#some bg elements... who am i

[pl4n]

clouds

[nastyburger]

Please say more about the awful Asian designs in Danny Phantom. I'm not Asian but I'd love to have a rundown on the elements that make them offensive so I can avoid and critique those elements in other works. And also you deserve to speak your mind about it

im gonna mostly talk about southeast asian designs since thats what i am and the most familiar with and also what i feel are the show's worst transgression with their casual depictions. tw for racist imagery im gonna link pictures.

there's not much to say about the designs aside from, you know, everything but things to note are the unnatural yellow tone for the skin and closed slanted eyes. veggie burger (fan name for the bg character in the middle) also suffers from the huge nose that sometimes shows up in racist depictions. the straight edge/cut hair as well is somewhat stereotypical. this one isn't as bad but in conjunction with everything else its not ideal. i will give the smallest molecule of credit that at the very least dp never gave any of these bg characters buck teeth.

some depictions are better than others, but theres still missteps happening in one aspect or another. kwan's eyes in a lot of shots/episodes can be too skinny and even too slanted, the girl in the middle is almost perfect but her skin is too yellow (she looks kinda okay on my computer screen but i remember when watching dp on my tv she looked real brightly yellow), and principle ishiyama (who was weirdly forgotten about pretty early on in the show and was replaced by lancer doing most of the school stuff despite not being principle?? which is a whole other issue with how dp treats its poc characters) the same usual notes about the slanted eyes but also the upturned nose is pretty reminiscent of racist japanese art during ww2. again it is not the worst way to draw a nose but combined with everything else in this show's depiction of asian characters its not great, they are on thin ice man.

not to mention, principle ishiyama is the only character here with brown eyes. this is a problem that extends to all poc characters in dp and to my knowledge i think ishiyama might be the only one with them tbh. this is, again, a whole other issue though.

i think the thing that bothers me most about these designs though is that dp is very clearly aware that these depictions are bad. the only difference between the first set of characters and the second is one singular thing: they have a clear speaking role.

suddenly when theyre not stock background characters, dp knows how to act when drawing them. i cannot for the life of me find the image of it, but the last jock guy in the first set gets a speaking role in reign storm (he's cosplaying phantom) and he is drawn with proper open eyes! (theyre also blue but whatever) it just makes me sad that this was a clear choice they made.

the show also went in a different direction in the final product, but early development stuff was really drawing from a lot of japanese/asian influences like danny was originally gonna have a motorcycle (pulling from ghost in the shell) and was even referenced in the show via the akira motorcycle reference (which i once again, for the life of me, cannot find. danny took johnny 13's motorcycle and did the classic akira slide i think it was in million dollar ghost?? idk whichever one where the giw are trying to blow up the ghost zone). danny's name was originally gonna be jackie, named after jackie chan, this i assume was given to jack fenton afterwards. and i think the show having a more martial arts direction with the action was also gonna be a thing? that one could be wrong dont quote me on that, there was an episode where danny and vlad have like a weird ninja fight though im pretty sure.

either way my point here is that they wanted to pull from all these influences and it was prominent enough during development that they sprinkle references to it throughout the show and yet their portrayal and treatment of asian characters in the show is so abysmal it just feels Bad™, you know? i cant really put it more eloquently than that, like its very take and no give with it.

it overall just puts a bad taste in my mouth, and its sad that it still affects people years later. like i mentioned in the tags of the post that started this discussion with that whole old trend of putting yourself into the bg of dp screenshots, i felt alienated by that. and its not the people who participated's fault obviously but most of the people i saw participating were white fans (going off of how they drew themselves) and it made me a bit mad that they were able to enjoy the style of the show in a more carefree manner than i ever could. i didnt want to ruin anyone's fun obviously, but a small part of me wanted to bring to light how i wasnt on equal ground with them in that situation.

[steamberrystudio]

27/08/2023

So now that Gilded Shadows is wrapping up, I am promoting When Stars Collide from "Spare time project" to "Part time project"

What is the difference? Well, when I work on something in my spare time, that means it is late at night or the weekend. Literally when I am not doing anything else and just feel like tinkering with it. 

As a part time project, this means that I will be spending an hour or two each day during the work week to do things for this project. It will start making more steady progress even if I'm not focusing on it full time.

This is basically taking it from me spending 0 - 4 hours on it a week to 8-10 hours on it a week. 

My goal is to have the draft complete before the end of the year (by 'draft', I mean 'rough draft'). But more on that below.

Summary

Finished all scenes for the new chapter three

Finished Yren chapter 6 scenes

Started catching Kav's route up to the others

Edited Asher's CG to account for the new conference room BG

Small adjustments to Wil's first CG

Ramble

This week my big focus for WSC has been on writing. As I mentioned, I really want to get the rough draft completed by the end of the year. Currently the draft is nearly 70% complete (for those following updates in multiple places, when you see different percentages....it's because I've written more since then. Rofl).

Now, the draft was nearly 70% in the past as well but I added another route since then, so I lost some progress due to the increase in target word count. I'm also calculating things more precisely now as I created a newer and fancier writing spreadsheet to track my progress and keep myself on track.

I went back and wrote in the new chapter 3, reorganising all the existing chapters and scenes to accommodate it. 

I finished Yren chapter 6 (which catches him up to Noel and Raif). 

And now I'm working on catching Kav, the new character, up to Yren, Noel, and Raif. (Remember, Daaz and Asher's routes are already fully drafted).

I have written about 15000 words since my last update here. I don't expect to write that much every week and my goal is actually a fair bit more modest than that. Gilded Shadows is not 100% complete yet. I still have multiple KS related things to finish and, of course, I will be making corrections and focusing on its beta testing once testers have had a bit more time with it. 

WSC is still a part time project. This was just a particularly good week for it.

I have also worked on a few other things for WSC - mostly UI related and some art related things.

I received a new BG since my last update, and realised that...I have to revamp all the existing CGs. Or at least update them to change the background elements. I've only edited one so far but I don't think it'll be too much effort to fix the others.

And I continue to streamline and adjust the UI to make it look nicer and be more efficient.

So...

Kav. The new character. Kav'isari Tiaine, a Ka'mérian crew member who works in the space labs most of the time and specialises in identifying alien technology (what species it belongs to and what it does).

To explain where Kav came from, he actually popped into my head months ago. And every so often, I would contemplate whether or not I wanted to add him. I would say I first had the idea in January or February of this year. I would repeatedly think about it and dismiss it.

I then mentioned it to a friend sort of off-handedly back at the very beginning of June. A month and a half later, I mentioned him on a voice call on my server knowing full well that if I really talked about him and had a conversation about him, I would probably end up doing enough character brainstorming that he would become "real." And I talked about him anyway.

And that's exactly how he became an actual character. I think I had his sprite sketched out by the end of that day.

But he had existed as a concept long before that. The main reason I was willing to add him instead of ruthlessly telling myself no is just that I felt there was a gap in the cast for a gadfly style character who has a little mystery to him. And I just knew I could manage another route based on the length of Asher and Daaz's routes.

So...yeah. That is how Kav came into being. His introduction into the story has caused a few minor changes to standing lore or things in the prologue (just mentions of him, etc). But the changes to the currently public content of the game are pretty minor.

Kav won't actually appear in the game until Chapter 3. He gets mentioned a few times up to that point. There are some logistical considerations to his route but I have talked about those more on Patreon.

Speaking of Patreon, now that WSC is moved into "part time" status, I will be starting to slowly release some Patreon-exclusive lore posts for this game there. Like most games monetised through Patreon content, the lore posts will not be critical to having a full and complete game experience. Rather, it is going to be comprised of additional and extra lore content.

Some of the lore content released on Patreon will be in the game (such as character back stories) but Patrons will get to see it early and will get it presented in a different format.

Much of the content can be considered "extras" rather than necessary.

I will also be updating on the development progress weekly there (available to all patrons) rather than bi-weekly, and my updates there (going forward) will tend to be more detailed than the ones here.

