#i'm still working on the comic but why not make an animatic too???

[caitvellichor]

When figure drawing practice turns into a gif of Viktor dancing… (and a preview for the next chapter of the Ballet AU??? 😉)

[dianagj-art]

Alright! Patreon is UP!

I've been meaning to make myself a patreon for years now and is finally here!

Now you might be wondering "Diana, what are you gonna post there?" Honestly? Not anything that you won't eventually see here, so why should you hop on the patreon train and support me?

Well first of: you are supporting me and you'll get all my love and eternal gratitude!

Not enough for you?

Well, you'll also get to see a lot of my process when doing comics, illustrations and animatics!

I have 2 tiers right now, if you sign up for the Weekly Screenshots you'll get sneak peeks of whatever I'm working on, things that might get posted soon and some things that will stay in my PC for longer, but hey! You get too see them first!

There's also the Comic Early Access! For early access to my comics (no shit Sherlock) if you sign up for this you'll get to see full pages in different stages of being done, speed draws of my process and the full final pages a week before anyone else does!

And there is a soon-to-come Animation tier (I just want to test myself of how much I can get done to post first) where I'll share storyboards and different versions of the animatics and animations as I work through them. Meanwhile I'll be posting some screenshots on the first tier!

"Does this mean you are no longer posting comics on Tumblr?"

OF COURSE NOT!

If you can't afford patreon or just don't want to, you'll still get to see everything for free once I'm done! Just... at a slower pace

THATS IT! THANKS FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK!

[dorkfruit]

i put this together using my computer's trackpad so the new year is already starting out . bad .

posts: J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D

template

reflections on the year, my plans for the future, some studies i did, and wips for the next year all down below for those who are interested

tldr; we will be ianthing next year so watch out!!

oh dear lord it's been another year. 2024! can you believe it! i don't talk much on this blog because i have a tendency to talk too much, but it's my little new year's treat, so here we go.

RECAP

i started taking drawing "seriously" in December of 2020, starting to do studies and stuff, and each year since i've ramped it up more and more. this year, i did. a lot of studies. there's probably like at least 200 more in my folder now (not including the 300 days worth of gesture drawings i did), with things like painting, faces, feet, poses, etc. anything i was struggling with, i went right into studying it. my art has been mediocre for a pretty long time now, and it's only the past few months where i feel i'm starting to get the hang of it, which is exciting!

more importantly, i started posting a lot more on this blog. i really like documenting my progress, looking on where i was before and seeing how i've improved. everytime i draw some fanart, im like, oooghh i can't wait to show my (: followers (: !! lots of locked tomb art of course. i've been trying to nail the energy of the different characters, which is why i enjoy books so much, because you get a lot of creative control. drawing ianthe is my fav of course, cause she's my lil nasty, but also i enjoyed doing designs for characters i hadnt thought about before, like judith.

in addition to the locked tomb, we had some new fandoms that got brief moments in between iantheposting: Fear and Hunger, Postal, Faith The Unholy Trinity, and a couple of old ones too, like We Have Always Lived In The Castle and The Merciless.

i posted about 115 times this year, although most of those are shitposts LOL i love posting stuff on my blog and showing people my stuff <3

THE FUTURE

my plans? do more ianthe art, of course. ill be working on more studies, probably going to work on developing a style, and figuring out how to paint. i'd like to do more actually finished pieces, but let's be honest, it'll still be mostly shitpost doodles. i'd like to do more weird stuff. i've been messing around with some gore and NSFW near the end of the year, and it's fun to draw for me. i like idk art that evokes some type of emotion, especially discomfort, and so i find that type of art fun to do, so if you don't enjoy what i've done thus far in that direction, perhaps this isn't the blog for you. i really like horror media, and so i want to do some stuff like that too.

for specifics, i like western type art, a comic book-esque style i'd like to aim for. but i'd like it to be a little more. weird with it. i find comic books often draw all the characters the same, and make all the characters traditionally attractive, and that's boring to me so i'll have to work on finding a way to keep things weird, while also appealing in a graphic sense. the worst thing my art could be is bland and forgettable.

locked tomb wise... more tridentarii art. need to be really weird with it. i have lots of wips planned, like i have a whole page worth of just thumbnails, so i wanna get some of those done. also i had a few animatics i wanted to do. mostly stupid shit, once i learn how to do animatics, then we'll do actual serious ones. id also like to do more comics. i have some comics storyboarded out with my girlies, i like telling a story so, need practice on that. id also like to develop a way to consistently draw them, for convenience sakes, so i'm not fighting for my life every single time i draw these characters. oh and i wanna do some outfit stuff. i draw them in like. generic clothes everytime but i'd like to come up with a few actual outfit designs, that i can just reference back to. and, of course, more shitposts. lots of stupid shit in 2024 for sure. there was something else i wanted to say here but i can't remember.

