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artheresy · 2 months

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Part Two (Stellaron Hunters)

Like the last one with the Astral Express, I am listing my opinions on aspects of the HSR designs, including things I kinda dislike or at least would change about certain playable designs in HSR to help myself with planning some of my own designs/redesigns for future art!

And I am so excited to get onto three of my favorite designs in this game!! The Stellaron Hunters are my babies and I originally was going to include them in the AE part 1 post, but sadly exceeded some kind of limit on the post while rambling about both of the groups designs, so they get their own post! And y'know what if that gives me more room to talk about them, I am not upset!

Ofc, Disclaimer: I am not a professional character designer, I'm not saying any of my ideas for them are objectively better or improvements even, nor am I bashing any of these designs. This is just my opinion and I like most if not all of the playable designs at the moment! I just have a few thoughts regarding them.

The List part 2:

Silver Wolf: I really like her design, I think honestly the Stellaron Hunters (at least for the trio, still forming my thoughts on Sam's) are easily some of the best designed characters in HSR so far. I do think out of those three designs though, Silver Wolf might be the weakest? Not that it's bad ofc, as I just said I think they're some of the best designs, but alongside Kafka and Blade, it feels like there's more that could be done with her design. They went ham on having so many like "Haha look she's a gamer!" details on her outfit that it ends up a bit eye rolling when you keep seeing all the details. The buttons hanging from her belt, the controller garter, the pattern on the fabric hanging from her hip for no reason, the power button logos on her her belt in multiple places and the strap that hold her knife, and that's not even all of them. It's just a bit much. Yes, she's a gamer, we get that. It doesn't need to be sprinkled throughout her design this much, at least not in this way. Because the way they did it, admittedly looks a bit gimmicky since it's only visual details rather than anything more is the best way I can describe it. I would maybe give her a few more items in place of all of these little things. Give her a visible earpiece, or some other kind of hands off communication device. Give her more devices if you're gonna have her adorned with all these straps, make them useful. Though I have two (maybe three?) other bigger ideas that could either work for changing her up physically, either separately or somehow together in a design. I'm stuck between the idea of giving her comfier clothes, both to reflect her more laid back personality and also to fit more so with what she does, or giving her more of a tech wear influence in her design, especially considering PunkLorde is meant to be a cyberpunk themed place. I feel like there's a better way to reflect that influence in her design. Also I dunno about you, but when I think cyberpunk I think of Neons a bit. I’m not saying turn her whole color palette that, but I think in a few of the patterns or in little details adding tiny touches of neon would look cool and help make her pop out a bit. (Sorry this ended up rambling, when I actually draw my thoughts for her, it will come through cleaner and clearer. Overall, I really like her design still even if there's a lot of details I would preferably change.)

Kafka: Kafka is one of my favorite designs, I adore her, I adore the spider, the web, and even the butterfly motifs present in her design. Her color scheme has a sense of allure to it if that makes sense, well balanced throughout her from head to toe. If I were to change something, it would be to make her design more show-y, a little more over the top. As it stands, Himeko has a more ostentatious design than her. Which feels off to me. "Oh but she's going on missions, taking people out, and collecting Stellarons. Her practical design makes sense." Very true, but also these missions aren't merely just missions. They are performances, displays of acting according to Elio's scripts in order to obtain the results he needs for the future. Kafka, of the rest of the Stellaron Hunters we've seen so far, seems to be the one that best fits into the role of Elio's dramatic villain/anti-hero. I mean just compare her presence in the Luofu quest to like Blade also in the Luofu quests, or Sam in the Penacony ones. There is a difference in dramatics and performance. She beckons the audience's (and law enforcement's) eyes towards her, as she strings them along with her schemes and plans. She is made to be the one in the lime light, delivering monologues and putting on the best show for everybody. When we look at the few missions of the Stellaron Hunters we’ve seen so far, Kafka does fit the bill as the star of his show, his leading actor in the role of the antagonist. As such, I think Kafka could benefit from making her outfit a bit more dramatic, leaning into the role she plays even further. Especially when thinking about how playing up that dramatized version of herself would work with the facade she's hinted at putting up. I do adore it the way it is, I just think more could be done with it. Lean a bit harder in, and by nature of making her more over the top, that could lead to the potential for a more interesting silhouette depending on how it's handled. Maybe even some more elements to influence like making it more over the top could be inspired from the Kafka Stigmata in HI3rd

Blade: I can’t lie to y’all. I think his design is close to perfection. I think it’s so well done (even though the silhouette could use some work? Depending?), it’s absolutely packed with symbolism. However, aside from just some silhouette adjustments, something I would change is the emphasis of how injured he is. The injuries he feels every single day of his life, that can’t heal because of Jingliu essentially overriding the default state his body is trying to restore. It’s a big thing in his lore, so much so that it’s been mentioned multiple times including in a main companion quest and literally up front show to us face to face. That cg of him with the sword in his chest feels like somebody stuck a sword in mine every time I see it, I swear. But design wise, I feel like this point about him and his history doesn’t shine through as well, and it feels like the gravity of that time isn’t properly portrayed in his design. Like let me emphasize, Bailu’s words might suggest that the default state for some of his injuries is literally open and bleeding so... And you might think “Oh that’s funny, when he’s literally covered in bandages like his arm and chest.” Well, I’ll one up you by clarifying if you look up his jacket as he runs, you’ll see his model has bandages ALL the way down his torso!! But the thing is, this is covered by his jacket. We only see his hand bandaged and a little peek at his chest, but his face? Completely fine. The rest of his body? Perfectly covered not showing anything. If I could change his design just a bit, first off, I’m making his coat more tattered and broken. Yes he gets his coat replaced at times, but that doesn’t mean we need to always see it in pristine condition. He’s a fighter, making his coat have tears in it, leave the edges worn down, more fabric than just his red ribbons to be frayed at the ends. In those tears of his clothes, either show bandages (left up to you whether to be seen as fresh injuries covered waiting to heal or more wrapped remnants of Jingliu’s slashes) or scars on every single bit of skin that manages to peek out from that coat. And for some flavor, add some scars to his face however big or small. There’s no way I can believe Jingliu killed him hundreds of times and didn’t at least once go for a head shot. I bet that woman knows the extent of his healing like the back of her hand, I bet she could answer my question about how exactly Blade’s body would heal if his limbs were severed. If he has some part of himself not covered, it should have evidence that he was harmed there! Never let us forget that part of his lore! NEVER!!

(I promise I’m totally not insane about him, what ever could lead you to that conclusion?)

I want to say, I will eventually update this once we have more Sam lore, perhaps I’ll include Sam with the Penacony characters post to make it easier or I’ll just redo the Stellaron Hunters post and revise and revisit my ideas for these three! As it stands, I want to wait until we have more Sam lore and more things cleared up about them before I jump into talking about the armor design or things I know from leaks until it’s been confirmed or disproven so I can give better my thoughts about the design in relation to the character!! Please stay tuned, I can’t decide if I should go for Overworld Belobog first because I have more clear ideas (including a rant about one specific character) or if it’s best to go to Herta Space Station first in order to just go in order essentially. Who knows ! Well! I hole you enjoyed this, I adore the Stellaron Hunters and any time I am able to talk about them I am very happy :D

#basically to sum it up #kafka and blade’s designs need to lean in more to certain aspects #(the drama and the trauma)#and sw’s needs to ease up on the gimmick #but overall?#some of my favorite designs in the game #MWAH love them #okay im finishing this at 3:30 am and i need to sleep so ill schedule this for later #have a good day y’all <3 #the stelle redesign btw is cooking in my wips im just making notes about what i would change or explore #so i can start making concept arts for the different ideas i hav #after her will probably be either himeko or march bc im still thinking of ideas for dh #and once i have this post done i might be doing belobog next #which as a heads up #will feature one of the character design opinions I feel so strongly about that it inspired this whole series of posts #(spoiler alert: the belobog design is servals and youll understand what i mean when i say i feel strongly soon enough)#hsr #honkai star rail #hsr blade #hsr kafka #silver wolf #stellaron hunters

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escherbug · 1 year

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YEAR OF THE GRUB - PROJECT 2: WATERCOLOR

Date completed: 3/3/2023

Craft store trips: 0

I'm a person who really values control and polish in my work, so media where you have to "let go" of your vision for a piece because of the way it works really scares me!

Watercolor is like sticking my foot into those media for later because it's close enough to creative processes I'm already familiar with (pencil, pen and ink, marker, etc) but still has a lot of ground I've never even touched.

First, obviously, I started with sketches from reference and iterating on them until I got some shapes and looks I was satisfied with. My last project didn't quite capture the annulations in the way I'd hoped, and the legs were too long once I looked at reference again.

I ended up with two sketches to paint, one as a backup in case I totally fucked up the first one. It went okay, and I think I'll still paint and show the second one later with what I learned from painting this one, but I think I'll just do it on my own time rather than as a YotG post project.

Like I said, I'm not used to painting, so this part was a lot of guesswork. I started with a wash because I'd heard and seen that it's a good idea and sets the tone for your piece, but I don't think I understood well enough and will need to go back and learn more. I probably didn't even stretch the paper right, haha! I had a lot of problems with paint pooling in wrinkles.

I don't have a lot to say about how it went from here, but I probably should have done all my painting in consistent lighting. I think this coloration would be perfect for painting a pupa, but it's not at all the beautiful milky color of a grub. I rushed this a little out of my own impatience as well as running late yet again, but you know and I know that's not a big deal. I'll take the second grub a little slower and apply everything I've learned doing this one.

THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:

I need to go back and review some basics of watercolor, including how to treat the paper so I don't run into pooling problems.

I need to use better brushes. I ran into a lot of trouble with the cheapo Artist's Loft brushes shedding hairs into my watercolors and onto my piece, making it difficult to control some of my finer strokes and generally making the process feel less pleasant.

I should work looking at reference for more than just the sketching process. I felt like by now I understood what a grub looks like, but it turns out that I was still preoccupied with how I THOUGHT it should look than what the colors actually express as.

I need to work in consistent lighting. Watercolor is an iterative process that you need to come back to a bunch of times to lay down rich color layer by layer, and if the light changes you may accidentally make a color WAY too dark and be too far gone by the time you realize to fix it.

I really struggle with color, so practicing this can only help. I want to start learning to mix palettes from a more limited selection of paints for a more cohesive color story.

Next month (this month) I'm learning a completely new set of skills, which should be ok since I have a whole week off on my own to work on it. Hopefully I'll be back here at the end of March with my next project:

USING BLENDER TO CREATE A MODEL FOR 3D PRINTING

#year of the grub #i get excited about bugs #grub #escherbug art

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birdantlers · 2 years

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18 and 19 for the ask game por favor please

(I forgot to copy them but basically these asked your opinions on GT and super)

18. I have seen two episodes of GT, however I do know the general synopsis/arc plots.

My first exposure to gt was a bit tarnished because even though it made little sense to do so, Nick aired it like the WEEK after Kai ended. So GT came immediately after cell saga, which was so inconsistent and confusing to kid-me that I just didn't watch it after the premiere lol.

I get that Kai Final Chapters didn't exist at the time, but tbh I would have rather they just not aired GT at all. Because rather than just having the end of Kai hit me with the full force of a finale, I just thought the story was continuing seamlessly at the time. Also that meant I got gradually more bitter as they slowly stopped airing Kai in favor of GT haha.

First impressions aside though, GT does have some ideas that I like, and I do want to watch it in full someday. I also tuned in to watch the episode where Piccolo dies (bc I happened to catch the bumper for it woo) and I really like that scene. So much so that I still have a fully scripted pmv about it.

