#i experimented with a ton of new editing stuff and you can't even make any of it out.......

[librarycards]

do you have any resources or advice on how to help people who have manic episodes or who could possibly harm others according to antipsych principles? my friend diagnosed with bipolar disorder has been looking into checking themself into a hospital, and their home situation isn’t the best though their dad somewhat tries to be supportive, but i wonder what other options there are. the most i can do is offer some emotional support and give advice since i live too far away to be of much help otherwise. sorry if this is the wrong place to ask.

hello, and thanks for your patience on my response - this week has been busy and i'm only just now getting to asks!

here is an excellent piece by Stefanie Lyn Kaufman-Mthimkhulu on providing support for comrades in crisis, many of these tips are very applicable to distance-relationships too! bipolar comrades/others who have manic episodes are also welcome and very encouraged to reply and share what kinds of supports work best for them.

There are also a series of free zines/books by the Fireweed Collective (FKA the Icarus Project), particularly Navigating The Space Between Brilliance And Madness: A Reader & Roadmap Of Bipolar Worlds. This is a great way to learn more about a variety of bipolar experiences to better contextualize your friend's.

here are some tips based on personal experience being close to multiple people with bipolar, while not being bipolar myself:

create balance within yourself + project it - it's tempting to get yourself wrapped up in others' big feelings, especially if they trigger you. but it's crucially important to maintain a (porous!) barrier between you and your friend, both as a way of maintaining your own peace and providing something sturdy for them to lean on. this means taking what they say/do in the midst of crisis and placing it "beside" your own feelings, rather than integrating it and responding viscerally in the moment.

neither "reality checking" nor "reality confirming". this is tricky. it's pointless to tell someone "you're wrong, you can't do that, etc." when they're experiencing a different reality than you. it is also harmful to encourage someone to act on beliefs that are not actually aligned with their values, but instead the result of a state of crisis. i try to use phrases like "that sounds ___," "that must be ____," "i can see how you'd feel ____" and similar, both to affirm their own lived experience and to avoid reifying it as objective truth.

know when to step away. mania is draining for literally everyone involved, and what people do to their loved ones in the midst of a manic episode can be incredibly harmful, even if occurring alongside grand gestures of generosity, productivity, etc. you are not your friend's keeper, and your feelings and well-being matter just as much as theirs. do you both have mutual friends you can tap into to provide support when you're burnt out? these friends might also be able to offer some strategies that you or i haven't thought of. it's important to say that this support shouldn't be constant "did you use substances today" "did you drive recklessly today" other surveillance type stuff. try to maintain a normal rhythm to your conversations, and when something that makes you go ??? comes up, try framing your response as a question. "i'm going to finish writing and editing my novel today and start two new books and apply for this and that grant" - you could say, "that's a ton of stuff. why do you need to do it all today?" this creates space for other possibilities without forcing it.

your friend doesn't need advice right now, they need support! the person who needs advice, i think, is your friend's dad. are you and him directly in touch, and is there any way that you could get in touch with him? since you're online, i don't know the details here; it may work best when your friend is no longer manic and you two can speak frankly about how best to support them. i do suggest making a crisis plan with him/whoever they're close to irl.

I hope this is somewhat helpful!

[mylittlesecrethaven]

Obey Me Vs TWST Vs Genshin Pulling Methods

Because these are 3 of the games I play the most and they all have a pulling/wishing system. And I wanna rank em.

1st Place - Genshin Impact

Look, I love TWST showcase system, but just in terms of luck, ability to get cool shit, and ease of use, Genshin wins.

It's simple to look through what you can get. You can get cool weapons alongside characters that are actually useful that are also ranked 5 star, and the luck system is pretty cool.

Maybe it's just me, but getting good pulls happens a lot, and there's rarely any wishes that I outright hate or that I get so annoyed with because I can't get something. And if I do get a 5 star character? Even better!

2nd Place - TWST

Yeah, Obey Me couldn't hold a candle to this. TWST was pretty close in beating Genshin, but the luck for TWST isn't as good as with Genshin, imo.

However, the showcases are super easy to look through, I can tell what I'm most likely to get from the showcases, and there aren't a shit ton of different cards that I can get, meaning that I can get doubles and therefore level up that card more.

Also, like Genshin, you can see how many pulls you have done. (Although, with TWST, instead of simply being told how many pulls you need for what, it has a progress bar, which is super nice.) (Also, this is from much later, but while TWST has less cards than Obey Me, they are better quality and have more stuff for the cards, so even if you get a regular card, it's still fun to have because of all the stuff you can do with it besides side stories and fights)

3rd Place - Obey Me

This is for both OG and NM because they basically have the same banner system.

But.... yeah.... Obey Me's banner system kinda sorta sucks. You can see the card you want front and center, yes, but trying to see what else you're likely to get is extremely difficult. Also, the luck on Obey Me fucking sucks, and it's a total cash grab.

Also, there's way too many different cards. I can't even tell you how many times I get new N cards every time I pull, and I've been playing for a long ass time. I rarely ever get a double card, and it's usually only for an N card I already have. (Cause, yet again, the luck system is shit.) (Although, getting gems from the pulls is ok. It's not great, but it's something)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, yeah. This is just my ranking off of personal experience. I can't even tell you how badly I wanted to put TWST 1st, but I had to do what was right and do Genshin just of the luck and pity system.

Edit from later: Also, because I forgot to put this, while you do get a lot of free pulls for the regular banners in Obey Me, you don't actually get the currency to pull from the event banners very often. (I actually haven't gotten the little devil pull thingies in a long while) But in Twst, I can pull maybe once ever week and a half and for Genshin I can pull maybe every three weeks because I can easily get the currency.

(Edit from waaayyy later: There was a reblog talking about how twst pulling was better, and while it didn't really have much else regarding that besides how they personally felt, it did make me think for a minute. So, now that I'm thinking about it, maybe twst does have a better pulling system. Cause every card I've ever gotten off the showcases, I've used. Not just in battle, but in the Guest Room and on the home screen. Plus, if I get a double that I've already got full Uncapped on, I get something I can spend in the store for more backgrounds. So, while I'm in a sensible state of mind, I'm gonna say twst is probably better than Genshin simply because you use all the cards in twst at some point, and I could bet $20 y'all don't even glance at weapons if they aren't 4 star.)

[ot3]

omg thank you for being the first normal person I've seen so far about AI who's also an artist T-T like obviously all the stealing is horrible and it's good it's talked about but almost everyone really is acting like the idea of computers being capable of creating images killed their firstborn child

(also I don't mean it as one of the weird AI art bros but as an artist myself I'm just glad that there are other artist with open mind to the concept)

no right like its insane to me to see how many other people who seem reasonable and level headed are falling for the kneejerk response to say ai Isn't Art Can't Be Art ! It's throwing out the baby with the bathwater to an almost incomprehensible degree.

Unfortunately the fact of the matter is that we live in an era where essentially all new technology's first and prime purpose will be for ghoulish, capitalistic, anti-human ends. But to reject any other uses for the technology doesn't do anything other than make you look like an anti-tech weirdo. This is genuinely insanely impressive and revolutionary tech! There are a TON of legitimate artistic uses for AI image generation.

It also seems weird that everyone is delving into this false binary of 'dont use AI, learn to draw' as if there is any conceivable reason for these things to be mutually exclusive? Like, before all of the AI discourse really popped off i was doing some experimenting with using AI in my process.

the texturing used in this drawing was made by VQGAN + Clip (different type of image generation than the stable diffusion model that is producing most of the AI art that's up for debate right now) running through google colab. I made a bunch of these weird, ethereal images that would have been almost impossible for me to produce under my own power - it would have taken a titanic amount of time, effort, and design to produce any of these through illustrative or photo editing techniques.

here's a sampling of some of the textures i made. Now I think it would be a real struggle to try and claim that these images made are plagiarisms. However, I stopped messing with the google colab generation for one key reason: i didnt know enough about the image databases being used to train these models. That's the real stumbling block

the internet is CHOCK FULL of images that are free to use commercially and repurposes, there's stuff like wikimedia commons, the smithsonian open access, unsplash and pexels which have free stock photos, etc. I honestly think a nonzero amount of artists would consent to having some of their work used in image generation databases if they were promised noncommercial use of the resulting images, also. But the problem is the people training these AI don't give a shit about any of that. It's just the complete entitlement to other people's work and neglect for creative boundaries that makes AI generation bad.

