#free animation software for kids

[featureenvyproductions]

whelp I guess I'll post this thing - Fate For A King

I wanted to finish my tutorial first but I have good news and bad news - rambly Footnote below*

aNYWAY so I think I posted at some point about this other traditional animation I was doing where I used only shit from dollar tree. Here's what I ended up with. It's called Fate For a King. For anyone who cares there's some blood but in my opinion it is cartoony. I did draw it with paint and sharpies after all. (If you survived kids animated movies in the 80s this should be about the same amount of traumatizing )

Basically yeah I just get sick of art being inaccessible and I hate that people just decide art forms (like traditional animation) are obsolete just because CGI has improved a bit. So I combined the two hatreds and made traditional animation out of materials that are extremely accessible and cheap that just about anyone who was interested could hypothetically find and afford. I did the first part a tutorial where I show people how so they can make something like this too. Part 1 was about the setup and pencils. Part 2 is going to dive more into how I did the ink and paint process, since I used page protectors for cels and they're HORRIBLE to work with. And Part 3 will be some suggestions on how to put it all together (this version uses software I already have but I am doing more research on what you would do if you needed something free, or even if you don't have a scanner) so stay tuned. Together we can eat elitism for breakfast. If you can make shit you should and I'm going to tell you how soon. In the meantime I hope you enjoy this fable about creepy deer and my feelings on corporations (also sorry the music is Like That and it's it's the hokey synthesized instruments. I dead ass didn't have time to record it because I was trying to get this done in time for a meet up yesterday. Maybe Some day)

* bad news is I will need to take my sweet fucking time getting back to it. Good news is THATS BECAUSE SOME INDIE FILMMAKER PEOPLE ASKED ME TO DO A LITTLE ANIMATED SNIPPET IN THEIR REAL MOVIE. I'm excited but I need to focus on that because I have imposter syndrome and constant paranoia and fears of failure

[sexyirish7]

Animals Wallpaper

This is a wallpaper set created in anticipation of the upcoming addition of more infant interactions to Sims 4 base game.

There are 10 swatches: Bear with hearts, Cat with hearts, Cow, Dog with bones, Fox with acorns, Koala with eucalyptus leaves, Monkey with bananas, Pig with clover, Rabbit with carrots, and Squirrel with leaves.

UPDATED MARCH 12, 2023 Added ability to search catalog using search terms: sexyirish7 and si7 Added customized thumbnail

DOWNLOAD for FREE:

SFS no ads

OR at Patreon*: https://www.patreon.com/posts/animals-77245108

*You must be over 18 to access my Patreon page.

Creations by SexyIrish7

This wallpaper was produced as a standalone recolor of Base Game Pure Expressions Paint using Sims 4 Studio, Gimp, and Inkspace.

*******

CREDITS:

Software credits:

Sims 4 Studio v. 3.2.0.3 (Star): https://sims4studio.com

GIMP v. 2.10.32: https://www.gimp.org/

Inkscape v. 1.2: https://inkscape.org/

Thank you to the creators and moderators producing tutorials and answering questions!

*******

Image Credits:

Animal Pattern art images purchased from Etsy seller ASDigitaleStudio

Image credit ©ASDigitaleStudio https://www.etsy.com/listing/885453902/animals-digital-paper-animal-scrapbook

*******

Credits for CC used in Screenshots:

Onyxium https://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/Onyxium/ 

Onyxium Edison Rug

Onyxium Sleepi Teddy Bear

@pierisim

Pierisim https://www.patreon.com/pierisim 

Pierisim Domaine Du Clos Part 3 – Door Single

https://www.patreon.com/posts/domaine-du-clos-74404702

@simcredibledesigns

SIMcredible https://www.patreon.com/SIMcredible 

SIMcredible! Spinning Joy Mobiles Sheep

SIMcredible! Naturalis Decor Crib

*******

TOU:

Do not re-upload and claim as your own

Do not re-upload and hide behind a paywall

[sumikatt]

frankly, i think your point about "some people train their own AI art models" is inherently flawed because rhe vast majority of people are not training their own model. they are paying for a service which was trained on art that was taken from the internet and used without permission in order for a machine to try snd recreate something similar bit by bit. i havent gotten a commission from someone who isnt a friend of mine in well over a year because people are just choosing to generate art with AI. i dont think AI art isnt "real" art because yeah, i agree with you, the whole idea of real art or not is complex. however, it is an undeniable reality that AI is trained on the work of artists all over the world who do not even get asked for permission before a tech company makes money off of their hard work.

I agree it’s a small, small portion of people making their own models that ensure that all art involved is used with consent. Many people buy a subscription or credits to generate what they want. Most people probably use free credits on Discord to make a meme or anime girls. Many people use it many different ways, yes.

I’m sorry you’ve lost a client over it. I know commissions are hard. Freelancers without dedicated clients would be the ones to suffer most from the popularity of AI art. I can’t say I’ve felt the impact myself, since it’s also very popular to be anti-AI.

Actively searching through job boards, I also feel like it has barely affected those listings. Maybe one of like 300 art jobs in the USA/Sweden asked for AI experience (Prompt Artist), and it was an AI startup. The “normal” art jobs like UI/UX, Environments, Materials, Concept, Technical, Animator, etc all still asking for 3 years experience for entry level lmao. Saw an intern position that required an “industry-standard” portfolio. So still a pain as it was before advanced AI gen.

Many paid AI art services have takedown options for their training sets and can block names from being prompted. If you were a popular enough artist to be in a training set, you can remove it and block the majority of AI art users from copying you—like you said, a majority of people use these services instead of self-hosting.

