#i like how they blend style with medium it all feels very deliberate

[hypnosister]

what’s your header image is very very pretty

its just a piece of art i like! very striking eyes. source here, major warning to not click if you don't like guro

[bedlamsbard]

All right, reactions to Mando 2.05, “The Jedi”, in...semi-coherent form. Spoilers, obvs. I hated this episode, so keep scrolling now if you don’t want to see negativity.  This is not in any kind of order except stream-of-conscious.

again, I reiterate, spoilers.

again, I reiterate, this is REALLY negative.

Rosario Dawson...yikes.

how...did Bo-Katan know that Ahsoka was on Corvus? are they in contact? since when? Ahsoka seems to have been on Corvus for long enough to be a nuisance to the Magistrate (Morgan Elsbeth), but normally Ahsoka is very efficient and she just...really does not seem to be here? I did not get the impression she was planning on sticking around for any period of time.

(the same could be true for Frog Lady and Bo-Katan on Trask several episodes back. that wasn’t a convert, that was three Mandalorians hanging around the port in cloaks. I guess they could be doing that on the regular, but? would the Empire not then be more worried about being attacked by Mandalorians?)

there was only ever a very, very slim chance that I was going to be happy with any translation of Ahsoka from animation to live action.  I am on record as thinking that animation is the medium for Star Wars and that live action is always going to be a weaker medium than animation and that a lot of things that can be done in animation just cannot be translated to live action in any meaningful form.  I knew Ahsoka’s fighting style couldn’t translate to live action convincingly (here’s what I said about the mo-capped duel in TCW); it never occurred to me that they couldn’t pull off TOGRUTA given that Shaak Ti, you know, exists, and also there are so many excellent Ahsoka cosplayers.

(Consider KM Creations’ excellent silicone lekku (S7), which have beautiful movement; the cosplayer behind that is CallMeSnips and her epilogue prototype is from SWCC is in there somewhere.  I think Rei Kennex’s are latex (you can tell they don’t have much movement) but at least they’re the right length.  I think Ahsoka94′s are also latex (again with the movement); this is her Mortis vision grown-up Ahsoka.)

AND YES, THE LEKKU/MONTRALS WERE A DEAL-BREAKER FOR ME.

I feel very “you have made your bed and now you have to die in it” about that -- apparently the reasoning is for stunts and movement, but for me here’s the thing: her lekku length wasn’t optional.  This is not the equivalent of changing a hair style, which some people seem to think (believe me, I have read so many hot takes); this is like...I’m trying to think of a good comparison.  Like putting Peter Mayhew or Joonas Suotamo in a wig because Chewie’s head was too hard for the actor to see out of, or giving them normal human hands because they can’t grip with the Wookiee hands.

Also your main character wears a helmet at all times that (if it’s anything like my Mandalorian helmet) is pretty poor visibility and full body armor and THIS was your breaking point for stunts?

Ahsoka’s lekku and montrals grow as she ages. These are about S7 length; as @reena-jenkins put it, THEY DE-AGED HER HEAD.  Ahsoka fans coming in know this.  PEOPLE SAW THE REBELS EPILOGUE.

I wonder how many of the people being self-righteous about being totally fine about Ahsoka’s lekku are the same people who claim that Katee Sackhoff is too young to play Bo-Katan.

this also puts them in a weird position in regards to the inevitable merchandise: do they go with normal Ahsoka from TCW and Rebels, the one everyone is familiar with, or do they go with these stunted lekku?

(I can’t believe they’re going to make Her Universe sell merch with this Ahsoka on it. it’s not going to happen but I wish HU was going to be petty enough to not sell any nu!Ahsoka merch.)

Here is some nice art of how Ahsoka’s lekku and montral should have looked.

hoo boy were those prosthetics also just Bad.

“but the stunts” buddy I’m sure Pedro Pascal and his various stunt doubles aren’t having a great time in full armor with almost no visibility either

if you’re going to put the character in, do it right

YOU CAN’T CHEAT

look, I am really, really aural -- the best example I can give is that even though intellectually I know that Matt Lanter and Hayden Christensen both play Anakin Skywalker, I literally cannot parse them as both being the same Anakin Skywalker and for that reason TCW and the PT don’t exist for the same continuity for me.  (This also goes for Ewan McGregor and James Arnold Taylor, Natalie Portman and Cat Taber, and Samuel L. Jackson and TC Carson. I can kinda cope with the multiple Palpatine VAs. Yes, the decision to use Hayden and Sam in Ahsoka’s vision in “Shattered,” even blending into Matt’s voice from Hayden’s, threw me so badly I couldn’t take the vision seriously.)  Ashley Eckstein has a very distinctive voice, and moreover has been the only person to ever voice Ahsoka up to this point (even in the Ahsoka novel audiobook). Barring a MIRACLE I was never going to be able to parse another actress’s voice as Ahsoka’s, solely because of how my brain works.

I could probably have parsed someone else’s face because animated Ahsoka is pretty stylized but the voice thing is a huge problem for me because of how aural I am.

(I say this but when Squadrons did a more live action-style Hera -- knowing they mo-capped Vanessa Marshall I think they used Vanessa’s face for Hera’s, which is also what it looks like on the revised art and face sculpt for the Black Series Hera -- I kind of had a meltdown about it (for...weird reasons). And that was the same VA.)

(The timeskip between TCW and Rogue One, then Rebels, probably saved Saw Gerrera for me here, but he was also never a main character.)

can you believe that Sam Witwer’s Maul got more live action respect than Ashley Eckstein’s Ahsoka

I love Sam’s Maul but wow

this is particularly jarring because Dave Filoni and Ashley Eckstein always seemed like they were friends? I realize that this gets skewed by how little of their actual lives we see online, but that is the vibe that I’ve gotten from interviews and social media posts.

can you believe that TROS gave more respect to Ashley Eckstein’s Ahsoka than Dave Filoni’s Mando episode did (here is her statement on TROS.)

back in March, when the Dawson casting rumors first dropped (or leaked, as the case may be), Ashley posted a statement about it saying that she was not involved in The Mandalorian. she has over the years been very vocal about desperately wanting to play live-action Ahsoka, who is a character solely associated with her up until today, and honestly this just breaks my heart.

I am not the massive Ashley Eckstein fan that many Ahsoka fans are, but I have never heard anything bad about her (I saw her at my hotel at SWCC while I was waiting for my roommate to arrive! that’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to her, a distance of about six feet), and I really desperately hope that someone told her about this beforehand and she didn’t find out from watching the episode.

Also, while I’m here talking about Ashley Eckstein, the characterization here was extremely off, in that specific way that happens when a writer/director is working with their absolute favorite character, DAVE FILONI. I do trust Ashley to course-correct Dave on Ahsoka (in the same way we’ve heard about Sam Witwer pushing back on people about Maul), and that...was not happening here.  (I think Katee Sachoff said something similar to this about Bo-Katan in her interview last week, as well.)

how did you get Bo-Katan so right and Ahsoka so wrong

look, Dave Filoni is truly living up to George Lucas’s legacy in that he can story tell pretty well but he’s not actually that great at nitty-gritty of writing and directing. (none of the really good TCW episodes are his.)

this episode made me think of A Friend in Need (which he directed) which is not, like, a BAD episode but quite notoriously includes the Bo-Katan ass-slap and also Ahsoka beheading four Mandalorians at once.

it also includes a helpless village of oppressed and exploited Asian-coded civilians who are there mostly as background scenery so the bad guys can be bad and the heroes can feel righteous

I’ll come back to that one

the level of violence in this episode was...weird. honestly, too high? in a way that probably would not have registered if it was anyone but Ahsoka. look, I am an animated shows person. I know TCW and Rebels inside and out. I know that neither one is particularly shy about killing off faceless bad guys (though if you watch Rebels S1 compared to Rebels S4 they really dial back the amount of fatal violence the main characters commit in the last season, lol).  But this felt off for Ahsoka in a way I can’t really articulate.

why is Ahsoka attacking a random Mandalorian (her allies are Mandalorians!) who is walking through the woods WITH A BABY? WITHOUT WARNING?

part of that is just her movement -- when they animated her for TCW back in 2008, they made a deliberate decision to give her mannerisms and movement and a fighting style that a human can’t do because she isn’t human and animation can do that. which means that they hobbled themselves when they came to translating her to live action because uh a human can’t do that.

something about her lightsaber blades looked really, really wrong and I can’t put my finger on what. it’s like they just used the illuminated blades of the stunt sabers but didn’t do the extra CGI that the films do? I don’t know.

Ahsoka did a LOT of dramatic posing and what WAS that?

Dave can’t direct live action, that’s what that was

since when can you canonically convey that much information mind to mind

are Ahsoka and Grogu a dyad in the Force (I know the answer is no but also: what? what was happening?)

the only people we’ve seen who can do that sort of thing are Quinlan Vos and Cal Kestis, who both have the rare talent for telemetry, and even that’s not mind to mind communication, that’s touching a thing and going “YIKES”

you are telling me that Ahsoka Tano, whom six months ago we saw take on Darth Maul, a whole barrage of Mandalorian warriors, and her entire clone trooper battalion and walk away without a scratch, had to work up a sweat fighting one woman with a spear

you do know that we all saw TCW and Rebels right

and here’s the problem! this episode makes zero sense if you HAVE seen TCW and Rebels because (1) she doesn’t look right (2) she doesn’t fight right (3) timelines? we’ve never heard of them? (4) is Thrawn back? did you find the Chimaera? (you all do remember that Ezra and Thrawn aren’t out there alone and are in fact with a 40,000 man crewed star destroyer right) (5) did you NOT find them? (6) are you even looking? (7) this is supposed to be AFTER the Rebels epilogue unless you’ve decided to take advantage of that specific ending scene not being super specifically dated and if it’s before IT MAKES IT EVEN WORSE! because I desperately hate that epilogue and its implications EVEN AS IT IS! (8) why would you call this episode “The Jedi” when since 2013 Ahsoka’s whole thing has been not being a Jedi

to be fair I’m pretty sure S7 tried very hard to course correct that but unfortunately, they could not because the rest of canon exists

are you still trying to deny me grown Ahsoka and Rex when we know you got Temuera back for a five second shot of Boba

to be fair I would have the same aural problems with Temuera voicing Rex because that’s Dee Bradley Baker as far as I’m concerned (I reiterate that this is because of how my brain process character and sound, not anythign else)

if you haven’t seen TCW and Rebels this is a random Jedi wandering around for no specific reason namedropping a completely random person who has no prior significance unless it’s going to turn up later

this entire show has consisted of namedropping random people and things with no prior significance within the show itself and it remains entirely unclear whether they’re ever going to have significance within the show itself

look, I can buy Ahsoka not wanting to train the kid both for her stated reasons and for some implied stuff from earlier on in canon (the kids in the Ahsoka novel, the babies from Future of the Force), even what happened with Ezra, and obviously she has Plans and cannot haul a baby around with her when that baby is going to be a baby for an indeterminate amount of time

which honestly is something that ought to come up because even if Ahsoka wanted to train the kid by the time she grew old and died he might, if we were very lucky, have advanced to being essentially a pre-teen and then would be on his own again? this is also true for Din.

lol sure go cast yourself out into the Force, I’m sure there’s absolutely not a single darksider still wandering around the galaxy who might perk up at “ooh, free apprentice!”

I’m literally starting to think that this show takes place in an alternate universe where Luke and Leia either don’t exist or died at some point in the OT

me, baffled, last season: you’re telling me Cara Dune, Alderaanian, had never heard of the Jedi? was she not keeping up with whatever Leia Organa was doing? was the Rebel Alliance actually big enough that PEOPLE IN IT HADN’T HEARD OF LUKE SKYWALKER?

what...is Luke doing right now. isn’t he training Leia?

