#i just gotta streamline the process!!!!

[dbg-wow]

🗣️🗣️🗣️WARP TROTTERS AS PETS NOW!!!!

[scrabblesnorton]

breasting boobily down the isles of department stores on a hunt for a bra that is actually my size and then breasting boobily to the exit empty handed

[barabones]

So I've been working with Crips for ESims for Gaza for almost a week now, and I gotta say that if you are able to, I really suggest joining us. I had to customize and set up two Google docs to help keep track of esim purchases, but otherwise it's so easy to do. I streamlined my process of buying a card, screenshotting and storing the receipt, documenting the card information, and sending the QR code off to GazaEsims to about 5 minutes each.

Then every day I just take a few minutes to monitor the Esims and see which one's activated or need topping off. I'm managing close to 30 of em now and tonight I'm gonna push to get that up to 50.

If you're someone like me who doesn't mind managing a few spreadsheets for an hour a day, then I'm begging you to help us convert more of our donations to purchases. Jane and everyone else is so friendly and helpful. The email to reach out to is in the chuffed page above.

And if you're not able to do that, then please donate to our group. $15 can help us buy a single 3GB card and the demand is so high right now.

[yellow-py]

hello! you've probably been asked these before, but i'm here to ask how long it typically takes for you to make animatics, if you have any tips, preferred methods, and what you use? i saw your funger animatic and it looks absolutely gorgeous! i love all the detail that's jam-packed into the art and story telling, so i'm curious about your animatic process.

sorry if this is a lot! no need to answer if you don't want to. i love your stuff and i wish you well!

Hi! I don't mind answering some questions!

First things first, I'm not a professional storyboards artist. I've done a few things for some youtube channels. I wouldn't call myself an expert. This is to say that my method of doing things might not the best for people who actually work in the industry. 

Most of the time I work in Storyboard pro 7. But honestly, any editing software works as long as it can handle pictures and audio. For the disco elysium animatic I only used  clip studio paint and some random editing program called Camtasia. It worked alright but it takes a bit longer to finish stuff since storyboard pro is more streamlined. My go-to method right not is to draw the backgrounds in clip studio and the characters and editing in storyboard pro. That way, I get the best of both worlds. 

The funger animatic took about 2 and a half weeks to make. It usually takes longer, but the song wasn't that long so that saved me a lot of time. But as another example, my disco elysium animatic took +3 months. So it really depends. I did work longer on each frame for that one tho, so idk. On average, it takes me about 2 months. But that number keeps going up since my expectations of myself keep rising. 

Anyhow! I'll be bringing up my fear and hunger animatic as an example of my process. 

My animatics usually start out having the ugliest thumbnails known to man. It does let me experiment with framing and timing, which is absolutely crucial. I do not recommend that people start refining frames without having planned out things beforehand.

After that, I just save every thumbnail and import it to storyboard pro. I just scale it up to the current canvas size. Then I just line up every frame with the audio. It is a little bit tedious but you gotta do what you gotta do. 

After that, I begin to draw the backgrounds in clip studio. I do the same thing as in storyboard pro and just size the thumbnail up. And then I just sketch over that! Technically, I could have drawn the backgrounds in storyboard pro. But their brushes are pretty uggo so I prefer to not do that :)

As dumb as it might sound, it kind of stresses me out when my storyboards aren't "pretty". Which is pretty stupid since storyboards are literally made only to be a guide for what an animation should be. so in actuality, it's alright if they're kinda crusty. But since I never intend to animate my animatics I find it nice to spend more time on each frame. Which is sorta stupid because I'm shooting myself in the foot by working so long on every frame...

Either way, after that, I import the new backgrounds into storyboard pro and begin to draw the characters. Technically I could draw them in clip studio as well. But its faster to draw them in story board pro and it also allows me to do some semi-animated things and work faster. So, after a lot of experimenting, clip studio backgrounds and storyboard pro characters is the way to go for me! 

And just to note. This animatic might have only taken about 2 and a half weeks. Which sounds pretty good. But when it comes to animatics I can become a real workaholic if im inspired enough. So every day after school I would sit non stop working on this from the second I got home to when it was time to sleep. As well as every second of the weekend after I was done with my chores. So that is to say I work pretty fast and persistently, which i know is not healthy or realistic. So take my timing with a grain of salt. 