The fact that people are attempting to replicate the art of living, working artists, or people like kentaro miura who by all accounts were so dedicated to the craft that they worked themselves to death sickens me. And the fact that the companies responsible for this are using that as an active selling point for their product is even worse. It's a pretty miserable time to be an artist, and this is just the icing on the cake.

But I don't want silicon valley greed and bizarre, impotent jealousy from redditors who want custom waifu jpgs to mean that nobody who could really benefit from AI image generation gets to use it.

like, my dad for example. he's been a creative person his whole life but it never really went anywhere. He drew a lot as a kid and then went and got a degree in filmmaking. My parents were living in LA when I was born, with my dad managing a filming/sound studio and the two of them trying to break into writing screenplays. This did not happen because they had three kids, and for the past decade and then some my dad had been doing database programming on contract for the CDC. Now, in his mid 50s, he's finally got a permanent and secure position and, rather than spending all his free time raising children or getting PMP certified to try and angle for a string of promotions, he can start having hobbies again. there's a comic he's been wanting to draw for as long as I can remember.

only, one big problem - in 2021 he had surgery on his cataracts and never healed properly. He's got severely impaired vision and looking at stuff too hard for to long causes him a ton of eye strain and pain. He has to look at a lot of screens for his job so by the time he's off work for the day he's pretty much too fatigued to do all the intense visual stuff it'd take to make a comic.

I wanted to tell him AI image generation could help him make the kind of stuff he always dreamed about making as a kid but instead I had to tell him that as it stands, the predatory nature of AI modeling means it's insanely hard to use it without ripping off vulnerable creatives. Instead we chatted a bit about combining 3d assets, digitally edited photos, or photobashing/digital kitbashing methods to try and make a pipeline he could do without drawing, but the time commitment to learn these methods is probably just not feasible unless his eyes make a pretty unprecedented recovery in future years.

Like, that's the worst thing about all of this. The idea that AI makes the production of certain kinds of art more accessible to people with disabilities isn't just a 'gotcha' being used by the pro-AI people, it's also true. I would love for my dad to be able to make his comic. I myself also have a huge string of health issues and sometimes the main thing stopping me from drawing is that it hurts to do so. Anything in my process that could reduce the strain drawing puts on my body is an accessibility concern in some ways. Eventually degrading so much that I can't draw at all is one of my biggest fears.

But that doesn't counter all of the negatives! It just doesnt! Which fucking sucks man it just sucks so fucking bad that we have this cool incredible thing and we can't use it without being complicit in some stuff i am fully ideologically against! As things stand I really cant imagine that 'ethical' AI image generation will ever exist, so unfortunately it will have to be in the hands of the people using it to decide for themselves if they are using it in a way that is predatory or harmful, or as a legitimate tool to make meaningful works of art.

[doevademe]

What are some criticisms against Percabeth? I'm curious because I never had an issue with them during the original pjo series. Its Hero's of Olympus where is get kinda weird for me

I'll start with PJO and then move on to HoO, because while I have my criticisms of PJO Percabeth, HoO Percabeth is... uff.

Also under a read more because this gets long, and to minimize upsetting people.

Okay, so my main issue in PJO is how boring they are as a couple. This is a me problem, of course, but Percabeth is just the smart girl teasing/softly bullying the protagonist boy. They are as scheduled as a train stop. You know form the first moment where it's going to go, how it will get there, what the interactions will be like, and if you think this is a writer thing, I started reading these books when I was 13, and even then I considered the pairing most cliché thing ever.

I have two actual criticisms for PJO Percabeth, though. The first is how their romance is centered around Annabeth insulting Percy. I mean, her main nickname for Percy is a constant reminder that he's seen as stupid, which Percy is not, despite common fandom interpretation. She's also constantly punching him and belittling him, and yeah, she's a teenager and they are just friends being a little rough on each other, but if Percy was the one doing it, that wouldn't fly with the fandom at large, and it doesn't fly with me when Annabeth does it, either.

The second criticism is that they have nothing in common aside from shared experiences as demigods. If Percy had quested with Clarisse or Drew, he'd have the same things in common with them as he has with Annabeth in canon. In all of PJO they never have a conversation that's not centered around being a demigod. They don't share hobbies, interests or even talents. Percy is shown to like stuff like skating, swimming and other physical activities, Annabeth is a bookworm who loves architecture and puzzles. There's no intersection there. Once they are in college in New Rome, safe from monsters, what do they even talk about? Their only scene not demigod related is having plans to see a movie in BotL, something they don't have to talk to do (and that they never end up doing). EDIT: Oh, also, Annabeth infodumping on architecture, but Percy considers this white noise and he constantly ignores her talking about her passion, so... yeah, I don't count it as an actual conversation since he never engages back.

HoO Percabeth has these problems too, but it's much worse because they are actually together now. Annabeth is shown in her very first POV to be very manipulative (reminding Percy he almost dated Rachel to make him uncomfortable and "keep him in line"), violent (the Judo flip), and needy to an almost codependent degree (she makes Percy disappearing all about her, how it made her feel, how much it hurt for her), and Percy just goes along with it.

Their conversations are also repetitive and boring, because discussing the demigod quest is now a group thing with the rest of the Seven, their one-on-one conversations are all about how in love they are, how they want to spend their lives together, how they can't live without each other. It feels more like what keeps them together is their shared experiences and traumas, rather than any sort of chemistry or shared goal aside from a generic "staying together forever".

I'm okay with it as a friendship, because sometimes you can call your friend a jerkwad and just laugh it off, because you both now you don't mean it. People also have tons of school or job friends they have nothing in common with except for spending nearly 8 hours together daily in the same building, but as a romance? I was never convinced, more resigned to the fact that it would happen.

[ut-versotale]

Update Time, Update Time

Welcome back, everyone. Hope you all had a very happy New Years! I come bearing a late present for you all: A Versotale update!

Game Progress

As I anticipated, I needed to take a break around the middle of November so I could focus on schoolwork. Now that we've been on break for a little while again and will continue to be for the better part of January, I've already gotten a sizable chunk of stuff done. Still not as much as I would've LIKED to have completed - There are still like only three fully-completed rooms at the moment, and even then they have a ton of WIP assets and first-pass dialogue and all - but, that is the way of coding a game solo, mostly from scratch, and with the occasional glances at Undertale's code, isn't it?

Unfortunately, while I really want to share stuff with you guys, it's all in some way a spoiler that I don't want to spoil for the people who'd rather experience everything fresh for themselves.

...

So, if you DO wanna experience everything fresh for yourself, feel free to bow out of this post here. If you're sticking around, enjoy some mild spoiler-y content, some character designs, and some fun vague allusions to things I still really wanna talk about! I need to give you guys SOMETHING after this long wait, right?

Game Progress: Slightly Spoiler-y Edition

The OPENING CUTSCENE you saw a while back has been tweaked slightly to make Hercine more likable, and so the dialogue can flow a bit more naturally.

Two new cutscenes have been added to the beginning, albeit with some rough visuals. These three all flow into each other, and if you're speaking through each line of dialogue, they only take up about six minutes total. Still, it is a TAD bit too long for my liking without any gameplay behind it, so there's a chance I might cut a cutscene or switch the order of things around so there's a brief gameplay section before the last one. Who knows.

Undyne has been redesigned. Undyne now sports some less bulky armor that combines aspects of her canon casual and armored forms. If she's gonna be there the entire game, she may as well have a visually-interesting design rather than the blob of bluish-grey her armor used to be. I'm sure some people will consider this a downgrade, which is always the risk you run when you redesign a character you've already shown off... but I personally just can't stand working with that old design any longer. The colors barely pop, it looks messy, the armor's boring and flat-colored and almost even blends into her scales, etc.

You didn't get to see the outdated Frisk design I had for this iteration of the project, and I'm glad you didn't, because upon writing more of their scenes and reconfiguring their personality, I HAD to redesign them again. I don't anticipate this one changing ANY time soon, but, as with Undyne, no promises.

Next up, some important human characters in the first area that AREN'T Frisk! You'll meet them later on, and I really hope you all end up liking them and the story behind them! In the meantime, here, have their designs. Again, they might change, but I'm comfortable with these for now.

That's all I feel comfortable showing off for the first area at the moment! I'm hoping to record everything up until the first save point and post it on YouTube at some point before the end of January (Again, as I must reiterate, in its very unfinished form), but no promises!

While that's all for the first area, I have been poking around with redesigning some of the later characters you guys have not even seen yet. Particularly, the primary antagonist of the new Cold West. I have to admit, I was a little worried that, if I didn't switch up his design, people would start comparing him to Clover since Undertale Yellow is still fresh in a lot of our memories right now, but... I think you guys will really like "The long scarf of the law." He's a fun character.

