#so here's a default pose of them hello

[pettyoddity]

staring

[luciawithoutj]

Hey hi hello!

I have some things to say about new merch and jo merch in general so this is gonna be a litrle longer post and actually I think I should cange my semiotics theme (which is already about jo) about how bad their merch design is.

First of all little disclaimer: this is all my humble opionion based on what I learned in my one year of being graphic design student and an artist and designer on the internet for last 4-5 years. Before going to uni I learned most of about art and graphic design stuff by reading books and watching tons of yt videos. Second of all this critic is just coming from place of love for this band because I see so mucb potential and they could do some amazing merch designs if they give it a chance and I am fully aware how expensive the touring is and why they had to cut the quality of merch products.

So far my favorite jo band merch designs are cds (that probably required some designer to make), condoms (because they are really funny, genius, nicely designed and unique merch that fit the vibe of the band and matches their songs as well) and the new tshirt from last merch drop (which design is made by one slovenian fanartist : link.

Main reason that made me want to speak up is seeing that this merch drop will only have 100 products (my friend said that could mean 20-ish shirts per size) which how big this fandom has gotten in last year is pretty really dam limited. For a limited product I am really disappointed and I hoped for more. For such a limited product that design is the most default design they could have gone for and I am so sorry for Damon because his work is goregous, amazing, breathtaking and I could talk about it for ages and how inspiring it is but this shirt design isn't serving.

If they wanted to do bare minimum of design with those 5 images here is some of my ideas (unfortunately I don't have time to visually show them to yall on a mock ups because of finals that I should be studying for instead of writing this so try to imagine what I am trying to say and demonstrate). First is just simple instead of white choose black shirt or even better a thisrt. If you want it to go a stepp further is using their name logo font (font name is Avaline btw if anyone wants to download and use it for their designs :))) and either put it how they did when they promoted the everybody's waiting or to write idk therapy sessions or anything related to the band or it can even be some inside joke.

Something like this would make design just a bit more intersting but still bare minimum but amazing for regular merch. If they want to go a step further but want to keep the long sleeves (this idea was suggested by few people I talked too) they could put pictures vertically on the sleeves. I would find it a bit cooler if it is on the right sleeve out-side and then they put their band logo (the heart one) on the left side of the shirt where people's hearts normally are.

After exams I would definitely like to try to make some designs and just limit myself with this 5 pictures and play with typography and photoshoop to make something interesting.

Another I want to mentioned is how in my humble opinion if you are gonna sell limited edition either make it really pretty or good quality or really cursed and funny with inside jokes.

I think people (and me first) would eat tshirts (but also other merch designs) with some cursed designs or just texts that say "sparklative" or "slay pose" or "I feel SloveNACE" (this 3 were suggested by amazing people in tumblr discord server) or even let Jan photoshoop their faces on most random picture. This 5 guys with their gen z humour could make and do some hilarious merch like how amazing idea the condoms are.

Last thing I want to say is how many amazingly talented fans are. I mean even Damon was so shocked and moved by amount of talent and art made in this community. Furthermore I know (some of them as online friends and mutuals, others as just artists from same fandom) who are also either graphic design students or they work in art/graphic design/entertainment fields and some of them (including myself) would be so happy to even make few merch designs or art for them for freee or for a ticket for their show. Personally I would die from happiness if I get a chance to work with my favorite band that inspires me so much everyday to the point people at my uni think I am from Slovenia and know slovenian because of how much I include them in my uni work and how much fanart and designs I made because of them in last 6 months.

I just think there is so much potential guys might not be aware of (Idk honestly because who knows what is going on backstage in their lives). But yeah they could have even asked Damon to help them with composition of the pictures on that shirt or even hire Racik to make some pretty art or any fanartist honestly. Here is just few links of my favorite fanartists who also do a lot of graphic design related stuff (and also some of them sell their products on their own websites/redbubble/etsy/inprint/etc) :

Tia <3

Roxanne

Vic

jo.kam_ (previously mentioned her design)

Lemon

yelecx

Racik (ofc)

There is probably more but my brain for hell of it won't remember any names so feel free to add in the comments or tags more artists <3

I could probably go more in depth and give more ideas how to improve merch designs the cheapest and best way as possible but still trying to keep the quality good as it needs to be. I know there is still gonna be people fighting for this shirts and people are still gonna buy their merch but just it hurts my art/designer soul seeing this bad designs when there is so much potential and they have amazing fans and amazing crew and they work with so many talnted people and they themselves are so talented and their music inspired so many and so much.

Thanks everyone for coming to my TedTalk. <3

Actually now I am thinking and from just talking about jo work from design and semiotics perspective for that semiotics seminar I could just focus on their merch design and go more in detail about it and if yall want when it is done and I translate it in english I could share it here for people who want to read about it. Let me know I guess.

Also if someone is interested my art and design insta is lucia.without.j and my redbubble is lucia-without-j and my dms are always open if someone wants to chat or complain about anything art, design, joker out or any other fandom I am in related.

P. S. I am so sorry for any spelling mistakes and if what I said doesn't make sense. English isn't my first language.

[hoodedjelly]

i look up to your art so much! i have a few questions if ur comfortable answering!!!

1. what app do u use to draw ? and what brush do u use?

2. were there any tutorials or videos in general you watched to be able to draw like that? im very curious on this question in general bc i love the way u draw poses. im very jealous of how well you do that! 😫 (if you have any vids you recommend, pls send it i begggggg)

3. how long have u been drawing? i got back into drawing last year and have been practicing since but i still struggle a bit 😣

HELLO! thank you so much for liking my work and for the questions!

Q1: I use Clip Studio Paint Pro, the brushes i use is a mix between free downloaded ones my friend gave me and paid ones. Main one i use is Cat Scratch but my other 2 options that i use are the fine pencil and mechanical pencil. i download so many brushes all the time that im not even sure they are default csp brushes or not, and i wouldn't even be able to find the original links anyway. The brush i used while working on the Sleep Walk animatic was "tantan"

(examples of my fine pencil and mechanical pencil if you want to try and find something similar)

Q2: wow thank you that is a very nice complement (i personally think i still need some work on my posing). I watched a LOT of gesture drawing videos, i honestly don't remember all of them too well, i will send over this one and this one. Also the book MORPHO anatomy for artists: Simplified forms by Michel Lauricella is on my desk at all times. I also recommend Line of Action, its a free website that imitates figure drawing studies. it's helped me a lot since where i am right now, i don't have the resources to actually GO to figure drawing classes. But for videos in general there's this fav animatics playlist i have that i go back to whenever im in an artistic slump.

also heres a list of my fav artists atm (literally didn't ask but im putting it here anyway): TheBrujoAri, fourleafisland, jam_etc, abyssalzones, Mayuko Watson, Megan Lloyd, Stephen Silver and satoshi kon (also just a bunch of moots of mine <3)

Q3: now thats a hard question. short answer: since i knew how to pick up a crayon. long answer: i've always loved cartoons and comics, animated youtube in the 2010s was what i was watching on the family computer 24/7. but that's normal for a kid tbh, the difference is i just never grew out of it! i'd say it was around 5th grade (11 years old) when i stopped and realized "wait i want to like do this whole drawing thing seriously", then i never stopped.

[elfsyellowflowerzart]

hello!

im now taking commissions for people who contribute to a very important gfm.

if you contribute to the gfm of @mohiy-gaza2 , i will draw for you.

here is a link to his gfm, and i will put information about the types of drawings i will do below.

for a $5 contribution, i will draw you an uncolored sketch of any character from the shoulders up.

for a $10 contribution, i will add flat color to the above.

for a $15 contribution, i will either add lines along with the color to the above, or i will draw you an uncolored full body sketch of any character.

for a $20 contribution, i will put flat colors on that sketch.

for a $30 contribution, i will line the full body sketch, without color.

for a $40 contribution, i will fully line AND color that full body sketch.

for anything above $50, i will draw whatever you want. this includes multiple characters interacting.

you must send me proof of contribution via direct messages on this blog before i start drawing.

i can draw many body types, you can go through my "yew art" tag to see my style more in-depth. i will tag yew art on this post for ease of searching.

examples of my art:

i am really bad at drawing backgrounds and shading, but if you want me to try, i will.

i can also send transparent versions of anything i draw if you want, so that you or others can color it, draw backgrounds on it, or just do anything you want with it in general. all art will be free to use by the commissioner without credit if people want to use it that way. post it anywhere you want, with or without credit. but if youre able, i do beg you to share this post and this gfm.

if you want a certain pose, send some kind of reference photo or in-depth description of the pose. if its an original character, please send a color palette for them if you are able. the default for full bodies, if not given a pose, will be the character(s) standing still.

please, please be a friend and help him.

