#only when it comes to pixel characters cause irl i pull no one

[sky-is-the-limit]

I love being bisexual.

[skellagirl]

Hiya! First of all I wanted to say I am greatly enjoying your work and the way you draw, people with artistic skills honestly always amaze me because I am hopeless when it comes to art haha.

Also I saw your tag about kotallos hair and I had to say something. I don't believe that they are dreadlocks however they most likely are matlocks, it's it's similar thing but not quite.

As far as I know, which is the bare minimum, matlock are Scandinavian(?) , they would braid their hair and as they worked/fought it would tangle and mat hints the name, and given that the tenakth are a warrior tribe it fits. It's also something you can notice in aloys hair though more noticeably because of the color of it.

Have a great day! ~🦊

First, thank you so much for the kind words! :)

As far as Kotallo's hair, I really don't know anything about locs vs dreads vs mats vs etc haha...... I do know about the theory of dreads being Scandinavian/Viking, but I still just... don't really like Kotallo having them lol (and I've never noticed them in Aloy's hair? Hers seems to be all braids)

I dislike them on Kotallo partly bc the texture of the hair on his scalp is smooth and 'loose' (like you could run your fingers through it), but then he has the dreads, but ONLY on the part of his hair that's pulled back into a ponytail, which is a weird juxtaposition to me, from like an artistic/design standpoint. It makes it seem like he never takes his hair out of its ponytail... which, maybe he doesn't, I guess lol? cause if he did his hair would definitely continue matting up to his scalp

I also dislike them just bc he's like, the only white character who has them as far as I can tell? Not even other tenakth have dreads, unless I'm misremembering (it's been a couple weeks since I finished the game), so it doesn't seem to be an aspect of them being warriors, y'know?

And then, yeah... The cultural connotations are just a little bit weird for me (especially in a game that already has some other....... awkward......... cultural connotations such as killing the main black man for the main white woman's pain). I'm not hugely educated on this subject, as a white woman, so maybe I'm speaking out of my ass lol, I'm trying to go off of what I've seen lots of poc say but I'll never have as good or as nuanced an understanding of this issue as they do

either way, it was an intentional design choice to give Kotallo dreads, just like it's an intentional design choice to give a woman character next-to-no clothes ('she CHOOSES to dress this way' kind of falls apart when 'she' is a mass of pixels with no sentience, y'know? just like 'they're warriors' doesn't hold much water to me when nearly all the other characters in the Horizon universe are warriors and very few of them have dreads, and also when there are many other irl historical warrior hairstyles to draw inspiration from) and it's one that I dislike and disagree with, so I just draw him with loose hair and braids

[doomednarrative]

I’m doing this for fun simply because I'm rewatching them all so,

Here's my personal ranking for Every Gorillaz Music video, based both on song and the video itself:

(This is going to be a long post)

PHASE ONE:

Tomorrow Comes Today: 7/10. I love this song and the video fits its vibe, but its still pretty simplistic and not a whole lot of actual animation and no story, so it gets points off for that.

Clint Eastwood: 10/10. I love this one honestly. Its still so charming after all this time and showcases the band well for their early days. Love the more moody tone of it, and I always love seeing the band actually play instruments in their videos too. Bonus points for Murdoc's laugh opening this one because I love that.

Rock The House: 9/10. Pure fun. I don't have a lot of commentary for it, I just think its fun and I love the song itself too. One point off for Murdoc thrusting his hips too many times for my eyes tho.

19-2000: 10/10. This one was the first Gorillaz video that I saw and it really is just a nice non plot connected video. The 3D animation still manages to hold up because of its mix with 2D animation in my opinion and I enjoy it.

Rockit: 5/10. I like the song but the video is kinda meh.

PHASE ONE MV'S OVERALL: Overall I like phase one and I miss Del. Bring him back.

PHASE TWO:

Dirty Harry: 8/10. 2D is just vibing so hard in this video and I'm living for it. That’s all that matters. (Side note but I love the version of this video they did for the BRIT's as well.)

DARE: 10/10. Noodles time to shine, a perfect song, what more could you ask for?? (Also love the bit with Murdoc at the end of course.)