Alright, that's all from me! I hope you guys enjoyed this brief little peek at some mild spoiler-y content! I hope to be back soon with some neat stuff for y'all to see in action!

[punderfullll]

Where would you recommend looking to purchase Touhou cosplay outfits? I've been looking through EZcosplay, But I'm really skeptical of the how the quality may be. Are there other sites that you think would be better? I know you make a lot of your outfits by hand, but I really just don't have the skills to do anything wonderful like that. Thanks! Love your work!!!

Hello! First off thank you so much! I do make some of my stuff but typically if I am buying cosplays I do so secondhand. Mostly because it saves me a bit of money! So sadly I do not have a lot of experiences purchasing new! However I'll try to help the best I can with what I know :D! If you are interested in buying secondhand please send me a message and I'll send you my big info pile on it. I have a lot more experience with it in comparison so I have a ton of links and information on it! Ok so for new! I think the best place currently in terms of price and quality is typically Taobao. A lot of stores like aliexpress and other online shops that sell touhou cosplays are often just reselling from Taobao. Buying off Taobao can be a little tricky but you will need a proxy. I know a few touhou cosplayer mutuals of mine have had a lot of success with bhiner cosplay It is basically a taobao proxy with a focus on cosplay and there is a whole touhou section here <--- I have only ordered here once and it was for a Yukari Parasol prop. It was a pretty good experience overall and the quality was nice. The only major issue recently is I've hear Bhiner has stopped accepting paypal for payment. I'd have to try to put an order in to confirm that but it might be something worth looking into another proxy for! At the very least its a great way to browse what is currently being sold and bhiner always links the actual taobao stores themselves, so you could easily go through another proxy! Another touhou cosplayer also made a handy guide on buying some of the more fancy premades as well I'll also link that here <------ A very helpful guide!! I bought a costume off a cosplayer that bought it from a shop called fm-anime . Can't speak for the ordering process but the quality pretty good! It was a Touhouvania Alice cosplay. It looks like they have limited stock these days with touhou but it might be worth a look! RoleCosplay seems to have a decent selection and even some less popular touhou characters. I've never ordered off here myself though so I'd maybe look into reviews a bit more! Maybe I should put in a test order and do a review one day LOL EzCosplay (as you stated) I have heard mixed things about! It used to be regarded as a pretty okay place to get Touhou cosplays from but more recently I've seen some people complain about sizing issues and quality in regards to their photos vs product etc! So I'd maybe avoid that one! Lastly there was this google doc made a little while ago with some shops listed. I do not know if this is up to date but I thought I'd share https://docs.google.com/document/d/12w82AVDHKmJ1dKRRZ3CAYiy1S5TbqOR_o91NCJVqgUQ/edit Also there is a touhou cosplay discord I could get you the invite to (just send me a message first) Its full of really nice and supportive people and theres a cosplay shopping talk channel and lots of people with experience there that can help out! There's also a secondhand cosplay sale channel as well if you wanted to buy directly off another cosplayer! Anyways I hope that helped. Again please feel free to message me anytime if you need specific help. I'm always happy to help people cosplay touhou in any way possible :D If you have a specific character you want to do I can try and get as many links for you put together that I can as well!!

[luveline]

dear jade,

Im 23 and I would say I’m doing ok the scheme of things. I moved to a new city and my job is meh and I have friends and it seems fine but I can’t help but feel lonely especially because I have a p rocky relationship with my family members and sometimes all I want is someone whose excited to see me and do errands with me. I like my friends but most of them r actually moving soon and I’m scared about having to try to make new friends and idk I guess I was wondering if you had any tips on feeling lonely bc I really want a bf but also the mature part of my brain knowing having a bf won’t fix anything per say.

Hey!

My tips for feeling lonely. I think I was a very lonely person for a long time, and I'll give you my advice rather than what a therapist or a professional might say, so please take it with a pinch of salt. EDIT : I'm not trying to say I know better than a therapist btw I don't just that you can find that everywhere so I wanted to be more personable

I think if you really want a boyfriend, you're right in thinking it won't fix everything, but I also don't think it's a bad idea. The want to be in a relationship is one that most people will experience in their lives, it's very natural, and of course lots of things can go wrong and you can end up very hurt, but I still think that looking for love and a partner to be with wouldn't fix everything but it would probably be a good thing. BUT. it is also very very important to have friends and family too. Friends are so hard😭 and they move away and even if you make new ones you won't know who they are, but I think the standards for friendship are kind of skewiff these days, so my advice to you is to try and make relationships with people that are casual in a sense, but honest and caring, too. I know it isn't easy, you can't just magically clap your hands and make it happen, and there's a balance to be struck between being forgiving with people but not wanting them to walk all over you and your boundaries. (Sorry this paragraph is a little behemoth but hopefully my main point is that a boyfriend won't fix things but it probably won't do you any harm to have love and intimacy in your life, but don't try to fill the gaps that friends and family are leaving with a boyfriend because it may leave you feeling worse (which I'm sure was your original point, sorry😭))

I'm sorry to hear about your rocky relationships with family and I certainly won't stand here and tell you to try and fix them because family can be impossible and hurtful and too much to deal with. I hope things get better with them but I also understand that they might not, and I want to tell you that that's okay! Family by blood is real but family can also be anything you want it to be, including friends or a partner or people in your community. It's tough though, and I'm sorry!

ANYWAYS you didn't actually ask for any of the above and I'm really sorry if what I've said so far is unsolicited or incorrect, I can't pretend to know every detail of your situation but I think i can understand how you're feeling, like things are fine but loneliness is still pervasive anyways

When I'm feeling really really really lonely, there are a couple of things I do. I talk to friends (and not to tell them I'm lonely, maybe just to send a video or something) and I don't mind admitting that I don't have tons of friends, but the very best one I've made was through the Internet, so I definitely recommend trying to make friends via the Internet with people who have your interests in common! Friends in real life are sometimes friends because we see them a lot, which isn't a bad thing (it's actually GOOD to be friends with people who are different from us) but often means that we can find ourselves a bit unsure of where we stand or how to keep the friendship going when they move away.

I do all the usual things the Internet tells you to do, too, because this stuff sucks but it really works, like taking a very hot shower or going for a walk. Sometimes it absolutely doesn't work and then you're just walking around feeling lonely and miserable though, but it's worth a try. sometimes we feel lonely because we realise how unhappy we are and that we don't have anyone who's worried about how unhappy we are, if that makes sense? Like a consequence of the human condition, we actually do want attention when we feel shitty and there's no crime in that.

But sometimes all the usual stuff doesn't work! When I was at my Loneliest and most depressed, where I really truly could not see a light at the end of the tunnel kind of situation, I turned to writing. It literally saved me and saved my life and made it one worth living (as someone who doesn't have very much ambition). I think that finding a hobby and trying to master it or at least trying to create can really do wonders for a lonely person because it gives you a sense of worth or a sense of purpose outside of personal relationships. I always tell people I think they should start writing but what I mean is that finding a way to express yourself or finding a way to make things that you can look at with pride is great.

But obviously one hobby isn't going to get rid of all your loneliness, and I don't think it necessarily has to. I was recently talking to someone about this kind of thing and we spoke about this quote from a poem by ocean zuong, "loneliness is still time spent with the world." You will feel loneliness at different points of your life for the rest of time and so will I, and it's going to be very painful at some points, but I think if we can try to look at loneliness as more neutral, we can feel lonely without putting pressure on ourselves to fix it. It would be very tiring for you if you were always expected to fix your own loneliness. Sometimes there's nothing you can do and im so sorry to say that and to hear about how you're feeling, because it's not fair. But loneliness isn't like hunger, there's no guarantee that you can make it better by doing any one thing, you just have to hope that the world is going to be kind to you. When it isn't, you have to be kind to yourself! Try to treat yourself as you'd treat someone else going through a hard time, get yourself a treat if you can and remember that just because you're lonely doesn't mean you deserve to be, you're a unique person with all these interesting things about you that I'm sure people are one day going to discover and love, I'm sure people already do!

[elpscroll]

The end but not really of Eman Looc's Possession Scroll.

To those not on the ELPS Discord, I've made the decision to end ELPS… as a Student Transfer Scenario.

Instead, Eman Looc's Possession Scroll will become... its own Visual Novel.