[rebouks]

Custom Rig / SimRipper Tutorial

Hi hello, welcome to todays lecture! Nah it's real simple even if it doesn't look it, I promise! I'm gonna go ahead and assume you have some basic knowledge of Blender/pose making for this tutorial, so I won't be going over how to set up your rigs or anything. Feel free to ask me any questions though! My previous pose tutorial is here if that's what you're looking for.

Disclaimer: I use this process to rip sims for posing only, idk if it's different for making renders 'cause that I ain't my jam. Although I assume it's pretty similar.

You're gonna need Blender (I use 2.79b but I'm pretty sure the newer version works okay for posing too) and SimRipper which you can get here...

Blender (2.79b) SimRipper

First things first, you're gonna wanna dress your sims! Just go in game like you usually would and once you're done dressing 'em you can save and exit. Hint: SimRipper will load up your sim wearing the outfit they're dressed in when you exit the game. I usually make sure they're wearing the right outfit before I quit. You can load up other ones later but it can take a while so it just saves some time.

Okay! Once your simmies are dressed and you've downloaded the SimRipper/extracted the file, double click on the .exe to open the application. You'll be greeted with this:

Click "Retry" to set up the correct paths then hit save. (I only needed to set up the first one so I'll assume you do too! If not just let it know where everything's installed)

Once you've hit save the application will open! Hit "Select" on the right and choose the correct save file, like so:

Hint: SimRipper is slow so don't worry if it says Not Responding or seems to take a while, it's pretty normal. The less sims/outfits there are in a save file, the quicker it'll work. You can make a blank save to make it faster but I don't bother; it doesn't take too long and I can't be arsed. You'll be greeted with a long list of all the sims in that save file. Find and click on the sim you wanna rip:

Once your sim has loaded up there's a couple of things we wanna change:

Change the top drop down menu to "Solid and glass meshes and textures" - this'll make it easier to get rid of eyelashes etc later (we don't really need those for posing and they get in the way of the eyes)

Click HQ - it'll look better, trust me!

You can change their outfit here too if they're not wearing the right one - though it'll take a while to load up again.

I like to hit the "Tanned" option, especially for paler sims, since blender seems to really wash them out and it hurts my eyes 😂 - personal preference though!

Once everything's set you'll need to click on "DAE" near the top right, this'll save your sim as a .dae file ready for blender. Again, it might take a while! Once you're done, you should have these files:

Okie doke! Now we're off to Blender. Open up your rig and click the little plus to the left of it to extend the menu. You're gonna right click on each of these body parts like "bottom" "feet" etc etc and hit delete until they're all gone.

Once you've deleted every body part, you'll be left with an empty rig like this:

Now that our rig is empty, we can import our .dae file! Go to "File" -> "Import" -> "Collada (Default) (.dae) like so:

Find your .dae file and double click on it to import it. Hint: I like to make a separate folder for my .dae files and I regularly delete 'em once I've saved my rig. I like tidy files!

Hi Oscar! I'mma go ahead and right click on this extra lamp that was imported and hit delete 'cause I don't need it! You can keep it if your eyes aren't sensitive little babies like mine, it doesn't matter much.

Okay.. so now we should have a "rig" and a "rig.001"! Click the little plus signs to the left again so you can see what's in the hierarchy of each one, and then:

Click the upside down orange triangle of your sim from the "rig.001" rig and drag it up to the first one, then drop it on top of "rig"

A box should come up like the one below and you wanna click on "Object"

All we've done here is move Oscar (or whoever) from the extra imported rig to the original. We don't need that extra rig or the glass textures (the eyelashes etc) anymore so get rid of it by right clicking it and hitting "Delete Hierarchy" like so: Hint: "Delete Hierarchy" is different from "Delete" and gets rid of the whole hierarchy (shocker) at once!

I like to rename my rigs, it can get complicated when you start posing more than one sim so naming them just makes it easier. Double click on where it says "rig" then rename it:

Now we need to attach your sim to the rig, as below!

Left click on the sim (aka "OscarFinch" in this case)

Head to the toolbar just below and click on the little wrench/spanner.

A little further down, click on the box beneath "Object:" and choose your sim/rig

In this case it's called "OSCAR", but if you didn't rename your rig it'll still be called "rig".

And that's it, you now have a custom rig 👍 Just make sure you save it!

You can go ahead and click on the little plus/minus to hide the drop down/extra info of the rig and start posing! \o/

Once you've done this a couple of times you won't even have to think about it anymore! I do it almost everyday and I had to really pay attention to what I was doing for this tutorial 'cause I was like ??? when I tried to think how I do it lmao.

They're so much more fun to work with than the base rigs, no more clipping, better facial expressions, poses with clothes in mind?! Amazing 😌

Extra Hint! If you rip a sim who's dressed with a pose accessory assigned to a stigmata joint, it'll still move as if you imported that accessory via blender. I randomly found this out by accident but it might save you some time!

I hope you found this easy enough to follow, but lmk if you have any questions! I think this is one of those things everyone kinda does a bit differently. Like.. one tut I saw you had to add the textures in separately n' shit? Idk that one confused me so this is how I do it and it works, so I hope it does for you too! ❤

Happy SimRipping! (sounds kinda painful, doesn't it? ouch)

[syaolaurant]

Hello hello, I love your work and was wondering if you'd be open to making a little breakdown of your art style?

It's really interesting to me and I love taking bits of different artists art style elements and incorporating them into my doodles to get better

Totally okay if you don't want to! 💜💜💜

Take care and have an amazing life 🤗💜☺️

Hello!! Thanks for asking 🤗 I'm not making a little breakdown of my art style I already WROTE A WHOLE ESSAY ABOUT IT!!

Sorry I exaggerated it a bit🥲🥲...

I was very happy to receive this ask, but at the same time I felt worried. Honestly, I didn’t know how to give you a relevant answer because  I don’t even think I have a consistent art style 🥲. Except for my usual chibi style which I feel most comfortable with, I feel my style constantly changes. So after going back to review my old paintings, I think my style is a combination of children's book illustrations and Japanese anime style. Many times I have received comments about my paintings looking like they are from children's books, and I agree haha, maybe because I mostly draw small characters in big settings and I usually use bright colors. 

My favorite artists:

My drawing style is mostly influenced by my all time favorite artists Heikala and Koyamori, I stumbled across their Insta accounts during my 1st year in college (that was 10 years ago) and from then my drawing style gradually took shape. I also admire Paulina Cassidy, mostly because I like her whimsical nature sprites theme. Recently I’ve been investing in Stephanie Law’s artwork, her coloring technique is so god-like that I hope one day I can reach that level…

Ideas and Inspirations:

Japanese anime/manga culture has had a great impact on my childhood. It was a dream come true for me to be able to pursue my college study in Japan. I think this journey greatly affected my current style. I draw lots of things from small doodles to funny comics. I'd describe my drawings as “silly and cute” since I love to make people laugh and I also live for the fluffs (Sometimes I drew angst too but it still turned out cute haha..). Aside from that,  I prefer making “storytelling” illustrations with colorful backgrounds. My favorite things to draw are tiny characters in big scenery, I like to create peaceful static moments that when looking at them help warm my heart and calm my mind. 

When making game fanarts, I usually take screenshots as references for background and imagine how the character will act in that setting. I just do what I feel comfortable and use my own judgment for composition … which… sometimes results in weird perspectives (and you know what I’ve just discovered the rule of third recently 😅…). 