GT has a lot of irritating drawbacks like pacing, lack of conviction for a lot of stuff that happens, and very limited spotlight on the wider cast (why is Goku the mc again for fucksake please pass the torch already) but it does interest me.

Also trunks can rock a butch fit and thems facts ok. Gender envy

19. I have not seen Super. I've seen some of the movies, and I tried to read the manga recently, but reading dragonball is not as investing to me as watching it. I think it's a combination of my woeful attention span and just personal preference. That being said, I do know generally what happens. Just less so than GT

I'm gonna be honest, the visuals are the biggest biggest turnoff for me. It just doesn't look like dragon ball—or sound like it, for that matter. I know very well about the complications with production and the abuse the animators suffered, but that doesn't change the fact that when I see characters' busted faces and godawful proportions and bad color palette,, I just can't get invested. It literally takes me out of the moment. I'm glad that it gets better later on, but man it gives me like. DB uncanny valley lmao.

Also I must be honest, I'm just not super invested in what the story puts forward. I'm beyond tired of Goku and Vegeta-centric stuff even without having seen Super, and some story choices are made that make me roll my eyes. Gohan's characterization in particular, as well as the whole Mai debacle.

I do like the slightly more laid back slice-of-life tone, and seeing how close the characters have clearly grown over the years is really sweet. But when there's Frieza and alternate universes and gods and crushing power crawl and whatever else, I just.. don't care, man. I know it's a shonen, but I need more emotion in my stories than what I've come to understand DBS has.

OGDB's tone and scale is vastly different, so this isn't as much of an issue with that, but long about the middle of Buu saga, I really began to understand how vital it was to have a character like Gohan as a lens for the plot. Whether intentional or not, he brought a lot of emotion and very needed.. sort of somberness to DBZ. Imo, he was the emotional core of it. He wasn't the only one, but it's very clear that DBZ's objective was to show his maturation.

Even if Toriyama wanting to end DB at cell saga is a rumor, I still think Cell saga makes for the better ending because it's a completion of Gohan's arc that really hammers home the passage of time into a new age. Then Buu saga implies that it's going to keep going in that direction, only to backpedal and make it about Goku and Vegeta again.

Even though Vegeta's arc was wrapped up in Buu saga, that's kind of where my investment in his character ends. He's not a bad character, but from what I understand his arc in super is pretty derivative and almost a repetition. I'm sure Vegeta fans love it, but the simple fact is I'm not a Vegeta fan. Or at least, my enjoyment of the show isnt dependent on him. Or Goku—though I honestly think Goku has been underutilized if you can believe it. Specifically in terms of an emotional arc.

I really wish he and other characters would be given struggles, doubts, fears, conflict, etc that DON'T solely stem from fighting or an opponent or their strength or what-have-you. I really want more depth and introspection in DB (and it's there! I promise you it's there and you don't even have to break the show's vibe to portray it), but I'm not expecting anything much.

DB is stagnating Hard to me, which was part of why DBSSH was such a breath of fresh air..... Even though it still fumbled the ball with it's emotional throughlines but that's an Entirely different tangent too long for Tumblr tbh. It gave the more neglected characters a chance to breathe and have their own story, and it at least presented some ideas for some various character-driven emotional arcs,,, kind of. Maybe it was an accident bc idk it sure feels like it at times. But it at the very least gave me hope.

Dragon ball has to shake things up and get some fresh eyes on the ball if it's ever going to be as resonant as Z or ogdb imo. I desperately wish it would start taking itself more seriously and introduce more cerebral and challenging ideas, but afaik that's not what's been going on. So I have yet to get around to catching up on Super.

#ask #my writing #dbz #dbs #dragon ball super #skit yells

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saskiamcc · 5 months

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Shoot day 2 - One More Day

The second shoot day was a lot more relaxed for me - all the hard work was done yesterday :)

The first things on my list for today was to complete the notes Alfie gave me yesterday. Firstly, I added more newspaper to the wall, layering it more, creating more depth to the frame etc. I then focused on the cans scattered around the room. I had a few comments yesterday saying they looked a bit too perfectly placed - which I did agree with. I then suggested making a pyramid with some of the cans to highlight the characters' boredom in this situation, with other cans more scattered around the room. I liked this idea a lot more and it also provided more levels to the set. I had a lot more props brought to set such as dirty pillows and an extra sleeping bag, so I was able to add these and it made the set look a lot more complete. Additionally, I brought in a tool kit to place behind John - the character who has to fix the radio. We placed tools, nuts and bolts around the radio to make it seem like John had actually taken it apart. And finally, I had Vanessa (production design assistant) set up a game on the chess board (since she is much better at chess than I am haha), with the added objects on the board.

the set with the added props

My second job was to do costume checks with the actors. The night before the shoot, I texted both actors to remind them of things they needed to bring and they both pulled through and brought everything they had to add to their costumes. I honestly thought I did really well with these costumes and I think they set the tone for the film pretty well. I would have liked to find costume pieces for Robert's character John that fit the colour palette that I made, however with the time and budget we had, I had quite limited resources and it wasn't perfect. I would have liked him to have more earthy tones in his costume, and I did have a jumper which worked, however the bunker was colder than we anticipated and I opted for Robert to wear a jacket over the top. I was hoping that the jumper was going to be more visible, but due to the angles and movement, it wasn't as visible as I had hoped. I still think it does look good, I just wished I could have emphasised the character divide through their costumes more. I loved Ben's costume and was really proud that I was able to find pieces that complimented each other so well.

We started off mic'ing up the actors and blocking with them, I was present to ensure that none of the set was going to be in the way of the movements. As mentioned previously, I had already planned my set so that things were out of the way of the actors, but I am also well aware that things change so easily on sets, so I had to be prepared to improvise. Luckily, due to Alfie's good planning and communication, we came across no issues and there was nothing I had to change.

prepping with the actors

I had to keep an eye on the cans throughout the shoot to make sure that none of them had any visible brands showing. Prior to shooting, I turned all of the cans to and branding away from facing the frame, so I just needed to ensure and also brief Robbie to keep an eye on this (for continuity).

After prep was finished we got on with shooting and the hard part of my job was basically over! I wanted to stay out of the way as much as possible so I sat with Finlay, Vanessa and our runner Saif and discussed the logistics of how we were going to do the "blood" splatter shot. India was really excited to be able to create the blood as I know they have an interest in gore and special effects make-up, so I left that in their hands. I was happy with the consistency, they mixed store-bought fake blood with different sauces to make it darker and less gooey. In preparation, I made 6 or 7 extra identical children's drawings so that India had enough tries of the shot to get it just right. At the end of the day, we got called in to help with this shot. I was stood behind the monitor, checking to see if the blood throw worked - i.e. if there was enough, if it splattered on the right spots and any continuity errors such as cleaning the blood off the wall after each try. I was also stood on hand with a hammer and a new drawing to quickly replace it to cut prep time for each take. We had to alter the way it was splattered on the paper a few times, and in hindsight it may have been better to us a paintbrush rather than India's hand, however we got a few takes which worked really well. The main issues we came across here was that on some takes, India's hand or shadow was visible, or at times, not enough blood landed on the paper.

Because we had some extra time, Alfie wanted to try a shot where Cam (played by Ben) is holding the radio which is dripping with John's blood. For this, Ben stood on a footstool holding the radio, while India dripped the blood off the corner of the radio. I held the stool to make sure it was stable for Ben to stand on and I think the shot we got looked really good!!

We finished the shoot on time and were able to pack away smoothly. I was really sad to have had to take down the set because I was really proud of all the work we put in. Because I have never had to work with a location that was basically a blank canvas, this project was a real challenge for me, however I had the best time doing it because I had a lot of freedom. There are a few things I will take away from this and I know the guys have been having conversations about making an extended version and I would love to have the chance to rebuild this set and add my improvements. Some things I would do to add improvements would be keeping some of that rubble we cleared at the beginning to add more character to the scene. Additionally, I would add more props around the floor to indicate more to the fact they have been in this bunker for as long as they have - such as more cans, maybe some bottles or empty drink cans. Not only is this the biggest project I've worked on when it came to production design, it was also a project where I was a HOD and had a crew to be a leader of. I am used to producing, so leadership roles are not new to me, but being in charge of one department is a new role I've had to adapt to and I would like to think I was very communicative and was a good leader. This project also allowed me to work with a bunch of new people and during our air breaks (and sitting in Duncan's car because it was too cold outside) we were all able to bond! I loved working on this film, the crew is amazing and I had a lot of fun!!

#third year #on setproduction #onemoredayproductiondesign

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taxolotl · 3 years

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expect me frequently popping in.

I LOVE YOUR ENDER DRAGON DREAM DESIGN!!! i also agree with the other anon lmao (old dream = ender dragon dream XD)! I love the design so much where tf do you get these ideas?!

also, tips for colouring?

-😘

thank you!!! honestly my brain just runs wild 24/7 LMAO it's constantly spitballing ideas and sometimes i'll draw some of them :]

and uhh colouring tips

i'm gonna be honest i never really know how to explain what i'm doing i just. do it? colouring is intuitive to me now but i'll try my best to explain some of my thought processes

- for environment work, colour dropping from a reference pic is a nice way to pick colours! it's also what i do unless i'm drawing a bkg without a ref, in which case i'll reason out what colours would be suitable for the bkg/atmosphere/mood i'm going for (which comes w lots of practice and observation!)

(by "reason out" i mean i'll consider what i want my outcome to be. do i want a cold/gloomy atmosphere? i'll use grayish and/or cool tones, like blues, greens, purples, desaturated reds. if i want something more warm, i'll stick to warmer browns, reds, yellows, etc. same thing goes for lighting too! light blues for cool light, deep yellows for warm lighting. all on an Add layer ofc :])

- don't limit yourself to Only using cool or warm tones though! (unless you're drawing w a specific colour palette or something haha) obv irl all sorts of colours are mixed together. natural observation is also a huge part of learning! sometimes i even like to just take photos of my life and colour drop random areas just to see how everything integrates together

also this is just a personal preference but since i like to draw w Vibrant colours, when picking a main shading colour i'll usually just pick a darker and more saturated colour than the base (i'll do this for skin, hair, clothing). but if you want cool shadows then pick something darker and less saturated than your base!

#i hope this made sense dgbdfkgdkgb i'm terrible at explaining but if anything here confuses u shoot me another ask and i'll do my best to #clear it up!#😘 anon my beloved #asks!#art advice

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shortnfantastic · 4 years

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I’m sure you get this a lot, but how to you balance the colors so well? Mine are blended but it doesn’t work too well, and the only other option I know is harshly lined shadows. Also, keep up the amazing work!

Hi, thank you so much for the support. 💕💕 I actually must confess I don’t get a lot of color asks. I struggle a lot with coloring tbh. It’s not really my forte, so I recommend looking into color theory. There’s this really nice video that explains this in depth and I thought it was a really good tutorial. 😊

youtube

If watching the video is too much I can give you some tips that work for me but please be aware the guy in the video knows more than I do, and you’d benefit more by watching it.

This is gonna get a bit long...

It really helps me using complimentary colours and working with palettes. Also using colours next to each other in the colour wheel can create a very harmony filled look.

The author of the video called this using analogous colours. I didn’t know what that was called but I’ve been using that technique for a while haha. So I think it works for me.

I’m not sure what software you’re using, but seeing the colours of your piece together can really help you see if the art will have harmony when you color it. For me it’s still a bit of trial and error. But I try to limit my pictures to a few colours and if I use a lot of colours I try to make sure there’s not more than 2 dominants.

In the pic below I used a very saturated yellow for things I wanted to stand out like the blanket then that would guide the viewer to deceit, with a kind of desaturated red for Roman because in the first panel he is the secondary. The bg is very desaturated too so it doesn’t become too overwhelming.

