#the only things I use which are not my own two hands and my csp program are free assets and brushes

[ineed-to-sleep]

Right now, my number 1 way of telling whether or not it's AI is to always check out the artist. Has worked 100% of the time so far. If it's a repost, it should at least have the artist's name or a link to their other social media profiles on the post, so you can click it or type it on google and check to make sure the artist is real. If the artist is on tumblr, you can take a quick scroll through their blog and that'll usually tell you whether it's AI or not(real artists are usually more interactive in some way, like writing captions or having other posts besides art or talking about their process. Also most of the time AI posters tag their posts as AI).

You don't have to do this for every post, but if you see some art that makes you a little suspicious, or looks very realistically rendered and smooth, OR if it's a repost(definitely when it's a repost), it's always healthy to check.

Begging people to stop reblogging this AI trash from “The Phantom Painter” on Instagram (instagram.com/phantom.painting). I’ve been seeing it on my dash more and more often from people who are otherwise anti-AI and either can’t tell it’s AI or don’t care because it looks cool.

This is the kind of shit that is VERY CLEARLY trained on the works of existing talented artists’ with distinct styles and this asshole is selling prints and making a profit off of stealing other people’s hard work.

Don’t give people like this money or attention and they will go away.

Please, if you’re going to buy art prints, buy them from an actual artist.

[sabertoothwalrus]

hi!! do you have any advice on how to finish projects faster? or at least more efficiently? i take a few days to finish a piece (1 or 2 days at minimum) and i want to learn how to refine my process

that can depend a lot on what kind of look you’re trying to achieve, and what exactly is slowing you down!

things you can do if you take too long doing lineart:

Practice sketching in pen & marker! Do exercises that train your hand to be more efficient. If you can draw the same thing with 5 lines that previously took you 20, you’ll cut down on time.

Try a different brush! Maybe the one you’re using is too soft, and you have to keep going back over the lines to make them dark enough. There might be another brush that gets the same result with less effort.

Zoom out! On paper, a drawing that’s 2 inches tall will take wayyyy less time than a drawing that’s as big as your torso. When you zoom in, you’re essentially making the whole drawing bigger. When I draw, I like to be able to see the whole pose. If you’re worried about it not being perfectly clean, I promise you, no one is paying that close attention.

Skip the lineart entirely! Odds are, your sketches might already be pretty clean. If it takes you 20 minutes to do a sketch and 2 hours to do the lineart, but the lines look almost the same, then why bother doing the lineart?

similar advice for coloring/rendering!

Maybe it’s your art software! I can color 10x faster in CSP than anything else, because CSP makes it really easy to color in flats.

Limit how many types of brushes you use. There ARE certain effects (like convincing digital watercolor) that really do need 5-10 different brushes to get the look Just Right, but going through your tool menus to swap brushes will add time. When I render (which is rare, honestly) I stick to one, maybe two painterly brushes.

other general advice:

Don’t be so hard on yourself! Honestly, 1-2 days is still objectively pretty fast!

If you’re a perfectionist who will arbitrarily spend too much time fiddling and fiddling until it’s justttttt right, try setting timers! Give yourself a predetermined amount of time for the lineart, for the coloring, for the rendering, etc and MOVE ON once that timer goes off. Not everything you do has to be your magnum opus.

Use keyboard shortcuts!!!!!!!! I don’t like using screen tablets, especially if I can’t use shortcuts. If you have a tablet with programmable buttons or some kind of remote, that can work too. I see people use bluetooth xbox controllers sometimes, which is a good option if you already have that. Personally, I use so many shortcuts that there are never enough buttons to program, so I just stick with a keyboard.

JUST KEEP AT IT! The more you draw, the faster you get. I avoided doing paneled comics for nearly 10 years cause they took so much effort, and would only do comics where each panel was its own layer/image. After enough time doing that, I eventually got good enough at everything else to do with comics that the paneling aspect wasn’t that difficult anymore.

[goron-king-darunia]

Eggtober 6th 2023

"Splat" or "Fun with Colors": Raw Egg.

(Clip Studio Paint, Gouache Brush, Pencil brush for details and highlights. 12 colors, I think? 1 Hour.) I actually really liked the rough version I made, so you're gonna get that one at the end as well, for anyone who also likes the rough one better than the smooth one.

But first... I finally discovered a feature of CSP, so now I am unstoppable and I will NEVER AGAIN have to ask myself "How the fuck did I do that?"

Because now I have EVIDENCE. Now curious friends, followers, and my forgetful ass, can watch the full process of how I made a thing. Including what references I used so it's clear how much is iterative and how much I am drawing directly from the visual reference. Today I had to do a lot from imagination because I couldn't find an exaggerated splashy egg, but sometimes I really am just making a study and trying to do a one-to-one recreation of a reference. So now y'all get to know all my filthy little secrets. I was intending to grab footage starting with Eggtober 1, 2023 but OBS needs a version of an NVIDIA driver that will absolutely wreck my computer with BSODs because I own a junker apparently. But it turns out CSP (or at least V2, IDK if it was in V1) has a way to capture a speedpaint natively when you create the file.

Now I am unstoppable, powerful. No more taking a break from art when life gets busy and coming back to pieces I drew 10 years ago and wondering "How the hell did I manage that?" I can just check. It's over for all of you. Once I practice anatomy again and start being able to draw shapes and volumes perfectly from imagination, I will become all-powerful. I will ascend. Hell, maybe someone might even pay me if I learn to draw anything that isn't an egg or a meme. XD Radical self-confidence, baby. I can art now, and I have evidence. My horizons are infinite!

And now, hopefully, any baby artists that are just starting out can get an idea of how I do it from this and future pieces so I can pull you all up with me in a bid of apotheosis. For the EGGsthetic! (Aesthetic.)

I wonder which version of this egg @lady-quen's breadbugs will snap up?

And I wonder which one @quezify will like best? My money's on the sketchy one.

I can't tell which I like better honestly. The smooth one us much more "My aesthetic" because it matches how I render eggs but... The rough pencil-y gouache lines you get with light pressure really remind me of how the classic modern quezify eggs look, and I of course only started doing eggs because of the first Eggtober so, like. On the one hand, smooth and painterly look that goes with all but one of my previous eggs (Eggtober 1, 2023 was a study from memory of quezify's style, after all). But on the other hand... dramatic color changes! Textrure, shine! Colors that aren't in the actual references! EXPRESSIVENESS. Two different moods on the same egg art and I really dig both of them honestly.

[chuya-chuya-blog]

I made a Cara account. I'll link it soon. I don't really like having too many social media accounts, but I like how simple and quiet the app is, and I don't relish the decision from Meta to use our images for AI no matter what. You basically can't opt out, either. Still, Instagram is a big one, and there is so much networking to be done there. I really can't pull away from it just yet, but I think Cara is a promising alternative.

I'm also learning the benefits of 3D tools on Clip Studio. However, mine is the little tablet that could, and for certain huge or really intricate models, it slows the app down or closes the app completely. I plan to make use of what I can to ease the process of manga making, but I probably won't be able to use the big models that I was excited about.

Before, I was drawing perspective grids by hand on Ibis Paint and using the radial rulers as a way to snap to vanishing points. I know the concepts of perspective, but when looking at a blank page,it was hard to visualize what was necessary for the scene. In Clip Studio, they have assets you can use that make visualization and placement easier. I first discovered this with a free 3D grid that someone made in the asset store that sets up a grid for you and allows you to move the horizon line and vanishing points wherever you need it. I'm technology handicapped, haha, so the tools Clip Studio came with for that were frustrating me, and this grid made it easier. (Side note: if you don't have Clip Studio, there are free 3D perspective grids online with the same concept.)

Having a whole grid set up made it so much easier to visualize the scenes I was trying to make. This became even more useful when I found out every 3D object already has its own perspective grids built in that you can draw with. So I can insert an object, set up a camera angle that I'm going for, and turn on the grid to help me draw anything else I need for the perspective. I'm really excited about this. I already know I want to trace the objects, but as long as I can get it into the proper perspective, that alone should be a game changer for me.

The thing to remember is that in a scene, not everything exactly goes to the same one or two vanishing points. There can be multiple points, they just all have to be on the same horizon line. I did NOT learn this in art classes. I thought everything HAD to be on the same one or two vanishing points. Nope, some objects can have their own vanishing point altogether. This is only for the first two types of perspective. I dunno what happens when it's three point perspective.

With that in mind, the new 3D tools I'm using have shown to be very helpful. I was strictly a traditional artist, but I drew my manga digitally because it was convenient to not have to erase an underdrawing. But there are so many more tools that make the process easier for me, especially since I don't have assistants. Even without the 3D models, there are still some really cool things CSP can do. My current favorite is the vector pen and eraser, where it'll erase anything up to an intersection! That was incredible news for someone like me who was drawing backgrounds and erasing the extra lines manually, while being super careful not to hit the lines I intended to keep. I don't care how traditional of an artist you are, you cannot deny how convenient that is. Yes, there are tools and brushes that encourage pure laziness, but there are some tools that just GOT IT. The vector pen and eraser is one of them.

My next tool to try is the automation function, which can ease your workflow by executing a list of commands you would usually do over and over. In Ibis paint, I had a file that I set up with my folders and layers named, organized, and ready, with tones set at the perfect opacity I always used. I would then duplicate this file over and over for every page I needed. I assume automation is similar, and I can't wait to use it.

So I hope my future manga pages will come out ever better with the help of these little handicaps of mine, a crutch I allow myself in place of the assistants mangaka normally have. I may use a small grass brush to make my process easier, but why would I draw something over and over that will essentially be overlooked by readers anyway? You prove nothing by doing that and it just adds to anxiety and burnout. You should focus your energy on things that matter and if you need a crutch for it, then so be it.

[stunted-boars]

WAIT DUH I DON'T NEED TO SHARE THE .OTF OR .TTF FILES I CAN JUST SHARE THE TEMPLATES I USED

Ok ok ok below the cut, a guide to how to get the cipher fonts I made + how to make your own cipher font + bonus: how to upload fonts into CSP

There are a couple sites out there that will help you make custom fonts, for these I used a free calligraphr account because I like the customizability of it (you will need to make a free account in order to use calligraphr)

TO USE MY FONT(S)

Go to this page and click on "New Font." Name it whatever. If you want it to be just like mine, set "Letter spacing" to 50% and "Word spacing" to where it's about equal to where the dot in "Font size" is.

