#portfolio script

[rayneblakeman]

“Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.” -Jorge Luis Borges

I made this for my boyfriend for his birthday. I’ve been doing calligraphy for fun for a little over a month now, I am having so much fun with it! This piece is inspired by The Star tarot card as well as the fire/wands/music suit of the William Blake tarot deck. Made with pen, colored pencil, and a gold calligraphy pen.

[hislittleraincloud]

Keep Abel out of your mouth or you'll regret it

This is you right now

and the audience members laughing at his delivery and veneers are me

[franollie]

Thumbnails I did for Batman: Gotham Knights #15 pgs 14-19 plus the initial thumbnails and rough character designs

[stepswowdsen]

【KagePro】 KuroEne AU: Kuroha/Saeru leads the department store attack 🖤💙

Intro

Summary:

KuroEne AU: Kuroha/Saeru plans and leads the terrorist attack that happens at the department store in every KagePro Route, except this takes place 1 - 2 years prior to canon.

Kuroha takes Shintaro’s phone (that has Ene inside), and leaves the vicinity to possess Konoha’s body prior to his first meeting with Ene.

Previous post and context summary: [X]

Saeru hacks into the department store's control room

Me: I wanna come up with some more ideas for the KuroEne AU Route where Kuroha/Saeru plans the terrorist attack (or bomb) at the department store.

Does he just have a back-up for the bomb to not actually blow? Like a safety mechanism. Cuz he's just counting on the MekaDan to be able to disable it

F: I haven't thought about it that way—

I’d just make sure that the bomb is detectable by Ene so then she can hack it and turn it off

Me: Ooooh gotcha, that makes sense. So it has some kind of program on the bomb/explosive that Ene can detect. So then she can hack into it and deactivate the bomb.

Me: I should probably rewatch the Movie at some point cuz it's been so long, but I know how the Terrorist scenario goes in the other Routes

In this hypothetical KuroEne AU Route, I'm assuming that Kuroha/Saeru possesses one of the Terrorist dudes and is the one leading the terrorists, but he lets the operation fail cuz he wants to see what the MekaDan will do, and also so he can snatch Ene (residing in Shintaro’s phone) after

Since Saeru apparently got the department store made in the first place, he can probably get access to special/confidential (employee access only) rooms via using one of his fake identities by using Awakening Eyes to transform.

So he hacks the security system, which locks all the doors. We could have actual terrorists with a bomb or just a lockdown, but I feel like the actual bomb threat would make the MekaDan and Shintaro panic more, similar to all the other Routes

F: ‼️

Me: I just looked at the MR1 Terrorist plot chapters to remind myself

Ene wants to go to the Amusement Park with Shintaro, and also wants to go look at new clothes...

KuroEne clothes shopping date. I should write about that. Something cute in the midst of all this angst

Ene: Let's go look at some new clothes, Master!

Shintaro: (She's really fascinated by the outside world, huh…)

Different idea, but this just makes me think of Ene dragging Saeru by the arm (who lets himself get pulled along) going clothes shopping together 🤗💗

Ok so I'm just gonna note down whatever's gonna be relevant for my KuroEne AU Route.

So the terrorists get into the security system and close off all the shutters and talk over the PA system, so no one inside the building can escape. The terrorists take everyone inside the department store as hostages and ties their hands up. The terrorists announce they want a 1 billion yen ransom within 30 minutes, or else they’ll kill all the hostages. They were planning to leave via helicopter.

Shintaro can only hear Ene via his earphones cuz his phone is in his pocket.

Shintaro: That “state of the art” security system fell apart like a house of cards!