But that's kinda my process. I just draw backgrounds and draw characters until the thing is done. 

If I had to give any advice, I would say it's important to have fun when making animatics as a hobby. When I make an animatic, it's because I personally want to see that animatic, and if other people like it, that is a plus! If you're excited about an idea, it'll be a lot easier to add fun details and soul into it. 

But yeah that's it. I can't really come up with anything else to say. I hope I gave some good insight!

[swan2swan]

I know you said the sources are unofficial but can you please let me know what they are?—the ones that suggest Mai may have helped Zuko in the aftermath of their mother's disappearance?

Oh, you mean when Ursa disappeared while Zuko was a kid?

This is old Forum Talk. Back in the day, when Livejournal thrived and there were individual message boards devoted to topics, you sometimes got little fandom discussions. Sometimes, you'd have people who talked to writers and crew members, whether in person or on message boards.

Also, you had some freelance or part-time writers who would be fans of the show would then be pulled into supplementary work. One of them was Alison Wilgus (writer on Kids Next Door, also, please don't go bothering her, this was ages ago, just trust me), and she helped co-write some of the comics for the Avatar magazine between Book 2 and 3.

The word is that there was a black, heart-shaped stone that Mai gave Zuko when he was feeling down (obviously, we can assume that it was probably when his mom vanished). He was supposed to reveal that he'd held onto it the whole time he was banished-- a cute little keepsake.

This was probably just a draft for the "Going Home Again" comic, and thus has no True Canon Power; something from supplemental information that Aaron provided, or that they brainstormed in a writer's room. They just wanted some way to show that Zuko was always thinking of Mai. But it probably became too difficult to justify him still having it after his whole ship blew up (IT WOULD RULE IF HE'D FOUND IT IN THE WRECKAGE THOUGH) and him going through all of his adventures...and it was just easier to have her play with Jin and express herself verbally.

Bottom line: it's a concept that could be canonized at any time, burt also may just be in the scrap heap with all sorts of things like Equalist Asami and....didn't someone have a sibling or something? Guy Toph, I guess, though that's more extreme.

Again, don't hunt 'em down or bother them. You've just gotta have some faith in me as a Fandom Elder. This is part of the writing process, part of fandom growth. Feel free to use it as fuel, though! Fanart. Fafic. Whatever you want. But overall, it's probably just deleted material that was considered to show connections and just couldn't be organically worked in. Would have added some weight to the end of the Boiling Rock episodes if we'd seen Zuko holding it--showing that he took it with him. But they kinda did a little too much ZK ship-baiting and leaned away from the Maiko melodrama (and I do think it was a little to the story's detriment, but that's My Opinion). This is all just part of the writing process, though...you've gotta find things to streamline.

It's also just easy to assume that Mai probably got closer to Zuko after Ursa's disappearance. Whether through hugs and comfort or just bullying him a little harder to keep his mind off things. Becoming a proper Nemesis. Who knows?

And that's just what I picked up. For all I know, there was a whole deleted plotline where Mai and Zuko fell down a hole or something. Did a Fire Nation Goonies. Again. That's writing. You gotta come up with Stuff and sometimes the Stuff doesn't Stick. Asami was supposed to hook up with Iroh Jr. in early drafts. Things change. Have fun. Life's short.

[yuurivoice]

Laying in bed having a think.

As I try and tackle three intertwined (four? fuck) narrative stories more meticulously than I've crafted any of my narratives thus far, I find myself making several realizations.

BitterSweet is a product of me being at several mental low points but failing upwards. BitterSweet wasn't even intended to be a real narrative, but rather an introduction to Seth then sort of a choose you own adventure, listen to either "path" type thing. When the story revealed itself to me it was very exciting, but I was just going episode to episode and seeing where I'd end up.

Chapter 2 had more planning, a pretty defined outline, and was executed just about to perfection. I think 2 is probably the strongest in terms of knowing wtf was going on and seeing it through.

Chapter 3 is one I feel deeply conflicted about. Plans had to change on the fly multiple times. The scale got out of hand. I was on the struggle bus and only managed to write an episode two at once. It was a mess. We hit some high marks, and some of my favorite performances are in there, but there's this dark cloud over it for me. It's a shame, but it got done.