Characters:

When it comes to drawing characters, I honestly don't know how to explain my style. I think chibi is my most recognizable style, apart from that I usually draw characters in semi-chibi (is it the right way to call it??) or simple anime style. I don’t usually draw characters with dynamic poses or movements ( that’s why I still suck at anatomy and expression 😩😩). I think I’m shifting from anime to a more cartoon style since I kinda have same face problem and  I’m trying to practice face shapes.

I think my character drawing style is most influenced by Akihiko Yoshida (who is behind many FF/Nier/ bravely default concepts), as I always draw my characters with chubby round faces and dreamy eyes. I made an example of how I usually draw my characters below.

Technique: 

Watercolor technique is quite complex so I’ll explain how I always do my paintings in another sharing post. I’ve posted part 1 of my sharing here. Generally, I love using bright, saturated tones and black ink brush pen or color brush to paint line work. 

. I hope I could answer your question. I’m definitely no expert, all the things about art I've learn was self-taught but I'm happy to help anyway I can. 💕💕

And you 🫵🫵 yes you dear sweet anon! I wish you a happy life too!!!! 💕💕

[reticent-writer]

Hii :D

Wanted to request Anya x child reader (platonic ofc)

We're reader is a very energetic child and is a scene kid, one day spends the afternoon in Anya's house makes her wear the same stuff too and the two go show Loid how pretty they were (He/him or They/Them pronouns for reader)

Might request a couple more times

-Cloverrs

◡̈⋆ʜᴇʟʟᴏ(●’◡’●)ﾉ I used he/him idk why it's just my default ig. Sorry this took so long I was trying to finish it by Sunday but the world was against me.

✿✼:*ﾟ:.｡..｡.:*･ﾟﾟ･**･ﾟﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*ﾟ:*:✼✿　　

"Papa Anya's home, brought a friend too." Anya exclaimed taking her shoes off and ran into the living room with you following behind her.

"Oh hello, you must be Y/n. Anya has told me about you." He lied. The most Anya had told him was your name, he did a background check on you and your family.

"Hello sir, thank you for having me over." You bowed saying a formal introduction. He expected nothing less from a student at Eden college.

"Thank you for being friends with Anya. Why don't you both go play while I make dinner."

"C'mon Y/n." Anya took you head and dragged you to her room.

Bon shot up and the sudden entrance and got up to greet you.

"Fluffly dog." You giggled as he rubbed against you, you started to pet the big floof and it seemed like he appreciated it.

"What do you wanna play?" You asked as Anya look around her room of toys and things loid gave her.

Her eyes landed on her nail kit and an idea popped into her head.

"Let's play dress up!"

"Okay!"

-------

You both were quite to the point were it made loid nervous so he checked up on you.

"Anya, Y/n. Are you both alright? " he knocked before griping the door nob to open it.

The door only opened halfway before Anya threw herself on it.

"NO. You can't come in, its- we're-" Anya struggled to find the words so like any good friend you helped her.

"It's a surprise"

"Yeah a surprise. We'll show you."

Loid was getting nervous. What kind of surprise could it be for Anya to slam the door like that.

------

"Look papa. I'm bondman." Anya ran into the kitchen were loid was, striking a pose. She was wearing beige trench coat, that was almost to big for here, with a hat to match.

"And I'm bondman's side kick." You wore black trech coat with a match hat. You and Anya were back to back sticking the same clothes.

You nails were painted a brilliant red and Anya's a pretty pink. (It was all over both of your hands along with other colors)

"Woof" bond barked, making his presence known. He once fluffy white coat was now sticky and multiple different colors. He was also wearing a hat.

"How... Nice." Lois was almost too stunned to speak. Not only had Anya made a friend, she managed to find someone just like her.

He's gonna get gray hairs dealing with the both of you.

✿✼:*ﾟ:.｡..｡.:*･ﾟﾟ･**･ﾟﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*ﾟ:*:✼✿　　

[melimpostor]

Hello! first off I just want to say that I love love love your art!!! its so amazing! 💖 So, I’ve been asking this question around online, so I hope you don’t mind! (Please feel free to ignore this ask if you don’t feel like answering!) Anyway, I’ve been drawing for a good while now. It’s always been something that interests me, but, in all the time that I’ve done it, I’ve never once found a style that is unique to me and that I’m good at. So, I was just wondering if you have any tips or advice on how to find your own style? I’ve tried so many though I can’t ever seem to like any of them or actually stick to it. One thing I really have trouble with is proportion. I want my style to be more chibi-esqe, but not completely if you knows what I mean lol. If you have any advice for a fellow artist I’d really like to hear it!! Please share your wisdom :D

Hello and thank you !! I don’t mind at all ! Let’s see…

For finding your art style:

► Define what you want to tell with your art. Not mandatory, but i think it helps. What do you want people to feel when they see your art? Do you want them to feel the emotions of the characters you draw? Or be impressed by the technique? the colors? All of the above?- I think your answer will lean you to something more specific in terms of style. For example, I tend to focus on characters expressions and feelings. So i have a relatively simple artstyle that allows me to focus on facial traits a bit more. (Also... i'm lazy- So i like to tell more with less)

► Observe drawings from artists you love ! Try to analyze what you like so much about it. Is it the lineart? the specific way they draw eyes or any specific part of the body? Is it the colors or the rendering style? And try to reproduce it yourself. Not in a plagiarism kind of way, but more as a study !

► Try, fail and retry again. Once you have analyzed the things you like, try to incorporate it into your own art. It might come off badly sometimes, but you also might create happy accidents ! Both outcomes are good learning. And while I don't think it’s possible to have a style 100% original, it doesn’t mean you can’t create an artstyle that you own and feels as uniquely yours !

► Be patient (trust the process and don’t be too hard on yourself). Defining your artstyle might take years to refine itself. Decades even… With practice and dedication it will come naturally to you !  But as with any discipline you have to be patient, there will be ups and downs and very frustrating moments but you never cease to learn.

For proportions:

► Don’t be shy about using references. There is no such thing as cheating in art (if used properly). It builds your visual library, so help yourself as much as you can ! Professionals use them all the time too.

► I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but…. We can’t really cut anatomy practice- I avoided it for so long myself and I regret it bitterly. So don’t be like me and practice your anatomy ! Even if you aim for a simple or semi-chibi style. The trap is it seems easy to draw , when in reality a lot of chibi artists already master anatomy to a certain degree. It’s much easier to simplify shapes when you know a little more about the structure behind them.

There are a lot of websites to help you, here’s a few ! http://reference.sketchdaily.net/ https://line-of-action.com/  https://www.posemaniacs.com/

My advice is to start slow. Most of those websites have a timer by default, but don’t set a time limit for now and take your time on each pose. Try to breakdown body parts into simple geometrical shapes. It helps grow your visual library and it’ll get easier to draw with better proportions ! 

___

Here you go ! I realize it's very generic sorry - TLDR: don't give up ! If you want anything more specific don't hesitate to ask again, I'll do my best ! Good luck on your art journey ! ♥

[pokemenlovingmen]

Hello! could I request Warden Ingo with a S/O who is from Hisui and is so kind it could break the universe. I can just imagine This S/O would be so protective over him at the beginning but as time goes on, Ingo becomes the one protective over his S/O.

(Okay I am so so sorry this turned into an actual essay my friend)

Of course!! I love protective reader stuff, because that’s just how I am. Mother hen instinct. Also, since you said the reader is from Hisui proper, I decided to make them a member of the Pearl Clan for the sake of the story, but let me know if that’s not what you had in mind! Will also be defaulting to a masc reader, but if you’d rather have it be more GN leaning you can let me know about that too!

cw: minor death and injury mention, discussions of disassociation

Like Home — Warden Ingo x Reader

⬛️ — Everything had been moving really slowly since that rift opened up. Everyone was extremely cautious, and for the most part, the clan leader and the wardens were the only ones who left the settlement for any decent length of time.

⬛️ — Things had gotten especially stressful when one of the strange and powerful Pokemon that rift had spit out killed the warden of Lady Sneasler, leaving the entire clan, unshakable wardens included, on edge. What was one of your clan’s most exalted nobles to do without a warden? Little did anyone in the Pearl Clan know a solution would fall right into your laps, and for you, it would be something much more.