WHAT HAS AHSOKA BEEN DOING FOR TEN YEARS are we seriously supposed to believe she peaced out of the Rebel Alliance after Malachor and whatever the hell they’re going to make that out to be (honestly at this point I’m betting on “they will never touch it”)

does or does Ahsoka not know that Luke exists

hoo boy can you just see them trying to cast a younger Luke, or do you think they’d CGI de-age Mark Hamill?

oh yeah let’s go through this again in a season with someone else playing young Luke, let’s, I’m not emotionally invested in that so I’m prepared to be entertained

hasn’t Sebastian Stan been floated (even if just on Twitter) for young Luke?

why are these not-imperials on this planet. what are they doing here. what’s the point.

 why is the planet...being burned? I was half-expecting, like, normal deforestation (in terms of logging for lumber) but I’m also a bit ??? about this.

since when is beskar resistant to lightsabers, I thought cortosis was the only thing that was? whatever, it’s new canon, they can do whatever they want. (ETA: apparently that’s been true for a while; I am more a Jedi person than a Mandalorian one as far as the EU goes and my Mandalorian lore is my weakest point.)

dear god were these fight scenes bad

I did spot Morai and I appreciated the tookas

okay, I am taking the next thing out of bullet points because I was really, really upset by it, and as an Asian-American woman it affects me directly.

I was really, really shaken by the use of village of (space) Asian people who were portrayed solely as background victims to be tortured and exploited.  Star Wars has a long history of Orientalism, and some of it I can look away from and some of I can’t.  Mando especially has a very bad track record with its treatment of Asian characters (Fennec Shand), and in recent years the rest of Star Wars live action has also been pretty bad about it; I will never forget how shaken and upset I was by Paige Tico’s death at the beginning of TLJ, and Rose’s sidelining in TROS was a lot to deal with. There has also been some pretty appalling anti-Asian racism from the Mandalorian fandom that I have seen in regards towards casting rumors about Sabine (which brought me to the point of tears as recently as yesterday).

I had been braced for Rosario Dawson Ahsoka because it’s been rumored for so long, if never officially confirmed by Lucasfilm, and after they pulled the original VA for Leia from Resistance a few years ago (without ever making an official statement but it was after she made really dismissive statements during the Kavanaugh hearings) I was still really hoping they’d pull Dawson for the transphobic assault allegations, or that the rumors were false, or...something.  I was not expecting the way that they treated the Asian civilian population here.  I kept hoping that there was going to be something, and it’s like they kept almost going there with Governor Wing (you want to make either his name or his position clear in the actual episode, maybe?) but then kept pulling back, which just made the whole population victims that had to be rescued by outsiders. And exploited, and tortured, and abused in general.

And yes, I’m aware the Magistrate/Morgan Elsbeth is an Asian-American woman.  That doesn’t make it better?  Since Ahsoka presumably kills her offscreen?

(Also Diana Lee Inosanto is a stunt performer and a fight choreographer, why is that fight scene so wooden, damn.)

okay back to bullet points to wrap up

I realize I haven’t said much about Din and the kid and that’s because they didn’t...do...much? I guess if you’re actually invested in them “YAY HE HAS FEELINGS” is a major thing but I’m not

I have flashes of being invested in Din, but the problem is that I never know what the hell this show is doing because it’s all over the place.  We are 5/8 of the way into season 2 and I have no idea what it’s trying to do: they keep setting stuff up and then not doing anything with it. I can make vague predictions based on what’s set up and based on my knowledge of canon, but this show is so weirdly set up and paced that I can never tell if they’re something for A Reason, for the lulz, or for the Aesthetic.

I feel extremely vindicated by the revelation a few weeks ago that Din grew up in a cult but I also straight-up feel like I spent the past year being gaslighted about what Mandalorians were, and that’s...not a great feeling. Do I think that the show is going to do anything with that? Fuck, I don’t know. I hope so. I know what I’d do as a writer. But I can’t predict anything they’re doing and that makes me really uneasy.

jeez, at least when George Lucas was making Star Wars you knew he was doing it to entertain himself and tell a specific story rather than constantly having to go back and wonder what story lines got compromised for a project down the road.

like, is this why they did mo-cap Ahsoka in S7, to brace us for live action Ahsoka here? I know they had already filmed Mando S2 before S1 came out. WHY THEY DIDN’T THEY REUSE LAUREN MARY KIM AS AHSOKA’S STUNT DOUBLE THEN? it’s not like she hasn’t stunted in Mando before?

if this was supposed to be a backdoor pilot to a Rebels sequel...I will flip a table

I enjoyed the Bad Batch eps in TCW S7 but knowing that there’s going to be a Bad Batch show I’m now wondering if they’re only in S7 to backdoor pilot that show

how far back does this go? did they put the Legacy of Mandalore story line in Rebels S4 solely to set up for this? especially considering that that’s the one thing in S4 that actually has saga weight and then they immediately got rid of everything it accomplished to set up for this?

I presume that this is the reason they refused to release the turnaround for Ahsoka’s epilogue look two years ago. apparently it doesn’t matter given they changed her entire epilogue color scheme and also her lekku and personality.

Look -- at the end of the day, there was only about a 2% chance I was ever going to like this episode, but I was holding out for it nevertheless. I do get surprised from time to time! I liked the Bo-Katan episode! This was, however, a hot mess. And yes: a lot of the things that bother me are not going to bother other people. (I haven’t seen anyone comment on the Asian villagers, for example.)

[ssspringroll]

#faceyoursims challenge by @samssims

All I do ever is make sims so i of course wanted to give this a try! I know most people are blind to their own sim style, and I kinda am, too, until I spot a sim that looks out of place in my game! So I know what isn’t my style, but can I put what is into words? Or is it just a feeling?

Let’s analyze, because I like that sort of thing

We’re actually gonna go out of order. Sorry I didn’t include pics, but tumblr won’t let me lol

First sim up: Mars, Center Top row

This is my simself! His features are the most deliberately modeled after my own irl face. And while you all don’t have a frame of reference, the stylistic choices on him stand out to me where they differ from my real life face.

Here’s what I can see so far:

jaw is square

eyes are wider and angled slightly up at the end

if I can give a sim pointy ears, I will

The next group: Left and Center Middle row, and Right Bottom row

These three all have very similar faces, when you look. Almost the same jaw and chin shape, though slightly different head heights. They all have fairly thin noses, and all essentially the same mouth shape, two of which are pulled into a slight frown. Their eyes are all wide, downturned on the ends, and have a distinct apex near the bridge of the nose. They also share very similar nostril shapes, which are raised a little bit above the bottom of the nose.

Here’s what we learned:

same square-ish jaw with a rounded chin

wide eyes, upturned slightly at the end, the curve has a defined apex

slight pout

much thinner noses than Mars, all with nostrils slightly above the bottom of the nose

Last group I wanna talk about, then we’ll talk overall: Left Bottom, Middle Bottom, and Right Top

Nose is the part of the face that usually stands out most to me, so this group again has very very similar noses. Aside from their noses, they share a lot of similarities to the first group, such as jaw and cheek shape. These noses are a bit wider than the first group, a similar width to Mars’. The nostrils blend well into the rest of the shape of the nose, and nothing really stands out especially about the shape of them. Their eyes are a little more varied, but they’re all still fairly wide, and generally have a straighter bottom and a slight upturn at the end. Their mouths are all also basically the same. This group has more visible eyebrow shape than the last, so now we can look at that. And, big surprise, it’s all mostly the same! We can look at Right, Bottom row for this as well. The brows are fairly straight, in a slight ‘angry’ angle, and all of them have fairly thin brows.

What we learned this time:

wider, smooth noses where the nostrils blend in with the rest of the silhouette

flat lower eyelid

thin, straight, slightly angry brows

It’s actually interesting now to really look at them, because I can see now what features are clearly based on my own! I think i get the most variety in eyes and brows, generally, though it’s not really illustrated here. Maybe I’ll do another one of these eventually. I think overall this is how my style looks:

a wider jaw and chin with fairly defined cheekbones

head isn’t especially round or especially long

lips are probably about a medium fullness, usually in a slight frown, sometimes in a smirk, almost never in a full smile

eyes are generally very wide and open, but they tend to be more of a rounded paralellogram than your stereotypical football eye shape (which is my rl eye shape)

nostrils tend to blend in with the rest of the nose shape

the nose also tends to get a little too close to the top lip at times. This is also an issue in my art sometimes, apparently I just don’t like where noses are supposed to go

But! That’s just as far as sculpting goes, and is mostly based on these 9 sims. I have a lot of sims that I like a lot, that I didn’t include because they were ‘off model’. I think these 9 represent what I consider my ‘style’ fairly well, but maybe I’ll do another one soon of sims that are more human. My humans tend to have a lot more face variety for some reason.

As for dressing and designing sims:

I love bright colors, almost all of my sims have a bright color somewhere

I try to stick to a one or two color theme, sometimes I’ll add a third color, but not too often

I put so much shit on their faces. Like so much. Freckles, markings, tattoos, scars, makeup, face paint. I cake it all on

Most of my sims are at least a little bit punk, can’t help it

Every sim I make is wearing lipstick. Even if it doesn’t look like it. I spend ages finding the perfect nude gloss sometimes

Uh. I’m outta stuff to say I guess... Lemme know if you want a humans only edition analysis.

[7-wonders]

The Devil Wears Jaclyn Hill

Word count: 1678

A/N: Yikes I’m nervous about posting this. This is my first time writing for Michael, and I really have no clue how it went. Let me know what you think, and if you want to see more of Michael!

Michael’s a man of elegant tastes. He enjoys the finest fabrics, the most decadent food and drink, top-of-the-line cars, and anything with a price tag more than some people's’ college tuitions. That’s part of the reason he finds you so intriguing.

You, in your cramped apartment that you share with two other people to cut down on costs. You, who rushes back and forth between your two jobs that leave you tired and sore daily. Your life is one that consists of microwaveable foods, coupons, and upcycled clothing. It’s a world that’s vastly different from Michael’s, which is probably why he likes spending so much time with you.

When the rising Antichrist steps through your threshold, gone are the responsibilities of Cooperative meetings and eager Satanists. No longer is he fawned over and waited on hand-and-foot. When he’s with you, he’s just ‘Y/N’s boyfriend.’ One of your roommates laughed in his face once when you asked him to load the dishwasher and it turned out he didn’t know what a dishwasher was.

Where Michael’s Gucci and Versace, you’re Target and Forever 21. While Michael only dines at restaurants owned by his father or those with Michelin stars, you’re more than happy with Qdoba or In-N-Out. Michael’s diamonds, and you’re cubic zirconia. The differences between your lives are almost startling, if Michael didn’t take every opportunity possible to spoil you. Normally you refuse his expensive gifts, but you’re more than happy to let him treat you to some new makeup every now and then.

Makeup is your medium. It’s how you unwind after a long day of work, watching the newest tutorials and studying them intently. It’s how you can make your regular outfits look a little bit more special. More importantly, it’s what you love to do, even if it frustrates you to no end. Plus, your makeup is priced on the drugstore end of the spectrum, so you don’t feel too bad about finally giving in.

Michael’s sitting in the corner of your room, answering work emails on his phone while you watch a new James Charles video for the fourth time. You groan when the video cuts from a half-done face to the finished look.

“‘And there you have it, sisters!’” You can’t help but to mock the guru’s voice. “Better sister shut the fuck up before I sister slap the shit outta you.” Michael chuckles at your angry muttering, glancing up to look at you.

“Everything okay over there?” He asks. You turn to face him, shaking your head.

“He just goes so fast! The video’s over and I look so stupid.” You gesture to your face as an example. Pursing his lips, Michael looks at your eye makeup. It’s actually not that bad for such a complicated look, it’s just that you only have one eye done.

“It doesn’t look bad, my love, it just looks half-finished.” You playfully roll your eyes at him before grabbing a makeup wipe and wiping your canvas clean. Michael watches as you organize your makeup again with care, making sure everything’s in its’ designated spot.