I can see really clearly how my struggle with my mental health, ADHD, etc. played significant roles in hindering me. So on one hand, I'm thrilled that I was able to make something cool that so many people appreciate and enjoy despite how challenging it was. On the other hand...there's a lot I wish could have been different.

Those wishes have informed many of the choices I'm making now as I tackle Shattered and Echoes, as well as BitterSweet and the unnamed thing. I'm not hitting the big red launch button until it is complete. I've never done that. But I want my writing to be tighter and more cohesive. I'm lucky that making shit up as I went and hitting the broader strokes I knew were there worked out as well as it did, but also I've tripped over myself a time or two.

As ambitious as I'm trying to be with weaving these stories, I want to make sure that when you step back and look at the big picture, it makes sense, but is also really fucking dope.

That's my hope.

This next batch of work is going to be special for me. I'm in my medicated era, but I'm working with a lot of the bones put in place by a version of me that was operating well below capacity.

Reading those first drafts I wrote last year was humbling. God they were bad. Frustratingly so because when I took a hammer to it, what I cooked up in significantly less time on the second draft was so much better than what felt like I had to pull teeth to accomplish before.

I try and tell myself not to look at all of my work through that lens of "I could have done so much better" but it's frustrating. I've gotta cook with the groceries that version of me brought home lol.

It boils down to this. When these next projects launch and the dust settles, I don't want to be glad it's over. When I finished BS3, I breathed a sigh of relief because it felt like I just got out of a year long brawl.

When I finish these projects, I want to be proud. I think that's the conclusion I reached. I was not proud of my work, because it was tainted with compromise and frustration that outside factors fucked with several aspects of it.

So I'm trying to prove to myself that I can do better than that. For myself. I've shaken off the frustration that I'm an entire year behind schedule. I've committed myself to completing it all before it sees the light of day. I've streamlined the process. I really tried to set myself up for success.

When I was struggling I'd cut every corner, I'd phone it in, I'd toss out ambitious ideas for the sake of just being able to call it done.

There's a lot less of that happening now. I'm able to at least try and hold myself to something resembling a standard. Now I just hope I can execute.

Thanks for reading. Sorry about all of whatever that was.

[linked-maze]

I was wondering if you had any tips for the process of comic making? like, for example, how to cut corners and streamline the process, and keep track of where characters are on a scene, etc etc. if not that's okay :)

oh, man! my way of doing comic progress is a mess XD but I'll try- so for me seeing the whole thing coming together makes me extremely motivated! even if it didn’t turn out the greatest I move forward. How do I keep track of characters in a scene? I just have it all up in my head? but if you want to, you can draw a map of the place. I'm still not the best at doing this either XD Sometimes I mess up. as you can see right here-

like where did the rocks and vines go? whoops XD

or here, the hole of water was so close to the other hole of water but then later on it's not XD so yeah- I gotta get better at this as well. Any tips for cutting corners? I would recommend reusing drawings but changing small things on them, like here-

I do this a lot- where I just tilt their head XD or sometimes I won't put shade on the characters- even tho the shading looks a lot better- but if the scene is not that important then I won't bother that much

just minimal shading under the neck and hair sometimes. I'm still learning and wanna get better in the future with how I do my panel setup and the pacing. I make a lot of spelling errors or art mistakes that I wish I could go back to fix or redraw- but I feel like if I did that all the time I would never have time to work on the newer pages! anyway! hope this helped just a tiny bit! I have no idea how I do things sometimes so I'm a terrible teacher XD

[rebouks]

Idk if you’ve already done this (newer follower and still catching up) but would you ever do a post on how you plan a post? Like what your planning process looks like with shots, poses, etc? You’re one of my favorite storytellers and I hope to get on your level one day but no idea what goes into a true story telling post

Ooooh hi hello, welcome! I don't believe I have ever gone into my process, no! but how interesting.. what better excuse! let's take yesterdays post as an example, shall we? 👀

First of all, we start with the premise/notes, which are very rough n' look like this in a word document...