Truthfully, I've been thinking about this for a while. When I created the first version, I debated the idea, but my lack of coding and Visual Novel experience held me back. Now, with a bit more knowledge(When I say a bit I really mean it) and more courage, I believe I'm ready to take this next step. I understand that some of you may have questions and feel frustrated about this change. I have much to say, but let me first address some obvious questions.

Why do this?:

-Well, there isn't one reason for this but, a main one is that I just want my own thing. I enjoyed creating the scenario, and I feel that transforming it into a Visual Novel will make it even better, and even more fun than it already was.

-While this is more of a minor reason, sometimes I just, can't do stuff I want. I often watch Renpy tutorials and want to incorporate them into my scenario, but they either don't work correctly or would be too complicated(And I feel bad about bothering the ST devs to ask how I would do this... I'm sure they would love to help, this is just a me thing). With my own Visual Novel, I'll have the freedom to add any cool Renpy features I discover.

-Let's be honest, my scenario changed so much about ST canon that there was barely any reason for it to be a scenario… I mean, it really wasn't a "scenario" in the ST universe, it was mostly just, something losely based on it.

-I just want to.

Honestly, that's the closest to a main reason. You only got one life, you gotta do what you want.

How much will it change?:

-I plan to copy over all of ELPS and improve upon it, including some changes. The end result will be essentially the same, but better! And longer!

-The sprites will remain the same, though I'll use the original game sprites, rather than Student Transfer's edits or additions. So because of it tons of outfits, BGS and other things will change, since they all need to be edited or made by the cube(Guess this means they'll be worse? I'll try my best like I always have).

-All characters with names not given by me, will receive new names. This is because I want to avoid copying ST and to have my own, unique elements. So Eman Looc will stay the same for example, but Sayaka is not a name I made, so she'll be changed.

-When it comes to the looks of animations and stuff like that, I can't promise it'll be... improved, since I won't be using the code that Cobalt and co made, and I'm not even close to their amazing level. Again, I'll do my best to have everything looking good.

Will this new VN be FTF?:

This is a very annoying question I get a lot about all I do, even though my main thing from the beginning is FTF.

YES. IT WILL MOSTLY BE THAT. ANYTHING I DO IS 95% (OR MORE) THAT. DON'T ASK ME THAT ANYMORE AND DON'T ASK FOR ME TO DO SOMETHING ELSE.

The caps here isn't that much because I'm angry, it's more that I don't want those people missing the answer.

I'll even answer again! This is going to be ELPS, ELPS is FTF, so this VN will be FTF focused.

Final Things:

I just want to add to this that, I'm not doing this because I dislike anything or I'm upset about ST or Scenarios, it's all great. Even the community is mostly great, besides the deslike to FTF stuff almost any time it's mentioned, which sometimes included my scenario. Though I guess that's expected considering a bunch of people coming to ST just want to see a dude get in a girl and masturbate.

ST is great, and they don't have to give so many tools for scenario making, but they still go out of their way to do it, and all for free. That's one of the reason why ST is wonderful, and I hope it will keep evolving more and more.

To conclude, I hope that those who enjoyed ELPS will join me in transferring to the new Visual Novel. However, I understand if this decision upsets some of you and you choose not to follow the project anymore.

If you want updates on how far I got with the Visual Novel, I will talking about it as the days go by in the ELPS Discord.

The cube says thank you to everyone who has enjoyed ELPS, and thank you to the Student Transfer team. See ya.

[lacefuneral]

God I also just like wanna watch a fucking movie or a TV show or something like. I've mostly been listening to podcasts or listening to the audio of TV shows whether it has audio description or not. And watching very brief YouTube videos with barely any motion or editing in them that are very quiet with my screen almost completely dark

Like I have such a long list of movies that I want to watch and I could be watching them if not on account of the brain hurt

Also I have like six or seven different books to read in my room right now and I cannot look at them. And I don't do audiobooks either they put me the fuck to sleep and the only method of reading that I am comfortable with is a physical book and not because I'm a snob or anything like that it's that it has the least amount of ice strain for me focus on it and it lets me stay present and also like I have a very physical kind of indication of how far along I am and like anytime I've tried to read it on like a fucking kindle or anything else like it's it's been a nightmare for me I can't do it I have tons of PDF on my laptop of like like full books and I do not touch them I do not open them because I have like a mental block about it because it's not like I can just go in and like stick in like a bookmark and then like you know go back to my bookmark and you know I just it's not how my brain works and it's just it's stressfu

God and I'd love to play a fucking video game like I have Pickman four and the three  previous Pickman games and I started one and two at around the same time and have not completed them.  and then obviously I have tears the kingdom too I haven't been paying attention to the community for the last couple of months so I don't know if there's been any new like technological advancements but you know there were a lot of very impressive things that people were doing for a long time and you know if new stuff has been discovered like I'd like to experiment with that I mean I'm not super good at building things in tears of the kingdom more of like a house design Person but you know it's cool to have that sort of sandbox environment where you can just sort of dick around and make shitty vehicles and see what happens

also I didn't even think of this before but I guess I could make like a second profile on my switch in order to like start a new game of tears of the kingdom if I wanted to because I don't wanna lose my current progress I wanna be able to go back to it but maybe that's a lol anyway I can't worry about that now anyway I physically can't do that



[em-dash-press]

Getting Your Work Published—Or Not

I saw a tweet the other day that made me think.

A writer tweeted that they would explode if they died before getting at least one of their stories or novels published. They viewed it as their ultimate potential failure because not getting published meant that they spent their whole life working on a skill that wasn't a talent.

I have to say—I've never personally felt that way.

Why Writers Might Feel Pressured to Publish

Don't get me wrong, I've absolutely looked forward to potentially publishing my books and short stories. It's why I've entered and still enter contests. It's why I query agents for my trilogy.

Publishing is the ultimate validation for writers. But there are other reasons to want your work printed too.

Society Pressures People to Turn Hobbies Into Income

Every time I've fallen in love with a new hobby, I've felt like it wouldn't be a valid way to spend my time unless I could make money off of it. It took a while for me to learn that it's okay to just get joy out of something.

Making money off of my writing would feel great, so the pressure to turn my ongoing works into a source of income is definitely there. I'm not sure that this type of stress is talked about enough in our community.

Loved Ones Always Ask for Updates

They mean well, but after many people in my life learned that I earned a writing degree or started querying agents, they ask if I've been published during nearly every interaction we have.

"Have any agents responded yet?"

"Did you win that contest yet?"

"When can I find your stuff in the bookstore?"

They mean well, but it creates a new source of embarrassment and pressure when the answers are always—

"Not yet, because finding an agent takes time."

"Not yet, because contests stretch for months and there are tons of applicants to compete with."

"Not for a while, because turning a submission into a published book takes months and even years sometimes."

Repeating this experience has caused me to become hard on myself. I dread giving the same answers in our next interaction, so I get discouraged about how I'm spending my time or what I'm writing. It makes the dream of getting published anywhere that much more important.

Published Stories Are Validating

It's okay to admit that sharing a Google doc or Word doc with a friend or family member isn't as validating as holding a printed book with your own words in your hands!

That's an experience many writers spend the majority of their lives looking forward to. The professional printing, book binding, and cover art is a treasure. There's nothing wrong with wanting that.

Why Writers Might Not Feel Pressured to Publish

When I read that initial tweet, I also thought about how I know writers who don't mind if they never get published. Sometimes I feel that way myself. That's perfectly fine too!

They're Writing for Themselves

It's great to write for an audience and it's great to write for yourself. Over the course of your writing experience, you'll likely do both.

When I sit down to write, it's most often for myself—especially with my novels. Writing is a way to process what's churning in your heart and mind.

Finishing a story and re-reading it can bring peace that you can't find anywhere else. It's something extremely personal, so saving stories just for yourself is valid.

It's personally how I feel about my books.

I'm querying to see how my skills can grow through the editing and publication process. I'm querying to meet people who love the publishing industry as much as I do. I'm querying to meet people who want to dive into the themes and conflicts in my books as much as I have.

Yes, sometimes I send query letters and beg the universe to let this one work so I can get that validation and satisfaction that comes from getting published.

But most of the time, I'm at peace if that doesn't happen. I wrote those stories for myself and if I'm the only person who ever falls in love with them, I don't view that as a failure because I still enjoyed and learned from the process of creating them.

They Don't Understand the Publishing Industry

Before going to college, I really didn't ever think about getting published. I would have enjoyed it, but the industry was one huge mystery to me.

I literally had to finish my bachelor's degree with my Certificate in Publishing to understand how the industry works from a writer's perspective and from an insider's perspective. It's where I wanted to work (but couldn't afford to after graduation, so it didn't work out).