Feel Good Inc: 10/10. This one is obvious if you know me at all. Murdoc playing his bass is what sells this one for me cause I enjoy the animation. The songs amazing and one I find comforting to listen to, and the mood of the video fits it perfectly. Theres some really fun shots with lighting while 2D is standing at the window too in the tower in here that I've always liked.

El Mañana: 6/10. I love this song but it makes me sad and so does the video.

PHASE TWO MV'S OVERALL: Phase One is iconic for its art style and for being The Beginning, but Phase Two is my favorite of the two for its art. I love how these videos are animated, and even if Demon Dayz is my least favorite album, the songs in these videos are all very good. Pretty solid as a whole all things considered.

PHASE THREE:

Stylo: 10/10 LISTEN, I KNOW SOME PEOPLE HATE THE CGI, BUT I LOVE IT. It’s so expressive, this song is one of my absolute faves, I’m sorry to be such a Murdoc liker but hes so much fun in this video and so expressive and it starts the story off for Plastic Beach. I love it so much.

On Melancholy Hill: 7/10. It’s not a bad video, and I love the song a lot, but...not a lot actually happens in the video aside from the bits with Noodle. Bonus points however go to just how seamlessly it puts 2D and 3D animation together, and for how cute 2D looks this whole video.

Rhinestone Eyes: 9/10. WOULD BE A 10/10 IF WE’D GOTTEN OFFICIAL ANIMATION FOR IT ;-; (The fan animated video for it tho is Very very good and i applaud that whole team.) Amazing song, this video has the most story packed into it so far from all the other videos and it’s memorable from its storyboards for that alone.

Doncamatic: 10/10 Listen...Listen I know its a one off and it doesn't really have anything in it but I’m obsessed because its one of my favorite Gorillaz songs tbh and I love Daley’s outfit in it so it gets a full pass from it.

PHASE THREE MV’S OVERALL: I love every video this phase tbh, none of them are bad. All of them are fun,and even if Melancholy Hill is a little slow, it’s still enjoyable. I love this phase because they all connect and I know I’m not the only one who feels that way either.

PHASE FOUR:

Hallelujah Money: 7/10. It’s not at all bad, but I’m as not fond of this song, and the video itself is much too trippy for me. Still has its own merits tho that I won’t knock it for even if it’s not my personal taste.

Saturn Barz: 10/10. Everything about this video is amazing. Character designs and as a comeback for the bands animated counterparts, it was perfect. I loved hearing them actually speak again too it made the whole thing so fun. The song is fuckin awesome and it fits the vibe of the whole video. Bonus points for the more lineless animation style they gave everyone in this video, it was a really neat change from past phases. My one complaint is again stop making me see so much naked Murdoc, I may like him but not like that.

Sleeping Powder: 6/10. I am so split when it comes to the mo cap models. This songs good but the video is again too trippy for me.

Strobalite: 9/10. Would have been 10/10 if Russel got to dance with 2D and Noodle, but other than that its pretty damn good. The mo cap looks way less awkward in here, particularly Murdoc and Russel. Also hilarious that Murdoc made a deal with the devil, and the guy who played him is actually his voice actor irl. This songs too much fun to vibe to as well.

PHASE FOUR MV’S OVERALL: Not much for story, but makes up for it in updated art and great music again. Solid overall yet again. I like it.

PHASE FIVE:

Humility: 20/10. Literally every single person I know who’s seen this video loved it. The animation is Beautiful, the song is so fuckin catchy, Jack Black is in it! What more do you want!! (The only thing I could have asked for was to see more of Ace but that’s its only flaw.)

Tranz: 9/10. I love this song so much but this video is Again just a little too trippy for me. However, we get to see Ace just jamming out in this video and I’ll take the trippiness just for that.

PHASE FIVE MV’S OVERALL: I was surprised there wasn't at least one more video for this phase honestly? I feel like Kansas or Souk Eye would have made for great videos for this phase. That aside tho, both the videos it does have are a lot of fun. My literal only complaint is that I wanted to see more of Ace. Bring him back in the future.