Camping – the twins are fiiighting/being a pain, Oscar loses temper with em n almost says why can’t u be like ur brother?! throwing him into memories of Salton saying that to him all the time :[ he catches himself like no wait ur perfect I just gotta finish this, twins like wtf?? But robin ofc knows what’s going on with his pappy.. Oscar wanders off later n Robin sits with him, ur not like them u kno, what? Grandma n grandpa ur not the same, OUGH ;-;

2. I suppose this step changes depending on what I feel like, sometimes I'll make the poses/take the screenies first, then write the dialogue, other times I'll write the dialogue first.. I try for the latter since I can make more accurate poses, but time is usually my enemy here cos dialogue needs a nice quiet period to write lmao (let's call this step dialogue for now though)

3. Rip sims for blender, make poses, then head in game to dress everyone, set dress and take screenies, I take a LOT and choose the best ones but here're some unedited examples for you... In this case cos there was a flashback, I also had to remake Oscar/fam as a child n' whatnot, but luckily I have their old house saved so I plonked them all in an alternative save to take those.

4. Now we have our dialogue/screenies, it's time to throw it all together in photoshop, I usually edit the screenie first to fix any clipping etc, fix the lighting, sharpen it up a bit maybe.. but that's about it! Then I press my handy lil (custom made) storyboard action and end up with smth like this, to which I add the text! (this step takes the longest prolly.. cos it takes me forever to pick the screenies I wanna use my GOD 🙈)

VOILA! Once I've chosen all the screenies in the right order I go thru each of em in PS one by one to edit/add captions, then we're done! \o/

I realise this probably seems quite quick/vague or even streamlined if u wanna toot my horn lmaooo but I've spent a while doing this by now so ig I've kinda figured out the quickest way of doing it - still tho, I'd imagine the above still taking between 4-5 hours from start to finish! I usually spread these things over days/weeks in advance tho like.. during the week I mostly make poses/take screenies and write, then at the weekend I'll usually edit a bunch n' throw it all together, so it doesn't rlly feel tedious since I'm switching it up all the time/doing what I fancy.

[hinamie]

Hina how do you prevent burnout in general? Do you do anything specific or do you just chill for a while?

If i knew the answer to /preventing/ burnout i would be unstoppable fgsjfgfhj but unfortunately it is simply part of the creative Cycle ,, when it happens it happens all I can do is make the most of the time in between :'> i wouldn't necessarily call it Preventative but personally when im on a creative high I'm lucky in that it becomes its own positive feedback loop of Make something->satisfaction+validation-> make something else so for better or worse i farm that loop until i collapse

the flip side to that is that when burnout Does strike i have been known to completely ghost social media and rot in my own head when it gets really bad ,,. working theory as to Why is likely because I haven't found a way 2 cope with seeing people continue to create content for the things I like when I myself am stuck in a rut (unhealthy mindset !!! i know !!!! i have Problems !!!!!) . its not good and i don't do much else because all my eggs are in one basket i only have 1 hobby :< (i dont count running/exercise/baking which r more Coping mechanisms than hobbies imo)

as fr breaking out of that rut, the only solution ive found so far that works reliably is to just fuckin rip the bandaid off and draw miserable draw frustrated draw hating what u make but just Get It Out just make Something. Anything. u gotta bleed the wound to get the gunk out and then u pick urself up u remember ur hotkeys and u learn how to hold a pencil again :)

also i won't delude myself into thinking this time will be different but I do think that this recent Rush has taught me a lot about how to streamline my process and be Ok with posting pieces that old me wld have thought r not "clean" or "finished" enough to share so maaaybe that'll help my burnouts be less debilitating ??? i fear the crash but time will tell !! for now im chillin

[lunarsilkscreen]

Rethinking the DC Universe

Most superheroes were created from the process; "Make up random s* and see what sticks". So both Marvel and DC are generally... Well they seem random as all get out with no coherency between ideas; and A LOT of campy ideas that are just so outdated they could be considered queerphobic, sexist, AND racist.

<aside>When these were originally drawn up; it was an attempt to be inclusive. But you know how the overton window goes; as it slides what used to be "progressive" gets used for very unprogressive things.</aside>

What this means is that a lot of the authors don't actually know what audiences enjoy about their media; and so they pair down their content to the "greatest hits" they can repeat, and save the rest for when audiences ask for more.