Click on Upload Template. For the first font, upload the first template. For the second font, upload the second template. For the third font, upload the second AND third template (that's the one where the capitalized letters are from font 1 and the lowercase letters/punctuation are from font 2). You can also upload the first and second template to get a version of the font where it randomly picks between the two styles each time you type, I'm not personally a fan of how it looks but go nuts 👍

From here, you can click on the kebab dots to adjust the baseline, which lets you make individual letters bigger or smaller. I left them at the default for mine, but again feel free to modify any.

When it all looks good, click on "Build Font." Once it's processed, you can click on [fontname]-Rugular.ttf and [fontname]-Regular.otf to download your font! I'm not sure what the difference is between the file types, you don't need both but I download them both anyways because I don't know what I'm doing.

From there, you're done! Congrats on the font! If you want to make one of the other fonts, note that the free version of Calligraphr only lets you make one font at a time, so you'll need to delete the font you just downloaded and repeat the process with the other file(s), or upload the new file and set it to overwrite the existing duplicates.

TO MAKE YOUR OWN TI CIPHER FONT

Go to this page. Here, you select what symbols you'll be using. If it opens with a default bunch of pre-selected numbers and letters, hit "Remove all" to clear them out. As of writing, the following is a list of all the characters found in the TI cipher language (no z yet, sadly.) Copy and paste this list into the text box that opens when you click "Arbitrary characters."

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY 1234567890 !-=+,.?:'/÷

The cipher doesn't differentiate between capital and lowercase letters, so you can pick either when making your own cipher. You only need to include both if you want the uppercase ones to look different from the lowercase ones (like font 3).

Then, click "Download Template." If you're going to print out the file and fill it out by hand, the default PDF file format is fine. If you're going to fill it out in an art program, click on PNG file format. I go with default template cells usually, feel free to modify to suit your needs. I suggest leaving helplines on. I also like having "characters as background" on, as it helps me keep track of what's what and provides a handy size estimate, but it's a bit less useful when making a cipher. Then, click download, and fill it out however you prefer!

The first image is the guide I used while making my own fonts, made by the one and only @elfowlgirl. The second image is a translation of a page from the intro from episode 184, which kinda shows how things line up, height-wise. Both images were taken from the page linked in the original post. The link also has a gallery with photos of lots of other pages written in cipher, some more legible than others. I think the page from the episode 57 intro is the only instance we have of a question mark but don't quote me on that.

(Both the / and the ÷ ciphers are used interchangeably for division, so as far as I can tell, you can use either cipher for either)

Episode 564 also has a great reference in it from 14:24–15:55 (the link should lead to that timestamp). A character sings a song, and the lyrics are written on-screen in both cipher and English script. If you aren't up to date (like I'm not) this scene is probably some sort of spoiler, but I'm so lacking in context that I can't even guess what it's spoiling, so use it as a reference at your own discretion.

(Ofc, feel free to use my fonts as a reference as well! That's why I originally made the second version lol)

Once you have everything as you like it, you can basically just follow the steps listed in the first guide or on the site to turn it into an actual, usable font!

HOW TO GET A FONT INTO CSP

(A quick note: I am currently using PAINT EX Ver.2.0.6, I'm not sure if everything looks/works the same on other versions)

Open up the "Text" tool, then click on "Font," then click on the "Add font from files..." button.

(Your layout may vary from mine)

This will open your files. It accepts TrueType (.ttf), OpenType (.otf), and ZIP formats. If you downloaded the font from calligraphr, the files should be in your recent downloads. Click on em and hit "open," and that should upload your font into CSP, meaning you can now type messages in the Thrilling Intent Cipher!

Have fun writing ~secret messages!~

Folks I totally forgot there's a whole entire cipher language in Thrilling Intent!!! That's so cool!!!

[kmclaude]

Forgive me Father, I have no awful headcanons for you, only a general question on comic making. How do you do it, writing-wise/how do you decide what points go where, how do you plot it out (or do you have any resources on the writing aspect that you find useful?) Not to get too bogged down in details, but I attended a writer’s workshop and the author in residence suggested I transfer my wordy sci-fi WIP into graphic novel script, as it might work better. (I do draw, but I don’t know if I have it in me to draw a whole comic—characters in motion? Doing things? With backgrounds? How dare, why can’t everyone just stand around looking pretty)

I was interested but it quickly turned into a lot of internal screaming as I tried to figure out how to compress the hell out of it, since novels are free to do a lot more internal monologuing and such compared to a comic format (to say nothing of trying to write a script without seeing how the panels lay out—just for my own sake, I might have to do both concurrently.)

As an aside, to get a feel for graphic novels I was rereading 99RM and was reminded of how great it was—tightly plotted, intriguing, and anything to do with Ashmedai was just beautifully drawn. I need more Monsignor Tiefer and something something there are parallels between Jehan and Daniel in my head and I don’t know if they make sense but it works for me. (As an aside, I liked the emphasis on atonement being more than just the word sorry, but acknowledgment you did wrong and an attempt to remedy it—I don’t know why that spoke to me the way that it did.)

I thought Tumblr had a word count limit for asks but so far it has offered zero resistance, oh well. I don’t have much else to say but on the topic of 99RM, Adam getting under Monsignor’s skin is amazing, 10/10 (about the Pride picture earlier)

wow tumblr got rid of the markdown editor! or at least in asks which means the new editor probably has no markdown....god i hate this site! anyway...

Totally! So first, giant thank you for the compliments! Second, I have a few questions in turn for you before I dive into a sort of answer, since I can give some advice to your questions in general but it also sounds like you have a specific conundrum on your hands.

My questions to your specific situation are:

did the author give any reason for recommending a, in your words, "wordy" story be turned into a graphic novel?

is the story you're writing more, like you said, "internal monologuing"? action packed? where do the visuals come from?

do you WANT it to be a comic? furthermore, do you want it to be a comic you then must turn around and draw? or would you be interested in writing for comics as a comic writer to have your words turned into art?

With those questions in mind, let me jump into the questions you posed me!

Let me start with a confession...

I've said this before but let me say it again: Ninety-Nine Righteous Men was not originally a comic — it was a feature-length screenplay! And furthermore, it was written for a class so it got workshopped again and again to tighten the plot by a classroom of other nerds — so as kind as your compliments are, I'm giving credit where credit is due as that was not just a solo ship sailing on the sea. On top of that, it got adapted (by me) into a comic for my thesis, so my advisor also helped me make it translate or "read" well given I was director, actor, set designer, writer, editor, SFX guy, etc. all in one. And it was a huge help to have someone say "there is no way you can go blow by blow from script to comic: you need to make edits!" For instance, two scenes got compressed to simple dialogue overlaid on the splashpage of Ashmedai raping Caleb (with an insert panel of Adam and Daniel talking the next day.) What had been probably at least 5 pages became 1.

Additionally, I don't consider myself a strong plotter. That said, I found learning to write for film made the plotting process finally make some damn sense since the old plot diagram we all got taught in grammar school English never made sense as a reader and definitely made 0 sense as a writer — for me, for some reason, the breakdown of 25-50-25 (approx. 25 pages for act 1, 50 for act 2 split into 2 parts of 25 each, 25 pages for act 3) and the breaking down of the beats (the act turning points, the mid points, the low point) helped give me a structure that just "draw a mountain, rising action, climax is there, figure it out" never did. Maybe the plot diagram is visually too linear when stories have ebb and flow? I don't know. But it never clicked until screenwriting. So that's where I am coming from. YMMV.

I should also state that there's Official Ways To Write Comic Scripts to Be Drawn By An Artist (Especially If You Work For A Real Publisher As a Writer) and there's What Works For You/Your Team. I don't give a rat's ass about the former (and as an artist, I kind of hate panel by panel breakdowns like you see there) so I'm pretty much entirely writing on the latter here. I don't give a good god damn about official ways of doing anything: what works for you to get it done is what matters.

What Goes Where?

Like I said, 99RM was a screenplay so it follows, beat-wise, the 3-act screenplay structure (hell, it's probably more accurate to say it follows the act 1/act 2A/act 2B/act 3 structure.) So there was the story idea or concept that then got applied to those story beats associated with the structure, and from there came the Scene-by-scene Breakdown (or Expanded Scene Breakdown) which basically is an outline of beats broken down into individual scenes in short prose form so you get an overview of what happens, can see pacing, etc. In the resources at the end I put some links that give information on the whole story beat thing.

(As an aside: for all my short comics, I don't bother with all that, frankly. I usually have an image or a concept or a bit of writing — usually dialogue or monologue, sometimes a concrete scene — that I pick at and pick at in a little sketchbook, going back and forth between writing and thumbnail sketches of the page. Or I just go by the seat of my pants and bullshit my way through. Either or. Those in many ways are a bit more like poems, in my mind: they are images, they are snapshots, they are feelings that I'm capturing in a few panels. Think doing mental math rather than writing out geometric proofs, yanno?)

Personally, I tend to lean on dialogue as it comes easier for me (it's probably why I'm so drawn to screenwriting!) so for me, if I were to do another longform GN, I'd probably take my general "uhhhhhh I have an idea and some beats maybe so I guess this should happen this way?" outline and start breaking it down scene by scene (I tend to write down scenes or scene sketches in that "uhhhh?" outline anyway LOL) and then figure out basic dialogue and action beats — in short, I'd kind of do the work of writing a screenplay without necessarily going full screenplay format (though I did find the format gave me an idea of timing/pacing, as 1 page of formatted script is about equal to 1 minute of screentime, and gave me room to sketch thumbnails or make edits on the large margins!) If you're not a monologue/soliloque/dialogue/speech person and more an image and description person, you may lean more into visuals and scenes that cut to each other.

Either way this of course introduces the elephant in the panel: art! How do you choose what to draw?