“Michael?” The man lets out a hum of acknowledgment, letting you know he’s waiting. “What would you say if I wanted to do your makeup?” The silence in the room is overwhelming to you. You know that Michael would never get upset at an idea of yours like some of your past relationships would have. Still, your anxiety skyrockets whenever he gets quiet. He’s always so good at reading people without sparing a glance their way, that you envy his ability in this moment.

“Never mind, it was stupid. I’m sorry.” You start babbling, taking his silence as an answer. He grabs your hand to stop you from getting up, pulling you into his lap.

“Nothing you ever say could be stupid. I was just thinking. What did you have in mind?”

“Well, now that your plans are all starting to be put in motion, you’ve been developing a very specific style.” You reference his hair, which has started to touch his shoulders in recent months, and his outfits. He doesn’t need to be reminded how much you love the gloves he’s added to his wardrobe, and you flush at the mere thought of those leather-clad hands on your bare thighs. Shaking your head slightly, you continue. “Well, what if you spiced it up with an eye look?”

His eyebrow quirks, and you can tell he’s intrigued.

“You don’t have to do all the face stuff?” He asks.

“No, we can do as much or as little as you’d like. I was thinking some red? Nothing too crazy, just enough to make those eyes of yours pop.” A slight smile graces his face, and you find yourself grinning at the very sight of it.

“Show me.” He demands. You nearly jump out of his seat in excitement.

“Seriously? You’re not just doing this to, like, make me happy, are you?”

“I’ve always been fascinated with makeup, and lots of men wear it today. Besides, in the new world, we can do whatever we want, be whoever we want.”

The new world.

Michael’s been talking of this for weeks now, ever since the plans for an apocalypse were finalized. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t a little sick at the idea of nuclear annihilation, but Michael insists that it’s all for the greater good. The world needs to be cleansed and remade, you remind yourself. You know that the destruction and nuclear winter will only be temporary before a new world flourishes from its’ ashes. There’s a part of you that trembles with excitement whenever Michael goes on about ruling, telling you that, as his queen, you’ll be right next to him.

You stray towards your desk, running your hands over your palettes. After careful deliberation, you decide that the Jaclyn Hill palette has the color range you’re needing. You grab the palette and a couple of brushes before making your way back to Michael, who grabs you again. For the harbinger of the apocalypse, he’s very clingy and touch-starved. You straddle his hips and move his hair out of his eyes.

The process is slow at first, with you having to remind Michael to keep his eyes closed until you say so. When you put primer on his eyes, he jumps back.

“That’s cold!” He yelps. Laughing, you dab it on his eyelids, forming an even base.

“It’s primer. It makes the makeup stand out more and makes everything look even.” You patiently explain. “Open your eyes, please.” He looks at you expectantly and you giggle. “Do you have a color preference?”

You pop open the palette and watch as his eyes take in the myriad of colors. Pointing to one, he glances at you.

“Is this one okay?” He’s pointing at Hunts, the most pigmented red in the palette. You nod.

“Of course. Whatever you’re comfortable with, love.” You’re not all that shocked that he’s picked the most vibrant red there is. The man has a near-obsession with blood, after all. You grab one of your brushes and dip it in one of your neutral shades. Even though your attention is on the makeup in front of you, you can tell Michael is watching you. You’ve been together long enough now that you can feel his piercing gaze from across the room.

“That’s not the red.” He points out obviously, grinning when you roll your eyes.

“Don’t want the primer to be the only thing on your eyes.” You swipe the color across both of his lids, satisfied with the effect it has. Grabbing a smaller brush, you gently dip it into the red shade Michael had picked out. You tap the brush against the pan, making sure there’s no fallout before you start lightly applying it to the inner creases of his eye.

“You’re thinking about it again.” He mumbles, not wanting to mess up your concentration.

“Thinking about what?”

“My plans. My father. The apocalypse.” You move the brush in a circular motion, blending the shade out.

“Yes.” You settle, knowing arguing about it is futile.

“Why? Are you scared? You’re going to be safe, my love, you know that.” Dipping back into the shade, you tap the brush on the pan again, harsher this time.

“I’m scared that you’re not going to be safe, Michael.” You explain. He somehow manages to furrow his brows without moving his eyelids, and you’re mildly impressed.

“Honey, I’m the Antichrist. Nothing’s going to hurt me.” You nod before remembering what can’t see you.

“What if something goes wrong?” He grips your waist with his hands, squeezing reassuringly.

“I’ve been preparing for this my entire life. My father has been preparing for this since the beginning of time. I promise you that everything will go as it’s planned.” You lean back, choosing to study your work. Satisfied that it looks even, you lag a hand on Michael’s shoulder.

“I’m done, I think.” Moving off of his lap, you wait for him to stand and face the mirror.

“Wait.” He grabs your wrist, standing so he’s eye-level with you. “Are you okay? Did that help ease your nerves?”

You love getting to see this soft side of Michael, the side that’s reserved only for you. You’re pretty sure all of his devoted followers have no clue he’s even capable of being like this.

“Yes, it did. I just want to get this over with. I wish I could just wake up and be in our new, perfect world now, y’know?” Michael nods, kissing the top of your head.

“Soon.” He walks the two of you over to the mirror, where he scrutinizes his new look. “You were right about the red making my eyes stand out.”

“So you like it?” You ask, hiding your smile in his shoulder.

“I’m thinking you might have to buy a few more of those palettes before the bombs drop.”

If there were angels in hell, you’re pretty sure Michael would be the prettiest of them all.

[theinquisitivej]

A Quartet of Reviews: Missing Link, Pet Semetary, Shazam!, and Hellboy (2019)

Missing Link

As the technical accomplishments and detailed beauty of Laika’s stop-motion films are part of the reason I’ve chosen to study stop-motion animation for my current academic research, you’ll forgive me if I approach their fifth film with some bias. Plus, box office numbers suggest that a lot more people really should be seeing these, so the more voices there are singing Laika’s praises the better, frankly.

         Missing Link is notably ambitious in that it strives to deliver an action adventure in the vein of Around the World in 80 Days or The Mummy (the Brendan Fraser one, not the “DARK UNIVERSE” one- yes, that did happen, and it is hard to remember), with multiple thrilling and complex action sequences, all in stop-motion. Given the labour-intensive nature of stop-motion and the limitations you’d typically expect of a medium that’s executed through real models that have a weight and substance to them that makes them less flexibly fluid than cel or digital animation, stories with an emphasis on dynamic action aren’t what you’d typically expect when it comes to stop-motion. And yet Laika demonstrate their full commitment to making Missing Link an energetic blockbuster through impressive choreography and painstakingly realised action set-pieces. While the charming characters and light-hearted tone help you stay engaged with the narrative, you’ll be constantly taken back by the seamless merging of traditional methods and modern technology in the animation which makes you sit up and take notice as you wonder how they managed to put together each scene. The best use of digital effects are the times where you’re not entirely certain it’s even there, and Laika’s approach to this modern tool definitely fits in that category.

         The film never quite reaches a point of emotional intensity that leaves me completely floored, as some of Laika’s previous films have managed to do. I didn’t walk away from the film remembering a moment where a character’s vulnerabilities are laid bare or a difficult but essential lesson is imparted in the most brutally earnest way. So, when compared against ParaNorman or Kubo and the Two Strings, Missing Link left less emotional impact on me. Having said that, the film still conveys numerous themes effectively through key story beats and striking visuals, with its central thesis being the importance of learning empathy towards others, and that you shouldn’t seek validation from close-minded proponents of outdated and toxic principles. As such, through a combination of entertaining characters with likable personality, an emphasis on globetrotting action, its refreshingly positive outlook, and tremendous animation on both the large and the small-scale across the board, Missing Link is a delightful adventure that you should make a point of seeing.

Final Ranking: Silver.

Boasting charm, an infectious sense of humour, and perhaps the best action I’ve seen in a stop-motion film, Missing Link absolutely meets the standard of quality that you’d expect from a Laika production.

 Pet Semetary

As many other people discussing this film have noted, Pet Semetary is a Stephen King story that’s notable for being so bleak that even Stephen King felt it was too dark. He hesitated to submit it for publishing for three years, only submitting it when he needed to meet a deadline for a contract. In the subsequent years, King has been critical of the “nothing matters” mentality of the story. With that in mind, as well as the knowledge that several people I follow whose opinions on film I trust were not fond of it, I was prepared for the possibility that I wouldn't enjoy it, but nevertheless open to the film surprising me. After all, Stephen King is a consistently entertaining storyteller, and I’m always interested to see how people adapt his work. For a while, things seemed okay enough. Then it started to drag around the middle, and then it took a hard, fast, ugly turn, descending into the most distasteful experience I’ve had in a cinema this year.

         As that summary indicates, the set-up is intriguing enough. A family move into a new home, and there are little signs that things aren’t quite right around here, as well as the telltale indications of a traumatic past that have left some of the characters with residual hang-ups that they will inevitably be forced to confront, and the tantalising promise of something unnatural on the horizon that will draw our protagonists in as they descend into horror. It’s competent ground laying work, and apart from the horrifying past of one of the character’s being uncomfortably demonising of the sick, and a lack of a distinctive visual style for the film to call its own, I didn’t have many serious issues with the first third or so.

         Once you approach the middle portion of the film, things start to feel protracted. Even if you haven’t seen a trailer or heard the gist of this story and have a decent idea about the trajectory of its narrative, there comes a point where you start to know exactly where things are heading. Discussions of death and what may or may not come afterwards, repeated reminders of how dangerous and unexpected high-speed vehicles on the road outside their house can be, and allusions to some unknowable force that can make impossible things happen which the father of this family absolutely must not approach are all dots that anyone familiar with the phrase “monkey’s paw” can join together with little difficulty. Without an engaging dynamic between characters (a la IT), a self-aware bizarreness that results in humour, or a notable visual style, there’s little to keep you going as you wait for pieces to very, very slowly fall into place.

         And the final act is just awful. It spits course language and nihilistic vitriol with little substance or point to its depictions of pain, misery, and spitefulness other than to wallow in this negativity with nothing else to say. Actors start to abandon any semblance of understated nuance in favour of ham-fisted bluntness, cursing out characters with an intensity that doesn’t feel earned as they clumsily fight against them in a way that lacks any sense of climactic satisfaction, and, because your investment in these characters rapidly drains with each new questionable decision and unlikable action, there’s no tension to these encounters either. There are numerous instances where the actors will do their best to deliver lines of dialogue that try to be shocking or wryly dark, but the material is so poorly thought out that it awkwardly misses the mark in both categories. It’s especially galling as the film spent so much time and effort on getting to this conclusion that it was trying to amp up as this big, horrifying finale that will shake you, when instead it’s just underwhelming and unpleasant without any purpose to itself. I was wishing for it to end, and yet when the credits began to roll, I couldn’t help but ask “wait, is that it?” It’s a limp ending with little meaning that leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Final Ranking: Cardboard.

Pet Semetary’s first act offers some potential, but that’s all it is: potential. The middle act spends so long getting to where it needs to be and where the audience knows it’s going that, by the time it gets there, it spends what little time it has left on cruel, structureless nihilism without taking any ownership for the unpleasant material it lays down at your feet.

 Shazam!

The DC movies are in a great place right now. I’ve yet to see James Wan’s Aquaman, but from the abundance of positive things I hear about it, as well as the profound impact Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman had on audiences, James Gunn and a whole lot of appealing casting choices being attached to the next Suicide Squad film, and the great feelings I have about the energy that the Birds of Prey teaser indicated, I’m very optimistic about the future of DC films. Now that Shazam! has released and proved to be a positively uplifting delight, my outlook on this series is cheerier than ever!

         Hm? What about that Joaquin Phoenix Joker movie? Well... my feelings towards that are… complicated. I’ll save my thoughts on it for another time, but suffice to say, I think the film has the potential to be great, but I worry about the way it will be received, and that the worst crowd will embrace it and take the wrong lessons from it.