PHASE SIX:

Momentary Bliss: 8/10. This songs fine, but what sells it for me is the video is more slice of life/a day in the life of the studio. I’m always a fan of those moments. Bonus points goes to Murdoc trying to fuckin poison Jamie and it backfiring on him.

Désolé: 10/10: ooooh this song is so beautiful...I love it so much. 2D Noodle and Russel got to have such a fun time in this video and they deserve it. And poor Murdoc, having his little sad times by his asshole self. I love him but I think he deserved it. The others needed a good break from the bullshit and I’m glad they got it.

Aries: 6/10. Video itself is kinda boring, but the song is nice. Murdoc deserved to be left behind in Désolé after what he tried to pull here.

Friday the 13th: 3/10. I don’t care for this video and I really don’t care for the song. Not much else to say.

PAC-MAN: 6/10. Video’s fine, I like some of the little details in it, but it’s nothing special. The song itself is nice tho, super calming, I like it.

Strange Timez: 20/20 MY GOD I LOVE THIS ONE SO MUCH...VISUALS ARE SO FUN, I LOVE ROBERT SMITH SO I LOVE HIM IN HERE, ITS JUST A GOOD TIME ALL AROUND!

The Pink Phantom: 5/10 I just don’t really care for this song?? I like Elton John but I couldn’t get myself to like this one no matter how many times I’ve listened. 2D got to be happy in this video tho so I’ll give it a pass.

The Valley of the Pagans: 6/10. This song fuckin slaps but the video feels like a boring redo of 19-2000 except for it’s ending. It gets points for giving everyone Plastic Beach feelings at the end and hyping up the video after it.

The Lost Chord: 20/20. Y’all knew this was coming. This was something I’d BEEN hoping for story wise and I finally got it. Was it maybe a little rushed? Yes. But GOD it was such a nice thing to see them say “hey we’ve wrapped up this part of the story for good and want everyone to move on from it, so we’ve given it a properly acknowledged final send off.” And tangibly seeing everyone's emotions laid out about the island and their times there was very nice. And  I know Jamie and Damon have stated Murdoc is irredeemable, blah blah yes I know hes an asshole still, but I WILL think about Murdoc in this video and how he seemed actually regretful and what that means to me and the fact that it was no one else but 2D himself being the one to reach out to Murdoc in the end to save him until my dying breath, thank you very much. And this song?? Fuckin beautiful, it had those Plastic Beach vibes again and felt good for it’s send off song, I love it.

PHASE SIX MV’S OVERALL: I may be a little split on some of them and on Song Machine as a whole, but tbh I love the phase six art style so much and most times the videos were pretty good. Bringing back PB in the end was something I always wanted too so it really does get bonus points from me for that. I’m 50/50 on them overall. The great ones are great, and the meh ones are just kinda boring, so it evens out in the end.

STAND ALONE VIDEOS MENTION:

Do Ya Thing: 10/10. I’ve said before I love the 3D animation and the slice of life stuff, so this one’s obviously a favorite, and you really cant go wrong with an Andre 3000 feature either. 

Superfast Jellyfish: 3/10. This song is kinda fun but I don’t give a single shit about the music video.

Garage Palace: 8/10. Very fun pixel visuals for a change along with a killer song, super enjoyable.

So what’s my final verdict on Gorillaz and their long music video history?

Honestly for a group thats been going as long as they have, I dont think they have too many misses in their catalog. The ones that aren’t as fun are just kinda there, but the videos that really stand out stand out far above the ones that don’t hit the mark as well and in the end it all feels like a good balance. No band has a perfect video every time, but the ones that Gorillaz did well they did amazing on and I enjoy it immensely when that happens.

Sidenotes after watching all of those:

For the love of god please put Russel in the videos more, please, he deserves it and I would love to see him more.

On that note, BRING DEL BACK WITH HIM TOO!!

And speaking of characters to bring back, I want Ace to come back and join Murdoc sometimes, even if its only once or twice more, I need to see them interact PLEASE.

Last note but Jamie, please, I’m begging, show less of mostly naked or fully naked of Murdoc in future videos, we’ve had our fill by now.