ART

oki enough rambling, here's some IMAGES for yall to look at i know everyone loves to look at images.

began this year by warming up with gesture sketches (almost) every day. i started with 20 poses (30 seconds each), and then in november i was like. ugh my hands suck i need to get better at hands, so i switched to doing 10 hand sketches (60 seconds each). i want my art to be very energetic so it's important that i do these !!

anatomy studies of extremities because i'm flopping at those -_- ive gotten better with hands but they're still a struggle. i hate feet tho still

need to get my painting game up. i joined an art forum to get advice, and the biggest suggestion i got was working on my values, so i did various value studies. also lots of faces because my faces flop !!

random doodles to work on drawing from imagination. on my "sketchbook" pages, as i like to call them, i'm usually pretty loose and messy, since the point is just to be drawing so often these will suck, but that's fine. i don't think very much when i draw faces on here either so they end up being in my Instinctive Style i suppose you could say

ianthe wip. i was planning to do a few drawings based on the idea of her having Missing Arm nightmares, but the lineart was intimidating to me so i haven't worked on this one more yet /: also there was going to be a toontown gay homosexual toxic yuri comic that i was gonna put here with it but the page is way too long so umm guess that'll have to wait.

...

anyways. thank you for reading if you got to the bottom of this! i appreciate all the support that i've been getting lately (extra big kissies for the same like 5 people who always reblog my posts youre the best). and we will be ianthing soo hard in 2024 so watch out!!

[sopuu]

im so sorry if this is an annoying question but are you still working on the jesskas reunion animatic 😯

you're good dw! and about the animatic, it's both a yes and no?

to explain, and to give an update on on the au in general: CJAU has 3 main arcs, the second being the biggest (and has a secondary arc within). i already have an idea of what the end points of all those arcs would be like, and the reunion animatic marks the end of the first.

at the time i talked about the reunion (which i think was like. a year ago? around the time of the compliance comic? oh mygod) there was supposed to be two more comics before i wrapped it up, one of them being LWOAL. and since i work on multiple parts at the same time, the reunion already had a script going and i started thumbnailing right after Compliance was out. i even got halfway through the whole thing!

...but after some revisits to the storyline i just thought it wasn't good enough. i wanted the second arc to have a solid enough foundation for me to work with and what i had before wasn't cutting it, and as much as i wanted to get to it i don't want to rush things. so in between rethinking the plot, working on LWOAL and it getting like 3-4 redos, and the weird mcsm-specific burnout that happened mid oct-dec, the animatic was put on hold.

however! i've figured out many things since then and at this point in time there should be ~2-3 more comics before the reunion! and i want to actually pace myself this time before i start work on the animatic again. so while i'm not working on it atm, i still really, really want (and plan) to get it out someday :)

CJAU is kinda like an experiment for me to play around with making comics/storytelling since i've never tackled something this big before, so heads up things are always subject to change haha. i do think about it a lot and want to make it the best it can be- i like what i have going too, but ig sometimes it leads to a lot of unneeded pressure on myself,, it brings out the perfectionist in me idk why hfjkgd. im gonna try to chill out on that front tho, and in the meantime thanks for everyone's patience with me i know i take a while with this au 🥹

[the-pianist-from-accumula-town]

I'll share with you what I'm doing as my Bachelor's final project, hold on-

This little fella here is called Cebrita and is the mascot of the comic club at my uni. I'm making an animated short ad to play in all TVs in campus.

I'm doing it all, from modeling to rigging to animating, then editing and special effects.

Here's the animatic. Some parts will be 2D, some 3D. I'm doing this project with a friend, she does all 2D scenes and I do all 3D scenes.

I personally love how it's turning out and I hope I can have a project I'm proud of at the end of the year (and I hope it can land me a good job too).

There's still a lot of work to do, of course, but I'm optimistic! It's been quite a while since the last time I posted art here because this is taking all my time rn sooooo hey why not share it with you all? :)

If you would like to help a tired college student get their degree AND get a cool drawing while doing it, you could, I dunno, commission me or smth. Just an idea :3 All benefits will go towards ramen packets and coffe.