In the second panel yellow is more dominant than red in amount, but also it’s more desaturated. Because in this one, Roman’s eyes are the main thing that will guide the viewer to the door. They are the most saturated and will draw more attention. Everything else is kinda pale.

Also to unify both characters, the shade of Dee’s hair is leaning more towards a red tone while Ro’s is leaning more towards orange/yellow. It’s just something that can make your characters feel more harmonic with each other... if you give them little details from the other characters without overwhelming their palette.

Purple is also complimentary to yellow but it is minimal comparing it to the amount of yellow and red. Green is complimentary to red but is almost non existent here as it is only used for the plush eye. If you want to use tons of colours just make sure you’re not using them in the same amount and saturation in your pic or things can get a bit too much.

I also try to practice the contrast and saturation on values by using a limited color palette. And this kind of helped to understand what parts of your drawing will draw the most attention by using the few colours you have.

When it comes to coloring shadows, I like to use browns, blues, purples, dark reds on a multiply layer set to 30% opacity. I almost never do harsh shadows, cuz I’m not confident enough yet tbh. But I also like the softer look that not overly harsh shadows give the pic. One thing I’m very sceptical with is the use of pure black tinted grays to color your shadows, if you’re not careful, pure grays can make your pic look dirty.

This is one of my first digital pieces. It has a lot of issues but we’re going to ignore everything that’s not color related for the time being. First of all what I can see here is that there’s too much clashing. Every single one is very saturated, even the background, to the point it’s just too overwhelming.

Some of the shadows in the face are gray and as you can see they end up looking like dirt. The shadows on the clothes and the skin of the arms are also not working.

Instead of using a darker shade of every color I had I should have chosen a single color set it to multiply in a low opacity and use that to color my shadows.

My shading technique is far from perfect. It’s a bit improvised... that’s something I’m still working on improving. But anyways, here I really quickly used different colours on low opacity on a multiply layer for the shadow. On the third one I also used the eraser tool on low opacity for get rid of the harsh edges on the shadow on the arm.

They’re not perfect but they already look a lot more like shadows and not dirt. So I’ll take that as an improvement. 👌

Anyways I’m so sorry this turned into a sort of never ending tutorial thing. I’m not an expert in coloring at all, and there are a lot of people both here on tumblr and other platforms that talk about this subject extensively and offer better tips and help. But I hope this helped in some way!

Try to have fun and experiment different things! See what works for you and what you like in your pics.

Ps: as a final unrelated note that is a kid version of Vlad Masters from Danny phantom. Which means it’s been more than 10 years and I still haven’t outgrown the trend of making children out of my faves. I think that says something but I’m not sure what.

#short answers #lovely people #coloring tips #tutorial thing #i guess #also old dp art #long post

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northcarolinanative · 4 years

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𝙲𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 / 𝙲𝚑 𝟷𝟷

Chapter 11: Surprise

A/N: I know it’s been a hot minute since I posted a chapter. My bad. I also am trying to figure out my take on the season’s loose ends, which is hard because I have a lot of ideas, but have no idea how to execute them haha. Thank you all for the large amount of support, it means the world <3. As always Requests/ asks/ and DMs are open:)

Description: John B’s Sister comes home from staying with their mom, only to find out that her brother is missing and her dad was murdered. JJ may have just lost his best friend. Her and JJ have to figure out what to do and how to pick up the pieces.

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Pope quickly hurried JJ outside and down to the dock to cool off. I heard a small part of their conversation as they left. Pope told JJ that Rafe couldn't “Rot in a jail cell if he was dead.” That’s what I wanted. Rafe looked bad, and it served him right. He was a terrible person. He ran off my brother, and even his own sister to get away with his crimes.

“So you were going to the Country Club to look for a job?” Kie questioned. She began to pack up the first aid kit. Still standing beside me, but she didn’t look up in my direction.

“Yea” I swallowed, “Umm, I mean I’m gonna need money to keep things running over at the Chateau. I’d rather be here than back on the mainland. Mom has trips planned all summer, so it’s either on my own there or on my own here.” I finished with a sarcastic laugh.

I saw Kie’s expression soften. She walked around the desk that I was still sitting on. When she opened the drawer it screeched so loud that I felt my eyebrows scrunch together. “Sorry,” Kie said. She walked over and leaned against the wall in front of me facing the desk. “One of the Waitresses, Vannessa, quit this morning, so there’s an opening.” She paused and looked at me for a reaction. “And If you can handle those jerks at the Country Club summer after summer I’m pretty sure you can handle a few tourons.” She joked, causing both of us to laugh. “I know it doesn’t begin to make up for what I said the other day at the Chateau, but I am really sorry.”

I smiled in her direction, opening my arms. She made the short stride to the desk and we wrapped each other in our arms. We pulled away shortly after. “So what do you say? Wanna work at the infamous Wreck?” She smiled and winked in my direction.

“Yes, I’d love to.” I smiled. I knew her father wasn’t too fond of her friends, so I was hoping that he would be just as on board with this as Kie was.

“Okay, so I hate to do this to you but you’ll have to start pretty soon, the business has picked up since the ferry started running again. Follow me.” She said, leading us into a back room. “Here are two shirts, if you need more just let me know, and an apron and a book, you can leave those in the back room if you need to though.” We walked out into the dining room where Pope and JJ were standing by the door. “Got it?” Kie said with a smile.

“I think so,” I said looking at JJ who was poking at Pope, annoying him. I was glad Pope was able to calm JJ down from his short temper. I saw Kie look between JJ, who was now smiling like an idiot at me, and me, but she didn’t say anything. “So you’ll call when I get my first shift?” I questioned.

“Yes ma’am.” She faked a professional tone, causing both of us to laugh. “Should be in the next few days.”

“Alright. I’m gonna head home, today has been long enough, and its barley even the afternoon” I said rolling my eyes. “I just wanna relax now.” I gave Kie a sheepish smile and waved, walking over to the boys.

Pope seemed to get the memo as he waved to me. “Hope that cheek gets better, fighter.” He laughed before going to join Kie.

“JJ make sure she ices that” Kie yelled to the two if you. JJ just held up two fingers and jokingly saluted her as we walked out the door.

The short walk through the parking lot to my car was silent. Heavy, like everything, seemed to be these days. I tried to put my key in the door, but it was proving difficult. I had not realized how bad I was shaking until now. JJ noticed my hesitation before walking over to my side. I held my hand out in front of me, extending my fingers to see just how bad my hands were shaking. JJ reached up and grabbed my shaking hand in his. I looked up at him, scrunching my eyebrows together.

“Why don’t you let me drive? You’re still quite shaken up Y/N.” I just nodded and placed the keys in his open hand. A smile formed on his face as he handed me the white paper bag in his hand.

“What is this?” I asked. I didn’t see him holding it earlier.

“I may have snuck some food when Mr.C wasn’t looking.” He smiled, sending me a wink before nodding at the car. I walked around to the side and got in. I sat the warm food on my lap. The engine sputtered as it finally turned over and started up. JJ and I both laughed a little, relieved that it started.

Soft Reggae music filled the car, playing off the local radio station. The windows were rolled down, letting the salty air blow through the air. I looked over at JJ and the sun was hitting his face in a way that, not to be dramatic, looked angelic. At this moment things felt almost normal. It felt as if Rafe and Ward Cameron didn’t exist like John B would be waiting for us at the Chateau like Dad would be there with him. JJ pulled me from my quickly spiraling daydream, “I got you chicken tenders because I know you have the taste of a five year old.” He laughed.

“I prefer the term ‘sophisticated palette,’” I spoke in a fake posh accent, instantly regretting it. “I’m never doing that again,” I said as we both laughed. JJ and I crossed the bridge taking us back over to the cut. “Kie gave me a job at The Wreck,” I said.

JJ looked my way quickly before turning his eyes back toward the road. “So y’all made up or?” JJ trailed off. His limited knowledge of girls and their arguments showing.

I laughed softly before continuing. “Yes,” I paused. “Don’t get me wrong I am still upset that she wasn’t supportive from the beginning, but she did apologize.”

“I’m glad she did. Honestly, you bring out a soft side in her. I think I can count on one hand the number of times that I’ve heard of Kie apologize to anyone” JJ laughed.

“Did you tell Pope about last night?” I asked.

“Oh, I didn’t think that they would take it well.” He said a hand reaching up to scratch the back of his neck.

“Okay good. I was talking with Pope about how he was feeling, and I just don't want to give them a false sense of hope, ya know?” I looked out the window at the trees that lined the road.

“Give them a false sense of hope?” JJ questioned, but quickly laughed. “Right, you were talking about the map and John B.” His face turned bright red.

“Yes JJ,” I said smiling, realizing that he thought I was talking about the new dynamic forming between the two of us. . “I hope that you aren't running around kissing and telling JJ,” I said playfully pushing his shoulder.

“Oh don’t you worry princess. Your secret’s safe with me.” He said, causing us both to laugh again. His hand reached over to grab mine, which had managed to stop shaking significantly and giving it a reassuring squeeze. JJ had managed to help relax my mind by being his usual joking self. The rest of the short ride back to the Chateau returned to the soft music playing from the radio. JJ’s hand at some point had left mine and was now resting on my leg just above my knee, not that I was complaining.

When we arrived at the house JJ helped me carry in the food as we sat on the couch on the back porch, overlooking the water, while we ate. On the table in front of us sat our meals and the map from the night before. JJ and I were looking over it just to see if we could find any other potentials as promising as the cargo ship. We didn’t.

JJ finished his meal by pushing the last fry into his already full mouth. He chewed while tapping the line repeatedly. “This ship” He paused to swallow, “is it.”

I followed the line down the ship onto the edge of the page where it stopped, just as it moved across to the South Carolina Border. I grabbed the ship log. “It says here that the ship was making one stop in Nassau.” I looked over at JJ, who had leaned back, kicking his feet up onto the table. “So what’s next?” I questioned, leaning back into the worn couch.

“Me?” JJ pointed to his face, a shocked look on his face. “This is all on you Nancy Drew, I’m like scooby doo, here for comedic relief and treats.” His voice coated with sarcasm as he sent a wink in my direction.

“Well Scooby, you need to do something to earn your treats, don’t you? You don’t get rewarded for sitting there and being pretty.” I rolled my eyes.

JJ shifted closer to me on the couch. “So you think I’m pretty?” He laughed.

My face turned bright red. “Maybe? Don’t push it.”

“You look tired,” JJ said softly. He laid into me, resting against my chest, looking up at my face.

“Wow, I call you pretty and you call me tired. I don’t know if this is going to work buddy.” I let out a sarcastic laugh.

“You know what I mean Y/N.” He reached up with his hand, running the back of his fingers across the bruise and cut on my face, his eyes intense on the mark. He then moved to trace the now darkened bruise on my neck. I felt my breath hitch in my throat as he did. His eyes moved quickly to meet mine. We seemed locked in that position, looking into each other’s eyes. I felt like I was searching for something. I was always seeming to be searching for something. I saw his eye flick down to my mouth, where I subconsciously, licked my lips.

JJ took that as a cue to move forward. He pressed his lips against mine. The kiss was gentle at first, but quickly became more heated. He moved from his position. He used his legs to crawl on top of me, situating himself between my legs. One of his arms holding himself up, the other found its way to my waist. The intimacy of the moment only making things hotter. The kiss was becoming sloppier, as my hands found my way into JJ’s hair, messing it up. JJ’s mouth started to move. He started my chin and up my jaw towards my ear, opposite of the bruises. His other hand came up to cradle my face. His fingers hit right at the cut on my cheek. I pulled away with a faint ‘ouch’.

That was enough of JJ to stop completely and pull away. He moved to sit up, pulling me with him. “That was”

“Hot.” I finished for him, with a smile. I could feel that my face was hot and probably the color of a tomato.