(Sending DMCA takedown requests are actually pretty easy. I had to send one to an old teacher who reposted my art and a bunch of classmates’ art on her ArtStation. that was funny lol)

I’m not sure how I felt when I went to search up my art on haveibeentrained. Because I’m a nerd, I’d preemptively blocked scrapers on my portfolio, so nothing was there when I looked. Searched up my legal name, my old Twitter (which had some popular pieces), my old DeviantArt usernames. Nothing there, either. I was probably pruned from the set for being low-quality. Kinda funny, I thought I’d be good enough to include at least once. Maybe next time.

.safetensors / .ckpt files (which are the models Stable Diffusion runs) have no image data in them, by the way. It is all math and numbers in there. There is no way of telling what was included in the training set, unless the dev(s) that made the model release it publicly. The models themselves are usually around 3–6 GB, though there’s larger ones and mini ones.

Like my own silly brain, there’s no way of tracking down the exact art pieces the software was referencing off of when it generates something. Am I making money off of another artist’s hard work when I remember how to draw heads from a Proko video? Am I ripping off photographers when I recall their pictures when drawing my characters? I’m not a tech company, but I still make money off of the things I copy and filter through my mind and hand.

I’m rambling at this point, sorry. Of course, the core issue is capitalism. How different would people see this medium if money were not an issue? How futuristic, how exciting it is to visualize something from words alone. It’s that art machine I’d always wanted as a kid, where I think of something and it pops out on the page finished.

I think it is worth to uplift those who use the medium as ethically as they can, as @are-we-art-yet is doing—having a do-not-use artist list, avoiding corporations, don’t try to undercut traditional artists. Like with any medium, there’s a variety of artists. Some are nice and do their best to have a good impact, some don’t care at all about the ethics of their art.

I’m still pretty firmly a “traditional” artist. I won’t stop drawing or give up because of AI. I play with AI on my own hardware and power for fun and for getting ideas (is that stealing?). It’s mostly replaced scrolling through Pinterest for me, but I still save people’s art and photos that I like in my computer, so I can look at em later, maybe get inspired. And steal like an artist, I guess.

[swampgallows]

i know ive reblogged that post a couple of times now about how old internet wasn't "better" in terms of the content on it (pain olympics, rotten, meatspin, etc) but there was definitely more agency in being exposed to that content. as others in the thread said, you developed a kind of 'street smarts' about the internet, knowing which roads to avoid/which links to click and where they might take you. yeah youd take some wrong turns but thats how youd learn. just like the real world has seedy back alleys, the internet did too. and most of them were 'dead ends' anyway: tubgirl and lemon party were just the isolated image. it's not like they automatically subscribed you to mailing lists or downloaded viruses or notified your neighborhood that you'd visited. they were closer to gross-out pranks than anything nefarious, if anything just making both kids and parents more mindful of what they could find online.

i learned pretty early on that not every website about pokemon was safe just because pokemon was for kids, and i learned to identify and stay away from them; it helped that many sites/webrings were clearly labeled as either containing hentai or being 'hentai-free'. i recall many 'shrine' sites having a separate 'hentai page', like the back room at a video store, with bold #FF0000 "WARNING 18+" as a splash page before the main index. nothing could stop me from clicking it of course, but i knew what to expect if i ever did. sure there were the occasional porno popup ads, but like the seedy back alleys those were indicators that i was in a 'bad part of town' and should be hightailing it out of there anyway, malicious more often to software than psyche.

neopets and beheading videos existed on the same internet, but there was zero chance of grainy footage of iraqi POWs showing up in the same window as meerca chase. with the congealing of individual sites into The Big Four glorified RSS feeds, there is no delineation between these things, no demarcation -- site as location is eliminated. this simultaneously atomizes and flattens both war crime evidence and virtual pets into "media", bits of decontextualized data, the dreaded "content", dissolved and extruded as slop into a digital trough. a literal feed. the marked difference between internet of then and now is that i had the power to both detect and avoid that kind of content because they were in physically separate locations, whereas in modern day internet everything is in the same place, so it gets directly beamed into my face.

one of the primary reasons i never migrated to twitter was because my friends would follow porn on their main accounts, which would not affect me at all except that twitter would go "hey! look at this post your mutuals liked!" and it would be porn. like sure i can go to the public square's market for my groceries since it's popular and convenient but there's also people being drawn and quartered there sometimes (something something foucault discipline and punish surveillance state etc). the algorithm forces content on you against your will and the only way to curtail that is to feed the algorithm your information, placating a wild beast holding you hostage, hoping the panopticon will avert its gaze a moment, versus the old internet of being able to go out and hunt. if i go out into the wilderness and see a dead animal, that's unfortunate but that's life. that's their habitat. if roadkill is continuously delivered to the front door of my apartment, that is not me being a 'puritan who cant handle """"dark themes"""" or the reality of death' or whatever. thats an issue of it's my fucking house and i shouldnt have to build it up like a fortress of browser extensions to be able to choose what goes into it.

[ambrosiafaery]

c-c-combo

🐡🍄

🐡when i originally first started drawing i dont recall having too many worries other than feeling like the software i was using felt wrong when I started digital art. I originally drew in a version of corel painter that i dont remember the full title of, but i wanted to draw anime style things and corel painter's brush sets were heavily geared for people trying to imitate real life tools - especially painting. It was unfortunately just what came with my tablet so I didn't much of a choice, and the only other program I had access to (GIMP) I struggled to figure out as a kid.