[rockanroller]

Honestly episode 4 wasn’t too bad, and this coming from someone whose been SA. surprised Ralph isn’t credited as a writer some this pretty much is just there fan comics and Valentino animatics, like viv stole all their ideas lol.

introducing Valentino is episode 2 was a bad idea because he’s voice performance is the absolute worst, they stepped it up in episode 4 by not giving him many lines and putting a voice filter on him. The stuff with Husk was ok, I can’t see them as a ship I just see them as the friend Angel needs and not a boyfriend, I didn’t think they’d drop his backstory so soon into the show and honestly I’ve seen fans do better lol

Loser baby is a nice song but not something you’d sing for someone whose been SA and is on a self destructive path. it’s a song that should’ve been saved for Charlie and Husk. Poison was definitely voyeuristic like if they wanted to show the mental effect it has on Angel they could’ve showed the aftermath of him beat up, crying just having a full blown panic attack like they did with addict. Idk why they villanious and disrespect sex work so much lol it’s painted as a negative and something to be shameful about,

Animation was really good, just these designs are so ugly

that's fair. i've seen some saying it's absolutely god-awful, while others have said it was good, or it was ok and they can see the potential / the aim but the execution missed the mark, etc.

idk if i'll be able to watch it anytime soon, lots of what i've seen has left such a rotten taste in my mouth/stomach that i'll have to give myself a few days or weeks before i attempt it.

they...put a voice filter...on Valentino...? what kind of filter?? what??? i can also understand seeing Husk and Angel more as friends than boyfriends. even tho i haven't seen the episode, the bits and pieces that've come across my feed have given me that same impression.

for Loser Baby i haven't heard it but i got the same impression you did, and the concept of it being a Husk and Charlie song sounds like a *much* better and more fitting idea. Loser Baby *felt* like it was attempting to do a "this sucks so make the best of it" or "you'll only be seen as trash so embrace it" empowerment thing but all i've seen and heard it seems to feel more "it won't get better so don't try" or smth like that.

i just caught Poison on my feed w/o the music and it was rough. i def agree with you that if it'd been more like Addict it would've been better, but this felt very "sex sells" and i don't think that's the right "rise" to attempt to get out of your audience when touching on SA, it felt more like...i feel like there's term for it i'm forgetting but it's like a type of masochistic/pity fetish where the narrative attempts to get the viewer sexually invested in a tragic character if that makes sense? idk how to explain it, i'll make a follow-up post if it comes back to me.

animation was fine from what i saw, seemed to be the most consistent (so far) but it still suffered from the quick / constant unnecessary and jarring camera shifting the rest of the show suffers from imo.

ty for sharing your thoughts!

[splendontcore]

Disclaimer: this was originally to be a little animatic...but it would be kind of complicated because of the music, the illustrations and because original script was 24 pages long, so i decided to make a fanfic instead. Sorry for any misspelling/grammar error, im still learning!

Special delivery!

It's sunday at Happy Tree Town. June 18th, 2006, fathers day! The low population of this insignificant place with such impressive green architecture was surely celebrating this important date. Who wouldn't be grateful for their father's existence? They didnt just give permissions when mom's doesn't want to, but also carrying you in the good path. Guiding every instance of your life and helping you to take good desicions...However, its a whole spectrum. Theres good dads, for example Petunia's dad, Mr. Kirainai; a hardworking business man who always mind about his family and cares that much about her only daughter that he even created a spot for her in the company which she is going to run someday, what a great heart he has! A dad would do anything for their children after all! But there's also bad dads, Tommy's dad could nail the subjet really well; Mr. Graff... he's at jail, some people especulate the reason was some domestic disputee that ended up with Tommy's older sister taking care of what was left alive...that's awful. And then, there are just dad's...neither good or bad. Most of the town old folks would fit in this term. Perfection doesn't exist, everyone is quite aware of that, but the closest thing to that its the delicious smell that Happy Tree Bakery left in the town's air. It was run by a sweet southern lady and her husband, who were expecting a baby boy, just called Ma and Pop by the town folks. Time passed and at the time this sweet moment happened, it was just the husband who was in charge.

Francis Cooper and their squirrel pet Splendont, named after the Splendid's comic character and not the infamous antihero in disguise obviously, walked to the big ol empty tree stump reused as small bakery, greeted by the smell of freshly baked pastries and the sound of cheerful customers.

-Pop, happy Father's Day! I'd like to place an order for some special donuts.

Francis said, with a gentle smile.

-Thank you, Franny honey! What can I get for you today?

Francis glances at the menu board, pondering their choices.

-I'll have a box of honey drizzled donuts, a box of bacon and syrup donuts, and a box of jelly-filled donuts.

Pop starts preparing the donuts, skillfully drizzling honey, sprinkling bacon bits, and filling the donuts with jelly.