He smiled at me, biting his now red and swollen lips. “You know, I’m really liking getting used to this.” He chuckled pointing between the two of us. “I’ll be right back.” He stated, before standing up and walking back into the chateau. I looked out over the water. The wind was a bit heavier today, causing the sound to be rougher than usual. The small waves were lapping against the shore, mixed with the soft rustle of the leaves, making a rather calming noise. I laid back down, feeling a wave of exhaustion run over me. I closed my eyes and let the feeling of relaxation take over.

I heard the porch door swing open, signaling that JJ had returned, but I kept my eyes closed. My eyes shot open, causing me to sit up when something cold landed on my face. I reach to grab it, finding JJ smiling and holding a bag of frozen peas. I gave him a questioning look.

“What Kie said that you need to ice your face?” He said, shrugging. JJ crawled back to my side. His head resting on my chest once again. He put the peas over my injured eye. “I also didn’t want to bother you too much. You should sleep” He said with a faint smile.

I nodded, letting my eyes close, one hand holding the peas to my eyes, the other mindlessly in JJ’s hair. I focused back on the sound of the waves, and the rustling leaves, or the way that JJ had pulled his arm around me bringing me closer, or the way that his hand was drawing small patterns on my back through my shirt. I felt myself beginning to drift off into sleep.

I was woken up to a loud banging noise. I jumped but felt JJ’s weight still on top of me. “JJ, Wha–.” My words quickly interrupted as JJ quickly put his hand over my mouth. I saw his eyes wide as he sunk further into the couch.

“We need to get out of here,” He said, in a voice so soft it was barely a whisper. “Follow me.” He slid off the couch, grabbing the keys off the table, staying low. He grabbed my hand, pulling me with him. I followed his actions.

A loud booming voice made me jump once again. “Surprise Maybank.” I heard a crash of something breaking inside. ”Payback time you little Bitch.”

I looked at JJ, with wide eyes and he cursed, trying to pull us off the porch. I heard doors opening and closing doors loudly in the house while banging on the wall. JJ was slowly pushing open the screen door so that it wouldn’t screech. He held it so it wouldn’t slam as we continued down the steps.

The loud male voice boomed again. “Went to see your old man Maybank.” I looked at JJ as his head snapped up to look at the house. JJ pushed me up against the house as the male figure exited through the back porch door. I looked at JJ, I could feel how wide my eyes were, but what scared me the most was the fear in JJ’s eyes. “Said you hadn’t been around in a few days. Thought you’d be here, I’d hate to go rough up your girl Kiara, or your boy Pope who tried to choke out Country Club.” I saw the man standing on the steps of the porch. I shot JJ a questioning glance at what the man had just said. He was short, but fairly muscular. He wore a bandana covering his lower half of his face, black curly hair falling around it. In his hand was a short barrel shotgun, one he obviously wasn’t afraid to use. JJ quickly pulled us around the corner of the house before the man could see us.

“JJ what the hell is going on?” I whisper. JJ just holds up a hand to silence me. He’s still standing in front of me, my back to the outside wall of the house. He moved to look over around the corner. I heard the door to the house shut again and I was being pulled toward the trees surrounding the house. I looked to the driveway catching a glimpse of the blue charger parked there before I was pulled by my hand to the woods by JJ.

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benmcm18 · 3 years

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Film Narrative 2 (March)

This will talk about all the March work i have done for Film Narrative 2.

Finalized the script

After many redrafts of our script “119! we have finally got a version of our script that we are happy with. Bonnie is the Writer of the group and she did a fantastic job creating a piece of work we are all really passionate about. We already had roles thought of however we solidified them shortly after handing in the script. We figured out our roles going forward and when we need to have our work done for each of the departments within the production. As I’m the cinematographer, I’m working on the Storyboard and Shot list.

My Work for the Fiction Project

Storyboard

I really enjoyed getting to do the storyboard. With no limit due to us not actually making the film, I was able to create shots I physically couldn’t do at the level I’m at, so it was a breath of fresh air. I spent a few days creating the storyboard and came up with about 40 different shots. Not only did I improve on my illustrations however it made me understand why filmmakers shoot for coverage. Instead of thinking of each individual shot and cut, I assume they just get the main coverage shots (Wide, OTS, etc.) and then get some insert shots that are crucial. Overall, that made me be more considerate of my time and work process.

Shot list

I didn’t have a template for the shot list (or I couldn’t find one) so I came up with my own trying to get as much information as physically possible. I’m realizing now that I forgot to put in a legend. Something Jack (Director) suggested I will remember this for next time as it would be very helpful to those who aren’t sure what the abbreviations mean. A stupid mistake on my part.

Lighting plan

The lighting plan was interesting. We wanted to have a major contrast in lighting when the twist in our fiction project happened. So we were going for a very dark, gritty noir look when the audience believe it is a police station and then when the twist is revealed, the whole colour palette changes and so does the lighting becoming more high key than low. I looked at film inspirations for colour palettes (I’ll let you see which films you can spot in the images below :) )

Editing sequence breakdown

Introduction

We additionally, got to work on an edit for class. It was a short hospital scene in the film Lethe. Overall, I’m very happy with my edit I took advice from my group and went away to great an edit we were proud of. In the end, we created a total of three edits. I believe I create two different drafts of the edit.

Edit One

The response to my first edit was a lot better than I anticipated. In previous short films, I’ve done whilst there are numerous problems with everything I was always told that my editing isn’t the best. So I went off and did research and practiced on my editing skills taking up jobs on websites like Fiverr and editing people’s YouTube videos just to practice, However, what I realized when editing this short scene that it wasn’t necessarily wrong with my editing (There are things wrong though haha) it was how I prepared my footage for the edit. Rushing takes, making them shorter for actor and not looking at my script which in turn lead to many continuity mistakes.

The Lethe footage was of the full scene from several different angles and it was a joy to edit. I’ve never had so much freedom.

I’m going to go over some main parts of my edit.

(Opening vision) Inspired by one of my favourite shows “Attack on Titan” in the first opening of the show we see a dream sequence from the main protagonist who wakes up in a frantic panic. I didn’t initially think of using this idea. I knew I wanted to do something in that expressionist style however wasn’t sure how. So I researched and came across the shows opening. The reception to the opening sequence has gone well. The majority of people really like it and wanted to know how to do it. (I’ll describe in a moment xoxo) Some suggested it be toned down a tad. I can completely understand why they would want this and whilst I am already really happy with it I know it can be improved.

(How to do the opening edit) I used Premiere Pro to edit the footage. However, I believe this could be done on much less complicated editing software as it was mainly practical effects that sold the scene. The blurriness is all done through the camera (I believe this is through actually removing the lens to give it that distorted feel or possibly rubbing the lens in vaseline to make the image as smooth as possible (I am not the filmmaker however and these are just theories) Additionally, the editing is simply cutting on the beat of the heart scanner (which I found on YouTube) I also began rotating the image and zooming into to give a much more distorted feel. Then I boosted the grain slightly and then lowered the saturation to give it a washed-out look. The final shot was already slowed down however I took the audio into Audacity and added a low pass filter to make it sound muffled instead of slowed which i think came out good. Overall I’m really pleased with this edit and I can’t wait to make changes for the next draft.

I wanted to stick to mainly long takes and focus on the main protagonist. I recently watched Thunder Road and I was really inspired by Jim Cumming’s use of long takes as it grounded the film in reality so that is why I chose to cut a lot less than others. One idea was to focus more on the protagonist when the man (possibly Abe) sits down at her side. I have already shown so much of her and believe his performance is good however, most importantly I feel her dialogue wasn’t as important as his reaction so that’s why I chose to focus on “Abe” instead.

Towards the end of the scene, I foreshadowed many things from later in the script “The Watch” and “The Purse” reading the script I understood how important those items were in developing the story so I made sure to draw specific attention to them. I agree with the criticism that some of the insert shots last too long. So I’ve taken the initiative to shorten them.

Edit Two

Returning to the edit there were some things I wanted to change. Overall the reception of the original edit was good but there were crucial things that needed to be changed. There was an audio sync issue in one of the takes that when hearing about I had no clue what the teacher was talking about haha, but after checking it I think I fixed it. I hope I fixed it! Additionally, they asked me to tone down the opening shot which I did subtly. I’m very happy with it and the majority of people thought it was fine so when one person suggests I change it I’ll take it on board but I kept it closer to what I envisioned then dramatically reducing the effect. Furthermore, the shot of the wallet was too long so I shortened that and the shot of the watch was too short. I extended it but just to give some reasoning behind it, I have been watching a lot of Satoshi Kon, He is known for his unique style and editing. I wanted to see how short a shot I could cut for the audience to register. In hindsight I must have cut it too short haha!

youtube

My Teams work

Tom - He was the producer and the rock of the pre-production process. Whenever I was lost he was kind enough to give me a helping hand and his work on the Call sheets was fantastic. I believe we are working in the same group again for the independent project so I’m really excited about that (To be honest I could say that about everyone in this group haha)

Heather - Heather was the production designer, she was in charge of the mood boards and sketches. I’m really happy as well with her work the mood board is clear and concise I would have loved to see more of what she thought the scene looked like with sketches and her opinions on a colour palette but I think she thought we already had a clear enough idea.

Jack - The Director of the production. I’ve worked with him on loads of projects and he always seems to handle all the stuff given to him with ease. This production was no different I feel sorry for him not actually getting to direct the idea he came up with but I do think he enjoyed helming a great group.

Bonnie - I believe this is Bonnie’s first time writing. I don’t mean to say that as an insult because she did a fantastic job. She was passionate about her ideas, has a great grasp on entertaining dialogue and I just want to see more of what she writes.

Final thoughts

I think we created a solid piece of work. There are definitely flaws and obviously after seeing everyone else’s work you are going to think of things we could have done better. However, there is no point worrying about it now, I just have to make sure I implement it into the next project :) I had fun xoxo

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rontra · 4 years

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the picture turned out more elaborate than usual, so i didn’t write the variants on the image this time. but if anyone’s curious to know more about the art i just posted, here’s some stuff about it...

obviously, i made both of them accent with primarily red, since that’s kind of their thing. this isn’t really a big deal

cinder

this time, cinder is wearing a pretty regular hardanger.

i decided to limit the palette a bit and remove the green accents...also, a lot of the time, the pant legs will have little tassels, too. but i decided against it.

the men’s bunad shape is really straight up and down, which i really like. but the side effect is that it looks really big on them...(lol)

oh, and their eyepatch....i didn’t look up anything for it, so it’s not related to the hardanger costume at all. it’s kind of generically a rosemaling-esque shape to stay in line with the norwegian aesthetic.... :p

salem

for salem, i chose the winter variant of the hardanger (kvam) bunad...i thought the full sleeves would suit her! it’s a kind of more austere look that i really enjoyed drawing.

this is a little bit niche, but i suppose it’s a neat cultural context... please pay attention to these:

-medallion with chain on the chest -plain belt with silver plates -attached piece to the belt, also with jewelry

all of these details are very expensive traditionally associated with/worn by married women. (obviously, nowadays, things are a bit more lax, and married/unmarried women both do as they please, haha) i thought that would be a neat addition, to distinguish her from a hypothetical younger party ..... but i didn’t end up drawing anybody else wearing the skirt version, so.... well, in any case, i think it’s a neat touch, since she was a wife & mom, haha

the medallion with the chain is the Agnus Dei, traditionally given to the bride as a betrothal gift, to protect her and her prospective children from harm. although the one i drew is based on this agnus dei, i didn’t draw any design on it, but you’re free to imagine any lore-friendly sacrilege you want, i suppose ;)

oh, and she’s wearing a knife, which....i mean...i imagined cinder is too, but it’s out of view. the little knife is actually a recognized part of the traditional dress as well, for both men and women. the more you know!