Once episode releases start, Patrons will be able to access them before they the public releases. But backing on Patreon is not necessary to be able to play the game and get a full and complete game experience. It's just how this particular game will be monetised as I'm looking for more sustainable release styles so I can continue to make games.

That is all for this update. I will see you in a couple of weeks to talk about WSC again!

[jzibbles]

comrades, 10+? hrs, clip studio paint

·

look at these FRIENDS who are PLATONIC BUDDIES who are SO AWKWARD. perfect.

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hello tumblr! I am ready for my ort to be stolen by Nebulous Corpos scouring the Open Web. *rolls eyes* Then again, I am coming from The Gram, which is in + of itself owned by a nebulous corp, so idk, meguca is suffering? Whatever!

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This piece was fun bc I Named All My Layers for once, and messed around w values before laying out colors. I still have very little sense of color theory, but at least this year I've dug into value so there's that. I also played w some of CSP's built in tools like shading assist (which I deemed OK for bg elements + Reference primarily), assets (like the imported free apple pen glowing in the back, and Miae's argyle print). Earlier in the year I was messing w the 3D models too, but not for this piece.

Played w workflow a lot this year, fairly pleased w the results. Could prolly do better re: saturation, but that's for a future study I guess.

... Also Miae is short AND tilted forward AND in the background, so she looks VERY SMALL here. It happens ok!

Well! Da-daaaan.

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | Varmont-ians & Religious Culture

(and to be clear, i mean, like, peeps from the varmont empire -- esp the og nation -- not just the fam...)

so we know a good bit about the astairan religion, and so i wanted to hammer out some details abt its counterpart, roderick's god! so far, we know a few things

they have one god

the phoenix symbol is linked to their religion

they do NOT like witches!!!!

they consider the guardians to be demons

so!! obv there are multiple real-world monotheistic faiths, [ zoroastrianism, atenism, judaism, islam, christianity, and numerous others ], from which we can take inspiration

we also know that ppl from the og varmont country have a wide variety of naming bg's

roderick (anglicized visigothic) famed ruler

alaric (anglicized visigothic) ruler of all

guinevere (anglicized welsh) white phantom

edmund (old english) rich protection/protector

arthur (anglicized welsh or anglicized latin) bear king or honorable/respectful

sebastian (latinized germanic) venerable/exulted

cassandra (greek) excelling/shining one

bartholomew (greek-ized aramaic) son of the furrowed

marian (anglicized egyptian) sea of bitterness/rebelliousness/wished for child/beloved/star of the sea

alistair (scottish) defender of man/protector

there's also eoin (irish-ized hebrew) god is gracious and ciara (old irish) black lady who have irish names, but i consider these outliers and attribute this to their calleary mama <3

now, why am i jabbering abt names in a post that purports to be abt religion? well, i thought it might help sprinkle in some fun elements to the religion itself if we can kinda pinpoint sort of a cultural element for og!varmont the way we did for astaira

so, why ~these names for these ppl? now, obv there are doylist reasons for this haha but i was thinking it could be fun to run w it and add a layer of in-world reasons esp w the rise of nationalism in og!varmont that came w roderick

so!! the things that came up the most?

visigoths x2

welsh x2

greek x2

english x1 (but almost allll of the names are anglicized -- for obv reasons, we're english speakers hahah -- but still!)

latin x2

germanic x1

scottish x1

now!! its also interesting to note that germanic and visigothic language have the same root, and that welsh, irish, and scottish all have the same root, so by ~that estimation, names of those origins both show up x3 respectively. another interesting fact, english is comprised of ~both of those roots w a dash of french thrown in for spice ;D (thanks, Wm the Conqueror!)

HOWEVER!! it should also be stated that the names of the royal family (those ~born varmont, anyway) should bear the most weight bc those are most likely to be traditional names to the og culture, so the egyptian and scottish names are probs the least relevant to this process but def still worth considering imo! HOWEVER!! its also worth noting that both roderick and alaric were born to a second wife, so its ~also highly possible that their names are derived from the tradition of whatever ~her culture was so yeah!! bc of these sorts of considerations, bartholomew, guin, arthur, and edmund are likely to have the most 'traditional' names as they were all named w the notion that depending on how things shake out they might rule someday, whereas even tho roderick, for example, was born a second son his dad def wasn't viewing him as a potential future king, and therefore its unlikely he viewed alaric that way, either, whereas we all know its equally possible w our ot3: succession kids laksdjfakljsd

ANYWAY, i feel like, altogether, including each one, this tapestry of names is actually telling us a bit of a backstory -- i.e., that the og!varmont nation (OVN for short from now on!) was an international hub, and im thinking that might tie into maybe roderick's father and grandfather and great-grandfather doing lots of trading w other nearby nations, until whatever OVN's ~pure culture felt kinda lost to "revivalists" such as roderick who felt they had to unearth it from the mire of homogenization, leading to the rise of nationalism and acts such as digging into the ancient past to try to discover whatever may have once been unique abt OVN, and as such roderick making huge national statements like IMMA TAKE MORE WIVES NOW and not receiving backlash bc that's what the ancient kings of OVN did, a fact stated in his bio!

this nationalistic and xenophobic rising tide paired w conquest of course then ironically hurls off the shackles of alien cultures (thus alienating the new culture OVN had since been building) only to then do the same to other cultures by obliterating them in the tide that is this frankenstein'd version of whatever the lost ancient culture might've been bc i love it when roderick is always and inevitably hypocritical without realizing it <3

ANYWAY!! all this international trade and such means you'd have an influx of foreign alliances and marriages and, ofc, names, so yeah!!

so, question 1: would it be helpful to sort of figure out culture(s) to model OVN on? and, if so, do any of these appeal?

now let's circle back to religion!

so when you get roderick's reactive party rising to power, you start seeing a couple of things. now, ngl, i kinda feel like maybe roderick actually follows his mama's religion, which may or may not be/have been the same as OVN's, if we wanna explore any potential religious backlash from within OVN, or anything like that? but irregardless of how it came about, roderick has in fact established his religion as the official state religion of his new empire, and failed to believe accordingly meets with a fiery (aka in his eyes, cleansing!) death

sooooo im having some frankly insane ideas abt Roderick’s belief system thanks to the Phoenix iconography (like…boiled down roderick might legit worship death effectively -- the only god that comes when you call, the god of all, the god of equality?!!?!! Though in a slightly more life/death ying/yang creation through destruction kinda way, motto ‘in my end is my beginning’ sorta way idk Sfjkhffg HELPPP!) and before I get too carried away bc idk if we need a death cult emperor 😂😭 ummmm I wondered if you guys had any thoughts abt the varmont faith/the one god/etc adhkkjgdgh

some other thoughts i had — Phoenix flames, sun, light, fire — dichotomy of light/dark, good/evil — so roderick's view, then, Astaira and the staffords literally take the night as their standard (three stars in the night sky) and worship demons, conquest cleanses etc...idk!! what do you guys think? the sun and moon are the eyes of god

i also had some notions pulled from mostly atenism, orphism, and zoroastrianism re: its cosmology, that maybe there once were three gods: the light god, his goddess wife, and the dark god, but the dark god attempted to kill the great god, stabbing him through the eye (the moon eye) but the pregnantn goddess sacrificed herself and her divinity to bring back her husband who cast down the dark god, stripping him of his divinity, and now he's basically ~satan, but he couldn't bear to never see his wife again so he used the divinity he'd seized from his dark brother to #reincarnation and his reborn wife, tho no longer a goddess (since, to bring back both wife and unborn child he had to split the divinity so yeah #onegod), bore their mortal child whom roderick considers to be his ancestor, so basically the varmonts are possibly descended from the god and goddess, reincarnation is maybe a thing, there's one god of light and one demon of the dark, and death might be good maybe? laksjfkljsfk

(i was thinking a belief in reincarnation maybe bc of the phoenix symbology -- representing resurrection, rebirth, life in death, etc, and the dark god bc they obv believe in demons of some kind, and not!god evil gods w demonic servants appear in many monotheistic belief systems, judaism, islam, christianity, and zoroastrianism to name a few)

question 2: is this absolutely unhinged inanity, or does it have potential? i myself keep going back and forth alksdjfakljsf

also last but not least...@thelongforgottenrealm did you have any notions abt this?