Francis gets s bit curious, wasnt today an important day to remember the importance of dad in their life? Why he was working in his normal schedule insted of spending time bonding with this only child?

-Pop, why are you working on Father's Day? Don't you want to spend time with your son?

Pop left escape a small sigh and keep working in the order as he speaks.

-Well, you see, Franny, my deceased wife always encouraged hard work. She believed that putting love and dedication into what we do is important. So, in her honor, I continue to bake and serve delicious treats on special days like this.

Franci's eyes widen with understanding and admiration.

-That's really admirable, Pop. Your wife's values live on through your dedication. And I'm sure your baby son appreciates it too.

-Thank you, Flaky. At the end of the day, I'll have some quality time with my son. It's all about finding a balance.

Francis smiles, feeling a sense of warmth and connection. Then they tooks their wallet and took some money.

-Here's the payment, Pop. I hope these donuts bring joy to whose receive them.

Pop took the money while smiling back at the them.

-Thank you, Franny. I'm sure they'll love them.

Francis bids farewell to Pop, carrying the boxes of donuts, ready to surprise the fathers in their life.

Then they walks along the quiet streets, a determined look on their face can be seen on. Splendont scampers alongside them.

-So, Flaky, why did you get so many boxes of donuts? Last time I checked, you only have one dad.

Splendont said, while raising one of his stupid squirrel eyebrows.

-Well, Splendont, these boxes aren't just for my dad. They're for the significant men in my life who have been like fathers to me.

Splendont looks intrigued, his curiosity piqued.

-Ah, I see. Pray, do tell, who are these lucky recipients?

Francis stopped for a moment, trying to explain Splendont the significant bonds they has.

-First, there's Stephen's dad. You know...when we were toddlers, his parents used to take care of me. They were like second parents to me when my own dad was still grieving for my mom's loss. Then there's Mr. Johnson, my history teacher. He moved next to my house a few years ago. His own children don't visit him, so my presence helps fill that void in his life. He's been like a father figure to me.

-Oh, the retired soldier with the thousand miles stare? Interesting. And anyone else?

Franci's gaze becomes more solemn as they speaks.

-Lastly, there's my real dad. Despite his struggles with drug problems, I still care for him and hope that someday he can overcome them and be like he used to be in my childhood. He may not be a perfect dad, but he's still my dad.

Splendont's eyes soften as he takes in Flaky's words. He lefts his sarcastic comments behind to speak his mind.

-I didn't realize how many people hold a special place in your heart, kiddo. That's quite remarkable.

Francis nods as they resume their walk.

-They may not be related to me by blood, but they have made a significant impact on my life. And I want to show my appreciation for them.

Francis stops in front of Stephen's house.

-Oh, and I also wanted to send something to my yayo in Spain, but I already sent him a postcard a few weeks ago, I hope he receives it.

Francis knocks on Stephen's door, ready to give the gratitude filled boxes. They stands at the doorstep, holding the box of donuts, as Sofia, Stephen's older sister, opens the door. Sofia rolls her eyes at the sight of Francis.

-Ah, genial, es otro de los amigos inadaptados de Stephen. Stephen, your little buddy is here!

Sofia walks away, heading to the dining room where the family is gathered for the Father's Day celebration. The aroma of Chilean cuisine fills the air.

Francis shifts uncomfortably, feeling a bit out of place, maybe they should planned this to happen earlier. Stephen appears at the doorway, intrigued by Franci's unexpected arrival.

-Hey, Flaky. What's in the box?

Stephen said while raising an eyebrow.

Franci's eyes light up, realizing Stephen is curious about the box. They holds it out to him with a gentle smile.

-Its just some jelly filled donuts, Sniffles, just the onesthat your dad likes. It's Father's Day, and I wanted to give something special to the significant men in my life. This one is for your dad.

Stephen takes the box, a mix of surprise and appreciation crossing his face.

-Wow, Flaky, that's really thoughtful of you. Thank you. You know that you are part of this family too and we all care for you.I'm sure he'll appreciate the gesture, Flaky. He's in the dining room celebrating with the family. Mom made completos, his favorite food. Do you remember them, right?

Francis nods as they recall the numerous timrs they used to eat those overstuffed hot dogs...so delicious.

-Yeah, lous coumpletous, moi gueno...

Stephen's laughs softly about their butchered pronunciation. At least they tries.

-Well, I have more boxes to give this day. Keep celebrating. See ya tommorow!

Francis turns to leave, knowing that their gesture of appreciation will be appreciated by Stephens' dad and the rest of the family.

