by the price as a young child to actually ask for money for it lol. I did not do a lot of progression in the game but I just liked to hop on for the music and the vibes.

> Tinier Me Tinier Me seems to have been created back in 2009 and it was officially shut down in 2012, with the forum shutting down in 2020 and the doll maker in 2021. Now it looks like there is a patreon for DreamSelfy, which would have been a successor to the original, but it doesn't look like it will ever reach it's goal. The last update for DreamSelfy was back in 2018 and it's been radio silence since. Now, Tinier me was an avatar dress up site (again similar to Gaia Online~) and you could even go out into the world and walk around to socialize with other players. It did have a premium money option and also a gacha system - and thus it was here that I was first exposed to gachas and I will forever be loyal to them now many years later. But I didn't care for the premium stuff very much, I just absolutely adored the style and cutesy anime look it had to it. I did play this one alongside GaiaOnline :) Now you may be thinking also, hm, those avatars looks sort of familiar don't they? Well you may be thinking of Cocoppa Play! They were both made by the same company and they still incorporate the original mascot for Tinier Me (Selfy) in Cocoppa Play for the more simple and common items in their gachas and game stores. Tinier me, my beloved, I miss you ♥

> Free Realms Okay, okay so maybe this one is borderline MMO and borderline social site, BUT, I used to really just play it as a social site so that is what it primarily was to me (∗  ❛ั ᵕ ❛ั ). Anyway, Free Realms was a massive multiplayer online game that was released back in 2009 and officially shut down in 2014. You may even remember seeing it's commercials play on tv alongside Wizard 101 and Toon Town, when 3D MMOs aimed at kids and young teens was at peak popularity and you would no doubt see those commercials ALL the time on tv. Now, I personally tried ToonTown and Wizard 101, but NOTHING got my attention like Free Realms. The game was my very first MMO and one of the games I miss the most thinking back at my childhood. The game provided you full freedom, with the option of doing anything and everything you wanted with no restriction on your class or job. Heck, you didn't have to do those things you could just be an explorer which means running around the maps finding secrets and tokens! Or just sit around and socialize with other players. I remember the game having constant seasonal and non seasonal events, plus the fact that you could choose if you did want to cook, fight, dungeon crawl, tailor, etc.. was so mind blowing to young me. And the music! Oh my god. The music. The soundtrack is available on Youtube and I highly recommend listening to it, it is so good. I'm gonna stop there, because I could go on and on and on about this game alone. It just means that much to me.

> Gaia Online

Of course after mentioning it twice I have to put it in here! Gaia was created way back in 2003 and is still active to this day. As you can tell by my profile pic below, I haven't updated my profile about 3 years since the last time I was super active was during the pandemic. But I always like to go on and off just to occasionally log in and see that it's still going and change my outfit. I don't remember when I joined Gaia, but I do know this is the my second account actually. I had an even older account that I could probably access if I tried really hard to find the email I used but it wouldn't matter since I did abandon that old account years ago for the current one so its okay :3 Gaia needs no real introduction as I'm sure many of you know about it and what it's all about. But basically, it's a social avatar site just like CDE and Tinier Me was. You have an avatar that you can dress up, a profile page where you can customize pretty freely especially if you knew how to make a sick Myspace page, an aquarium, a car and even pets (but only for the mini game!). Yes, Gaia has mini games and full length games within the site as well, the most infamous being Zomg, which was shut down in 2014 but then brought back again due to all the backlash from users. Be aware though, to play it you do need to download another browser that supports the hardware the game runs on as it does not run on regular browsers since Flash is gone. Another game that I actually enjoyed was Kindred Lake, which is where those pets would come into play. Gaia is also known for its extensive and active forums, weekly art contests and the world of Gaia where you can run around and talk with other players in a multitude of different maps. I have many memories of GaiaOnline and I'm glad that it's one of the sites that managed to stay alive and well all these years later, especially since the death of flash.

・‥…━━━★ﾟ+.・‥…━━━★ﾟ+.・‥…━━━★ﾟ+・‥…━━━★ﾟ+.

⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡ Conclusion ♡ I hope you guys enjoyed this list I made! Again, I'm not someone who knows all about these sites and games but the main purpose of this list was to maybe find others who also remembered/ were on them too. Or maybe I even helped you remember something you forgot ages ago, if so reply ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ Have a lovely day/ evening everyone and thank you for reading. If you got this far bonus kitty for you below:

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[fandom-anthropology]

Fandom Dissection: The Owl House

Warning: This post will contain spoilers for The Owl House

The Basics:

The Owl House is a Disney Channel cartoon that began airing in 2020, and just recently finished.

The story follows Luz Noceda, a human girl obsessed with magic who discovers a portal to The Demon Realm. There she meets Eda The Owl Lady, a wild witch as well as someone hiding from The Emperor’s Coven. She also meets King, the adorable self proclaimed “King of Demons”. Luz decides to stay in The Demon Realm so she can learn magic.

The show became immensely popular for various reasons. These include the characters, writing, animation, music, world-building and LGBT representation. However, these things do not solely build a fandom. So let’s apply my Six Elements to this show.

1. Recognizable Art style/Aesthetic:

The Owl House has a very recognizable aesthetic, very much playing into the fantasy genre while also having it’s own spin. It is more monstrous and macabre then your average fantasy school story but that’s part of the charm. And despite that, the imagery and backgrounds are surprisingly gorgeous.

In regards to character designs, many of the residents of The Demon Realm look like normal humans, save for the pointy ears. However some characters like Boscha inexplicably have more monstrous features. This makes the options for oc designs pretty expansive.