I eventually found out about other programs like Paint tool SAI, Photoshop, Krita, and Autodesk Sketchbook. Krita was free, and I think I actually had a disc copy of sketchbook at one point?

Sketchbook ended up being the program I learned fully and stuck with - PS and Sai were too pricey (IE not free)

🍄 interiors

[thornsofthefuture]

an interview with lucy lamb — a talk about couchsurfing, australia and the afterlife

today's thorns of the future guest is lucy lamb, a rising star of modern post-crystal castles electronic music, inspired by early 2010s fashion. lucy is an artist from melbourne, australia. she describes her music as "alt, indie, electronica, dance-pop and witch house with elements of darkwave". lucy is a producer and a singer, as well as a lyricist. her first ever release was a single titled "hello", which was self-released by lamb through distrokid.

thorns of the future: how did you start your journey with music?

lucy: I’ve always loved making music ever since I was a little kid. Started singing lessons when I was like 7 years old, fell in love with Miley Cyrus which was the reason I wanted to become a singer lol. Started making music when I was about 16, and released my first EP when I was 18.

thorns of the future: what are some of your favourite songs right now?

lucy: My favourite songs right now are Canary Wharf Drift by Bassvictim and Your Face by Wisp.

thorns of the future: who inspired you to make music?

lucy: Literally Miley Cyrus in the Hannah Montana tv show I was so obsessed.

thorns of the future: what is your craziest experience during a live show?

lucy: I played in this club in Tokyo which was a wild experience for me. There was no stage so I was just on the danceflooor with the crowd and kind of just walking around like weaving through everybody with my microphone which I definitely wasn’t used to.

thorns of the future: what software do you use to make music?

lucy: I use Logic Pro, I’m still learning how to use it properly though.

thorns of the future: what's "the other side" about?

lucy: The Other Side is about crossing over to the after life pretty much. It talks about being scared to die and the things you would miss. It can kind of be interpreted as being about any sort of transition from one thing to another, any sort of change, but I think the obvious one (especially when watching the music video) is the transition to death. It’s just a fictional sort of story if you will.

thorns of the future: are you planning any new releases?

lucy: I have 3 singles coming out in the next few months all with music videos. ‘Bed of Snow’ is coming out on September 20th and I’m so excited for it. All the songs are of course dance/electronic but I’m leaning a little bit into like indie rock elements in two of them, with the third being like a full commitment to witch house.

thorns of the future: what's a country you would never travel to?

lucy: Probably North Korea for obvious reasons.

thorns of the future: tell us about the things you enjoy most, except for making music.

lucy: I love travelling that’s my second favourite thing in the world after music. I went on a year long trip around the world in 2022 which was absolutely amazing. I went on a 5 month road-trip around Australia earlier this year too. It’s a little hard to travel like that while also doing music so I think for now I’m taking a break from travelling. I also love animals, especially weird exotic ones. The weirder they look the more I love them because it just makes me thing how weird and amazing the world is.

thorns of the future: have you ever met anyone famous from the electronic scene? who was it and how was your experience with them?

lucy: I can’t say I have yet. Someone I’d LOVE to meet is the guys from Air. They’re a huge inspiration for me and one of the most talented electronic duos I know.

thorns of the future: what's the riskiest thing you've ever done?

lucy: The riskiest thing I’ve done was probably when my friend and I did couchsurfing through Europe. There’s this app called couchsurfing where you can arrange to stay at strangers’ houses for free while you’re travelling. We were pretty nervous every time we stayed with someone because there was always the question of like what’s in it for them? Why are they letting random people stay at their house for free? The people we stayed with sometimes turned out to be weird and kind of put us on edge but a lot of the time they were really cool people too so. We were literally on such a tight budget we had no other option but to do our accomodation this way.

thorns of the future: are there artists you truly hate? why?

lucy: I don’t really hate any artist in terms of the kind of music they do like I respect all genres and whatever kind of music you wanna make even if I don’t like it. Like it’s got nothing to do with me so I don’t really care enough to HATE any artist.

thorns of the future: what is the best live show you've ever been to?

lucy: There’s this experimental electronic duo from Melbourne called Npcede. I played a show with them and they were really great. It was a guy singing and a guy playing bass. They both had like really amazing stage presence and interacted with the crowd so much. The lead singer started playing the electric guitar with a violin bow halfway through as well I loved it. I also have to mention seeing the band Film Noir in Berlin, they’re an indie rock band and the lead singer’s energy was so compelling it made the whole thing sooo immersive and fun.

thorns of the future: name one thing you really hate about australia.

lucy: Honestly I think Australia is a great place to live I think it’s beautiful, it’s diverse and it’s very liveable. If I had to say one thing I hated about it I guess just how far away it is from everything lol because it’s always so hard and expensive to travel anywhere.

thorns of the future: tell us about the weirdest thing that has happened to you as an artist.

lucy: The weirdest thing that’s happened to me as an artist is probably when someone randomly approached me on the street when I was in Tromso, Norway, and told me they recognise me and love my music. Was superrrr weird for me because Tromso is a pretty small town with not many people and it was just really random to meet someone who knows me there.

we would like to thank lucy lamb for answering all of our questions. we really appreciate you. that’s all for now.

images & videos: lucy lamb

spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1fLl0QDFau1trbJkpjvyEt

instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/luucylamb/

hyperfollow:

https://hyperfollow.com/lucylamb

peace.

[introvertedfox]

15 Questions for 15 Mutuals

Thanks for the tag @cantseemtohide!! 🧡

Are you named after anyone? - Not that I know

When was the last time you cried? - Hum... I got a bit teary the other day when I saw a video of that scene in Homeward Bound... if you know you know xD (does it count?)

