#this drawing isn't like. a reference to anything. just a cowboy guy is all

[blaiddraws]

had a bit of a hankerin' to draw a cowboy

[karoochui]

What im hearing is:

Little crow feet outside my window bcs im feeding them- that’s besides the point!

Is there magic??? His shovel looks magic and they look magic

And do give me every detail you are thinking of for the series even if its in the distant future or not that relevant but you want to share

Crows!! Cute!! Also sorry i didnt get to this sooner my laptop BROKE (still broken but usable) and my mom and i have been looking for someone to fix it. Ive been drawing with it sparingly to be careful.

YES there is magic. Of course im still working on this storywise but im getting characters designs n whatnot done right now. Dynamics n stuff. BUT i do have some refs i made before my laptop broke.

I like to draw out certain stuff so that it helps with descriptions in the future; i have the worst memory so it helps to be able to do so. (More beneath cut)

Im so excited for moon's shadow form. Oh my god. Its probably my favorite thing right now.

Fun thing about it is that in this form he can touch you but you cant touch him. Something something you can be cast in shadow but you cant take it off yk? He's still light sensitive like this though, so if the area hes in isn't dark enough or he's hit with anything too bright he just reverts back. At that point he'd just have to rely on normal hand to hand stuff and his sand lol. The shadow form is just better for sneaking and speed. Really, he's some amalgamative idea of the sandman and boogieman. I thought it fit well with his whole "naptime attendant gone wrong" thing.

Sun's design, however, is more like if you mixed a cowboy, wizard, and gravedigger together. I made it a while ago on a whim with no intention behind it but then i ended up thinking "ykw would be so awesome".

The hat dips to cover the crescent side of his face (not intentional on his part) to symbolize his resentment towards moon and how he basically damned him to an hourglass. His eyes are easier to see bc of this which could seem more trusting (eyes are the window to the soul or whatever), but the thing is thats not normal for him (as we know) so it's meant to make him look suspicious and looming to 4th wall viewers. There's also the fact that i just thought it was cool too.

He also doesn't get a second form. Moon's sneaky and weird so i thought it would fit to give him some freaky thing iykwim. Sun, however, is a pretty "in your face" kinda guy, so his look and fight style is more extravagant and boisterous. Lots of swinging amd yelling and boom bang zap! Despite the showiness he's actually a longer range fighter. Mainly because unlike moon, thousands of years ago, he wasn't often one to get violent with his hands. His weapon is just obnoxiously large too though.

They are still one animatronic and their transformation is still triggered by light. Instead of an AI chip though (which is still in there but long dead), they live through the work of a soul. They're still physically inorganic but as far as spiritually they're as close as they're gonna get to being human. Their life and functionailty is derived from the magic itself, not the machinery. Like if for some reason they lost all their magic they'd just drop dead from a battery life long since drained.

The hourglass has a carousel-like design to it purely as reference to moon's level in Help Wanted 2.

Sorry for rambling so much but this is what i've got for you so far! I have a general idea for the plot but im tryna to make it more than what it is rn, so i dont wanna share too much of that just yet in case i change or completely toss away an idea.

[liopleurodean]

Season 11, Episode 5: Thin Lizzie

Yeah, yeah, it's been a month, I know. But I'm back!

Also, this episode title is a reference to Thin Lizzy, known for The Boys Are Back In Town (which is fitting, considering my situation 😂)

...Ghostfacers fans?

Spooky

Uh...

Right

I'm watching for cold spots

Oh no

He's dead

Interesting

That's just weird

This is too easy

Dean...

It's no better than Dean's cowboy... thing

Ooh, good luck. The Wire has 5 seasons

Yikes

Poor guy

Sam...

Yikes

Ouch, Dean

Forty bucks isn't much

Well, that'll do it

Yeah

Dean, you have no leg to stand on

This is like 6x18 Frontierland but for Samgirls

That's perfume, Sam

That's so real of him

The rest of the place looks cool

Interesting

It's all over the place

Here we go

Of course there's merch

Spooky

What?

Interesting choice of camera

I think that's the most I've heard the EMF in the last, oh... six or so seasons

That would definitely screw up the EMF

Makes sense

What did you expect from a tourist trap?

Fair

The axe is gone

Poor girl

Sorry, man

Interesting

Dean's alias is Agent Gabriel, which means that "Agent Collins" refers to Phil Collins, both of which are members of the band Genesis. Collins is known for "In The Air Tonight," as well as the soundtracks for Disney's Tarzan and Brother Bear

Oh boy

And?

Sure

Baby's back!

Already?

How?