2. Faction System:

The Owl House has its own Faction System, that being The Covens. These nine forms of magic are a major element of the shows world building. The nine types of magic are: Abomination, Bard, Beast Keeping, Construction, Healing, Illusion, Oracle, Plant and Potions. Despite the coven system being criticized in the show, I often see fans associate themselves with one or multiple of the nine types of magic. The system is very much built to use as a jumping off point for a self insert or sona. This system also is interesting from a world building perspective.

3. World Building:

Speaking of world building, The Owl House has quite a bit of interesting world building. The Boiling Isles is a world that many people are fascinated with. The world is fascinating and filled with mysteries. The rules are set up and correlate with the story in an interesting way. The world and characters are also fit for many different types of AUs. Wholesome AUs, angsty AUs, or both.

4. Theories and Headcanons:

Like many modern cartoons, The Owl House had a strong theory following. It set up interesting mysteries about the lore of The Boiling Isles, Hunter’s Origins, Belos’s plan and The Collector as a whole. All of which were heavily speculated on in the fandom. The series is also perfect for headcanons. The characters are so expansive and likable, and due to many plot threads being cut by the shortened series, there’s room for fanon to step in where canon was unable to be fully developed.

5. Shipping:

Many people jumped on this show as a result of the viral news of Luz being canonically Bi, Amity being canonically a lesbian, and the possibility that they might get together being revealed near the end of Season One. This was when the show really became well known. And as such, Lumity (Luz X Amity) became the most talked about element of the show.

However there are other ships that heavily impact the fandom. The two big ones being Raeda (Raine X Eda) and Huntlow (Hunter X Willow), sometimes called Winter.

These three ships make up the bulk of shipping content for The Owl House, however some rarepairs exist like Alador X Darius. 6. Tumblr Sexyman:

Speaking of Alador and Darius, they are the two who fit the tumblr sexyman mold the best. However there are also similar followings for Raine and Eda.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, The Owl House is a very special show. It is unlikely we will ever see a show like it again. Despite how much it was screwed over by Disney, the show managed to have a pretty satisfying finale. Plus it made huge steps in representation, with canonical same-gender couples, non-binary characters and even an aroace character. It was dark but funny, sweet but heartwrenching, it was truly something special. It makes sense why it gained such a massive following.

[raziraphale]

can't find it rn but I'm thinking about that post that was going around recently that pointed out that claiming anime is uniquely sexist or sexual and attributing that to japanese culture is racist as hell. that post is correct -- this isn't to dispute that but to add onto it -- and I think a part of that perception is how "anime" has been shaped into this weird consumer category by corporations, where it gets treated more like a genre than a medium (animation) of a particular style and context.

what comes to mind when we think of "anime" in the english-speaking world largely depends on what shows get licensed, translated, dubbed, and merchandised outside of japan. fan translations and bootlegs have always existed, but sanctioned releases from large companies bring larger audiences, so companies dictate to a certain extent what gets popular, and therefore the popular perception of "anime" as a category.

a lot of cool and unique things make their way over here, but do you know what a lot of it is? shounen. light novel adaptations about increasingly specific male power fantasies. action series. a lot of it is stuff made with teenage boys as the target demographic in mind. again, a lot of other anime exist, but when you think of the "blockbuster" series every season, it definitely skews more towards one gender.

if my exposure to american media was mostly limited to its most juvenile action movies and the lobbies of popular online shooters, I would also conclude that america is uniquely horny and has an issue with women. the only difference between america and japan in this respect is that, for whatever reason, the U.S. has largely relegated mainstream 2D animation to the kids' table outside of specific adult cartoons. there just really isn't a good american equivalent to the kind of shows people are most likely to think of when they think of "anime"

like this doesn't mean that popular anime don't have these issues with them -- you can (and should) critique media no matter where they come from. it also doesn't mean that attitudes and beliefs don't vary between countries and cultures. but the instinct to attribute the issues with (your idea of) anime to the country it came from first rather than considering the target audience of the specific show you're watching and comparing it to similar media in other parts of the world is definitely rooted in racism

you are sitting on your laptop watching the shounen anime du jour and thinking "wow, this is a country with no respect for women" while your younger brother is in the other room running over hookers in gta. maybe broaden your perspective of the issue beyond national borders

[paladin849]

2d character art

There’s nothing like the simplicity and charm of 2D character art. Just think back to all of your favorite animated features, cartoons, comic books, and video games. It all comes flooding back, doesn’t it? Something about the immediacy and evocative quality of two-dimensional drawings goes straight to the heart and turns us into children again. If you want to know a bit more about this art form, this is the article for you. As a bonus, you’ll learn where the best 2D artists live and how to hire ’em for your projects!

I mean, sure, you may be one of those 3D purists who always sing the praises of 3D modeling. I get, I really do. But trust me, 2D isn’t going anywhere just because technology is moving full-steam ahead. In fact, 2D character art remains popular, engaging, and fun as ever. Therefore, even as we get swarmed with Pixar clones and newfangled graphical marvels, we discount 2D at our own peril.

what is 2d character art

As you might expect, it's been around for a while. We may say that the seeds were planted when we began painting on cave walls. Of course, we can't truly argue that style and the ones that followed in art history classify as 2D character art, which is a modern technique.

So, what has changed? What is the distinction between simple illustration, sketching, and two-dimensional character design? In a nutshell, it's intentionality. Purpose is everything in life, as it is in most things. As a result, even superficial similarities can be misleading. The same thing occurs in the field of design, which is rife with subgroups and classifications. We humans are an odd bunch.

The first 2D character art dates from the early 1900s. Winsor McCay, an American cartoonist and animator, was the first to develop a 2D character, Gertie the Dinosaur, who featured in an eponymous picture. McCay's pioneering spirit, however, had previously produced two short animated pictures, Little Nemo and How a Mosquito Operates.

