#creative concepting

[stil-lindigo]

the fox god.

a comic about a trickster.

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creative notes:

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all my other comics

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[alilarew23]

what if god said yes

what if you got quiet. what if you got so quiet and you curled up in a little ball in your bed with a stuffed animal or a blanket or a pillow and you said, “god, can we talk?” and because god is you and you are god you didn’t have to wait and you didn’t have to go anywhere at all and—“yes,” god said. and you said, “god, i want an apartment with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city.” “god, i want the boy with the kind eyes and tattoo-covered arms and exquisite taste in music.” “god, i want to feel alive again.” “god, i want to travel first-class to switzerland.” “god, i want a hound dog named finn.” and god said, “yes.” and you said, “but how can you make this happen?” and god said, “i can make anything happen.” and you said, “quickly?” and god said, “i love you. why would i not make this rapid?” and you said, “i can trust you?” and god said, “like your life depends on it.” and you said, “my life does depend on it.” and god said, “i know. i’ve got it now. you’re safe. let me take care of it.” and you hugged god. and god hugged you. and you hugged yourself. and you drifted off to sleep saying, “i have it. i’m safe. i have it. i’m safe. i have it. i’m—” and you woke in the morning and the world was new. because you knew it was done. because god said yes. and god never goes back on a yes unless you tell god “no.” and any time throughout the day you thought, “is anything happening?” god said, “it’s all happening.” and you said, “but i can’t see a thing.” and god said, “i am your eyes.” and you said, “but i don’t have to do anything?” and god said, “you did the only thing needed.” and you said, “but what about my thoughts and my state and acting as if?” and god said, “i love you.” and you knew what that meant. so instead of worrying or wondering or obsessing another second, you went to the bakery and bought a slice of chocolate cake and drove home and sat on your back deck and ate and ate and watched the sunset and celebrated.

[writerthreads]

Super detailed character profile chart

Character Name:

First Name:

Last Name:

Nickname (if any):

Basic Information:

Age:

Gender:

Date of Birth:

Place of Birth:

Nationality:

Physical Appearance:

Height:

Weight:

Build:

Hair Color:

Eye Color:

Scars or distinguishing marks:

Personality Traits:

Positive Traits:

Negative Traits:

Background and History:

Family Background:

Parents:

Siblings (if any):

Childhood:

Education:

School/College/University:

Major/Area of Study:

Favorite Subjects:

Least Favorite Subjects:

Career/Profession:

Current Occupation:

Previous Jobs (if any):

Career Goals:

Hobbies and Interests:

Hobbies:

Interests:

Relationships:

Marital Status:

Romantic Relationships (if any):

Friendships:

Closest Friends:

Relationship dynamics:

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Goals and Ambitions:

Short-term Goals:

Long-term Goals:

Fears and Insecurities:

Common Fears:

Insecurities:

Quirks and Habits:

Quirks:

Habits:

Beliefs and Values:

Religious or Spiritual Beliefs:

Moral Code:

Political Views:

Favorites:

Favorite Foods:

Favorite Books:

Favorite Movies/TV Shows:

Favorite Music:

Favorite Color:

Dislikes:

Disliked Foods:

Disliked Activities:

Pet Peeves:

Miscellaneous:

Talents or Skills:

Secrets (if any):

Motivations:

What drives the character forward?

What are their ultimate aspirations?

Character Arc:

How does the character change or evolve throughout the story?

Feel free to adapt and expand upon this template!

[splatloafbud]

THANK YOU SPLATOON 1 FOR CHANGING MY LIFE ❤️

[cdmginc]

Steps to Finding the Perfect Marketing Approach

Starting a business or building one that is already established requires highly detailed planning. There are so many factors to consider that it would take more than a few paragraphs to get a comprehensive picture of what your result will look like.  

Businesses are essentially dreams, right? They are the culmination of ideas, decision-making, demanding work, setbacks, successes, and finally and hopefully long-term rewards that sustain our lives and prepare our futures. That is just a short list for long years, but the effort is worth it because it is your dream.  

Amid all those sticky notes, notepads, and spreadsheets are your tangible, professional baby- the creation of your vision. But without special attention to every detail that moves the cogs and gears of that entrepreneurial machine, businesses can founder before even getting off the ground which is why establishing your marketing approach early in your business’s planning stages is critical for long-term success. 

Successful Marketing Campaigns for Your Business 

That tiny seed of an idea now has a name, products or services, and maybe even a logo. Your new venture might be brick and mortar, or a totally online business powered by an official website. Or your business might be well-established, offering something well-known and easily recognized, but still one that needs a breath of fresh air to give it new life.  

Utilizing integrated digital marketing to gain the attention of a wide audience can be a vital component of your overall marketing strategy, but it must be specifically tailored to meet your unique needs.  

The vast array of products and services that flood the global marketplace can have the effect of making your business seem like one tiny drop in a huge ocean, but with an approach that includes strategic analysis and creative concepting especially suited to your brand and your story can set you apart from the competition.  

What Do We Mean by Strategic Analysis? 