But generally that "More" is really bad not-thought out rehashing of things that audiences didn't really like. Or audiences liked the concept of the ideas presented, but they cam packaged with all the *really bad ideas*. Because creators aren't certain which bits to keep, and which bits to change.

Because; gotta stay true to the source material or fanboys will get cranky in-between their rounds of Madden.

So without further ado; Kryptonite.

Kryptonite unfortunately isn't the material on Earth from the comics. It was a mineral that was new at the time of the comics, and it was introduced in order to influence readers (YA) to learn their elemental tables.

A lot of the sci-fi is about introducing concepts to younger audiences so that they get interested in *real* science. But it often falls short because the original scientists were closer to carni-folk and further away from being very studious.

So in DC comics; Kryptonite is a mineral that came from Superman's home world: Krypton. The joke was intentional. And then it was given a bunch of different variations and mystical magical powers that affected SuperMan in strange ways.

Honestly--To start; I'd get rid of the moniker "SuperMan". Its whole concept is goofy these days. Unless you want to go to more of a less serious DC, which some people *might* want.

The reason it's silly is because the S on his chest that he used to create his hero name "SuperMan" is actually a "K" in his home world's language and stands for his family crest. Indicating his true name: Kal-el and home planet Krypton.

And his stage name: Super Man.

Now, This moniker comes from the carnival strong man days. That's why it sounds so corny. It's also why he wears the ridiculous get-up. Because that's where it comes from... Even the WWE has better outfits and monikers these days.

Keep his real name "Kryptonian" and have everybody else call him "Super Man". In a way that the audience knows; the crowd calls him that, but he doesn't go by *that* name.

Kryptonite; in order to not confuse children with the real thing. Change the name of this Mystical mineral. I'm not sure what to.

BUT. I have an idea that will link it to Green Lantern.

This stone that can take away Superman's powers? Why can't it be the same rock that powers the lantern corp ring?

And because both come in an array of colors that depict different (but the same) varying effects; this can be used as a plot device.

This balances SuperMan's infinite power by making Green Lantern at least as strong as SuperMan, AND it prevents superman from doubling up on super powers.

This pseudo-science extends to many DC characters as well; like the flash. Who ends up building his own Hadron Collider which he uses as his own personal running track. (And also can contain all the energy he emits).

Why is literally every superhero in DC a literal Super-Genius?

I know why; it's to inspire young audiences to be well rounded individuals. But holy shit if doesn't come off as preppy rich-people worship.

In DC there are several Billionaire Genius' that all become some variant of Batman. This can be streamlined. Instead of introducing them all separately; which is done because; VIEWERS NEED TO KNOW WHICH SUPERHERO CAME FIRST, AND WHICH ONE IS THE 'AAA' MOVIE HERO AND WHICH IS THE B-LIST TV SHOW HERO.

They are all Batman, they all want justice. Perhaps they should just... I don't KNOW form some sort of league where they assist the law with dishing out justice instead of all being super unique brooding vigilantes.

Just a thought.

What this does so far is separate each type of hero into a different "threat category". The Batman's care about street-level crimes; they assist the cops, they take down the corrupt politicians and law enforcement.

The spacemen (green lantern, superman;) they deal with inter-galactic threats.

And heroes like the flash who have a tendency and ability for inter dimensional travel? They deal with inter dimensional threats.

Which gives a better reason why these separate teams don't often intersect, opposite "Well, we've heard of them but *CRIME* IS JUST SO BAD YOU GUYS. otherwise we'd have contacted them by now."

If only crime was so bad in real life that superheroes were just always booked solid because law enforcement can't keep up or do its job properly.

Which is why storylines where the heroes leave the country to some island work so much better than just... The entire city is full of criminals and no matter how many you *send to the hospital* they just keep popping up!

Like it's some sort of simulation.

This idea that every series needs to start with Batman and Superman *and then* Justice League *and then* other superhero teams is silly.

When you could take all of the ideas built over the years and take the best bits to make a whole new thing.

Which would honestly feel more honest to viewers than rebooting every series from its first comic.

In the age of Video Games, this would really give gamers a lot more content to play through, and feel less railroady as well.

It even gives reason for villain teams to exist, or not exist.

Also; Batman should be a detective. He's not a direct combat guy, same with all the other superheroes that are Batman clones. They all have extensive martial arts training, so they all should know; The best victory is when you win without fighting.