What distinguishes these two from Gertie? As I already stated, intentionality. Gertie the Dinosaur is largely considered as the inspiration for the subsequent animation boom. In some ways, it's the first time someone set out to build a character with a personality and an identity in a genre that's still in its infancy.

Of course, as time passed, 2D character art grew increasingly popular in cartoons. As we all know, the dam burst when Walt Disney released Steamboat Willie. Then all bets were off, and it was time to shine the spotlight.

2d character art in polydin

2D character art is essential in many creative undertakings, such as video games, animation, comic books, and advertising. 2D characters that are well-designed may attract the audience's attention, convey a variety of emotions and expressions, and give depth and personality to the project. Polydin Studio is a professional game art studio specializing in 2D character art for a variety of projects. Polydin studio has the expertise to develop characters that are adapted to the project's objectives and aims thanks to a team of skilled artists. Our artists create every character in your projects a memorable experience for your audience by focusing on quality, attention to detail, and meeting deadlines.

6 common tools that 2D character artists use

There are a variety of tools, both digital and analogue, that character designers can use in their work, depending on the nature of their project. Skilled, successful artists take the time to study, train and become proficient across a wide range of technologies and programs. Some common tools these professionals use include:

Adobe Creative Cloud

Character designers use a number of popular Adobe products. Adobe Photoshop, for instance, is a widely used image editing software for touching up and refining digital images. Adobe Animate, a successor to Adobe Flash, is a simple tool for creating interactive animations and animated website elements. Adobe Character Animator allows you to animate still images and can create real-time animations that mimic your real-life movements and voice using your webcam and audio.

Toon Boom

Toon Boom has a number of software packages that are popular with professional 2D animators. Harmony 21 is a comprehensive solution that many animators of well-known TV shows use to create high-quality characters throughout a project's production cycle. It allows you to create artwork and add animation elements, audio and special effects all within the same software without requiring you to export your work to different tools. You can even scan and manipulate hand-drawn animations. The software functions on all major computer operating systems and has robust support options, including community forums.

TVPaint

TVPaint is a hand-drawn animation software tool that several animated feature film productions have used, allowing artists to create animations that look like paper-drawn characters more quickly and efficiently than traditional animation techniques. This software launched in 1991 and has become an industry-standard tool, receiving support and updates with new, improved features for users. This software is also available for all major operating systems and requires a one-off licence purchase.

Pencil 2D

Pencil 2D is a free, open-source 2D animation software that's available on all large operating systems. It's ideal for traditional pen and ink type animations and has a more minimalistic, easy-to-use interface. Artists who use Pencil 2D benefit from its pre-set animations and effects and can sketch ink and paint simultaneously and export their work in a number of formats. Because the software is open source, the user community can access the source code to continually support and update it.

CelAction2D

CelAction2D is a relatively simple-to-use software that has many features and tools that are popular with TV, film and commercial animators. You can import designs from other software applications and even scan hand-drawn characters to animate. The software splits design and animation functionality, and animators can create skeletons and manipulate them to simulate a number of moves. You can rig character designs to these skeletons and create high-quality animations quickly and effectively.

[ideahat-universe]

This is very disappointing news. Not only are flufflepuff videos in my personal archives but the brony fangame I've been working on has Flufflepuff type ponies as a playable class. There was even a planned Flufflepuff style NPC and maybe even Flufflepuff herself if the game really took off.

So what do I do? Do I remove this character now that I've been made formally aware of it?

I do actually believe in separating art from the artist. I have archives of Smorky Kay despite knowing exactly what he did.

I watch Rurouni Kenshin and consider it one of my all time favorite anime despite knowing what the creator was doing.

But that's consuming artwork. What about creating it? Well, a ton of artists were directly inspired by Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi (does anyone notice a pattern emerging?) and aside from hating what he did they all don't resent being inspired by his work, in fact for those who still remember Ren and Stimpy it's still considered one of the best cartoons of its era if not one of the most influential.

Sea of Stars at one point had Jirard the completionist in their game and removed him when he got in hot water, however Hat in game devs didn't remove Jontron from the game despite the hot water he was in at the time.

So what should I do? Well, let me think.

The whole idea behind my game is that you play various Pony archetypes, not just as teammates but at various points you change to different kinds of ponies. Artistic liberty had to be taken as some pony features over lap with each other with small differences through the generations of the franchise's existence as well as stretching

For instance, you can play as a fairy pony which is several different types of fairy like ponies made into a cohesive singular design and class.

A similar thing had to be done when creating Gem Ponies which are just different versions of a glittery, gem themed, or otherwise crystalline pony type.

I recently added Zebra as a class and it oddly enough has overlap with Flufflepuff in terms of theme (Manipulating chaotic power) except unlike the Zebra class which is fairly balanced, Flufflepuff is broken. The most recent direction I was going with the design was that Fluffpuff style ponies could pull things out of hammer-space or different effects would happen based on the use of items and what equipment they have on. You couldn't wear armor but the defense was really high outside of a 200% weakness to fire.

But here's the thing. There is nothing like Flufflepuff in the official Pony Archives. Every other Pony Class has official representation in the show and the game is generally about representing as much of the show's original IP through the 1-4 generations as possible.

There were never any frizzy hair pony toys. I'm not even sure if a Chia pet pony happened. That does mean I'm not obligated to keep this class in the game. If I had it in here because I wanted to include a popular non canon race, well, It's not going to be much more popular in the future.

But what if I changed it? If artists inspired by Jon K went on to make their own mark and not be weighed down by the source of inspiration. Maybe I can do the same.

Perhaps it's time for a League of Legends style rework....