Poor kids

Yeah

No, the kid's okay

Whoa.

Fanatic

They said "superfan" on purpose

Also just regular photography

That doesn't surprise me

Right...

Dean.

You'd think she would want to cooperate

Oh, Sam knows

Whoa, hold up. Why does he have a drawing of the Mark?

What site???

It's extremely important

Amara.

Oh boy

That's concerning

Well, crap

Oh, he knows her, alright

Dude!

He'll believe just about anything

She's taking his soul

It's just like Soulless!Sam

Poor guy

Yeah...

Come on, Dean

There it is

It's possible

No, I don't think so

Dean..?

This is odd

Sam has the experience

He's really not

That's true

I like that theory

Liar

Ahhh

Len, please stop talking

I think they know

...hatching?

Well...

That's a horrible way to put it

Huh.

Whoa. Barbed wire

Uh oh

Spooky

Yay, a dark basement full of things that could kill you

Both of them?

Uh oh

The kid?

It was the babysitter???

What does that mean?

Amara?

He knows her a little too well

Interesting

This would be sweet if I didn't know better

So trust-fund kid was the first victim?

What was that?

Not even remotely

Whack

That's a loaded question

Oh, honey...

Right

Monologues

Somehow I doubt that

That tracks

Something like that

What?

Len!

He is not okay

Oh boy

Poor kid

OH MY GOSH

THE KID IS FINN WOLFHARD

This kid really gets around in the ghost TV industry. First Supernatural, then Stranger Things, then Ghostbusters

Yeah

That could work

Ouch

Egh...

A person without a soul

I don't like where this is going

Len...

I guess that works

That's what I was thinking

Yeah

It was freaky

I guess so

Yesss, I LOVE the slow shot of Baby with the season 1 music

Spooky

[mauesartetc]

Hey, what made you think that Vivziepop was stealing/copying other artists for Andrealphus's design?

I mean

It's weird that Viv gave human hair to a bird, and the fact that OG Andrealphus has nothing to do with ice is a massive red flag this guy's ripped off from Elsa.

This isn't the first suspicious design she's* churned out, either. Some o' y'all might remember this image from my Striker redesign post:

Notice these two villainous cowboys with tiny mustaches and nearly-identical eye and eyebrow shapes. They almost look traced, and unfortunately, that's nothing new for Viv.

*(EDIT 8/12/23: Fact check via erinfrostart in the comments: "Viv did not design Striker, one of her designers did. I watched Striker being designed, and as much as I’m no fan of Viv I can confirm he was designed before Long Gone Gulch premiered." Important clarification. Thanks! Others who worked on the show around this time are welcome to share their perspectives as well. I know how the situation appears to me as a viewer, but I'm sorry my phrasing laid blame where it wasn't deserved. I assumed malice where ignorance was the more likely reality. My bad. Now if someone has a convincing, non-theft explanation for Andrealphus, I'd be very curious to hear it.)

But wait, there's more.

It always struck me as odd that Fat Nuggets' original name was Wiggles, which is dangerously close to Waddles from Gravity Falls. And his design from the Addict video sports a ton of similarities. I went ahead and recolored Waddles for the hell of it, and uh...

Also note how Fat Nuggets’ snout is just Waddles’ snout upside down.

Y’all might be thinking "C'mon, Maue. That's a coincidence. How many possible ways are there for a person to design a cartoon pig, anyway?" Quite. A bit.

Look at all the variety in how different artists interpreted the same animal (ok, a warthog's not a domestic pig, but still a pig). This is likely due to their confidence and trust in their own visions, and willingness to draw from real-life inspirations rather than copy other animated productions. When an artist directly "borrows" from another's work, it leaves their own with a faded Xerox-of-a-Xerox quality. It's better to stay true to their own experience rather than mimic an experience manufactured by others.

When designs by two different people (or teams of people) working on completely different projects have as many similarities as Andrealphus has with Elsa, or Fat Nuggets has with Waddles, that’s no accident. That’s calculated. 

I’m sure Viv thinks what she’s doing is just an “homage” or some shit, but copyright holders won’t see it that way. Years ago, a client tasked me with designing a Willy Wonka parody character, so I whipped up a dude in my own style with similar hair and clothes. It was innocent enough; I wasn’t trying to rip off anything. I thought the design would help the audience tell it was a Wonka parody while still being its own thing. I thought that would work, but... My client relayed a blunt message from his lawyer basically saying “um NAH don’t fuckin’ use this”, so I changed up the colors and clothing style and it was fine after that.