It is important to identify your goals because this will directly influence what marketing approach to take. When you are starting from the ground up everything might seem like a goal but narrowing your focus about what you want to achieve with your marketing lends itself to your choices including options for both traditional and digital advertising. This segment of your planning is time-intensive but well worth the effort when you see where the results can lead you. 

And with these goals are your current numbers. Marketing strategists will help you decipher where you stand with website clicks, conversions, and online customer engagement. And do not forget about your social media traffic which provides a wealth of information you can leverage in a successful campaign. This data will help you steer toward advertising options that will be targeted, cost-effective, and propel your business toward greater revenue. In addition, you will learn more about your audience as well as your competitors.  

What Do We Mean by Creative Concepting?     

This is the natural next step and truthfully you are getting into the fun part. This is where you as the storyteller weave a tale of magic about your business that ensnares your audience and motivates them to purchase your products or services. You and your digital marketing team will develop the “big picture”- your overall story and then break it down into pieces that attract people to your brand with precise messaging and consistent, high-quality content.    

Does Every Business Need a Unique Marketing Approach? 

Yes- absolutely. There is no one-size-fits-all when formulating a marketing plan for your business. What works for the hospitality industry probably won’t work for healthcare. What is effective for manufacturers can be quite different than what produces results for a high-end retailer. The entertainment, retail, and real estate industries historically see excellent results from using social media. Paid advertising such as pay-per-click, Google ads, and retargeting are all effective across a wide range of businesses. And video advertising is certainly a worthy contender for advertising and marketing agencies, educational organizations, and the travel industry.  

Enlisting the services of an agency experienced in creating successful marketing campaigns is a collaborative effort based on data, creativity, and your desire to achieve your goals as a business owner.  

We know it can be difficult to commit to something that is conceptual AND requires a significant amount of your budget, but the results are tangible. These results are the numbers that indicate increased traffic, growing brand awareness, and profits that take you as an entrepreneur to the next level.  

Step by detailed step, our digital marketing experts know the value of your business. What they want for you is to take your idea and your vision and tell your story in an imaginative, compelling way that drives your audience to say, “Yes. I want that.” 

Have you thought about laying the groundwork for finding the perfect marketing approach? The marketing experts at CDMG are ready to meet you and formulate a plan for your business to achieve the success you deserve. Contact us today!  

[em-dash-press]

The 5 Most Essential Turning Points in a Character’s Arc

You spend so much time creating a character because you want them to feel real. You want to connect with them and use them to create an experience for your readers. Their character arc is how that happens.

Don’t miss out on these essential turning points that make an arc feel not only whole, but complete.

1. The Inciting Incident

Your inciting incident gets your plot moving. It isn’t going to be the first sentence of your story (also called your hook), although it could be if you crafted your first sentence for that purpose.

An inciting incident is a plot event that guides your character in a new direction. It’s the successful prison break, the meeting of instant rivals, or the moment your protagonist wins the lottery in your first chapter.

Without the inciting incident, your protagonist’s life would carry on as usual. They wouldn’t start the arc that makes them an interesting person for the reader to stick with throughout your story.

2. Introducing the Protagonist’s Main Flaw

Every protagonist needs a primary flaw. Ideally, they’ll have more than one. People aren’t perfect and they rarely get close enough to only have one negative characteristic. Protagonists need that same level of humanity for readers to connect with them.

There are many potential flaws you could consider, but the primarily flaw must be the foundation for your character’s arc. It might even be the catalyst for the story’s peak.

Imagine a hero archetype. They’re great and well-intended, but they have a problem with boasting. Their arc features scenes where they learn to overcome their need to brag about themselves, but they get drunk and boast in a bar right before the story’s peak. The antagonist’s best friend hears this because they’re at the same bar, so they report the hero’s comment to the main villain. It thwarts the hero’s efforts and makes the climax more dramatic.

Other potential flaws to consider:

Arrogance

Pride

Fear

Anxiety

Carelessness

Dishonesty

Immaturity

3. Their First Failure

Everyone will fail at a goal eventually. Your protagonist should too. Their first failure could be big or small, but it helps define them. They either choose to continue pursuing that goal, they change their goal, or their worldview shatters.

Readers like watching a protagonist reshape their identity when they lose sight of what they wnat. They also like watching characters double down and pursue something harder. Failure is a necessary catalyst for making this happen during a character’s arc.

4. Their Rock Bottom

Most stories have a protagonist that hits their rock bottom. It could be when their antagonist defeats them or lose what matters most. There are numerous ways to write a rock-bottom moment. Yours will depend on what your character wants and what your story’s theme is.

If you forget to include a rock-bottom moment, the reader might feel like the protagonist never faced any real stakes. They had nothing to lose so their arc feels less realistic.

Rock bottoms don’t always mean earth-shattering consequences either. It might be the moment when your protagonist feels hopeless while taking an exam or recognizes that they just don’t know what to do. Either way, they’ll come to grips with losing something (hope, direction, or otherwise) and the reader will connect with that.