[abigali1018]

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera: "The Cat Concerto" (1947)

Tom and Jerry are one of those classic beloved animated series, it had its debut in 1940 and became one of the most popular and enduring animated franchises. The series made its debut with the film “Puss gets the boot” in 1940, by MGM studios, to this point the characters still hadn’t earned their names as Tom and Jerry, which they got until 1941 in their second cartoon, titled “The midnight snack”. The series received several Academy Awards for Short film during the 1940s and 1950s, they won seven Oscars in total, and today we are talking about one of those winners, “The cat concerto.”

This series of animations, as well as others made by the same studio, followed a similar pattern in their animation style as others in the era, they went through the storyboard process, character design and layouts, then hand drawing animations on cells, ink and painting, then they would photograph frame by frame and edit them together to create the final film, to end this process they would add the background music and sound effects and voices if needed, this to add the characteristic gags and humor of this series. In this case the short contains the piece Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 by Franz Liszt’s.

The short depicts Tom, a pianist in this case, about to start a concert, he sits and starts playing the piano, while he plays, we see that Jerry has mounted his house inside the instrument, so he begins to be disturbed by the movement the strings make, beginning the classic cat and mouse gag they were so known for, Jerry continues bothering and messing up Tom’s performance while Tom tries to catch him, including various gags and physical humor classic to this animations, in the end, after bothering him Tom ends up getting too tired trying to catch up with the peace after Jerry took control of the piano, so he collapses and the audience applauds Jerry, who is now wearing a dinner jacket.

I found about this animation due to the controversy it had with a very similar cartoon made by Warner Bros, in which Bugs Bunny appears playing the same song and having the same kind of gags, where a mouse appears and disturbs him while he tries to play the piano, I did a lot of research about this but couldn’t really find anything certain about it, it centers primarily around the release dates of this two animations, “Rhapsody Rabbit” was released in 1946, while “The Cat Concerto” was released a year later, so a lot of people assumed this one copied the other, but release dates aren’t all in the animation industry, because we need to have in consideration production and concept, in this case “The Cat Concerto” started production first. So it seems that it was just a big coincidence, because even if the idea is the same the gags and order of things are slightly similar, I really wanted to look more into this but each website has a different theory and no one can give me an exact answer, there’s a theory that technicolor sent the first animation to the wrong studio and that’s how it got plagiarized, but it’s still a theory that I couldn’t confirm.

This short was shown in the Academy Awards and won best animated short film in 1947, it had a pretty good impact and regarding the controversy is still very oved by the fans of Tom and Jerry, and I really liked it, I found in on YouTube and fell into a rabbit hole of the whole which one came first, its really sad that I couldn’t find a certain answer. But regarding of this it remains a pretty fun and classic Tom and Jerry cartoon.

https://tomandjerry.fandom.com/wiki/The_Cat_Concerto

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tom-and-Jerry

[toon-blast-cheats-qp]

toon blast cheats mod menu 0NZ&

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[lucymachen]

Introduction to Creative Play - 27/09/22

Our ease into the course and to get our creative juices flowing started with a way to expand our illustrative knowledge. We did this by starting off with a list of popular art styles in the media, such as South Park, The Simpsons, etc., and a list of different creatures and people in our lives. An online wheel spin would determine what combination, then create and design what we’re given. This was an exciting task, considering my personal love for many of these notable character designs, as well as my love for trying new things.

My first combination was a parrot in the style of Rick and Morty. When taking visual reference, I noticed the illustration uses quite soft shapes for the character's features and simple details. I also noticed how unrefined the outlines are, giving an accentuated feel for the chaotic themes of the show. My attempt was heavily reliant on the character features of Rick, the mad scientist and grandfather of Morty. His main plotline is using his scientific abilities to transform himself and Morty into various creatures, to which I applied this theme to my creation. I tried to mirror the illustration type and simplify the features to keep it on the theme. I think this was a good first attempt.

My second was a complete 180. It was a monkey in the style of Classic Disney. Since references for this were quite easily given (Abu from Aladdin, The Jungle Book, Rafiki from The Lion King, etc.) as well as the range of breeds of monkey, I decided to reference a type of ape that Disney has not illustrated before, a Gibbon. This was possibly my favourite attempt since I've always enjoyed Disney-style illustrations. The proportions are warped, and expressions are dramatized. There’s also the use of appeal, especially in anthropomorphized animals.

The third was quite an easy creation; a fox in the style of the animated sitcom Archer. I went with referencing a Tibetan sand fox. The art style is very comic-like and heavily reliant on sharp shadows and thick lines. The proportions are quite realistic, so when applying the style, all it really included was enhanced outlines and block shadowing. This in itself wasn’t entirely challenging; I believe this art style can only be recognized by applying it to people rather than animals.

My fourth and final combination for this task had a twist; take two art styles and combine a character from one into the style of the other. My two were Dexter’s Laboratory and Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away. I was drawn more to the style of Dexter’s Laboratory since it was much more visibly cartoon-like and proportionally bizarre. Dexter’s Laboratory heavily relies on geometric shapes to create expressions and proportions that represent the character’s identity: small feet and long bodies for adult female characters to give the light-footed feminine touch, whereas male characters have sharp and lanky features to portray a sharp-witted and sharp-minded disposition. I used this knowledge on the protagonist of Spirited Away, Chihiro Ogino. I kept her features softer to appeal to her age and a smaller proportioned body for her nimble character. I also tried to keep to the TV shows geometric concepts.