The answer is, well, it depends! The freedom of comics is if you can imagine it, you can make it happen. You have the freedoms (and audio limitations) of a truly silent film with none of the physical limitations. Your words can move in real time with the images or they can be a narrative related to the scene or they could be nonsequitors entirely! The better question is how do you think? Do you need all the words and action written first before you break down the visuals? Do you need a panel by panel breakdown to be happy, or can you freewheel and translate from word and general outlines to thumbnails? What suits you? I really cannot answer this because I think when it comes to what goes where with regard to art, it's a bit of "how do you process visuals" and also a bit of "who's drawing this?" — effectively, who is the interpreter for the exact thing you are writing? Is it you or someone else? If it's you, would you benefit from a barebones script alongside thumbnailed paneling? Would you be served by a barebones script, then thumbnails, then a new script that includes panel and page breakdowns? What frees you up to do what you need to do to tell your story?

If I'm being honest, I don't necessarily worry about panels or what something will look like necessarily until I'm done writing. I may have an image that I clearly state needs to happen. I may even have a sequence of panels that I want to see and I do indeed sketch that out and make note of it in my script. But exactly how things will be laid out, paneled, situated? That could change up until I've sketched my final pencils in CSP (but I am writer and artist so admittedly I get that luxury.)

How do I compress from novel to comic?

Honest answer? You don't. Not really. You adapt from one to another. It's more a translation. Something that would take forever to write may take 1 page in a comic or may take a whole issue.

I'm going to pick on Victor Hugo. Victor Hugo spent a whole-ass book in Notre-Dame de Paris talking about a bird's eye view of Paris and other medieval architecture boring stuff, with I guess some foreshadowing with Montfaucon. Who cares. Not me. I like story. Anyway. When we translate that book to a movie any of the billion times someone's done that, we don't spend a billion years talking at length about medieval Paris. There's no great monologuing about the gibbet or whatever: you get to have some establishing shots, maybe a musical number, and then you move tf on. Because it's a movie, right? Your visuals are right there. We can see medieval Paris. We can see the cathedral. We can see the gibbet. We don't need a whole book: it's visually right there. Same with a comic: you may need many paragraphs to describe, say, a space station off of Sirius and one panel to show it.

On the flip side, you may take one line, maybe two, to say a character keyed in the special code to activate the holodeck; depending on the visual pacing, that could be a whole page of panels (are we trying to stretch time? slow it down? what are we emphasizing?) A character gives a sigh of relief — one line of text, yeah? That could be a frozen panel while a conversation continues on or that could be two (or more!) panels, similar to the direction [a beat] in screenwriting.

Sorry there's not a super easy answer there to the question of compression: it's a lot more of a tug, a push-pull, that depends on what you're conveying.

So Do I Have It In Me to Write & Draw a GN?

The only way you'll know is by doing. Scary, right? The thing is, you don't necessarily need to be an animation king or God's gift to background artists to draw a comic.

Hell, I hate backgrounds. I still remember sitting across from my friend who said "Claude you really need to draw an establishing exterior of the church at some point" and me being like "why do you hate me specifically" because drawing architecture? Again? I already drew the interior of the church altar ONCE, that should be enough, right? But I did draw an exterior of the church. Sorta. More like the top steeple. Enough to suggest what I needed to suggest to give the audience a better sense of place without me absolutely losing my gourd trying to render something out of my wheelhouse at the time.

And that's kinda the ticket, I think. Not everyone's a master draftsman. Not everyone has all the skills in every area. And regardless, from page one to page one hundred, your skills will improve. That's all part of it — and in the meantime, you should lean into your strengths and cheat where you can.

Do you need to lovingly render a background every single panel? Christ no! Does every little detail need to be drawn out? Sure if you want your hand to fall off. Cheat! Use Sketchup to build models! Use Blender to sculpt forms to paint over! Use CSP Assets for prebuilt models and brushes if you use CSP! Take photographs and manip them! Cheat! Do what you need to do to convey what you need to convey!

For instance, a tip/axiom/"rule" I've seen is one establishing shot per scene minimum and a corollary to that has been include a background once per page minimum as grounding (no we cannot all have eternal floating heads and characters in the void. Unless your comic is set in the void. In which case, you do you.) People ain't out here drawing hyper detailed backgrounds per each tiny panel. The people who DO do that are insane. Or stupid. Or both. Or have no deadline? Either way, someone's gonna have a repetitive stress injury... Save yourself the pain and the headache. Take shortcuts. Save your punches for the big K.O. moments.

Start small. Make an 8-page zine. Tell a beginning, a middle, an end in comic form. Bring a scene to life in a few pages. See what you're comfortable drawing and where you struggle. See where you can lean heavily into your comfort zones. Learn how to lean out of your comfort zone. Learn when it's worth it to do the latter.

Or start large. Technically my first finished comic (that wasn't "a dumb pencil thing I drew in elementary school" or "that 13 volume manga I outlined and only penciled, what, 7 pages of in sixth grade" or "random one page things I draw about my characters on throw up on the interwebz") was 99RM so what do I know. I'm just some guy on the internet.

(That's not self-deprecating, I literally am some guy on the internet talking about my path. A lot of this is gonna come down to you and what vibes with you.)

Resources on writing

Some of these are things that help me and some are things that I crowd-sourced from others. Some of these are going to be screenwriting based, some will be comic based.

Making Comics by Scott McCloud: I think everyone recommends this but I think it is a useful book if you're like "ahh!!! christ!! where do I start!!!???" It very much breaks down the elements of comics and the world they exist in and the principles involved, with the caveat that there are no rules! In fact, I need to re-read it.

Comic Book Design: I picked this up at B&N on a whim and in terms of just getting a bird's eye view of varied ways to tackle layout and paneling? It's such a great resource and reference! I personally recommend it as a way to really get a feel for what can be done.

the screenwriter's bible: this is a book that was used in my class. we also used another book that's escaping me but to be honest, I never read anything in school and that's why I'm so stupid. anyway, I'd say check it out if you want, especially if you start googling screenwriting stuff and it's like 20 billion pieces of advice that make 0 sense -- get the core advice from one place and then go from there.

Drawing Words & Writing Pictures: many people I know recommended this. I think I have it? It may be in storage. So frankly, I'd already read a bunch of books on comics before grabbing this that it kind of felt like a rehash. Which isn't shade on the authors — I personally was just a sort of "girl, I don't need comics 101!!!"

Invisible Ink: A Practical Guide to Building Stories that Resonate: this has been recommended so many times to me. I cannot personally speak on it but I can say I do trust those who rec'd it to me so I am passing it along

the story circle: this is pretty much the hero's journey. a useful way to think of journeys! a homie pretty much swears by it

a primer on beats: quick google search got me this that outlines storybeats

save the cat!: what the above refers to, this gives a more genre-specific breakdown. also wants to sell you on the software but you don't need that.

I hope this helps and please feel free to touch base with more info about your specific situation and hopefully I'll have more applicable answers.

[toysoldiers-rwby]

  1. Team APCX!

Split Armature

Characters: Ciel, Penny, Xan, Aro Rating: Teen Tags: Slice of Life Word Count: 2.7k

Summary: Ciel finally finds a break in her chaotic schedule. And hates it.

tumblr hids post with links so they’ll be updated later. also i originally planned to make penny black when she gets her new body but fuk it. if i want crwby to recon without explaination then i gotta do it in my own works too. unfortunately i lost the .csp files so i can't go back an edit the illustrations

The noise in the store finally returned to normal. Or what is normal for Argus. It was far quieter than the Mantle streets Ciel was used to. It wasn’t packed with people and heaters, cramming everything together to fight off the cold. Not as much cars and that one prick blaring their horn every four seconds. Not as much coughing from Dust Miners trying to enjoy their day off and hard earned cash.  

The sun was nice when it wasn’t blocked by the floating rock and factory smoke.  

But Argus was a temporary stop. Her task was in Vale. Every second here was wasted time that pricked under her skin.  

Ciel took three second to breath in. “Why are are we here, Ms. Polendina?” She asked, trying to keep her voice leveled. Everyone on her team was more than a handful. Even a world renown specialist and her former partner had trouble keeping them in line. The last thing Ciel wanted to do was upset her most agreeable teammate.  

Almost likable, even.  

Which made Ms. Penny Polendina the hardest to handle.  

Polendina grinned under her large sun hat, holding it in place as she twirled in her dress swimsuit. Five seconds. Every movement smooth like clockwork. It was an adorable display. Innocent, harmless, genuine. Everything their anarchist teammates weren’t.  

But nice doesn’t contribute to their assignment: Maintenance on the Argus Military Base and Investigations of the Dust Robberies in Vale.  

“This is a waste of time,” Ciel said. The words lingering out and dragging with frustration, almost with the same scorn for her… partner.  

It was unfair. Polendina was the opposite of her partner. No mocking reply or smug smirk. She had the skill to back up any arrogance. Penny’s cybernetic eyes were bright with curiosity instead, head tilted and some orange curls slipping out from hiding. Ciel relaxed a little. She wasn’t surprised at the burn and ache in her jaw and neck.  

Her teammates were a handful, but Ms. Polendina is as gentle and kind as her father.  

“Preparing for an expedition isn’t a waste of time,” Ms. Polendina said, fluctuation bouncing with her step. They’ve been trying out swim wear for the past sixteen minutes and forty-two seconds.  

“Generous words for a shopping trip,” Ciel said with a roll of her eyes. “I doubt we’ll be leaving the bay.”  

“But segments of the hard-light barrier will be offline while our teammates repair them!” Polendina said. In that very Polendina energetic and earnest tone. Ciel simply raised a brow as those swords flared out from behind Polendina. “We must be vigilant and combat ready!” Ciel seen what her swords can cut and shoot through. It shouldn’t look so harmless, nor cute with how those swords flexed and bounced with her.  

At the noise of a worker and some gawking civilians, Ms. Polendina tucked those swords away and gave an apologetic smile. Ciel stared hard for a moment. Everything about Ms. Polendina’s movements; her shifting posture, averting eyes and nervous laugh, should be accompanied by a blush. Instead there was only a gentle huff and puffed freckled cheeks.  

“I’ve seen the list,” Ciel said. Food, drinks, sunscreen and toiletries were necessities. To optimize their time, their mechanic and engineer made arrangements to stay at sea. “Floaters, a few movies, and water guns. The other two are treating it as a sea cruise.”  