That being said—there are many parts that are still a mystery! If you spend any time on Writing Twitter or Book Publishing Twitter, you'll find that it's also true for people who are actively employed or writing for publishing houses.

Sometimes it's easier to leave something that big as a mystery. That's perfectly fine if you don't feel like decoding the querying process or everything that happens afterward.

They Don't Plan to Turn Their Writing Into Income

Publishing a book takes a long time. There's also no guarantee that you'll get to publish a second novel (unless you get a multi-book deal, which is uncommon for debut authors).

That makes it terrifying to leave a full-time job. Many people also can't spend their free time writing/editing/promoting their book because they're also going to school, raising kids, taking care of family members, or working multiple jobs to pay off debt.

Writers might also research what they could make off of committing to their debut novel full-time and realize that it doesn't pay the bills.

The average debut author gets a $5,000-15,000 advance. It's often paid out in installments. You won't get royalty checks until you sell enough books to pay your advance back to your publisher, which can take a year or longer too.

That number also doesn't take into account the systemic discrimination many writers are up against.

BIPOC authors make tens of thousands of dollars less than advances to white writers even when they're well-known and have years of publishing success under their belt.

LGBTQIA+ writers will also likely land a small advance because publishers ~still~ claim that stories involving diverse characters/love interests/storylines won't sell as much as books with cisgender, heterosexual characters.

Women (no matter how they identify or what gender they were assigned at birth) will get smaller book deals based on gender and their published books are often priced 45% lower than their male counterparts.

There are absolutely writers who debut with incredible success and land advancements for upcoming works that are double or triple what they made for the first book. But many writers are up against so many odds that they keep their work private to keep the joy writing brings them, instead of having to fight so many systemic challenges and biases to get their work published.

Royalty checks are often also small, even if your books sell well. The biggest names in the industry make substantial royalty checks and ongoing income because their work remains popular with incoming generations, gets sold forever as digital movies, or remains on streaming platforms as TV series. That isn't always a reality for most writers.

The likelihood of that level of success happening right after quitting your full-time job is very small. Everyone has to do what's right for them to pay their bills every month, which is why many writers choose not to bet on their writing becoming their full-time job. It's also why many don't ever try to publish. It takes an incredible amount of time and effort that you might not have.

Publishing Is Personal

All of this is to say that I feel for the writer who sent that original tweet. I also think that our writing community should also recognize and validate people who don't feel that same pressure.

Whether you won't rest until you've signed with one of The Big Five publishing houses or you just want to write for yourself, your work is valid.

Publishing is personal and sometimes a complicated decision. No matter how you feel or what you decide to do, you're still pulling off an impressive feat by being creatively vulnerable enough to tell stories to yourself or others.

[lovelyserena-moved]

hello ! ive been wanting to start an editing blog for a while now, but i don't think my edits are good enough for it yet. do you have any tips for getting better at it ? ive been following you for a while and i find your blog to be really pretty !!

alright, this is probably gonna be a long post so everything will be under the cut

there are a ton of things that could make you improve, so here's a list!

1- Experiment, and experiment a ton: This may be the most important one! experimenting new styles and new effects is extremely useful when trying to become better at editing, use new apps (i used to only edit on Ibis Paint but recently I started using apps like PicsArt and Polarr that are way more centered around editing, and that's been extremely helpful!) try new effects, and even look at other people's work to get inspired! (obviously I'm not telling you to just go over and copy another person's style lmao) look at how they position stuff, look at how they use filters and all that, this was something extremely helpful for me to get better at editing!

2- Get new resources: Whether it be new filters or new vectors! on Tumblr there's a ton of resources for that, some creators make borders, some make free to use PSDs and Polarr filters, and on apps like Pinterest is really easy to find stuff like decors and textures for edits! this will not only make it easier for you to make your edits, it can also help with getting motivation to edit, whenever I see a new resource i go "damn i really want to use this in an edit" and then I do it! it doesn't matter if it's just a simple border or decor, everything is a part of the edit, and every single part of it matters!

3- Take your time: Remember when I said that the first one may be the most important one? well yeah forget that, this is the most important part of editing. If at one point you don't feel like editing, then take a break from it! I have done that a ton of times before hehe, and everytime i had the motivation to edit again I did everything in a different way, somehow taking breaks makes me improve, i really don't know why, maybe because i have more time to get inspired from others, maybe because i got some cool new editing resources, or maybe because i learned some new effects, idk, but not only is this part important to improve, it's also an important part to never end up stressing over editing, you said that you wanted to make an edit blog, and sometimes that may be pretty draining to do (i say this from experience lmao) so, never feel forced to edit all the time! maybe do some self indulgent edits before doing some of the requests, maybe take a break of days and return when you finally feel the motivation to edit, decline requests that you know will be tiring to do, anything for you to never feel bad from editing! recently the editing community has been acknowledging stuff like this, so don't expect a bad response from taking your time with editing! (although maybe some rude anons may say some stuff, but don't worry, we don't take those guys seriously around here). So yeah! you are in all your right to take your time!

Aaaaand I think that's it, i wanted to link to some extremely useful posts about this but i can't do a draft when responding an ask and i don't have the links to them sooo :(, but i may do a reblog to this post with all of the links to those posts!, i hope this was useful to you in some way, have a great day!

[alkalinefrog]

hey, so, I had an art related question... if all of this is too much, feel free to ignore it.

the backstory is that I've had the same laptop since early high school but recently I had a birthday (I'm 28 now). my parents got me an HP laptop, and my friend got me a tablet, which she bought off of an online friend for $30. the problem is that I haven't had new technology like... ever? none that was actually mine anyway, and certainly nothing that could handle me using it for art.

and this is especially a problem when it comes to the tablet. my friend helped me get firealpaca onto the laptop, and get the tablet set up with the right drivers, aaaaand... I cannot make one line that looks good using it. I've been using pen and paper for so long and I have a really light touch, and it feels like I have to jam the pen down to get it to register, at which point I might as well have not set the pen sensitivity to anything at all because the thickest line is the only kind I can make?? any lighter and it won't show up on the screen at all. like I can ctrl+z and it doesn't even go back a step, the line didn't get drawn. there's like a 20% chance that any line I try to put down won't actually register. and tbh this isn't really what I had wanted... it's a huion tablet, which is the brand I wanted, but I was gonna buy myself one where you can see what you're drawing on the screen of the tablet itself. not just due to coordination issues, I think I could get used to that part, but because I feel like I wouldn't be having this specific problem with getting things to register. every single line I make looks like crap with this tablet, it makes me feel like I might as well be drawing with my feet, and I've been fidgeting with settings, and it doesn't seem like anything helps. I also still don't have a mouse for the laptop yet, so I can't click and drag anything very well because it has a trackpad, so messing with sliders is already aggravating.

I feel so lost and overwhelmed, and like if I buy anything else, I'm just going to end up with more unusable stuff because *I'm* probably the problem. I just don't know anything, and trying is mentally fatiguing me so quickly... my brain knows what I want my art to look like, and my hands can do it with a real pen. I just have absolutely no clue how to make this machine produce anything.

so I guess my questions are stuff like, what equipment do you use? are there tablets that will register a light touch or am I really going to have to be this heavy handed in order to work with one? what resolution/canvas size do you usually work on? any recommendations for what program to use?

overall, I'd really like to get myself something that feels more intuitive than the tablet... honestly, I was finding some success drawing with just my finger on the touch screen of my phone at one point. there were still a lot of problems with that, but the nail in the coffin was that my phone's memory space filled up and I had to get rid of the drawing app to make it functional again (it's an iphone, which is why). maybe I should just get an ipad or something...? though, one more thing on the mountain of potential options is the last thing my crumbling ADHD brain needs. I've been taking a break from art in general because I've still maintained my 40-hours-a-week work schedule through the whole pandemic... I do 10 hour shifts and work overnight, so I technically have free time since I only work 4 days a week, but the type of work I do leaves me with no energy at all. so I've been in an art slump and I've been wanting to get out of it, but this is just making art feel impossible, even though the whole reason why I've always wished I could draw digitally is so that I can color digitally. I had been drawing things in pen and scanning them to color in photoshop, but cleanup takes so long that I literally can't produce finished work anymore. I'm out of options that aren't prohibitively labor intensive and frustrating.

this was probably way too much information, but if you have any advice I'd be really grateful.

Huh, well first off HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUDE!! Congrats on the sweet new tech (even if it's been a bit frustrating) and well-deserved celebration!