[boss-magne]

PETA and Animal Crossing

Disclaimer:  I have 0 issue with folks who are vegetarian/vegan. I also have no issue with people playing a game in a way that makes them happy. What I DO take issue with, however, are people who act like their way is the best or morally superior way, which is what I’m going to get into today. I also have no issue (and even SUPPORT) animal welfare and wanting animals to be treated better than they are. I do not, however, support the way that PETA does it, which is a whole ‘nother issue for another time.

That being said... let’s get into it!

So, what inspired me to write this was Illuminaughtii’s video on Youtube regarding the same article (archived here for reference). However, since she has never actually played the game, her perspective was, admittedly, limited... so being an active player, I felt it would be interesting to go through myself and Do a Thing. Now, my biggest umbridge is that PETA’s whole focus is that animals in the game should be treated like real animals. I’m not going to argue against this every time they pull this, because then this whole writeup would be nothing but “are you fucking stupid? They’re pixels,” so let’s get this out of the way first. Literally nothing in this game harms an actual, living animal. No animals are tortured, imprisoned, or murdered via fishing, bug catching, or anything else. This goes along with their first point... No, real-life fishing isn’t vegan. But this isn’t real life. It’s a video game. Yes, fishing can cause lots of real life problems... but these are PIXELS. On a fake island. These are FAKE BUGS on a FAKE ISLAND. Nothing here is REAL, so NO real life animals are being hurt here. Acting as though REAL LIFE ANIMALS are being TORMENTED because you wanted to catch a sturgeon or tarantula is disingenuous. None of the catches ingame have any real-world consequences. Fish will not magically be killed for every fish you catch. Just... take a chill pill. Skipping the next couple of sections that would warrant the same “please stop trying to guilt people over pixels...” Should I leave hermit crabs in this game alone? Oh boy. PETA. Like. Are you guys actually stupid, because... “Hermit crabs love hanging out on the shore of your island. Leave them there. When you capture a hermit crab in the game, the screen says, “I caught a hermit crab! I think it wanted to be left alone!” In this situation, the game demonstrates surprising awareness that we shouldn’t be bothering these animals and taking them from their homes.“ Do you... do you actually know what a HERMIT is? It’s wordplay. They’re making a joke. EVERY SINGLE catch in this game makes a joke like that. This has literally NOTHING to do with ANYTHING you just said, and trying to twist it to your benefit is pretty shitty and manipulative. Subsection regarding Blathers

They, for some reason, didn’t give this its own section, but I want to address it anyway, because of how colossally tone-deaf it is. So, they say: ”Blathers would like to build a museum of fish and insects on your island. Don’t let him do it! Just as fish don’t belong in tanks, insects don’t belong inside cramped cases in a museum for other villagers to gawk at. Your island should be a place where wild animals are free to live without being captured and exploited. In the real world, animals suffer in captivity at places like SeaWorld and roadside zoos. They’re deprived of everything that’s natural and important to them. In Animal Crossing, you have the choice to let the animals on your island live free from harm, so please, leave them alone!” Anyone who has unlocked the museum in ANY Animal Crossing game already knows exactly what’s wrong with this. For starters, even on the damn screenshot they used, you know there’s an entire section of the museum that doesn’t require you to capture animals. The fossil exhibit. Donating fossils hurts nobody, and is never even mentioned in their article, because they know it goes against their argument already... as does the rest of the damn museum. For the fish exhibit... all the fish are kept in large tanks, like a big, fancy aquarium. 

(Credit: USGamer)

(Credit: Forbes) The bugs have an open atrium to roam around in:

(Credit: NintendoLife) Nothing about any of this screams “cramped cages,” which means PETA either: - Didn’t actually play that far and is making shit up based on the fact that they get placed in small enclosures if you put them in your house - Lied to push their agenda. I’m very much leaning towards the second because there has obviously been some degree of gameplay on their end, and it wouldn’t be the first time they’ve twisted things to their benefit. What would a vegan eat on a desert island? PETA. Guys. You can literally only eat fruit.