Polendina’s eyes only brighten, innocent smiling growing as she rocked gently on her feet. “Perhaps stress is hindering your performance, Ms Soleil.” Polendina said. Ciel was genuinely scowling at her now. Penny’s voice was too high pitch to be innocent, too smooth to be confident. She was her own brand of positive smugness and it’s what made her particularly hard to handle. “Failure to recount our missions this entire semester is a major error for one as accomplished as yourself.”  

“Ugh,” Ciel rolled her eyes. No matter how high her marks were, they were still the lowest among Team APCX (Apex). "Are you done wasting time? We’ve been preparing for a total of forty-one minutes and twenty-seven seconds, ma’am." Ciel tried to forget the few extra minutes she spent comparing ridiculous floaters and water guns. If those idiots were gonna send her shopping, they would receive the most ridiculous items Ciel could find. She’ll hide the biggest water gun for herself.  

“I suppose the food would be ready for pick up when we arrive but…” Penny’s voice softened, eyes glancing over Ciel’s shoulder and to the entrance. “… Are they gone?” Penny asked.  

Ciel glanced around the store again. The crowd was triggered by journalist and reporters, and once they left the curious locals followed. The ones that did stay were genuinely interested in shopping and the workers subtly kept them away from Ciel and Ms. Polendina.  

"If anyone does try to rush are you again, I’ll hit them with Slow," Ciel said. Judging by the frown, it wasn’t the answer Penny wanted but she retreated back into the changing room anyway.  

Ciel sighed. For being the most agreeable teammate Ms. Polendina could be hard to read. Though the source of the journalist was Penny’s partner. A quick glance at the local new app still shown numerous of articles all following the same Atlesian tagline: ‘The pinnacle of achievement, the predators surpassing all other Huntsmen and Huntresses. Team APCX!’ Complete with their Faunus leader front and center. As if it inspire some kind of awe and admiration within the Mantlians and trick them into forgetting all the Faunus miners in the hospital.  

Being use as propaganda against your own kind… Where Ciel could only feel bitterness, Ms. Glade must have felt a special dagger. The nicest thing about being the underestimated one was the freedom that comes with being overlooked. Ciel tried to ignore the guilt and relieve that followed that thought.  

She scrolled to the other featured articles. More talk about the Abyssal Dust Company, the sudden step down of it’s founder, Aurora Glade. She expected the last segment to talk about Penny. She was the daughter the most brilliant man on Remnant and the welder of Atlas’ greatest weapon yet. Instead the cybernetic eyes were bright yellow, face set in an lingering anger that was almost stoic. The last article wasn’t about Penny. It was Ciel’s partner, Ashley Xanthic.  

Even Atlas had no digital records of the woman. At least none that could be trusted-  

“Xan wouldn’t appreciate the breach of privacy.” Penny said. Ciel jerked a little, not jumped, and quickly looked at Penny. She was still nervous holding her chosen swimsuits to her chest. A poor barrier. Ciel sighed tucked a few orange curls under the hat. She got a few giggles when her fingertips brushed the more sensitive spots. A good sign that Polendina was relaxing again.  

“Come on, we’ll pick up the food,” Ciel said. “Then we’ll see if Ms. Glade and Xanthic are finished with the CCT AI core.”  

Ms. Polendina frowned, eyes wandering the floor. “Right…”  

Instead they found the crowd of journalist and reporters at the docks. It took six minutes and fifty-five seconds for the idiots to part so Ciel could drive through the gate. During the entire time photo flashes and drones were circling them. Polendina tried to shrink into her seat, pulling her hat lower despite the one-way windows.  

“Xan must be furious at the lack of control…” Polendina whispered.  

Ciel glanced at her, “And your not?”  

“I… I am accustomed with a similar situation.” Ms. Polendina said. So Penny wasn’t furious but resigned. Ciel nodded remembering that she was talking to the daughter of Atlas’ prized scientist.  

“Not much freedom with security,” Ciel said with a scowl. She was forced to slow the car down as Argus Military Personal patrolled Team APCX’s private airship.  

Instead of finding their teammates deep within the base and in the CCT AI Core Room they were talking with Cordovin.  

Xan was already walking towards them. Ciel knew nothing about the technology bolted into her teammates’ body, though they seemed to react with their emotions. Ms. Polendina’s bow twitched like antenna’s when she was excited. Ms. Glade vented out air from her prosthetic legs and horns when tired. Xan’s LED’s corresponded with her emotions.  

The red reflecting off her hair looked lethal. Good thing Ashley Xanthic wasn’t permitted to have her weapon within city limits.  

Neither Ciel or Ms. Polendina asked what the problem was. Just by restocking the airship Ciel could hear Cordovin’s shrill yells and see Ms. Glade’s eyes. Ever the business diplomat, was still formally dressed smiling calmly down at Specialist Cordovin and a few Argus guards.  

Her semblance was on.  

“Specialist Cordovin, I am confident in your work. Your station is surely safe enough for my team to continue our work unaccompanied.” Ms. Glade spoke. As deep as Greenleaf and as smooth and soothing as the rare diplomatic side of Ms. Hill.  

Cordovin preen under the praise. At least for a few seconds, then her shoulders and back squared, “Atlas is the greatest nation because we are diligent and-”  

There was a flash of Glade’s eyes. For half a second her semblance was off, the raw furry on her face highlighted by the shine of those sharp horns crowning her head. Then it was… recalibrated by Focus, back into that docile persona. Soft smile and relaxed eyes. Too perfect and too natural, so uncanny it was nearly ethereal.  

Ciel pretended to ignore the way Ms. Polendina frowned and sighed. Even the most agreeable of them hated Glade’s Focus.  

“We set ourselves to a higher standard to strive beyond perfection,” Ms. Glade said. It sounded familiar… like an overplayed propaganda but Ciel couldn’t remember it. Ms. Glade pulled her customized compact Scroll from her pocket, unprivatized hard-light screen already displaying their supervising officer. “Specialist Schnee has personally overseen our training within the Accelerated Program. If there are any results you are skeptical of, I’m sure Specialist Schnee would be happy to quell your doubts.” Glade’s backhanded insults were usually much more subtle, but even Cordovin can decode the threat this time. Don’t second guess your superior officer.  

“T-That’s not necessary!” Cordovin said. She cleared her throat and straighten her back and shoulders. “Please proceed with your tasks as needed.” Ms. Glade nodded and quickly retreated into her airship, closing the doors before Cordovin could get another word.  

As soon as the glow faded from Ms. Glade’s eyes, the act she was putting on ended. She let out a long and tired groan. It was odd seeing someone with such a powerful and heavy build slouch. “Can we… just leave yet?” Their leader mumbled. Just listening to Cordovin makes Ciel want to quit, Ms. Glade has several high profile responsibilities on top of that.  

“Unfortunately we still have the hard-light barrier and the… the giant mechanical suit,” Ms. Polendina said. The two partners glanced at each other and looked away a little heart broken. Ms. Glade was excited to show her partner around but too many journalist wanted to know about Aurora Glade’s Mysterious and Sudden Change of Careers.  

"We don’t. Cordovin’s literal words: Proceed with your task as needed." Xanthic said as she continued doing inventory.  

“I don’t like where this is going…” Ms. Polendina said. She gave Xan a heavy look but the woman was already reorganizing the pantry. “Maintenance over vital security equipment is important for the safety of this entire city.”  

“If me and Glade did things to our standards, it would take a two month to upgrade everything,” Xan scowled, "We don’t have to be physically there to do maintenance."“According the schedule and diagnostics our maintenance is. Not. Needed.” She emphasized every word, slamming jars and cans of food on the wood shelf.  

Penny looked away, taking a step back towards her partner. “We shouldn’t ignore any chance to ensure other people’s safety…”  

Xan growled, pushing away from the pantry and pulling out her Scroll. There was over ten missed calls with the face of CCT Technician Terra Cotta-Arc calling again. Xan answered it, holding it away from her face as Ms. Cotta-Arc immediately stared yelling.  

"You asshole! Do you have any idea how long me and Saph have been planning just one simple date?! And- And I’m stuck here!!" The camera panned to the AI Core room. A handful of other CCT staff was trying to put back a gutted cables and panels. They all looked like it was the end of a graveyard shift.  

“Unfortunately for everyone, Ironlimp don’t like sharing plans,” Xan said. Her yellow cybernetic eyes so bright it looked like could shoot lasers at any second. “Me and Glade did the hard part! We had to redesign a quarter of the system to keep up with demands and replace those shitty half cocked SDC components with upgraded and efficient ADC ones. For. Fucking. Free.”  

Ms. Cotta-Arc sighed, “You choose to do that!”  

"Actually that decision was mine, it’s not her fault. " Ms. Glade said. Ms. Glade turned the screen towards her. “I like to make sure my work lasts, Terra.”  

Xan smirked, nose up in the air. Ciel was legally and literally stuck with this asshole. She knows that every move is calculated, Xan purposely tilted her head to make sure the light caught against the sharp edges of her open ‘halo.’ It looked sharper than the business woman’s horns.  

"Hear that? I’m innocent."  

“I question your intelligence if you can’t understand that your part of the problem.” Ciel said. Xan scowled, glaring down at her. The only thing bigger than her teammates IQ were their ego’s. Any doubt in their superiority sets them off, though from observation it does not hinder their performance.  

Xan’s eyes flickered between her and Ms. Polendina… Then she smirked. Ciel’s heart dropped, guilt feeling cold in her chest.  

“And thanks to Ms. Polendina, seems like your date will be pushed back even further- Ow!” Xan flinched, her Aura flaring as Ms. Glade slapped the back of her head and took the Scroll from her hands. Penny’s partner gave her an apologetic look… not that she seen it. Penny’s eyes pinched a little, no tears coming forward even if she did look torn. Ms. Glade withdrew.  

“The journalist is driving me insane and we still got a job to do in Vale with the Dust Robberies,” Ms. Glade explained, without all that bullshit flowery business talk. Ms. Cotta-Arc was not moved. Nine seconds passed and every tick the technician’s blood pressure climbed. “I’ll tip everyone twice their monthly wage if you do finish the current task and run the usual maintenance on the hard-light barrier and the mech.”  

