#quick&simple little gifset

[talos-stims]

nia archives on yt | source

[holyshonks]

Hunt them to the last!

[arabellas]

do you have a coloring tutorial? your gifs are so nice and vibrant, how do you do it? :)

hi, here's a simple basic coloring tutorial that I use pretty much for all of my gifsets:

I won't get into the basics of making a gif as this is just a coloring tutorial, but here is my gif after I just crop and resize it:

and here it is after I sharpen it:

sharpen can affect the depth of shadows in a gif, so I do this before I add any coloring, but I know some people color first and only then sharpen, so both ways work!

alright, ready for some fun coloring? let's go!

before adding any adjustment layers, I suggest creating a new group, so all of your coloring changes can neatly sit in one place.

I always start with levels and curves, they often help to make the overall gif more natural if the lighting is too yellow, too dark, etc., it's a very useful guide, especially if you're new to gifmaking. so, let's start by clicking on the levels icon, a new adjustment layer should appear over your gif layers:

the next step is to click on each of these little icons (I usually only use the top and bottom ones) and to select the lightest and the darkest parts of your gif. pick the top one, select the darkest part and then pick bottom one and pick the lightest part, you should see some changes on your gif, sometimes they're subtle, sometimes they're very obvious:

in my gif the lightest part is somewhere near her shoulder where the light hits, the darkest part is her sunglasses (if there are a lot of dark/light parts, I just click around and see whichever looks more subtle. for example, I tried the part on top of her head where the light hit, but it made the gifset too blue because the lighting is yellowish, but since the whole scene is not very yellow, it looked weird so I'm sticking with her shoulder, it just simply looks better overall):

and then I do the same thing with the curve adjustment layer, selecting the darkest and lightest part of my gif just like I did with the levels layer:

while this is a good guide for beginners, it doesn't always fix all the problems. it can be quite harsh, so I recommend setting the opacity to a lower percentage and if it looks a little weird, sliding the arrows to one side and another with each color until it looks better to you:

like I said, it's a good guide but manual work is often needed, don't be afraid to mess around with the settings. for this gif I set levels layer opacity to 60% and curves to 37%.

moving on, I'm adding a selective color adjustment layer to fix how the skintone looks with red and yellow colors. it differs with each scene, sometimes the skin is too yellow and orange, so I add more cyan and less yellow but in this case I chose these settings and I set the opacity of this layer to 35%:

I want to mention that with poc it's very important not to mess around too much with their skin tone and not to white-wash and orange-wash them, there are quite a lot of tutorials on how to avoid doing that.

the next layer I add is exposure, I want to brighten my gif a little bit. you can do that by selecting either brightness or exposure layer like I did:

the scene I'm working with is pretty bright, so I'm not adding too much of exposure, here are my settings:

next up, I want to deepen the shadows a little bit, so I use a gradient map for that:

I use black and white gradient and set the opacity to 10%:

moving on, color balance is another great trick to make the gif look more smooth with one consistent color overall:

if I'm working with scenes that have a lot of green/yellow in them and I want to get rid of that, this is a quick way to slide the arrow to the opposite color and soften it a little bit by adding another color. I usually like to add more magenta to midtones and make the gif have a little bit of a pink look. here are my settings for this specific gif and the opacity of this layer is set to 30%:

and here's what difference it made to the gif:

as you can see, the colors outside the circle are less green on her skin and hair. it's all coming together nicely!

let's move on to the background colors. I add another selective color layer and I'm gonna play with the colors I want to enhance the most. in this case it's green grass and her blue clothes. here are my settings for these colors:

and finally, to enhance the vibrant coloring even more, I like to add one final hue/saturation layer:

here I like to add more saturation to the colors we're focusing on in the background and add around +20 of saturation. I did this to green, cyan and blue colors:

and that's it! here is the finished gif compared to the completely raw one:

this coloring tutorial is very basic, but it works for most scenes I work with, I just sometimes focus on other colors, add more or less layers but the overall process is very similar.

I encourage to mess around with all the settings and see which ones look the most pleasing to your eye. let me know if you have any questions :)

[bylrndgm]

how did you make the gif into that shape?

https://www.tumblr.com/bylrndgm/715951263258411008/i-wanna-be-more-than-a-friend-more-than-a?source=share

Hey anon, thank you very much for the ask. 💞 It's a very simple and quick technique, all you need for this tutorial is a basic photoshop knowledge.

1: Make your gif as you always do

Make the gif, sharpen it, color it. (I'll be using a random scene as well as some basic coloring for this tutorial)

Once you have your finished product group all the layers (select all the layers and use the shortcut CTRL/CMD + G).

2: Find the shape

In that gifset I had used a ripped paper shape - but follow the same exact steps for every shape tou want! Tip: png shapes are easier to use, so try to find one that has a transparent background :)

Once you find your shape, place it over your gif and play with it until you like the result.

3: Sharpen the shape

I never skip this step because it allows you to hape "crisp" shapes.

Click on the png layer -> right click -> Convert to Smart Object

Go to Filter -> Sharpen -> Sharpen (repeat if necessary!)

4: Masking

Now, while holding your CTRL/CMD button, click on the shape layer's thumbnail

And the border of your shape should be all dashed, like this:

Now click on the group we made on step #1 (the yellow one) and on your Layers tab, click on Add Layer Mask:

Next to the group a new thingy should pop up (it's B&W). Select it by clicking on it and press CTRL/CMD+I to invert the mask (the black should become white and viceversa).

Now you can either delete the shape layer or make it invisible by clicking on the little eye on the left

5: Saving

Choose your usual settings, but remeber to change the Matte option to None.

And... you're done!

You can do this with any shape or even text!

Hope it was useful <3 Have a nice day!

[spinebuster]

It's been requested so here it is: my gif tutorial! I hope to make this very simple as I've made gif making very simple for myself with the help of .atn made by myself and others. More under the cut!

First, what you'll need.

Photoshop (here's a link to a masterlist of free photoshop resources from birdysources)

KMPlayer, to get your screencaps.

These PS actions. (My gifmaking one, and this sharpening action from insomniacgifs.)

Some understanding of how to color gifs (I'll be linking my psd shown here, as well as including the process of making one.)

Next, how to get the videos that you want to gif.

I personally source my videos from Youtube, Twitter, and streaming services. (Firefox browser is your best friend, as it doesn't black out the screen that some services have.) If a Youtube Video Downloader isn't working, or if I'm capturing my own footage, I use the Xbox Game Bar's recording feature (windows + alt + r) to capture footage. There's also applications like OBS Studio. For Twitter, I use twittervideodownloader.com

Now, making the gif.

I use Photoshop CC 2018, but any PS with a timeline will work. But first, we gotta take our screencaps. Open your video in KMPlayer, and press alt+v. This will open up this second screen

These are my settings, with an easily accessible folder that I save my frames to. Find the scene you want to clip, and hit start & play your video, then stop when you have the frames you want.