         Anyway, for the here and now, Shazam is a refreshing blend of joyous levity and unexpected intensity. The film offers endearing comedy with teens and pre-teens acting like excited kids who enjoy doing dopey things but can still come across as insightful and having an emotional heart to them that makes you happy to spend time with them. But it’s never saccharine and, through a fleshed out script and a cast of sharp young actors and actresses, there’s a clear sense of authenticity which makes these adolescent characters seem grounded and well-observed. Something I appreciated is that, whenever the film goes into background details of the history of magic in this world, grandiose prophecies of mystical destinies, or the villain going into his sinister plans, it’s usually being talked about by grown adults who are taking themselves way too seriously. The best exemplar of this is Mark Strong who plays the villain, Dr. Sivana, with an intensity that deliberately comes across as hammy, and the young characters within the film pick up on this and play off him in a way that deflates his bluster and points out how ridiculous he’s being. As a result, the tone of Shazam! feels like it’s poking good-natured fun at prior DC projects and other big budget action blockbusters where stone faced adults spout clichéd speeches without any sense of self-awareness. It’s an approach that points out how some modes of behaviour that are often associated with maturity and being an adult are actually quite childish when you take a step back. As a superhero film that focuses on the experience of being the age where you’re young enough that you still enjoy being a kid, but old enough that you want to call adults out on their bullshit, Shazam! is impressively realised and fun as hell.

         But for as light-hearted as it can be, Shazam! nevertheless surprises you with the occasional brutal sequence that catches you off guard with such rapidity that I found it relatively shocking. It’s not so detailed, gory, or explicit enough that I’d say it goes too far, but it’s worth bearing in mind before you show it to a particularly young and impressionable viewer. The benefit of these sequences is that the unexpected escalation accentuates how in over his head Billy is when he eventually comes across a situation that’s genuinely dangerous, as, despite his newfound powers, he is still a kid, and he really shouldn’t be facing this kind of thing. Indeed, the film demonstrates an impressive grasp of and dedication towards themes of maturity as Billy faces difficult truths about something he thought he wanted and realises he’s been looking in the wrong place for what he actually craves, as well as develops into a more responsible version of himself that opens up to being part of a group built on mutual trust. There’s a cleverly subtle visual indication of the progress Billy has made by the end of the film where he remembers to lower his head as he walks through a door while in his superpowered adult form. One of the first things Billy does when he first transforms is hit his head on a train door to show how unused he is to this new body. The simple act of Billy seeing the doorframe and lowering his head as he steps through without any hesitation near the end of the film signifies the control Billy has developed over himself and his own actions, making his journey of maturation resonate that much more with me. The impact of shocking dark turns and the firm, confident grasp the film has on its cohesive themes of maturation and finding your place in life elevates Shazam! from a fun time to an uplifting and refreshing story that I think people are going to really enjoy for a long while.

Final Ranking: Silver.

Energetic, full of character, and with a strongly executed theme of maturation, Shazam! is highly recommended. It is perhaps a little longer than it needs to be, which results in the latter parts of the middle section feeling a little drawn out. Having said that, the finale sends a jolt of electricity through you that makes you forget any objections you might have and remember all the positive qualities that make this film so likable.

 Hellboy (2019)

Oof… why did I decide to end this collection of reviews on Hellboy (2019) and write this after three other sections? Sigh… okay, let’s get this over with.

It would be insincere of me to say I'm the most impassioned proponent of the Guillermo del Toro Hellboy films. I found them memorable and atmospheric, and you could certainly feel the characteristic flair from the many people that put their artistic touch on those films to create something unique that marked them out from other comicbook movies, which is especially impressive in the mid-2000s, pre Iron Man era. But after going through the slog that is Hellboy (2019), I think I’m more appreciative than ever of what del Toro and his team managed to achieve.

         For a while, it seemed like this new R-rated version of Hellboy was angling for a more faithful adaptation of the original books by Mike Mignola, given the various interviews that were had about it over the years. Sadly, the final result feels like the result of too many outside influences dictating what the film should feature, culminating in a hodgepodge of a film which regurgitates character beats from the del Toro films, and rapidly stitches together a half-hearted attempt at a King Arthur narrative to fill in the requisite new material (this is your regular reminder to check out The Kid Who Would Be King, a much better modern reinterpretation of Arthurian lore). The presentation is dour, unenthusiastic, and lacks any atmosphere or personality, and that is something you could never accuse either the Mignola books or the del Toro films of lacking. In the whole film, there are only two sequences that stand out, namely the fight with the three giants and the rampage of the hell creatures in London. Even so, the former is a relatively meaningless sequence that contributes very little to the narrative and lifts right out of the film, while the latter is so sadistic and mean spirited that it made me genuinely uncomfortable. It falls flat as both an adaptation of a beloved fictional series that’s brimming with atmosphere, and as a piece of technical filmmaking as well.

         On top of that, when the tone and general philosophy of the film does emerge out from under the rest of the film’s mediocrity, it reveals itself to be genuinely unpleasant. The film opens with narration that rushes through the backstory with Nimue and the Arthurian set-up and does so with foul-mouthed irreverence. There is a bit of humour to someone casually tossing in the odd bit of shitty language as they tell you about ancient history that should be discussed with pomp and circumstance but is instead being discussed with ill-fitting coarseness. However, there needs to be some personality to go along with it, otherwise it’s implied that the swearing is the character and all that’s there to it. In the case of this opening narration, Ian McShane emphasises each fucking swearword and it becomes clear that the dialogue is using this as a crutch in an effort to make the film seem like it has an identity as this edgy superhero movie that’s different because it swears. It’s a juvenile approach that is laughable when you consider how effortless Ryan Reynolds’ delivery in each Deadpool movie has been, which demonstrates how swearing can be used to accentuate genuinely funny jokes and characters, rather acting as the joke in and of itself.

         And this isn’t even the most egregious part of the film either, it’s simply a bad first impression. The worst aspect of the film’s outlook is how virtually every character espouses the notion that you should stop complaining, stop letting things get to or affect you, and stop taking time to process things. This is especially saddening when Hellboy’s father, a character that was played with wonderful vulnerability and heart-aching humanity by the late great John Hurt, tells Hellboy to “grow some balls” and get on with things, making the emotional culmination of their time together on screen essentially boil down to ‘quit your bitching’. Characters in Hellboy (2019) show next to no empathy towards one another, and they continually reinforce the story’s outlook which, whether inadvertently or not, nevertheless encourages a state of being where you never have time to be open or vulnerable with the people around you. It’s profoundly disheartening to watch, and gives little to no thematic or visual sustenance to get you through a runtime that feels far too long.

Final Ranking: Manure.

David Harbour does an admirable job in the lead role and I was happy to at least have a protagonist in this film that captures the gruff sadness and down-to-earth affability of the character of Hellboy. But he’s drowning in limiting makeup and an even more stifling movie that has no visual flair and a boring, miserable narrative. The experience of watching this movie is draining and deflating, and I hope to never revisit it.

[paulisweeabootrash]

First Impression: Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-san

Hey, remember how, among my myriad complaints about Blend-S, I wished it had taken the opportunity to make some commentary on customer service work and maybe also “face”/public persona, and that I’d like to see another show that doesn’t suck give it a try?  I might have found such a show.

And that means it’s time again for Paul Is Weeaboo Trash!

Today’s episode: Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-san (2018)

Episodes watched: 3

Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-san is a series of office-comedy-like shorts set in a bookstore.  Our main character, Honda, is… well… a skeleton, and his co-workers are fleshy humans wearing various masks and helmets.  Each episode is about 11 minutes total, and contains at least two shorts about some aspect of working in a bookstore.

It’s based on a manga (which I haven’t read), and rather than adapting to a different medium’s conventions, it seems like they just sort of… animated the manga?  The art style is something I've seen more often in manga than anime in the past, with characters who are more realistically-proportioned and faces more detailed than what most people often think of when they think of “anime” art styles.  Almost all of the characters whose faces we see are customers, while the employees, being masked, uniformly have no facial expressions, and express themselves in gestures and common media tropes found in both Japanese and American drawn media, like torrential tears and nervous sweat drops.  The emotional range is mostly along an axis from friendliness to exasperation — in other words, how retail workers behave in front of customers vs. away from them.  The masks (and Honda’s skull) lend themselves to simpler, cheaper animation choices, since it lets them avoid working on facial expressions and lip movements.  And boy is this show simple and cheap: customers have looping mouth movements with no attempt to match the dialogue, the whole show has very little movement overall of any kind, and characters’ movements are clearly made by translating or rotating a still image of the character through a field of other layered objects.

It occurred to me, though, almost immediately on seeing the masked employees that they might not just be part of the simple animation but be a way to literally portray the concept of face here.  Although there isn’t a relationship between different masks and different public persona (at least not that I noticed, and to be fair, I can be remarkably dense), it’s not a huge leap to think that the choice to have them wearing masks at all is more than just a "lol that's random" thing.  Not a huge jump from literally disguising themselves while working to figuratively doing so.  And Honda being a skeleton specifically seems like it might be symbolic, because he certainly seems more burnt-out (”dead tired”? I don’t think that idiom translates) than the others.  Or maybe I’m reading into it what I was hoping for, and the store staff’s masks are a cheap and lighthearted attempt to make the characters distinguishable without having to deal with designing an entire staff of unique characters, and/or to anonymize real people — the show and the manga are based on the author’s actual experiences at an actual bookstore, as one of the shorts in ep. 2 points out.  Anyway, back to the point about face, so far at least, everything has taken place at work, and we have not gotten to know anyone’s private persona, so the contrast between who you are in and out of work is not really fleshed out.  (Is that phrase insensitive to skeletons?)  Oh well.

But I’ll summarize what has gone on so far.  The first episode consists of two shorts about the target audience of this blog: weeaboo trash.  The store experiences an influx of foreign tourists, mostly women, looking quite enthusiastically for BL and, ahem, adult content that the store sells but which Honda is very uncomfortable providing.  As weeaboo trash, and just as people, we the viewers have probably agonized as customers about others judging our taste in things, but we see it here from the other side: the seller is embarrassed about the topic the customer has brought up, even though it’s a product close enough to “acceptable” for the store to carry it, and Honda is put on the spot completely when asked to make BL recommendations by the bold foreigners.   Viewers with a little knowledge of Japan, or even just common stereotypes of it, will probably note from the beginning the contrast of Westerners being so expressive compared to Honda’s Japanese expectations, but it goes beyond just different cultures’ ideas of acceptable expressiveness, to the more specific social status and internal practices of nerd culture there vs. here. 

The second episode consists almost entirely of a single short on issues with stocking the store.  Deliveries are late or early or incomplete, employees with theoretically separate responsibilities overlap and wonder where to sort certain products, and boxes of books are always heavier than you think, something that has brought me no small amount of annoyance every time I’ve moved.  It’s a look behind the scenes, as it were, at the parts of retail we who don’t work in it don’t really think about.  It delivers well on the kinds of real-life "oh great, now what?" work situations that almost feel like deliberate punchlines.

The third again has two longer shorts.  The first is about a visit from representatives of Kadokawa, who are of course also masked.  The Kadokawa salespeople are there to present promotional materials and find out how their titles are selling, and we see some more distinction of different employees’ personalities here as they deal differently with the salespeople’s friendly unhelpfulness, especially Honda's extreme conflict-aversion.  The second short returns to the theme of the first episode, dealing with notable and unusual customer requests for recommendations.

And that’s it so far.  Not much to dive into for notably good or bad points like I usually do.  It’s just a fun show that tells real-life stories pretty well.  Check it out it you like that kind of thing.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

—–

Revised W/A/S Scores: 5 / 1? IDK / 5

Weeb: Mainly the show is a series of personal anecdotes requiring little background besides “there are such things as bookstores”.  But the show uses very Japanese tropes to emphasize lines and depict emotion, and contains some references (constant use of slightly-censored versions of real manga titles, for example) that some viewers won’t get, so it may come off as bizarre to people not familiar with anime/manga comedy tropes.