The video call went silent. Ms. Cotta-Arc looking greatly conflicted. Ciel would have taken that offer in a heart beat.  

Then Ms. Cotta-Arc seemed to remember who Aurora Glade and Ashley Xanthic was. The world famous weaponsmith who ran a Dust Company that rivaled the SDC and a hacker who was able to infiltrate the most secure research facility in Atlas just to prove she can.  

“Payment up front.” Ms. Cotta-Arc said. “And if anything goes wrong-”  

" Then it’ll be Specialist Cordovin’s fault telling us to proceed as needed," Xanthic said. “Bitch is only out here cuz she’s annoying anyway.”  

“Fine, deal. Brothers, Saph is gonna kill me…” Ms. Cotta-Arc muttered as she ended the call. Xan grabbed the phone and pocked it.  

“See? Everyone’s happy.” The business women said. Without her semblance that normally charming smile was weak. Ciel and Xan scoffed though Ms. Polendina’s angry huff was louder. Ms. Glade sighed a little in defeat and guilt. “They got paid double their monthly wage for just three extra jobs. The further we get from Atlas, the less people. I promise it isn’t as bad in Vale… I’ll- I’ll finally be able to show you around.”  

Penny looked her partner in the eyes. Sea-green and un-Focused. Penny only sighed and turned around walking to the cockpit, “I’ll start the lift off procedures. Specialist Cordovin will want answers on why we are leaving Argus air space… and your good at talking.” Ms. Glade flinched, Faunus ears twitching low and her honest sea-green eyes looking guilty.  

Xan only laughed and sneered, “Ouch.”

[boyslaughplus]

Devlog #39 - Teal's Art Pt.1 - A Dark Place

Okay lovely people, this blog had a little summer break but we’re back with content! (ﾉﾟ▽ﾟ)ﾉ Actually with a little back log of content. In this post Pectin shows how he worked on a painting!

Our last devlog on tumblr was #36. We’re jumping over #37 and #38 and get right to #39 ‘cause #37 & #38 were announcements that aren’t relevant anymore. (They are on our homepage tho. We always cry about them on twitter first!).

This devlog has been written by @pekuchin on one specific artwork that appears in  //TODO: today. More from him now: “Now that introductions are made, a few notes: First, the artwork I'm discussing has been created in July 2017. So there're minor details I'm not sure of anymore - like brush settings. Second, I used Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop (only the default round brushes).  And third, I hope you can take something away from this and enjoy the read. <3

What for?

Like every asset I make for any project I have to be sure of the context in which it'll be used or appear. I've revealed before that this piece was supposed to be shown in the game as "Teal's art"

It appears to represent Teal's artistic style

and the player will see four stages of the picture as they're involved in the making of it.

In the story, Teal would make this piece for a competition hosted by the fictional games company "Naughty Cat". The competition asked artists to draw anything related to "Titan Watch Online", a MMORPG Teal loves to play:

The setting is a dystopian future

and characters have classes and skills reminiscent of popular fantasy MMORPGs.

Teal plays as a character that combines elements of a rogue and a healer.

All of these points are on my checklist of what we needed of  the artwork in the game.

Expressing Teal's Mind

Based on my assumption that experience, personality and mood shape the artstyle, I thought about what kind of artstyle Teal would have. Because Teal already has been an artist in their past, I thought it sensible that they had a good grasp of basics like colours/light, composition and contrasts, etc.. So I focused on the workflow and visual expressions they would use. Here I browsed for artists and their work online to find inspiration too. While I had the checklist I also came up with new ideas as I tried things out on the canvas.

Stage One

Teal wasn't at peace with themself back then. So the motif of inner conflict came to me. We also concluded that Teal would most likely paint their own avatar. Like I mentioned before the character was kind of a healer and rogue hybrid.

I struggled to find a cool pose and ended up having the main character of the illustration sit as if to heal a wounded ally. To make it more interesting I gave him a dagger. Like this, it's unclear if the character hurt the other or helps them. I liked this ambiguity in relation to Teal's situation. This sketch was done in Clip Studio Paint because I like making anything line-related in CSP best.

Stage Two

Here I switched to Photoshop and began putting colours on top a black canvas. I got a feeling of how I wanted the lighting to be at this stage as well.

Although Joyce helped Teal pick up the pen again, Teal was basically depressed at that point in the story so they likely felt more comfortable using darker colours and motifs. I chose this for the symbolical meanings of darkness and the related emotions as well. Also I don't want to generalize and believe that depression comes in all kinds of colours. (ﾉ~o~)ﾉ

To keep myself from getting lost in details I decided to paint everything on one layer and only duplicated the layer to document the progress.

Stage Three

The ugly phase. Every painting I do has an ugly phase which immediately occurs after I seriously start messing around. ( ･ิ,_ゝ･ิ) This one isn't in the game as an asset and I'm glad for it. The number of pieces that appeared in the game depended on the instances in //TODO: today when Teal actually sat down to paint. And back then we considered having 5 instances but settled on 4 in the end.

I was pretty proud of the background, which was intended to be a dark back alley but accidentally turned into a roadside at night. :'3 Because everything was on one layer, I finished the background first before I began painting the character "on top".

Stage Four

From stage three I really got into "the zone" while shaping out the characters. Because I mostly work with lines and flat colours, I noticed how "3 dimensional" painting feels to me. It's quite fun! (ノ゜▽゜)

Back when I did the character concept designs for Teal I also imagined them to be kind of sloppy. Hence an artstyle without immaculately drawn lines, but blocky shapes where you can still see the paint strokes would fit. (I was also under time-pressure and didn't want to over-complicate things.)

At this point one could declare the painting as finished. So after the player bothered to sit down with Teal and Joyce to work on the Naughty Cat competition artwork they would be rewarded with this illustration (which was hopefully satisfying for your eyes).

Stage Five

And for the really motivated artists who went a step further this one was the glammed up version of the preliminary stage. The last 10-5% that make the illustration a bit more eye-catching. Here I played around with "Overlay" layers to balance the composition, shift the focus on the readability of painting (character > long arm > healing hand > unconscious person), added some magenta blood and added Teal's official artist signature.

I thought it would be interesting for the avatar to have some kind of resemblance to Teal. Did you spot the similarities? (^0^)

Altogether I did the painting on two evenings. And I believe in three sessions, which is my usual way to go when I don't have time for more breaks.

1st Session: OKAY imma do the art!! And I only need to make 3 sketches this time...promise! 2nd Session: OH GODS it so ugly. I have to stand up and walk away to give my eyes a break from this thing I created. 3rd Session: I've returned to my ugly child with new insights into live and fresh eyes that actually spot mistakes! Time to fix things up!

And that's all of it today. I hope you liked the extra info on my work and have a nice [week]! (๑ ́ᄇ`๑)”

This devlog was originally posted on the 13th June 2019 :3

[dark-sarya]

i have the Vergil motivation to start doing digital drawing. But its kinda intimidating. I mean I've always done things traditionally and I do know how to make designs on Adobe software but not drawing. I was wondering if you have a software that you prefer or would recommend; or just tips in general.

Hello anon! how are you doing? :D

Thank you for asking, I’m not en expert, but I’ll try to help you as much as possible :D. Also, bear in mind that english is not my mother tongue, so there may be some mistakes (ans I’m also a idiot who types really fast without re-reading xDD).

First of all, I assume that you own a graphic tablet, this tool is essentioal for digital art, as they have pen pressure and helps a lot to create unique effects! The brands I’ve seen people recommending the most latelly are Wacom and Huion. I can only give you my opinion about the first one though, I’ve owned a Wacom Intuos 4 for over 6 years and it has never failed me ♥ not even when I accidentally threw the pen inside my tea xD.

Now, speaking about software, I have tried 3: Paint Tool Sai (1 and 2), Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop. Each one has their pros and cons, and you also have to bear in mind what your computer can handle.

1. Paint Tool Sai:

 This is the one that I use and like the most, the interface it’s quite simple and the only thing that may cause you trouble may be the brushes settings, but once you have created you own ones, the only preset you’d probably need to change is density.

This software comes with a pen stabilizer, which is very handy if you do linework, I always set mine to S-3 so it’s easier to get more accurate and less “crispy” lines, you may also notice that the pressure works a bit different, like it’s a bit more sharp. 

For colouring I always set my flats with selections and the bucket tools, and then I add layers for shadows ans highlights. I always start with flat shadows and blend them using both the Brush and the Water tool. I may share my brushes presets for Sai 2 if you like. This software also includes a “transparent” color, which is really useful when you need to fix some blended areas or softly remove part of the colour.

I have used bot Paint Tool Sai 1 and Paint Tool Sai 2, I have noticed that in the second version brushes work a bit different, specially when it comes to using the transparent color. But Sai 2 comes with many enhacements which makes it more enjoyable, thing such as:

Elipse Rulers

Linear Rulers

Perspective Rulers (they work wonders even if you know 0 about perspective)

Text

Shapes

Gradients

Better compatibility with Photoshop’s layers

It seems that Sai 2 is going to be on Beta forever, but you can still download (illegally, lol) and use it, It’s my fave one, so I really recommend this one.

If you want to see more about its interface, I highly recommend you to take a look to my youtube channel, I tend to upload there some of my drawings speedpaints, I hope they can help you to understand hot it works.

2. Clip Studio Paint

I haven’t used this one that much, I only made my first V drawing with it, as well as some headshots for practicing.

This also comes with a pen stabilizer, but I noticed it didn’t worked the same way as Sai’s, it took me a while to get a level of hardness that I liked. The good thing is that it comes with a wide variety of pens, and I really recommend G-pen when it comes to making linearts, it has a nice and sharp finishing.

It also comes with poseable 3D models to use as references, I don’t really like to use them as they have anime-ish proportions and such, but some people may find them handy I guess. CSP also has a wide variety of resources such as premade images (grass, dust, floers, manga panels, halftones…) so this one may be a good option if you also plan to create comics and such.

If you are going for the paid version, you also get access to a marketplace in which people uploads their resources, and you may find some interesting ones there for free.

CSP also has rulers and perspective tools as far as I remember, but I haven’t tried the new ones (this software used to be called Manga Studio, and that was the first time I used it xD).

You can see me struggling with it in this video.