Next up we're going to open up Photoshop. I changed my keyboard shortcuts so all I've got to do is hit ctrl+alt+o, but for you guys, you gotta go to File -> Scripts -> Load Files Into Stack

Select your screencaps of the scene you want to gif. Now that Tumblr allows gifs up to 10MB, the amount of caps you want is totally up to you. I stick to around 45-50, but sometimes there's a scene I need that's up to 150+ caps, and it still fits under the size limit. It all depends on the dimensions and coloring of your gif. I'm loading up 51 frames as the sharpening .atn deletes the final frame of your gif once it reverts back to frames, so I'll have an even 50 framed gif.

Your PS should look like this. Here comes the gif making itself. You want to hit Create Frame Animation at the bottom, where your timeline is. If your timeline isn't already open, click your Window tab up top, and find timeline in the dropdown.

After you hit Create Frame Animation, you want to Make Frames From Layers, which you'll find when you click the three lines on your timeline.

Then, reverse your frames.

Finally, Select All Frames, click the arrow on the frames, and change the frame delay to .06 seconds.

Way to go! You've made a gif! Now, if you're like me, you'll get tired of having to do that over & over when making a gifset. So, I recorded and uploaded an .atn, which means all you gotta do is load up your frames, hit play on the .atn, and your gif is good to go. I'll link it again so you don't have to lose your place in the tutorial.

So you've made your gif, now what? Now we crop, sharpen, color, and save for the web. Let's get to it.

Tumblr dimensions can be tricky, but they're easy to remember. (I even made a little graphic for it!)

For my tutorial, my Jamie gif will be 268 x 268 :)

Here is my unsharpened, unedited gif of Jamie Hayter. I believe this clip was snagged from YouTube, but it's been awhile since I saved it. I use insomniacgifs' gif sharpening atn, as I hate manually sharpening gifs. So let us run that real quick. (I'll be using the Strong option. Don't forget to delete the final frame.)

Onto coloring! The example I whipped up for this tutorial is super simple, so let's go!

I typically edit the curves first. I'm not sure why, just something I picked up from my photo journalism class back in HS.

Next, I add a little brightness. (+10)

Then, I mess with Selective Color, just a bit. (Neutrals, Black +10. Blacks, Black +5.)

Now, I don't know exactly what Channel Mixer does, but it's fun. Here's my settings.

Some Saturation (+5)

And lastly, I edit the Color Balance!

Aaaaand here's my final product! I also uploaded this as a PSD for you to save and use yourself!

Once your gif is all done, we need to save it properly. File -> Export -> Save for Web (Legacy). Here are my settings.

Note: Make sure your looping options is set to forever so your gif doesn't loop once and freeze!

And that's it! I hope this helped, and if you have any questions, my ask box is open!

[louiswilliamtomlinsons]

2023 writing gif-making round up

Rules (adapted for fic, gifs, art, etc.): Share what you made this year! It can be works you posted to Ao3, Wattpad, Tumblr, or anywhere else! You can share everything you made or just the projects you're most excited about.

tagged by @victoriaspriing thank you!!!

2024 is just around the corner, so unbelievable to me. it feels like no time has passed since the beginning of 2023. i was thinking, hm it doesn’t feel like i’ve made many gifs this year, but then i went looking back at all my favorite gifsets i made and i was pleasantly surprised to see quite a significant amount. my goal for 2024 is to create more gifsets, to share with the fandom and most importantly to let the creativity flow. okay, but i’m here to reflect on my gifsets from this year, so let’s get into that shall we? i’ll share some fun statistics and then my top 5 gifsets from this year, and totally copying joana here but i’ll also give a shoutout to my favorite creators who not only inspire me but make this fandom wonderful with their creations <3

fun statistics

in total i made 188 gifsets in 2023

99 are about louis (*pretends to be shocked*)

50 are about harry

10 are larry

4 are ot5

1 about samia

1 about soyoon

the rest are 911 lone star, stranger things, only friends and first kill

28 (!!!) are elaborate gifsets

44 are or include purple

4 are about faith in the future

top 5 gifsets (in no particular order)

louis birthday gifset this has to be my favorite gifset i’ve made this year. i had so much fun making it, from trying a different color i’m not used to, to using new effects i hadn’t had the chance to try. everything came out as i had envisioned and it makes me so happy. i gotta say by the end of it i was tired. i think i spent a total of 10 hours on it, but it was so worth it

faith in the future anniversary gifset okay so this one was originally going to be blue and yellow, but the first gif (the one with the tv) wasn’t looking good, so i just did what i do best, make it purple and yellow. i’m glad i did, because not only do i love that combo, but i think it looks great. i had this vague concept of what i wanted to do. i knew i definitely wanted to include the spotify template. from there i just did what i felt in the moment. the edit with the tracklist was originally going to be in the form of a google search, but it looked so bad, so i just went for something more simple, which ended up looking so much better. the last edit was the second to last one. i was thinking, how can i include fitfwt into it? that’s when i realized i had a combination of one gifset, one edit, one gifset and one gifset, so i added one edit in the middle of the last two gifsets to create that pattern. i took my favorite louis picture from tour and just did a quick edit. with this one, less was better, and i’m very proud of how it came out

hlholidayexchange gifset i absolutely adore this one. the prompt was anything with 2014 larry. i had a very clear concept for this one. polaroids showing them together. while looking for videos i just gravitated towards their night changes performance, especially the prince and little one with the cheekbones, so that’s what i did. i was apprehensive about the blending, as it’s something i struggle with, but personally i think i did good. there’s always room for improvement, but i’m satisfied with it. the colors came to me right at the end, a combination of some of my favorite colors that are close together in the color wheel, so they look good together. it’s simple, but effective :)

louis tomlinson tinder this one was so fun to make. i especially loved coming up with hobbies and activities that describe louis. i knew i wanted to include numerology because this boy is obsessed with numbers and you can’t tell me he isn’t into numerology. as for the matches, i included his husband people who he’s potentially had a crush on based on interactions and interviews. i also love how the colors came out, i think it looks very pretty

harry’s house anniversary i love this one so much. i had a very clear concept of what i wanted to do. the cutout of the pictures plus the lyrics looked so much fun and i had a great time putting it together, and i just love the spotify template. i think everything about it is very pretty. the colors, the scenes, all of it. the only thing that makes me sad is how the video for daylight came out way later so i couldn’t include it, but other than that i love it so so much

bonus!!! this is louis tomlinson a very fun, very pleasant edit. i remember just wanting to do a gifset highlighting some aspects of louis and his career. i wanted something semi simple and visually appealing, so i did the google search overlay and from there just basic layouts. i had a lot of fun making it

shoutout to my faves!!!