[mah-o-daryaa]

The Cycle Repeats: Part I

One of the key themes of the ATLA franchise is the concept of the Avatar; master of all 4 elements, the fusion of humanity and Raava, the spirit of light and order, whose sole duty is to bring balance to the world, and be the bridge between both the physical and spiritual realms. Along with this comes the idea of reincarnation, which is the premise of the Avatar Cycle, the idea that the Avatar reincarnates in a cyclic order in any of the four nations (fire, air, water, earth). Another concept related to the Avatar Cycle (although originating from the fandom) is the idea of the Avatar fixing the mistakes of their past life, which is often indicated in differences in both habitual circumstances and personalities between both predecessor and successor, and therefore differences in morality.

But what if I were to tell you that the saying "history repeats itself" is also true among Avatar incarnations? Not exactly going the same way, but rather parallels between the lives, personalities, and accomplishments (and failures) of past lives?

In this series of metas, I will be going over parallels (or in some cases, foils) between certain pairs of Avatars that lived decades, or even centuries apart, and yet could not have ever been more similar.

The Unlikely Analogy: Avatars Aang and Kuruk

"Aang was an Air Nomad born in 12 BG and the Avatar during the Hundred Year War, succeeding Avatar Roku and preceding Avatar Korra. As the Avatar of his time, he was the only person capable of using all four bending arts: airbending, waterbending, earthbending, and firebending. He was also one of a select few Avatars and one of the first in many cycles to learn the ancient art of energybending as well as the first Avatar known to have actively used the technique."

"Kuruk was the Water Tribe Avatar immediately succeeding Avatar Yangchen and preceding Avatar Kyoshi. Native to the Northern Water Tribe, he was a powerful and gifted bender who dreamed of changing the mortal world for the better by uniting the people and acting upon the foundations laid by Yangchen."

Both texts above are directly taken from the first paragraphs of their respective wiki pages; however, you would be forgiven for believing they are nothing alike, specifically due to their respective heritages. In reality, I would wager that Aang and Kuruk are actually the same person (literally and metaphorically).

(WARNING: There will be possible spoilers for both The Rise of Kyoshi and The Shadow of Kyoshi, particularly regarding Kuruk's backstory. If you do not wish to be spoiled, I suggest not reading any further and scrolling past this post until you have finished reading both novels. You have been warned.)

Kuruk's legacy plays a central role in both Kyoshi novels, especially in the Shadow of Kyoshi, where it's revealed that Kuruk hunted and killed dark spirits. This lead to both his body and spirit falling apart and him dying at just 33.

The first parallel is, ironically, their heritage. Aang is an Air Nomad, and his native element is air. Kuruk is a Water Tribesman, and his native element is water. Air and water are compatible in the sense that water can literally be described as a combination of the qualities of earth and air. Like earth, water can be strong and solid. Like air, water can be gaseous, fluid, and unpredictable. However, water also has an intermediate liquid state, with a definite volume, but always changing shape. Something about being the element of change or something. Just like the Avatar Cycle. I actually wrote a meta dedicated to this subject.

Why am I mentioning this? It's because the first element Aang learned to master (besides air, ofc) is water (which was also the element that was easiest for Aang to learn besides his own, due to air and water having similar philosophies), and he first learned to waterbend in the Northern Water Tribe, Kuruk's home (although he only learned the basics with Master Pakku; he only mastered it under the tutelage of his companion Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, who is also part-NWT). Conversely, the last element Kuruk learned to master was air, and he mastered airbending at the Southern Air Temple, Aang's home (he learned to master it under the tutelage of his companion Monk Kelsang, and it can also be assumed hat it was the element that was easiest for Kuruk to master besides water). Both Kelsang and Katara go on to become mentors to Kuruk and Aang's successors, Kyoshi and Korra respectively.

Another parallel is that both Kuruk and Aang were successors to wise and influential Avatars of their time (Avatars Yangchen and Roku respectively). As I have said in the first paragraph of the introduction, I mentioned the idea of the current Avatar fixing the mistakes of his/her predecessor. In The Shadow of Kyoshi, it is revealed that Yangchen neglected the spirit world, often siding with humans when making decisions between them. This lead to an increase of corrupted spirits ravaging the physical world during Kuruk's time by passing through rifts created by Father Glowworm, some attacking up to a dozen villages in one day. In the episode The Avatar and the Firelord (Book 3: Episode 6), it's revealed that Roku, by refusing to kill Firelord Sozin, was unable to prevent the Air Nomad Genocide and, by extension, the Hundred Year War. Both Kuruk and Aang had to face the consequences of their revered past lives.

Also, Kuruk ended up spending so much time in the spirit world that he ended up neglecting his duties in the physical world. He also started leading a lifestyle filled with alcoholism and debauchery, both as a coping mechanism and as a smokescreen to hide his duties from his Team Avatar (Jianzhu, Kelsang, and Hei-Ran). This means that both Aang and Kuruk have avoided their Avatar duties, but due to different reasons. Aang ran away because he didn't WANT to be the Avatar, while Kuruk ran away because he NEEDED to be the Avatar.

Kuruk hid his illness from his friends because he wanted to protect his predecessor, Avatar Yangchen's legacy (she often sided with humans over spirits when making decisions between them), and because he worried for his friends' safety. Both Aang and Kuruk share a common fear: being unable to save their loved ones from despair. This can be tied to the episode Nightmares and Daydreams (Book 3: Episode 9), where Aang suffered with anxiety nightmares the night before the Black Sun invasion. One series in particular consisted of his friends, Zuko, Katara, Sokka, and Toph, suffering, with Aang unable to save them, and Kuruk's refusal to confide in his friends to keep them safe (which could be a result of two of Yangchen's companions sacrificing their lives to protect her, and Kuruk not wanting to repeat it). The difference is that unlike Kuruk, Aang did confide in his friends (more accurately, you could say that his friends confided in him, as he was the only one able to defeat Firelord Ozai), and in the end, they all played a role in defeating Ozai.

This isn't even taking account the Kummi-Taang theory, which indicates more parallels between them both. To give a simple run-down, the theory states that Toph is a reincarnation of Ummi, Kuruk's wife, whose face was stolen by the spirit Koh The Face Stealer, hence why Toph was born blind, and why Aang met her in the mystical swamp in the episode of the same name (Book 2: Episode 4). I'll post another link to the actual meta dedicated to it:

On a more positive note, both Kuruk and Aang are stated to be bending prodigies, Kuruk especially. They each invented an airbending technique at the Southern Air Temple during their airbending training, demonstrating their unique creativity and adaptability (Kuruk's technique involved creating a cushion of air under a heavy object so it could be slid and moved over a floor with care, Aang's technique, the air scooter, is a spherical "ball" of air that can be ridden balancing on it like a top). Aang had already learned 35 of the 36 tiers of airbending at the time, so it would be rather ironic if Kuruk's technique was the only one Aang hadn't mastered at the time; however, I do have a theory that both techniques are connected, which I will discuss in a separate post. Aang earned his airbending mastery tattoos, and had Kuruk been an Air Nomad, he woud have gotten the same tattoos. Though, he did get a sky bison as a gift, and Aang's animal companion was a sky bison (Appa).

I noticed that the only time Kuruk actually wears his iconic polar bear headdress is when Aang summons him in the episode Sozin's Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters (Book 3: Episode 19), not counting his brief appearance in The Avatar State (Book 2: Episode 1). In The Old Masters, Aang summons the past four Avatars before him for advice on how to defeat Firelord Ozai. According to @atlaculture, Kuruk's decision to wear the headdress in front of Aang--a strict vegetarian--could be him subtly reminding Aang that killing isn't always merciless (as Kuruk was a hunter, and probably had to hunt down large animals for food or as a rite of passage), which is stated here.

