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winxsource · 2 years

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Under the cut @faytalepsy tells us everything about how artistic process, juggling writing and drawing and her predictions for season 2!

If you’ve had the pleasure of meeting Fay, then you may already be familiar with the term “polymath”, even if you don’t know it. This term, coined in 1603 by Johann von Wowern, describes a person who is talented in many manners and fields of study. /*

I, for one, think that Faytalepsy - who’s a fanfic writer, digital artist, traditional artist, singer, actress and a biology major, among many other things - definitely qualifies for the title.

We have our interview on Thursday morning, after trying and failing to set up a meeting twice before because her schedule is beyond filled. Nevertheless, despite the hectic procedure that is setting up this meeting, Fay’s the type of person to put everyone at ease. So, despite our lack of familiarity, I feel myself slumping on my chair and relaxing as I hear her narrate the shenanigans happening in her current play - which is a romantic comedy that would be opening that weekend.

It’s listening to her mellow voice and calm personality that I ask her how long she’s been in fandom overall and, to my surprise, I come to learn she’s much younger than the way she sounds. She’s just starting college after a gap year and she’s been in fandom, actively, for something like seven or nine years, qualifying her as a creator who grew up in the internet, submitted to its critical eye from a young age.

Anyone who has put forward work to be reviewed by strangers online will know how nerve wrecking it is and yet, she tells me she’s entirely self-taught. Never took a single drawing course, definitely not one for writing either. No, Fay’s unbothered by the external criticism, because she’s a perfectionist and an overachiever. Art classes used to piss her off, because all they did were collages and she wanted to do more.

It’s this desire to see more and beyond that got her started into fanarts in the first place, she tells me. “I’ve always loved to draw, but I wasn’t really good at it, since I only did it in my free time. Being engaged with fandom forced me to practice more, because I wanted to draw the scenes I envisioned, but didn’t have the skillset for it yet. So I practiced and I practiced.”

I tease her about her type A personality and she doesn’t seem bashful or even shies away. Instead, Fay owns it up with pride, a true overachiever who tells me, “I’m definitely a perfectionist, but I don’t want to hold myself to ‘perfection' standards anymore, I want to have fun. A few years ago I was nearly mortified whenever I started something new, because I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it and then would become discouraged, but now I’ve grown and I've embraced having it be just ‘fun’ and not as perfect. I try loads of things and I will continue to do that, because you find a lot of things you enjoy and are good at, if you try a lot of things.”

Of course, this isn’t always easy and perfectionism still creeps up here and there. Her writing being the biggest point of contention.

“I have lots of unfinished works, such as the next chapter of “Sweet Nectar Of Life”, because I can’t post it like this. It isn’t perfect!”

This brings me to our next topic, a question sent in by not only @septemberrie, but also @lizzabet. With so many WIPs and different endeavors, how does she manage her time? How does she juggle so many works in progress?

She pauses, weighing the question carefully before explaining, “a year back I didn’t have a good balance. I wrote whenever I wanted to write, only drew when inspiration hit and then I’d go weeks without one or the other. Now I try to actively change that by sketching everyday for 5 or 20 minutes. I don’t want to have too much time pass between publishing new fic and releasing new art, I want to keep a steady progress. If you let weeks pass before you look at your art again, then it’s easy to feel demotivated, because when you come back, you’ll find a bunch of mistakes. So now I really don’t allow myself so much time in between those.”

With such discipline and so many projects, I ask her how she decides to make the leap and upgrade a concept from mere “idea” to “work in progress”?

“Oh, I just write whatever I want to write,” it's her easy answer, “Sometimes one gets neglected for the other, but that's alright. I have a folder for all my works and every once in a while, I switch the documents around, so I can visually see what I have to work on next. Still, even then, it depends on inspiration. For example, some of my multi chapters were never meant to be multi chapters, they just spiraled into it.”

And how’s your writing process?