⬛️ — Another cautious day had gone by in relative silence, you and your Pokemon companion busy cutting firewood for the settlement, when your clan leader and a few other clan members came running into the village making a huge fuss about something that happened. This had everyone’s attention, naturally, and everyone who was out of their homes gathered around Irida and her small traveling party to learn what happened. When you joined the crowd, one hand on your Pokémon’s head, you were shocked to see one of the stronger people who had gone out with Irida that day holding what looked to be an unconscious person dressed in strange, battered clothes.

⬛️ — Apparently they’d all gone to check on Lady Sneasler while who her replacement warden would be was still up in the air, and the party had found this man in bizarre garb in her den she had apparently found and was looking after. Not to mention she was delighted when Pearl Clan members showed up because now there were knowledgeable humans here who could take care of him with human medicines! And now here you all are, the entire Pearl Clan gathered around staring at this one strange guy, debating what the best course of action would be.

⬛️ — Of course just about everyone in the clan wants to help, it’s just a matter of who to entrust this to and how it should be handled. And bleeding heart that you are, you volunteer almost immediately to shelter the recovering stranger in your tent. And that’s how you personally decided that from here on out, this guy was your responsibility.

⬛️ — You were patient with him when he first woke up, as he was obviously dazed and confused. Thankfully he’d been in Hisui for some time before the Pearl Clan found him, maybe a week or so, so the absolute panic crisis that is realizing he can’t remember anything is kind of a “been there done that” thing. You’re still shocked to hear it, though, and even if the initial terror of the situation to him has already worn off he’s clearly still troubled by it.

⬛️ — His name is Ingo. You’re immediately taken by his quirky way of speaking, that extra air of formality he addresses you and everyone else with and his tendency to just blurt out what he’s feeling in that booming voice of his. He says a lot of things you don’t understand, has catchphrases that could practically be another language to you with how little sense they make, and he’s always reflexively doing this big pointing pose that’s so over the top, you can’t help but laugh a little when he does it. When he eventually does get moving again, the entire Pearl Clan finds him just as strange and you can’t tell if he’s aware or not.

⬛️ — But before that kind of recovery happens, during those initial first days where you’re at his bedside examining his injuries and kindly bringing him warm meals and medicine, he never stops asserting how thankful he is. He’s extremely well-mannered and no matter what you do for him he gives you the most heartfelt of thanks. So even if he’s hard to understand sometimes, he’s made it abundantly clear he’s grateful for your care. Even if, later on, he gets a bit antsy to move around and you have to keep dragging him back to his bedroll. No, Ingo, you still have vertigo and if you go outside to help gather logs as thanks for everything you WILL stumble onto a bad patch of ice and break your neck. Ingo, no, I don’t need any help patching this hole in the tent, you stay on your feet too long and that fracture won’t heal right, sit down. Damn it, Ingo, those cuts on your hands JUST healed you are not helping me start the cooking fire, you’re going to get blisters like a motherfucker.

⬛️ — It was only natural you two grew very close. Natural protective instinct kicks in pretty quick. I mean, the more you talk to Ingo, the more you realize he’s been through so, so much and the more your heart aches for him. You’d never say it to his face, but sometimes you just want to wrap your arms around him and hold him so the cruel world can’t hurt him again. ...But that’s weird. And you probably shouldn’t be saying that to someone you’ve only known for a month now. 

⬛️ — When Ingo finally does make a full recovery and the clan not only welcomes him in as a proper member, but also decides the surprisingly natural connection he made with Lady Sneasler made him a perfect fit to be her new warden, you’re cheering him on the entire time. Even if he doesn’t necessarily understand what’s happening.

⬛️ — You admittedly find yourself getting a bit sad after he makes his recovery and starts tending to Sneasler a lot more. Of course, he’s fitting in well with the clan now and has something to occupy his time, and you absolutely want that for him, but... you miss him. You miss constantly hearing all his weird expressions about “tracks”, “engines” and “terminals”, you miss his funny pose that you noticed he started to do more when he realized it made you laugh, and you even miss him being stupidly and dangerously polite as he pushes himself to try and help out with anything that needed doing.

⬛️ — Oh and that’s not even mentioning the protective instinct. You miss him, and you’re worried about him. He’s not from Hisui, how’s he doing in the wilds on his own when he travels to the highlands? Is he getting enough to eat, is he pushing his injured leg too hard? When you finally vent about all of these feelings to one of your friends in the clan, they laughed and playfully clapped you on the back, telling you they weren’t sure if you wanted to marry him or adopt him. (You just about strangled them.)

⬛️ — When he recovered, Irida helped put together a home of his own, so he was no longer living with you. Which made it all the more (pleasantly) surprising when that very same night after you told your friend about all this, Ingo turns up at your doorstep. He’s very polite, of course, tipping his hat to you and ever so kindly requesting to be let in, which you oblige. In the firelight, you can see all the snow clinging onto his dark coat, and it’s kind of hard to resist fussing over him making sure he’s not freezing.

⬛️ — When you ask him what brought him here at this hour, he motions for you to kneel down beside your fire pit with him. When you’re both seated, you see him think about something for barely a second before he’s talking to you.

“I confided in Lady Sneasler today. Unsurprisingly, I received no direct answers, as I cannot understand the Pokemon language, but I feel some level of clarity after doing so.”

“Oh? What about?”

“I feel… many complex things about this place. I do not understand the extent of it myself. There is, unfortunately, quite a lot of things, even in my own head, that I do not understand myself…”

“Ingo are you… okay?”

“Hm? Yes! As okay as I can be, I suppose. I must confess not wholly, but I think you are already quite familiar with why. But that is not what brought me here. Well—it is, I suppose, but I find it to be only tangentially related.”

“Right. Go on.”

“I have… spent much of my time here in Hisui like a ghost, I feel. At times, I am not even aware of when I’m moving or where I’m going. I would call it derailment, but that would imply I would stop once I was off those rails—but alas, all these diverging tracks keep being laid and I sometimes shock myself with how much I have moved or how many tasks I have accomplished without being aware my hands were even my own. I am thinking. Thinking very often, yes. The things I’ve forgotten haven’t escaped fully, they feel so close, and yet so far. Incomplete thoughts taunt me so. I know the names of the things I loved, yet I cannot visualize them. I can see loved ones in my mind’s eye, but they have no names. I know Hisui is not my home, but I do not know where home is. It is all… very tiring. Leaving the confines of my own head is a great challenge, and I only recently became aware that it was a problem to begin with.”

“Wow, Ingo, I… I don’t even know what to—“

“But there is one thing I have to hang onto, and I feel terribly ashamed to have not realized this sooner. Hisui is not my home. I know this. These lands are foreign to me and it’s a marvel I don’t become lost entirely all those times my body has left the station without giving my mind a chance to catch up. I look around here and feel nothing, it is all just new and strange land which means nothing to me, and so I am left with my thoughts once again. …But this was not a problem when I was with you. It is why, I believe, it took me so long to realize this was an issue at all. Because in all the time we spent together, you so kindly tending to my wounds in all your generosity, I do not recall feeling so lost. Or, if I did, I do not remember it. I did not understand Lady Sneasler’s actual words, but when I shared this with her, she seemed to be almost urging me to depart and find you. And so, here I am, rambling on, if just to say… I… I did not think I understood what ‘home’ was anymore until I looked back on the time I spent with you. Mhm, I do not wish to sound so dependent, but with you things are simply… safe.”

⬛️ — And all the while as he’s pouring his heart out to you, his face is getting redder and redder and the brim of his hat lower and lower as he tries to hide his face. And hearing all that, there’s a lot you’re feeling, but just…

⬛️ — The only thing you can think to do his pull him close like you’ve always wanted to and whisper: “To be honest, I’ve always hoped that’s how I made you feel.”

⬛️ — Needless to say, you became a couple pretty shortly after that, to the surprise of literally none of your friends and neighbors.