I noticed the line Aang says just before he summoned Kuruk:

"I need to look deep inside myself."

Despite the existence of the webcomic Escape from the Spirit World, which takes place between Books 2 and 3 (although Yangchen did say Aang wouldn't remember his journey in the Spirit World), this lines implies that out of Aang's past four lives, Kuruk's is the one he knows least about (Roku was Aang's predecessor, Aang probably knew/learned a lot about Kyoshi during his visits to the Earth Kingdom, and Yangchen, being an Air Nomad like Aang, was revered almost as a god-like figure across the four nations). Ironically, if you dig deeper, Kuruk is also the past life who was/is most similar to Aang.

Also, Kuruk's actual advice to Aang was: "Aang, you must actively shape your own destiny and the destiny of the world." This piece of advice has multiple interpretations. What Aang interpreted was Kuruk telling him to kill Ozai (combined with the fact that Kuruk was wearing a literal animal skin in front of Aang, only reinforcing his interpretation). However, Kuruk never said anything about killing Ozai. He could have actually meant that to him, it doesn't matter how Aang defeated Ozai, or even if Aang did kill him. To Kuruk, the only thing that mattered was Aang performing the act of Showing Up, and actively finding a way to defeat Ozai himself. Therefore, Aang obtaining energybending and then taking Ozai's bending away rather than killing him doesn't mean he didn't follow any of the Avatars' advice. On the contrary, by actively finding a third option to end the war, and actively participating in the final battle, Aang actually subconcisiously followed Kuruk's advice to heart (although you could say Aang didn't follow Kuruk's advice, since Aang didn't actively seek out the lionturtle; rather he was merely kidnapped by chance).

The final parallel between Aang and Kuruk is their relatively young deaths; more specifically, their final wishes. Kuruk died at just 33, surrounded by his Team Avatar, and he made them promise to take care of his successor and make sure she succeeds as the Avatar. Around 500 years later, Aang died at a relatively young biological age of 66 (and the chronological age of 165) surrounded by his Team Avatar and the Order of the White Lotus, and he made them promise to do the exact same thing. However, both Yun and Korra ended up growing up isolated from the rest of the world, and being told that being the Avatar was the only thing that mattered, which led to a serious mental stunt, even though it wasn't Aang's fault Korra ended up being kept in the Southern Compound on the orders of Tonraq, Tenzin, and Sokka, or Kuruk's fault that Yun was being physically and mentally abused by Jianzhu and Hei-Ran. The only difference was that Korra was correctly identified as the Avatar, but Yun wasn't. Kyoshi did not grow up the same way, but she was not spared either; I'll make a meta on her too. But seriously, how in the four nations is it possible for two people who lived centuries apart die with the exact same wish given to their loved ones? Unless they were the Avatar.

In conclusion, despite the difference in Aang and Kuruk's heritage, morality, and overall results as the Avatar, one could argue that it is true that certain beats in the cycle often repeat, depending on their journeys, personalities, and abilities. In the next part, I will explore the parallels between Avatars Aang and Kyoshi, Kuruk's successor.

Next ->

[yakdee]

Ramblings on Only Friends Ep. 2

Part 1/4

Again, public declarations/proposals my be-loathed

Cheum is really just here for the vibes and her friends' happiness and I love her for that

JENNY!! I mean P'YO!!! AND HER MAN!!!

This confessional is giving Reality TV vibes and I'm here for it. Although the series is fiction, it is depicting the very real lifestyles of many people in the world and it's honestly so refreshing

See? Sand gets it ... so lame

Aww, Ray ... sweetie

I'm just properly looking at the intro and god everyone looks so hot

You are so right Cheum — there is nothing hotter than someone doing or talking about something within their area of expertise

Not Mew and Top being different sides of the same coin — they both like the challenge; let's see who gives in first

Seriously, can we get Ray some help :(

Mew putting that emphasis on "my friend" oof

Ah, so Top definitely knows that Ray likes Mew

The start of Sand and Nick's bestie era; we love to see it

Mew, you're really after my heart — to tell the guy who's everyone's type that he's not YOUR type *chef's kiss*

Yes, getting Mew is about the chase and conquest BUT Top is a little out of his element bc Mew stimulates his mind AND his lions; he really ain't gonna know what hit him lol

Ray, sweetie ... why are you following this man? At this rate, you're never gonna beat the stray cat allegations

Yo 10,000 Baht is 281.21 USD???! — I would do it too for a check lol

Part 2/4

Can't even focus on the heated make out etc. bc those horns/antlers behind Nick's head were a terrible accident waiting to happen *shudders*

Nick is already so gooooone I just-

With the level of game Boston is spitting, Nick really didn't stand a chance

I want Sand's messenger bag; wonder if it'll be merch

Oooo I love the way they filmed Sand walking into Ray's sitting room; nothing like a good one-take scene

Ray's mom ... that explains so much :(

I guess this wakeboarding park is the new BL spot; first Wedding Plan and now OF lol

GO APRIL!!

Oh no Cheum :(

I'm sorry but Top diving into the water was ... LMAOOO

Gdi Boston! STAND TF UP!!! Top's not gonna pick you and no dick is worth losing a friendship over

Part 3/4

Did Boston climb the shower wall bc how the hell???

Gotta find that post that talks about red (stop), yellow (slow), and green/blue (go) being prominent colors in Mew and Top's relationship because it's really evident in this episode, ESPECIALLY in this cookie scene

Look at my boi Mew setting those boundaries iktr

Mutual mast rep? We love to see it!

But seriously Nick, I'm gonna need you to run baby

Yooo Neo's body is insane; I'm looking respectfully

Can WE see the monstera? We love a good plant tour on this side of the internet

Leaving a hot girl to go home with a hot guy; Sand is winning either way esp considering this super playful vibe Ray is putting on

Part 4/4

Sleeping pills? AND a tragic backstory?

Ngl I thought he was lying too lol ... still kinda think he's lying, but I'll let it go for now

Okay maybe he isn't lying; look at the way he's holding Mew :'(

Is that Ray and Mew in the picture? And what's with the tense, sinister bg music? Whatchu plottin' Boston?

Pansexual rep? We love to see it!

As I said last week, lighting cigarettes as a form of foreplay

Who knew a cigarette smoke kiss could be so life-changing; I am a new person

That little voice in First's head must've been going crazy during this scene lol

AND YOU'RE GONNA KEEP WANTING ME??? IKTR

At this rate, Khaotung's tattoo needs to get a separate check for it's role in this series

Oh Sand, sweetie ... the fire started when you lit that cigarette and you started playing with it the moment you accepted that smoke-filled kiss *deep sigh* you're in too deep now baby (both literally AND figuratively)

Next week is gonna be insane; see you then :)

[sapphiclinos-moved]

a small list of some specific things and moments in skz songs that i think need attention drawn to them because of how much they FUCK. part 1?

these range from the delivery of a single word or a single adlib to an entire section of instrumental

and I did write it on a 14 hour flight several months ago so it's a bit all over the place.

anyway press more to read me being extremely autistic about skz music and trying to talk about it with 0 music production language knowledge.