@delicatepointofview @heroeddiemunson @wylanvannecks @505louis @anxiouspunk @ricky-olson @vinmauro @raypakorn @victoriaspriing @birthdaysentiment @robin-buckleys @perrieedwards @margarethcarter @neil-patrick @bobbiedebruyn @braverytattoos @justthinkingaboutlouis @loustyles @kiwikiwiandkiwi @finexbright @zourried @seatawinans @mcbride @jdeanmorgan @morgana-pendragon @niccolofares @sci-fi @benoitblanc @saw-x @binariesuns @oliviairodrigo @annacoleman @aliecenthightower @nelsonnicholas @curlyhairedprince @padme-amidala

sorry if i’m forgetting anyone. if you’re a gifmaker assume i love your gifs. tagging the people above and anyone else who happens to see this and wants to do it. no pressure!!!

[piracytheorist]

This frame goes by very quickly, you wouldn't notice it when watching the episode normally. But it caught my attention in this gifset and now I can't stop thinking about the way Loid looks at Yor here.

It's just so soft, and there's even that little blush there. It might have looked like a small moment, but it was big when it came to their family bonds. Yor made something for them, channelling her memories of the food that her mother used to make in the past into her own care for Loid and Anya in the present, and they loved it. Their poor stomachs have been at it every time Yor tried to make something, but bless their hearts they never complained about it (aside from that time Anya called her a bad cook in a quick response to avoid making Loid suspect her of reading his mind). Yet Yor strived to get better and make something with love and care, even if at first she thought that she was doing it to keep her job.

I am a very lazy cook myself, but there's something about cooking for someone else and them responding so positively to it, especially when all your efforts to do that up to now have only led to stomachaches and reluctant acceptance. For her "I need to be a good cook for my cover!" argument, Yor only needed a "That's good enough to not give me indigestion", but with pouring her entire heart into learning to cook, that kind of poured into the meal as well, and so instead she got them smiling at her for what she offered them.

And her reaction was amplified by Loid's reaction. He wasn't just enjoying the meal, he was happy to receive that from her, appreciating the effort she put into it and admiring her growing cooking skill - and it's important that those came from someone who never demanded her to cook for them as part of her household responsibilities. It was a genuine "thank you for dedicating time and effort into making this beautiful thing for us".

For us. Because he was also happy that Anya was happy with it.

Yor worked hard to offer them something, unknowingly putting so much heart into it, and they reciprocated that - Anya on a much simpler level by happily munching on the food, and Loid with this soft look. It's pretty simple - but it's with simple, little things that bonds are created and most importantly, last.

[thedestinysunknown]

Sonic the Hedgehog - Green Hill Zone:

"We are back in the world of our favorite blue hedgehog. Let's do a quick level review for the Game Gear game. This is a cute little game with some pretty levels and fun adventures. Most of the levels are based on the first Sonic game, but there are some exclusive ones as well. First, we have the icon itself, Green Hill Zone. It's a pretty standard and simple level, for you to get used to the awkward controls of this game."

PS: the gameplay used for this gifset is not mine. The original video belongs to the user: FCPlaythroughs, on Youtube.

[userpeggycarter]

Would you do a blending tutorial? The blending on that first gif in the Peggy set is unreal

hi anon! first of all, thanks! i'm quite honored :)

i can make a tutorial if you still really want one, but really, i don't have any new technique to show you that other blending tutorials haven't. if have a few tips to tell you, though, hope this helps! don't be shy to ask for clarification, english isn't my first language and my PS isn't in english lol so sometimes i get the terms wrong

half of the work is picking the right scenes or editing them right. the pink Peggy in the first gif in that gifset that you mentioned? i just erased a little of the background details to make it work! the nature of that scene was very appropriate for blending in the first place - it has a lot of contrast and a dark background without many details. that's the gifmaker's dream for blending, really. the more dark spots you have in your image, the more transparency the layer has while in lighten/screen mode, making it easier to blend. so, ideally, you should pick scenes as similar to that as possible for your gifs.

but i gotta be honest with you, "picking the right scenes" is easier said than done. not every scene has a simple dark background and little movement, after all. i spend a lot of time trying different combinations to see what works and what doesn't. in that first gif's case, it was quick and easy, because i thought both shots were good examples of Peggy being smart and i was lucky that they were an easy match. but it's not every time that i get lucky, in some dire cases i need to blend layer by layer, using the layers method of giffing. (i don't know about you, i'm a timeline gal, so using layers is a nightmare for me, but sometimes there's no other way!)

BUT… sometimes you can force your scene to be the "right scene" by editing it. in that cases, you could:

add contrast;

use curves/levels to add "dark spots" in your image (i don't know how to call it). here's an example:

take the original shot (in b&w & with a bit of editing) that i used for my most recent Buckynat edit (gif 1). i didn't want Bruce in it, i wanted Bucky instead, so with a curves layer, i darkened the whole gif (gif 2). then, inside the layer mask of the curves layer, with a black brush, i erased the effects of the curves layer on Natasha (gif 3).

you can still see his face, so in another layer, so i painted above those gaps with a black brush and black gradient (gif 4). that way, i created a region to put a gif of Bucky over it (gif 5). without my retouches, you still would be able to see Mark Ruffalo's face (gif 6).

play with colors & b&w! the first Peggy gif wouldn't have worked as well if the smaller Peggy wasn't entirely pink, because more of the background would show up over the main scene, for example.

play with size, too! having a big pink Peggy in the first gif was easier to blend than a smaller Peggy.

hope this was useful 🙈 i too wish there was a secret technique for me to tell you, but i discovered through trial and error that picking (and/or editing) the right scenes is the gifmaker's best friend. and while there's a "theory" for it (using scenes with a lot of dark and bright spots, filling missing gaps with black brush strokes in an underneath layer), you get better at picking the right scenes (and blending in general) with practice!

[aslaanjade]

Hello everyone!! So, it’s been a few months since you’ve heard of me, I guess lol I’m still pretty busy with my thesis and I’m kinda getting back to some old requests and the top20otps thingie (you will see those as soon as possible, I promise). Still, I needed some sort of break and decided to open another type of request, something quick and simple that will help get back to gif making!! So, here is the #one character = one gifset requests!!! The name is pretty self-explanatory but, yeah, if you send me one character from an animanga, i’ll make one little gifset for you! 

RULES:

No anons! I understand that some people might feel shy but please, don’t feel afraid to send a request, even if you don’t follow my blog! 

All gifsets will follow more or less the same structure of these gifsets !!!

I won’t make gifset of characters I know nothing about, so either scroll through my navigation page or ask directly in your requests !!!

Send me an ask with a character + color (optional) !!! Please specify you’re requesting for the #one character = one gifset type of request!!

Please have LOTS AND LOTS of patience since I’m still very busy irl!!!! You can check here for the progress of your gifset, I’ll try to update it as much as I can!!! 