Do you have kids? - Nope.

Do you use sarcasm a lot? - Me? Sarcastic? No, never. xD

What sports do you play/have you played? - None? I played a few in school but never seriously. I've tried to learn archery though, but haven't touched my bow in ages.

What’s the first thing you notice about other people? - Eye color, I don’t know why but it’s the first thing I look at.

Eye colour? - Brown. But sometimes they’re green, or hazel,... depends on the light, really.

Scary movies or happy endings? - Happy endings, I can’t watch scary movies, just can’t xD

Any special talents? - I can draw and sculpt things, don't know if it counts as a special talent though.

Where were you born? - Central Portugal, that specific place that gets above 40ºC (104ºF) most summer days...

What are your hobbies? - Drawing, sculpting, gaming, reading, movies, series, legos, music...

Do you have any pets? - 1 dog, 2 cats, 1 turtle, 11 budgies, 10 cockatiels, 6 chickens, and 2 ducks

How tall are you? - My id card says I’m 1,67m (5'5''?)

Fave subject in school? - Arts and chemistry, but mostly arts xD

Dream job? -  I always wanted to be a vet and now I'm a software developer. But honestly, I would love to have an artsy job, either animator, illustrator, something like that...maybe someday

I will tag @kissalopa, @minty-plumbob, @nempne, @10000dreams, @strangetown-gaming, @plumbobster, @cyazurai, @simgrump-main, @asimofmanyhats, @stargazer-sims, @empireofellyria, @gerbits, @whyeverr, @purplishplumbob, @simatrix

Feel free to ignore if you already did this/prefer not to! 🦊

[missing-texture]

About Me

Hi, I'm Adrian. I’m a friendly, nerdy, music-loving proudly bisexual trans guy from NY. Mid-20s. He/him. 👋☺️

Here’s a pic of me 3 years post-op top surgery, aka my excuse to post a shirtless selfie lol.

I have a bunch of side blogs dedicated to my various niche interests but this is my main blog. I mostly post about music, tech, art, video games, fashion, and queer stuff. Anyone is welcome to follow, though you will get blocked if you give off bad vibes (no bigots or assholes.)

I’m trying to find more blogs to follow so if I randomly followed you, it’s likely because I got recommended to your blog and/or I just think you’re a cutie. ☺️

If you're an ally of trans people and you have the means, check out this post and consider donating to one of the groups mentioned. Thank you!

Read more about my interests and stuff below:

Interests

-Tech 👨‍💻: I'm an aspiring software engineer, currently working a job where I help folks with tech issues while I continue my search for a software engineer job. I recently got my bachelor's degree in computer science, planning to go for my master's. I like all sorts of nerd stuff like web development, retro tech, tech history, and more. I’m skeptical of tech bro-y trends (many AI/web3 projects) and the tech industry in general. Ethics and privacy are important!

-Queer stuff 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈: I came out as bi and trans in 2015, been on testosterone since 2017 (I do a neat form of T called “testopel”), got top surgery and medical tattooing on my nipples, had my name and gender changed. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. I like learning about LGBTQ+ history and feel very connected to the community. Pro-kink, anti-exclusion, pro-solidarity.

-Music 🎵: I’m a metalhead/emo/pophead multiclasser. My fave genres are metal, emo, post-hardcore, pop punk, pop, europop, hyperpop, EDM, digital hardcore, dark wave, classical stuff. I love going to concerts and I've been playing the piano since I was a kid.

-Art: I collect pins, patches, stickers, and art. I follow a ton of artists online and enjoy going to conventions for art. I especially love bara. 💪🐻

-Video games: Metal Gear Solid, Red Dead Redemption, Baldur’s Gate 3, The Sims, Super Monkey Ball, Call of Duty, Hitman, Half-Life, Rimworld, Civilization V, Dangan Ronpa, and more. I like hot video game men.

-Movies: Hackers, American Psycho, Ocean’s Eight, Jennifer’s Body, Charlie’s Angels, Elvira, The Devil Wears Prada, Legally Blonde, Die Hard, Sky High, Twilight, the 2002 live action Scooby Doo lol. Anything campy, fun, and spooky/sci-fi/action/girlboss.

-Cowboys 🤠

-Vampires 🧛

-Cats (especially Garfield)

-Bears (the animal and the men)

-Drag

[incorrecttowerofgodquotes]

Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Episode 11 Review

- Suletta’s anxieties this episode resonated really hard with me. The feeling of being abandoned and wanting to impress others so you won’t be discarded are heavy and very realistic for someone who had been isolated for her entire childhood. The lunch scene was especially heartrending as she tried so hard to be a people pleaser that she compromised her own comfort

- The scene between Delling and Prospera was pretty confusing. Delling not only knows who she really is, but seems to be somewhat working with her as well. I still think he’s not long for this world, either by Prospera or by Dawn of the Fold. His big invention, Quiet Zero, seems to be affiliated with GUND technology which might link back to what he said in Episode 7 about the Gundam’s curse.

- Prospera was very sus this episode as she usually is, and Belmeria clearly sees a problem. The “daughter” Prospera keeps referring to is definitely Aerial and that scene at the end where she talks about not leaving it behind shows her immense care for it. Eri = Aerial is developing slowly but surely. Also we got info that Aerial reached Permet level 6, indicating that it does use the same software as other Gundams. Now it’s really weird that Suletta is unaffected and doesn’t even activate it on her own will like the other Gundams.