Our last task to finish our creativity off was a game of Exquisite Corpse, with three different pass-around for the head, torso, and legs. I kept my attempts similar in approach and wanted to portray a very caricature-like style. I enjoy this type of portrait illustration a lot, which is great for creating games like this. Let it be known that these creations were completely off the top of my head. I started off with the head, wanting to portray a lot of emotion, and was happy with its outcome. My torso also told a story of sorts. My proportions were slightly off, but it wasn’t something I relatively cared for at the moment. As long as I was successful in what story I wanted to tell. I got slightly more creative with the legs since I decided at the last minute to make it less human and more rabbit-like. I tried to be clear about the shapes and apply what I learned about with the previous challenge; accentuating features is what make caricatures more stylized and portray emotion and story quicker to the audience. All in all, this was my favourite task by far. It was a great way to customize our own characters and our own styles, after expanding our minds with the art styles we had previously studied. Below are my three attempts at Exquisite Corpse, highlighted are my creations.

[abovebelowetherington]

a returning topic from a past blog back again we have adventure time, created by Pendleton ward and released in early 2010, the series was one of the main big hitters along with regular show and gumball that helped boosted cartoon network back into relevancy anyways back to the shows aesthetics

adventure times character and world design is both very exaggerated and simplistic the world of adventure time, the land of OO’s zany inhabitants our matched with a simplistic and cartoony style to match the wacky and fun world the characters find themselves in, whether it be sentient electronics like BMO or some strange lunar cloud creature like lumpy space princess there’s no limit to the amount of weird creatures hosted in the world of adventure time

however while most adventure time designs remain charming and simplistic this doesn’t mean the team behind don’t or are incapable of making more uncanny and detailed designs, a popular occasional villain of the franchise the Lich proves that the animators behind adventure time are flexible and the types of things that they can design

as adverture time is an ongoing cartoon things need to be kept in that style no matter which artist is taking up the project lest it create a very jarring transition say Imagine if an animator for regular show came to animate on adventure time i the exact same style as the former show, it would be (very obviously)off putting

as such most art no matter which character designer is doing concepts for the designs it always keeps in that art style this can be seen in the character guides made by Pendleton himself who released an entire online model sheet for how to draw in adventure times art style 

https://thinkinganimation.com/draw-adventure-time-pendleton-ward/ link to the full guide here this was very helpful for pictures and my talking point so check it out :)

these guides give a very cohesive look on how the art style of the show is done for specific characters, there are likely similar types of sheets for those who may have only just started animating on the show to give them a general run down of the rules they need to follow with adventure times art style, however even in the guide itself Pendleton people to slightly bend some specific rules and experiment in places 

experimentation leads to another advantage of adventure times simple style is how utterly bonkers you can go with specific expressions for the character, simpler drawings means not only are they easier and more animator friendly compared to say he man from the 80′s but also means that it’s easier to go off model experiment for expressions for more comedic affect at times, while this is to some extent breaking some of the model sheet rules Pendleton himself encouraged that they were not 100% set in stone and that they could be bended, either way the point still stands the more simple characters lead to more expressive moments

gotta admit I was not expecting revisiting adventure time again to be as fun as a deep dive as it was and I’m overall happy with what I learned the notes on character model sheets is really informative and I might put something similar to that together for a future project myself so I can definitely say that this was a good learning point 

[dragonheadskilax]

iron-cutting-meteor-sword: literally frantically trying to do the same thing you did and consume all Lupin media so I can keep up AGQNRBE I had no idea he had an animated sakura background in one movie that’s so funny. i love the galaxy brain of Goemon being both traditional and also just like. normally experienced with certain modern things. like he can fly a plane and drive a car and operate certain machinery and use a phone bc he’s part of Lupin’s gang, he’s got to know how to do that, he’s just not really one to show off about it like Lupin and Jigen. I DID like the gag they put in Seven Days Rhapsody though were Lupin remarks that of all the people in the world Goemon looks so wrong holding a cellphone (now that I think about it, the “you changed ur phone” comment may have been in reference to the fact that they gave Goemon a flip phone to have since Rhapsody? He had the flip phone in following installments) ANYWAY love ur Goemon posts king

My first 2 weeks was watching Parts 4-6, TWNFM and a few movies. Month 1 watching All movies. Month 2 Parts 1-3. And now, I’ve been rewatching everything again but in order with a bit of reading or peeking at the games and obscure music albums. I don’t recommend the tactic of seeing three movies in a single day, instant brain soup.

And yeah! I love his thing of having a traditional way of style and living but is still up to date with some things for the sake of its convenience. Especially for how he travels a lot so he has to know about flight schedules and using public transportation or using a gas station if he’s traveling by his scooter. He probably isn’t familiar with what’s hip and popular but he doesn’t need to know all that. Like, personally I pretty much understand that since for many years I Only wear or use devices that are antique or at least non-contemporary in appearance. Because, well idk… it’s what I’ve always done. I’d still do other things for the enjoyment of it but would I ever stop my specific thing of being an oldie? Not likely.

So Goemon could comparatively be a similar situation. He isn’t strict about it and often contradicts himself, I remember one time Jigen said the ‘worthless object’ line at him in a special I think and Goemon wanted him to shut. The idea he’s just an old timey japanese samurai is pretty surface level. Heck the idea he’s Just only japanese is pretty surface level too cuz anyone who’d grew up in Japan would consider themselves culturally japanese. Since he visits and is very familiar with other asian countries, In The Last Job he tells how comes to Thailand all the time and was miffed Lupin didn’t already know that fact about him. Family wise, there’s barely any info besides name. In Fuma Conspiracy there were a looot of people at the wedding and they couldn’t all be from Murasaki’s side. But in a way, not having more info would go along with how there’s barely any info on everyone else, too.