There is no deadline, so feel free to request whenever!!! I’ll reblog this post from time to time, please forgive me in advance lol. Also, boosts from mutuals and followers are much appreciated to help spread the word!!!!  Thank you so much for reading and don’t be afraid to request!!!  ♡♡♡

[starrose17]

Okay but boy King!Sam and his Knight of hell demon!Dean would be the hottest powerhouse couple on the planet. Because what if their co-dependency was still just as strong as when they were human?  What if Dean’s protective big brother instinct was exactly the same?

Like, no demon even gets to TALK to Sam without going through Dean first, and if they try? If they direct their question to the King sitting behind Dean instead of Dean as he prowls up and down like a protective panther in front of him? Cain’s knife in his hand? Oh Dean will grab them by the hair, yank them back and growl in their face;

 “What? You think your King deserves to even breath the same air as you? You’re nothing! You’re less than nothing! You don’t look at him you don’t deserve to look at him you deal with me, and if I’m not satisfied with what your saying then you can have the displeasure of talking to your King. Because believe me, if I’m unhappy with you? No matter how many years you’ve spent torturing souls you will not know the meaning of the word after your King is through with you.”

And Sam’s just sitting there watching, the pull of a small satisfied smirk at the corner of his lips.

And like, everyone knows they’re fucking, like alot, the days blurred together of heat and sweat and Dean’s blood trickling down Sam’s throat as he feeds him the power that keeps him King, and everyone wonders why, because every demon is out for themselves right? Everyone wonders why Dean doesn’t go for King himself, and the one time a stupid demon timidly voices this question Dean goes absolutely feral on him, before with a bloody grin as he holds up what’s left of the torn apart mess of the once demon beneath him, says;

“Taking care of my little brother? Best job in the world.”

For there are no knights, plural, of hell, oh no, there’s just one, just Dean. Wherever Sam goes in hell or on earth, there is always the figure of Dean standing beside him, his brother, his lover, his unwavering loyal protector.  Not that Sam NEEDS protecting oh no, but Dean is the big brother to his King after all, it was his favourite thing to show Sam just how far he would go for him, the lengths he would go to show Sam just how protective he was, and he knew Sam loved it, for there was always that wonderful, knowing smile on his face as Dean would dismember whoever had dared speak out of line.

It went both ways of course, and after a while as the earth fell into disarray, a band of rebel demons, who still hated the fact the Winchesters were in charge, humans, and angels would get together to try and defeat the King, to put a stop to the madness that was favouring none of them.  And they knew, the only way to stop Sam was to kill Dean. Cut off the hand that literally feeds the King and Sam would wither and die without him.

But Sam had grown so immensely powerful by this point that even angels could be killed with a simple tilt of his head, and none of them realise that as protective as Dean is of Sam, Sam is his brother too, and far more powerful.  They underestimate him, for it’s always Dean they see lose control, always the protector as Sam stands quietly behind him, watching with that quiet smile, so this time when it’s Dean in trouble, Sam’s power skyrockets.

As the rebel group descends on Dean, they get knocked back by the flare of power that emanates from Sam. So for trying to kill his brother? Oh, oh no a tilt of the head was too quick, too easy, and suddenly everyone within a hundred mile radius, every human, angel or demon, even if they had nothing to do with this attempt on Dean’s life, suddenly begin to burn! For Sam has set their very blood alight, his eyes as black as the starless sky above them as every living thing burns from the inside out, their screams filling the void.

Dean just saunters up to his King, and with Sam still gazing intently at those still burning around him, Dean just places one hand on his cheek, before kissing the other so incredibly softly.

“Thanks baby brother,” he purrs into his ear, “That was the hottest thing you’ve ever done for me. Literally.  You hungry?”

Sam’s eyes return to normal and he looks to him, smiling again and nodding.

“Come on,” Dean says, nodding towards the burger place near them, the charred bodies still smoking, “let’s grab me a couple of burgers and then you...” his lips curl into a lustful smile, his voice deepening as he tucks Sam’s hair behind his ear, “you can have as much of me as you want.”

(thought of this while making this demon!dean boyking!sam gifset)

EDIT: And I’ve now written porn, on a reblog of this post, see here (just scroll down a bit).

[pan-de-queer]

part of the plan (junksen)

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Very light angst (methinks)

Summary:

“Over the last two months, she’s gone to see a professional craftsmaker, chocolatier, and jeweler to help make Emily’s advent calendar of her dreams. One of the earliest things Aubrey learned about the younger woman (way before they even started dating) was that she loved Christmas and everything it entails. The songs, the lights, the never-ending joy, and most of all, Emily loved the sweets. Aubrey had been given a Christmas advent from one of her clients just before their first Christmas together and Emily had nearly eaten all of the wrapped caramel before Aubrey had even finished making them dinner that night. It was as endearing as it was exasperating to keep her girlfriend’s sweet tooth at bay, but this year, Aubrey had a fool proof plan to keep Emily from eating her special advent calendar.”

Or: It’s a pitchmas season fic, and a gift fic, and a proposal fic all rolled into one.

Author’s Note: A bit of a rush getting this one done but hAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ONE OF MY VERY FIRST FRIENDS IN THIS FANDOM!!! @snowonebutyou i love you so much and i hope you have the best of days! 💕 completely unrelated but i also realized that this is my 20th pitch perfect fic???? time sure does fly when you’re trying to fix universal’s mistakes 😂 Back to related words, fic is inspired by this gifset!

ao3

part of the plan

Aubrey’s always been a planner.

Ever since she was a little girl, she’s made lists and schedules and plans to help organize her ever-changing life.

Planning calms her—centers her in the midst of the storms she’s had to face to get to where she is today. Planning is easy for her—simple and methodical. Planning is also fun for her, especially when she’s planning for something she loves—like, say, proposing to her girlfriend of five years on Christmas day.

Aubrey’s been thinking of this proposal since Emily had asked her if she could make them matching calendars for their first New Year’s together. She’s been properly planning for it for more than four months now.

Realistically, it shouldn’t have taken Aubrey more than four months to get everything she needed for her proposal, but nobody needed to know of the month and a half she spent panicking over what she should do and when she should propose. Some mental break(down)s were all part of the planning process, after all.

Thankfully, Chloe, Jessica, Ashley, and Stacie had helped get her back on track and now here she is, only seven days away from proposing to her most favorite person on the planet.

Meeting Emily had been like seeing the sun. The newest Bella had been bright, almost blinding in her optimism and hope of seeing the Bellas return to the “legendary” status she’d been told of growing up, but she’d also been so passionate—so excited to try any activity Aubrey would throw at them and so sure that the Bellas could go back to being the family her mom had told her of.

Emily was warmth and hope in a time when Aubrey had been surrounded by the monotony of strained team building exercises and angry, whiny clients.