- Dawn of the Fold seem to be our leading antagonist group for the second half as they over took both Delling and Prospera in the opening, and Sophie has some weird fanaticism with Suletta. I’m guessing the other girl will be Guel or Elan’s rival then.

- All of Earth House, even the animals, are here for this horrible moment and I don’t want any of them to die. Though one of them getting hurt will probably be the push Nika needs to throw away her rebellious ties and embrace her new friends, especially since she and Miorine have hit it off recently.

- Now for the real important moment, the SuleMio reconciliation. The chase scene, while being beautifully animated, is also very sweet cause you really see how much Miorine cares for Suletta by continuing to chase after her despite banging her head constantly. Then the scene where Suletta shares her anxiety and Miorine reassures her while also showing her own insecurities. They finally confirm their feelings for each other, with Mio telling Suletta to never leave and Suletta pulling her in tighter. Though sadly right after reconciling, they are split up once again and won’t reconnect until some big stinky shit happens.

- Bob once again best character of all time despite the one minute screen time. All hail. The absolute balls (or stupidity) on this man to argue with his kidnappers. All of his coworkers are wondering what the fuck he’s on, but luckily they get at least some free range. But what’s really sad is that Vim doesn’t even give a shit about his own son. I’m really scared for Lauda if Vim survives this little attempt (or even when he doesn’t) cause he’ll be pushed to take revenge against both Grassley and Suletta.

- Shaddiq continuing to be absolute worst boy. At least El0n/El5n is entertaining, Shaddiq’s just a dick. He loves to act like he has everything under control but the world will eventually bite back hard. He’s like Icarus flying to close to the sun.

- Next episode is gonna be a real doozy. We got Guel suffering under a hostage situation, our two lovebirds separated with one being targeted, our Earth House kids getting caught in the middle, and who knows what Prospera and Delling are planning

[talenlee]

Decemberween ’23 — The New Music From This Year

New Post has been published on PRESS.exe: Decemberween ’23 — The New Music From This Year

How do you listen to new music?

I understand it’s really common for most people to listen to music in their cars or using systems like Spotify, which I don’t like and don’t drive. That’s right, I don’t like cars and I don’t drive Spotify. I listen to podcasts when I travel, usually, and I listen to music while I work at my computer, because I want something that affects my mood while I’m doing, like, this work.

Frustratingly, just because it’s usually there and ad-free, I let Youtube throw mixes at me. Then when I’ve noticed I’ve done that enough that some songs are part of my personal lexicon, I go and acquire those songs some other way, whether bandcamp (in the case of small bands) or

I want to nakedly recommend an mp3 collection to you. You don’t need special software to manage it. You can just dump all your music in a great big heap and use the search function on any mp3 player you like to find the songs you want. You have paid for music, you have paid for the right to use it in different forms, spotify subscriptions are not paying artists and they are rent-seeking on things you can buy directly, or in many cases have already bought.

Anyway, here’s the stuff that I added to my mp3 collection this year.

The Lads are a Christian band from New Zealand I listened to as a kid. I re-found them on Youtube this year. They’d had a song that stuck in my head, an idea that I’ve been trying to stick to, which is if you need a reason to make a change in your life, anything will do. Why not make a big change on Arbor Day, a day you probably had no idea was a day on your calendar?

Arbor Day - The Lads // Arbor Day

Watch this video on YouTube

I mean this isn’t amazing music, but I like having it on hand, you know? The detritus of what we are. Not all of us were influenced by absolute bangers. Sometimes the idea that ‘you can make changes to your life for any given arbitary reason’ is a good thing and it doesn’t matter that much that I got it from a band of dorks who moved to Nashville to sing songs to megachurch kids (which is their spot now).

Sub-Radio - Stacy's Dad (Full Video)

Watch this video on YouTube

Next up, a parody song. Stacy’s Mom is a banger of a song about having a crush on an older woman (and the song doesn’t, like, go anywhere with it). Then we get a delightful genderswapped version here, which I hesitate to call a ‘parody’? It’s the same song, basically, it’s just a different orientation with the same comedy bent.

One thing I do find a little awkward is, now I’m starting on being ‘in my forties’ (man that feels weird to say), hearing someone talk about ‘is he learning about the Civil War’ like – so what?! So what if that’s a thing that interests me!? How did I get read like that?

AJJ - "Brave As A Noun & Survival Song" (KVRX Library Session)

Watch this video on YouTube

The band Andrew Jackson Jihad, for, perhaps sensibly obvious reasons, changed their name recently. This meant they made an announcement on Youtube at some point and I noticed that (‘AJJ on their name announcement?’ what did AJJ mean?) and that meant I listened to some of their music, annnnnd I like it! I’m told they make Folk Punk, which sounds to me like nonsense but I also am firmly of the opinion that there’s nothing quite so punk as making very specific categorisations that everyone around you must adhere to, right?

BANG! - Last Life AMV

Watch this video on YouTube

Thanks to the Last Life Youtube series of Minecraft Hardcore Lets Plays –

What are you laughing at –

I wound up listening to some cool music that was made as part of animatics by cool fans of the series, too. And while sometimes that meant learning about something cool like the band AJR (who are not the same thing as AJJ, thanks file sorting),

Curses - Last Life Animation

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Or something interestingly indie and creepily jazzy, like The Crane Wives (and I’m sure I’ve shared this before, surely it was in my list of new music last year),

W.I.T.C.H | Double Life SMP

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Or maybe even something else normal people like like Devon Cole’s WITCH, it did also mean I wound up appreciating a song…

Sharks | Life Series Animatic

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By Imagine Dragons of all people.