in no order whatsoever:

charmer: 1:15 pigeons follow me [PIGEON IMPRESSION]

cheese the synth moment in the second half of prechorus???? eg 0:56 to 1:02

phobia the 'oooohhh' behind the oh Oh OoAH OOah (it happens twice at the very start)

domino changbins dadadadada of dominos falling at like 1:34

domino the instrument during some verses that sounds like 'wahwahwahwah' I love it

domino just holy shit the entire instrumental I could talk about it for actual hours not kidding

booster the higher vocals in the back throughout basically the whole chorus

booster the subtle ah~aah at 2:26

booster the escelation in the aggressiveness of the "one step ahead"

venom prechorus w the wrapped up around ur fingers bit just LISTEN TO THE LIKE. PERCUSSION? idk wtf I'm talking about so idk how to describe it but this song is like the audio version of a fidget cube to me

freeze the beauty of the fake buildup instrumental. like just really tune in to the instrumental 3:30 onwards it'd so pretty

battle ground 3:06 "toZEN👹" WHATT

mirror the ahhhhs in the prechorus ik we have all noticed it u need to REALLY LISTEN AND FEEL IT

levanter whatevers going on in the prechorus instrumental can u tell I love synths. I love levanter so fucking much man

levanter the way it ends half way through the chorus makes it feel so much more resolute? idk I love it

yayaya the CHOIR AT 2:19 FUCKING GOD

rock 2:23 changbins oh!! ,,,no:(((

question the instrumental at 1:18

YOU. the like?? retro japanese game show impact sound effect?? from 0:50 onwards (btw YOU (the i am you intro) is ot8 safe since only changbin, jeongin and hyunjin are in it)

get cool the instrumental at 1:05 owaouwooo uwAuowoo uWAOUuuu :)))

get cool 2:38 the 'ah~h~hh:)))' in the bg

0325 1:55 part from WHO? ( fun fact for the babystays that may not know since its never been ot8'd)

0325 3:09 BACK W THE GAMESHOW IMPACT SOUND EFFECT YUHHH

entrance 1:13 the faint ahhhhh in the bg that you can can BARELY hear (entrance is also ot8 safe from what I can tell apart from maybe some samples that are too pitch shifted to tell)

boxer 0:45 the way the instrumental comes back in just. rapid slideshow of robots for a half second

chronosaurus the percussion being fast and slow varying gives the sense of time coming faster than it should and I think thats neat.

19 the clock ticking throughout is again neat.

lovestay the strings !!!!!!!!!!! raaah I love me some strings

gods menu 0:37 the subtle 'oooooo's

this is a mere fraction of the things I have to list but I don't want this to get too obnoxiously long. I'm calling this part one for a reason cos I have SO MUCH to say. if u have any suggestions of specific parts or elements that are special to you, absolutely send me an ask pointing it out!

[stubborngods]

tav screenshot dump (with who they're romancing and their class and some lore about them if i cant rmbr it hehe)!! you Will see a theme i have a type in character lol

promise! asmodeus tiefling, my beloved slightly-reformed durge, weird little circle of the land druid; main romance is astarion and they're just a little feral together. they definitely met astarion in the city before but don't ask me when rn i am still trying to figure it out.

ruin! asmodeus tiefling, warlock of the archfey (pact of the chain, but i haven't completely decided who their patron is yet); was created to be a wyll romance but i never got her off the ship so we'll see where that goes lol. i do know that bestie is not from baldur's gate.... i want her to be from the hell city that i can't fucking spell the name of

ever! another tiefling but zariel variant this time, life domain cleric of selune! was made to be a shadowheart romance but she has two hands so she's also a halsin romance. she's from the same selune sanctum that shadowheart was in as a child before getting stolen by sharians so she has very vague memories of shadowheart and was immediately like "we are best friends now" and shadowheart was like "... no"

zeki! my darling my beloved! mephistopheles tiefling, college of lore bard, baldurian born and raised; gale romancer!! zeki was a child in bg when her house was burned down in an act of violence against hjer family - be it because they were tieflings or because she had three parents, she doesn't know - but she and her brothers lived on the streets for a while before they all got separated (the oldest was arrested and the older was beaten by guards) and so she just kind of.... existed on the streets for years.

anluryn! fun fact this was my first ever tav and i still haven't made it to act three with her lol. anyways! seldarine drow, she's my lae'zel romancer, they can learn about this weird world together hehe

myriell! high elf durge, tempest domain cleric of talos, i think she was originally going to be a gale ship and then i stopped playing with her lol

liriel! high elf, monk (way of the four elements)!! i literally know nothing else about her lol

xune!! loath-sworn drow, beast master ranger! made to romance our favorite drow lady, minthara!! some facts about her: her full name/title is lady xune mizzrym of menzoberranzan. house mizzrym is not as old as some of the other drow houses but it's still quite old. she is the youngest of her mother's children; i haven't named her siblings yet but i know there are at least three but likely more and some of them are male. she and minthara knew each other as children but it's been a hell of a long time since then. she has a pet giant wolf spider! it's name is alariat ("feast of death" in undercommon)!

i have another tav named miz'ri (misery) who's another loath-sworn drow and a durge who was supposed to romance karlach but they're on the multiplayer save on my friend's computer (which is broken rn) so i do not have any screenies of them unfortunately :(( i was running out of screenshot room on this post anyways whoops; if i mange to find screenies of miz'ri in my dms with said friend i'll post them tho

[topmechaniic]

𝑬𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉...

- A private, selective/mutuals only, canon-divergent, and multi-versed CINDY AURUM from Final Fantasy XV. This blog is very headcanon driven ( pun kind of intended x3 ) and will incorporate some elements of Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Adored by Dani ( she/her, 30+, UTC +9 - Tokyo ) multi/OC and duplicate friendly! Minors DNI, Personals & fan blogs will be blocked on sight!!

rules // carrd // playlist // pinterest // thread tracker // interest tracker

Affiliated with :: @liightbringr, @ravusnightblossom, @yukikorogashi, @battleshot ( ship exclusive ), @inscmnus Mains :: @nifhilium, @dracenary, @strictomiles, @tenebriism, @rcdfcxr

Wire :: topmechaniic

Current Activity :: Slow af/running on queue

Links and basic rules...

Credits :: theme bg & details // icon template // pinned banner // main psd Extra info :: starters // memes // verses // Cid sideblog Blogroll :: OC, Multi, Yoruichi, Serval, Benedikta

Possible triggers include death ( parental loss/ loss of a partner ) and dealings with PTSD ( survivors guilt ), night terrors and panic attacks. While not heavily focused topics, they are significant parts of my Cindy's background. Naturally they will be tagged accordingly, but please place your own comforts first and follow at your own discretion. 💛

Don't be a dick. Any harassment, discrimination or gross behavior of ANY kind will result in a hard block. If you write homophobic, transphobic, incestuous, racist, no-con, or ableist material, or interact with someone who does, do not approach me in any way shape of form. Also please understand that I will only interact with mutual followers ( exception with meta/hc memes unless otherwise posted or in the case of sideblogs ) and I do not always follow back.

If we're mutuals feel free to send all the things! Memes are the best way to get interactions started with me as I rarely make starter calls anymore or don't have the spoons for plotting. So seriously if you or your muse are chomping at the bit over a certain meme or a random open starter, if you wanna turn a meme answer into a thread, DO THE THING! I'm totally cool with that. Just understand that while I am very appreciative, I am kinda slow. Sorry in advance. 

Do not follow me just to pursue a ship. Shipping requires chemistry with both muses and muns. It's also not my blog’s main focus and I will not change my muse in any way for a ship. As it stands, I am ship exclusive with battleshot's Promto and rcdfcxr's Rufus. Besides my exclusives, I am cool with shipping with at least two of the same muse. Also any romantic meme or prompt sent w/o prior IC or OOC interaction will be disregarded or treated as purely platonic.

Please be patient with me. We all have a life outside of this hellsite. A casual reminder to something is cool cause we’re human and forget things or tunglr is just ... being tunglr. However daily reminders, random follows & unfollows/likes & unlikes might push me away from interacting with you.  

Please tag any possible trypophobia & arachnophobia posts cause it really ooks me tf out! My spicy posts are tagged usfw , usft primarily, and at times ⚙ ; 𝐍𝐒𝐅𝐖 :: Push it to the limit. and/or ⚙ ; 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 :: Rev up the engine. Please blacklist accordingly to keep your dash as clean as you desire.

[4noki-vns]

Consummation Proof of Concept: Mid-June Art Devlog

As we hit the midway point of June, Battle Action Fantasy VN Jam (a.k.a. BAF Jam, which I am helping to cohost) is also halfway in!

I’m working on a proof of concept demo of Consummation ~wind above the dragon sea~, a yuri action fantasy visual novel, for the jam.