#MISCELLANEOUS EXTRA INFO WITH MY ART??? FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE YES #there's more that i kinda left out bc i have to go to bed and it's not super important just...listen...#diesel culture indulgence #long post

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purplesurveys · 3 years

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1068

What internet browser do you use? Chrome. It’s what I’m used to, but I also think it looks the cleanest among the other available browsers.

What brand water do you drink? (Smart Water, Dasani, etc) I never reach for imported water brands like Evian because what is the point?? The local bottled water brands we have like Summit and Absolute work fine and already do a great job of quenching my thirst.

Do you have a job? Yes and I go back tomorrow and I’m cringing thinking about it. I love my job, but I wish it wasn’t so mercilessly hectic for 9 straight hours, 5 days a week. I like to think that I was hired right at the start of all the simultaneous Christmas campaigns of our clients which is why everything seemed busy; so I’m hoping the workload will start to die down a little bit now that all the holidays are over.

Are you full-time or part-time? Full-time.

Are you watching TV right now? Nope. I was watching on YouTube earlier, but I decided to focus on this.

Or are you listening to music? No. It’s silent here in the living room, just the way I want it to currently be.

Would you go to jail for 3 years for $1,000,000? I don’t think that’s enough money for a dare that big.

When's your birthday? April 21st.

Thoughts on kids? I’m a lot less idealistic about them now. I used to want kids with my only formula being “I’ll do the exact opposite of what my mom did with me.” but I realized it’s so much more complicated than that. Raising a kid/kids is a whole damn job in itself and I see that with how my cousins of the same age, but from different families, have been acting. My cousins from one family are really spoiled and entitled, and I can’t last in a room with them for more than a minute; but my cousins in another family are so ridiculously well-behaved I can’t even start to fathom how respectful and kind they are. That observation has scared me away from kids in the meantime, because I still have to figure out how to not fuck such a responsibility up.

Worst punishment you've ever received by your parents? The worst thing they ever did was take away my laptop privileges for an indefinite period when I was 11, when they caught me being a dumbass on social media and cursing all over the place. It’s a reasonable punishment per se, but that was also a time when the internet was starting to become a resource and requirement for homework and school projects; so my parents didn’t know how many things I failed to submit because they didn’t allow me on the internet.

Are you the type who is completely against abortion? I am pro-choice and pro-pregnant people should be allowed to make decisions about their own bodies. I don’t like the idea of abortion, but I’ve always believed people should have access to resources to learn more about it, to a healthy culture that embraces it as an option, and to actual facilities that will enable them to receive one if the need be.

Have you ever read a book that actually changed your outlook on life? No, I don’t think so. Not yet at least.

Does your favorite flower hold any meaning to you? Peonies don’t mean anything in particular. I just think they look pretty.

What would you do if your favorite animal became endangered? I can’t imagine dogs ever getting endangered, but hypothetically I’d be crushed. I’d do the same thing I would do with other endangered animals, which is to spread the word about their situation and what can be done to save them from getting even fewer in number.

Have you ever owned an expensive eyeshadow palette? No. I never cared for makeup. I’m turning 23 and still don’t feel the need to invest in it...should I be worried?

Do you own a tripod for your camera? We used to, but I have not seen it in a long time.

Are your nails always painted? They never are.

What's one thing you've had a toxic reaction to? A breakup. < This was true for me too, at least for a time. Another one would be the barbecue that my uncle bought for a family gathering once that was definitely contaminated with something...shit gave me food poisoning at 3 AM and made me think my half-naked self was going to die right then and there in the bathroom.

Which holiday is your favorite to decorate for? We only ever decorate for Christmas, so I guess it wins by default.

Were you popular in school? By the second half of high school I was hanging out with the popular groups and getting invited to popular kid things, but I never wanted to claim to be popular myself. I still liked letting my friends take the spotlight.

Are there any foods that often give you heartburn or indigestion? Is there something you intend to buy in the near future? Is anyone in your family artistically talented? What about musically? What cute behaviors or characteristics does/do your pet(s) have? What's the screensaver on your computer? Crossing these out as I believe this survey is a shuffle of questions from many different surveys...? and I have already answered these five in a past survey I recently finished.

What’s the sexiest thing about a guy? I don’t really care for guys, I think... I still haven’t made up my mind about them yet, but all I know is I definitely have not felt seriously attracted to any irl man my whole life.

What’s the sexiest thing about a girl? THIGHS

Who were you with at midnight on January 1, 2021? Who was the last person to send you a message on social media? ^ What qualities does this person have, that you appreciate? What was the last thing that caused you to scowl, or frown? Have you smiled at any point during the last hour? What was the last thing you consulted Google for? So, did anyone send you a "Happy New Year" message when midnight hit? When was the last time you were on a carousel? What is the closest you have ever been to an elephant? Have you ever played Halo? Have you ever read a National Geographic magazine? When was the last time you had a pillow fight? Name somebody who you think deserves more respect: In your own words, define what the word sexy means. What is the most popular tourist attraction where you live? Without looking - do you know what brand your underwear is? Are you any good at volleyball? Have you ever had a water balloon fight? Same situation as above. What an interesting order of questions, hehe. Still having fun with this though!

Do you think some babies are ugly? Newborns are super wrinkly and make the strangest facial expressions from time to time. That won’t stop me from cooing at them, though.

Don’t you miss Chuck E. Cheese? I’ve never been there. Is it like a standard birthday party events place for kids?

Do you think Fall Out Boy is gonna be a classic band, like Queen or AC/DC? In time, maybe.

Do you love stuff-crusted pizza? Yessssss.

Do you apply lotion after you bathe? I don’t, but I should probably pick it up as a habit seeing how dry my skin can get.

What’s your favorite color? Pastel pink. < Same!

Who did you have your most amazing kiss with? Gabie.

Has a YouTube video of yours ever gotten over 10,000 views? I’ve never even posted a video on YouTube.

Would you ever get a tattoo on your collar bone? Not my spot of choice, so maybe not.

Do you like Robert Frost poems? I’m only familiar with one and I’m having a little trouble remembering it rn haha.

Do you go to church every Sunday? We used to go to church, yeah; back when it was okay to. Our local church has allowed face-to-face masses again (but with very limited attendees) but my mom has preferred for us to stay home, so for the last few months we’ve been watching livestreams of Sunday mass every week.

Have you ever been in a relationship on-and-off for more than a year? I would say Gab and I were on-and-off, but it went on a lot longer than a year. The total time would amount to six years.

If you had to get famous for one of the following, which would you choose: music, acting, writing, modeling? Writing. Or modeling, if I could only pull it off.

What do you think of girls with huge boobs that don’t wear bras in public? I seriously don’t care. I skip out on bras all the time because I honestly personally don’t need them, and everyone should be allowed to feel and act the same way.

What is the last thing you tried on in a store? I never do this. Even before Covid, I’ve felt iffy about trying clothes that many others have already put on and were probably not washed 100% well. I’d rather get something, try it on at home, decide if it’s a good fit or not, and then return it ASAP if it ends up being the latter.

Is sleeping naked more comfortable than in clothes? My mom doesn’t knock so I’ve always been scared to try sleeping naked (and she also throws a fit if she catches me locking my door, which is like - then why did you even buy a doorknob with a lock??), but I definitely see the appeal.

Have you ever had a dream in which you were making out, or more, with someone? Yes for the more part lmao, but I don’t know if I’ve ever made out in a dream.

Do you feel as though you have a good memory, or are you forgetful at times? Do you feel that your short-term memory or long-term memory is better? Have you ever had a concussion or some other sort of brain injury before? Do you have any sort of mental illnesses or disorders? What do they involve? What’s the longest that your hair has ever been? How about the shortest? When is the last time that you got it cut? What are some ways that you style your hair? Do you use any sorts of products in it? Who was the last person to truly get on your nerves? What do you think caused you to feel that way?

Do you recycle? Is this through choice or do you live somewhere where it’s compulsory? Through choice. Waste management is sadly not much of a priority here, if at all.

Do you prefer plain, carbonated, or flavored water? Do you think you drink enough water throughout the day? I have never tried the latter two. Water has always been tasteless and plain to me, and I never understood the point of customizing something that’s meant to be tasteless and uncarbonated. There are days where I’m able to have several glasses and other days where I unconsciously skip out on water until dinner.

Have you ever needed to call the police, ambulance, or fire department? Fortunately I’ve never had to call any of these.

When was the last time you visited the library? What was the purpose of your visit? I wasssssss maybe having something printed? If it wasn’t that, I was probably returning a book.

Do you see a lot of wild animals where you live? Are any of them dangerous? None of that here, especially since I live in the city. A sighting of a wild animal outside of a zoo or eco-park would definitely make national news, like that time an ostrich was seen running around a private village many months ago.

Aside from when you were born, have you ever had to stay the night in the hospital? Yep, from a dengue scare that turned out to be just a simple low platelet count.

Have you ever experienced a panic attack? Yes, but they are extremely rare. The last time I had one was maybe two or three years ago. Unfortunately I think all my panic attacks were caused by and involved my mom.

Would you ever want to go into the medical profession? Was your answer different pre-COVID? For a time, when I was hating journalism in college, I was daydreaming about the idea of shifting to biology and making the drastic swerve to med school. But I knew a love of memorizing and biology topics won’t be enough for me to be successful in the medical field, so I quickly shot the idea down.

Where you live, are people paying attention to whatever restrictions are in place to help control COVID? Many? People are definitely following and have been obedient with protocol in different places. Some cities are also still strict with maintaining their checkpoints and banning tourists from entering their area just yet. It’s the government that hasn’t really been making the effort to put measures to contain the virus.

Do you get a real or artificial Christmas tree? Artificial. I don’t know if getting real trees for Christmas trees is a thing here.

What’s your favourite type/flavor of popcorn? Cheddar cheese.

Do you drink oat milk? Nopes. I’d like to try it just to say that I have (and I might end up loving it too), but I have yet to look up what foods or drinks it works best with.

Do you love thrifting? Sure, sometimes I get good finds from it.

Do you consider using only lowercase letters your aesthetic? Sometimes I’ll use it in a Powerpoint or a tweet, but I wouldn’t say it’s an aesthetic that defines me as a person.

Do you say “mood?” Too much.

Do you own fairy lights? No. I wanted those before, but I’m not so sure if I still do now.

Do you own glass straws because the metal ones kind of gross you out because you can’t tell if they are clean or not? I don’t own glass straws. Most places have changed their cups into a design that you can sip directly from, anyway.

Have you made a TikTok? No, don’t care.

Do you own airpods? No, but would like a pair.

Are you afraid of Mercury in retrograde? I really don’t care.

Do you make life choices based on astrology? No, I don’t believe in it. It scares me how much some people rely on it and use it as an actual moral compass or judgment system. It doesn’t harm anyone so I never actively speak out against astrology, but it scares me nonetheless.

How many pairs of converse shoes do you own? One pair. I used to own another one, but my mom threw it out several years ago.

Number of jeans in your closet: I would say like 10-12.

What accent do you have? Philippine English/Americanized Filipino, I guess.

Do you have a big butt? I’d say it’s decently-sized.

Do you count how long you and your gf/bf have been together? Yeah, before.

Have you graduated? Both high school and college, yup.

Rihanna or Lady GaGa? I like Rihanna’s music more, but I love Gaga’s outfits, concepts, and stage presence more. Do you use fake eyelashes? No. I had to use them twice, but I’d never seek them out on my own.

Which was the last book that really captivated you? It’s been a while since I encountered a book like this.

What makeup brands do you use? I don’t use makeup.