( Hope you don’t mind having me answer these tags too ) I’ve mainly been looking at the choice of fabric, patterns, dyeing techniques, belts, and etiquette for the clothing than fully going into timelines of the changes. Aside for the thing of how (umanori) hakama gotten the pants like form when horse riding for samurai became a thing as ando (skirt like) is the other type. But as I was learning about collars and underwear it reminded me of how funny it is Goemon just, looks like that. Sure it’s a cartoon and there’s the thing of simplification for the sake of art/animation but in most promo art where everyone’s dressed in something fancy he could still be wearing the same every time it’s just noticeable now. In part 3 he does look tidier though, since more details were drawn. He doesn’t wear things the typical way in historical/media portrayals of a samurai. His wear is more like for martial arts training if anything since that’s almost all he ever does, or he’s just simply semi-formal. In a way it kinda does lean again on how he isn’t strict about sticking to being totally traditional he’s just doing what’s convenient as all he wants to do is hold sword, be tranquil, and get money cuz he still has to make a living. To Goemon his choices gotta apply to his interest of samurai even if it doesn’t make sense. Like when he was repeating movie lines from a samurai movie he watched. Watching soccer just cuz one player was nicknamed samurai. Like oh yeah, it’s definitely his big interest.

And my deets for Jigen clothes is he does appear to know his stuff when it comes to suits and companies to get them. High end stuff. One time Lupin asked how he’s not hot when in a jungle Jigen replies it’s cuz of the material. Which I agree, material is everything, natural all the way if wanting to be cool. Maybe Lupin gets his suits at halloween stores at The Joker section for his clothes. I’m sure Jigen gets high end hats too as beaver felt is considered the best even after centuries. It’s durable, water resistant, and so soft. You haven’t felt hats ‘til you get fur felt.

[canmom]

I watched an episode the new League of Legends spinoff tv series Arcane, I will watch the rest later at some point lol. visually it’s pretty interesting but it is 100% what would you would expect

animation mostly seems to be done either in house at Riot or at Fortiche Productions who did various previous music videos for them (not sure how it breaks down exactly, beyond that Fortiche definitely did the title sequence and some of the show animation is in their demo reel). whoever it is, they have a very strong nonphotorealistic shader pipeline that resembles recent trends in digital painting (strong rim lighting, fairly visible brushstrokes on surfaces).

so... it’s probably the first tv series to really bring that kind of high budget stylised videogame cutscene look to an animated series - not surprising since that look is very associated with League and Riot. i’d place it in a tradition with something like Legend of Korra (which it heavily resembles in writing) on the one hand and Star Wars The Clone Wars/Rebels on the other, though the visdev is considerably tighter than the starwars cartoons - very few sparse empty cgi sets, lots of nicely composed “looks like concept art” shots, very strong facial animation. this is definitely going to set a standard for what “expensive western CGI animation” is going to look like, and it’s cool that nonphotorealistic rendering is becoming increasingly popular.

overall though... it’s hard to get that excited because it’s kinda normcore lmao. like you can 100% tell it’s a spinoff of not just a game but a high budget modern MOBA; the character archetypes and writing beats are all pretty much “exactly what you would expect” given the premise. which isn’t necessarily an issue, like i’ve watched and enjoyed plenty of anime that throws a ton of visual flair at a conventional premise... but it feels like it’s so polished that the rough edges of personal touch that make something interesting have been sanded off along with the low budget CGI jank. which is also why I would compare it with Legend of Korra; it’s not just that they’re set in a city with a big class divide and a cool-but-scary police force and a 20s sort of visual style (Arcane is more Art Nouveau than Art Deco) but they both have that kind of “this story doesn’t really merit the animation effort you’re lavishing on it but that’s what capitalism will serve up for us” sorta feel to them!

one of the most interesting touches to me is the fact that the explosions, liquids - “effects animation” - are all clearly 2D, and made of very clean graphic shapes in a way that calls to mind animators such as Lightsoul. (it’s honestly so like his style that I wondered if he did it, but I couldn’t spot him on the credits). this added a ton of character. a slow motion fight scene with some deliciously squashy punch impacts also stood out choreography-wise. I was amused that they had Shohreh Aghdashloo’s extremely recognisable voice for the police chief, playing a character very similar to her role as Chrisjen Avasarala in The Expanse.

I feel like the premise has potential if they fully lean into the characters doing a terrorism (apparently where this is going), but I imagine it will back off to some Korra-style lib shit, because it’s the backstory of a mainstream videogame character and of course we surely can’t countenance blowing up fictional people in our fictional dystopia. that’s the thing i guess... I read V for Vendetta recently and you can really feel Moore’s anger at living through the Thatcher years, and I just don’t feel like this is going to have anything like that spark from 40 years ago, it’s just dabbling in a story about a revolution. but who knows. i’ll give it a chance!

[alicenpai]

ask: some thoughts on finding “style”

ANOTHER ANSWER THAT WAS TOO LONG FOR CURIOUS CAT, I’VE ETERNALIZED IT ON TUMBLR!

anon asked, “Hi I love the way you stylize characters! I constantly am experimenting with different drawing styles, I really want to find a style im happy with but I just cant seem to find something that sticks. Id like to know Is this a normal part of finding a style? did you experience something similar to get to your current style? sorry if these questions are kinda weird but thank you if you do answer!“

hi anon! I'm not sure I'm the right person to ask bc all of my work looks .. vastly different.. but thank you I'm trying to solidify my look a lil more and go through an upheaval this summer ^^;

edit oct 2021: i attached an image here to display all of the different “styles” i work in (and also for visual appeal, otherwise this post is 100% text)

if you came here looking for tips on how to draw characters in your style, while keeping likeness.. i’m sorry if i misinterpreted the question GDHDGJDFJDGJ maybe i will write on that another day if people are interested? apticho wrote some really good stuff here in the meantime ^^ (snippet above)

--- ---

// part 1: gathering inspiration

hi anon, that's totally normal! it's okay to go through a lot of different looks in your art, both in a short or long period of time. it’s also perfectly alright to be unsure and insecure about your art/style. some people know where they want to go from the get go, but be patient, and i know if youre a younger artist, it’s easy to be envious of others who seem to have a consistent look throughout their work. I know I did!! i still do!!

i’m going to be talking about my ideas about style and content below.

edit oct 2021: one of the easiest things that will help you build a style is to just gather inspiration material. that’s it! keep a separate insp/reblog tumblr blog, save images on your phone/computer (keep it organized in folders as much as possible! i know it can be hard haha...), make moodboards formore ambitious drawings. or just make moodboards for fun. do all of these things or only do 1, it doesn’t matter.