It should be easy enough for Saeru to get access to and hack especially if he got the department store made in the first place. In MR1, Shintaro connects his phone to the computer via USB so Ene can hack into the control room and open the shutters

I forget what happens in the Movie Route, I'd have to rewatch it soon. But then as you said, in the Movie, Shintaro's phone gets thrown and Hibiya finds it and gives it to Konoha

With this kind of scenario, tbh it'd be very easy to imagine one of the terrorists (Saeru or the dudes he's commanding) taking it from Shintaro directly (like when the terrorists in MR1 threaten Shintaro), but that would draw more suspicion to him, cuz if that happens, Shintaro would want to track the dude down and get his phone and Ene back

So yeah it'd be best if his phone just gets dropped on the ground after it gets thrown (I forget who threw it) and Saeru just picks it up afterwards

Later on when Ene meets Saeru, she probably asks him, "Were you also taken hostage!? Oh boy, that must've been scary...! You see, a friend of mine got caught up in it too, so I'm wondering if he's ok... We got separated during the whole ordeal!"

I'm just drafting ideas rn but I probably should write dialogue scripts eventually for Saeru organizing the terrorists. He's probably speaking to them via those audio headsets or whatever?

Saeru orders the terrorists to take all of the hostages' belongings

Me:

The other Terrorists when Saeru just dips: ❓

He's getting out of there, see ya 🤸

And he just picks up Shintaro's phone that was dropped on the ground and leaves

These guys are probably getting arrested whenever officials arrive or something

F: BRO JUST DIPPED OUT??

"Girlfriend obtained, I'm out of here"

Me: YEA I imagine he just leaves

HAHA

The other terrorists are probably just gonna get arrested and taken in for questioning once authorities arrive

I imagine he leaves before the authorities arrive. Like when Ene disables the bomb and hacks the control room so the shutter doors open, that's when he leaves. It doesn't matter to him cuz even if the other terrorists know him by his face, he'll be dumping the body for Konoha anyways

Me: I imagined that the MekaDan and Shintaro (aided by Ene) manage to get the shutter doors open and stop the terrorists. And then Saeru just picks up the phone on the ground and leaves afterwards

Tbh I could also consider the possibility of him not leading the terrorists in person, but leading them from a separate room

Cuz otherwise, that risks one of the MekaDan members seeing one of the terrorists pick up a phone off the ground, and knowing the terrorist's face (unless he made sure that no one was looking or around in the same vicinity as him at the time)

So he just gives orders via an audio headset through the control room (security room)

F: OOOH YEAH. But what about picking Ene up, how would he do that??

Me: Maybe when the MekaDan's operation is done, that's when he comes out to pick up the phone

Or he arranged for one of the terrorists to bring the phone to him (prior to the MekaDan's victory)

F: Wouldn't Shin's phone be his dearest artifact??? Shin would at somepoint search around

Me: YEAH it would be... Though I'm just going off of how you said in the Movie Route, Shintaro's phone gets thrown and Hibiya finds it and brings it to Konoha

Me: Yeah I definitely think Shintaro would search around after he realizes that it's missing. I think Saeru would take it before that happens

F: This would make sense if Saeru told the terrorists to take every single lost belongings to him directly. Telling them to only bring a specific phone would be too suspicious

Me: OH good point. I didn’t think of that at first. And then Saeru takes Shintaro's phone. And at the very end, the MekaDan gets everyone's' belongings back

F: I imagine that Saeru would specify the brand like "I-Phone bla bla bla-"

Me: YEAH like he probably knows what device it is? He could've tracked Shintaro's IP beforehand. Like prior to the terrorist plot. Cuz you can definitely find out info like what device a user logs onto a site with. Added with his knowledge of previous Routes

Me: Good idea! So I imagine Saeru tells the terrorists at the start of the operation to search through everyone's pockets and take their belongings so that they can't contact anyone without them knowing (smart idea honestly)

And then the terrorists bring him everyone's belongings (including the ones of random civilians)

And the terrorists search through the pile and bring him the one he's looking for (either that, or he searches through the pile himself after the terrorists bring everyone's belongings to him)

And then he finds Shintaro's phone (with Ene inside). Turns it off just in case

Me: Yeah like Saeru would tell the terrorists that this prevents the hostages from being able to contact others from the outside

Saeru leaves with Ene to arrange their meeting

Oh yeah, I am thinking of how this KuroEne AU scenario would play out... Y’know, the KuroEne Route where Kuroha/Saeru leads and plans the terrorist attack but lets it fail because he wants to see different outcomes. So the Mekakushi Dan stops the attack with Shintaro and Ene’s help

So I realized yesterday that the Terrorist plot would play out differently in this Route with Shintaro and the MekaDan especially if he has the Terrorists search and take everyone's belongings?