#survey #surveys

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nighttimepixels · 5 years

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Heyhey Night! I have a buncha questions after seeing all your animations and they're just so cool so! I hope this is ok!! Can u animate normally too, or only pixel? Not that that's bad, just wondering! What's ur preferred kinda animation? Do u prefer lipflaps or lipsyncs? What's the hardest part of the animation process?? What's ur favorite?? Any part u don't like? What's a thing people don't see that u put a lotta time into? Do u have a fave animation u've done? Thank u btw for all ur art!!

Oh stars, okay, yeah- I’m happy to answer all these!! I’ll break them up so it’s easier to read X) And awww geez thank you so much for your support, sweet anon! It really makes my day when people say they like anything I’ve made, and stars knows it’s all the more true with the sweet sweet time sink that is animation (´•̥̥̥\\ヮ\\•̥̥̥` )

I’ll also put this under a cut since it gets a bit long :)

Can u animate normally too, or only pixel?

This one cracks me up a little, don’t worry about it XD I totally can! In fact I enjoy it a lot - and... gods, animation software is a nightmare and a half, to be honest. That’s the biggest hurdle.

I do just straight up love pixel art and the aesthetic I can achieve with it, but I do at times miss ‘normal’ (non pixel?) animation, heh. Especially sound-syncing! I do all my pixel art in Asesprite which imo is the best pixel art program, not to mention made by an actual pixel artist - buuuut it doesn’t have a sound file option. Which makes sense! Er, frankly, most pixel artists wouldn’t... use it to animate like I do? More for games, or for looping gifs? So I can’t complain much, it makes a lot of sense that it’s a low dev priority.

Now, when it comes to other animation programs... I’ve tried a lot. Unfortunately, the ones that are preferable for the feel I like are either way out of budget (stares at TVPaint in the distance) or... well, have too high a learning curve for my single-person workflow, really. (OpenToonz, sigh...) And a lot of the free programs are good for getting a start in animation, but once you get to a certain point you really feel the limitations (whether it’s workflow, sound import, exports, trying to make something more finished than a rough...).

Then... there’s animation programs I just don’t like, and a lot of those are angled towards bone-style animations (nothing wrong with those, they just don’t fit my style? and are too much time investment for a single artist to output more quickly...), or are, well, freakin’ Adobe Animate.

I... gods, I do not like Animate (formerly Flash). And I made a whole 2 minute+ animation in it a couple years ago! (It’s very rough and bad and doesn’t make sense, pfff, not gonna link it XD) It’s... clunky, and vector oriented, and freaking lines don’t go where I want them too, and it tries to predict too much?? It’s hard to put to words, gah. For me, my animation style would be much more... raster oriented. Flow, hand drawn inbetweens, yaddayadda. Animate’s great for... plenty of things, but not for that kind of animation. There are far better animators than I who make it work with freakin’ aplomb though! So really, it’s just my taste, haha.

.... Er, that got long! I’ll cut off more rambling about animation software and tl;dr boil it down to “I love animating period, but turnaround is something I have to keep in mind as a freelancer, as well as budget, and my current focus is pixel animations for a number of reasons.” X)

What's ur preferred kinda animation?

I’m not exactly sure what this one means! Between pixel and non-pixel? Er, they both have their pros and cons, so I couldn’t say! But if I have to break down my current animations into categories, I’d say I have cutscenes, loop environments, and the broad game-like animations...

The first would be something like this animation feat. teasing Edge, the second would be something like this one with skesgo’s Starlan and Cinnamon, and the third is... everything else! From headsprite loops to ‘small’ characters running and so on.

Honestly, they’re all a lot of fun for different reasons! Cutscenes are generally the most challenging, but they give me the chance to push my limits and try and pull off something cool, whether I’m having to conserve frames (to keep the cost of a commission down) or whether I’m going more all out (which is a pricey commission, or a fun personal project, lol).

Loop environments are their own challenge - it may not look like it, but I put a lot of thought into how to make them look as natural as possible! From timing of talking characters, to where to place a blink, to exactly how many frames it’ll take to ‘soften’ a motion (so people aren’t just snapping between major poses) and so on - it takes... a lot of time to animate even simple scenes well, so I do a lot of mental math on how I can keep things affordable when someone approaches me for a commission. And frankly, I totally undercharge;; but I do my best!

Game-like animations are just fun. They range, they’re silly, to intense (I’ve animated fight animations before for game concepts), to indulgent, and beyond! Headsprites are always a delight, especially if I get to push the expression X) and I love tiny things (I mean... I am a pixel artist...) so getting to make lil tiny babs even just walking can be fun - and also, a lot more time consuming than you might thing, esp if you wanna make it smooth, like this lil Frisk I did last month or so:

Do u prefer lipflaps or lipsyncs?

oTL

B... both??

Okay, lipsyncing basically is very time consuming. AND, I freakin’ love it. I love puzzles, and when it boils down to it, that’s what super fun & expressive lip syncing is (some Ghibli animations are the heckin’ best for this)...

and, I’m a pixel artist, without sound-syncing capabilities in her main art program oTL Yeah, I can export frames and line them up and check but... gods, it’s so time consuming. I’ve tried it out of desperation - but for even five seconds of sound (sayyyyy a lil Vine...) that’s hours upon hours of transferring back and forth just to check.

So even though I love lipsyncs, they’re too time-consuming (and ergo, if I’m being commissioned, often too expensive) to do often! Someday I’d like to get back to doing them more often, but for now, practically I stick to/’prefer’, in the loosest terms, to do lipflaps. For the layman, this is that ‘two frame’ (maybe three) open-closed style of animating mouths- however, I’m working on ways to keep that style, but make it more expressive! It depends on the project - and in commissions, I’ll pretty much always prioritize giving the client a little more body animation than mouth animation, unless it’d really fit what they’ve requested.

What's the hardest part of the animation process??

.... damn, this is a tough one! Sometimes I’d say it’s the initial concept work - but it depends on what I have to work with. Sometimes that parts a breeze - and honestly freeing, bc I can take the time to try and push what I’ll do with it!

Roughing is one of my favorite parts, tbh. It can be tricky, sure, but getting to go from keyframes to in-betweens & smears to adding the flairs of secondary motion (think hair swishing, or coats flaring, etc) is so exciting and satisfying.

From there it’s all refining, and tweaking...

Hm. Honestly, the hardest is probably the initial cleanup and lining. It’s cool to see it come together, but it feels so much slower, and it can drag - and then you find bits that actually don’t translate well from the rough stage, so you have to go back and rework, and oof it can just drag in this phase, heh. Plus, I’m always tempted to add more frames, but it’s not always realistic - I’m a perfectionist, to say the least, so I’m constantly having to leash myself back so I don’t turn a project into a half-a-year undertaking, pff.

What's ur favorite??

Probably gave myself away talking about the roughing stage X) It’s just loose and fun and free! But seeing it all come together is also damn satisfying too, so that’s not to say I don’t like the refining portions either...

Outside of that, I also really like the beginning of the color stage! .... Before having to translate shadows/highlights to each and every frame *shudders*. That gets tedious, but it’s so critical! Anyways, though, I heckin’ love colors. I always have a rough palette in mind at the start of the process, but I go ham and play with it as a little break and a true test when I get to actual slap together a full frame with full color, highlights/shadows included! It’s exciting, like a preview of the finished product, basically :D

Any part u don't like?

Heh, by the time I get to shadows/highlights, I tend to be getting impatient, I suppose. It’s not that I don’t like it - I definitely highly value it, and if it was the only thing I was working on in an animation that’d be different, but as a one-woman team I’m just raring to be done at that point; it’s very nearly the last thing I do, after all, so it’s a struggle to focus. X)

I suppose one that always gets me is more complicated backgrounds. It’s a work in progress, as I’m getting better and finding the fun in them for sure! But I’m still not where I want to be in translating ‘background concept’ to ‘finished background’ - it feels more stiff than my animations, I guess. So it’s a frustrating part... but hey, it’s part of it! And learning to embrace the challenge is a big help.

... I just always have to make sure I have a big cup of coffee and a good jam playlist going when I sit down to do ‘em, in the meantime.(=▿= ||||)

What's a thing people don't see that u put a lotta time into?

Definitely the coloring. This goes for both backgrounds and the animated characters themselves. It’s... never as simple as it looks? It’s time consuming, and while some parts of frames can be copy-pasted, I also put subtle work into the animations that mean that some pixels are off so it ends up being marginally faster to just recolor, but then there’s shadows, and working in pixels means that if I miss one then there’s a flickering pixel mid-animation, and sometimes there’s an unconnected line and then you bucket fill the whole damn thing, and gods know I’ve got colored lines so I have to be exacting with keeping the same ratios highlighted vs darker in shifting frames...

*deep breath*

... Yeah, basically the coloring is super time consuming. And balancing bg coloring with animated elements in the image itself is a whole extra challenge on top of that. For 99% of my animations, I can damn near guarantee I’ve spent at least twice as much time coloring it as I have animating it.

Do u have a fave animation u've done?

*looks at my goblin hoard of animations in horror like I’ve been asked to choose a favorite child*

... Stars above, I can’t choose! I love them all, and at this point a good portion of them are commissions- it wouldn’t feel right to choose!

*...carefully covers the hoard’s metaphorical ears*

... also, that said, I can admit a soft spot for any of them that involve humor. I tend to get to do extremely expressive faces and action there, even if I have to ration the frames, so it turns out really fun X)

And though rough and I’ve definitely done stuff I’m more proud of, I still crack up at this one I did a while back of the nonsense ‘ass’ joke between Red & Stretch... their faces were too much fun XD I’ve gotten waybetter since then though, Big Oof, I see so many things I can fix; might go back and redo it someday.

Honestly, though, I just freakin’ love animating! They all have their ups and downs andI always put a lot of love into them and find a way to have fun with it and try to push any emotion/theme (when applicable). I like to think it shows, but idk, that’s something I have to leave up to you guys X)

#night answers #about animating #phew there were a lot-!#thanks so much for your interest #hope these answers made sense! :D #Anonymous

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comicteaparty · 4 years

Text

March 23rd-March 29th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from March 23rd, 2020 to March 29th, 2020. The chat focused on Puppeteer by Eightfish.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Puppeteer by Eightfish~! (https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/puppeteer/list?title_no=290620)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until March 29th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

eli [a winged tale]

Ooh exciting! I’ll try and get to this soon!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Yes yes, I had started reading this last week, want to continue and get in on this convo!!

Joichi / Sarah

Oh I'll take a look at reading Puppeteer!

shadowhood

Ditto. Time for another art binge

eli [a winged tale]

1) I love the colours and lighting! As for the story, the banter really drew me in and when J offered freedom, that was my hook 2) My favourite moment was when J tore Eli out of his body! That was a very striking moment. 3) I really like J and Sam They’re both characters with a strong voice and motivation. 4) I enjoy the friendship chat between Sam and Eli. They really ground the whole college experience and the comic world for me. 5) Let me find it! 6) I think the themes of feeling lost in life or directionless after regimented high school are very relatable. It’s one thing to know where you wanna go and want to be but often we feel we’re just floating in reality. 7) I love the aesthetics! Very unique style yet also clear in storytelling! 8) I would say the strengths tie into the fast pace and great characters. I’m not sure where we’re headed in the comic but I’m sure we will get to know why beings like J and the Ocean lady exist and what roles Eli/Sam would play in the story great work Eightfish!

Love this shot! Great paneling!

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

The artwork is so beautiful!

shadowhood

Yeah, the flow of motion is amazing here that's really good gesture drawing

Feather J. Fern

I have to say I love the way you do the limited palette for the first few pages, it's really cool!

mathtans

Oh! From setup to where some f/f romance is implied. I shall read more. (Nice when the ships are verging on canon, if not there...)