If Viv continues to pull this shit in Hazbin and Helluva, she’ll find herself in legal trouble. Obviously there’s no such thing as a completely original idea, but this is just lazy. Fortunately, I’m sure at least Hazbin’s design team (less sure about Helluva’s since they let Andrealphus slip through the cracks) will filter out these bad habits and won’t be afraid to tell her “no” now and then. It’s for her own good.

 “But Maue”, you might be wondering, “How do we ‘stay true to our own experience’? How do we collect visual references for what we want to make without copying someone else’s design?” Well, this post’s long enough, so I’ll answer that in a subsequent entry. But here’s a hint:

Photos.

‘Til next time.

[tedturneriscrazy]

Here we are with part 2 of what I'm calling the Rebecca Rose Trilogy: Them's the Breaks, Kid!

RIP Beefy Boy (I did mean to type Bob, but I was so amused by the typo I decided to keep it)

That arm seems familiar...

NO (so true bestie)

I'd be hesitant to trust anything in that journal anymore, but some lead is better than nothing, I suppose

Oh, Luz...

King be all like "Do something, new mom!"

Eda said the magic word

Thought this was a cute shot

My mind really was primed for Eda to start rapping the Fresh Prince theme lmao

(Please no jokes about the Oscars, I'm so sick of that discourse)

Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Heart! Go Planet!

(Most of y'all won't get that reference. Fuck, I'm old)

Seems like Eda can afford to goof off, considering how well she has things down

Well isn't that interesting

This Faust fellow seems...intense

Young Bump!

Significant that Eda would push Lilith along so she avoided getting caught

Faust seems like the epitome of a D&D devil

A good face

Even detention pits need a treat every once in a while, I guess

(Also seems like Eda got in good with the pit to avoid some of the more...dire consequences)

I guess you'd call this a...Faustian bargain

This guy's a real piece of work, huh?

"That was a fun day" lmao

I guess Amity's not the only one with super grip strength

Huh, that seems...underwhelming

Oh, this bitch (affectionate/derogatory)

"Welcome to Heck" very clever

Terra is Dio levels of bastard and I love it

Huh, you'd think Belos wouldn't stand for hippies in the Boiling Isles /j

Ah, scarring people for life, classic

Ayyyy baby Raine!

(I'm 34, I'm allowed to say that because all 14 year olds might as well be babies to me)

I love how everyone was all like "OMG Eda's totally gonna punch Raine when they first meet!" and it's this

(Not that I'm complaining, it's quite cute)

Using sound waves to change the chemistry of the liquid? As someone with a degree in chemistry who minored in physics:

Between Illusions and Bard magic, seems the more liberal artsy schools of magic aren't given much respect

Teamwork montage!

No high fives, but apparently they did have fist bumps in the Demon Realm before Luz

I'd be remiss if I didn't include that screenshot

Also, Eda confirmed for catching feelings first

Okay yeah these two are cute together

Terra's gonna Terra, I guess

"Covens vs Wilds" really giving me a "Cowboys vs Indians" vibe (at least here the Yikes seems to be on purpose)

Eda and Raine being put on opposite sides was basically inevitable

"We're in HECK, people! Let's have some fun!"

No, Miss Snapdragon, you would not be a "good mum"

Ah, survival of the fittest and ideological indoctrination! Truly abhorrent!

This episode really highlighting the flaws of the American education system

"Somehow, they always have the best juice! And they don't share it with anyone!" This tickled me more than it should have

A valiant attempt, Bumpykins, but I don't know why you thought that would work

One on one showdown time?

Nah, complex impromptu choreography! (Where have we seen that before?)

"I especially like you, sprout!" NOPE DON'T CARE FOR THAT

Instead of "everyone's a winner," no one is!

I imagine even Faust won't fuck with Terra

And there's Raine transferred to Hexside! Glad their parents weren't too bothered

(The music is Eda's Requiem, btw)

Family shot❤

Lmao Luz's drawings are the best

Oh shit that whistle...

OH FUCK

Raine, you magnificent bastard!

And Darius is in on it, too?! I knew Keston John wouldn't let me down!

Draining spell? Everyone already figured that one out, but good to see confirmation

All this time Raine was protecting Eda...🥺

Now that was quite a twist! Seems like Raine had their wits about them this whole time! That was a genuinely brilliant turn.

The flashback stuff was nice and fluffy, too. Which was nice, because I'm honestly still not over Reaching Out. A breather is just what I needed.

I will say, though, I don't think I'm quite as into this one as everyone else seems to be? Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, and it was definitely good, I just couldn't connect with it as much for whatever reason. Perhaps I'll change my mind later, who knows.

Next up is Hollow Mind, which I imagine will have some revelations.