I like to archive all/most of the art that I like. I know pinterest is awful for many reasons, but more often than not I find some really good artists through there (and i follow them too!). I’m a messy person by nature, so I like the way you can organize content on there, esp with subfolders. I label folders like “character design, anime styles i like, cartoon/visdev styles i like, lighting, photos of faces, pose reference” etc. 

edit oct 2021: i also like to keep folders of the artists i like on my phone (easy access compared to computer..). consider what you like about their style. is it the way they draw eyes? the colour and light? their line weight? character interaction? dynamic poses? angst? all of these things combined come together to create a “style”.

// part 2: analyzing artists

both the LOOK and the CONTENT are important factors in one’s own style. someone else may draw using the same brushes etc like me, but unless they have the same personal values, you can tell who’s who. For example, they might draw more action-y poses, something im not good at. This is a bit controversial but whenever there are certain popular artists in certain circles, a lot of people may be inspired by them, and you can see a lot of the popular artist’s work in their fans! it can be both a good or a bad thing - take what you will. Anyways, another example: a lot of artists back in the golden age of American illustration (late 1800s to mid 1900s) drew quite similarly. let’s look at some examples to pick out what sets them apart. I used some really distinct examples but you can apply this idea for other artists too.

Here’s Norman Rockwell. He’s quite well known and I’m sure you’ve seen some of his art if you live in the western hemisphere, he was commissioned for a lot of magazines and other places. style: I would personally characterize his work as realistic and painterly. content: heavily focused on interaction and expression - sometimes a bit funny - but these are expressions that feel completely natural, and dont fall into the uncanny valley. This is what differentiates his art from other golden age artists, and his work is unique IMO, even if it’s realistic in nature.

Here’s Earl Oliver Hurst. style: His work is cartoony, but not flat, bold black ink, and has a really great sense of the “line of action”. content: he drew a lot of pretty men and women (probably because they were commissioned for magazines and advertisements), and they’re usually doing recreational activities like sports or posing in fashion shoots. I love his work and I think more people should know about him!! definitely in my top 10.

Here’s Mead Schaeffer. style: His work is moody, the colour palettes can range from monochromatic to a full palette, and with an amazing sense of depth, light, and shadow. content: he usually draws people in shadow, and their full facial features may not even be visible, he uses shadow to only indicate facial features are present - what a master! His work is also very dramatic; both men and women are in perilous situations in his work. The sense of light and shadow go hand in hand with the content that he depicts.

other noteworthy names: Dean Cornwell, J.C. Leyendecker, Thomas Blackshear (absolutely recommend him!), female illustrators are hard to come by but here is a list! 

a contemporary artist example:

This fire emblem awakening drawing by katy/inktho (wonder if reposting is OK for educational purposes?). style: the family atmosphere is heightened by the soft, neutral light, and the warm, rustic, homely decor. i would characterize this artist’s style as warm, and they excel at drawing character expressions and interaction. content: This drawing speaks a lot to me - even though I've only played a bit of FE:A, I can really feel the family bond between these characters. The interaction feels natural, lighthearted, and playful. I think that's the power of telling stories in your art, if it's told well, people will enjoy it no matter if they know the characters or not. 

Moving on... I know i share this drawing all the time. I know! but i wanted to share the moodboard we were required (i think?) to post in the zine discord server. as you can see there’s both the LOOK that i focused on, as well as reference for the CONTENT (foliage + clothing). my vision for this 2 page spread was “victorian greenhouse fashion spread”. the look and the content are 2 things came together to form this “style”.

// part 3: art you like vs the art you want to draw

some artists i look up to: rei_17, yoneyama mai, mochizuki jun, ask, emmmerald, xanthe bouma, sara kipin, apticho, just to name a few.

another note for reference material: moving further, there's certainly a difference between art you enjoy, and art that you wanna draw. it’s okay to have a disconnect between those two things! art is broad and you can’t cover the entire spectrum. it’s okay if you see an artist with a broader range than you. but they similarly can’t cover everything either, they’re also human.

for me, I like a lot of different art styles, ranging from like, the baroque period, to the mid 20th century golden age of american illustration, UPA cartoons, french comics, to gritty 80s, 90s, 00s anime. however, I wouldn't say I draw like any of them. there are so many drawings I see where I go "wow I want to paint like that!" or "I want to do lineart like that!" or "I want to do lineless like that!" ..... I think my work ends up looking more like a person who grew up with both anime and western cartoon influences and mixed them together.

but I think eventually I drove myself nuts !!! thinking that I want to draw like every artist whose work popped up on my feed. and on top of that, I think I became a lil unhinged when I focused too much on "fandom" in the past. I talked to a few friends about this, and we all agreed we had a few favourite artists who we love, no matter what they draw.