Wonder if J is going to set things up such that Eli has to possess one of them.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Aaa, thank you all for the compliments about my art, eli, sssfrs, shadow, feather. I'm really trying to make this thing look good and I'm glad you guys like it.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

It looks really good!!

eli [a winged tale]

Love it Eightfish! Can’t wait for more!

RebelVampire

What I liked about the beginning is just kind of how jarring it is (in a good way). You get thrown right into a semi-tense/suspicious interaction, and it really kind of sets that tone for the rest of the comic. Which is actually what I like about the story all together. There's always this kind of laid back atmosphere to it where you're never really sure if you should be concerned or not. So it's got this right beat where you aren't always screaming but also aren't ever able to fully relax cause it feels like danger is around the corner. Coincidentally, the beginning is also probably my favorite moment in the comic as well, just cause again, I really love the tone here. My favorite character at the moment is probably J cause I can't figure J out and would like to know more about J. Cause J is just like this chaotic entity who I can't decide is good or evil and it's a complicated mess that I love. As for favorite interactions, definitely Eli and J. I like they're kind of friends, kind or enemies, kind of maybe sort of abusive relationship, maybe kind of sort of cut from the same fabric. There's a lot of levels to their relationship, so I do like seeing where it's going to go.

What I like about the art is just the overall style combined with the color experimentation. I think this in of itself really helps with the tone I keep mentioning, because it'll go from normal colors to suddenly very jarring, dark contrasts. So again, there's always this hint that something just isn't ever right in the world. I also think these features are the comic's strength, since it's a very interesting style that draws the eye.

Lastly for today, themes. I really like that the comic kind of explores ambition vs. lack of ambition. As someone who is more similar to Eli and would be kind of happy to just be people watching mush sometimes, I really relate. However, there are deep questions about whether this is good, whether ambition is better or whether ambition can go too far. So it's kind of good to see this explored and just kind of show that inevitably, people are different and not everyone has the same sorts of drives (or drives at all).

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Oh my god, you have no idea how happy I am to read that. Everything you said was exactly what I was going for and this is very validating

(also, can we just appreciate Rebel for a moment. They take the time to write these in depth analyses of every comic here and I always enjoy reading them. Even if I knew rebel was going to be the only one in this book club I would still be jumping to sign up.) (Not that I don't appreciate everyone else, those comments were lovely as well haha. So interesting to to read eli's thoughts on the characters and what will happen next)(edited)

BriDanann

Also!! Eightfish!! Your comic is so freaking gorgeous! I absolutely love the color scheme and the surrealist feel the art gives off. It really feels like it's otherworldly, but also familiar. Kind of how old Noir movies felt! I've only read the beginning so far and I am loving the tone.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. Will Eli actually be satisfied with his decision to just float around away from responsibility in the long term, or do you think that will change? Additionally, what do you think caused Eli to run away from life so much?

10. Do you think Sam will ever come to accept Eli’s decisions, and how will the situation change the two’s relationship? What will Eli teach Sam about trying to fix everything, and how will the two change each other through their interactions?

11. What do you think J ultimately wants in life, and what does that have to do with giving Eli powers? Why is Sam so convinced that J is a demon? In general, do you think Eli, Sam, and Lily can put a stop to J’s mayhem?

12. How do you interpret the story’s title in terms of its significance to the events of the comic? Also, what significance do you think it has towards the theme of beliefs and how beliefs go stronger the more people believe in them?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

mathtans

(This week is kinda kicking my ass but I have finished the read and will find time for some comments in the next day or two. Just putting that out there.)

Okay, just a couple quick thoughts in case anyone else wants to react to them... I think Eli felt like there wasn't much of anything left to him. Didn't seem like he had family checking up on him, and major events like breaking your arm are the sorts of times you learn who's rallying around you. Sam distancing herself was probably the last straw.

I wonder a bit whether Vanessa (the one massively possessed by J, only name dropped in the author notes if memory serves) had a similar path. Or whether she's just off the deep end (maybe she pushed J into the arm breaking on some level).

Also think that Lily's pleased to have someone who can finally do something about the visions she's presumably been having all her life (unless it's a puberty awakening thing), though it does seem like her romance with Sam goes deeper than that. I wonder about her romantic history (but then I wonder about that with all f/f ships). And could Sam be bi? Or is she not straight, and part of that is what pulled her from Eli?

As I say, couple quick thoughts.

RebelVampire

@mathtans Those are some good points about Eli's family. I have to say I did kind of where they were at, cause at the very least I do get the impression Eli doesn't feel like they can be relied on. But I do think isolation is playing a big role in Eli's decision making right now.

Do I think Eli will actually be satisfied with his decision? Yes and no. I kind of feel like Eli would be fine with it overall but that inevitably extenuating circumstances will ruin the whole thing. Otherwise I honestly think Eli might be content if people around would accept it. As for why Eli is causing to run away from life, probably social pressure and isolation. It's hard to deal with life if you have no one around you, and also hard to deal with society when you really just don't have ambitions, cause society is very much about ambition. As for Sam, I think this is also a yes and a no. I think Sam will blame herself for Eli's choices as she comes to understand them more, but at the same time learn to let Eli live as Eli sees fit. I do think Sam will learn a valuable lesson though that not everything she thinks is broken is, and even if it is, sometimes people have to learn for themselves. So I think it'll bring Eli and Sam closer.

As for what J wants, I think it's probably friends. I think J fell in with Eli because they're both just kind of lonely souls. And while Eli expresses this in further isolation, J acts out and does everything possible to get attention. I do think the group will put a stop to J's shenanigans though, but I'm also feeling that it won't be a defeating of the villain (but this may be wishful thinking cause I do sympathize with J). I kind of get the feeling the title is meant to reflect both literally that J is turning people into puppets but also the complicated relationship people have with the concept of control. Like Sam for example. Sam clearly wants to fix and "control" things to suit them to how she wants. Also, in the Eli/J relationship, there's a question of who controls who to a degree. As for its connection to belief, I think I'd argue the strong our beliefs are in something, the more those beliefs have control of our lives. And I think that's something we once again see with J a lot in that J is literally controlling people while people seem convinced they control themselves.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Oh Rebel, mathtans, your comments make me just want to just spoil the entire story and blurt out everything right here. It's been so good seeing that so much of my intent was coming through.

@mathtans Sam is indeed not straight. I wonder what made you see her as bisexual specifically?(edited)

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I don’t think Sam had any malicious intent in keeping her distance from Eli, nor was it a case of “I’ve got a girlfriend now so I don’t need to talk to my other friends”. To me, Sam very much sees herself as the only one with the power to protect people, and because of that she feels it’s her duty to control what people get involved, where everyone goes, etc. Sam can keep this city under control, and thus she must. And, yeah, I agree with @RebelVampire that control is one of the main themes of the comic in general. Like J is constantly egging Eli on to control others, and one of their main points is that ordinary people often are looking to delegate control to someone else. And this current segment is the perfect lesson on how it doesn’t have to be one person in control - Eli and Sam can both be in control at once.(edited)

One thing I feel like should be mentioned though - the factor of Eli potentially being nb factoring into his decision? Like, when he first becomes a puppetmaster, one of the first things Eli says is “how come I still look like me” (i.e., rather than androgynous like J?), and one of the things Eli does to practice out shape shifting is try on dresses.

mathtans

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) Oh, nothing specifically made me see Sam as bisexual, but nothing made me see her as exclusively lesbian either. I've learned not to take that stuff for granted and wait for it be be spelled out (I'm also not the most observant though). In fact I have a f/f relationship in my writing where one of them is stated bisexual.

Also, good point snuffy on the androgynous aspect, never occurred to me there.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

mathtans

Okay, let's address some questions to the best of my abilities. ^.^ Regarding the start, as was mentioned, the muted colours and dark character seemed to fit the tone. I thought the cutaway was a time skip but it made sense when we came back later.

My favourite moment was actually when Sam and Lily spent the night in Eli's apartment. Aside from helping to confirm the f/f relation (a personal taste), it was subtle (like, just a friend wouldn't necessarily go along with things for that time) versus making out or something (which wouldn't fit the tone). And at the same time, it showed that Eli was separating himself from his past life, not even going back to check in... Sam honestly seems to be his only tie. (And I kinda wonder where his original body is, if it even exists?)

Favourite character is tough. Honestly, maybe Lily because she seems so innocent, having been drawn into things... and I wonder if J ever approached her to get to Sam? Or has the focus always been on Eli? It's not that I dislike the other characters, it's more that one of their flaws seems to be a lack of communication. The sort of thing that makes me sigh, even though it fits with what we've seen and is helping motivate the plot.

That said, yeah the Sam and Eli interactions are really good, right from the moment of "don't touch me" and Sam totally respected that as they got caught up. They obviously do care for each other in the friend way. (I wonder if Eli wanted more? Could that be why he shifted female, to be closer to Sam?)

I'm not good with art or themes. -.- The way the being in the harbour was drawn was good though from what I recall, helped to show the scope of the supernatural too. I guess a theme of belonging? Or friendship?

I haven't said much about J yet, but I think that is a something I like and a strength, the plotting... trying to guess the next move. And maybe they want to become as popular as the larger demon? Definitely drives the other characters forwards. And reminds me of Rebel's comment about ambition being a theme... makes sense in retrospect. (And yes, much appreciation to Rebel. ^.- )

9. I think Eli will eventually be satisfied, though I think he's realizing that he's becoming a bit of a pawn in a larger game, not having considered the scope of his transformation. And I already mentioned about his family. And Rebel made good points there too.

I think Sam's starting to accept the change, though not necessarily the reason for it (and I'm not sure she or we truly know what that is). What with her trusting him to possess. In fact, another reason why Eli might have done this was to be of more use to Sam, though that may not have been a conscious decision. The dynamic will be interesting.

Here I'm diverging from Rebel in that I think J wants to be recognized as a more important demon (though that's similar to having friends, it doesn't need to be). Maybe others have tried to take over beings like Sam without success? Or like Ocean Lady are so far above that they don't care? Maybe there's a clue somewhere in why Vanessa isn't enough for J lately.

That's a really interesting point in terms of the title... at first I figured it was the idea of Eli jumping into bodies. But of course, he's not really into that, and it's more J... who is perhaps puppeteering even beyond that, pulling the strings of people that aren't possessed. (There was mention of squid too, I wonder if the tentacles of a squid could be like the strings on a puppet?) Anyhue.

Will be interesting to see Lily's reaction to what's going on, as I have a suspicion that she'll show up... and perhaps blame herself for not being there when Eli was (even though Eli was brought in later). Or she could misinterpret the situation and think Eli's gone evil! Who knows. (How long has she been going out with Lily again?)

I think that's all for now. Best with it!

shadowhood

Yoooo sorry for the late response. Alright I'll try to answer the prompts as succinctly as I can. 1. The art style is very aesthetically pleasing! I love how you use mainly black against a lot of other bright colours like tan/light blue/gold; it gives it almost a Grecian vase vibe!

2. I have two actually!

The first one because it hit a really close hit to home. I loved seeing a real, down to earth conversation between friends and it felt...real. Seeing concerned friends talking about an abusive relationship and not....exploding is very refreshing.

The second one because I absolutely love that last panel, where J plays around with her words and follows through with a similar action. It felt like she was toying with Sam and it reminded me of the scene in Aladdin, where Jafar was toying with Aladdin with his words. Probably my favourite villain scene of J.

3. Funnily enough, I really like Sam. She's that one friend who's shown to be concerned for Eli, but she knows that she can't force him out of the abusive relationship. She respects his boundaries and is overall a good friend. That's rare and usually underappreciated in real life.