Animatics are great. They recontextualise songs and the recontextualisation means that now I have a story for these songs to be about and not just, like, Imagine Dragons’ latest car ad.

The Killers - A Pirate Looks At Forty (Jimmy Buffett Cover) HQ

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I think I shared this earlier this year too, but it’s the Killers cover of A Pirate Looks At Forty. I may be a bit overly maudlin about anything to do with Jimmy Buffett this year, since this is now the point at which I know that he’s had to leave the party.

Yofukashino Uta

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Also, this year I listened to a bunch of Anime OPs, because I was watching more anime this year. And the anime this year that I liked just happened to have OPs that I think are great, so I added them to my list. In the vein of ‘sounds like just cool music you might seem international and interesting for listening to,’ there’s the band Creepy Nuts! They do Japanese hiphop and, in addition to the songs from the Call of the Night anime soundtrack, you should also check out Song for the Prodigies.

Summer Time Render - Opening | FULL HD [1080p]

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The opening of Summer Time Render sounds to me like jangly folk rock? I think people call it College Rock? Problem here is I don’t even know this song’s name. It’s just The Opening To Summer Time Render, which is my favourite anime of the year, like it just absolutely whips ass, so I hear this song and I remember how that show makes me feel, from its first embarrassing opening of boobs and butts to its astoundingly sweet conclusion.

"Mobile Suit Gundam the Witch from Mercury" Textless version of opening "The Blessing" by YOASOBI

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The opening to Witch from Mercury has a similar effect, but I really like the way it has this, like, descending step effect? The staggering of it, it sings like dancing, and I love the way it feels like it’s responding to its own anxieties.

I have no idea what this song is saying.

TVアニメ『リコリス・リコイル』ノンテロップOPムービー｜ClariS「ALIVE」

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I think that the opening and ending of Lycoris Recoil whip ass. There’s this thing the opening does which I think anime openings love doing, which is this sort of crooning that turns into a high, wide arc and then abruptly stops and regathers its footing?

Paripi Koumei Ep5 ED

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Perhaps obviously, Ya Boy Kongming, an anime about music in Shibuya District, has nothing but bangers in its soundtrack. Everything, even the song by the Evil Bad Band That Sucks are good, but I especially like this cover of Kibun Jojo for the ending that adds instrumentation and a rap verse as the series progresses.

Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie - Opening | Honey Jet Coaster

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On the other hand, Honey Jet Coaster is just… like, energetic sugary pop music, it feels completely artificial and I have no reason to recommend it. Much like everything to do with Shikimori’s Not Just A Cutie you kinda have to get something out of it on a very superficial level, because there is nothing going on here.

(That’s a lie, the song is voiced as if it’s a boyfriend singing about Shikimori, but the vocalist is a woman who sounds like Shikimori, and it describes how Shikimori is a ‘better boyfriend than him’ but you know, so what.)

The Truck Got Stuck - Corb Lund

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Now a hard swerve from songs I absolutely cannot sing to songs I absolutely can. I learned about Corb Lund this year! He’s a Canadian country musician, who I learned about after a comedian who appeared on Behind The Bastards told a story about how one time, a racist on a neo nazi website reviewed his set he did opening for Corb Lund, and was so upset he realised that Corb Lund might not be racist enough for him.

Anyway, truck got stuck.

Roll Northumbria (Loud Version)

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Continuing Canadian songs I can sing along to, The Dreadnoughts dropped an album late last year, lot of good songs but especially good is this version of Roll Northumbria, which is a song I already liked, but this time rendered as a big loud stomping song.

Sidle Up

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Also, something that a lot of bands I like have in common is how good they get when they say, turn forty and stop carrying around a focus on high school. That’s what happened to the Littlest Man Band, which is actually a spinoff band from Reel Big Fish, a 90s Ska Band One And A Half Hit Wonder. I have liked Reel Big Fish all through the years, but on a few tracks, as a gag, they let their member Scott Klopfenstein just do a wholly soulful rendition of a totally different style.

And uh, then he went and made his own band that just does those songs and they’re great.

blink-182 - ONE MORE TIME (Official Video)

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Talking about things from the 90s that got better as they matured, Blink 182 have a single this year. Apparently it’s part of an album I have no interest in listening to, but this single, on its own, phew. Just fantastic vibes and a real improvement on their baseline sound. It’s Blink 182, but with just a lot more musical competence and fewer mangled half-rhymes.

I thought after I was done with single paragraph summaries I’d go back through the article and bulk it out with more details, to get up to the word count I wanted. Turns out I’m at one and a half times my word count, oops!

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Decemberween2023

[hexfloog]

Hiya! I was thinking about the remastered animation Cel style evil Conan post you put up recently, and I just wanted to say how amazing and impressive it is! I love love love the look of old animation and you really nailed it. I’ve been trying for ages to mimic that look myself and haven’t been able to crack it, so if you ever wanted to talk about your process on this piece, I’d be all ears! Wonderful work, again!

Waaah hi liv!! Thank you, I'm so glad you like it, and that it comes across so convincingly!! One of my favorite things is to make digital art that can have a second life as a different medium, and I wish I had an easy answer for you as to how I go about doing that, but the truth is that it's mostly the result of a lot of trial and error. And a metric ton of references.

Here's a quick process video of my last piece to try to show off what all my layers are like, but I know it's mostly useless without an explanation!! I can't explain it all because I was kinda winging this one for funsies but I can give you general tips for this particular look.

Clip and words below the break!

As a disclaimer I didn't really go into this one intending for it to come out looking the way it did. So it's more of a hybrid look between my usual "clean" digital rendering and a fake screenshot.