When Aubrey had to return to the Lodge after Worlds, she and Emily struck up a friendship that the blonde is forever thankful for having. She can’t really say when she fell in love with Emily, but she remembers the moment she stopped holding back her feelings from the younger woman.

 “A doula?” Emily’s lips were curled into a soft smile despite the furrow between her brows, mug of hot chocolate cradled gently in her hands as she shuffled closer to her.

“I think I’d be pretty good at it,” Aubrey shrugged, smile half-joking and half-nerves.

“Of course you would,” Emily was quick to reassure. “You’re great at whatever you put your mind to. But a doula… in Greece?”

“Too ambitious?” Her fingers twisted in knots as she waited for the younger woman’s reply. Over the past few years, Emily’s opinion had started to mean the world to her and she knew that in this moment, Emily’s word could mean everything.

“No. I was just thinking—” Emily hummed, a thoughtful frown curling her lips as she seemed to weigh her words carefully “—too far.”

Aubrey could feel her heart climbing her throat, her twisted fingers squeezing together as she asked with bated breath, “Too far for what?”

Silence seemed to be Emily’s only reply, the air thick and expectant as Aubrey waited and waited and waited.

“Too far from us.” Emily finally replied. “From your family.” Warm browns dropped to the floor as she mumbled, “From me.”

Aubrey felt her heart stop at the admission, blood rushing to her ears as she felt all the questions she’d never asked get answered.

Emily smiled wryly as she finally met her frozen gaze, “I’d miss Saturday movie night.”

“We can still do that,” Aubrey answered on autopilot, her thoughts still stuck on from me. “Online and all.”

“That’s not the same,” Emily frowned, grip tightening around her mug. “You know that.”

And she does.

Aubrey does know that this decision—this supposedly simple career change—is not as simple as she’d made it sound. This decision meant finding and maybe even training a replacement for her at the lodge. It meant training for something completely new. It meant most probably leaving Atlanta—leaving the routine and familiarity of her old life behind. It meant leaving her family and friends and Emily.

Could she really leave Emily?

Softly, Aubrey agreed, “I know.”

She watched as lean fingers squeezed the ceramic mug over and over and over again. She watched as emotions flitted through Emily’s lips, brows, eyes before suddenly—confidently—the younger woman straightened in her seat.

Brown eyes burned with determination as desperation seeped into Emily’s plea of “Don’t go.”

Aubrey felt her heart breaking.

“Emily—”

The younger woman ploughed through her protests as she set her mug on the floor and cupped Aubrey’s cold fingers with her warmth. “Don’t go to Greece. You can be a doula anywhere. Please, Aubrey. Stay.”

Emily’s hands held hers in a gentle, sure grip, brown eyes begging her to just say yes, but what did Aubrey have here? A father who doesn’t care for her? The job she hates? The woman she loves only seeing her as a best friend—maybe even only as a mentor? “Stay for what?”

“Stay for—” Emily sputtered, frustration bleeding into the scowl on her lips. “For the Bellas! For Beca’s new solo career. For Chloe’s graduation from vet school. For baby Bella’s first birthday. For—” Emily pulled away as her voice started to choke, the warm hands holding hers starting to shake as a lump started to form in Aubrey’s own throat.

Teary brown eyes met hers as Emily whispered, “Stay for me.” A sob erupted in the space between them but Aubrey is too busy living out her daydreams to determine if it came from her or the woman in front of her.

“Stay so we can—So I can ask you if you’d like to go to the old orchard with me and we can pick some fruit that I’ll tell you to taste and then hold hands and you can laugh at my dumb jokes and we can talk about anything and everything and then we can get actual food at that ramen place you love before going for dessert at the ice cream parlor we go to whenever I’m craving and then at the end of it all I can ask if you enjoyed it and then ask if I can kiss you. Maybe. If you want.”

And oh does Aubrey want.

She’s wanted this for so long that it all feels like a dream.

“Aubrey?” She hadn’t noticed she’d been crying until she’d felt Emily’s calloused fingers brush at her cheeks.

With a bubbling laugh, Aubrey smiled as she stared at the miracle woman sitting in front of her, “You haven’t really asked me anything yet.”

Aubrey could feel the relief leave the younger woman as Emily took in her smile and steady grip.

“Aubrey Posen,” Emily laughed, her own tears starting to well up as Aubrey leaned in. “Will you go stay here with me, in Barden or wherever the world takes us, and go on a date with me?”

The warmth of the woman in front of her and the promise of a future together filled her with so much hope and so much love.

“I’d love nothing more,” she whispered before finally melting into Emily and tasting her last first kiss.

  And so she’s here—they’re here—five years later.

Emily had been the first to step up and ask her out and Aubrey feels that it’s only fitting for her to push for the next chapter of their relationship.

So she has everything planned out.

Over the last two months, she’s gone to see a professional craftsmaker, chocolatier, and jeweler to help make Emily’s advent calendar of her dreams.

One of the earliest things Aubrey learned about the younger woman (way before they even started dating) was that she loved Christmas and everything it entails. The songs, the lights, the never-ending joy, and most of all, Emily loved the sweets. Aubrey had been given a Christmas advent from one of her clients just before their first Christmas together and Emily had nearly eaten all of the wrapped caramel before Aubrey had even finished making them dinner that night.

It was as endearing as it was exasperating to keep her girlfriend’s sweet tooth at bay, but this year, Aubrey had a fool proof plan to keep Emily from eating her special advent calendar.

With the help of the craftsman, Aubrey had a special advent box made where every little compartment needed a main key to open. She kept the key strung along the necklace Emily had given her the year before and had even made her girlfriend promise not to open a new day without her.

Thankfully, the puppy-pout she’d given at the start of the month and the specialized calendar seemed to be doing the trick.

Only seven days away from Christmas and Emily had waited patiently (or as patiently as a vibrating ball of sunshine could wait) each evening for Aubrey to return home and open a new compartment to reveal each specially designed chocolate for the day.

And as adorable as Emily’s reaction to each new piece of chocolate was, Aubrey was more than a little nervous about her girlfriend’s response to her proposal.

(Not that she thought Emily would say no or anything. She just needed everything to be perfect.)

At the very end of the advent calendar, in the compartment for Christmas day, Aubrey had replaced the expected chocolate piece with a ring. The ring.

And sure, it’s kind of cheesy to propose on Christmas day, but that day means a lot to Emily and to them as a couple, so why not propose on such a special day?

Well, Aubrey learns the answer to her question as soon as she gets home.

 “Baby, I’m home!” Aubrey calls out into their modest-sized bungalow, sliding her work shoes off before placing them on the shoe rack and tossing her coat on to the dog-designed coat stand Emily had excitedly brought home a month after they’d moved in together.