From the sounds of it I think the main issue is probably your tablet (this is pure speculation on my end though, so you know, grain of salt and all). You're right in that you shouldn't have to fight against your equipment. I have a really light touch too and I've never had the same issue. I personally don't have any experience with huion tablets, but if you're having trouble getting your lines to register then it might have been worn down by the previous user. It's not so much about buying a monitor (the screen one) vs. tablet so much as getting working equipment.

An iPad is a great alternative!! I've played around with the apple pencil and procreate and it's a super intuitive program with (obviously) super easy set up! You get the drawing on the screen AND really nice pen pressure. I'm really happy seeing it opening up new doors for more people to get into digital art!

In terms of your current laptop/tablet situation:

My set up rn is pretty pricey ngl; I have a PC desktop computer with a 16 inch Wacom Cintiq. Getting started in digital art doesn't mean you have to drop a bag on a ton of equipment right from the get go though! If you're looking for a safe small investment, I'd recommend getting a Wacom Bamboo pen tablet!

This lil' baby right here is what I started with!! I think cost-wise it floats around 70ish bucks, but that's exponentially more affordable than buying a huge monitor. One of my friends who's also a pro artist uses a similar small tablet because it works great! That's an alternative that might be worth looking into.

You can also get free trials on other drawing programs (clip studio paint is a great one!) To test and see if it's a software issue with firealpaca.

You could also try checking online forums to see if anyone else is running into similar issues, or watch some YouTube videos of people reviewing different tablets. I know this might be even more overwhelming, so I'd try and narrow the scope to focus on one thing at a time.

My best advice right now would actually be to get a mouse, or any other accessories you need. I've also been in your shoes where I was completely overwhelmed, and I can say that checking off all the small easy things makes a HUGE difference! It makes you feel more in control of the situation, and even if you're still having trouble with digital art you can at least get more comfortable using your laptop in the mean time.

You got this dude!! I believe in you!!

EDIT:

Thanks @wooliebirds!

[captainkurosolaire]

~ Mass Update ~

Mainly going into future plans and intents alongside ideas below cut.

Ton's of things I've in store this will prove difficult to vent it all out. But here we go... First off rehashing and appropriately learning to tag and organize things better on my blog. Each category will have their own corresponding content, I seek to bring or share. [Tales of Goldbrand] -- I intend this to carry a Compendium of all my writes soon that'll have everything neatly in-order including a glossary, so it'll have highlights of stories that even matter or the best stuff. I've written here for a very, long time, there's been many shifts. I want to make it more accessible. While coloring what matters for people who want to learn Captain or his Crew with less chapters. While also giving choice to find it all easily. This is essentially a step-above master-lists. I'll be doing that after the Saga I have going on, right now is done. [Captain] -- Will provide you strictly with Captain screenshots, gifs, photo-sets. This is still his blog despite the Crew thing's will sort of make this a scuffed Multi-Muse blog. I've few more things to edit and tag fix to get all his stuff though. [The Wild Crew] -- Afterwards this story is done Immortal Age Saga, It's something that I mainly wrote as a passion project within three days to get my warm-up process fixed. It's to allow me to get a feel for all his Crewmates and casts, in combat, in-general, to feel their presences. While also giving a bit of their backstories. At any point, I can go back and polish or tweak things in. They're NPC's but... not entirely. All will have their own 'Dreams' and their own 'Disapproval's' they have their own missions even. These things will factor eventually, they might set seeds, to betray or disagree with something, but that's all angst and more stories to be created, but overall, they'll probably always be Crew, eventually. -- I plan on making character-profile sheets of them and putting them in this Tab, it'll have their screenshots, their likes/dislikes. Some RP partners or people can also be shipped with them, but they'll all be monogamous and originally start off probably Pan. This allows them to figure out what they like on their own stories. I've always been someone who likes organic-flow. Although this one story contain all 16 characters or more, the rest will probably be shortened to a Squad of 4 and dispersed when on adventuring missions. Until I do a War Arc, that's my main goal to build too. [Roster] -- Will contain this Crew in just screen-sets dedicated to them, I'll probably randomly produce those. I've PC players among this Crew too. I may not be done either adding more, but this Crew is mainly built around Quality. Most pirate crew's mainly, have hundreds, thousands. Even Fleets. This Crew has personalities, monsters, people who are living life's that exist with piracy. He's an particular leader that had PC players the same way, he's had split-personality serial killers aboard, tribal chieftains, succubus, all sorts of various people once on a Crew. It's often an outcast style, pirates default are chaotic in nature, so this really isn't any different, it's a Fantasy version of it. There's humanization characters aboard too though, so this cast is really decked, everything and person is vital, they matter because they remind or covet something that others can draw upon. If ever played (Three Houses or Mass Effect / Dragon Age Origins) A lot of things like that are relatable too this structure and format. Which, Is something I want to be able to give when RPing. I want a genuine feel of this new world someone else's muse will be the main-character too. Depending on what's interacting everything they'll be scale appropriately to follow the genre they're in and environment even. [Aesthetics] -- Already explainable what you'll find here. [Asks] -- Same thing. [Prompts] -- Trivial things I was tagged too, I plan on compiling later. [Writing] -- Another alternatively to randomly go-down and it works right now. [Logs] -- Will have more individualistic master-lists and posts there, my poems from Sheik Sphere the Bard, etc.

Things of that nature, I'll probably add still. It's where a lot of my creative writing is summed. [Gems of Hydaelyn] -- My main #tag for other characters and artists, creationist. Lot of amazing people easily to find their zones or follow them optionally if you like. Ton's I intend to support and bolster, be a lot less unspoken. I'm never the type who's been strictly inclusive. But I'll do that when I've time to even explore the dash, I'm always still planning ahead with things and projects. [CKS] My original character-sheet it's outdated on something's but not too terrible. I'll give him polishing someday, I swear? [21+F-List] -- Just purely degenerate stuff of Captain. I'm a pirate blog. I will represent that with openness and furthermore. I'm never projecting you some false-image. I started off a smut-writer by stripping that, I no-longer represent the same aura and identity. But those are strictly his stuff and kinks, I'm effective in executing them but they're not all relatable to me OOC. This blog will always be 18+ containing crude or dark material sometimes, romantic things, this Captain is blunt, will literally put his cock on the table in conversations. Swearing and being censored would be too uncommon and displace most of him, but there's more about him then all this. [Other] -- I pay homage to a lot of characters, I originally am a Concept Designer. Which mean's I make characters and ideas like my addiction. Bad characters / villains or other little things I like to share in designs, I'll put there. Some villains might get little photo-sets, even if they died. Just cause I like their design, or maybe I'll give them an AU, where they won. When I've wrapped up things. [Collabs + Ships] -- Is a new project idea. This isn't going to be something limited too romantic only ships. It'll contain, platonic, romantic, friendships, rivals, frenemies, family, PC Crew, all ships. I am desperately working on improving my gif, screenshot, posing game so I can supply 'Screen Stories' this is not only a way to RP that's accessible with even people who are upon time-crunches from work, It gives visual-representation. To impactful stories shared with others and establish bonds. That are all-valid and impactful matter. Lot of people take a lot of their characters attributes into them and are them dialed up, I work with that and bit more, differently. I'm disconnected from my characters and they'll get hurt and injured and killed by me, that's my duty as their Author to give them conflicts and struggles. I'm their major antagonist, but that doesn't mean at-all, it's always SET that way. The characters I like to make have their own life, they live in this setting and are abide by it, they're often nothing, nobodies, and by the interacting with others, they slowly gradually building, more... Through emotional impacts, they alter, these are REAL people by all their beliefs. Each person they come in-contact with are legitimate and treated like that too. They've always impacted or given them insights to grow, or represent more. Otherwise it'd be criminally disrespectful if I allowed any emotional I felt OOC be the grudge to something IC. Captain in-particular is set on defying me. I cannot have that. ...But I can't stop him. He's met and encountered so many people and lived so many scenarios based on the actions of others, he's giving a chance right now to actually do things a lot further than impossible. The more people he meets and encounters, experiences, the more I lose. These stories are emotionally interactive where everything is a factor and adds to the dice, where the other people are the one who get to roll the dice for him, not me. That's something I want to color in. People range in emotions, they have their down's, ups, their own wholesome-grounding people, spending time with your favorite people, there's nothing more cherishing than that, being in your own comfort-zone or 'safe-space' these are all treasures that we live under, today. Contrary if what people assume of me, I'm not another 'blogger' that's came