⬛️ — Your protective nature just goes full force anymore, and Ingo kind of lets it happen. Yeah, you definitely do baby him from time to time, but he rolls with it. With how confusing everything about his life is anymore, it’s a welcome thing. You aren’t exactly charging into battle, weapon in hand ready to fight some foe to the death for his sake, but you might as well be doing that, because everything you do makes him feel so… safe in such an uncertain world.

⬛️ — He’s literally forever stuck as the little spoon at night but he’s okay with it, he feels safe in your arms and you feel at ease knowing he’s right there beside you, and not out somewhere on his own in the wilds. You’re always quick to make dinner before he can even offer to do it, and you check his old, healing wounds frequently to make sure they keep healing properly. Nothing brings you more joy than seeing that spark of happiness light up his usually glassy eyes when you pull him in for a hug or kiss him on the cheek when he comes home at the end of the day.

⬛️ — As he trusts you more and more, his hat comes off a lot more frequently, and that’s when you learn he has a particular weakness for you petting his hair. And you’re happy to oblige. It does seem that through all the stress Hisui has him under, his hair has thinned immensely, but that’s not something you feel the need to mention.

⬛️ — Everything is perfect bliss, and as your relationship develops, while you’re busy obsessing over Ingo being taken care of, you start to notice he’s actually just as protective over you, but in a different way—and it has your heart even more. You’re so used to caring for others, and having someone return the favor with such gusto is incredible.

⬛️ — Knowing your kindness, Ingo’s always looking out to make sure you’re not taken advantage of. It has led to some awkward misunderstandings, considering Ingo has no filter and no sense of hesitation when it comes to blurting things out, so he has told off people he only heard say something a bit concerning out of context to you. (He’s always apologetic though, he’s terribly sorry, he doesn’t know what came over him there. Well, you know what came over him, and it’s how in love he is with you, but you don’t say anything.) In disagreements with Diamond Clan or Galaxy Team members he’s always right by your side, holding your hand cautiously. Even though you’re the Hisui native, when you go into the wilds together, he’s the one leading the way and willing to charge full force into Pokemon battles to keep the two of you safe.

⬛️ — (Now, okay, you have to admit he’s a ridiculously talented battler, but this behavior has led to some rather comical friction between you two, with you chasing after him warning him that he needs to consider his own safety too while he marches ahead and pretends not to hear you.)

⬛️ — The injuries either of you have sustained while looking out for one another are altogether minor, but those moments usually result in one of you sternly chiding the other for being reckless while you tend to their wounds. And then you both do it again. Because you can tell each other to control the mother hen instinct all you want, but lord knows you’re not taking your own advice.

⬛️ — So things get a bit messy at times, but any disagreements are usually laughed off or settled pretty quickly. You know how the other thinks now and both of you know you just want the best for one another.

⬛️ — The Pearl Clan is so proud of you. The overprotective mom friend of the settlement has finally met their match in more ways than one. You two are kind of like a comedy act sometimes, watching both of you fight over who the human shield is if an Alpha Pokemon ever attacks you two.

⬛️ — But even with all these light, funny disagreements, you two know what you’re doing in this relationship. Ingo genuinely does look out for you when you’re doing business with the Galaxy Team, and he’s barked at quite a few shady merchants who have tried to cut you a bad deal. You spoonfeed him soup when he inevitably gets sick from the cold of the Alabaster Icelands while he blearily mumbles thanks and “I love you”s. His incredible battling skill chased off an Alpha Garchomp that could have very well killed you both, all while he kept himself firmly planted between you and the attacking Pokemon. You hold him at night, gently pressing your forehead to his and whispering soft comforts when his memory is straining harder than usual.

⬛️ — You look out for each other at all times. And sometimes, at night when he’s particularly drowsy and (somehow) even less aware of what he’s saying, he’ll lay his head on your chest and quietly thank you helping him remember what it means for something to feel like home.

[bbeelzemon]

🌈 PWYW Comms!!

Hello!! @llatimeria and I are both opening our commissions to help keep us afloat while we get our situation all sorted out! This time around I'm gonna go with a basic minimum price for each tier, and the more you pay beyond that, the more details/rendering/etc i can add!!

SKETCH - $15+

Sketches start at $15, which will get you a fully monochrome bust like the first one! (Can be any color, not just b/w!) The second one (fullbody with separate lines + 1 color) would be around $25. The third one (detailed bust with shading) would be around $50! This sketch tier is definitely the most variable of all of them, so we'd have a discussion to figure out a quote that works best for both of us!

I can also do sketches with multiple characters, interacting or otherwise! Each additional character in the image gets a discount of 25% from the original base price for the level of detail you wanted

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ICON - $40+

These are more or less a flat rate! I don't have any current icon examples without shading, but $40 will get you flat colors, while $50 gets you shading like in these examples!

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FULLBODY - $70+

Fullbodies come with flat colors by default, but can be discussed! The example on the left would be $70, while the example on the right (the same detail/rendering, but with multiple characters) would be $175! Each additional character in the image gets a discount of 25% (so an additional $52.50 per character for this example)

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REF SHEET - $70+

Ref sheets start at $70, which will get you one like the first example! Ref sheets also come with flat colors by default. Each additional form/outfit/pose/angle/etc in the image gets a discount of 25%, so the second example here would be $122.50 total!

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[BONUS] DOODLES - 100% PWYW

The doodles tier is the most wildcard tier, the effort put into them will reflect how much you pay :) This is the only tier that doesn't include any in-progress updates - you can request whatever details upfront, but the final drawing will be a surprise! You really just get what you pay for with this tier - if you pay a dollar, you're getting a $1 doodle!

If you, for whatever reason, want to put more than a couple dollars in for this tier, I'll most likely draw multiple characters in this style, like in my imp oc examples here, or i might throw some basic colors on it. Let me know if you have any preference!

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What I will draw:

Humans, Furries/anthro, Mecha, Character interactions, Backgrounds (discuss for pricing)... Basically anything!

I will also draw Nsfw/18+ content at an additional cost, message to discuss and for examples!

What i won't draw: Hateful or offensive content, Heavy gore (can be discussed though!), Ship art involving minors or real people, things like that

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Feel free to send me a message here (or at virtualbeetle on discord, just be sure to let me know who you are!). Payment is accepted via paypal by default, but we can discuss other options if necessary :]

Be sure to check out latimer's comm post here as well, if you're interested!

[bluebudgie]

Hello peeps!

Thought some of you might be interested in some tips and tricks for making gifs of your GW2 characters. Don't get me wrong here please, I'm by no means the be-and-end-all of gif-making, but maybe a handful of you might enjoy this? I do at least have experience with throwing myself in front of chak for hours. You decide if that's good or bad.

This is how I personally proceed and maybe some of you have better ways to do it! Feel free to share your own advice here :D

Let's get started! ･°˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°.

Choosing a location

So you chose a victim and have a neat little idea of what you wanna show. Now all you have to do is find a fitting location. Here's some things to consider:

How's the ambient lighting? Rotate your newly found top model at your location of choice to make sure the light hits from the best angle. Keep day and night cycles in mind. Some places also simply have bad light for your character; in that case try to think of a similar location that might look more flattering.

How busy is the background? You probably want your character to pop out, so the choice of scene is important especially if you don't have access to 3rd party depth-of-field filters. Keep in mind that moving background elements might look distracting.

If there are enemies around, can you get rid of them reliably or will they keep interrupting you? Are there safe spots to stand in outside of enemy range? Most enemies really don't hate you as much as you think. Unless you're in the Crystal Desert.

Strike a pose!

The basics:

Play around with the camera sliders in your options. Having your character big in the frame goes a long way! The vertical, horizontal and zoom sliders are your best friends.

Remember the UI doesn't have to be visible for you to type emotes in chat. Just to be safe from (public chat) typos though, I like to type the command with the UI turned on, then hide the UI, and then once I've adjusted the camera hit enter to play the emote. This is especially useful if you're trying to pose around enemies and don't have the time to frantically type things in chat.

Some tips for posing:

Rotating the camera while in first person mode rotates your entire character. This way you can turn around without having to redo your /emote all the time. This is especially useful if you use persistent emotes that last an infinite amount of time (as opposed to emotes that play an animation once and then return your character back to the default idle).