Francis and Splendont walk side by side, heading towards Mr. Johnson's house. Franci's flipphone rings, and they takes it out to see that it's thei friend, Nathniel, calling.

-Oh, it's Nutty! I wonder what he wants.

Splendont smirks mischievously, nudging Francis playfully.

-Ah, that kid. I bet he's just bored and wants someone to entertain him. Better pick up, Francis.

Francis gives Splendont a playful glare before answering the call.

-Hey, Nutty! What's up?

Nathniel was just laying on his candy cane themed bed. The room was filled with candy envelopes as usual, just the normal panoram in his house.

-Hey, Flaky. I'm just feeling kind of bored, and Sniffles is busy. Thought you might be free to hang out or something.

Francis glances at Splendont, then to the boxes in their hands, feeling a bit torn.

-Oh, Nutty, I wish I could hang out, but I'm actually on my way to Mr. Johnson's house right now. We have some things to discuss.

Nathniel would be lying if he said he wasnt disappointed by the answer, but there's nothing he could do to convince them so he just tried to keep up the conversation.

-Oh, no worries, Flaky. I...I understand. What's going on with Mr. Johnson, anyways?

-Well, it's Father's Day, and I wanted to give him something special to show my appreciation. I thought we could have a little chat too so he doesnt spend this day alone.

Fathers day? Is today? How he could it forget? Oh...because his parents dont live with him, duh. At the time this call was ocurring, his both parents where at his dad's home country, Germany, they had a full schedule of conferences to give.

-Ah, got it. Father's Day. That makes sense. I hope he appreciates the gesture.

-I'm sure he will, Nutty. He's been like a father figure to me. And hey, speaking of Father's Day, I remember you mentioning something about sending a gift to your dad in Germany.

He did? OH, YES! He didnt forget it at all!

-Oh, yeah. I sent him some delicious box filled with fancy chocolates, the best of the best. I even get two boxes for myself! But, you know, I couldn't help but worry about them getting lost in the mail or, even worse, the postman eating them all! They are so sneaky, ugh!

Francis chuckles at Nathniel's humorous concerns.

-Nutty, I highly doubt the postman would eat your chocolates. I'm sure they'll arrive safely, and your dad will be thrilled to receive them.

-You're right, Flaky. I'm just being silly. Thanks for calming my nerves.

-No problem, Nutty. Don't worry too much. Enjoy the rest of the day yourself! I'm already at Mr Johnson's house so I guess have to hung up...Take care of yourself, bye!

-Thanks, Flaky. Have a great time with Mr. Johnson.

Francis reaches Mr. Johnson's front door, ghey ends the call and looks at Mr. Johnson's house, ready to celebrate Father's Day with their caring teacher.

Mr. Johnson was sitting on a cozy armchair, engrossed in embroidering a blanket while his favorite vinyl plays softly in the background. He's lost in his thoughts, trying not to dwell on the significance of the date - Father's Day. Giving a stare to some of his frame photos you could tell he used to have a family of his own. Wife, kids and even a cute puppy. Everything was gone. His struggle with PSTD left him living alone at his old age. He havent heard of any of his children since he got divorcied some decades ago. The only thing he hopes it that at least they dont commit the same error as him to join at the militia. The sound of the doorbell breaks the silence, and Mr. Johnson's face lights up with hope. He quickly puts aside his embroidery and rushes to the door, anticipation in his eyes. Francis stands outside, holding the box of honey drizzled donuts at top. They smiles warmly when Mr. Johnson opens the door.

-Cooper! What a pleasant surprise...I thought it might be one of my children visiting on this special day.

He said the last sentence with a bit of disappointment.

Francis tries to be upbeat and grins at him.

-Well, Mr. Johnson, I'm here to celebrate Father's Day with you! I brought these honey drizzled donuts as a small token of appreciation.

Mr. Johnson's eyes well up with emotion, touched by Franci's thoughtfulness.

-Cooper, you have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you for considering me an important person in your life.

Mr. Johnson's gets his eyes tear filled by the nice gesture of his best worst student. At least someone stills seeing him as an important person in their life.

-You've been more than just a teacher to me, Mr. Johnson. You've been a guiding figure and someone I can always count on. I wanted to show my gratitude on this special day.

They share a heartwarming moment, both feeling the connection between them, just like as a father with their child.

-Thank you, Francis Cooper. This is truly touching. Come on in, let's celebrate together.

They step inside, and Mr. Johnson leads Francis to the cozy living room. They sit down, enjoying the sweet treats and engaging in heartfelt conversation. The atmosphere is filled with warmth and gratitude. Mr Johnson resumes his embroidery session, now with the help of some extra hands to spent the rest of the day.