3. Photoshop

I think this is the one that everyone knows the most, right? xD. Though the use of Photoshop has been widely spreaded, we have to keep in mind that this software is very heavy to handle for some cumputers, you’ll probably need over 8GB of RAM memory (I have 16 GB and it still crashes some times) to make it run “properly”. I am isung CC 2015, since I don’t have enough space in my HD for CC 2019, and I would probably need an SSD to make it work smoothly.

I find it really difficult to do linework with Photoshop, it doesn’t have a pen stabilizer (unless you pay for the lazy nezumi plug-in), so the pen usualy “slips” more, I don’t really know how to call this, but I don’t like the feeling I get when I do linework with it. On the other hand, I find it really funny to sketch with it, don’t ask me why xD.

When it comes to colouting, you have to find the brushes that appeal to your style the most, and it’s also really easy to make your own, you can also make patterns and such. Bad thing that you have to use the sampler a lot, in the end you have to use 3465654 tools to blend properly in photoshop, when in either Sai or CSP you only need two, and this is depending on your style.

I have seen many people doing wonders with realist style in PS (you may take a look to @i-have-no-name-v‘s works, they are awesome!) though!

Other thing I don’t like about PS is their color wheel…It works totally different to Sai’s or CSP’s, and most of the times I find it hard to pick the tone I really need. You may also need a plug in tho swap your color wheel too.

I like to use Photoshop when it comes to adding effects to a drawing, be it lightin, particles, color corrections, etc. It’s very handy for this, and it’s also a good thing that both Sai and CSP allow you to save in .psd format.

I hope this long post has been helpful to you or to anyone that needs it, as I said, I have no problem in sharing my Sai 2 brushes presets if you want, you can either reply here or send me another ask ;D

[spiffyworks]

Artist’s Software Surfing P1 - Sketching

SSSo recently, after finishing (an admittedly long-overdue) a piece, I decided to download a trial of the new Corel Painter 2019. I hadn’t used Painter since my old DeviantArt days (circa 2005) and wanted to see how it felt with more digital art-veteran hands. Loaded it up, started sketching my default doodle-muse and wow, that “Real 2B” pencil feels great. I loved it so much, and wondered why. 

That’s the story that is spawning this weird personal series of Software Surfing. I wanted to write little notes to future-me on how it felt using my favorite sketching tools in each program I have, and after the sixth one I thought it might be a good idea to check out inking, colouring, painting, etc. and writing those down as well.

So I’m writing this series for myself, but making it available in case anyone else can benefit as well. Thanks for sticking with the intro, let’s get into it.

Artist’s Software Surfing P1 - Sketching Artist’s Software Surfing P2 - Inking Artist’s Software Surfing P3 - Colouring Artist’s Software Surfing P4 - Painting

There are many ways to sketch, but this is specifically the classic “pencil” or “drawing” form using the tools with the program’s default settings.

As an introduction, this is my doodle-muse, Cloey. She was my first original character, and though I don’t usually share my anthro art on here (I know that’s not everyone’s thing) I do have a separate blog for that stuff that you can find here if you’re so inclined. If you’re familiar with Artgerm (and you should be), she’s basically my Pepper.

Corel Painter’s “Real 2B”:

The one that started it all. The pencil just GLIDES, and I’ve always loved when you can tilt a pencil tool and it will shade just like tilting a real-life pencil. The only thing I want from a program now is to be able to bind touch to blenders so I can use my finger to smudge-blend the scribbling. (I tried drawing that fist so many times /fume)

Likes: Tilt functionality, line width variance, stroke speed, eraser Dislikes: Rebinding Rotate Canvas tool was a pain. I like Shift+Space, and that key combo is reflected in the shortcut panel, but it just continued to pan. Never worked for me, and rotating or flipping the page quickly is crucial for my sketching process. Also sometimes if I quickly resize the eraser and mash it down to use, it won’t detect any input.

Photoshop, Kyle Webster’s “2B” & “Animator Pencil”: 

**Disclaimer** Firstly, I’ve used Photoshop for over 15 years now, and it’s a great digital art tool, but for drawing and painting I find it’s sorely lacking. It’s slow, expensive, and unintuitive. That being said, there are some things this program does exclusive to others so I’m still clinging to it (desperately) and while I would definitely recommend something else for budding digital artists, I have to supplement my misgivings by purchasing additional plugins and tools, such as the famed Kyle T Webster’s Ultimate Megapack for Photoshop (

which is now complementary with Photoshop CC, damnit

). Unless otherwise noted, all the brushes I use in Photoshop will be from that pack. **End Disclaimer**

Following off the heels of Corel, I remembered messing around with another “2B” (which btw is my personal favorite traditional pencil to sketch with) in Kyle Webster’s Drawing Box in Photoshop. It felt a bit similar, but with no tilt functionality and it really lacked the chunky-thickness (a scientific term) I enjoyed with Painter’s pencil. I switched to my favorite (and the favorite of MANY digital artists btw) his “Animator’s Pencil”. So chunky, but the ability to shade lightly... It’s really a fun brush to use for sketching digitally. Still one of my absolute favorites.

Animator Pencil Likes: Line width variance, texture fills in and scales perfectly Dislikes: It’s a photoshop exclusive, a program that for some reason you can’t bind shortcuts to whatever you please, takes forever to load, and WAY too often suffers input lag while drawing. Also no tilt shading, :’( aw

Paintstorm’s “Textured Pencil” & “Pencil Tilt”

As a bit of an aside, I love Paintstorm, Paintstorm is what got me back into digital drawing and painting after doing 3D and game design for 7 years. I bought it for the very low price of entry (2 licenses for $30) and was impressed by its ability to customize literally anything in the program. You can create your own tool/brush boxes, bind any shortcut to any key combination, and every single brush tool adjustment comes with the most customization control of any program I’ve come across since Photoshop set the bar way back in the day. Out of the box a lot of the basic brushes have that old OpenCanvas or PaintTool Sai feel, but more recently they’ve added some very textured default brushes you can play around with. It’s also hands-down the FASTEST program I’ve ever worked in. I highly recommend giving it a try, it’s great for learning and experimentation. I grew a lot working in Paintstorm.

The Textured Pencil is a fun sketching brush, you can get as think or thick as you’d want and it keeps a clean outline. The Pencil Tilt really blew my mind the first time I used it. YOU CAN SHADE! It was the first time I had ever seen a program do that. The tilt has a great texture, fantastic control, and gets just as dark as you’d need. I’d recommend using them both, the Textured Pencil for a cleaner sketch, and the Pencil Tilt for something more expressive or loose.

Krita’s Ink-Tilt & “Sketch”:

I’ll be honest, I have almost no experience in Krita despite having downloaded and given it a try back in 2014. It was a hell of a time to figure out how to rebind my usual shortcuts (flip horz, rotate canvas). I couldn’t even rebind colour grab/eyedropper. Yikes. I opened up the “Sketching” brush box and there were only two options, made worse as one was a sketch pen... That lacked the flexibility of ballpoint. 

First I grabbed the pencil dubbed “Sketch” and was bewildered why the size of the circle was so large compared to the mark it made. Very confusing. Feeling intimidated, I abandoned it immediately to try out the “ink_tilt” (which by the way there’s no tilt functionality??) and hated it. I reluctantly went back to the pencil and just started trying to make marks. Wow. It’s weird, but surprisingly fun. You have to be willing to relinquish a LOT of control, but the shapes the brush makes while moving and tilting during a stroke can yield some really interesting and suggestive shapes. I would say great for early concepting or making something really loose and expressive. Fun to play with, but not really practical.

Clip Studio Paint’s Real Pencil & Rough Pencil

I’ve been wholly immersed in CSP since I purchased the program back in late 2016. It goes on sale often, so you can pick up a nice fully featured program for ~$35. I’d had my eye on it for a while and still really want to get into self-publishing comics, so I picked it up, bought a couple of brush packs for it (it’s pretty lacking in default painting tools) and I’ve been illustrating in it ever since. The brush creation isn’t as fun as Paintstorm, but brushes are quite customizable. I usually like to use the “Rough Pencil” if I want just a little texture and line variance, or the “Darker Pencil” for something cleaner. Trying to be different, I just jotted out a couple heads in ones I don’t normally use, the Real Pencil and Design Pencil. The Real Pencil has a lot of texture, but for some reason in CSP the textures don’t seem to scale with the brush, so I tend to avoid using it in most cases. I hate the design pencil, I just could never get dark enough. I guess that’s probably the point, though.

Well, that definitely wraps this digest up. I feel refreshed after trying out a lot of new digital sketching brushes. I was really reminded of how much I enjoyed drawing in Paintstorm. I hope someone other than me found this useful or otherwise inspiring! Sometimes, especially if you’re stuck in some art blockage, it’s a good idea to try something new, and for me digitally that’s hopping programs and trying new brushes.

I’m thinking about doing inks, colours, and painting at some point. Let me know if anyone’s interested in those! I’m planning on doing some for myself eventually, but I might expedite a post if anyone is interested. o/ Take it easy,  y’all.

Artist’s Software Surfing P1 - Sketching Artist’s Software Surfing P2 - Inking Artist’s Software Surfing P3 - Colouring Artist’s Software Surfing P4 - Painting

[kimsomoe]

https://soundcloud.com/kimsomoe/sets/it-wrote-itself-a-project-by-tholang-mahloko?ref=clipboard&p=a&c=1

IT WROTE ITSELF

A PROJECT BY THOLANG MAHLOKO

AHH

SOUNDS USED: FX- 001, PERC - 001, FX - 007, FERRO - 11v1 - 160, FERRO - 32V1 - 147, SCIFI AMBIENCE.