“It depends. Usually I have an idea, in Yield I just knew I wanted to write something about them sparring. Then when I have some down time I try to think about how to link the scenes and how they develop. Sometimes I write down the first scene that popped to mind and then later I come back and link the scenes together. Sometimes I have a plan, for example in my multi chapter fics, I always knew what I wanted to happen. I’d write down the topics, like “nightmare”, and then write the scene from that. The writing process itself is a little chaotic. I do always try to have one chapter be at least 1,5k words, because I think it’s the necessary amount to develop the plot. My optimal word count per chapter is between 2k and 3k.”

Her writing process is very clear cut, incredibly methodical. I ask her if her approach to the characters is equally ruled, if she tries to write them to follow canon or if she allows herself to steer away from canon, in the name of fanon and entertainment.

I can almost hear her shrugging, as she answers, “I don’t think anyone has the 100% true to canon grasp of the characters. I try to do my take of them, which while close to canon, can move away if the situation asks for it. For example in Checking The Inventory, where Farah and Saul make out in the closet, I don’t think it would happen in canon, but I was willing to do it in my own writing. Regardless, one thing I enjoy about Fate’s loose writing is that it gives us a lot of freedom to play with.”

And how does Faytalepsy interpret Farah and Saul in canon, how does she envision their relationship?

“I don’t think that in canon they’re romantically involved, they wouldn’t dare to take that step. However, they clearly both care about each other, because they went through so much, and both have this desire to be more than a friendship. They have roles to fulfill and responsibilities, so they’d be waiting for the right moment and this moment never comes,” she pauses then and I ask about inspirations, which seems to tip Fay to continue on her previous answer as she stitches the ending, “I’m not sure how my interpretation of their personalities came to be, but probably through reading other people’s fanfics and chatting about it.”

Because all art is referential, a constant taking and picking from other, never ending telephone game. Nevertheless, even in this eternal game of telephone that is producing content, especially transformative works such as fanfic and fanarts, you can see a person’s personality shine through. In Fay’s case, her fanfics are lyrical, emotionally loaded and incredibly immersive. Fay’s works will suck you in a character’s head space and you’ll come out dizzy with her beautiful descriptions and her ability to put a character under the microscope. Her fanarts are filled with color, dramatic lighting – look no further than this drawing of silrah in a dramatic sunset – and very sensual, showcased by the many many drawings of Saul almost worshiping at Farah’s altar — such as here.

Her drawing and painting inspirations are diverse, a mismatch between indie instagram artists and the grand masters, because she really loves walking through museums. Nevertheless, if she had to pick one piece, it would be Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

Always the overachiever, though, she has projects still waiting for the perfect moment to happen, the perfect “skill set” as Fay herself puts it. One example being a painting of Saul in his cell after he’s captured, with Farah’s ghost appearing in the cut outs of the moonlight, which leaks in through the bars before him.

What about her expectations for season 2? Or even, the hanging conflict between Andreas and Saul?

Her answer, very much as her art, is dramatic:

“I want to see Sky kill Andreas and ultimately choose Saul as his father. In fact, I want to see Sky killing Andreas more than Saul killing Andreas. I wonder if all those years in isolation made Andreas a little crazy… I want to see Saul struggle with what Sky did, but eventually for him to realize he did the right thing by killing Andreas. In regards to season two… First of all I’m really afraid. I love Farah and I’ll spend all my wishes on her coming back. I’m really excited to see in what direction the show goes and to learn more about Rosalind and what her goals are. I’m not as interested in the teenagers, shocking I know, but because I’m not as emotionally invested, I’m open to a lot more things. I really want to see what’s going to happen with Beatrix. She has the potential to become Rosalind’s henchwoman or to turn against Roz and I like either option.”

We then move onto the quick fire questions, the one she doesn’t have as much time to ponder over and definitely my favorite part of the interview, seeing as sometimes you can see a person shocked by their own answer.