Acting as though you’re magically vegan for only choosing to do that is, again, proof you have no idea what you’re talking about. You CANNOT eat ANY animals in this game. AT ALL. There’s also literally no other reason for your character to NEED to eat anything. You don’t starve. You don’t die.  The addition of the “you can rip up trees and smash rocks” now was literally only added to give an actual benefit to eating, because NOTHING HAPPENS IF YOU DON’T. Should I build a doghouse? PETA, obviously, argues “fuck no because SOME people are SHITTY and TIE THEIR DOGS UP OUTSIDE” and...

This is literally only decoration. You can’t have a pet dog. You can’t do anything with it except put it outside to make your yard look nice.  This whole argument is virtue signaling at its finest... especially rich too, coming from a group that murders peoples’ pets. Is Tom Nook Exploiting you? Holy shit. Holy shit. Someone hold my coffee because I am about to lose my shit. Leave my boy Tom alone. “Tom Nook is a tanuki, or a raccoon dog, who are often killed for their fur. Others like him in the real world are beaten, anally electrocuted, gassed, or skinned alive. Cut him some slack.“ Okay. For starters here, there’s the implication that, yes, he’s TOTALLY exploiting you but it’s totes ok because this pixel tanuki is affected by shitty things people do irl. Bullshit about real life having any impact on a FANTASY VIDEO GAME with ANTHRO ANIMALS aside... Tom isn’t exploiting you anyway. You CHOSE and AGREED to his island package, which you can initially pay off in NookMiles, no bells required. Every single home update after is voluntary. The Noolkings will pay you for pretty much anything you bring them, which is incredibly generous and helpful. Nook himself will hold off on any upgrades until you give him permission. He also lets you pay off each loan on your own time, with NO interest or timegates. If anything, we’re exploiting HIM. Leave Tom the fuck out of this. How can you spread animal rights through Animal Crossing? This one is so goddamn pretentious I’m not even going to touch it. Like, again, play how you want, but don’t expect people to want to visit you, or have anything to do with you if you’re being a dick about it. PETA apparently received backlash for this, which caused them to add another tweet about the game, which they apparently very rarely do, but none of it was an apology, just doubling-down on their shit. So I will repeat once more for posterity, to make sure folks understand: Play however you want! If you want to play AC vegan, do it! Have fun doing it! But if you try to lie about real-life impact over how someone plays a game, or push your beliefs onto others playing the game, you really need to step back and re-evaluate your priorities. All that effort could be better used helping real animals who need real help, not virtue signaling over a video game. 

[media-mel]

VFX ARTISTS REACT EPISODE 2

EPISODE 2

Detective Pikachu

Bulbasaurs walking

Contrary to Sonic from Episode 1, the green on the CG Bulbasaurs match the green of the grass in the background, selling the realism. The eyes are pushing it a little, but even then, not that much.

Pikachu

The hairs on pikachu clumps up; it tuffs. It's not all evenly spaced apart. This is also realistic to IRL animals. 

Hair has a lot of ambient occlusion. Underneath the hair, near the roots, most of the hair above is blocking a lot of the light. And you can see the layers of the hairs on top of each other. Hair is not 100% opaque, it is actually slightly translucent. So the fringes of the hair on Pikachu's tail is still catching the light, creating an outline of lighter hair against the rest of his tail in shadow. So the little tips of the hair catches the light, then the light passes through it after being diffused a little.

specific 1-point, directional lighting helps a lot in creating cg scenes. 

Jurassic Park 1

T Rex in rain at night

Radiocity, global illumination = The way light bounces [ img: the "under highlights" on an egg when its on a white counter ]. If I shine a flashlight on my hand (which is near someone else's face), you can see the bounced light still appear on the other person's cheek. In CG, to get that, you have to simulate a ray coming out of the light, hitting a surface and scattering and bouncing off. But you have to do that many many times to get your scattering and get your environment.

So they couldn't do that in 1993, so they set their scene at night with a single source of light. Notice the rest of the T Rex (where the headlights of the cars aren't hitting) are just pitch black. So you don't have to worry about bounce light- great! But they also make it rain, so they can have specular lighting, make it feel like it's reflective, but all they have to reflect is a white spot. He's shiny on his hands, his toes, his thighs, but all it's reflecting is a blob of white (because of the singular direction of lighting).