[1] Reference, role models, and inspiration - I'm not kidding when I say I used to tote around an entire, dedicated folder filled with printed reference. These days that usually takes the form of about a million browser tabs (￣▽￣) I stare at early Detco and the first six movies a LOT. And Cowboy Bebop. And Akira. And and [insert your choice of 80s-90s anime film]. Depending on the exact look you're trying to replicate, you can always look to a more era-appropriate movie.

I love pulling inspo from films in particular (both animated and live action) because cinema is a whole other art that employs all kinds of techniques for our usual considerations (like lighting and framing), and looking to them can inspire some pretty poignant imagery, especially when you're trying to create something that's meant to mimic a single-frame capture of exactly that. I don't keep up with movies or anything, but I do have my favorites, and it didn't really occur to me to look to them until some of my favorite artists revealed that they do the same with theirs.

For this particular piece, I also had to establish some consistency with the other piece that bookends the scene, so I actually referenced my own art, too.

[2] BIG canvas! I usually work at two or three times the size I expect to export. Following standard aspect ratios for animated productions can help sell the look. Letterboxes have their own ratio, too, if you choose a widescreen canvas; and subtitle fonts are usually standardized to certain font families and colors since their primary purpose is to help make the media accessible. All this is usually a quick google search away, OR… if you're like me, and you still watch physical media… you can just yoink most of this from a real DVD.

[3] Thin lines!! I still can't quite nail the right line weight for these-- I definitely went too thick here-- but they tend to be very fine. And imperfections are good! Nobody has a perfectly steady hand, especially with traditional cels.

[4] Less is usually more when trying to sell a screenshot look… it's easy to over-ink and over-render and-- in my opinion-- restraint is necessary to sell it. This is the hardest thing to explain… it's design vs. rote emulation, I think. But that said, digital aids (next point) do a lot of the heavy lifting in these - as far as the art is concerned, a little will go a long way! These were some of my easiest lines and shading. So on that note…

[5] …Blending modes, masks, and filters are all your friends o___o I get a lot of mileage out of the default tools already available to me in the art software. There's plenty out there that's available for free, too! I recommend you find a fake anime screenshot tutorial, follow it once, and just go nuts when you get to the part where you can play with these settings. The make-or-break for a convincing screenshot-- in my opinion-- is texture and bloom, and all these digital tools will help you achieve that.

I hope this helps!! Hopefully the video can help you see a bit more of the process since I can only really offer tips. It shows everything at full size so you can see the details, so go nuts!

Thank you for the ask! Beaming plenty of good luck that you can find the look you want!!

ALSO I REALLY HOPE THIS IS THE PIECE YOU MEANT I'M LITERALLY ABOUT TO QUEUE THIS UP AND JUST REALIZED THE ONE THAT CAME BEFORE THIS IS MORE REMASTERED CEL ANIMATION LOOK SKSKSKSK

the same tips apply though so i hope they still help all the same :3c

[machine-saint]

obligatory intro post

eka // it/its or she/her // old enough to remember when something awful was where the cool kids hung out

non-spiritual robotkin/dollkin. more stuff under the readmore.

sometimes i Discourse, tagged #discourse. feel free to ignore or filter that out

i like:

robot girls, doll girls (awawa), and any sort of girl that's also a machine

girls who are servants of other girls. sakuya izayoi is #goals.

ffxiv, arknights, assorted other video games that i'll add as i remember them

software development. certified Rust Evangelism Strike Force member.

math, especially the really Fun Esoteric bits. if you make a category theory joke i will like you.

anime, tragically. too many to name here.

i also have a very slow art blog, mostly featuring AI-generated art but occasionally other stuff I make.

i wrote a bit of fanfiction on AO3 that i still rather like.

current avatar is Dorothy from Big O

[kusogamesss]

Kero Kero Keroppi to Origami no Tabibito

An unassuming bridge between past and future.

Paper is with us always, from birth to death.

The 3DO’s multimedia library is a largely bifurcated collective of (early) childhood edutainment software and adult only erotica. It is an often shocking contrast, the likes of Putt-Putt and Eigo de Go! occupying the same space as Immortal Desire or the aptly-titled Sex. It is a testament to the possibilities afforded to software developers during the multimedia boom of the early 1990s, CD-ROMs making the proliferation of minimal input, high-quality entertainment a reality for those too young to meaningfully engage with interactive software, and those too libidinous for anything but appeasement. This duality makes both extremes intriguing, and led me to gravitate towards Kero Kero Keroppi to Origami no Tabibito and its heart-achingly sweet cover art and premise. One of Sanrio’s cutest characters being taught how to do origami, something I did as a child and when starting university? Sign me up.

Understandably, given the very young audience, Keroppi and his friends are taught traditional, simple origami designs that teach the fundamentals of the craft. Keroppi’s designs are toy-like, including a jumping frog, paper popper, and traditional sumo wrestler. Keroleen’s are cute objects, being flowers, jewellery, and heart shaped stationery. The origami traveller teaches Ganta how to make animals, Kyorosuke to create practical objects like a tissue holder, boxes, and notebooks, and Noberun ‘mysterious’ geometric models and more complex designs befitting his friends’ categories.

Selecting a design shows a short animation of Keroppi and friends playing. Teru Teru gives the design a difficulty rating out of five, and Den Den is an ever-present adviser as the user goes through the design’s steps. The traveller helps out in video segments to demonstrate specific folds and methods. Each design is accompanied by a bonus interactive toy or clip from the Hello Kitty and Friends OVAs. It is altogether simple but effective as a tool for teaching and entertaining.

Paper is expression.