DIGITALLY COMPOSED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

WRITTEN AND ARRANGED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

KIMSOMOE

INTRODUCTION: MORNING PT1

EARLY MORNING BREATH CHANGING SEASONS TO HOURS

MORNING LIGHTS STRETCHS THE SHADOW, PEALED BACK AND DESOLVED REVEALING A NEW DAY

A SPACE AND MOMENT IN TIME WHEN THE RITUAL BEGINS

A CYCLE STARTS, THE FOUNDATIONS WIRED WITH YESTER YEARS MOMENTUM

IN THOUGHT, BEING, REACTION, EXISENCE

365 CHARACTERS: 24 PERSONALITIEES, 12 UNBREAKABLE HABBITS IN EACH INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER

A CYCLE OF 7 IN AN INFINITE EXPRSSION

THERE IS NO KNOWN LOOP ONLY FAMILIAR TEXTURES

IN SAND LIKE DREAMS WE CANNOT MAKE UP

WHAT HAPPENS WITH IN IS MICROSCOPIC

THE SUN THE LIGHT USED TO OBSERVE US FROM ABOVE

THE MOON ONY A REFLECTION OF THEIR ENVIRONMENT MEGASCOPIC TO OUR SENSATIONS

APEARENCE VERSUS REALITY WHEN REALITY IS NOT A CONSTRUCT OF WE

A WORLD OF PERMENET STRUCTURES AND REPLACEBLE LIVES

SECOND CLASS CITEZENS COMMERCIALIZED SLAVES OF EVERY COLOUR

COMMERCIALISED STUPIDITY,

YOU WILL NEVER EXIST IN A WORLD WHICH YOU HAVE NOT CREATED

BREWED

SOUNDS USED: DEMIJHN_006, 15 LITER VAT 003, VAT 006, BARRIQUE 011, 1000 LITER TANK007, DIATMITE FILTER 009, HHE05H (x2), WARM 808 216 TUNED.

INSTRUMENTS: BASS (N/A), VIOLA, VIOLIN, , KICK 004, KICK 008, SOFT PIANO x2, TRUMPET FIELDS: coast is clear 2 (LABS), INSERT 15.

DIGITALLY COMPOSED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

WRITTEN AND ARRANGED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

KIMSOMOE

INNER WORKINGS PT2

WHEN I LISTEN TO THIS TRACK I IMMEDIETLY START THINKING ABOUT INNER WORKINGS IN A CITY. HOW WE INTERACT, MORE ESPECILLY THE MACRO INNER WORKINGS, THE INVISIBLE DETAILS WHICH STEM FROM EACH INDIVIDUAL. THE SUBLE ELECTRICITY WHICH IS EVER PRESENT, EVENUALLY TTHE PEOPLE IN OUR DREAMS ARE KNOWN CHARACTERS AROUND US. THERE IS NO INVERSE, ONLY ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE. DO WE FUNCTION ON MISUNDERSTANDING? IS THE IDEA OF CURIOSITY OBSTRUCTED BY THE VERY THING WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND, THE INDIVIDUAL? WHEN ARE WE AND WHAT ARE WE REALLY DOING. THIS IS WHEN I BEGIN TO LAUGH AT MYSELF. THERE IS NO WAY ANYONE CAN TAKE THIS THING SERIOUSY, WHY WOULD NYONE PARTICIPATE? ANOTHER THOUGHT ARRISES AS I WRITE THIS, IT COULD BE POSSIBLE THAT THE WORLD IS MADE UP OF INDIVIDUALS WHO NEVER TRULLY PARTICIPATED. WE WERE ALL NOT PICKED AT SOME POINT. BUT I DIGRESS, THAT IS FOR COMEDY. ON A MORE SERIOUS NOTE, WE ARE ALL SCARED INDIVIUDALS EXPERIENCING THE SHCK TO TO EXISTENCE. NONE OF US HAVE LIVED TWICE TO EVER TELL THE STORY. PARTICIPATING WHILE BEING AWARE OF WHO THE IDEA CAME TO BE AND ALL THE POSSOBLE REASONS AND UNFINNISHED REASON TO ITS BEING. PLEASE HEAL AND GIVE YOURSELF TIME.

CORE

SOUNDS USED: 808 N/A

INSTRUMENTS: HI SHK2, CL OHH2, VB SHK1, DO K1, CSP SNR2, DHI SNR, CRP H, DSC H, KL H, UN HDJ BPL 03, 90'S DNnB PAD.

DIGITALLY COMPOSED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

WRITTEN AND ARRANGED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

KIMSOMOE

FORWARDS: PT3

SOUNDS USED: BAN K, SNP CLP, BNGO 3, CONGO 4, CONGO 7, TAB 2, REVOLVER BASS x2, REVOLVER WHISTLE x2, REVOLVER MANDOLIN x8, G VOCAL FX, F PACIFY, PHANTOM CHORD.

INSTRUMENTS: SOFT PIANO LABS x2, MOON GUITAR, TRUMPET, DRUMS.

DIGITALLY COMPOSED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

WRITTEN AND ARRANGED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

KIMSOMOE

INTRODUCTION PT4

What is the use of marketing purpose if your showing a billion images at once at an individual? There is no balance, the only curency witout waves is war and peace, a stagnant ocean with every creature dead preaching repetition and pardon. A teenage existence with an idea ploughed by media the first day it came to be, as a teenage shoot ever showerd by the static from electronic devices it stared and lost time to, lost pieces of sight, taste, scent, touch, hearing of sound and possible thought to. Self awereness contrasted with procrastinating. What a beautiful name given to the most vile thing we can do to ourselves. Procrastination is suicide, you do not get back the time you smeared all over the clock you have no idea came to be.

Life is the ability to participate in the most beautifuly and most RaRa (God in English) event ever to th etake place in any existence or possible existence, infinity. RaRa aware of itself, respectfuly with every being of my light through its light. This they call language is too part of the caurency with no wave. How many rules will you be taught about the language you based your survival on, a laguage and sound which is neither concered about you and never infinitly will, a language which changes the very ound of your inside voice, voice in dream, voice in being, including the voice which is. This is the most simple code ever write or ever though of which never was writen or even spoken, its a code which honestly does not go beyond the strucures of the sky, beyond that it is what every individual seeks, the truth, away from the fine detailed sigoggily manner, it is the light or idea we're all right about. Language is under developed to describe it. Each time an individual seeks a description of this the answer is to build and present what was built as thhe answer to their curiosity. The only language further there after is the laguage of building to communicate. A language equally as beautiful and necesary the building is the language of deconstruction.

HEAVY

SAMPLE USED: ANITA BAKER - LOVE YOU TO THE LETTER.

INSTRUMENTS: PERC 13, LOP SBR 4, DSC K, UN AFC OPH 05, UB KAT LAYER F #2, UN IL02 ASH IPI 16, UN SBR OTH 13, HI SHKR 5, WU RZA HAT 22#2.

DIGITALLY COMPOSED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

WRITTEN AND ARRANGED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

KIMSOMOE

LISTEN AND REMEBER: PT5

I HAVE THIS IDEA TO FILM A GENTLE WHO IVE SEEN AND WATCHED AS A CHILD WHEN MOVING TO KIMBELRLEY. THE GENTLE MAN PREACHES RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY WHERE INDIVIDUALS FREEELANCE WITHNO PAY AS INDIVIDUALS. A JOB TITLE WHICH BRINGS THE NOST REPULSIVE ANXIETY. MY DREAM WAS TO FILM HIM TALKING AND THEN EDITING THE FOOTAGE AS PART OF A PROJECT MAKING A SHORT FILM WITH THIS IDEA. I AM WRITING AND BUSY PUTTING TOGETHER THIS PROJECT. IT IS ITS WON DRIVER. I AM MEARLY THE VESSLE AND TOOL TO BE USED TO MAKE THIS COME TO LIFE.

HOPE

INSTRUMENTS: SOFT PIANO, STRINGS LONG, AMPLIFIED CELLO QUARTET, MOON GUITAR, DRUMS, TRUMPET.

DIGITALLY COMPOSED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

WRITTEN AND ARRANGED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

KIMSOMOE

NOPE: PT6

MY SIGHT IS NOT A MARKETING TOOL. MY TASTE IS NOT A BARGANING TOOL. MY FACE IS NOT A MEASURING TOOL. SIT DOWN AND BARE WITNESS THE POTRAIT NOT IN SCHOOL.

MY BREATHING THEY WANT IT.

MY FREDOM THEY WRITE IT. MY SYMPTOMS THEY SELL ME A LITTER OR BUCKE.

MY BODY I OWN IT THE COLTHING IS BONDAGE, EACH PIECE OF THEIR FABRIC IS PRISON FOR PROFIT. THE BLUE SKY HAS PATENTS. ADVERTS SCREEN WORDS, VERBAL CANCER PATIENCT. EACH ROCKET HIT THE MOON FLY A MIRROR SPACE SHIP.

ONIONS NEVER END, CARROT TOOTS KNOWN TO BEND. MONE GOT YOUR EYES OUT. EAGER WATCHING CLOWNS LIE. WE ONLY ETING SEED SPROUT.

ONLY BREATHING CLEAN NOW. DON'T FORGET TO BREATHE OUT. PERFECT THE BREATH IN. EACH DAY THE SKY IS NOT THE SAME, EACH MMENT THE SKY IS NOT THE SAME.S

JAMS

BONUS

DIGITALLY COMPOSED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

WRITTEN AND ARRANGED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

KIMSOMOE

DO NOT: PT7

DO NOT SUPPRESS MY THOUGHT. MY HAND ACCEPTS MY THOUGHTS. THE WORLD IS BURNING QUENCH THE THIRST ADD WATER STIR THE MELTING POTS. EXPRESS EXISTENCE KNOW THE PICTURE YOURSELF AS GOD.

KEEP THYSELF

INSTRUMENTS: SOFT PIANO, DRUMS,SLAP BASS, STRAT MUTE, PAD FIELD CHORUS, ATTACK TAP, ATTACK GLASS TAP, ATTACK BLIP, COLLIDER DESERT PING 01, ATTACK BLIP, COLLIDER DESERT PING 01, COLLIDER DESET RATTLE02, COLLIDER REVERSE BEEP , COLLIDER REVERSE RULER 02, FRATURE ABSTRACT 02, FRACTURE PERC 06, FRACTUE PERC10, ATTACK TAP 2, ATTACK GLASS TAP 03, ATTACK BLIP 03, COLLIDER DESSERT PING 01, COLLIDER DESSERT RATTLE 02, COLLIDER REVERSE BEEP 02, FRACTURE ABSTRACT 02 FRACTURE PERC, FRACTURE PEC 10.