Similarly, zooming into first person mode and zooming back out will (client-side only) display your weapons and back piece. Those usually get hidden during emote animations.

If you swap weapons via keybind mid weapon idle animation, the animation will usually keep playing despite not fitting your newly swapped in weapon. This will often look silly, but can sometimes get you some cool poses too. Try out some combinations!

The technical side

So you're a master at staging the perfect shot, how do you get all of this into a neat little moving image?

To capture your gameplay, any recording software of your choice works. Windows 10 should by default come with the ability to record your game (press the Windows key + G to bring up the overlay; you can change keybinds for active and retroactive video recording & other things in the settings).

Once you've made your video file, the tricky part begins. It's kind of difficult to write a definite guide for this since programs and methods for making gifs vary so much. Different programs might compress your file differently, giving you different results in terms of file size and quality. Personally I've been using an ancient student version of Photoshop CS6 since the dawn of time, and it took some trial and error to figure out a good balance between quality and size.

About posting on tumblr:

tumblr currently allows a file size of 10MB max per gif (you can have several <10MB files per post).

The tumblr dashboard displays images at a width of 540px, so make this your gif's absolute minimum width if you want to ensure a crisp image.

Now for some subjective observations based on my experiences with how I create gifs. ! Important ! This is how my particular version of Photoshop handles sizes. You might get completely different results using any other software that compresses files differently.

Getting a good balance between image dimensions, quality and length of animation is hard if you're limited to a maximum file size of 10MB.

Your file size will depend on: The amount of frames your animation is using, the amount of colours, how much movement there is, and of course the dimensions of your image. Editing your image in terms of colours, saturation, contrast etc. can also impact the file size (it can go both ways).

Using a video recorded at 60 fps I can usually squeeze about (give or take) 3 seconds of animation into the gif before it gets too large (given a – by my standards – decent image quality). Take this into consideration when you pick your poses.

Things you can do to reduce file size, other than the two obvious solutions of simply making your animation shorter or image dimensions smaller:

Lower the amount of dither. This has a huge impact on file size in my experience. If you have many transparent effects (e.g. smoke, fog) or use strong depth-of-field filters in your image it will look bad if you go too low.

Limit the colour palette when you export your gif. Highly dependent on the scene, sometimes you can get away with reducing your colours by half, sometimes it will look atrocious.

In the end I don't think there's one formula that works for every situation. It really depends on what you're showing, so mix and match different methods to try and get the best compromise between quality and size!

And that's all I can think of right now! I hope that maybe one of these points could help someone :D

[snarky-sims-creations]

Genetic Unnatural Hair Colours for Little Sims (Base Game)

I made this many, many years ago in pursuit of being able to play a proper Perfect Genetics Challenge but my recolouring skills were not so great back then and it's been so long; we have many more hairstyles and even a new life stage (hello, infants!) so I felt it was time to just remake this from scratch.

This is the base game set of infant, toddler, and child hairstyles with the 7 unnatural colours added (white, grey, purple pastel, dark blue, turquoise, and green). They are genetic, meaning your Sims with unnatural hair colours can have children born with the same unnatural hair colour.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

86 base game hairstyles with 7 unnatural swatches added (52 child, 25 toddler, 9 infant)

WHAT'S NOT INCLUDED

Hairstyles from DLC packs - those are coming soon!

Ombre hairstyles - I couldn't get them to look as nice as I wanted them

Black Salt & Pepper, and Brown Salt & Pepper swatches - I tried but they must have some funky coding attached to those colour categories because they defaulted to warm brown and black in-game.

HOW TO POSE

Check out my tutorial on Sims Community!

OTHER INFO

Not new meshes - these are recolours of the existing base game Maxis hairs

No custom thumbnails - I didn't want to clutter up the CAS catalogue with duplicate hairs so these recolours show up as additional swatches on the existing base game hair in the catalogue.

Enabled for random. They have to be in order to be genetic so it's possible you might see some kids with these hair colours wandering around your worlds. However, in my experience, this tends to be a rare occurrence. The game spawns kids with a parent so the kid typically won't have an unnatural hair colour unless the parent does.

SUPPORT ME?

You already support me by choosing to download my content from CurseForge (thank you!) but if you really love what I do and wish to say thank you, here are some additional ways to support me. Donations are completely optional; all my content is free for everyone.

kofi

patreon

CurseForge (click the donate button on this page!)

TOU

DON’T reupload or edit!

DON’T put behind a paywall!

DON’T claim as your own!

DON'T download from any source that isn't directly from me. I do not host my content on SimFileShare so do not download from there. I have no issue with SFS itself but it is being used to steal and redistribute my content. This isn't necessary, as all my content is free from day one. If you do not wish to support me for other reasons, that is fine, I respect your choice but in that case, just don't download my content. It's not okay to destroy my livelihood.

(Optional) DO tag me if you use them! I love seeing other people enjoying the stuff I make.

DOWNLOAD ON CURSEFORGE

[fruitanddarkness]

PSA: DISCORD ACCOUNT HAS BEEN COMPROMISED

Hello all!! First off new discord in light of this. Message me here if you would like it!

Second: I'm here to tell you an unfortunate tale and a caution you all so you do not fall for the same scam I did. It's basically someone who claims they reported you, you get in contact with another person through a friend request who poses as discord support staff, and you have to validate your account by paying $150 otherwise it will get banned.

So now my account is in this weird state of limbo: I cannot regain full control due to not having access to the email linked with the account.. but, I have 2-factor authentication on, changed my password, and have mobile authentication as a default. So they also cannot do anything to me (I assume). Still.

As a result of this, I'm transferring what friends and servers I'm into the new account. I'm keeping the old one on life support to see if I can salvage this somehow.

TLDR; Don't get scammed. Got partially scammed, new discord. Story/screenshots under cut.

A friend who I had not spoken to in 3 years messaged me out of the blue asking for help. They claimed that they had mass reported me by accident and needed help to clear my name.

They told me to friend request an individual with the discord account "badalich_support"

DO NOT FRIEND, FOLLOW, OR INTERACT WITH THIS ACCOUNT. THEY ARE A SCAMMER.

Who then walked me through a process of changing my email to a new one that, I suppose, they own. That I do not have access to.

They then basically requested a validation of this account via a payment of $150 through paypal or gift card means.

Sadly, this was when I realized it was a scam through a quick google search. When I confronted them with this, both the original user who contacted me and this one went dark.

[sojrner-fishsticcc]

loona pm - further updates!

lots and lots of updates for this post! been trying to make roughly a post per day to not go overboard but still share what im working on cos MAN ive been absolutely going through this project! this rules!!!

so first off, very minor and later addition i finally gave loona glowing eyes! ive been meaning to do that for a while but i finally figured out how to! so yah, she looks v pretty now.

the major thing was animation. WAYYY more animation. i discovered the cpm modeling discord last night and its helped me get a really good grip on how it works (if you ever use cpm, go there because trust me you are not going to figure this stuff out on your own.) so heres just a big list of poses i animated (still a lot left! ahh!!!)

 - walk cycle (improved!) now looking at it after looking away from it for a while it looks a lil goofy so i might rework it at some point but god i cant get over how nice that digitigrade cycle looks.

 - run cycle! (omg its so cool im so so happy with how it came out) like seriously. i am so so proud of this. some of the hair bobbing and the chest and head movements are a bit stiff so i will probably improve on them. still, this is absolutely the part im the most proud of.

 - jumping (meshes super well with running anim, a bit buggy when falling long distances but thats a bug with cpm itself) i recorded this one in game since AHGHHHH it looks so cool in context. the running-jumps are rad as hell.

 - sneaking and sneak walking. like the running, i cant get over how the digitigrade walk cycle here looks. it has a lot of bone clipping that is probably not anatomically correct nor comfortable but whatever. it looks cool and i like it. sneaking is still buggy, so i cant do things like spam the shift key as that little “hello!” thing that some people do, because cpm has some issues switching between poses instantly, so here when crouchign for a split second it displays the default crouch but then corrects itself making it bug out. that sucks but i dont really know if theres much i can do about it.