before, who's wanting to force a harem, then constantly is bewildered when that falls to pieces cause of selfishness or a lack of communication, or the skeletons they have in their closets and beliefs they hid behind and swindled fooled everyone. I'm not looking to be popular or anything really, I just create stories and want to share in those, and I want to also boost others included, upward with me, especially those who make me. There's no ego in anything I do, this is purely love. I've never cared about being replicated or duplicated, I've had stalkers, I've gone through more then anyone would imagine, I've been used OOC and abused, just for my writing and cold-harshly told, i'd never amount to anything other then that or vice-versa. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Passion. That's all I got and am anymore. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Passion is the hardest thing to keep. It's something that can be stolen, quite effortlessly. Few words of discouragement, a bad negative representation, a lack of confidence, or small amount of time, there's many thing's that can put that flame out. Once you lose it. The difficulty to reattain is hundred-times harder than climbing any mountain for real. I've watched the greatest creators crumble from under the pressure, from beaten down by others. I watched many of them do it to themselves because they put a grand vision of needing validation of another and once lost, felt uncompelling to press onward. But passion also can be given BACK and drawn. It can be shown and encourage others, with a soft-triggering, that pushes them. That motivates, that constantly sticks to it. There are many that fuel me. If I ever quit, I let them down, I spit in the faces of people who're better than me in every-way. Or people who've came and given me their precious Time. That have given their character's or dedication to the abundant stories and community-driven things I've done. There's ONLY things you can do, create, give and provide. It cannot ever come to life without YOU. This is a fact. ...I swear, If you let your creativity soar, you'll be amazed by the heights you get. Constantly polish and learn and hone the best you, challenge yourself day after painstaking day, to draw better improvement on something, no matter how trivial or unfamiliar you are. You'll find a confidence only you can give yourself. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Future Plans --------------------------------------------------------------------- For me, I've got so much more stories to give and also explore, I might be taking up soon some other artists and more skilled people from community and hire them for some of my future writes, to up my game or cause something thing's can't be done in-game cause no background carries it. I also got a lot of-set up things and more angst stuff I want to practice, plus I'm adamantly on that grind to produce screen-sets with the intent's to some sort of improving daily. Additionally more people I'll be reaching out too soon for these collab's ideas and things. I look forward to shaking your hands, giving some hugs, show you my respect and admiration, then creating some enchanting stories and giving plots light. Feel free to reach out to me, I get scattered-brain but I'm working on getting better about it. Eventually will get to you though, my goals, if uninterested just say so when I poke, no bites, unless you kinky. Anyways, cheers hearties.

[thewolfmanslayer]

Honestly the amount of people who say artists and writers should do stuff for free, or try to rip them off on comissions still royally piss me off.

I think the worst part of it is the entitlement, I dont want to make this too much about generations but a lot of commissioners are millenial/Gen z's who grew up on the "steal and pirate everything" mentality, take everything that you can because no one else is going to hand it to you. which I can get behind, when you are screwing over MULTI BILLION DOLLAR COMPANIES. NOT THE STRUGGLING ARTISTS AND WRITERS who are trying to keep food on the table as desperately as you probably are!

It's simple, you wouldn't walk into a restaurant, order food and tell the server "sorry I don't have any money, but I've got like a few thousand followers on social media, I can get your name out there, get the restaurant some exposure" NO! They don't need "exposure" they need you to pay the damn bill!

On top of that, most of these artists and writers ALREADY HAVE FOLLOWINGS. They already have thousands of people following them, waiting for the chance to get a commission, who are willing to pay for said commission, they don't need "exposure" when they're already out there! He'll even the artists and writers with a few hundred don't need it, they'll get more followers as time goes by, their skill alone will see to it.

And what is with people trying to get free art and writing? It's not going to work! You can't harass someone until they cave, trust me, you'll be long since blocked before you even have the opportunity. I don't do comissions, online anyways, but my own friends and family, people who actually know me STILL PAY ME whenever they ask for me to do art for them because they KNOW it takes TIME AND EFFORT.

How many times do we need to have this discussion???? Like when is it going to finally click that people who need to pay their bills just as much as you do AREN'T going to do this shit for free!?

Here's the thing about art and writing, that you've heard a billion times but still aren't getting; IT. TAKES. TIME. AND. EFFORT. TO. GET. DONE. the art isn't going to magically appear and the writing isn't going to suddenly write itself, if either were so convenient YOU WOULDNT BE ASKING AN ARTIST OR WRITER IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Look at that, you see that? The first picture I did back in 2012-13, the picture beside it? I did that TWO YEARS AGO. I didn't suddenly know exactly what to do, or had anything close to a god given talent for drawing (I'm not that talented). The first picture WAS THE ABSOLUTE BEST I COULD DO AT THE TIME THAT I MADE IT. In the time between these two drawings I admittedly took a break from art, but then I got back into it four years ago. EVEN STILL that was four YEARS of starting over from the basics, relearning everything, learning new things, wanting to actually improve my art.

Which, guess what, DID NOT HAPPEN OVER NIGHT. It was HOURS UPON HOURS of my limited free time as an adult drawing over and over and over and over again, every single goddamn day to get to the point that I was able to make that redraw look as good as it does in comparison. He'll, my art now puts them both to shame! Because I spent the time improving my quality!!

Now look at these artists doing comissions, they've probably put EVEN MORE of their time to get that good! They've put in LITERAL YEARS of sweat, blood, tears, frustrations and dedicated hardwork. Some did the same as me, self teaching and lots of practice, others probably had to go to school, which definitely wasn't cheap. But all of us put in that time and effort TO REACH THESE POINTS. Of being better artists, developing our styles, getting faster at drawing.

And maybe you think that this is super easy, right? That I or every other artist can just fire some art off and boom its good and done in like an hour?

FUCK. NO.

Even now it takes me several hours a day OVER MANY DAYS to make something exceptionally good! It doesn't matter how good an artist is, it still. Takes. Time.

Maybe the issue is that you don't understand how much actually goes into art, let me break it down for you, the steps that most people follow to finish ONE drawing.

-Rough draft: general character outline, get a feel for what I want to draw.

-Rough sketch: I start doing a bit of pencil to start filling in details like mouth, nose, eyes, hair, clothes. Ect.

-Penciling: I go over the rough sketch and clean everything up, maybe do some editing, this is when you can start making out all the details.

-Ink: I trace over the finished pencil with a pen tool and actually have the line art, everything looks clean, presentable, it actually looks like a character now. I'll spend time editing this and possibly redoing the inking many times over to get to a point where I like it.

-Flat color: I decide on which colors to use for skin tone, clothes accessories. Ect.

-Shading/highlights: I figure out where my light source is and how strong it is, I then apply the correct amount of lighting and shadows to the color to give it depth, I also have determine the texture of skin, clothes and accessories to make everything look real and natural.

-Blending: I smooth out the shading and highlights so that it looks more natural and isn't too hard (noticeable difference between color) so that it looks as natural as possible.

-Finish: I go over last minute details, finish any editing or corrections that need to be done. Once it's good I call it a day.

Each process is longer in length then the previous, with the exception of the final editing (as long as everything looks good) and even the rough draft can take some time. Over all this is SEVERAL HOURS of work for a SINGLE DRAWING.

So is it sinking in yet? How much is put into doing even a single character drawing? God forbid if its done with background. This isn't a "scratch a pen around and be done with it in ten minutes" kinda deal, no, this is SEVERAL HOURS OF SOMEONES LIFE BEING PUT INTO THIS

And if you still have the AUDACITY to try and wrangle free art from an artist then there's no helping you, you're just a selfish piece of shit, no question and I want nothing to do with you.

Someone might say "But I got free art/writing from.-" look I don't give a shit if someone did something for you THAT ONE TIME, these other artists and writers? Totally seperate and different people. You're one freebie experience does not, and should not apply to other artists and writers.

"But what if I really want this commission but don't have the money right now?" Well, that's tough shit. Save up and properly commission them when you can, it's not their problem.

"But what if I'm in a really bad financial situation and really want it?" That sucks, and I'm sorry, but again, not their problem. Chances are this is their only source of income and they need to make money so that they don't end up in a similar situation.

"They have a gift! They should share it!" What kind of cheap ass- LOOK, just because someone is talented or really good at something does not automatically obligate them to do anything for total strangers in anyway shape or form. These are living, breathing people, the same as you. They need to eat, they need to pay rent/mortgages, they need to pay vet bills, send their kids to college, do their taxes and everything else that YOU YOURSELF need to do. Asking anyone to spend their time doing something for free, when that something is how THEY ARE SURVIVING is beyond asinine. Not only that, this obviously isn't a hobby to them, it is very clearly THEIR JOB. Would you want to do a job where you didn't get paid at all? Doing a shit ton of work for absolutely nothing? No? Didn't think so.