Also like... They keep trying to make the *same* exact series with different street-level characters that you really start to see why people stopped enjoying superheroes to begin with.

[rapid-artwork]

Are you planning to continue your ‘red lotus korra’ au?

Actually yes! I had to step away from my online art projects for a while due to my job obligations, but I've switched to a new job and have way more free to finish all the stuff I've been putting off.

My current schedule for finishing projects looks like this:

Mother's Favorite: I've written most of the script for the full game and I'm working on the assets and sprites

The Homunculus: I've actually been writing a full length fantasy novel that I'm in the process of publishing! Since it was started as writing practice, it's still very rough and I am polishing it up.

Red Lotus AU: Obviously I'm on a writing kick and I literally just re-read my fic and I'm already working on new ideas for the plot.

More Paper craft robots: I literally cannot stop making these little guys. They are actually for a homebrew table top I've been working on based on Armored Core 6 and after some play-testing I was thinking about publishing a PDF of the rules for free. Plus once I've edited the paper craft files enough I was planning on selling those online for like, a dollar or two for people who want to try making their own at home, and even opening commissions to build custom robots for people and shipping them through the mail.

Patreon Card game: I'm in the process of shutting down my old Patreon since I no longer feel comfortable asking for money since art is not my full time job. But I want to deliver on the card game I promised. I recently got into the Pokemon TCG and Magic the gather again, and I have a whole slew of ideas on how to fix the game and streamline it.

Rapid Pixel Art and Tara and Kevin: My children... I have abandoned my children... I intend to bring these guys back and actually tell their story. I have both of their plots fully written I just actually gotta... Do it ya know?

Mother's Favorite Sequel: Yeah the sequel is already in the works since I am insane. It's a murder mystery aboard a space ship where you have to interview the crew and figure out what happened. It follows a new protagonist but it slowly reveals how the two games intersect in horrifying ways. Imagine that episode of Firefly where they find the ship attacked by Reavers crossed with John Carpenter's The Thing and you've got a good idea of what I'm going for.

Various other WIPs that have been rattling around in my brain.

I've been dealing with ADHD my whole life but finally got an official diagnosis and new medication. It literally feels like an anime where I take of my limiters and I can suddenly use my full power.

I have all the same manic energy but finally enough focus to actually follow through on projects I started. I used to just start stuff cuz it interested me until I got bored and moved on.

No longer says I! I am gonna out in the work and finish what I started. I am going for the platinum medal and 100% completion this time.

[crowkip]

hi there!! i came across your art recently and love how you simplify forms for your style!! Do you have any tips on what you did to learn art and develop your current style? Did you take figure drawing lessons or just hyperfixate on an anime?? Any materials/exercises that were particularly helpful for learning how to draw humans? Thanks for your time!

thank u so much!!! i do have some handy info but im gonna put it under the cut so it doesnt clog up ppl's feeds bc it's gonna get a little long, hope this helps out!! ꉂ(ˊᗜˋ*)

ok so!! my top tip is to try out some life drawing classes! you'll often be expected to capture a full body gesture in 5-15 minutes which really helps you learn break the body down into its simplest forms since you wont have time to work on all the details. i only ever did a few sessions since they were part of a design course i was taking but even that alone definitely helped me streamline my process when it comes to planning out poses and making sure things arent looking too stiff

as for developing a style i honestly dont have a super clear answer bc i still find that i feel like my art is vERY very inconsistent, but even with that being said i do still have a few things that've helped personally!! easiest place to start is finding the tools you enjoy working with, for me i have a handful of brushes in csp that i tend to default to which helps form a little bit of consistency across my drawings (ofc dont be scared to branch out!! it's just handy to know what brushes work best for you). the other thing that's influenced my style is reading lots of comics and spending a lot of time looking at other artists' sketches, if you see a specific feature you like in their work try giving it a go yourself!! i remember noticing the contrast of soft and hard shadows in old oil paintings a few years ago n thinking 'ooh ive gotta try that' and ive been using it on my own art ever since. in the end your own style is greatly just a reflection of little things you've loved seeing in other peoples art and once you combine all those you end up with smth uniquely yours which i just think is awesome tbh

and as for shows n stuff that got me drawing, i dont have the coolest answer but as a kid i got super into drawing my friends as my little pony characters lmao i would spend every minute between classes drawing these stupid little rainbow horses and it actually really got me into picking out colour palettes and helped me build up that muscle memory which was what led into me drawing things that were a little more challenging. even if whatever motivates you to draw is considered kind childish or 'cringy' or whatever, dont stop drawing what you enjoy!! i wouldnt be drawing now without the years of pony doodles on homework as a kid and im glad i embraced it. i hope this can be helpful to you, so sorry for the long read but thanks for getting through it all!! good luck as dont be scared to dm me if you ever have any questions, i'll always do my best to help out :D