4. The interactions between Sam and Eli were the best for me, because they were very heartwarming and the care they show for each other resonates with me

5. The two moments I mentioned were my top favourites, actually!

6. The idea that you can't save everyone is one I really like. Sometimes you have to let the person you love make difficult and maybe even foolhardy decisions in life, but that's to let them grow up and mature.

7. Like I said earlier, it reminded me of Grecian vase paintings, which I love! Another thing I love about it is how free the gesture drawings are; drawings such as the hand drawings are testament to that

8. I think the strongest part of Puppeteer is its use of motion; my eye is always drawn to the line of action and it almost felt like a film at some parts. The story is heavily action oriented, which I like

shadowhood

9. Honestly, I don't know. Like @mathtans said, he doesn't seem to have family who check up on him, but he DOES have friends who do! Maybe someday he'll want to change, he'll see that he stayed stagnant while his friends keep on progressing in life. Either he'll go deeper into his isolation or he ultimately decides that this isn't for him. 10. I think it's a sad case where she's going to have to learn to let Eli make his mistakes and grow up. If she's constantly there to fix or solve everything for him, both characters suffer in that no one will learn everything. But hopefully, like other people have said, it brings them closer. 11. From what she's said, I think she wants control and power. But if you want a more indepth answer, I think she wants absolute control and worship from individuals. She wants to be put on a pedestal (wanting to be higher than other people?) and she wants that rush of feeling, that feeling of being dedicated to. But seeing @RebelVampire 's answer, maybe it's a twisted form of trying to keep people from leaving her, similar to how abusers try to keep their victims close. Heck, she could even develop a form of Lima syndrome and sympathize with the victim. I think Sam's and co. can put a stop to it, but ultimately, it's up to ELI himself to do so. 12. I agree with @RebelVampire on this one; Puppeteer can be a reference to how much we let others and their beliefs control us, and how the characters each covet control in some shape or form. Maybe Eli feels like he's lost control of his life and is trying to escape responsibility in a desperate effort to regain it?

13. I'm really looking forward to how this whole Eli/J relationship will affect Eli and his relationship with his friends. I'm also wondering what J's character development would be, if any; would she start sympathizing more with Eli? Learn something new from Eli? Or even become increasingly antagonistic towards Eli? 14. @Eightfish (Puppeteer) I really look forward to reading more from your webcomic, your art and conversation exchanges between your characters are top notch! Keep up the good work

RebelVampire

What I'm most looking forward to in regards to the comic is finding out more about J I think. I'm interested to learn more about the driving force behind J's actions and how those might cause the characters to rethink what J is. As for final words, I really just still enjoyed the atmosphere. So few comics can nail it, but this one really managed to capture that feeling of dread that really keeps you reading. So I can wait to see that be used more throughout the comic.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Thanks @mathtans , @shadowhood , @snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights) for the recent long comments you've posted! It was wonderful reading what you thought about character motivations and themes. And I'm glad so many people said they were looking forward to learning more about J, because that's what I'm most looking forward to writing as well.

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Puppeteer this week! Please also give a special thank you to Eightfish for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Puppeteer, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/puppeteer/list?title_no=290620

Eightfish’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/eightfish

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic book club #webcomic bookclub #comic tea party #ctp #puppeteer #eightfish

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eorzeasntm · 6 years

Photo

ENTM Tumblr Cycle 10 Round Seven Results

Hi folks! Last week we sent our models out into some bad weather. This round presents some unusual challenges, specifically capturing the environment and balancing dimmer lighting against the gloomy background.

While all the models emerged from this round slightly damp (or dry if they were smart enough to get out of the rain), the model whose photo most captured the hearts and minds of our voters this round was:

Odharnait “Ona” Greene

Congratulations! Rongi Pongi was so impressed with this picture that he said it will inspire a future round of ENTM called “Doors.” The judges and community agreed that this shot was lovely and a fantastic use of the watercolor filter to brighten the stormy night.

We have one more week in Tumblr Cycle 10. In the meantime, ENTM Instagram Cycle 1 is in Week 2 and community voting will begin shortly! Please visit our Instagram Page for more information.

Also the October Haukke Manner challenge will be closing at 10 PM Eastern TODAY (Oct 24th) so hurry up and get your entry in for a chance to win a minion from the Mogstation.

Our judges have feedback for our models after the cut.

Judge Kai

Adam: This is a nice shot. It looks like you're trying to outrace the coming storm and reach a safe haven before getting drenched. You did a good job with the lighting, and used the surrounding area to your advantage! It was a very smart decision to have those glowing flowers in the shot and surrounding you. I can believe that the light that is hitting you is coming from them, and that is why the area (and you) are brighter, despite the darkness that seems to be engulfing the area. There are only two things I can think to suggest. The first is I wish you were just a little closer in this image so we could see you better. Which also leads to my second. I might have gone for a slightly lighter outfit, color wise. Because the image, and the background, is so dark a lot of those black tones start to blend in with what's behind you. Overall, you did a great job!

James: First off, I don't know if you did this on purpose, but I find it very amusing and great timing that it looks as if the lightning is coming right down to touch your hand. Moving on from that, this is an image that, to me, seems to hold sadness or loss in it. It's like the rain is reminding you of something from the past, and it's very lovely is a melancholy sort of way. You definitely pop against the darker background, sticking with the blonds, white and lighter grays are helping you a lot in this image. The lighting is very good as well, but I am wondering what the source of the light is? Perhaps a lightning bolt? While the lighting is well done, it just seems a bit overlit for not having a light source in the area. I think you could have pulled back just a bit, and still gotten away with this image. Other than that, I think you did a very good job!

Ni'ko: I am going to assume, from the way that you look in this image, you're the type of cat that doesn't like to get wet. Well, I don't blame you and that doesn't look like the type of storm I would want to be hanging out in either. Overall this is a good image. The lighting is believable for the time of day. It could be a fire burning just out of view, and it's casting its light on you. I also like the outfit that you picked for a few reasons. It matches the surroundings very well and seeing that this is a darker image, your skin tone pops. The dark purple of the swimming trunks is a good pick, it stands out from the neutral earthy tones around you and gives something that draws the eye to you. The pose is a little awkward as if someone caught you in mid-run, and you're leaving a lot up to the viewer in this instance with the story you're trying to convey but overall you did a good job!

Judge Vederah

Cowbot: There's a really great, almost ominous feeling to this screenshot. Positioning of your character to the object he's looking at is spot on and helps bring the eye across the entire image. Only issue I have is this image reads way to dark. I think if a bit more lighting was used then your character wouldn't blend into the background as much, and we'd be able to more clearly see the rain effect. That detail was almost completely lost with how dark this picture was. Ona: This is, in my opinion, the best use of a gpose filter I've seen in this entire competition. I love how the water color effect really amplifies the rain effect in the background. I also really appreciate how the cool and warm tones of this image come together in this shot. The only thing I could think of to change is possibly a very small light used to the characters right- the only downside of the watercolor filter is it blurs a lot of the smaller details. Here it cast a very dark shadow on her scales, losing the definition in her face. Wren: This shot reminds me of the scene from the original, cartoon Snow White as she's making her way through the haunted forest. I just love how innocent and genuinely frightened your character looks against such a foreboding backdrop. Lighting is the only issue I have here. The background on the right portion of the screen is so dark that just reads as empty space. I think if you had upped the intensity of the lighting on that half of the image just a touch, it would've popped those details in the foreground.

Judge M’Telihgo

Nadede - I like this. I love how you stand out against the background. I also like the umbral static weather effect very much. I enjoyed playing with different settings and see how images turned out. Have you ever done that? It could be fun. I do wonder what you are looking at while doing your chakra, you seem so intent on it. I think the bright colors of your armbands and your pants pop against your pale skin. Which leads to my only real criticism of this picture and is minor. While your top has some color in it, I think it blends into you a little, not too much but another color may have been better. Still, you look awesome!

Chee – I love the background. I like dark colors and things that seem kind of spooky, and this has that for me. I approve of the location. For all of that, I like it very much. Your outfit in a lighter blue makes you stand out against your very dark background and I think the colors suit you well. There is one thing that makes it so that I cannot enjoy this picture as much as I would like to. I’m not sure what happened, but there is a ghosting around your face as if you were caught between frames of an animation where it is starting to draw in the next one. Sadly, that blur makes it so that looking at it for more than a moment makes my eyes water. It’s a shame too since I really like it overall.

Lantis – Ooh. I do like this spot for exactly this reason. FIGHT!! Anyway, there is a negative though when doing this at night. Dead space. I see where your addition of the sakura effect may have been used to try and counter this and it does help. I also think that a little different timing of your sparring partner would really make this pop much more. As it is right now, you are in action and your partner is looking away, at their shoes. If you could have caught it where they are looking at you, it would definitely sell the action seen much more like they are trying to parry your blow by timing their draw. Adventure on the high seas! Kind of anyway. I still give you credit for catching the lightning bolt just right, I’ve done it and I found it to be a chore. Well done!

Judge Kusuh

Azalea: I'm a huge fan of the overall "mood" of the picture- a paladin standing in a dark storm; did they recently fail a mission? Are they brooding? Is this where the orchestra swells to give a tearful moment? As I've said before, when I'm left thinking about the possibilities behind an image, it's a good sign! This may be one of my favorite pictures from you so far. The setting, the use of the pencil filter to add more of a "rain" effect, and the overall pose show me that you've given some real thought to everything that goes into this picture. The frame choice is also something I love, but it also comes with this one small critique: when you use this frame, you are using it to trick the viewer into seeing three separate pictures in a single shot. When you have parts of yourself spilling over into the other two frames, this kills the illusion and just leaves the picture looking disjointed. My advice for a picture like this would be to play with your zoom and pose options so that you can fit yourself into a single frame! You're improving every week, I can't wait to see what comes next!

Haila: You have a wonderful sense of visual flow going on in this picture. At first glance, I can easily follow from the spark in the top left corner, down the spear, to your face, and then follow your eyes to your fingers and then off the right side of the image. The choice of color (and the limit of color) were also a smart choice here; the limited palette really adds a sense of impact. Something to think about: This is more on the side of a "high fashion" shot as opposed to a story shot. Don't get me wrong, I very much like both kinds, but one of the things I've seen many ENTM models get pointed out (myself included) is when a shot lacks a story. Your shots in the past have always been a mix of both fashion and story, and this one feels like it shoots straight to the side of fashion. Once again, this isn't really a bad thing, but it's something I want you to be aware of as you plan your final shots in the upcoming weeks. Excellent work so far!

Judge Rongi

Lily: With this shot, I think you found a really great lighting that makes your character look gorgeous. You could crop out this whole shot and just have it on you, shoulders up, and it'd be a beautiful head shot. The shot itself fits the theme of the week, but I wish it had a little more oomph! to it. I have "Summertime Sadness" stuck in my head now thanks to you though. Haha. I would have loved to see more posing, a stronger background choice, and a clear reason for why you are standing in the rain. Rymm: These colors are everything. Great choice in gear. I love that the backshot is 3/4 of the way so we can still see a bit of your face. I wish we could see more, but its just enough to not be a backshot dead on. I usually would be against a solid black background, but using the lightning and your outfit colors to pop out like that is amazing. Had you been wearing all black, this wouldn't have worked at all. I love the pose of both you and the lightning. It creates a really interested shape in the middle, like dancing. Ysildor: You are going to get electrocuted waving that pick around like that! I love the idea as it beckons to Thor's hammer. I wonder if you had tried or could use an hammer instead. The background has those nice buildings in it that creates a line across the image that leads the viewer straight to you. And then we follow your shape up in to the sky and back down with the lighting. Really well done composition wise.

#entm #eorzea's next top model #entm tumblr cycle 10 #ffxiv

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