Ass: There is some discussion of 18+ manga in the first episode, but it’s not a recurring topic and no characters are sexualized at all.  It’s just not that kind of show.

Shit (writing): I find it uncomfortable to try to critique anything about the writing, since it’s based on a series of personal anecdotes about the author’s actual life.  It’s clear and amusing, and I think the author is a good storyteller, although the explanatory asides sometimes go on too long and feel like they could’ve been better integrated into dialogue.

Shit (other): I was surprised to see something that looks like this.  The characters and backgrounds remain consistent, and the same simple animation choices are made throughout, which makes it look like just an unconventional style rather than incompetence or cheapness per se.  But it still gives off a general impression of being an above-average artist’s homemade pet project, maybe even something from the Flash era, rather than a professional production.  Indeed, it turns out the studio that made it started out working in Flash.

Content Warning: None.

—–

Stray Observations:

- Kadokawa, whose subsidiary Media Factory published the original manga, doesn’t come off looking great in here.  Maybe they just have a sense of humor about themselves, like how shows broadcast on FOX here in the US keep making fun of FOX and related companies.

[30223576-blog]

Deconstruction

Quite an interesting collage, at first it seems to be just one image sliced and made into another. However, if we look more closely then we can see that there at least the artist has cleverly continued the cutting into the forehead to make it seem as there are more joins that there really are. By continuing the cuts he has managed to blend the image into a much more seamless yet disjointed style. The artist has chosen to use a rough edge which he has emphasised by over-cutting the edges to make this feel almost amateurish. 

An interesting weave of two identical images into one, although disjointed it feels seamless in its execution. The choice of a black background makes this compliment the blacks in the image. This is added to by the use of an off white paper, a clean white would have been too much of a contrast to the whole.

An interesting combination of two images. One has been deliberately blurred then composed to its original position on top of the sharp image. This gives this a subtle perspective and a gentle overall softening of the face as a whole. The image is all eyes and mouth now. Once again the artist has chosen a rough uneven cut to his work.

The burning gives us a real sense of loss, pain and isolation. A faceless scream and one which I attempted. Yet not what  want as I felt it too familiar with too many peoples work.

Here the photographer has removed the models’ eyes, by doing this the artist has removed the models’ identity and as such she now feels more like a mannequin and less than a person. As the eyes are the windows to the soul then perhaps I should obscure the ones in my shot?

The maze effect of this work leads us to think about what the artist is trying to communicate, he has added an extra dimension which transcends the image itself.

This is nothing more than an image sliced and covered in transparent coloured tape or painted tape. Yet it now holds my attention, the choice to leave the eyes alone gives it a human feel. It seems like someone is looking through blinds which gives it another dimension.

At first, I was going to do my deconstruction with this and I am still going to attempt it, but, I do not find it deep enough for what I am trying to achieve. The fracturing is too neat and one dimensional.

At first, this looks like a random combination to form an impression of a lady but if we look more closely the artist has deliberately placed the eye on the upper left rule of thirds.

Once again the eyes are prevalent but this time combined with the mouth to form a triangle. This feels uncomfortable even when aided by the blurred triangular compositions made by the models face and posing and this has obviously been the artists' desire. It forces us to look deeper and to further analyze the meaning and thought which has gone into the images conception.

Grief within grief hidden in plain sight and behind a thin veneer, a very thoughtful composition.

Although Rankin is more of an s+m type of photographer I like this simply because of the raw medical feel to it. It is almost like a wound unhealed and stitched together to form a semblance of normality.

The undeniably powerful explosion of humanity from these simple yet poignant compositions is astounding. The total lack a face forms images of utter desolation, yet one which we feel even more compelled to examine and question.

Simple folding, crushing and cutting techniques work extremely well with the subject. This has been very emphatically done so as to keep an image of beauty but one which has been scarred to show that which lies beneath.

This is what I think of when I think of any kind of mental anguish, I call it the scream. A warping of reality itself and much more akin to that which I am trying to achieve.

In this image I have tried to remove all but the basic signs of humanity, he is no longer anything more than a scream. Yet this is still too one dimensional.

With this, I have burned out the eyes and mouth in Photoshop then covered him with crushed transparent plastic. I wanted to show his loss trapped inside a warped bubble surrounding him from which nobody could see his eyes or hear him scream. Isolation is the key.

I have covered the subject with chalk emulating bandages, he is wrapped in a way that covers his eyes, ears, and mouth, almost like a mummy. Protected yet encased, trapped yet free. The “bandages” and the medical feel it gives the image are adding an extra dimension now and one which requires thought. This is what I have been trying to achieve up until now I have been too literal. 

An early attempt to show fracturing and one which has been unsuccessful apart from showing me that the path I was following was the wrong one. I learn more from my failures though so it is a valuable lesson learned.

I took the first scream image I created and crushed it several times and in different ways to further obliterate the original image. This has given us so many possibilities and ones which I will be exploring in depth. It really now feels more like the scream image which I took as my inspiration, the face is there as an impression and we now have the two linear lines which formed the hands. This works so much better as an abstract image. I will look at shooting this close to see how far I can take it until all that is left is a combination of patterns. This will have to be done in different printing mediums to see how well each takes to the deconstruction.

An early attempt at the medical aspect of my concept, I like the bandages as now they give it a three-dimensional appeal. He is really confined albeit now not by his own mind.

The stitches I took my inspiration from Rankins’ image except magnified by tearing the entire image into strips and sewing it back together like a medical experiment gone wrong. Raw and untamed.

Here I have burned out his eyes and mouth to dehumanize him, to make him nothing more than a feeling, the blue was necessary to create a marked difference from the original black and white. I need this to contrast as much as possible to highlight the feeling I was trying to portray.

RESHOOT

I took the crushed image and reshot it. From here I re-edited it in Lightroom to remove all the distractions, focus into the area I wanted to explore and finally isolated this in a blackness. I did this to make the image far more abstract but, more importantly also to highlight the black void that we experience in times of great pain, my subject has been reduced to nothing more than a silent scream in the darkness. I personally prefer the first image of the two I have re-edited, this one says everything I was trying to capture and more. When I examine the mouth in image one it looks like there is someone inside trying to escape but bound by rope or chain.

[maisieseaman]

 Daniel Egneus 

Egneus is a Swedish artist but has spent his life making a name for himself in countries all around the world. He specialises in illustration and his art is very continuous and deliberate, with layers of lines of varying qualities, creating detailed final outcomes. Egneus also uses varying mark making to describe different elements and tends to incorporate people and animals into a lot of his work. The majority of his work has an dream like element and a sense of escapism with his faces almost looking like masquerade masks. Furthermore, Egneus has worked with many big brands such as Nike, Adidas, Playboy and Audi as well as illustrating books, including Penguin books, which is what we were each given for our projects. His work has a fairytale feel to it, and is brought to life with the use of colour, usually from watercolours, ink or pencil, black and red evidently being his main go-to colours. He has a very romantic style of art which is why I love it so much, the sense of movement throughout, creates an idealistic and charming scene, allowing the viewer to use their imagination.

Mike Mignola

Mignola is an American comic book artist whose work is very dark and dystopian with fictional strange characters. He is most famous for being the creator of Hellboy, a character based on a demon, that has appeared in various comic books and has even been adapted into three live-action feature films. It is clear to see that Mike has a vivid imagination, having created a whole fictional world full of new characters and creatures. He tends to use a very dark and muted colour palette in his art, combined with large blocks of bolder colour which contrasts nicely. His work contains very gothic, eerie landmarks with abandoned buildings and desolate structures. Mignola’s work is very much based on light & shadow and he has the ability to turn a normal image into a peculiar one, using his unique style and creativity. His work has a sense of simplicity about it and the black and white shapes gives the illusion of solidness, which connects to what we were doing in class today. Our work was all about giving the illusion of depth and layering, making our art look more realistic. One of Mikes biggest inspirations was the work of Frank Frazetta who is a science fiction artist. His work is similar to Mignola’s, in the sense that they both do comic book art, however, i’d say his art is more detailed, subtle and realistic, almost looking like old oil paintings, whereas Mignola likes to give his drawings “weight”. Mikes art is personally not my favourite, however, i can still appreciate the talent he has for creating this whole new world just from a vision he had, and i’m sure that someone who was into comic books would love his art.

Mike starts off with a normal image like this...

And turns it into this.

Brooks Salzwedel 

Salzwedel is the main artist in which we gained our inspiration from for our layered tracing paper drawings. He is a Californian illustrator whose work depicts various foreboding and mysterious natural settings. Instead of using tracing paper, Brooks uses layers of resin to evoke a world shrouded in mist and fog, creating an unsettling atmosphere and a sense of chaos from a post apocalyptic world. He tends to draw forest scenes, abandoned buildings, mountains and crumbling structures, adding pops of bold colour in the background to add a sense of informality to the serious, eerie illustrations. Salzwedel uses a process that he made himself, using a variety of mediums such as graphite, indian ink, coloured pencil, pen, acrylic paint, tape, spray paint, collage and resin. He uses resin because the layering creates a sense of depth, with the darkest drawings at the front and the lightest at the back. For our layered illustrations we only did 3 layers, whereas Brooks does many more, adding extra detail, making the final outcome look very realistic, almost like a photograph. He once said, “Often my work focuses on natural and unnatural landscapes, disconnected from their usual surroundings or places in time. I want to evoke feelings of desolation, loneliness, lapse in time, and confusion of places.” This shows us that Brook’s work is capable of making people feel unpleasant emotions and that is why i love his work so much, the fact that he has the ability to control something like that suggests how powerful art can be.

Tang Kwok Hin 

Hin is a Japanese artist who specialises in mixed media pieces. He was the other main artist that we gained our inspiration from because of his layered drawings. Tang uses pre-existing images to make his work such as architectural structures and manmade objects, which creates a sense of déjà vu  for the viewer and forces them to contemplate. His layered imagery and elements of collage generate a surreal, dreamlike atmosphere. I would describe his work as unusual because he combines normal everyday sightings with peculiar, out of the ordinary ones, such as giant wasps. His merging of fiction and reality, softens the boundaries between art and reality and blends them into one, creating a new fantasy world. Hin uses glass instead of resin or tracing paper, to create depth with a contrast between blurry/sharp and dark/light images. I like his art because it almost reminds me of memories of past lives, as the more blurred images are like they’re slowly disappearing and fading away. He provides new meanings to the seemingly meaningless and his art gives me a slightly strange nostalgic feeling. The video below reminds me of Hin’s work:

almost like the world we live in is a simulation.

[vcg73]

Hummel Holidays 2017: It’s a Date

Hummel Holidays Prompt #2: Baking

Rare Pair: Kurt and Elliott

~*~*~*~*~

“Oh m’Gaw! Dese’r amaving!  Wemom?”

 Kurt rolled his eyes and passed his friend the glass of cold milk he had been sipping from as he worked. Elliott had walked in and made a beeline for the array of fluffy golden cookies sitting on the cooling racks, promptly popping one into his mouth with no regard for the fact that it had come out of the oven only ten seconds earlier. He was currently attempting to chew the hot cookie without touching it to his tongue or the tender roof of his mouth, but still taste it and talk at the same time.

 “Lemon, yes, and you might want to give this next batch a minute to cool before you try one,” Kurt advised, placing a second pan full of generously chocolate chipped dough balls into the oven.

 Chugging the remainder of the milk down along with a second sample from the racks, Elliott licked his lips and grinned as he handed back the empty glass. “You didn’t tell me we were baking today.”

 He snorted. “We, huh? I’m pretty sure baking involves more than just scarfing down the end result. And stop eating all my cookies! I’m making these for the homeless shelter.”