Cuz once the Terrorists take everyone's belongings to Kuroha/Saeru, he would have Shintaro's phone (with Ene inside) in his possession.

It would deal a blow to Shintaro's original plan (to have Ene help him with a 100% success rate), but I imagine he would be able to recover from this and come up with something else.

In the original version of the Terrorist plot, Shintaro has Ene uploaded to the computer (when he connects his phone to the computer monitor screen via USB) and has her hack the control room and open the shutter doors. (I forgot how they defeat the Terrorists in the movie though)

I wonder if Kuroha/Saeru just does Shintaro's job for him, like uploading Ene to a nearby computer in another room just so she can hack into the control room and detect and disable the bomb. Cuz he has to make sure Ene doesn't see his face (even if he's using one of the Terrorists' bodies)

Maybe he should put a covering over the monitor screen or something.

And then afterwards, I imagine Kuroha/Saeru just leaves with Ene, and then Shintaro and the MekaDan hurry to find the room where everyone's belongings was taken.

All other MekaDan members find their own phones, and redistribute everyone's belongings to the people taken hostage, and Shintaro panics when he doesn't see his phone amongst the pile

Me: God I love the expressions in the Novel Route where Ene apologizes to Shintaro, and when Shintaro uploads Ene to the main screen

F: In the movie, they invaded the control room, used Momo to get everyone's attention, and then Ene does her thing (Idk it just cuts to a happy, not so happy ending)

Me: OOOH I see. So they would manage to break into the control room after everything is done

F: Cue Shintaro looking for his phone in the lost and found

Me: Cuz in this hypothetical Route, once the Terrorists announce something like, "We've just received orders from our leader to search for everyone's belongings," Shintaro and Ene would be like (!?)

Cuz that puts a blow in their plan. And Shintaro's phone with Ene inside would be taken by one of the terrorists. But considering that the phone is turned off, she doesn't see anyone's face

Considering that Kuroha/Saeru lets his "plan" fail on purpose, I wonder if he just transfers Ene to the control room's computer via USB (in Shintaro’s place) so she can do her thing and hack the control room.

But Ig once the incident is resolved, Ene would assume that the terrorists were dealt with (since the shutter doors were closed and she opened it, so everyone could be rescued)

Me: YEAH so Saeru leaves with Ene in Shintaro's phone (cuz I assume that Ene returns back from the control room's computer back to Shintaro's phone once she opens the shutter doors)

And then the MekaDan would navigate to the Control Room and first take back their own phones and belongings, and Shintaro would be frantically rummaging through the pile

Shintaro: Where is it...!?!?

Kido: ......Is something wrong?

Shintaro: (Shit, shit, shit...! Did those guys take her or something......!? Ene.........!)

F: “I wonder if Saeru just does Shintaro’s job for him and transfers Ene to the control room”

Ooh this one's a good idea too

But going with the Movie. Shintaro's clumsy ass literally lost his phone and didn’t realize it 😭

Me: HELPPP

OH yeah maybe he doesn't realize until after

Me: Like there's a few ways this can go:

The Terrorists announce that they're going to take everyone's belongings and brings them to Kuroha/Saeru himself

Shintaro accidentally drops his phone and doesn't realize, and Saeru picks up Shintaro's phone off the ground and leaves

Cuz with the 1st one, at the end, Shintaro would assume:

The Terrorists took Shintaro's phone with Ene inside once they realized there was some sort of girl in the phone (and not just someone on video call)

The Terrorists accidentally dropped his phone somewhere while they were bringing everyone's belongings to the control room

F: I feel like he'd do both. Like telling the terrorists to take everything but also check everyone's pockets

Me: Yeah that makes sense. He's being a bit more “serious”

Like he’s only letting it fail on purpose so he gets a new interesting way to meet Ene

Me: Taking away everyone’s belongings including devices is really smart of him… If the terrorists had thought of this in the other Routes, it would instantly bust Shintaro's plan. And ofc Saeru Hebi with his knowledge of previous Routes, knows that Shintaro is gonna use Ene to deal with the terrorists

Me: And then when Kuroha takes back on the phone after coming back to his house and possessing Konoha, Kuroha/Saeru can just tell Ene that he picked up a phone that was dropped on the ground.

Looks like the terrorists accidentally dropped the phone on the way to the control room while they were bringing everyone's belongings to the leader.

F: Oooh that's a pretty good excuse. But Ene would also react since.. well... Konoha and Haruka

Would she even try to call him "Haruka" at somepoint?

F: "Please return me to my owner then, he lives in [X]"

Me: Yeah I wonder if Ene would have the same reaction that she does in MR2 with mistaking Konoha for Haruka... Though I imagine he's probably thought through what to say to her

(He basically scripted the whole thing in advance. Like prior to pulling off the terrorist plot, he ran through the scenario in his head many times, so he’d know exactly what to say.)

The thing is, he DOES know about her memories with Haruka. But not sure if he wants to reveal that.

Me: But then, Kuroha/Saeru is obviously not planning to give Ene back lol? He's just gonna give back Shintaro's phone to appease Shintaro and Ene's worries.

Cuz I feel like Saeru can convince Ene to stay with him by appealing to her with the proposal to make the android body, added with him being a mysterious stranger that looks almost identical to her long lost love

F: I feel like Ene wouldn't say it out loud like "Haruka??? Is that you?"

No, she would zone out a bit and overthink it

Me: OH gotcha, that makes sense. That's how I wrote it too

Like she'd just zone out and think back on the past.

[silvery-stars]

how does one Write

[limitype]

Kirens - Modern Handbrush Font

Download Here: https://www.behance.net/gallery/186891209/Kirens-Modern-Handbrush-Font

Kirens is a brush font made in a modern, bold, classic and textured handwriting style, suitable for all your design needs that require display typeface to make your design appear bold and stylish.

[davidmariottecomics]

The Perfect (Editorial or Agent) Match

Hey there, Yogi Bear! 

To start out today's blog, I wanna talk about a kinda fun recent thing. Steve Lieber, who I've mentioned before for having his 12 point portfolio review critique without even looking, asked about the writing review equivalent. Jim Zub took a stab at it and his list is pretty good. And Chip Zdarsky's were also recommendations! And all of these are from Bluesky, so hope you can read 'em all! But, while I liked the other lists, I also had some thoughts. So my 12 critiques are here, which I consider pretty supplemental to Jim's! 

And now that you've taken all this advice and are feeling really comfortable with your script, writer-type, what're you gonna do with it?! 

What Does an Agent do? 

Before I get too far, let me make explicitly clear--I do not have an agent. I've worked with a number of agents. I know lots of creators who have them. But I don't have one myself, so I can only provide so much guidance. Okay, that disclaimer out of the way, what is a literary agent and what do they do? 

It's a lot like other forms of agents you might've heard of. Your agent is a person who supports you and represents your interests in business. They are an advocate on your behalf. This means everything from reading your manuscripts to help refine/sell them to reviewing paperwork for you to making sure you're getting paid what you're worth and more. In the book market, there are certain publishers that will almost exclusively review agented submissions--you need to have someone who has been trained to know what the publisher might want and who has access to contacts there to advocate for your work. The reason for this is often to cut down on submissions that otherwise just have to go unanswered and to preserve some level of privacy for editors. Having an agent might not work for everyone, but if you can find someone who you like working with and can afford, they're going to be a lot of help. Agents can get your work to more potential buyers, help identify where your work will best fit in the marketplace, and, again, generally advocate for you.