[were--ralph]

gotta say as an artist AI art is really like... grifting on people who dont know shit about art? because every artist i know can tell theyre really bad paintings! theres no personality no energy nothing in any of them!

it makes me so mad to see people like "oooo you cant tell which ones were made by real people and which ones werent" because YES WE CAN TELL it's just that people think making vaguely pretty things = making art, the whole AI art epidemic could literally just be stopped if people were more educated about art honestly

I don't think this is true because when studying styles some styles have less personality in art and its not always a bad thing. My art for example doesn't have much emotion in it and it's intentional bc im just drawing yiff

I keep telling everyone to wait until it evolves, it'll be able to pick up subtle themes and it'll keep improving like any technology

The ai art epidemic inherently solves the biggest problem with art for new artists; time. No one wants to put in 10k hours into drawing to be good and confident at art. Ai art solves this be giving you a quick rush of "I did this" dopamine from inputting a few tags. It's streamlining the art process for people who want to be good at art without the extra work

There's really no way to stop it only shun it and halt the spread of the epidemic

[sarroora]

For archiving reasons ~ I'm just sharing a couple pics from my Eevee & Pikachu blocknote designs for EgyCon and artist alleys.

--

The blocknote is a double-design of 40 sheets. Created in Affinity Designer which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND as an Adobe Illustrator alternative.

Before cutting:

Tester sample to make sure the blocknote is sturdy and usable. Cutting still needs to be a bit cleaner:

Prototype packaging:

This blocknote took a ridiculously long time to create, though - so I gotta streamline my process somehow.

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 14- Part 16

No no, nononono, I don’t think she wants to be perceived right now, just leave her to pretend to be invisible like a ghost- that’s probably why her hair is white! Just look at Danny!

I’m sure Xera would very much like to be an intangible phantom right now!

I mean, to be fair, that one evil guy had the control of the whole PULSE Tangrowth, that’s way tougher to bring down than a trio of Grunts with Pokémon that are likely not as well-leveled.

Ooooh no, that ring is super important for some reason, oh dear, what have we done, oh no-

Yeah, now that I think about- probably difficult for a father to scold his pre-adolescent and rebellious child when said child can just…fly away in the middle of it.

Why is this a choice…? Does anything actually change if we say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ here? He said it’s non-negotiable, so I assume it’s one of those “the game won’t let you progress until you select ‘Yes’” things. Not that I’m gonna select ‘No’ here to test it, or as a joke, this scene is a bit too serious for me to want to do that…

Because, admittedly- okay, yeah, I’ve made my suspicions of Corey very clear by now, but this is still a painful moment, being forced to cut off contact with someone who seemed like an ally, not to mention Heather as well after having just gotten to bond with her over fighting bad guys, even if she’s a bit arrogant about her abilities (but with a Salamence on her team, I don’t blame her).

And those are just my feelings as the player, out-of-character. In-character? Heck- this probably feels worse for Xera. Again, she doesn’t suspect him of having a connection to Team Meteor, and while I wouldn’t say she feels as close with him as she does other characters (relatively speaking, given the outwardly cold demeanor I’ve assigned to her), I’m sure she at least respects and trusts him to a degree. And again- bonding with his daughter over fighting bad guys! So to break Corey’s trust to such an extent that he forces her to cut ties with them, to lose that connection like this…gosh, that’s gotta hurt.

But she’s not in a position to argue, either, and not just because she’s a silent protagonist here. So…

Man- the last two victories against Team Meteor had at least some sense of accomplishment or triumph to them, maybe bittersweet at worst (given what happened to Victoria last time). But this…I just feel sad, now. Just…Xera standing there, completely alone, only her Pokémon by her side at the end of the day…man.