- punching/swinging with both hands! more of a minor thing, but hey these little details are super important. id love to figure out if i could make a context thing so that it makes a full horizontal swing when holding a sword or weapon. (i didnt feel like recording a gif for this just believe me bro.)

thats about all i have so far. i plan to do much more and fix some minor bugs like symmetry in walk cycles soon but its a bit difficult. also, not only animation got an overhaul- i also finally implemented proper armor mapping that’s compatible with (hopefully!) any armor set! heres a demonstration of that using the minecraft dungeons armor & weapons mods, just bcos they look very cool and they help a lot with details in armor. (oh and btw, i made the hair specifically press down against her head when wearing armor, of you can tell)

as a further plan, i really want to add some extra movement stuff to this. i know that custom player models allows changing the hitbox, health, reach, etc. and i really want to make this loona model run really fast and have a super high jump. like i said in a previous post, im a big fan of the videos \@rohan_furries posts of his mod which adds detailed anthro fox models to mc, and one of the things it does is add a ton more movement so you can absolutely fly around and lunge and stuff. i really want to add that because GOD running around and kicking ass in this model would be i think the coolest thing in the world. i really hope i can add more detail to the animations because i would love to just stack so much detail on this thing until its so so so smooth... but generally i think itll be mostly finished by the end of this upcoming week, including polishing some of the already existing poses. but ill probably still continue working on it beyond then to add some cool movement stuff like i said above, which i dont know if its even possible but GOD if it isnt im going to figure out how to get it working. i also want to get it working with other buggy things, like some modded armor sets arent compatible with the armor mapping ive set up. ill have to ask around on the cpm discord for that because god the people there really seem to know what theyre doing. theyre all rad as hell btw. other ideas ive had include blinking anims, maybe some more polished idle poses, startup and finishing anims that help it transition between poses more smoothly (which i swear to god might be broken but might just be doing it wrong.) and also gestures if i can figure those out. i also might try to change the arms to be made of two segments instead of the current one so i can get a bit more detailed with the posing. im struggling between adding detail and maintaining the minecraft artstyle. im also excited to finish this project so i can do this all over again but better with another model. dont really know what character its going to be, if you have any suggestions send them to me i guess? idk, i might find a cool one or make one of my ocs or make an oc just for this.

when i finish this model i dont really know what to do with it. its mainly a little project for myself, but i really want to share it with people. ideally id want to sell it for like 10-20 dollars because this thing has taken hours of my time but i still want to share it with people, but im 16 and dont have a way to transfer cash :\ might figure something out, whatever. if you’re interested in getting your hands on it once its finished maybe send me a message? i cant guarantee it but i might if you seem cool.

ok, NOW i need to go to bed since its like LATE as HELL right now. good night guys :)

[szalamireaktor]

An Introduction to Szalámireaktor

Hello! Welcome to the Szalámireaktor. The Szalámireaktor is, essentially, a collection of all of the works devianDog and Odnecsrec have created from 2023 onwards.

Expect lots of art, some games, some music, and some misshapen fragments of ideas and emotions that don't really fit into any category that has yet been created by man.

devianDog

hi! i'm devianDog, your local friendly sentient cognitohazard who's desperately trying to gain some kind of physical presence. you most likely know me from my youtube channel (@deviandog), where i post speeddrawings and disconcerting videos.

besides drawing art and making nigh-incomprehensible videos, i also do game development, worldbuilding and music production. i've got some pretty exciting stuff in the works that i can't wait to share with y'all!

government mandated addendum: "DevianDog has not been, is not, and will never be a real entity. Anyone who attempts to tell you otherwise is posing an immediate and severe threat to both your and the government's safety, and should be reported through the number 1-457-555-3847 as soon as possible."

Labels Gender: male Pronouns: he/him Age: unspecified (it's a mystery!) Location: eh Fandoms: Rain World, Madness Combat, the Cosmere, FNAF & Factorio DNI: losers, wimps, crybabies, & the like

Odnecsrec

Hello, hi. I'm Odnecsrec, and, er... I'm also here, I guess.

I am aware that this introduction is supposed to tell you something about me, so I will give you the following information: No, you can't beat me in a fight.

I'm going to be honest: this website scares me. You people are (Lord save my soul for saving this) kind of weird. Devian says that y'all are a good kind of weird, but I don't think I can be blamed for having my apprehensions.

As for my interests: digital art and storytelling! I haven't made much yet (I haven't been at it for very long), but I have high hopes for the future!

Labels Gender: No Pronouns: Any (I honestly don't care) Age: 6044 (yes, really) Location: Eh Fandoms: None, as of yet. I guess Rain World by default? DNI: Dentists (don't touch my teeth, you creeps!)

Questions (+ maybe a few answers)

Do either of you do commissions?

D: no. i don't mean to cast you guys in a bad light, but i've heard enough horror stories about commissions that i'm not willing to do them. O: No, for largely the same reason. Also, I don't even know what I'd do with the money. Start a garden?

How often should I expect games/art/whatever to be posted here?

D: games will probably come every two months or so; art will vary. don't be surprised if one month there's a piece every week and the next there's nothing. O: Don't hold your breath.

Where can I download your art?

D: all of the art posted here is also saved in the Szalámireaktor Dry Cask Storage, which can be accessed via the 'ART ARCHIVE' link.

Who even are you people? Why are you in my feed?

D: 'person' is a strong word. O: Does it matter?

Why?

DevianDog: why not? Odnecsrec: Devian said 'hey, Odnecsrec, I think we should start posting our stuff to the internet', and I just shrugged and said 'okay'. It's not like I'm doing much else, anyways.

Wait... if Odnecsrec's name is Crescendo backwards, then isn't it supposed to be Odnecserc and not Odnecsrec?

O: Good catch! No.

So then it's not Crescendo backwards.

O: It is.

...That's not how that works.

O: Do you want to fight me?

No?

O: Then I'm right. Crescendo backwards is Odnecsrec.

Well, that was a waste of time.

D: i'm not very interesting. sorry. O: You're staring at a colorful pane of crystals and occasionally pawing at a scroll wheel. You expected to get something done by doing that?

[cyanocoraxx]

idk what this is man. i just felt a need to drabble stuff abt early days mecha n i’m gonna do one for bby metal meeting them early on as well

---

"Interview C with hedgehog-series model 1, designation 'Mecha Sonic.' Unit Mecha Sonic, please respond."

Mecha looked up to greet its creator diligently, exactly as programmed. "Responding. I am Mecha Sonic. What is your query."

Eggman took a seat and gestured for his machine to do the same. "Hello, Mecha. Can I still call you Mecha?"

Mecha hesitated for a moment before processing the suggestion. It slowly sat down on the seat opposite its creator, moving with the precise yet clunky grace of a newly-built machine. Then, it responded with its usual flat tone. "The designation that pertains to me is of no interest. It has little bearing on my function nor my efficiency. Refer to me as you wish."

"Mecha it is then. Mecha, do you remember me?"

Mecha gave a single nod of affirmation. "Certainly, doctor. It has been thirty six hours since our last exchange. My memory capacity is currently," it paused, its tone of voice defaulting to a pre-recorded setting, "one hundred and two hours."

Eggman grinned at the news - it was a steady improvement and exactly what he wanted to hear. "That's much better than yesterday. Do you know why I'm speaking to you today, Mecha?"

"Indeed. You wish to address me on the subject of my efficiency." Mecha answered matter-of-factly.

"Pardon?" Eggman tilted his head just a little, conveying confusion.

Mecha took note of that social signal and logged it diligently. Then, it focused on responding verbally. "Efficiency, doctor. It is the Eggman Empire's highest priority. Without high efficiency, the Empire is not self-sufficient enough to fulfill its goals."

"An astute deduction."

"Perhaps. However, there is an evident pattern in our exchanges. When you address me, it is often for the same reason. You have come to identify if my operations are normal, if any changes have occurred in my code, and to assess the risks I may pose to the interests of the Eggman Empire."

"Outstanding analysis. Now, Mecha, I need to ask you some questions. Just answer them as best as you can, if you don't know the answer, that's fine."

"Of course, doctor. Present your queries and I shall answer to the best of my capabilities."