Because of the animatronic T Rex, they had the perfect reference for lighting.

The museum scene

For one frame, the velociraptor that the T Rex picks up is completely missing. "What I think happened was that the actual files, the 3D models they sent to the cache to be rendered, for whatever reason on that 1 frame the velociraptor model disappeared." [ The way they talk about it, it's like it was a simple computer failure that could have happened at any point, at any frame through out the whole movie, and that they're lucky it failed then and not during a focused part on the T Rex or something ] "AAA we have to re render this and we have two weeks and it takes to months to render!"

Jurassic World 1

The effects here are technically better then they were in Jurassic park, so why do people think it looks worse?

In Park, when you see the raptors, they're real animatronic costumes, so that's what they're going up against. 

There's two things you get with real:    1. Motion looks a lot more realistic, because when you're animating CG by hand, it can go anywhere *waves hands around*    2. Acting. These kids are acting so much better with real pots and pans falling on them and real velociraptors chasing them VS J World which is "aight look at this man with the green tennis ball" Because no matter how good these dinosaurs look, our eye can still register it as fake. So, we will always recognize subconsciously that the actors are never in any real danger-- and your suspension of disbelief is a little shattered. 

J Park treated the dinosaurs as if they were real, they didn't make any shot last more then they need to. But because World is-- they can do whatever they want. So they're going artistic with it and creative-- but as they're being more artistic and creative, it's being less real. 

Aladdin ( 2019 )

Genie (bad shot)

There's a specific part of our brain that recognizes faces. All the checkmarks are there, that's not just a person-- that's clearly Will Smith. And it's not even the fact that he's blue. It's like his proportions. His face looks a little too small for that size of a head, his neck looks a little too thick, and I think a lot of that is driven by the actual camera focal point, length and placement, and what not.

Amazing CG body. The muscles on his back, they flex, and they move, and they indent, pull the skin with them. And from the front, the body still looks good.

But it feels like a face of a man who does not have that body was just pasted on there. It almost looks like the blue on his face doesn't match, it may be a color grading thing where they just put a mask there and brightened his face.  "Oh like a power window ?" "Yeah!" But now his face should be only as bright as his left peck, but it's brighter. 

Genie (good shot)

This looks great, cause it's lit well and you're not showing too much. And also because of the lower angle, the proportions are specifically thrown off. He looks super huge, so it's triggering our brains a little bit less.

A big thing is the lighting. In this shot, there's a nice edgelight, and there's a clear defined keylight, and it's giving his face volume and character. Versus the other shot, which is just this ambient wash, with just like this little bit of light from the side.

See and this once again comes back to very specific directional lighting.

Genie (desert)

Notice the discoloration on his abs, almost as if it was body paint. So a lot of we know about media's reality is not actually reality, but what we've seen in special effects. So for example, when people get shot in movies, we expect there to be a pop and dust and blood, and that's not actually what happens when people get shot. When you do visual effects, you're not always going for reality, you're going for a simulated special effect. And therefore you'd have slight discolorations like this, this actually makes it look more real, like makeup, as opposed to an actual blue person.

Terminator 2

Dogget's character blending backwards to forward

This is mostly a compositing thing. This isn't CG 3D modeling or anything, this is classic After Effects type stuff.

With this shot, ILM kind of pioneered morphing. And morphing is actually pretty simple, it's a distort while  doing a cross fade.

Michael Jackson's Black or White

You're not even really able to see the crossfade of these morphs, in fact they may have kicked it up a notch where they don't actually do a crossfade but rather a pixel color change. 

(Lady's hair grows from short to long) The use of practical shot to drop her hair to help the morph. They have enough of this choreographed where they know when they needed to drop her hair to help achieve the morph.

It's important to note they're not doing an overall crossfade uniformly, they're doing splotches and bits of crossfading though different intervals of time. First it was her hair coming down, then parts of her face, parts of her shoulders, it all flows consistently.