At the moment, the demo script is fully written at approximately 12k words and other assets are in progress.

The Consummation prototype is a solo development endeavor, so my entry to BAF Jam will be a combination of online assets and my own output. It’s been quite a while since I last solo dev-ed a game, having led teams as director, scenario writer, and character designer for my last two projects (Who is the Red Queen?, Lachesis or Atropos).

However, I prefer not to ask someone to create assets that would be scrapped and redone in the scenario that the game is elevated from prototype to active (likely commercial due to scope) project. Thus, here we are. Jack of most trades shino is on the scene.

Let’s talk about the art!

sprites

Sprites progress: ~80%

Spites are almost done! Line art is complete as is flat coloring, but I’ll have to play around with the palettes and actually render my girls.

The sprites for the demo are drawn waist up with a white outline around them. Originally, I wondered if I could get away with only flats and no rendering, but it didn’t quite match with the background assets I had.

The sprites are displayed to the right, a locational cut-in to the left if applicable, inspired by what you might call the Liar-soft Steampunk style. It’s efficient for a one man team, especially one who is not an environment artist.

(I find that there’s 2 main sides of visual novel staging: comic style and anime style, with the use of cut-ins taking advantage of how comics build mental images of scenes within their readers minds through overlapping frames—but I won’t go rambling about that for now…)

photobashing

Backgrounds progress: 100%

Backgrounds are just about all gathered.

The majority of the backgrounds in the game will be from asset packs, sources to be listed on the game page when published. Alas, as is the case always, some locations are hard to find in those packs!

Hence, I did some photobashing for a handful of places. That is to say, finding some photos on Unsplash and editing them in an image editing software, such as GIMP, to create another image.

Use the clone tool to edit out unwanted elements, overlay lots of blue, and put the image through a variety of filters such as blur, oilify, mosiac, and others until satisfied.

The end result is workable as a temporary asset in a prototype game… Rinse and repeat as needed.

I may occasionally smash up some photos as placeholders, but you probably won’t see me doing BGs often aside from the rare solo dev game where I can’t find a separate asset for a location.

cgs

CGs progress: ~10%

Not much to say here; CGs are all still in the sketch phase, so I’ll just go ahead and show you a sneak peek of the first CG:

-

To summarize the current progress:

Scenario: 100%

Art: ~50%

Scripting: ~50%

The month started strong, but unfortunately June’s a bit of a busy one for me. Here’s to making a good demo!

shino

-

As always, do subscribe to the newsletter if you enjoy these posts and would like them straight to your inbox!

[greatqueenanna]

Hey, sorry about that Anon that sent you hate about the "Hans is a sociopath" thing, that's not a cool look for the Hans/Helsa fandom and not at all acceptable (and kinda accidentally reinforces the take they hate--that sociopath is just a label assigned to villains arbitrarily). I do want to talk about this though, because your post did make me uncomfortable even though it was well-researched and thought out.

tw: abuse mentions

Personally, I am hesitant to assign that label to Hans because he is a villain/antagonist (that's literally his role in Frozen, I say that as a Hans stan who believes he could be more in the future) and 1) sociopathy is a real behavioral disorder that the narrative will misuse to continue to justify why Hans deserves to be a punching bag, and 2) a lot of the 'sociopathic' behaviors he displays are also behaviors displayed by abuse/neglect victims, and additional content supports that he was abused. "Hans is a sociopath" and "Hans was abused" are equally canon takes that the narrative does not treat respectfully. Which take people "prefer" likely depends on whether and HOW they relate to Hans (or Anna/Elsa).

Jen Lee herself has also said that Hans is a product of being 'raised without love' so in full context, there is uncomfortable territory of "if Hans is a sociopath... does that mean he deserved to be abused and unloved?". Narrative seems to support this as we continually see gag takes of him being hit or purposefully excluded in ways that other villains aren't. I very disagree that Jen Lee "likes" that Hans is a sociopath or is "excited" about it. It reads heavily like justification to keep him Disney's punching bag to me.

I think people need to learn to better articulate what makes them upset/uncomfortable about some takes, instead of jumping to becoming abusive themselves. You can step back, take a breath, analyze and THEN respond in a healthy constructive way, guys. And if you can't, then don't engage at all, it is not worth hurting yourself AND someone else.

I understand your concerns here. This is one of the reasons I reached out to my friend, BG (who is actually diagnosed with ASPD, the DSM-5 name for sociopathy), to ask for his opinion before actually writing my analysis of Hans' character and sociopathy. The comments here and here are from him and are not my own opinions or thoughts. BG is also a psychologist, who works with others who have ASPD. He's knowledgeable on this subject, from personal experience and the experience of others. I also want to say that I myself have worked in Special Education for 6 years, and I am neurodivergent - thus, I want to reassure you that I am not coming at this subject completely new.

I also understand where you're coming from in terms of using the diagnosis as a way to 'misuse to continue to justify why Hans deserves to be a punching bag.' As soon as the label is used, most people become repulsed - including Hans fans. BG and I also both agree that Jennifer Lee obviously romanticized the label when she was writing Hans. She saw it as a way to make Hans more 'interesting' than the usual Disney villains, rather than respecting it as an actual diagnosis. That is what BG meant when he said that Jennifer Lee loves the label - that she finds it cool and takes pride that she was able to include the behavioral elements and have it relate to the overall themes.

You are also correct that Hans is both an abuse victim and a sociopath. Sociopathy is typically the result of abuse, after all, thus it makes sense that he is both. Jennifer Lee also makes this very clear, in the quote you also mentioned. Thus, I do not believe that it was her intention to say that sociopaths deserve to be treated poorly - she just chose to use it as a way to make Hans 'more interesting'. Which is also very problematic, just in a very different way.

However, I'm not trying to be obtuse here - I do realize that Hans was only even considered to be written as a sociopath because he was a villain. Sociopathic behaviors are always associated with villainy, after all. Most of society has an overall lack of understanding from both sides, empaths, and sociopaths. BG explained it well here -

Empaths always make us out to be villains or funny anti-heroes because they can’t fathom our behaviors being used for good. It’s a reality we face, especially in this day and age when feelings and being empathetic dominate the social world. There is no easy way to showcase a sociopath being a hero within empath standards.

I agree that Hans is treated differently. However, I wrote here what the reason for that is, and its not because he is a sociopath (since most casual fans do not even know this aspect of Hans' personality), its because of the realistic implications and emotions of his character, which we still have to acknowledge -

I think the reason for this treatment is because of the uniqueness of Hans’ overall character. Not only was he a twist villain, but he was a romantic interest for Anna - making him a little too realistic for many people. Yes, characters like Frollo and Gaston also share the qualities of men trying to take advantage of women, and Mother Gothel does indeed show signs of a realistic abusive parent. But they’re shown since the beginning that they are villainous, which helps the audience know to emotionally disconnect from them. This is the same for most villains. Hans was shown to be desirable and then changed, which is what realistically happens when people are trapped in abusive relationships. We form attachments to these types of people and it’s hard to just disconnect. It’s difficult to just place him as a 'deliciously fun’ Disney villain with the others when he hits too close to home. This is why we see less of a fun side to him, and why we are often just shown him being a punching bag. Hans didn’t just betray Anna, he betrayed the audience as well.

Hans is overall a very difficult and nuanced character to discuss, not only because of the villainization of ASPD and the lack of acknowledgment of his abuse, but also because of real-life abuse victims who have dealt with people who acted like Hans (with or without ASPD). Thus, it creates this strange limbo with him because both sides are valid here. People who display toxic behaviors (again, with or without ASPD) deserve to have their stories validated, but the people they abused also have the right to be validated as well, and even more so because they didn't do anything wrong to deserve the toxic treatment in the first place. It's a very difficult subject no matter how you choose to approach it.

With all this being said, I understand that it is a very nuanced topic that can be uncomfortable, however, ignoring a canon aspect of Hans' personality and not acknowledging it is just as problematic as treating it as a villainous trait. It shows that we are not willing to actually discuss it, and would rather ignore it because it's easier to.