Eggman started with something that sounded easy to him, but perhaps confusing to the days-old AI before him. "Alright. So... are you enjoying your time here? Do you enjoy your current work?" He cringed the slightest bit at his choice of leading question, realizing it might turn the cogs in Mecha's mind a little too much. He was still wary of overworking Mecha’s AI chip at this point, for it was still very new and developing.

Fortunately, Mecha answered simply and honestly. "I neither enjoy nor dislike my work, rather, I merely excel at specific tasks. I do excel at my work in this base, according to my current list of tasks. All of my tasks have been completed for today. In addition, they were completed seventeen percent faster than yesterday."

"Well, I'll call that happiness for you then." Eggman cleared his throat briefly and leaned forward, clasping his hands on the table. "Now, Mecha, tell me about... humans."

Mecha took a long pause, very clearly processing something that didn't make sense to it. "That is not a valid query, doctor. Rather, that is an open statement. Would you prefer me to speak freely on my knowledge of the subject, or do you possess a specific query."

"Erm- yes. That's fine, just go on. Sorry for the confusion."

"You need not apologize. Humans are bipedal, diurnal, highly social creatures with complex social structures and methods of communication. Humans are omnivorous beings that are capable of consuming a wide variety of animal and plant material. Despite these adaptations, they are... fragile, and require extensive guidance. Most members of the species do not compare to your own intelligence."

"You flatter me, my boy. The others can be stupid, sure - but they are alive, and many living things are just... less intelligent. So, are you a living entity, Mecha?"

"I am entirely artificial, doctor. I am not alive in any sense. I am incapable of experiencing death, nor fear, sadness, or happiness. From my analysis, an ability to experience the end of life, as well as a range of primitive emotion, is what separates many species, particularly mammalian ones, from inorganic creatures. However, there is a swathe of other creatures that are primitive in both function and biology. These, too, are living."

Dropping his earlier worries, Eggman proceeded down this line of conversation. The AI’s abilities were fascinating to witness in action, and he wanted to know more. "I see, I see. Does being inorganic validate your existence somehow?"

Mecha mirrored the body language of its creator perfectly, tilting its head to one side. "I have not investigated this line of self-exploration as of yet. However, I indeed have a query for you, perhaps to aid me in this discovery. If one was to map the brain of an animal, perhaps a Flicky, and you proceeded to feed these variables into a machine that can perfectly execute this primitive behaviour, what would differentiate this new existence from the original being? Is this artificial existence, too, a Flicky?"

Eggman scratched his head. "No, it's... a machine. But, I guess- is this hypothetical Flicky conscious? Can it feel?"

"Is an artificial intelligence conscious in the same manner as a typical organic creature? How does one quantify the experience?"

"It depends, Mecha. Things are advancing in this field, and you... you're the pinnacle of our efforts. But I doubt this Flicky is the exact same as the original. Like you said, you can’t quantify the feeling. We can’t know for sure, not yet at least."

An confusing response that did not answer the AI’s question fully. Mecha would need to delve into this topic in its free time, if it could dedicate enough processing space towards it. It logged this for further investigation.

(If only it knew it would get the answer straight from its brothers a year from now. Its brothers were alive, just not conventionally.)

After processing that, Mecha gave a single nod. "Indeed. Therefore, based on current understanding, I am not a living being. I am separate from the organic experience. However, you refer to this unit as... a hedgehog, as well as a ‘boy’, in your terms. Perhaps this is because you desire a social connection with units such as myself by assigning them an organic label. As I said prior, refer to me as you wish. This is merely an observation."

"My machines are like family to me, Mecha. Of course I'm going to give them names, treat them like anyone else- within reason, of course. I mean, I do create them to kill and- and risk having them destroyed. It's why I make so many, you know?"

Mecha took pause. "This, doctor, is inefficiency in action. You require these machines for the greater good of the Empire. To expend time and resources on social bonding with them, when they often cannot reciprocate in any capacity, is... inefficient. You do not attempt to bond with me in the same manner that humans bond with other humans, yet you appear to make greater efforts to speak with me than your other machines. I do not understand your choice. It is paradoxical to me."

"Does it bother you, Mecha?"

Mecha paused, rolling that word around in its head thoughtfully. "Bother me... I do not understand. Please, rephrase your query."

"If someone kept treating me differently to other people, I'd be angry. Maybe alienated?”

Mecha spoke without pause. "This is because you are human, and thus, inherently short-sighted."

"How is that short-sighted? It's justifiable." Eggman asked shortly. He seemed taken aback, and Mecha fell silent for a long moment.

"It is a statement based on my current analysis. Is this form of analysis offensive to humans, or is this statement excessively generalized in a manner that causes you anger?"

"It's offensive to call all of us short-sighted." Eggman replied, at first a little gruffly, but he quickly softened back up. Of course, a machine as young as Mecha wouldn't understand social norms or cues yet. It meant no harm. "It's alright. Statements like that are generalized. I know you're a killing machine, but you don't need to be rude about humans whilst you're at it. I created you, after all."

"Forgive me, doctor. I do not wish to offend, for this would lower repoire and thus decrease our working efficiency. Allow me to rephrase. I will first re-state that your intelligence is advanced compared to other beings of your species. Now, for one to be... angered, if I use the term correctly, by the actions of others, one is unable to process expected results effectively ahead of time. This is because humans are seldom granted the foresight of quantitative and qualitative analysis. It is unnecessary for an artificial intelligence such as myself to experience these primitive emotions, for I already know the outcomes of any task I endeavour to complete."

"Fascinating. Mecha, your use of words just gets better and better. I'm proud of the work I've done on you." Eggman reached over and patted the hedgehog-series on the head. It did not react, typical of it right now.

"Advancement, upgrades, adaptation. These are concepts that I believe are familiar to artificial intelligences such as myself." Mecha affirmed its creator's statement, completely without pride for itself. It could not feel pride, nor satisfaction. These were mere observations, or perhaps more accurately, data. However, I note that you used the term 'better', which suggests a past or present shortcoming. Recount to me any perceived failures I may have encountered so that I may maximize my efficiency."

"No, no, you haven't failed. In fact, you're doing great. So, I want to talk to you about new opportunities. New responsibilities, if you will." (He just hoped it wasn’t too early. And it was. Mecha was doomed to fail, too young to understand the world outside of the databanks it clung to for information. Intelligent but just a child.)

Mecha sat upright, awaiting its orders. It had already opened its internal logs to record the new task. "State your proposition. I will log it for a thorough analysis and will state whether I am functional enough for the endeavour."

"You know why you were created, don't you?"

Mecha took a long pause before speaking. Its voice quickly defaulted to its original monotone, pre-recorded setting. "Priority one: hedgehog. Priority two: serve the Eggman Empire."

"Perfect. Now, Mecha... I think it's time you started on priority one. The longer we wait, the more chance there is to fail."

"This is the optimum decision for maximizing the effiency of the Eggman Empire. The hedgehog must be eliminated as soon as possible."

"Exactly. As part of this, I have an experiment for you. It’s not an easy one, I’ll admit. But I have faith in you."

Mecha tilted its head quizzically. In response, Eggman took a red emerald from his pocket and gingerly placed it on the table before his creation. Mecha's gaze fell down to the emerald, quickly scanning it and taking in everything it could about the unusual object. It radiated strong energy - Chaos energy, from what Mecha could decipher. A quick search of the Empire's databanks informed it that this object was extremely powerful, and this power could be harnessed. Mecha swiftly put two and two together and, decidedly, it looked up to Eggman for further instruction.

"This is your new task. I want you to learn Chaos Control. Report back to me when you've mastered it."

(It would dedicate days upon days pushing itself to the limit. Completing the task was the main priority, regardless of the damage it caused. Indeed, it completed the task. Yet, no amount of textbook efficiency would save it from failure in the field against priority one.)

"Affirmative, doctor. I shall proceed at once. You may expect a comprehensive report in approximately five days."

“Perfect. End of interview C with hedgehog-series model 1.”

(It completed its task and was left to rust when it failed priority one. A failure just like the prototypes before it. The novelty of its intelligence would wear off after that.)