Aubrey pads her way through the house, confused at the lack of reply or thunder of floorboards she’s gotten used to hearing every time she comes home later than her girlfriend.

Cautiously, she pads through the living room and checks the kitchen, noting the lack of food on the island, before making her way to the master bedroom, confusion growing to worry.

“Em?” Aubrey pushes the door to their room open. “Babe?”

The bedroom itself is dark, the clearly unmade bed only visible through the sliver of light peeking out of their adjoining bathroom. A stuttering breath escapes her lips as the blonde tries her best to remember if Emily had texted or called her about any issue when she’d arrived home earlier today. Fingers shaking as she feels her heart climbing up her throat, Aubrey feels her feet rush to the bathroom before she even realizes what’s happening.

“Emily!” she yells as the door easily gives way under her half-tackle, wood slamming into the bathroom tiles as blue eyes flutter wildly around the room.

Aubrey expects to see Emily huddled by the toilet bowl, probably puking out another unfortunate case of food poisoning. Or, if Aubrey let her worst fears take over, then she’d expect to see Fergus or one of his men holding Emily hostage in their shower stall, gun to her head just like in her nightmares.

Instead, what greets her is a guilty looking Emily, eyes red and watery with tears barely held back, and smudges of dirt decorating her lips.

“Oh baby.” Relief fills her lungs despite the concern that pinches her brows, Aubrey falls to the floor next to her girlfriend, cold hands fluttering over Emily’s stiff form. “Are you okay? What happened?”

Emily seems to break out of her stupor at the admission, warm hands catching Aubrey’s as she tries to smile reassuringly. “I’m okay, I’m alright. I’m sorry I didn’t answer.”

“It’s—” Aubrey shakes her head, knowing that Emily can see right through her if she says something as clichéd as fine. “You’re okay. That’s all that matters.”

Emily’s lower lip shakes as her tears finally fall. “I’m okay. But I—” Emily sniffs leaning into Aubrey’s touch. “I’m so sorry, Aubrey. I ate the chocolates.”

The admission doesn’t register in her mind until Aubrey’s thumb brushes the dirt by her girlfriend’s lips. The brown smudge coming away sticky and smooth as Aubrey finally leans back to take a proper look at her girlfriend.

Traces of chocolate cover Emily’s lips and fingers, her nose and eyes red from crying, tear tracks spilling down her cheeks.

Aubrey doesn’t know if she should laugh, panic, or kiss her.

Here she was worrying about whether Emily had gotten sick or hurt when in reality, her girlfriend had holed herself up in their bathroom out of guilt, crying about eating the advent chocolates she’d made specially for her—or hell, maybe even crying about “ruining” her proposal.

Aubrey feels her heart grow three sizes for this woman.

“Emily, it’s okay,” she bites back her smile as she continues to wipe Emily’s tears away. “I mean, I’d hoped to surprise you on Christmas day, but I suppose you surprising me is just as nice.”

“S-Surprise?” Emily pulls away, confusion pinching her brows as she wipes the last of her tears away.

Aubrey pauses at the question, blue eyes trying to find recognition in her girlfriend’s face. When she finds none, she asks slowly, “The surprise in the last compartment of the calendar?”

“That’s…” Emily ducks her head. “That’s the only one I didn’t open. I just—I had the worst day so when I came home and saw you’d left the key I thought I’d just eat the chocolate for today to feel a bit better and then maybe leave some for you, but then today’s chocolate became tomorrow’s and suddenly I’ve eaten the chocolate for six whole days and I felt so bad about eating all the others and then you texted that you were coming home and I panicked and tried to hide the calendar in here but I felt so bad about it that I couldn’t really think and I just ended up crying.”

“Oh baby,” Aubrey pulls her into a hug, absolutely endeared by her girlfriend’s little ramble and sympathetic of Emily’s little breakdown, smoothing down her hair as she murmurs soothing sounds into her temple. “It’s okay, really. I know I made a big deal of it, but I just wanted your surprise to be special.”

They stay huddled in their hug for a while, comfortable despite the awkward position they were curled in. It’s reassuring, Aubrey thinks, that even if her plans have all gone to bits, she’s still assured of the warmth and consistency of having Emily in her life.

Eventually, Emily reluctantly pulls away, the red in her eyes finally fading as a small smile flits her lips.

“So…” Emily starts, voice slightly raspy as the smile on her lip grows wide. “What was the surprise?”

The question makes her laugh, her earlier nerves of proposing gone at the sheer relief and warmth of being here, safe, with her girlfriend.

“Well, I’m going to need the key you stole so you can see it,” she teases, Emily gasping exaggeratedly in reply.

“I didn’t steal it! You forgot it this morning when you woke up late for work,” Emily pouts as she pulls the necklace out of her pocket.

Aubrey simply hums in reply, smile wide as she takes the key from the necklace before looking around the room. “Whatever you say, baby. Now, where’s the calendar you supposedly tried to hide?”

Emily huffs at the joke, a smile betraying her faux-annoyance as she pulls the wooden calendar out from behind the toilet she’s sitting on.

Aubrey stifles at a laugh as she notes the way every single box had been opened except for the last, the first eighteen days properly closed from when they’d opened them together with the next six days opened haphazardly.

The compartment marked “25” is still locked shut, and with steady hands, Aubrey places the wooden calendar over her girlfriend’s legs and offers her the key.

“Why don’t you open it, Em?” she smiles, heart singing with excitement. “The surprise is for you, after all.”

Emily’s curiosity wins over her confusion as she takes the key and excitedly opens the compartment.

Her reaction is everything Aubrey had been dreaming of.

“Emily Junk, I love you.” Emily laughs in reply, grin wide as brown eyes watch her take the ring out of the box it’s been sitting in for weeks. Aubrey had written out an entire speech for this proposal, had planned out the exact spot to propose to her in and the exact dress she was going to wear. Had planned the song that would play in the background and the tone she used when she proposed. But, well, the only plan that really matters at this point is that she gets to spend the rest of her life with the woman she loves. “I’m in love with you. Marry me?”

With tears in Emily’s eyes, she lets her laughter skate over Aubrey’s lips, brown eyes glowing as Emily whispers the words Aubrey had said more than half a decade ago. “I’d love nothing more.”

Aubrey knows she couldn’t have planned any better.

[tap-tap-tap-im-in]

Made myself a bloody mary for the first time yesterday wanted to try one for a long time, and while the experience wasn't bad, and while I'm sure any bartender could give me a better experience, I think it could have used a little dill.

Been watching the alien movies this last week, ridiculous tumblr gifset got me thinking about them had never watched all the way through the first and hulu had this free stars week long trial...

Driving this morning, running a quick errand, a forgotten piece of costume, when this cover of creep comes on the radio the backing is all violins and the woman singing is barely enunciating and it strikes me how trans the song is...