[prabhupadanugas]

दण्डो दमयतामस्मि नीतिरस्मि जिगीषताम् | मौनं चैवास्मि गुह्यानां ज्ञानं ज्ञानवतामहम् || ३८ || daṇḍo damayatām asmi nītir asmi jigīṣatām maunaṁ caivāsmi guhyānāṁ jñānaṁ jñānavatām aham Among punishments I am the rod of chastisement, and of those who seek victory, I am morality. Of secret things I am silence, and of the wise I am wisdom. There are many suppressing agents, of which the most important are those that cut down the miscreants. When miscreants are punished, the rod of chastisement represents Kṛṣṇa. Among those who are trying to be victorious in some field of activity, the most victorious element is morality. Among the confidential activities of hearing, thinking and meditating, silence is most important because by silence one can make progress very quickly. The wise man is he who can discriminate between matter and spirit, between God's superior and inferior natures. Such knowledge is Kṛṣṇa Himself. https://gloriousgita.com/verse/en/10/38 https://bhagavad-gita.org/Gita/verse-10-36.html https://bookchanges.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Bg-Chapter-10-diff.htm https://youtube.com/c/HearSrilaPrabhupada https://www.bhagavad-gita.us/famous-reflections-on-the-bhagavad-gita/ #bhagavatam #srimadbhagavatam #vishnu #vishnupuran #harekrishna #harekrsna #harekrishna #harekrisna #prabhupada #bhagavadgita #bhagavadgitaasitis #bhagavadgītā #srilaprabhupada #srilaprabhupad #srilaprabhupadaquotes #asitis #india #indian #wayoflife #religion #goals #goaloflife #spiritual #bhakti #bhaktiyoga #chant #prasadam #picoftheday #photo #beautiful #usa https://sites.google.com/view/sanatan-dharma https://m.facebook.com/HDG.A.C.Bhaktivedanta.Svami.Srila.Prabhupada.Uvaca/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CqUgXqMosHP/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[keikakudori]

your tags are always such a delight ;w; I look forward to them every time! I'm so happy to hear the moon duo evoked so much for you ;;;w;;; i love hearing everyone's interpretations in the tags it adds so much richness (and honestly between you and me, i think we had some of the same thoughts ahaha). i wanted to explore some of the contrast between lieutenant Aizen and captain Aizen, both literally in the swapped tones (light bg/figure in black vs dark bg/figure in white) and choice of symmetry/

antisymmetry, and maybe a little more figuratively as well. I went for bw both because I am lazy and because I wanted them to feel sort of like memories or something old and nostalgic. Sometimes it can be difficult to communicate these kinds of thing without showing expressions, and I’m really happy to hear you got so much out of the elements that build the general atmosphere ^^ Aizen and loneliness is probably something that I’ll never stop drawing because im such a sucker for it ahahaha

listen, your art is stunning and i'm the sort of person who loves to ramble in tags all the time so i'm so happy that you look forward to my tags. i love to talk my thoughts out because i think i give good insights into aizen and how i think & process things with him in the tags. like i love giving tidbits into him and his character and how he thinks with how i write him thanks to the tags. and those latest pieces of art from you were so evocative. i delight in looking at your art, honestly. the style is so smooth and so beautiful and you absolutely got it right with the symmetry and asymmetry in them. i adored the atmospheric feel of them and i'm always glad to see what art you're going to be putting in his tag. it's a real delight to behold and i am so ready to consume everything you make. thank you so much for sharing your art with us! we're so lucky to have such an amazing artist like you around. personally, i love art where you can't see the faces so you have to figure out what it is they're feeling on your own. that kind of shot always makes me happy and your art is an inspiration for me to get back to some stuff i've been working on myself. i'm a little tentative thanks to how fussy my HP is but i'll get my new computer soon so hopefully i'll return to it all soon! thank you for such a lovely ask. <3

[ellaofoakhill]

BIG LIFE UPDATE!!!

Hello all and sundry! I am happy to announce that, in a few short weeks, I will be leaving my job as a massage therapist, and pursuing a career as a full-time writer and digital artist.

If you've seen and liked my work up on here and my instagram, I have good news: you're going to be seeing a lot more of it! Part of that is because, once I'm doing this full-time, I'll have a lot more time for my own work, but also because, at least for the foreseeable future, I will be taking art commissions, starting now!

I'm in the process of starting up a Patreon, as well as my own independent website where you can look over all of my collected work, but for now this is the main way to help me out, so if you like what I do, and want to support me, this is a great way for you to do that.

My Terms of Service regarding said commissions are below the cut, for anyone who's interested. Please read them before commissioning.

But first, in case anyone wanted to see close-ups of these. Here's one of my oc's, Lanthialdn of Leaning Boughs; you won't meet her (and sometimes him) for a while.

Has anyone else ever wondered what would happen if a dragon and a fasolasuchus got into a scrap? Just me?

A wyvern. That isn't fur or feathers, in case anyone was curious; just scales like a pangolin.

And this guy (girl?) is a bit of fanart, a Behemotherium maxwelli from Biblaridion's Alien Biospheres speculative biology series on youtube. I forgot to include the calculation for something similar on the page above, so I'll throw it in here:

Full Body + Flats + Shading + 2h BG fee = $45 + $12 + $12 + $46 = $115

Anyway, here's the ToS!

Terms of Service

Service Description.

Will Draw: characters, creatures, and light nsfw (i.e. revealing outfits [no nips, no clits, no butts, no nuts], suggestive poses, PDA)

WON'T Draw: porn, graphic violence/gore, hatemongery (racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic, etc.)

---

Characters: Bust $23USD; Waist $34USD; Full Body $45USD

Creatures: Head & Neck $23USD; 'Waist' $34USD; Full Body $45USD

Flat Colours: +$12USD

Shading: +$12USD

Extra Character/Creature: Double above $$$ amounts (each character/creature beyond 2 will be an additional $30USD)

Background: A blank background/simple pattern is free. Complex backgrounds are $23USD per hour of work I spend on them.

Complexity Fees: If you ask me to draw something extremely complicated/time-consuming (an intricate pattern on an outfit, for instance), I will apply a complexity fee of $23USD per hour spent drawing said thing. Again, I will notify you as soon as I think something you commission me for will entail a complexity fee.

Anatomical Drawings: $91USD. Think like a 19th-century naturalist's journal sketches of creatures new to Western science. I will draw a full-body illustration of your creature, along with any 3 of the following: 1 superficial anatomy highlight (your cave monster has some glow-in-the-dark antennae? I draw them specifically [and, as an option, include a short blurb, which you write, talking about them]), skeletal elements (hollow bones? unusual jaws? I draw [you blurb]), muscular elements (powerful digger? unusual tongue?), visceral elements (gas bladder? metal-digesting GI tract?). Anatomical highlights beyond 3 will entail a complexity fee.

-I reserve the right to refuse commission requests for any reason.

-Reference pictures are extremely helpful. Please include some with your commission request. The more specific your commission, the more helpful the pics are. -Each commission includes two revisionary periods: one after the sketch phase, and one when the commission is complete. -major changes can be made during the first period, only minor changes after the second. -3 edits maximum per period (ex. you can ask for 2 posing changes and 1 perspective change) -I will not make the above changes after these periods have passed. -I will send your commission to you upon completion, assuming said commission has been paid for in full, according to our most recent agreement regarding same, in a file form of your choosing (.png, .jpeg, etc.).

Payment.

-all monetary quantities above are in USD. -Payment is through Paypal only. No chargebacks. -Payment is to be made upfront before I will start working on your commission. -If a commission is anticipated to be greater than 200USD, you can make one payment of 100USD upfront, and pay the rest upon completion. If a commission is anticipated to be greater than 500USD, you can make one payment of 200USD upfront, a second upon the beginning of the first revisionary period, and the remainder upon completion of the piece.