// part 4: style vs content (how this applies to my own work)

*instead of focusing on the "look" or "style" of my work, currently I'm focusing more on "content" - try to find out what kind of TOPICS you want to draw FIRST, and I believe that the style you choose will fall in place!! right now I want to try my hand at depicting character interaction, and the scene/world they live in - so, telling stories. i’m moving away from the cartoony, flat styles i sometimes worked in during my first 2 years of animation school. now that i’m older, i feel that i want to involve more dimension in my art, and the flatter styles, although fun, just don’t cut it for me anymore. 

i also am stepping a bit away from my lineless work, if you look at the image below, there are a lot of details that got lost from the sketch -> local colours -> final with relative colours. it’s a style i worked in a lot, but over time i felt increasingly frustrated that i could not depict emotions as clearly. my lineless work has a strong focus on aesthetics, but i want to focus more on facial expressions, body language, and most importantly, atmosphere, moving forward. as i focused more on those things, i naturally went back to my more anime style.

this is the kind of content i want to get better at, and by narrowing down my content, the style i wish to work in falls in place!!

some examples of old stuff VS where my work looks a bit more anime or comic influenced as of late:

^ 2020 portfolio work (OC)

^ 2018 (OC)

2018 (ace attorney)

2021 (pandora hearts)

2021 (ace attorney)

//

moral of the story: find your content first, then your style will fall in place.

i don’t really have any closing thoughts other than i hope that can help inspire you!! 

[raeynbowboi]

Things I want from the Netflix Live-Action Avatar

1. Faithful Casting - An obvious, stupid answer, I want all of the actors to look appropriate for the roles they are playing. Dark-skinned waterbenders and pasty pale firebenders. Obviously, getting every single character to look exactly like their cartoon counterpart is unlikely, but at least the main characters should hopefully be cast as close as possible, though hair and make-up can go a long way. After all, none of the blonde women on Game of Thrones were actually blonde, Lena and Emily were both brunettes. Granted that was HBO funding, but still proof of tv quality special effects.

2. Accurate world design - The Avatar cartoon is a juggernaut of Wuxia style fantasy, and I really want the world to look and feel as close to the cartoon as possible. With all the bending, illogical archetecture, and hybrid animals, while I know a more accurate adaptation will be costly, a good set, costume, and cgi team can really bring this world to life.

3. Queer representation - These days, Netflix seems to be really on board with LGBTQ+ representation, far more than Nickelodeon. Hopefully, Bryke will feel more free to include LGBTQ+ characters, as they did with Korrasami. I think Zuko in particular is a great choice among the main cast. He’s already so confused about who he is and what he wants out of life, there’s no reason you couldn’t add questioning his sexuality to that stirred up pot of emotions. While Zukka is seeing a surge in popularity, Jet is definitely another top contender, due to the interesting friction that’s ripe within their character flaws to become a compelling ill-fated romance between two enemies. Or even just creating a new guy to be Zuko’s love interest would also be welcome. I just think Zuko is the best candidate of the original cast of characters to be LGBTQ+ as it already fits nicely into his character arc of finding what’s right for him, deciding his own fate, and seeking his own happiness. Iroh’s lessons about wanting things for himself instead of what other people told him to want, translates so beautifully to Zuko trying way too hard to date women despite a lack of interest in them. It’s such a natural fit to his story that it’s kind of perfect for Zuko. 

4. New Plotlines and Scenes - Whether the show will be a half-hour or hour long format hasn’t been announced, but between possibly longer run times or longer seasons with more episodes, or possibly even both, this could allow the creators to include moments they either had to cut out of the original show, or didn’t have as much time to do as they wanted. For example, Azula was going to have an arranged marriage plotline in season 3, and that’s something they could bring back. There’s also the search for Zuko’s mother, which was covered in the comics, but never addressed in any of the shows. Even smaller things like Yue’s fiance. He charges at Admiral Zhao and goes overboard and we never see him again. Turns out, the creators kind of forgot about him.

5. Potential for Tonal Shifts - While this is a live-action adaptation, it’s unclear at the moment who the target audience for this will be. Whether it’ll be aimed more toward fans of the original, or drawing in a new crowd. But with the more realistic cinematography, slapstick and comedy aren’t going to work as well in a live-action setting. There’s definitely still room for comedy, but the squatch-and-stretch rubberiness of cartoons that allow for exaggurated expressions can’t be matched by live actors. This could potentially lead them to make a more “mature” and darker Avatar that totes itself as more of a dramatic war epic and less of a child-friend comedy adventure.

6. Pushing the Envelop - In a similar vein to point 5, without the censors of Nickelodeon hanging over their necks, there is a lot more freedom with this project to address issues more openly that they may have had to imply or skirt-around in the cartoon to keep it more child-friendly. Even something as simple as confirming Jet’s death. Especially if the tone is darker and more mature, there’s a lot more room for them to really push into more explicitly depicting themes and ideas from the original series, even showing us what happened the night Ursa left.

7. Incorporate Diagetic Languages - Even if it’s as simple as characters greeting each other, it’d be nice to hear even just background extras speaking diagetic Asian languages. I’m going more blanket here because while the writing in the show is Traditional Mandarin, the cultures take inspiration from Japanese, Tibetan, and Inuit as well, and I’m open to both angles. Whether everyone speaks some Mandarin, or if each nation has their own language, any amount of using native Asian languages would be nice.

8. Dante Basco as Uncle Iroh - Okay, so maybe he still has the Zuko voice, but Dante is the only original cast member who is ethnically Asian, and would be appropriate to cast in the live-action setting. Even if he’s not Iroh, casting Dante to play anyone would be welcome. Whether he’s the tempermental Zhao, the malicious Fire Lord Ozai, the sagely Avatar Roku, the brave Hakoda, the stern Master Paku, the wise Master Piandao, the conniving Long Feng, or really any of the older adult male characters, Dante Basco would be a great choice, even just as a cameo character like the Cabbage Merchant.