Summertime, and the livin's easy. Been a restful vacation. Got a few projects done Saw my parents, gave my love a great birthday, almost in spite of myself, never forget the importance of just listening to what people want. I'm almost ready to get back to work on Monday.

The best part of the programming I'm doing lately is that I'm mostly just pulling threads I've already laid and knotting them in new configurations constantly thankful for all the hard foundational work I laid years ago makes me faster, better, makes the complicated simple.

And I know Ripley's long been a favorite character for the queer community, but I can't help love a strong tall woman even if the cinematographer lingers just a little long at her hips I mean, it can't be body horror without a body, and the otherness of being reduced to reproduction, or the lack thereof...

I found myself being very reserved in the way I say things I've been online long enough to see what happens to see it happen to friends when the malicious get ahold of honest thoughts but I still feel like a creep shopping for women's clothes, even if my wife has slowly switched to calling us lesbians.

The first recipe was pretty simple: Vodka (Tito's because it's good and relatively inexpensive) V8 Tabasco to flavor Worcestershire to flavor Pepper to flavor And the drink wasn't bad, some good heat in the linger but not enough depth to the flavor. A little dill, maybe.

And I've got a cute little strappy sundress for lounging around and watching horror movies in.

[freudensteins-monster]

Across the Multiverse

A quick Logyn fic I whipped up for @someillplanetreigns xoxox

Fair warning I haven’t watch the Loki tv show, just absorbed it through tumblr gifsets and additional context given by @ladyaudiophile when needed, so I may have gotten a few of the details wrong... but oh well.

Being detained by the TVA was… a lot. 

It was difficult to watch his life-that-should-have-been flash before his eyes. So much death and destruction and loss. Was it possible to feel regret over things that hadn’t happened to him yet?

But it had also introduced him to the concepts of Variants; versions of himself from parallel universes. And if there were multiple versions of himself out there in the multiverse, then it would stand to reason that there must be multiple versions of… someone else out there as well. Someone who didn’t feature in Mobius’ little show and tell because she had been taken from him many years ago.

So Loki watched and waited, and when the opportunity presented itself he stole a TemPad and escaped through a time door. He found himself in an unfamiliar place, but one that was thankfully free of TVA agents, so he quickly figured out how to properly use the TemPad and was able to find his way to times and places he hoped he might find… the person he had lost.

The first version of her he found was standing steadfast in a dark cave, holding a bowl over his other self’s head to help bear a punishment that wasn’t hers. 

The second he found in a rather similar version of Asgard, stoically suffering through his other self’s repeated infidelities and cruel taunts.

The third was a half-mad sorceress ruling over the ruins of some form of Midgard beside his mad king self.

He should have tried to save one of them, but knowing her as he did, she wouldn’t have left her lover’s side. Goddess of Fidelity indeed.

What he needed was to find a version of her that had lost, or would never meet, that universe’s version of Loki. He tried twice more with no luck, and the next door after that was a long shot. He found himself on a version of Midgard, some thousand years before his last visit. He quickly changed his appearance to better fit in with the local populace. His TVA issued shirt, pants, and tie were replaced with trousers of some undyed local woven material and a dark green woolen tunic. There was a chill in the air so he threw a wolf pelt around his shoulders for some extra warmth and drama.

As he wandered through the large fishing village in search of her he was still getting too many stares, and as he glanced around he figured it must have been because of his hair - he saw not one person with hair as dark as his. He slipped behind the nearest hut and with a shake of his head his dark hair turned a fiery red (something he’d seen on one of his alternate selves) and continued through the village with only the normal amount of stares one would expect of a newcomer in their midst.

Half an hour of trudging later he had yet to catch sight of the woman he sought. He had hoped to keep a low profile, but he was also impatient and a tad desperate, so asked the next person he came across if they knew of her.

“You mean the healer?” they replied and Loki breathed a sigh of relief. They gave him vague directions to a hut on the outskirts of the village, where the sea met the forests, and it took all of Loki’s self restraint not to race there.

As he approached the small hut a woman stepped outside to pick herbs from her garden and he knew it was her. Her clothes were simple and unadorned, and her long hair was pulled back in a knot of braids, but it was her.

“Sigyn.”

The lost love of his life turned, not believing her eyes. But then her surprise turned to fear.

“Loki!” she hissed, pulling him into her house, away from prying eyes. “What are you doing here? If Odin finds you here he’ll kill me and punish you!”

Loki could have wept with joy regardless. “You know me?”

“What? Of course I know you, even with that strange disguise,” she snapped, waving a hand at his red hair.

Loki shook it out with a smile, returning it to its usual black.

“But you know me? You grew up in Asgard? ...You love me?”

Sigyn blinked her beautiful eyes, eyes so similar to the ones he missed, and regarded him curiously.

“Yes, I know you, and of course I love you,” she replied slowly, pulling away from him. “ But you speak as though you don’t know me.”

“I do not know this version of you,” he answered honestly. “What do you know of a multiverse? Other worlds where things may only be slightly different to what you know, or vary wildly?”

“As much as you, I suppose. We read the same books after all. At least my version of Loki and I did. You are truly not the Loki I knew?”

Loki shook his head sadly. “In my world, the Sigyn I knew… the Sigyn I loved… When Odin discovered our relationship he all but forced her to marry another. It was not a happy marriage, nor a long one. In my world you have been dead for many, many years.”

“It was Theoric wasn’t it?” she asked with wet eyes. Loki nodded. “My mother always did like him,” she huffed.

“What happened to you in this universe? Did Odin banish you here?”

Sigyn nodded. “It’s been a hundred years now.”

“And your Loki… he never came for you?”

“No,” she sighed. “He stood by while Odin made his decree. He spouted a lot of rot about the duties as a prince of Asgard, and my Loki craved his father’s approval so badly… You know something about his inner conflict?” she guessed from the guilty look on his face.

“I should have fought harder for my Sigyn. But I’m here now, and we are both without our other halves… and I have this handy little device with just enough power left to transport us to some other place and time,” he added with a mischievous smile, magically manifesting the stolen TemPad. “Wherever we go we will be stuck there, for better or worse. And the people I stole this from may still be hunting me down.”

“Sounds like an adventure,” Sigyn replied with a smile. “And if you’re anything like the Loki I knew, you should know exactly where I want to go,” she teased.

Loki played along, humming as he pulled up a location on the TemPad. “If you’re anything like the Sigyn I knew, the one place you would want to go… would be to the northern plateaus of the Valdemarsta Mountains on Alfheim, just in time for the Stjarna Festival, where we can drink and dance all night long… and come dawn be handfasted as violet meteorites streak across the sky.” 

Sigyn fell into his arms and kissed him. Loki kissed her back like he’d missed her every day for a thousand years.

“You’ll do,” she sighed happily.