Paper craft is inextricable from childhood itself. Paper is cheap, plentiful, easy to work with, tidy, safe, and ultimately simple. Origami exemplifies the beauty of paper most clearly. It is free of embellishment and destruction. It is singular. It can be functional or aesthetic. It is as permanent and temporary as it needs to be. It represents a compounding of the care (or lack thereof) put into it. It is nearly ancient and incredibly contemporary. It is simple and boundlessly complex. It is flat and sculptural. It is childish and mature. Keroppi and his friends demonstrate this with aplomb. Origami is an expression of the self.

Like Keroppi, I dabbled in origami as a kid. I would make throwing stars of printer paper and mar them with staples and paperclips to give them heft. Cootie catchers were scrawled on. Jumping frogs cut for ease of creation. While entirely unintentional, this engagement with origami was a refusal of the art form itself by trying to make the paper into something it was not.

On the eve of entering university, I turned to origami again, crafting modular Sonobe models and simple animals. The discovery of contemporary origami by the likes of Gen Hagiwara, Jun Maekawa, and Hideo Komatsu gave me the drive to continue the craft further because of the possibilities in a single square of paper. As my first year of university drew to a close, I presented to my mom on her birthday a senbazuru I had been working on for the past eight months. She still has it hanging on the wall of her office. I folded cranes of all sizes and left them around campus for others to find and take, and though they would sometimes end up in the trash their intrinsic impermanence meant it never bothered me. It’s just paper after all. I made increasingly complex models to push my skills and try and impress a girl I liked. I got a cat and made her little paper doodads to bat about. I rather ironically got a crane permanently marked into my skin. And for whatever reason, I slowed down my craft and eventually stopped. A global pandemic began. My lone crane became surrounded by flowers. I sent parcels to my boyfriend and packed them with cranes I had folded long ago. The models I made that were strewn around my house were put away in drawers and bins, the senbazuru and some custom boxes I had made being the only concrete symbols of this years-long hobby of mine.

Paper is a constant.

What I adore most about Kero Kero Keroppi to Origami no Tabibito is that it brings a centuries old craft into the hypermodern age of multimedia. It could work just as well as a book or tape, but it takes advantage of this new medium to address the realities of a radically shifting world. Shortened attention spans are sated with visual stimuli. Origami as an expression of national, abstract culture is conveyed through materialistic, corporate culture to try and ensure the survival of the craft. It takes something so accessible it can be done with leaves and hides it behind the extreme cost barrier of a 3DO or FM Towns Marty. Most importantly, it presents these origami models as means to an expressive end beyond the purely aesthetic. It shows me what I was perhaps missing in my drive to make complex origami. I was missing the intrinsic fun of paper, of craft, of play.

Paper is with us always, from rebirth to death.

I began HRT in 2021. My flimsy paper birth certificate was marked by a gender I knew to be incorrect for a decade. In late 2022 I came out to my parents and underwent the legal hullabaloo necessary to fix the gender marker on my identification. The impermanent birth certificate was mailed off and destroyed. It was replaced by a polymer certificate. Paper that had been with me from birth saw me through to legal [rebirth/death].

I started Kero Kero Keroppi to Origami no Tabibito in the morning, sat at my desk in my underwear in a body radically different from the one I had when last I folded paper. A body that was new. I moved to the floor, and folded without the precision I once obsessed over. My imperfections compounded.

It was an expression of the self that was real. The sun broke through the clouds and was warm on my skin.

[artinandwritin]

A lil short animatic I made today!! Nivvie isn't having a fun time but I certainly had making this

I also!! Wanna get into my process for animating a bit cuz I've uploaded multiple things but never really got into explaining h o w I make my things (despite finding those things really fun)

First, I make a general storyboard based on the audio I wanna include, see the one I made for this one;

As you can see, it's not very clear and has some changed things from the finished product! I always make sure to note down my ideas for camera work, but those are also as loose as can be. The important thing for me in the first storyboard is ideas!

After that, I redraw those sketches in my animation software. I used Storyboard Pro for this one, as I most often do when making animatics. When I make full animations, I use Toon Boom Harmony, as I have a free license for both due to being an art student. However, every animation software is a good one in my opinion! I used flipaclip before college and the procreate animation tool when I still used procreate and those were pretty good too!

For me, it's just very important there's a camera function in the animation software bc those just bring a lot of life to it!

This was my first draft with sound, so without camera movements, with little details, but more clear than my first storyboard. Certain frames have changed too to suit the mood of the animation better, which is never wrong.

After these sketches, I started adding camera movements, which is almost always on try-out. The trick is keeping shots in long enough for them to be clear and to make the storytelling the clearest thing.

For example, in the shot where Klaus motions upwards to the group of kids and the adult walking up the cliff, I had the camera move to the adult, revealing it to be Bendik, Niv's adoptive dad. If I didn't do that, it wouldn't be as clear the adult and Bendik in the next shot were the same person.

After the camera stage, I line-art and add colours that add atmosphere, which is one of my favorite parts!

And after that, we have the final product :D

[dykeseesgod]

hi!!!!!! idk if you've answered this before but I was curious what you use to make ur animations? like what software or w/e. anyway have fun ily :)

OK SO. any animatic that looks like this:

(ie like. softer lines.) was drawn in either clip studio or firealpaca (what i used to use) and then edited together in da vinci resolve (free!)

any animatic that looks like this:

was made entirely on flip a clip on my phone. the only real difference is that i dont animate anything on anything besides flip a clip. if a drawing is creating the illusion of movement, its on flip a clip. hashtag animation meme kid