-I reserve the right to apply complexity fees if I deem them appropriate. I will notify you if I make this decision, I will stop work on your commission until you reply to said notification, and I will provide you with an invoice detailing the time spent on your project.

Communication Termination. -If I contact you at any point in this process, and receive no reply within 14 days, your commission spot will be forfeit, i.e. I will move on to other work. -I will contact you when this happens. -If I receive no reply after an additional 14 days, any funds you have paid will be considered forfeit.

Illustration Rights. -I retain the rights to use your commission for personal promotion, and as a commission example. -I retain the original .csp image. -Neither you nor I can use your commission to sell merchandise. -You cannot use your commission for purposes including but not limited to: AI training, reselling, relicensing, or NFT usage.

-You may not alter or repurpose your commission without my consent.

[interact-if]

Day 1 of the People With Disabilities Month Featured Author Interviews! Please welcome up....Elena!

Elena, author of Apocalyptic Dream

People With Disabilities Month Featured Author

Apocalyptic Dream is a dual-MC, horror-themed otome game that takes place during a zombie outbreak in the 21st century. Follow Mikuru and Toshiro Aikyo, twins who had the misfortune of knowing what was coming.

Navigate friendships, relationships, and learn who to trust…all while trying to survive.

Can you make it through alive?

Author’s Carrd | Author’s Ko-fi | Preorder | Read more about Apocalyptic Dream [here]

Tags: Apocalypse, 18+, Otome

(INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!) 

Q1. So, tell us a little bit about the projects you're working on!

Currently, I'm still in early stages of development for my first Visual Novel project, Apocalyptic Dream. It's a post-apocalyptic zombie setting, with otome elements and psychological horror intertwined. It's got no real filters with language used or descriptive gore (though the artwork is pretty reeled-in), so I've rated it a (presumed) M. It has partial voice acting.

The game has two protagonists, twins Mikuru and Toshiro, and the viewpoint switches between them at predetermined intervals. There are some game mechanics that vary depending on which twin you are currently playing as, and I'm very excited for players to discover them. There are 9 love interests as well, but one can be pursued as either twin, as Mikuru and said LI are bisexual, and Mikuru has a couple wlw routes.

I am the writer, casting director, marketer, character designer, merch designer...pretty much everything except voice actor, composer, or artist. I don't have the capacity to make artwork that would make me feel happy with the vision I have for it, so I have two very wonderful artists on board instead, and will add some in the future for custom BGs.

I admit it's ridiculously ambitious for my first project, currently drafted at 70k words and not even 1/5th finished. I am so grateful for everyone who has helped to fund the game and are excited for its release, it's been mindblowing for me.

Q2. What has been your favorite thing about interactive fiction as a medium? What are some of the biggest challenges?

I really enjoy when they provide truly unique branching and you get to have a totally different experience (either without or beyond a common route) depending on your choices. It's so much effort to get those done seamlessly without plot holes (something I'm sweating over a bit myself right now), and I appreciate it greatly. It makes such a wonderful playing experience, and I want to provide that for others.

It's hard sometimes to really reconcile with the protagonist's train of thought if it doesn't align with your own, so I'd consider that a bit of a challenge. I'm someone who really hates playing as very bratty characters, or someone who just trips on thin air all the time and becomes a damsel in distress. However, I see IF more as just playing as someone else rather than being myself, so as long as they aren't an objectively terrible person (lol), I can shake it off when they say or think things that are a bit unsettling.

Q3. What is something you're excited to explore within your work?

I am really excited to be able to detail and follow through with all of the branches, and use them to further my writing experience. It's really amazing how so many IF game developers have kept their characters' base personalities consistent while exploring so many different paths that could affect how they respond to the protagonist, sometimes to very severe degrees.

Given the bleak setting of my game, I'm really looking forward to putting my characters through the wringer (sorry guys!) and seeing how they react to what's thrown their way while still adhering to their own moral and ethical codes. And to see someone bend or even break them after what they've gone through? It's difficult to write that correctly, and I'm excited for the challenge.

Q4. Has your disability influenced your work? Whether it's worldbuilding, the design, the process, and positive or negative--what is your advice in working with your disability and being creative?

Absolutely. It's unfortunate, but it just is what it is. I have chronic illnesses that absolutely sap my energy on any given day (endometriosis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, PMDD, major depression, and more), and add ADHD to the mix, and it's nearly impossible to get myself motivated. I spend most of my days making mental notes of the plot progression and script it in my head, without actually getting it down in writing lol. It's very frustrating dealing with executive dysfunction, and spending most of my waking hours in bed.

I also have a small business, Midnight Springs, which is now nearly 7 years old. Juggling the merch design and production for that along with the game has been beyond challenging with how tired and sore I always am, but to lessen some of the load I've been phasing out any new artwork that has no ties to the game and its characters for a while now. I am doing my best to manage all aspects while still chugging along with the scripting and outsourcing direction (art and VA), which is admittedly overwhelming, but everyone in staff and the Kickstarter backers has been really understanding and great about it.

I don't mean to minimize how difficult this is, it's rough. It's often so insurmountable-feeling that I just get stuck for days. But the love for my characters, all of whom I originally penned a decade ago, and the positive (and sometimes very emotional) feedback I have had from my close friends and fiancé proofreading my rough drafts before they are edited has been so incredibly encouraging. It makes me truly excited to keep going, even during the (often very extreme) lows.

Q5. What's an accessibility issue you see glazed over a lot in IF? and what accessibility features would you like to see implemented more in IF?

I think a lot of people don't really understand that reading speed varies between others. This can go both ways, with auto being defaulted at too slow and not being able to adjust it, or too fast. It sucks to have to refer back to a log repeatedly, and I've played some VN apps where the log was actually COMPLETELY borked, and all the scripting for all the branches were just all lumped together out of order, and it was like reading something out of a horror script. I have arthritis and carpal tunnel, and I'm sure a lot of other people have reasons to not want to button-mash their way through a game and would want to avoid repetitive strain injuries. IF should hardly be physically demanding to play through, so this shouldn't be as big of an issue as it is.

Another is definitely quick time events. I am actually a very quick reader, but whenever I am put on the spot I get really anxious, lol. But then take into account that sometimes people aren't able to read through the full set of options before time runs out, and they haven't been able to weigh them in their mind yet to make an educated decision. Thankfully, adjustable quicktime speed has been implemented a lot more recently.

One thing I saw suggested in an accessibility panel in a virtual VN event I was an audience to and hadn't really thought of was a dyslexia-friendly font option, so I will be implementing that as well. Inverted controls are another thing that I only really see offered in RPGs or fighters, but not often in IF.

Q6. What is something you'd love to see in interactive fiction?

I would really appreciate if devs who have no idea how to approach mental health issues would just...not, or consult someone who does. I've quit at least one IF game because the protagonist says some really damaging, narcissistic things to characters suffering from depression or other MI. They may not be real, but the players are, and if any of us have the same conditions we are used to hearing that more than enough already.

I'd also love if more protagonists were voiced (in games that otherwise have voice acting already), instead of being nearly entirely a blank slate. If a character is given a name you choose as the player, and they aren't voiced, and have no face in CGs, then it can be super jarring if they say something you don't like. After all, they're supposed to be a Mary Sue at that point, right? So I'd love to see more devs commit to having their protags just straight up be their own fully fleshed-out people.

Q7. Any advice to give to aspiring devs?

Believe in yourself! This is hard, and sometimes I don't know why I decided to do this. But if it's something you want, reach for it and don't let anyone tell you that you can't. Find a community, big or small, that you can talk to - I've met some really friendly indie devs through discord servers, a couple whose games I'd actually supported on Kickstarter prior!

Also, don't read reviews once it's published (or once the demo is released). Have someone else relay constructive or happy reviews to you, do not do that yourself. Especially if you have anxiety like I do. Reviews are insanely varied and often not even a little bit productive.

Take care of yourself, pace yourself, and don't set definitive deadlines. If you are having an "off" day, do not force yourself. And good luck! (Speaking to myself a bit with these ones.)