“I would hope so. We’re both quite lucky to have found each other; there are some strange versions of us out there in the multiverse. In one, you were this great, hulking beast of a warrior and I was your rather scrawny but very willing love slave. And in another… I was an alligator. I have no idea what became of you in that particular universe, I was rather too afraid to ask.”

Sigyn laughed and let Loki hold her close as he called up one last time door.

“Once we step through there’s no turning back. Are you sure you wish to come with me?”

“Given a choice I would stay by your side. Surely that is the same across the multiverse, even the one with the alligators.”

Loki smiled and took her hand. “Together then?”

“Always.”

[msommers]

💪🤝✌️👉for jorina!

thank you!!! // character touch/gestures meme

💪 - would your character be more likely to scoop someone up in their arms, or be the one getting scooped?

for sure leans more towards being the one to get scooped up because of her size and being more of a dexterous person. she probably Could manage to hold somebody up for a little while but it would depend on their size and how long the trip is tbh.

🤝 - how comfortable is your character with the 'professional' type of touching/gestures? (i.e. handshakes, having a card handy, small talk, etc)

she's comfortable with handshakes, introductions and discussing the job (a recent report, the latest or upcoming scouting mission, the state of the inquisition or its current goal, etc etc), but she Dreads small talk. a lot of people will default to trying to bring up random subjects because they assume talking about the work for too long will get boring or taxing, but jorina would happily talk for hours about it instead of engage in awkward small talk with somebody trying to navigate their way to what they'd consider common ground with a city elf. (some people aren't bad, but you just know there are plenty of people who think that she's essentially lived in another world and they can't relate on any topic bc people in thedas are just Like That with elves.)

✌️ - are there any gestures or touches that your character shares with a friend/team/loved one that are a type of code between them?

i imagine that she and the other scouts all have a series of gestures and shorthand that they learned to communicate with each other in the field, outside of that i think she'd have developed something small with aleksi that signals to him that she'd like for him to use those quick-thinking and charisma skills of his to come up with some excuse on the spot for them both to leave a social interaction because she's sick of it or starting to run low on that reserve all introverts have when it comes to being social. not entirely sure what it would be, probably something that aleksi picked up on that she does naturally and then it became a Thing when he brought it up. maybe something as simple as jorina crossing her arms and starting to tap on an elbow, nothing odd to most and glaringly obvious to aleksi who knows her the best.

👉 - does your character gesture to draw someone's attention to other people/things? are they likely to notice if they get pointed at? if they don't point, what's another gesture they might use?

usually indicates direction with a nod or by describing it out loud, though she’ll point with a finger if somebody can’t follow those simple gestures. could make a compilation gifset of all the times she's pointed in a direction while holding a rolled up map or one of her arrows. jorina's on that Constant Vigilance life, she's going to notice 9/10 times that she's being pointed at.

[miannedomusings]

I was indirectly tagged by @miingyu to list my  5  6 favorite creations that I’ve posted. Thanks for the open invitation Stevie! this is good excuse to get motivated to make more stuff!

In order from recent to old:

LUCY, Irrelevant Answer

 A.C.E, Higher

A.C.E, Yuchan

LUCY, Snooze

LUCY, Merry-go-round of life

BTS, Wings 

ramblings on each below the cut...

1. Irrelevant Answer : by far my favourite thing that I’ve made lately! I often try to make complex composition gifsets (i.e., not using tumblr’s grid), but they usually die before I finish... either they’re too much work, or I just can’t get it to meet my vision. But composition is my favourite thing, and when a set comes together as a unified work... WOO BABY, so pleased. This one was actually really quick to make given the style, and admittedly the only thing I’m not 100% on is the colouring which could have used more time. But I think this came together really well, and perhaps more importantly, I think it suits the source material -- it feels like the MV to me and I’m very proud of that. 

2. Higher : I tend to think of this as a moving poster and I think it’s pretty cool! This is one of those moments where watching the video these two shots instantly linked in my mind as mirrors of each other, and so this just had to happen. This one was an interesting challenge. Fitting these two shots together was a little trickier than I anticipated since they don’t have matching camera movements in them. And I basically never use text so settling on a font  and a placement took an eon, not to mention pulling out the sun/moon graphic from the video. This is another one where I feel like I did a decent job capturing the feel of the video. In particular, I like the flicker at the end that I added to smooth out the loop but also to reference that effect in the video. The notes on this one are very gratifying, I really appreciate the comments people left in the tags

3. Yuchan : this one is simple, but I think it’s basically the best colouring I’ve ever done. There’s nothing crazy here, the colouring wasn’t especially hard, but damn, that end product does not look like I made it 😂 It doesn’t hurt that Chan is charming as all hell here

4. Snooze : the other two concept heavy gifsets above are ones where I knew what the end product was going to be basically as soon as I started, and there wasn’t a whole lot of early work to get there, just finessing at the end. This one though, I knew that I wanted blue and yellow, and that was it. Hunting for the shots, and then adding in the light to dark element, and for some reason deciding it had to be a faceless set too made this one a lot more of a process. I’m very proud of the end product. It feels gentle and soothing. I’m also happy that the visual themes (yellow and blue, light to dark) come out really clearly (at least to me). There’s always a risk that it’ll be too subtle and get lost, but I think I did it! The dark at the bottom also makes for a good grounded composition so that’s nice :)

5. Merry-go-round of life : In general I’m not very experimental with my colouring, the goal is usually to just go with how things look, and just do some tidying for the gif format. But this one I actually did some stuff! At a glance the colouring might not look especially wild, but it’s pretty different from the original, and it took a while to convince myself that I like it 😅 

6. Wings : Initially I wasn’t going to include anything from before 2021 because it wasn’t til this year that I upped my gif game. BUT the two sets I made for the Wings short films are a demonstration of my goddamn determination.  I made these sets before I had photoshop, using free online gif making websites. Picking the shots, editing them so that the edges were black or white and attaching on the circle animation... MY GOD. Each of these at one point or other were at least 4 separate gifs that I had to stitch together. All of which done on software that really didn’t allow for colour editing beyond contrast and brightness... I don’t know how I did it as well as I did. I genuinely like these. I think they’ve got big impact and fit the unsettling vibes of the short films. Good job past me!

...I’m just now realising that “creations” would also include my writing, eh?

Given that I haven’t posted an analysis this year I think it’s prob fair that I skipped them... but I genuinely love all of the things I’ve written! ...maybe not the writing per se, but the ideas! I spend a ton of time on those and the ones that I’m not 100% on (idea-wise), I don’t post. Though I actively post them before I’m satisfied with the writing because otherwise they would never see the light of day 😂

Special shout out to my Love Yourself colour series. Series are always extra hard to pull off, but I think I fucking nailed those. Also they were surprisingly concise, which is not a strength of mine, and they were some of my first ones so they have a special place in my heart and on this blog