--------

Francis and Splendont walk back home after some hours, there's just one box left in Franci's hands. Splendont can't resist making a sarcastic comment, as usual.

-Wow, Flaky, I never thought I'd see the day you would spend time inside of that crazy old man house. What are you going to do tomorrow? Cut his grass and make his dinner?

-Oh, please. You're just jealous you didn't get to enjoy those delicious donuts.

They continue their walk, bantering back and forth, their friendship stronger than ever.

As they arrived the Cooper's residence, Francis and Splendont enter the living room, carrying the last box of donuts. But happens that Franci's dad is already passed out on the couch, surrounded by empty bottles and used needles.

-Looks like my dad beat us to it, as usual.

Splendont hops off Flaky's shoulder, transforming into his humanoid form. He looks at Francis with a mixture of amusement and sympathy.

-Well, Flaky, can't say I'm surprised. You should've expected this outcome.

-I guess you're right, Splendont. It's the usual scene around here...

Francis places the box of donuts on a small table near the couch. They leans down and gently kisses their dad's forehead, despite his unconscious state.

-Happy Father's Day, Dad.

They takes two donuts from the box, one for themself and one for Splendont.

-At least I can still honor the important men in my life, even if they're not perfect.

Splendont smirks and takes a bite of his donut, savoring the sweetness.

-These bacon donuts are way too much...but terribley fantastic Thanks, I guess.

Francis nods, content with the simple gesture of celebrating Father's Day in their own way. They walks towards their room, munching on their donut, with Splendont following close behind. Then they both enter, closing the door behind them. They takes a seat on their matress, feeling a sense of fulfillment. Frqncis gazes at the donut in their hand, reflecting on the day and the men who have shaped their life. They takes another bite, savoring the flavor, grateful for the opportunity to thank them.

[quartings]

All the art and animations I'll be working on in 2023!

Hi, everyone! We're entering a big new year, and I'd like to make a few announcements about all the different projects I'm planning to start and release in the coming year! First of all-

College Adventures will have its final season! Not a big surprise, but I do plan to journal my final semester in college to round out the series- it's been a crazy four years and I can't wait to close them off with you all! I already have several episodes planned! One of which being a REALLY BIG INTERVIEW with an extremely famous animator I managed to land!

Fanart for new releases: JoJo Part 9 will release in February, and hopefully Pokemon Adventures will round up ORAS in their volumes, SwSh in their magazine releases, and hopefully start SV soon! Which of course, means more JoJoMon content! And with more Gen 9 announcements hopefully coming this Feburary with Pokemon Day, I miiiight be able to free up some time and ideas for short voiced animatics too! No promises on that one, though. Do expect a lot more Pokespe content this year, though! Will I make a Pokespe Vines & Memes 3? Hmm... not that soon, but not never!

Pokeani content? Probably not, but who knows? Maybe Riko will surprise me, or maybe she'll also have to suffer 25 years of character assassination * shrugs *

The Guardians of the Galaxy marathon and my final moments with the MCU: I haven't formally announced it, but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 will by the final MCU project I watch, since James Gunn is moving on to DC and I want to end my MCU experience on a guaranteed high note. In honor of this, I plan on marathoning every film or special that the GotG have appeared in (GotG, GotG Vol 2, Infinity War, Endgame, Love and Thunder, and the GotG Holiday Special), and journaling down all my thoughts on every little character moment and easter egg and why I love this particular wing of the MCU so much. On top of that, you know I'll definitely be making tons of fanart for GotG3 when it drops, and I even have plans to make a voiced animatic in the leadup to its release, even if I'll be extremely busy with animation finals at that time- just because I love this series so much.

Wishful Thinking (Animated Short): I'm really sorry for still being so in the dark on this, but even though I'll be finishing up animation on the short before May, due to legal reasons I can't actually put it on Tumblr or Youtube until it finishes making the rounds at film festivals maybe sometime next year. I'll definitely see if I can put together a trailer at least, once I know for sure what the actual release date will be! I really hope everything goes well with this though- It's my biggest project ever and over three times longer than my last animated short, Flo's Cat Chase, so I really hope a lot of people watch it and like it Q_Q

More voice acting content for other people's projects! While these announcements may also take a while to come out, I will say that I have landed several decently-large voice acting roles in other projects, too! I'll definitely post proper announcements for them here when they come out!