"It shouldn't be about the money!" Well unfortunately, as with almost every other job, it is. We live in a world where we desperately need to make money in order to survive. That's the painful fact of the matter. If money never had to be an issue ever again then this would be a very different story. But it's not, plain and simple as can be.

Look, these people are just like you, artists and writers who are just trying to get by in a shitty ass world, using the one thing they have that let's them have an income. Leave them be, don't try and trick them, guilt them, or cuss them out when you don't get your way. Either properly comission or leave them the hell alone, plain and simple.

[something-tofightfor]

Oml can't wait to read your story updates!!

I'm one of those people who will watch anything an actor I like is in 😅 (and we do love it when our favs have work and can feed themselves etc) so I was excited to see the new show but... now I haven't been able to bring myself to open the series. I don't want to watch the end of it all.

I'm glad if seeing these new younger actors + ben will get people to watch plays and other stuff they've been in but... I just want to enjoy things and I've never once enjoyed being part of a large fandom. Sure there's more people creating content when someone gets more attention but sometimes I just think 'at what cost'. Its not worth having everyone get all up in the performers' business or having twitter wars pop up or any of that.

I feel bad and I'll still enjoy his work but I'm already mourning the fact that I can and will be stepping back from social media stuff and unfollowing some tags.

I'll still keep reading your stuff as long as you're posting though (inserts many hearts of many colors)

I have a limit. If it was a 2 hour movie, I could probably do it, no questions asked. But this is eight hours long. That’s a commitment.  What do you mean you don’t want to watch the end of it (I know how the show/story ends, so you don’t have to worry about spoilers with me if you want to reply back - and I won’t post it)

I think that something like this is great exposure for the younger cast, 100%. Freddy and Amita and Kit and Archie have the real potential to leverage this into a lot more work in the future for themselves (and from what I’ve seen on IG over the last year or so, it seems like Kit and Freddy have a bunch of projects in the works - and so does Archie, especially with Morbius incoming... whenever that finally gets released). And even Jessie had a lot of potential with this one, too so I gues we’ll see?  I don’t mind being part of large fandoms, because I know that to truly enjoy a fandom, you have to build your own experience and limit your exposure to it and interactions with other fans. Like I said last week, I don’t follow a ton of people on here, because you’re absolutely right - more content does not always mean good content. (This is in no way putting down what people write or create; it’s just me saying that I’m not going to follow someone that makes Ben edits occasionally, but also posts a ton of them for other show characters/shows that I don’t care about, or that may have written one Ben fic but consistently puts out content for others, too.) You see/experience what you want to on this site (and others) and that’s the only way you’re going to have a good experience.  Twitter is fucking toxic. It doesn’t matter WHO or WHAT it’s for; that site is a fucking problem. I’m only on there to make snarky baseball comments about the Astros, Yankees and Cubs and to post about food. But the drama EVERYWHERE else is exhausting.  I’ve unfollowed the Ben tag. It killed me to do it, but I had to. Maybe I’ll refollow in a couple months, but ... I was so sick of seeing shadow and bone stuff in the tag when it has nothing to do with the show or character, so it was time.  I appreciate the continued support - and like I *also* said last week, I definitely want to get back to Ben’s characters, but I really think that a lot of the lack of inspiration has been due to this (and darklina) being shoved down my throat for the last 18 months. I get that people are excited, but  Y I K E S. 

[smoothshift]

You can time travel and have enough gold to convert into any period correct currency, but the catch is, any car you buy can't come back with you. What do you buy, and where do you store it? via /r/cars

You can time travel and have enough gold to convert into any period correct currency, but the catch is, any car you buy can't come back with you. What do you buy, and where do you store it?

As with many other imaginative people, I think how awesome it would be to have all of my favorite classics factory new.

Everyone always talks about time travel like it's a huge moral dilemma. If you had the power, you have to change history...yada yada.

For me, I'm happy not touching any of that, instead, I'd rather just collect all of the cool stuff I like with the added luxury of getting it brand new. I always thought how impractical taking an entire car back to the future with you would be in this fantasy scenario. Unless you had a star gate looking device you can drive a 57 Impala through, you can't take anything too big back with you. Well, in the case of Terminator's rules, nothing inorganic haha.

So I thought to myself, what would I do?

My only idea I had that seemed solid, would be to get a hold of my great uncle in the late 60s who owned the same property up until he passed away a few years ago, and convince him to hold the vehicles somewhere. Maybe build something underground to keep it hidden?

Then another question hit me. How do you legally own a vehicle for 40, 50, or 60+ years if you weren't born?

Can the title be in my name for that long, and just stay in my name without any odd questions?

Perhaps I'd just have my uncle sign everything over when I got back.

Anyway. I'll just keep my long ever growing list classics down to a select few.

I'm a weird Malaise era car enthusiast, so a few choices may be odd, but there are a few cars that are really obvious choices for a lot of other normal classic car enthusiasts as well.

1: 70 Plymouth Superbird with a 426 Hemi, 4 speed, in "Lime Light" green.

There's no shallow reason why I want a Superbird. I don't care about collectability or worth of it. I just always thought they were the coolest muscle car ever when I was a kid. My tastes have grown over the years, but the Superbird is that out of reach fantasy car I'd love to perhaps own one day. The styling, power, and raw nature of it... just get me, man.

2: 1987 Buick GNX

The Buick GNX is certainly more realistic to own compared to the Superbird. However, to buy one factory new from a showroom floor, would be an experience of a lifetime. They are gorgeous sharp looking monuments of how awesome the 80s were in certain regards.

3: 1973 Pontiac GTO 400 4-Speed. Black, on black poverty caps, with a red interior.

The 73 GTO is a big bumper Malaise era muscle car. It wasn't the fastest, but the smooth lines of that colonnade body style made me fall in love. I've seen a black on black 73 GTO in person, and my god, it is sinister.

4: 1987 AMG Hammer.

My tastes are all over the place. I love Malaise era stuff, vintage 50s Detroit dinosaurs, and a ton of European, Australian, and Asian offerings. The AMG Hammer is high on my list of European vehicles I'd kill to own. Their numbers in the United States are also exceptionally low. If you aren't familiar with the "Hammers", please look them up.

5: 1973 Impala Station Wagon, with an LS-5 454 if possible to special order/install.

The 73 Impala Wagon was a monster. It was long, wide, and heavy. This was the definition of the American family station wagon. Ordering any performance goodies from the factory just adds to the ridiculous fun.

6: Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R

My personal favorite of the Japanese 80s imports. I love these cars, and getting a non molested example is getting harder each year.

7: 1977 Oldsmobile Toronado XS in Yellow

The 70s Oldsmobile Toronado is based on the Eldorado. It is a massive fwd v8 luxury coupe. The 77 sadly dropped the 455 in favor of the 403. The tradeoff is you get an optional wrap around rear glass window. Better engines can be swapped, but the rear glass on the XS model is something you really can't replace. The styling is just gorgeous. It's 70s gaudy excess, and I love it.

8: 1988 Chevy Celebrity Eurosport VR sedan with 5 speed, in red.

This is probably the most ridiculous car on the list. GM's late 80s a-body cars were cheap barely indistinguishable fwd commuter cars. The Eurosport VR, was basically putting lip stick on a pig, and it is charming as heck. It has a healthy mpfi v6 and optional 5 speed to give it a better driving feel. It has "tuned suspension" and factory rated better tires. It doesn't do much in terms of anything. I'll be the first to admit it, but the fact that the 80s a-body is so disposable, makes having a factory new model in 2019 all the more funny and enjoyable.

9: 1974 Jeep Gladiator with AMC 401 and 4 speed.

I felt like I needed 1 truck on this list, and I felt horrible neglecting AMC too, so I decided on the Gladiator. The Gladiator is a basically a Jeep truck. Check them out if you aren't familiar with them. The 401 is also a great v8 from AMC. You seriously don't see these trucks anymore, and a 401 optioned truck is even harder to find.

10: 1989 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary Edition in white.

I had to wrap up this list with another car that may be a bit stereotypical, but something I've loved since I was a kid. The Countach is just iconic in so many way. I love the styling, the engineering, and the pop culture surrounding these beautiful machines. I figured I'd put at least one genuine super car on the list.