 Elliott’s greedy fingers paused halfway to grabbing another, cheeks flushing a little. “Oh, yeah, sorry. Guess I should’ve figured that since One Three Hill is providing the entertainment for tonight’s party. Uh, well then, pass me an apron and point me toward the supplies. I’ll mix up a batch of snickerdoodles while you pour us some more milk.”

 Unable to resist the winsome smile that came along with this offer, Kurt nodded and rummaged through the plastic packing crate that held his glassware. Picking one with tiny flowers frosted into the glass that Rachel had picked up at a flea market, he opened the fridge to pour their drinks and said, “I didn’t even know you knew how to make snickerdoodles. I haven’t had those in years.”

 “Oh, man, they’re the best! They’re my mom’s specialty. She taught me the recipe when I turned ten. Her family has lived in New England since, like, the Mayflower and this recipe has been handed down through generations. Today only a handful of people in the entire world know it!”

 Kurt grinned, strongly suspecting that his leg was being pulled. “Well, then!” he said, handing over a fresh glass of milk. “Should I leave the room? Put on a blindfold? Pinch my nose shut so I don’t accidentally guess the secret ingredient?”

 “I think I can trust you. But just to make sure…”  Elliott’s face went solemn, but his eyes continued to sparkle with fun as he held up his right hand and offered Kurt’s recipe book with the other, waiting until Kurt obligingly placing his own right hand on the book and raised his left. “Kurt Hummel, do you solemnly swear upon pain of burnt cookies and fallen layer cakes never to divulge this secret to The Food Network, or any other for-profit entity?”

 Struggling not to laugh, Kurt forced his features into an equally solemn set and nodded. “I so swear.”

 “Great!  Okay then, we’ll need a cup of butter, a cup of sugar, half a cup of brown sugar, two eggs, three cups of flour, baking soda, salt, cream of tartar, and cinnamon. I’ll also need a saucepan and a couple of mixing bowls.”

 With a nod, Kurt gathered the requested items. Most were already on hand since he had been baking for the past hour. Since his favorite mixing bowl already had chocolate chip dough in it, he quickly washed up the bowl he’d used for the lemon cookies and dug out a large but slightly worn out spare one that he’d brought from Ohio. “Pan’s over the stove. What do you need it for?”

 “Because that is the secret ingredient,” he explained, wriggling out of his leather jacket, leaving himself clad in an artistically ragged gray sleeveless t-shirt, and throwing on Kurt’s borrowed apron, which bore the words ‘Sit back and relax.  You must be exhausted from watching me do everything!’ Glancing down at the words, he laughed. “Feeling a little passive aggressive, were we?”

 Kurt blushed. “Just a little. It made me feel better, but the others didn’t even get the joke.”

 “Figures,” he grunted. “Okay, so we start with the butter.”

He measured out a cup of butter and transferred it into the saucepan. While Kurt watched with interested eyes, he turned the stove on to medium heat and began whisking the butter with slow even strokes. He continued this patiently for three or four minutes until the butter was melted and slightly frothy, emitting a pleasant almost nutty aroma as it browned. Then he poured the butter into the larger bowl to cool and began mixing in the sugars, cream of tartar, and eggs together with it. In the second bowl, he blended his dry ingredients together, then gradually blended the two.

 “You’re good at that,” Kurt commented, not even bothering to pretend that he was not admiring the play of strong muscles in Elliott’s exposed shoulder as he beat the dough together with firm pressure, preferring to stir the ingredients by hand rather than borrow Kurt’s hand mixer.

 “Thanks.” Preening a little, he deliberately flexed his arm a little more. He and Kurt had never dated, but a little flirting between friends was always welcome. “Could you sprinkle some white sugar and cinnamon onto a sheet of waxed paper for me?”

 Kurt nodded, pausing a moment to take his baking batch out of the oven as the timer dinged and transferring them to the racks. He quickly shifted the lemon cookies into a waiting tin lined with a paper towel, leaving the lid off to allow them to finish cooling. Once that was done, he quickly cleared a space and laid out the requested waxed paper, covering it with a small amount of cinnamon sugar. While this was done, Elliott had been molding the cookie dough into little walnut sized globes. He took each dough ball and rolled it through the sugar, setting the finished ones in a neat row until they could be baked, since Kurt still had another two pans of chocolate chip ready to go and there would be no more baking sheets available until one of them had hands free to wash the newly emptied one.

 An hour later, the two-man baking team had finished their creations and sampled at least one of each variety of cookie, leaving dozens for the enjoyment of those attending tonight’s party.

 “Dani will be so sorry she decided to meet us at the shelter instead of coming by early,” Kurt said, dipping a snicker-doodle in his milk, frowning a bit at the resultant spice decorating his drink, then shrugging and simply belting back what was left to wash down the last of the treat.

 “I know, man. She missed out,” Elliott agreed, licking his lips happily.

 Kurt held out a hand for Elliott’s empty glass, taking them to the sink to finishing washing up the last of the dishes. Kurt was a ‘clean as you go’ baker and his kitchen was far from the disaster area Elliott’s would have been had they done this project at his place.  The application of a wet sponge and a little scrubbing, and the counters were also immaculately clean. Only the waiting tins of warm, neatly arranged cookies gave proof of the afternoon’s activity.

 Elliott shook his head, admiring the almost military precision of his friend’s baking style. “You know, we should do this again,” he said. “Maybe cook something next time. I mean, I don’t really know how to make anything except stews and curries, but I’ll bet you could teach me. If you were okay with that.”

 A big smile met this suggestion. Kurt looked like he’d just been given a wonderful present, clasping his hands and bouncing up on his toes with sudden excitement. “Of course! I have loads of cook books with recipes we could try. Some of them I’ve wanted to make for ages, but there never seemed much point in going to all that effort just for myself.”

 “What about your roommates?”

 He shrugged. “I’ve offered, but Santana isn’t a very adventurous eater, and I never know from week to week whether Rachel will be vegetarian, or vegan, or protein only, or all carbs. One week she decided out of the blue that she was going to do a liquid-only cleanse that she had read about in a magazine. It was supposed to last for a month, but three days into it, I was awakened in the middle of the night by the sounds of her going to town on leftover Chinese food, three different kinds of chips, and my newly purchased pint of strawberry-cheesecake ice cream.”

 Elliott laughed. He could picture that easily. For such a tiny woman, Rachel could really pack it away when she was in the mood. “Well, I’ll try anything once. Let’s make a pact to get together once a week and try out a brand new recipe. Something neither of us has tried before.”

 Kurt beamed. “How about Fridays?  Friday Night Dinner was a staple in my house growing up. We would always make the time to get together, no matter what, to have a sit down meal together on that night. I tried to bring the tradition back with my friends, but it only lasted a few meals before everyone started begging off for various reasons. Do you want to try it?”

 Pleased that Kurt was willing to share a special tradition with him, perhaps in return for sharing his own family recipe, Elliott said, “It’s a date.”

 Unexpectedly, Kurt blushed and turned away. “It’s getting late. Maybe we’d better get all these cookies packed up. I was planning to call for a ride instead of trying to get all these safely to the shelter on the subway.”

 “Good idea,” he said, wondering at that sudden mood shift. Kurt’s reaction to his flippant use of the word ‘date’ had given him pause. He considered just letting it go, but . . . somehow he did not want to let it go. “Kurt?”

 “Yeah?”

 Elliott took a deep breath, hoping he was not about to make a mistake and cause the rest of the night to become horribly awkward. “I had a really good time today.”

 “Me too,” he agreed with a smile.

 “Uh, yeah, so I was thinking. That is . . . I mean, I always have a good time when I’m with you.”

 Kurt’s expression softened, becoming almost wistful. “So do I.”

 “Right, so . . . do you think it’s weird for best friends to . . .”

 “To . . .” Kurt repeated, brows raising as he encouraged Elliott to finish the thought.

 Elliott paused. It was now or never. He wasn’t seeing anyone, and Kurt had been single for a decent enough span of time not to seem like he was pouncing on a vulnerable heart. He had always told himself that Kurt wasn’t his type, but Elliott knew that the sheer number of times he had given himself that reminder pretty much proved it a false claim.

 “Would you be willing to go out with me some time?” he blurted. “Not as friends. Or, I mean, of course we’re still friends, but . . . as more than friends?”

 Kurt blinked, looking as though he was not quite sure he was hearing correctly. Then he smiled a little shyly and said, “You mean, you and me; like a, go out together, do something fun, kiss at the end of the evening . . . type of thing?”

 Elliott grinned, liking the idea a lot now that he was hearing it out loud. “Exactly. Maybe not Friday, because I’m already having recipe night with my best bud on Friday, but how about Saturday?”

 Laughing at his words, but clearly touched that Elliott did not want to chance losing their friendship by throwing dating into the mix, Kurt ducked his head and said, “That sounds great. You told me you’d been wanting to visit the Museum of Modern Art, right? Maybe we could go together. Or, is that a dumb idea?”

 “I think it’s a great idea,” he said, already picturing the two of them strolling slowly hand in hand through the halls of the great structure. “And maybe get some coffee and take a snowy walk through Central Park afterward.”

 Kurt’s eyes shone at the mere mention of something so unabashedly romantic. “I’d love to.”

 “Then we definitely have a date.” Wondering how he was going to contain his sudden giddy joy all evening, Elliott reached out and took Kurt’s hand, giving it a little squeeze before letting go and returning to the task of packing up the goodies for tonight’s party.

 Stepping next to him, so that they stood side by side at the counter, Kurt accepted the cookie tin he was offered and settled it into a bag he’d brought out earlier for transporting. One by one, they packed the bag in this way, taking their time.  They did not say anything more about their sudden change in status from best friends to possibly-more-than-friends, but the silence that stretched between them felt comfortable. Every so often, their arms would bump and they would exchange a smile that somehow felt both feel warmer and closer than it ever had before.

 “I won’t do it until Saturday night,” Elliott remarked as the last tin was packed and the bag was closed up for travel. He pulled his jacket back on and accepted the warm blue scarf that Kurt held out with a scolding little cluck of his tongue, tucking it into place around his neck and down the front of his coat as he zipped the leather securely. He then lifted the strap of the cookie bag and settled it on his shoulder without asking, giving Kurt a chance to don his own coat and scarf and lock the door behind them.

 “Do what?” Kurt asked as they started down the stairs together. His building had an elevator, but it was a risky proposition at the best of times.

 Shifting the bag from one shoulder to the other, Elliott reached over and threaded his fingers through Kurt’s. “I was just thinking back there that I’d really like to kiss you, and that I felt kind of stupid for not realizing before today how much I wanted to do that.”

 Kurt smiled and ducked his head. “Oh, that.”

 “Yeah, that, and then I thought that I can’t do it. Not until Saturday night when I take you home. Or you take me home, whichever way it ends up. Because I’ve never been very good at the whole dating thing, but I want to do it right with you.”

 He tipped his head, looking up at Elliott’s face with a fond smile. “That’s really sweet. I don’t really have a lot of experience at dating either. I have a weird habit of pining, then sort of falling in love without thinking it through, then moving in with people.”

 Elliott laughed a little. “Sounds like we both have some catching up to do.”

 “Agreed. So no kisses until Saturday,” Kurt said, still smiling as he checked his phone for the status of the car service driver he’d called. “How do you feel about hugging?”

 “Friends hug,” he said, swinging an arm around Kurt’s shoulders in demonstration. “I could get into some serious post non-date hugging with you tonight. By Friday, we may be all the way up to snuggling.”

 He laughed and squeezed Elliott’s waist. “I could be okay with that.”

 Turning his head, Elliott looked down into Kurt’s eyes, noticing how pretty they looked in the light of the setting sun, shining blue with little flecks of green and gold.  Before he could be tempted to break his own promise to himself, he planted his lips on Kurt’s hairline, pressing the soft skin fondly.

 “Me too.”