What is she expecting from Saul’s character development in season two? (It’s important to note, this interview happened before the trailer had been dropped).

She hesitates, “expecting or wishing for? Wishfully expecting, given that he shows up at all, I want him to face his demons. He’s been suffering from it, but he just projected it all onto Sky. He hasn’t really worked through his trauma and now he’ll be forced to do it. I really really want to see him grow more into the role of a father to Sky, accepting that over the years he has raised Sky. Of course, I want to see how he deals with Farah’s death, I don’t want this swept under the rug. I can’t say what I expect there, because we’re all in the dark when it comes to Farah… Oh and I want him to survive!”

Talking about Farah, does she believe they’ll manage to bring her back?

Now there’s no hesitation, seeing as it is the number one question on this side of the fandom, the most pressing question in almost any social media when it comes to Fate.

“I really want to believe it. Because I love Farah and she’s basically the whole reason I watch the show, but I really don’t want to hope as much, because then I’ll be disappointed. Silrah and Farah have been really popular, so it could be that they saw that and worked her in. I don't think they had it planned from the beginning though,” the ever realistic Fay's got her hopes down and her feet firmly planted on the ground, “I hope there will be at least an attempt to bring her back. What about the ethics of bringing a person back from the dead? I don’t care. Personally my headcanon is that she hasn’t really died, as in the cartoons where she’s transformed into a tree. In case she really is dead, though, and they bring her back, then I think the repercussions must be more severe. I don’t want a zombie, but I do want to see some consequences from that act alone.”

What is it that she enjoys writing about silrah the most?

“I think the thing I love about silrah most is the chance to portray the pining… The longing. The scene that inspired me the most in the canon is the scene at the end of episode 2, when they’re alone in the office. Having trauma but still going out of your way to care for those you love. The aspect I like writing most is angst, in one of my first fics, “Fighting For You” - there’s a scene where he realizes she’s in danger and Farah is fighting for her life, Saul thinks she’s going to die, and all this despair and suspense melts away as he finds her. That uncertainty, the pain and then the subsequent melting off… That’s what I enjoy writing.”

I hit her with the dreaded question among creators, but Fay isn’t daunted by it - she embraces it, with a vivacity that’s present in all of her creations, including in this interview. Fay is just one of those people whose confidence, or rather, bravery, is inspiring.

Which work is she most proud of?

“I really liked one of the earlier paintings I did of them dancing, because it was there I realized my art had come a long way from when I started. Also the one I did for the winxsource prompt of Farah and Rosalind. For fanfic this is much harder. I’m really proud of The Seventh Grave. I enjoyed writing Yield and Sweet Nectar of Life, but especially Fighting for You, because it’s been my longest fanfic and, since it is still ongoing, it’s my companion.”

What about her three favorite fic tropes?

“Slowburn, enemies to lovers… There’s only one bed”

And three tropes she despises?

“I don't like forced marriages… Sometimes they’re written really well and I do enjoy it, but it’s hard to come by. I don’t understand the hype with coffee shop AUs and I really don’t care about pregnancy fic.”

When it comes to writing, any specific inspirations?

“Oh anything by @septemberrie - Skye - and specifically “The Grief That Does Not Speak”, written by Sae_G. All of their works are amazing. I do have to say that I’ve read every single silrah fic that is out there, so all these crumbs, they’re a big part of what inspires me when writing these characters.”

And finally, does she want to shout out to anyone?

Her answer is heartwarming, but Fay drives home how incredibly wise she is too as she says,

“A general shout out to everyone who reads my stuff. I do primarily write for myself, but I love reading through all these comments. Reading through them makes me happy and validates, all over again, what I do. A big shout out to everyone who’s in the discord server, this amazing community we’ve built, and for everyone who talks about silrah,” then with a chuckle, “and for my sister who’s always very rude when I’m drawing.”