The Great Unknown: Since I graduate from college this May, the rest of the year will probably consist of me moving across the country and trying to find a job- no idea how this will impact my content output, but I hope to spend all my time not working or job hunting making more comics, animations, and voice acting bits to expand my portfolio! I'll try my best to expand my YouTube channel during this time, too! Hopefully I can get a bit closer to my dream of becoming an animation showrunner!

[paynnincorporated]

Ask meme: 5, 6, 7 :)

Hehe. Some of these answers won't surprise you in the least lmao. Long long answers ahead if anyone cares to read X3

5. Least favourite moment and why

I have several, but I think they can all be summarised as "lost character potential moments". I think my least favourite moment is Kitt's treatment in Slithercorp (and overall). She's quite literally set up to fail against Artha, and is made to accept it in this very episode :') Kitt deserved better, and after scrapping the love interest route the writers were definitely fumbling to do anything with her. Runner ups to this are: Pyrrah's track record lol. Supposedly the leader of the crew with the cleanest record yet she hastily scraps her integrity for power/greed. Other one is Word mag clawing Moordryd, his verbal abuse and general uncaring of throwing Moord into dangerous scenarios (Really? Sending him without protection into the shadow track after talking about your beloved dead wife???). It irks me that the direction the series was going was that Moord and his dad might reconcile with Armeggadon's arrival, but the way his character is made to be so plainly vile to Moord is so frustrating. (Lol I was a Word Paynn Hater until fairly recently, if you would believe it X3) 6. Do you ship any pairings?

Psft. My whole blog is largely dedicated to Word/Zulay, because it's ripe with storytelling possibility! Partners in crime, till death do they part, leaving the one left behind with survivor's guilt that he channels into unhealthy obsession to succeed in her memory???? Ooft. Plus, I get to have fun with fleshing out life in all levels of Dragon City. It kills me when I think of Word meeting Zulay in his lowest moments (poor and struggling after his exile) and her helping him out. Then they build a whole tower from bottom up together only for her to die before their family even starts. It's almost tragically poetic.

I very rarely ship anything seriously, but I was moved and inspired enough by these two evil lovebirds to make an entire 2 minute long animatic of them to Clair De Lune. So yeah. Beautiful but terrible tragedy is how I love describing them. Other pairings I ship... I'm not too big on any tbh! Possibly Cain/Moordryd, Artha/Moordryd, Parm/Artha? Connor/Word is another fascinating one, I'd love to see someone write an au where they're still besties and are BAMFs in stopping Meggy. Otherwise, toxic exes is fun too! It's fun because there's a lot of potential writing about how the Priesthood really affected them both (A cult like community training and indoctrinating children about war?? Oof.)

7. How'd you get into DB?

I watched it on Astro Ceria as a 6 or 7 year old, and it got me to draw my first ever fanart comic in a notebook. This led to me picking up drawing! I don't have anything from that time, but the character/shape designs (All largely Peter Detina's hard work!) were extremely influential to my style.

[cri8ive-scrapbook]

Of animation and inspiration

A little (pffff - sorry, folks, my text blog entries are *lengthy*) update on what's going on on the drawing board, and a great book recommendation!

Alright, so... lately I've been dabbing on an old passion that I had forfeit for many years; playing around with video editing software to create animated "lyrics videos" of songs I like. I am very much a Flash baby - I learned to use Flash in the early 2000s and was instantly won over by the great ease with which I could create little animated trailers with my still artworks, or nifty intros for my websites. But being also AuDHD, when Flash was discontinued, I felt too intimidated to try other video editing softwares where I'd have to re-teach myself everything, and gave up on animations altogether. It wasn't until about last year that I was drawn back to it, at first just for some short commercial videos I was commissioned by a client, and discovered an easy enough program like Filmora that allowed me to get decent effects in a simple interface.

The more I used it for work, the more I felt pulled to again create animation from my own art. I made some shy attempts, and the results were encouraging, but I also became aware of Filmora's limits so I'm now using a bundle of it plus Sony Vegas Pro for carrying out something that is as close as possible to what my mind sees. Being an amateur, self-taught and with great lacks in my artistic abilities, fulll frame-by-frame animatics are beyond my scope (possibly forever); but I can get a satisfying result through the interpolation of still pictures, some sfx, and music score to suggest moods and storylines.

When I work on my little "animated" projects, I always feel compelled to re-read Wendy Pini's Law & Chaos book. Because her approach to the Michael Moorcock's Stormbringer movie she wanted to make in her days as an animation student rings so true to my own experience. What I do in digital nowadays is essentially what she did with painstakingly and lovingly crafted traditional art back in the days; tell a story through the use of key scenes visualized in detail, with the artistic rendition (the inks, the perspective, the colors) in charge of the emotional response and a little additional help from technology and background music.