But…with this, we should be able to access Beryl Ward now. And that, in turn, takes us one step closer to rescuing Victoria, hopefully. That’s what we should focus on- in-universe, I’m sure that notion will be what Xera takes some solace in.

Anyways, the sign in front of the Gym doesn’t give much info, just that this was the Jasper Ward Gym. But hey, with the vines cleared, we can finally go over and pick up that item!

Fitting, given we just fought a Tangrowth. 

Now…let’s get out of this sad little forest, and back to sad little Jasper Ward and its sad little Pokémon Center.

And I think we’ve made more than enough progress for one play session- more than I was expecting, honestly, but I’m not gonna complain. Thank you all once again for reading, next time we’ll finish up any business left remaining in Jasper Ward, then make our way to Beryl Ward and- maybe, depending on how long other possible events take- take on the other PULSE! 

Now that the creation process for these chapters has been greatly streamlined thanks to PicPick, progress and updates should be much more frequent from here on (barring any IRL things taking away free time). I’m really looking forward to that, I’m excited to keep going, and I hope you all are looking forward to it as well! So thanks again, and I’ll see you all in the next installment! Until then!

CURRENT TEAM:

Riptide

Species: Croconaw

Gender: Male

Level: 27

Ability: Sheer Force*

Item: Quick Claw

Brave nature; Alert to sounds.

Glare

Species: Arbok

Gender: Female

Level: 25

Ability: Intimidate

Item: Protective Pads

Naughty nature; Highly curious.

Prong

Species: Charjabug

Gender: Female

Level: 25

Ability: Battery

Item: None

Rash nature; Loves to eat.

Decibel

Species: Noibat

Gender: Female

Level: 25

Ability: Telepathy*

Item: None

Bashful nature; Often lost in thought.

Blizzard

Species: Snover

Gender: Male

Level: 25

Ability: Snow Warning

Item: None

Naive nature; Likes to thrash about.

Caldera

Species: Slugma

Gender: Female

Level: 25

Ability: Magma Armor

Item: Quick Claw

Jolly nature; Often scatters things.

CURRENT BOXES:

NUMBER OF RELOADS: 8

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[wormytoast]

hmmm

i gotta update my graphic

2.2 with robin and boothill, 2 phys 5*, no 4* (physical is only missing a pres unit)

2.3 with firefly, possibly sunday? not sure abt a 4* yet or if there will even be one

depending on how long we have between penacony and the next location/however long they want to take between 2.x and 3.0, we will probably get a 2.4 that continues the xianzhou story and possibly meet more xianzhou natives

maybe we'll go back to belobog and get a new jarilo native since our last unit to actually come from belobog was luka i believe, which is also interesting since we got 4 units from the luofu who had no part in the main xz:lf story (huohuo, xueyi, hanya, guinaifen), meanwhile the only jarilo vi unit we got who didnt appear in the main story is luka. when we returned to jarilo vi after the main story we instead got topaz

weve got confirmation that there will be more than one raiden in the game similar to how theres more than one bronya, so acheron is our first mei and then the second one will probably be the proper Raiden Mei unit (probably lightning destruction?) and she'll probably be released as a flagship unit for the japanese themed world that sparkles most likely from; the japanese world is also probably what that new planar set is themed after

the planar set izumo gensei and the takama divine realm has one half thats a neon-cyberpunk japan and the other half is a red field with swords. acheron could also have a relation to the takama divine realm then? but the mei in the trailer with the horns also had a similar background so they could simply be unrelated. the japanese name dor the planar set basically juxtaposes the two halves of izumo being a super technologically advanced mortal world to the takama realm being a godly and immortal battlefield mired with weapons

curious about march's deal; will she stay a 4 star no matter what "memory" she is embodying? or will it be a dh:il situation where we still need to pull for her, but it just means after u obtain her u just shift her 4* pres unit to her 5* [path] unit. it would make sense since i believe dh and dh:il cannot be placed on the same team so it streamlines the process and declutters the ui. im also wondering if her "memories" will allow her to access non playable paths like the remembrance

definitely excited for the story excerpts where we can play as other characters. its gonna be crazy to watch welt try to talk with acheron while he is reminded of mei