5. What the Protagonist Accepts

Protagonists have to accept the end of their arc. They return home from their hero’s journey to live in a life they accept as better than before. They find peace with their new fate due to their new community they found or skills they aquired.

Your protagonist may also accept a call to action. They return home from their journey only to find out that their antagonist inspired a new villain and the protagonist has to find the strength to overcome a new adversary. This typically leads into a second installment or sequel.

Accepting the end of their arc helps close the story for the reader. A protagonist who decides their arc wasn’t worth it makes the reader disgruntled with the story overall. There has to be a resolution, which means accepting whatever the protagonist’s life ended up as—or the next goal/challenge they’ll chase.

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Hopefully these points make character arcs feel more manageable for you. Defining each point might feel like naming your instincts, but it makes character creation and plotting easier.

Want more creative writing tips and tricks? I have plenty of other fun stuff on my website, including posts like Traits Every Protagonist Needs and Tips for Writing Subplots.

[rameiixo]

xiaolumi resurrected from my heart for the new year!!

[bulbabutt]

ok so i know everyone knows the 87 turtles break the fourth wall (and that rise raph has done that too) but something all the rise characters can do is break the frame

like is it as powerful as a fourth wall break? maybe, maybe not, but they also have a fourth wall awareness abt them that i find very entertaining

[elitadream]

When words fail, get stuck and become painful, a simple gesture and a glance can speak volumes. ❤

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Shoutout to @mrspockify for taking the concept of selectively mute Mario and propelling it into the stratosphere. Their AU now lives rent free inside my head. 🥺🙏

[bklily]

Harveston was a very fun event (that I really wanted to post about before lmao life got in the way)

I never expected this wacky group of individuals to have such a fun dynamic but then again, such is the nature of TWST innit

[turtleblogatlast]

Combining the boys’ abilities (and I mean actual combining not just using them at the same time) because I was thinking about it and wow they’re kinda cracked actually-

[ cw: death mention / def not for them though 💀]

Raph & Mikey: infinite clones (aka unbeatable) + strength completely unparalleled + infinite cloned chains + the clones are very fast and can fly + potentially reverse any damage on main shield clones or even damage in general

Mikey & Donnie: constructs that also can last much longer than usual possibly forever + potential future vision + every single cable or wire or anything of that sort has the potential to be taken over akin to Mikey’s chains + full telekinesis

Donnie & Leo: pinpoint portal/teleportation themselves or constructs just by knowing where to aim (aka instadeath for any enemy if used right) + telepathy

Leo & Raph: teleporting clones who can grow or shrink at will (which can also be instadeath like above if used right) + said clones can also act as homing spots to switch places with + potentially swap damage taken to clones

Raph & Donnie: they literally can make Voltron, but more than one + basically impossible to destroy shields + constructs can also be cloned

Mikey & Leo: freezing time and being able to move during it + heat death of the universe + “oops hey it’s other alternate iterations of us???” + this is a time and space team up you’re not winning this-

Basically any combo is an instant “you win.” I wanna go further into these combos later and maybe even add or subtract as I think more on it because there’s so many I left out and I can always extrapolate on and explain these ones more, but this was fun and these boys have terrifying powers even without combining them all together.

Seriously, should each of them train these abilities to the best they can be, there is no beating them even if they’re alone.

[fairytaleprincessart]

architecture concepts #ai

[ashenwaves]

🔸Heart of the Woods🔸

(It wasn’t my intention but this illustration is perfect to represent the myth of Daphne. But my brain works in mysterious ways )

[pirateprincessjess]

I love hearing peoples DnD character concepts. I don’t care if you’ve never gotten to play that character, I want to hear about them!

[im-not-buying-it-ether]

It’s insane how absolutely messed up Billys life is in the old comics

For one very noteworthy example: The explanation of Mary

Aka; Billy had a twin sister who was switched shortly after birth with another couples dead child and neither of them knew until the nurse who did the switching confessed to Billy on her deathbed

From what I understand, old Billy back then was orphaned as an infant, just 6 months old, and then raised by his neglectful and abusive Uncle Ebenezer until a distant relative left him money in their will so Ebenezer stole it and ran off with it leaving Billy to almost die of exposure in the winter cold. Mary was raised by a consistently loving and understanding couple and only learned she had a long lost brother when she was a teenager after Billy had already made a name and life for himself as Billy Batson and Captain Marvel.

I don’t think that set up was ever really touched on (outside Power of Shazam that changed things some) and that shocks me because that is the unspoken story of a couple who thinks they lost one of their children, probably mourned and buried that incredibly small coffin, then died themselves as their supposedly dead child lives a loving life of luxury and the other is mistreated and almost left to die.

Then the twins do find eachother and the fact that Mary isn’t her parents child and never had the opportunity to meet her biological parents by a decade, and the Bromfields back then never know

[deepwaterwritingprompts]

Text: The vultures that help guard the camp are shapeshifters. During puberty, they have a hard time controlling it, and walk around as grumpy teens with cumbersome wings and talons.