 THE END

[qualitytacolover]

18 Balayage Straight Hair Color Ideas You Must See

New Post has been published on https://www.easypromhairstyles.com/18-balayage-straight-hair-color-ideas-you-must-see.html

18 Balayage Straight Hair Color Ideas You Must See

If you're thinking about getting a balayage on straight hair, you've come to the right place. Balayage straight hair is characterized by natural looking, hand-painted highlights on straight or flat hair. This modern look, contrary to popular belief with straight hair, is super far from it, simple and boring! It is elegant, highly fashionable and feminine – and that is why women quickly stand by their colorists to own it as soon as possible!

It's about your stylist's expertise, because balayage on straight hair means showing a seamless transition from one tone to another. If done correctly, the result is an amazing color combination that will make your strands look perfectly smooth and soft.

A main reason why this hairstyle is an absolute must is the surprisingly low maintenance! No need to worry about growth! A balayage can of course work with your roots and look deliberate even as your curls grow.

They have seen this look at celebrities Selena Gomez, Beyonce and Jessica Alba while they are parade they are stunning highlighted straight curls on red carpets! Now is your time to be in the spotlight!

If you want to add an outbreak of life to your straight strands, you've come to the right place. Here is an updated list of only the trendiest balayage straight hair looks!

Black balayage

How would you describe this look?

It's a deep multi-dimensional brunette balayage on a long bob. My favorite thing is the delicacy. It definitely has different tones and levels, although it doesn't have much contrast. Although it is still striking. The best thing is that it complements the long bob very well too, but I think it would be a good option for any length.

Any advice for someone considering it?

It would depend on her hair to start with. This client had dark long hair and is petite with an oval face. It is incredibly low-maintenance (I would add that I have a demi-permanent black color as the Lowlight that I painted.), So this was an easy choice for her! Plus, she's growing it out a bit now, so it's just a simple, longer bob. The growout is simple and so cute with every step.

As for the styling, I used a blow-out cream through its ends, a root lifter at its roots, and a Denman brush for blow-drying. Then I sprayed it with a heat spray and slightly straightened the ends with low heat. Although, she could only have gotten away with blowing it out.

Long dark red balayage

How would you describe this look?

This look has a fiery violet wine atmosphere. Our goal was to have many dimensions and yet intense color. She just wants a cheeky look and feels on her hair. She has a face frame that she loves with her face shape and that looks fabulous with lots of curls. Many layers were also a must. My favorite part is the color we achieved with Aveda color. Many people think Aveda is hard to use for intense looks, but it can be done!

Any advice for someone considering it?

Make sure your hair can handle lightening enough to build up intensely. Use lots of protein treatments and trims to keep it looking fresh overall. I always inform intensive hair color lovers about shampoo to keep color bright. Always have fun with your hair!

Ash brown

How would you describe this look?

This particular balayage took some time and technique to achieve. First I pre-illuminated the hair with a full foil head because the customer already had a dark balayage. The customer wanted a lighter look. A Level 5 Natural was used on the hair roots and then blended with 10.1 to reach the ash blonde.

After blow drying the hair straight, I finished with a straightener with a trim on the ends of the client's hair to complete this look.

Any advice for someone considering it?

It's a subtle highlighting technique that isn't as drastic as changing your hair color, so it doesn't matter if you have brown, blonde, or red hair. Even if you are looking for highlights that are as low-maintenance as you can get, the balayage is exactly what you are looking for. When the highlights grow out, it will look completely deliberate.

Remember that balayage requires lightening and that means you need your hair bleached. The darker the starting color, the more work it takes to achieve your desired look. As with any dye application, there are certain things you can do to get your color. One of the best things you can do is use high quality products that are sulfate free. It is also important to shower in lukewarm water, as hot water can strip off essential oils and your hair stays dry.

This could be the most important thing for balayage hair – you'll want to wash it once a week with purple shampoo and conditioner only for ash-blonde women. No matter what color your root is, this stuff helps keep your ashy toner on your balayage.

Balayage on Asian hair

How would you describe this look?

This look is a mixture of blue and blue highlights. Teal is my client's favorite color and she just feels like herself when she has that in her hair. I think everyone has a certain color that they really vibe with, and this vibrant but soothing shade of blue and blue definitely reflects the colors of their soul. My favorite thing about this style is the juxtaposition that it creates. She is of course a very calm and introverted person, but feels comfortable in this color, which is definitely more eye-catching and eye-catching.

Any advice for someone considering it?

The vividness of the color will fade. If you don't want to come back to the salon every 3 months to refresh the color, you have to get a direct dye either from Sally’s Beauty or your local drug store. London Drugs / Shoppers to update your own color. Some brands that have this type of color are Punky Colors, Pulp Riot, Joico Intensity or Splat.

I have never set limits on which hairstyles or hair colors suit my customers. My job is to push my customers out of their comfort zone and try something new. I love change and life is all about different experiences, even when it comes to their hair!

Medium balayage

See this two-tone flowing curtain majestically draped on your head. What a sight!

Straight dark hair

Dark hues like black, brown, and burgundy can be wonderfully mixed to give small flashes of any color every time the light hits your locks.

Brown balayage

Effortless transitions on black and brown colors for the hair. The cut and length create the mix of colors.

Honey blonde on short hair

There may be a lot going on for this colored bob, but the colors and the cut harmonize wonderfully, creating a flattering effect.

Champagne blonde

Put the bottle on and let's celebrate this great hair color! Just the right amount of blonde and brown for that bubbly look.

Short black hair

A classic that never lets a lady down. Go for the trustworthy black bob and see what you can do with such a versatile hairstyle.

Light brown balayage

You'd think it's just a simple dyeing job, but the balayage makes it so exquisite and unique.

rose gold

A new trend that is definitely here to hold! Try a delicate sweep of muted pink on your hair and bring your crowning glory to life.

Blonde balayage highlights

It takes the right mix of colors and dyeing techniques to create a flawless masterpiece like this. Good thing you can easily ask your stylist about it and come from the salon that looks like perfection.

Ashy

This balayage straight hair creation leads perfectly to healthy growth. In addition, the milk section is to die from the coffee-colored roots.

Brown after Blonde Balayage Ombre

The tricky part here is getting all of these varied brown and blonde colors and making it look like they're just one color. It's good that there's a professional for that.

Caramel balayage

The combination of blonde and brown shades creates a kind of dimension that straight hair needs.

Goldblond

Milk caramel balayage has never looked so hot!

Straight dark brown

With this type of hair, you could be scouted for a shampoo advertisement!

[easynaturalhairstyle]

18 Balayage Straight Hair Color Ideas You Must See

If you're thinking about getting a balayage on straight hair, you've come to the right place. Balayage straight hair is characterized by natural looking, hand-painted highlights on straight or flat hair. This modern look, contrary to popular belief with straight hair, is super far from it, simple and boring! It is elegant, highly fashionable and feminine – and that is why women quickly stand by their colorists to own it as soon as possible!

It's about your stylist's expertise, because balayage on straight hair means showing a seamless transition from one tone to another. If done correctly, the result is an amazing color combination that will make your strands look perfectly smooth and soft.

A main reason why this hairstyle is an absolute must is the surprisingly low maintenance! No need to worry about growth! A balayage can of course work with your roots and look deliberate even as your curls grow.

They have seen this look at celebrities Selena Gomez, Beyonce and Jessica Alba while they are parade they are stunning highlighted straight curls on red carpets! Now is your time to be in the spotlight!

If you want to add an outbreak of life to your straight strands, you've come to the right place. Here is an updated list of only the trendiest balayage straight hair looks!

Black balayage

How would you describe this look?

It's a deep multi-dimensional brunette balayage on a long bob. My favorite thing is the delicacy. It definitely has different tones and levels, although it doesn't have much contrast. Although it is still striking. The best thing is that it complements the long bob very well too, but I think it would be a good option for any length.

Any advice for someone considering it?

It would depend on her hair to start with. This client had dark long hair and is petite with an oval face. It is incredibly low-maintenance (I would add that I have a demi-permanent black color as the Lowlight that I painted.), So this was an easy choice for her! Plus, she's growing it out a bit now, so it's just a simple, longer bob. The growout is simple and so cute with every step.

As for the styling, I used a blow-out cream through its ends, a root lifter at its roots, and a Denman brush for blow-drying. Then I sprayed it with a heat spray and slightly straightened the ends with low heat. Although, she could only have gotten away with blowing it out.

Long dark red balayage

How would you describe this look?

This look has a fiery violet wine atmosphere. Our goal was to have many dimensions and yet intense color. She just wants a cheeky look and feels on her hair. She has a face frame that she loves with her face shape and that looks fabulous with lots of curls. Many layers were also a must. My favorite part is the color we achieved with Aveda color. Many people think Aveda is hard to use for intense looks, but it can be done!

Any advice for someone considering it?

Make sure your hair can handle lightening enough to build up intensely. Use lots of protein treatments and trims to keep it looking fresh overall. I always inform intensive hair color lovers about shampoo to keep color bright. Always have fun with your hair!

Ash brown

How would you describe this look?

This particular balayage took some time and technique to achieve. First I pre-illuminated the hair with a full foil head because the customer already had a dark balayage. The customer wanted a lighter look. A Level 5 Natural was used on the hair roots and then blended with 10.1 to reach the ash blonde.

After blow drying the hair straight, I finished with a straightener with a trim on the ends of the client's hair to complete this look.

Any advice for someone considering it?

It's a subtle highlighting technique that isn't as drastic as changing your hair color, so it doesn't matter if you have brown, blonde, or red hair. Even if you are looking for highlights that are as low-maintenance as you can get, the balayage is exactly what you are looking for. When the highlights grow out, it will look completely deliberate.

Remember that balayage requires lightening and that means you need your hair bleached. The darker the starting color, the more work it takes to achieve your desired look. As with any dye application, there are certain things you can do to get your color. One of the best things you can do is use high quality products that are sulfate free. It is also important to shower in lukewarm water, as hot water can strip off essential oils and your hair stays dry.

This could be the most important thing for balayage hair – you'll want to wash it once a week with purple shampoo and conditioner only for ash-blonde women. No matter what color your root is, this stuff helps keep your ashy toner on your balayage.

Balayage on Asian hair

How would you describe this look?

This look is a mixture of blue and blue highlights. Teal is my client's favorite color and she just feels like herself when she has that in her hair. I think everyone has a certain color that they really vibe with, and this vibrant but soothing shade of blue and blue definitely reflects the colors of their soul. My favorite thing about this style is the juxtaposition that it creates. She is of course a very calm and introverted person, but feels comfortable in this color, which is definitely more eye-catching and eye-catching.

Any advice for someone considering it?

The vividness of the color will fade. If you don't want to come back to the salon every 3 months to refresh the color, you have to get a direct dye either from Sally’s Beauty or your local drug store. London Drugs / Shoppers to update your own color. Some brands that have this type of color are Punky Colors, Pulp Riot, Joico Intensity or Splat.

I have never set limits on which hairstyles or hair colors suit my customers. My job is to push my customers out of their comfort zone and try something new. I love change and life is all about different experiences, even when it comes to their hair!

Medium balayage

See this two-tone flowing curtain majestically draped on your head. What a sight!

Straight dark hair

Dark hues like black, brown, and burgundy can be wonderfully mixed to give small flashes of any color every time the light hits your locks.

Brown balayage

Effortless transitions on black and brown colors for the hair. The cut and length create the mix of colors.

Honey blonde on short hair

There may be a lot going on for this colored bob, but the colors and the cut harmonize wonderfully, creating a flattering effect.

Champagne blonde

Put the bottle on and let's celebrate this great hair color! Just the right amount of blonde and brown for that bubbly look.

Short black hair

A classic that never lets a lady down. Go for the trustworthy black bob and see what you can do with such a versatile hairstyle.

Light brown balayage

You'd think it's just a simple dyeing job, but the balayage makes it so exquisite and unique.

rose gold

A new trend that is definitely here to hold! Try a delicate sweep of muted pink on your hair and bring your crowning glory to life.