But just like publishers and editors, not every agent is looking for every type of story. Specific agents, and even whole agencies, can have niches that they are interested in working in and representing. This is really important when we're talking comics. There are some agents that don't really represent cartoonists because they don't do art representation. There are some agents who only do art representation and might not be the right fit if you also wanna write. There are agents who primarily focus on books for middle grade or young adult readers. There are agents who just plain don't do comics. So how do you find an agent who might be a good fit?

Manuscript Wishlist

Manuscript Wishlist (or MS Wishlist) is *an* option for finding your agent, but it's one that I think can be really helpful. The basic idea of MSWL is that the website version has vetted agents and editors who have submitted profiles explaining what they are looking for in submissions. It's built off of a Twitter system where agents and editors tag posts #MSWL to flag the sort of work they're looking for from writers. One of the things I really like about the site is that in addition to details on what the agents and editors are looking for, and how to go about querying them, a lot of folks also take advantage of the sidebars that include things like lists of "what I like" so you can get an even clearer idea of if your work will mesh well with their interests and if your personalities will mesh well while looking to work together. 

There are a ton of other resources out there for how to write good queries and each agency/agent/publisher/editor is going to have their own submission guidelines that you'll have to look up and follow--so I won't get into those--but this is a way to start seeing who might be interested in building a relationship with you. 

Also, keep an eye on Publishers Marketplace. This is a primary source for what publishing deals are happening. Maybe you want to submit a query to an agent about a talking dog. Might be good to check publishers marketplace to make sure that agent didn't just sell a book about a talking dog. 

MSWL Editors

MSWL also includes editors and for similar reasons. Editors have things they're interested in working on and it helps clarify to agents and to unagented folks what sort of titles they might be interested in acquiring. I *do not* currently have a MSWL set up on my own because I am not currently seeking submissions (sorry), but next time I think I might be, I'm going to be looking into it because I know what sort of stories I like to tell and what I would like to see from other folks. 

Obviously, if you don't have an agent, double-check that the editor you're submitting to accepts unagented submissions. That's hugely important. But especially in comics, only taking agented submissions is uncommon. And if an editor is making clear what they'd like to acquire, you wanna get it in front of them because that is the most direct pipeline to traditional comics publishing. But it's also worthwhile to remember that because of how agents and editors work together, there's a lot of outreach between the two where editors are searching for talent, but only want to reach out, not be reached out to--especially if you're looking to do work on an existing property, rather than an original. 

Now I'm gonna go batten down the hatches and prepare to ride out the rest of the coming storm! 

See ya next time! 

What I enjoyed this week: Blank Check (Podcast), Dungeons & Daddies (Podcast), Craig of the Creek (Cartoon), Honkai Star Rail (Video game), My Adventures with Superman (Cartoon), The Broken Room by Peter Clines (Book), Crime Scene Kitchen (TV show), Dumbing of Age (Webcomic), Shortpacked (Webcomic--though some of these pop culture strips sure are dated and/or in poor taste!), Solve This Murder (Podcast), Praise Petey (Cartoon), the acoustic Sonic Symphony performance at the Speed Cafe (see below), at time of posting having power and not a lot of rain/hurricane weather, owning (but not having watched yet) the Venture Bros finale movie, getting 3 5-star (the best possible) character pulls in a row in Honkai (but not the character I really wanted, who I only have like 9 days to get now if I can...). 