But there's more to this. Because Law & Chaos reasonates with me to a much deeper, personal level. The earlier pages where Wendy explains how her artwork had always been projected toward animation, how she had always wanted her characters to move, is something I could say from the depth of my own soul. Already as a kid I was more interested in the "movement" than in the finishing (which, I suspect, is why I was such a reluctant learner of techniques or more "technical" drawing); I used speech balloons to show the interaction between characters. I remember my mother would occasionally try to discourage me pointing out that comics distracted from the drawing; my poor mother, I think, associated art more with "traditonal" paintings. Occasionally, she would complain that "it'd be better to put up your drawings if it was just the art, without the speech balloons" and sometimes, to amuse her, I tried, but it seeemd to me that the pictures were then "muted", that the stories and dynamics I saw behind them couldn't be expressed because the characters couldn't "speak".

I was always conscious of my limits. I had seen documentaries on the cartoons I loved, and I knew that a lot of work went behind those smooth animations, and a snide part of me already as a kid knew I'd never be able to pull off anything like that. I was (and am) heavy handed; I delete and redraw so often that in the time of traditional art I'd always tear down the paper and that'd work me into a crying fit because then I had to redraw *everything else* and, on second try, the result was always, for some reason, below par with the first permanently ruined attempt. I wasn't patient. I wasn't nimble-handed. I longed to tell stories with my art - but animation seemed a world out of my reach. So I made "mini-comics" instead. I was content. "The small truth" (to quote the character Strongbow in Wendy Pini's independent comic series, the long-running ElfQuest), was enough for me.

Then... around the time I was 8 or 9, something unexpected happened. Computers arrived in Italy too, and quickly became popular, and next thing I knew not only we had them in school but a lot of my class mates had their own computers at home, and *then* suddenly I was reading up on computers, and *then* I suddenly had my own, and a new world of opportunities suddenly opened before me. When everyone and their cousin was hyped about playing videogames (Internet woudln't be a thing until some years later, and ADSL/WiFi until MUCH later down the line), I could only think of two things; a computer would allow me to have my fiction stories actually look like books and it would allow me to animate my drawings. Have them move, finally tell the stories they were imbued with - and without the need for speech ballons or any filters.

Such "wild" dreams from a learning-challenged kid of under-10, back in the late 1990s, can only sound hilarious in hindsight. Scrambling with Paint, creating "pictures" that I find repulsive today, I felt like I was doing something grandiose and one step closer to my dream of seeing my pictures come alive and tell their stories. I was soon to find out it wasn't so easy and computers didn't "magically" animate things - but, with all my limits, I no longer felt like I was a spectator watching on a world that would forever be out of my reach. I was a beginner, a rookie, on the amateur track still. But I had broken past he wall that separated me from that world of fancies. It would take time, it would take patience, but I was en route and now the journey could only go on. And on.

There were pitfallls, as there always are, and moments when I'd just grow so frustrated or have so many hassles to draw me away from that world completely. This, too, I found in Wendy's recollections in the Law & Chaos book. But there were also moments when my heart soared. When Internet became a thing, and I learned about animated GIFs, and the first thing I did was download a gif animator software and sketch a silly doodle of one of my wolves and animate it. It was crude, nonsensical, poorly executed, and if I think back about it today, I wince; but back then I felt like I was yet one step closer to the dream, and I cheered, and I was ridiculously proud of myself and of what I had done. Then came Flash. Another step closer to the dream. Short snippets, little more than "trailers" of RPs or spooky scenettes for Halloween - but it was *happening*. The first breath of life was infused to my still drawings. I'm writing this now before I delve back into the inks of my latest, current project; a full lyrics video, the second I've made since 2022, after two smaller projects (a series of flashes and a partecipation in a MAP video with other friends). If the first was just a test run to see "if I could do it", now I'm more demanding, with myself and with my tools. I'm using two video editors, not one, because I want the "theater of the mind" (thanks, Wendy!) to look exactly as I know it should. I'm trying to put as much work in every still image as I'll be able to. I have made a screenplay, with the exact sequence of each scene set to match certain moments of the music score. I have made a test-run with the rough sketches and am jotting down notes on what aspects will need to be fine-tuned (a more well-timed fade in/fade out effect, a better placed transition, etc). And I'm weeping with joy and going over this gem of a book again just as I'd told a long time friend "Remember all our talks on animation? Well I'm doing it now, I'm there, I succeeded!"

Because I've taken the final step, and now the dream - my dream - is becoming true.