DIGITALLY COMPOSED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

WRITTEN AND ARRANGED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

KIMSOMOE

CULTURE IS TOXI:C PT8

Cuture is toxic. What is it that an individual is able to achieve while being, in their own individuals mindset and by its own standards against itself and itself holesomely? What do i possess tha makes me worthy to even begin to think about describing what another individual is experiencing; in regards to existence. In this essay i will attempt to unpack my obsrvations from an individuals experience of existence.

Culture is the aquired abity of choosing to tolerate your enironment including everything with in the environment part of the same exisiting body, both aware and unaware in a condenced stucture which is forced to follow synthetic rules to everything it finds in this environment which it itself is forgine and alien to. everthought is a copy of its image in its minute scale throughout the infinite, using infiniy as a scale of measure. There is a specific presence which comes with structure, rutine, fixed form, conclusion, fear or control. It resembles a two-way mirror, your being feels the presence of others, you have aquired this skill and deveoped it your interire life and are presently developing it, infinity. This is when the human being functions below 30 percent of brain capacity. Everything around us is meant to affect and effect our minds and disrupt the natural flow of imagry in the mind. Existing in spaces filled with mixed races and energies, it is true that energy can be transfered thus proving that energy is different forms and states. Emotion can be translated to colour and sound; language as sound linked to the visual espect of reality as colour, the image we're seeing is a controlled mixes of colours, sounds, movments, vibrations and structured-confusion.

SOUL

INSTRUMENTS: SOFT PIANO, MODULAR PIANO, CHOIR, SOFT PIANO, STRINGS, SOFT PIANO, MOON GUITAR, AMPLIFIED CELLO QUARTET, LNG SHK1, ML SKR8, HI SHK3, BRW H, CID H1, CLN H3, BCK SNR, DR SNR, BEF K, BNC K, KICK 04.

DIGITALLY COMPOSED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

WRITTEN AND ARRANGED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

KIMSOMOE

Aristotle and Plato: PT9

Plato <conservitive teorist. use your brain

beter listen to your inner voice

''mortals think GODS are born like them, born etc''

''there is an eternal relm of ideas. Prorotypes, reflections of thing which we glance at here on earth''.

''we do not experience reality in the real world. only its dim shadow''.

''what was behind life. did it start with water or fire or other material. flesh?''

''ideal realities are perefect because it is imature and changing, objects wwe see around us are enfirior because the change. A perect object will not need to change because it was perfect. The heavenly bodies are not inferior, but they change in the same way...consistently''

nothing is more effective than practice.

writing in being

the language of being is silence while being. // a collection of data/ideas/information/exposure in a space of focus.eg art, sculoture, interactions, engeneering, designing, rain, illness ect.

it never ends.

You will never reach the tip of sight- Katvonte

you are between reality and system.

you are a transduce which updates and pgrades itself which silmutaiously reinvventing yourslf at th same pace you experienc ea nd explore a themomitor for self.

10:35: PT10

climbing the textures of sight

ladders of self, engineered experienced, thrgh sound pours, thoughts gasoing for air, the oxygen contaminated by language, transmitted in word, spoken in nibd remembered when clouds curse the body with thirst.

HE.i

< concept - twho vharacters, both are the same person. We one sleeps, the other wakes up.

Skin will shed

tightly closing eyelids darkened sight is future reference

blackest sky is frain clouds are watered floods are quencing

thirst a secondary espect tongues are taught to sound smooth

sounds prove proof water tight yet liquid penetrates bounds stood

skin will shed at times of rest

a hueman's colour information metermorphs

butterfly digitally menueverig to sweeter crops

crope circles, find earth, flat plane, suns left, smoke sight, feel hear, noise numb

i pricked scent

birth a preset, set of rules a throne to detect, deflower the petal it roots ground.

THANDI COMING HOME

SOUNDS USED: 23 TRO MLON C3 OOG

INSTRUMENTS: SOFT PIANO, CHOIR, STRINGS, APLIFIED CELLO QUARTET x2

(written on MUSESCORE)

DIGITALLY COMPOSED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

WRITTEN AND ARRANGED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

KIMSOMOE

INTRODUCTION PT11

Akama (2012) states that culture is“that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, society” (p. 91). Culture is passed on from generation to generation. The acquisition of culture is a result of the socialisation process. Explaining how culture is passed on as a generational heritage, Fafunwa (1974: 48) writes that: The child just grows into and within the cultural heritage of his people. He imbibes it. Culture, intraditional society, is not taught; it is caught. The child observes, imbibes and mimics the action of his elders and siblings. He watches the naming ceremonies, religious services, marriage rituals, funeral obsequies. He witnesses the coronation of a king or chief, the annual yam festival, the annual dance and acrobatic displays of guilds and age groups or his relations in the activities.

TIME IN HANDS

INSTRUMENTS: SOFT PIANO, STRINGS, CHOIR,GUITAR, GUITAR, OIEZO, SLAP BASS, , BL K.

DIGITALLY COMPOSED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

WRITTEN AND ARRANGED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

KIMSOMOE

DANGERS AND FEAR: PT11

What are you afraid of?

This is no way linked to fear or danger.I am afraid of not fulfilling my potential. I am afraid of seeing and experiencing, letting, everyone who believes in me, down and experiencing theing feeling after toward me. I nw realise that i am only incharge of my existence and what actions and choices i take/make. It is not i my power to change your mind. I am only there to provide my 'subjective'data and information so you want to react to it. i should not worry about what others react or how they react or anything tied to their reaction.

I now reatlise that i mostly fearded what others thought eg. what are you affraid when both parties are affraid, given that they have an equal expeience of existence. Staing calm alows one to slow their oppinions, environment, objects and subjects become clear and you are the force which directs the experience.

What makes you tick?

This is more evident that one should always kill internal and personal insecurieties. You only fold when you know the weak spot to be weak and you submit to yor oponent. ''Enemy'' is an emotive response and labe/classification you overwhelm yourself ith the energy of discovering weak spot in yourself and others coming to thst conclusion about yourself.

We are made in the image of God. if one creates an image after theirs that means we should be ourselves and perfect. Our Perfectness overwhelms our percieved imperfections. Nothing we do is imperfect, just does not suit our pallets.

The esiest way to build virtual reality is through a language.

TIRED

SOUNDS USED:

INSTRUMENTS: FG CUTTIN FUNK, WARM 8080808, DEP K, FK HAT 07, FK CLAP 03, SNARE DIAMOND TAPE, SAWER #2, PIANO BROKEN, ML SHK8, 7B, SHUFFLE, ORCH 1, SPACE BALLS, FIFOASLA, FILE 18.

DIGITALLY COMPOSED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

WRITTEN AND ARRANGED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

KIMSOMOE

SOUNDS HUMAN: PT12

Speaking language is the ability to understand sounds humans have designated subjectively as a collective to communicte by selectively assigning sounnd to emotion or feeling(feeling is not emootion, rather it is a descriotion of the osychological state an individual is in, influenced not only by the interaction within the moment but by their entire lives affect this moment furthermore the infkuences *external too* & choices add on to this perferct chaos of communication further more from life being one entire moments experience).

Emotions are subjective. in this existence we spend our entire lives barely able to communicte the idea of what we are thinking or how we percieve things. As individual why do we use only one languange? (Depending on where you are, i will use English in this regard) is the idea of laguage sso clouded that the us eof one language seems to be corret? I'll make an obsrvation: you as a person to boil a cup of tea for you with three seaspoons of sugar and no milk, the agree to your request bringing you a cup of tea, as you taste this tea, to your individuals perspective and eperirnce, this is nota two teaspoon cup of tea, it tastes like it has four. In sths short story what we should conceider are a few ideas anemly, the tea drinkers history and how she grew up and what two teaspoons of sugar is for her, through measurement or simply suggest that she had different spoon sizes growing up. This idea should be extended in also acknowlaging the perspective of the one who made the tea, their history and their personal undrstanding.

THE STORY BEHIND

BONUS.

DIGITALLY COMPOSED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

WRITTEN AND ARRANGED BY: THOLANG MAHLOKO

KIMSOMOE

What do you like?: PT13

purity - one should be transparnt beyond the barriers of the word, beyond the social bariers and current updates in modern day of the word and what individuals 9thriugh time0 set barriers to the word. This should not be confused with truth. Purity enables the individuals humanities be at an equilibriu and everything aligned to it.

thruth - '' including my enire existence, being, light, wisom, memeory, beyond, am not in ay different phases as i am now and will be later and in the future times we meet. Any shift and/or of phase, you will be updated.'' This topic should be the primary drive to existene and to the experience of life. Truth becomes, it is a part of what builds the force. No question, no doubt.

being - Ye. This is a state where one is. No internal factors are able to change thi state moreso, no external factors affect the individual.

focus - there are no barriers in the number of subjects or actions one needs to complete or brig to a state where you have completed what you need to do. Focus is the means to complete or do what needs to be done consostently. This is in no way appart of consistency.

consistency - The art of training the wills mind power to flowas you breathe, blink, digest, moveblood through your body, keep your electric megnatism flawlessly in pure pattern which is no pattern yet it flows. ''wate''.

understanding - In no way is this linked to submitting to anyone including to yourself. This is the ability to disect yourself, sift through yourself, better yourself and continue searching and eposing yourself to informtion.

know - mastering your environment is God. Your environment includes, self-knowledge, the awareness of life forms, the awareness of other knowledge and wisdom, mastering the unseen environment, the ability to put individuals in that mind frame.

action - This rukes out procrastination. This is applying and moving toard your goal or what ritual needs to be preformed to bring about this menifistation.

standing my gtound firmy - This includes the focus of all your likes ino oneself and applying this into the real world and the world percieved by individuals. This goes beyond anyones belief rather, the beief of truth.

afirm your ideas - Your ideas are an extention of yourself. Extended yourself and put life in it. Make in thr image of God.

the ability to see bryond people - ''the light in your eye is the space which your atoms have not connected''.

This is the ability to see the difference in force between oneself and the external environment which my existence has nothing t do with me. The abilitiy to anrticulate my history, ancistory and being. This helps exercise my future and affirms that the generaion will continue. Thishelps one understandtheir genetics and bility to procreate, exell, behave, diet, move, exposed to, how to conduct converstation and cntrol oneself.

cellphones are ment to silence you.