Blonde balayage highlights

It takes the right mix of colors and dyeing techniques to create a flawless masterpiece like this. Good thing you can easily ask your stylist about it and come from the salon that looks like perfection.

Ashy

This balayage straight hair creation leads perfectly to healthy growth. In addition, the milk section is to die from the coffee-colored roots.

Brown after Blonde Balayage Ombre

The tricky part here is getting all of these varied brown and blonde colors and making it look like they're just one color. It's good that there's a professional for that.

Caramel balayage

The combination of blonde and brown shades creates a kind of dimension that straight hair needs.

Goldblond

Milk caramel balayage has never looked so hot!

Straight dark brown

With this type of hair, you could be scouted for a shampoo advertisement!

18 Balayage Straight Hair Color Ideas You Must See

[drink-n-watch]

This will come as no surprise to long time readers…. I can’t believe there’s even the possibility of me having long time readers. It sounds so weird… but those of you who are more recent may not know of my weird preoccupation with color in Anime. Since colour palette in animated works is an active choice, much more so than in live action (where it is still important) it is a non-negligible part of the text of the medium. Essentially, colors are chosen for a reason. Often that reason can be simply utilitarian or aesthetic. However, once in a while there’s a deeper story connection behind the palette of chosen works. Those details point to an attention to detail and add to the rich non-verbal aspect of storytelling available to anime that I personally adore. This is what gives the medium so much potential and allows the stories to exist on several levels and therefore be appreciated in so many different ways, if you take the time.

One of the most obvious recent uses of color coding in anime was in the fantastic ACCA-13. I enjoyed this aspect tremendously but didn’t have much time to get into it in my review of the show. This visual subtext is actually present on many different levels in the series, but it’s really the most glaring in the choices of hair color used for the main characters. All of which are very deliberate, in the anime.

Let’s start with the Otus family:

 Both Jean and Lotta share a distinctive coloration. Bright sunny blonde with sharp turquoise eyes. Specifically, in anime, blonde is often used to mark a character as slightly different or important. Since natural blondes are extremely rare in Japan, it’s often associated with foreigners and generally with opulence and status. As members of the royal family, this certainly tracks with the characters background as royals in exile. It should be noted that prince Schwann is also blonde, and blue eyed but has a slightly lighter and cooler shade of hair. Showing him to be a more withdrawn and generally less openly friendly character.

Next we have Grossular

The stoic and respectable head of ACCA. White is always a striking choice in hair color when not used simply to mark age. It also my current hair color and a huge pain to maintain. White is associated with purity and wisdom but also often marks characters with duplicitous intent. Never trust a white-haired anime boy! It fits Grossular to a T. Although not an actual villain as is often the case, in Grossular the color reflects his noble spirit and rigid but very humane morality. This is a man with deep spirituality and great experience, but also a man burden by secrets and a responsibility which he feels the need to shoulder all by himself. This makes him seem suspicious despite his best intentions. The nature of his rank had also embroiled him in some less than upright plots. His duplicity may not have been intentional, and may have come from a good place, but he is still not completely honest.

The second (arguably first) most powerful head of ACCA Lilium

This one is a bit trickier since black is sort of a default hair color in anime and can mean just about anything and nothing at all. However, there are some universal association with the color black that do apply here. It’s menacing and sober but also just plain cool. There’s something commanding and undeniable about its presence. And let’s face it, we all know the bad guys wear black hats.

Friendly and unassuming Pine

How much more on the nose can you get. Pine is the chief of the agricultural ward and his hair is green! He’s also reliable, strong, ernest…you know, salt of the earth sort of fellow. Think Deku. It seems perfectly fitting that he would sport a hue that invokes nature, strength and reliability. 

Occasionally more neon or vivid shades of green are use to mark someone as toxic and dangerous but this nice lush forest shade is most often used for trustworthy and steady characters you want in your corner. I would love to go have a drink with Pine, he seems lovely.

The Fantastically Voiced Spade 

Spade is an older gentleman and as such we could assume his silver hair is simply a mar of his age but it does seem to go a bit beyond that. Silver can be used for angelic figures but the colour is often associated with sly or sneaky characters as well. It’s the colour of thieves and spies. Silver tongues ad all that.

We never quite get to know Spade, he plays it extremely close to the vest and never reveals his hand.

The rarely seen Pastis

Of all the heads of ACCA, Pastis is both the most unassuming and most extravagant. He also has stunning blonde hair which isn’t only dazzling for it’s golden color but also impressive in its style and texture. Basically here, the pale blonde coupled with the cascading loose curls is a mark of opulence.

Everything about Pastis screams luxury starting from that river of gold atop of his head!

 The Great Lady Mauve 

I always saw Mauve’s hair as royal blue but the name means purple. I guess it’s a blend of deep blue and purple. It doesn’t really matter since both colors have the same connotations. The color is meant to be regal and graceful. I would say that’s also totally on point.

In ancient times, the pigment for these colours was extracted from sea snails which was a painstaking and labour intensive process. As such, the dye was extremely expensive and reserved for royalty or hgh aristocracy. Hence the “royal” part of the name. Although Mauve does not start as one of the heads of ACCA her poise and temperament is certainly dignified and she more than lives up to the implications of her hair color.

 Finally, let’s look at fan favourite Nino

His hair color is a much lighter shade of blue with a bit of green worked in. Turquoise I guess. This is a slightly trickier shade. One the one had characters with this hair color are often thought to be intelligent, patient and loyal, but there’s also that magician trait which makes them secretive and independent as well as introverted and quiet. Like Kuroko or Sailor Mercury.

Nino is a bit more outgoing than most, the again, we pretty much only see him in the company of his best friend. It’s easy to be friendly then!

Despite how obvious and on the nose the color coding in ACCA was I still quite enjoyed it. Maybe because it was so obvious and I was able to easily pick up on it. Non verbal storytelling is always great in my book, whe it works and in the choice of hair color we got a lot of information on characters the show did not have time to develop fully. That’s neat. Also I really liked writting this as it gave me a chance to think back on a great series! If you haven’t seen it, I really think you should.

Color Coding in ACCA-13 This will come as no surprise to long time readers…. I can’t believe there’s even the possibility of me having long time readers.

[karolynlangston-blog]

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[zak-graphicarts]

                                                                                                                          “Conversations” Sequential Art Workshop

CREATING 20-PANEL DEMOCRATIC COMICS, INTERCONNECTED WITH PARTS OF OVERHEARD CONVERSATIONS EXPLORING OBSERVATORY SKETCHES OF PEOPLE FOR REFERENCE

AIMS:

Using a range of inspiration, both primary and secondary sources, sketch out 20 illustrated characters to use in the comic. 

Sketch out the characters in pencil in the panels

Ink the illustrations

Handletter the recorded snippets of conversation in the empty panels

Review and reflect on the process and outcome

Format vs Style

In sequential art, it is important to understand the difference between the format of the work, and the style. Comics are the format, meaning juxtaposed images in a deliberate sequence to convey information, and or to produce an aesthetic response. Cartoon, on the other hand, is the style. If you work in a cartoon style, characters will be caricatures, roughened, simplified versions of the original, likely intended for comical purposes. Famous examples of cartoon characters include “Mickey Mouse”, “The Simpsons” and “Looney Tunes”. 

Above, “The Simpsons”, a cartoon based on the classic American family

Equipment:

0.5 - 0.8 Fineliner

Pencil (Light)

Brush/Brush pen

Black Ink

Task 1: Sketch and Study

The comic will consist of a family of 20 paneled images, drawn using a range of reference material, such as vintage photographs, modern photographs, famous busts or arrest photos and observatory drawings from public places, such as a café or the street. Previously, I had walked around the town center, sketching and recording various people and interesting conversations I found. This meant that I had a series of observatory drawings of characters which I could work off, as well as sketching new characters from recently found sources. When sketching it was made important that we should “look and draw” at all times, not worrying about detail or style, just recording what our eyes can see. It is important to work quickly when sketching from observation to get the main detail, such as shape, tone, line, down on the page. The area of focus for our comics was their head and shoulders, so I focused purely on those elements when sketching. 

I used a normal sketching pencil at first, but then experimented with blue and red pencil, which is common practice for illustrators, specifically comic book artists. They use a blue pencil over a typical sketching pencil as it does not smudge, can be edited out very easily when scanning to work digitally and allows us to work in the basic structure of the sketch, and then go over the design with a red pencil, before inking.

Task 2: Pencils

After creating a series of visual studies, I chose several characters that I wanted to use in my comic and proceeded to pencil those drawings into their respective panels, considering how I would draw each character a little differently, playing with different compositions and positions. Here I tried to add character and personality to my pencils, exaggerating certain features or traits which stood out to me when observing them originally.

Task 3: Inks

After penciling my sequence, it was time to add ink. Originally, my idea was to work monochromatically as the example on the brief, however once I added tone to one panel, I decided to go against this initial concept, still leaving a few panels monochromatic. However I liked the effect adding tone gave to the comic, it made some panels stand out compared to others: I liked the subtle contrast this created.

Task 4: Lettering

The final stage of the workshop involved filling in the empty panels with recorded “snippets” of conversations. This consisted of lines which may be taken out of context, funny quotes or serious dialogue. I recorded some interesting pieces of conversation, including the cliché “So I was like ….” and the not so cliché “Do I look like give a damn?”.

After a discussion, I decided to write my lettering in white, with a black background. This stark contrast proved to be very powerful and worked well with my black fills on the page, more than a regular black on white colour scheme for the lettering would have, I think.

Task 5: Review and Reflect

I think my comic works in the fact that the piece has a consistency of line, tone and visual style that may suggest a sequential narrative, despite none of the images having any thematic connection whatsoever. However, when reading the comic, I did find it difficult to see the piece as a whole narrative. Due to the democratic nature of the layout the variety of characters and backgrounds, I saw each panel as a separate narrative, viewing the comic as individual subjects rather than a whole.

This effect is very similar to that of Katsushika Hokusai’s early panelled studies, during the Edo period, shown below, which possesses a consistency of visual style, which suggests the panels follow a narrative, despite the fact that there really isn’t a continuous narrative.

 The democratic layout also makes the “comic” look much more regular structured and informal. With several notable exceptions, such as “Watchmen”, a democratic panel layout such as Hokusai’s and my own, creates a much more separate feeling to the panel than a layout with different sized and shaped panels, there is a more stilted sense of motion and flow here, suggesting that the subjects drawn are not necessarily shown in any real sequence.

Pages from Alan Moore’s “Watchmen”

I could do something like this in the medium of animation, animating my sketches of characters (seemingly not liked in any way) interconnected with recording of people speaking the conversation snippets I documented earlier. This is non-linear narrative animation would be an interesting experiment, as I have not attempted something like this before.

The themes of the brief consisted of creating a 20 panel comic exploring various sources for reference, interconnected with interesting pieces of overheard dialogue. I think I responded well to these ideas as I succeeded in producing a piece that met these requirements, and explored the use of white on black lettering for effect, in opposed to traditional black on white.

In this workshop, I learnt the effect a democratic comic can create, how to properly construct a head sketch for illustrations and how to add character and personality to sketches.

The before-mentioned Katsushika Hokusai was a source of inspiration for my comic, as the idea of an observational panelled study of local individuals originates from this artist. His traditional style and monochromatic colour scheme creates a very distinct and original effect on his work.

My outcome for this workshop was experimental to a certain extent. Firstly, I used a white on black lettering scheme opposed to the traditional colours, to experiment with an alternative look to the comic. At least one panel on each row was a black fill background and I think that, because of this, the alternative lettering compliments my comic very well and maintains the sense of visual consistency to the piece as a whole. The two blend very well with all of the other panels, and I think works better than a traditional black and white lettered panel would have.

Secondly, inspired by Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, the backgrounds of some panels feature different line work, drawn to create different emotions in the reader. I experimented with wavy, curly lines to suggest madness, and short, vertical lines the top of the panel to convey a sense of calm and quiet.