New Releases this week (8/16/2023): Brynmore #2 (Editor) Godzilla: The War for Humanity #1 (Editor) Sonic the Hedgehog #63 (Editor)

Final Order Cut-Off next week (8/21/2023--last day to get your preorders in): Brynmore #3 (Editor) Godzilla: The War for Humanity #2 (Editor) Sonic the Hedgehog: Amy's 30th Anniversary Special (Editor)

New Releases next week (8/23/2023): Godzilla Monsters & Protectors: All Hail the King TPB (Editor--on the latter half)

Announcements: Becca is at Cartoon-a Palooza in Temecula on 9/15 & 9/16. It's a cool free all-ages little con, so come on out and see them! 

Wanna support me? Consider joining my Patreon! This week, in addition to this blog (but without the Patreon plugs!) and one of my legacy blogs, I shared for the $10 and up members the script (and some extras) for my Beast Wars 2022 Annual story, "Rhinox's A-Maze-ing Adventure". You can only see it there! And I'll have more scripts, pitches, comics, etc going up in the weeks and months to come! Also coming soon, just coordinating with Becca, we'll be releasing a tease of a new comic we're working on together. It'll be on both our Patreons, but if you like art and adult art in particular, definitely don't miss Becca's either! 

Or, you can buy something from my webstore! A lot of what is there is no longer in print and won't be going back to print anytime soon to my knowledge. The stock I have up is pretty much the stock I have. And you can get it signed and personalized and sent to you for a pretty reasonable price which includes shipping.  Alternatively, I still have a few things up on eBay and I'm going to be adding a few more! 

Sorry to be hyping ways to send me money so much recently, but between rising rent and utility and gas costs, not so rising work hours/pay for Becca and I, and us also trying to plan a wedding for a year from now, money's been tight a lot! I know that's the case all around, and if you have been supporting me in any way, it has not gone unnoticed at all! This week, Becca and I checked out a venue that we really like for the ceremony and reception. So, hoping we can make that happen! 

Pic of the Week: I referenced it earlier, but the Sonic Speed Cafe pop-up here in San Diego did a special mini acoustic performance of the Sonic Symphony that's about to be touring the whole world! So we had three musicians in the restaurant playing some Sonic hits! It was a lot of fun! 

[smolalienbee]

hi hello good omens community appreciate everyone loving the freckled ass on crowley in my latest art

[eryanlainfa]

I was really getting worried that my current fixations went away and also that I didn't enjoy storyboarding as much anymore

Only for me to randomly start storyboarding Aiden and Hugo's first kiss' scene. I- 🤦‍♀️

[lumiii-nescent]

First spot

[snazzyscarf]

posting moments me when i think thoughts anyway i just think it sucks that i have so many ideas and stuff i wanna draw/create and absolutely the ABILITY to do these things like i have been trained to do them and i've learned to do them and i have proven i can do them in academic settings but the fucking price of getting those skills is never being able to apply them in any personally meaningful way because burnout is a son of a bitch and i hate it. yeah i can make comics and animations and rigs and models and games and i absolutely have the inspirations for them & ideas for them & Want to do them but there is always Something Else That Takes Priority & by the time i have a sliver of free time i sleep straight through it because my health is a travesty. i would fucking Love to make anything for fun but god fucking forbid i have a work-life balance

[charmre]

Feeling better now that I'm officially prepping for this interview and have solid answers for potential questions

I'm just really scared bc I like, am not the best like "public speaker"/"presenter" so when I get tripped up, my mind goes blank and I don't know where to go next and it can be pretty bad

And I just want this internship so I can get this job so I can have financial security in a decent job environment 😩

It's LITERALLY like the whole reason, if not a huge part of, why I'm back in school in the first place. So I can get a shot at this position for this company, specifically.

[viovio]

it's so joever (free time and doing nothing despite the mountains of homework

[prettygirlgerard]

sort of excited about storyboarding my cowboy script for my Pratt application?

[roseband]

oof i just realized since i have a newer phone now and outlook app works on it, not only can i work on teams off my wrist, but i can do EMAILS off my wrist