- Interview written by @skloomdumpster | Jo

#fate the winx saga #Fate: The Winx Saga #silrah #Farah x Saul #faytalepsy #creatorinterview

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adminlunata · 8 months

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I think imma make a post abt myself bc why not! This is my blog *Villan laugh*

Anyway, Im Admin Luna! I also go by Terry or Terrylu.

Im 21! 🎉

That said, my blog/tumblr acc is gonna be 18+ MINORS DNI!!

Im a bi+bigender person, pronouns: they/she/he

Im Hispanic/Native 🇲🇽

Im into LOTS OF THINGS, and I've always wanted to share those things so my blog might be a mess of a lot of things! :3 Also, I might do a lot of self inserts, so if u dont like that. Then SKIDADLE!!

Intrests:

Art, (like all of em) I started drawing again recently after abt a 3yr break, both digital and traditional! Currently trying to learn nsfw art its reaaally hard 😭😭 but yall get to see my failed attempts lol. Also trying to start up a small jewelry business. I like beads and shiny jewelry. I also want to retry watercolor and acrylic painting, maybe try playing with pastels :p Pottery is cool, and so is glass work!! Im sure there are other art media im missing, but eh.

Books/reading, I LOVE READING. I've been in love with it since i learned that i could read cool stories, lol. Uh, I might try bookbinding in the foreseeable future. Might try to write again too.

Plants, I used to work as a florist! So, I've gotten into flower arranging. Might post old arrangements ive done, maybe learn to draw new ones instead since flowers are expensive 😅 Im also super interested in foraging and gardening, thanks Warriors and later SDV I just need to learn more abt identifying local edible plants and mushies before I try eating anything. I grew my first tomato plants and Marigold flowers this year!

Cosplay/sewing, I've always wanted to try cosplay, but I've found it a bit expensive to perform, so it might be a bit till then. But i have plenty of time to learn to sew, I'm also trying to learn to embroidery since it's part of my culture, and it's pretty.

Games, Im mostly a cozy gamer as much as id like to be good at fps i have 0 aim, that said it hasnt stopped me from playing OW. But typically play Minecraft, SDV, forager, terreria, ow, genshin, pokemon and zelda. I also rlly rlly RLLY want to try DnD but idk how anything works lol and my friends are too busy to start a campaign, im also too shy to join an online one so 🤷

Food, i LOVE cooking its such a pleasant chore i dont consider it a chore anymore lol. Im still trying to learn to bake tho? Its rlly difficult but I've managed to master my choco cookies 🍪

I think thats all! Thanks for reading this far, i will continue to add to it if i remember something else im into lol. And learn how to make things pretty in tumblr enjoy your stay!

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wevelocityteampresents-blog · 8 months

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SEPTEMBER 1ST

I started to work on another new art piece. This time, it was created digitally. I figured that if I can't complete any traditional artwork, I might as well focus on digital work instead.

I didn't have much reason to be sad. Today was the day I created a new poll for my website. This poll will help me decide the new character for MEOWCO. You can send your vote here!

SEPTEMBER 2ND

Saturday seemed a little uneventful. I finished that new artwork from yesterday. However, I won't be able to upload it to my website until tomorrow due to personal reasons.

When it came to Pokémon, Shelgon evolved today. It was a good thing I focused on his Speed before he evolved.

While in Sandgem Town, I decided to talk to Dawn to see if she had anything new to say to me. To my surprise, I unlocked the ability to fight her.

If you want to see this match for yourself, you can watch it here. Seeing her use Magmortar reminded me that I should train my own at some point.

You don't say?

I managed to find a Sneasel on Route 217 that held a Quick Claw. Naturally, I caught it.

Since I didn't need the Sneasel, I took her to the Global Wonder Station to start a chain of Wonder Trades.

I didn't get any new Pokémon. But the events that happened in the GWS were still pretty interesting.

I don't know who this Cog person is. But they must have teleportation powers if they can be in two places at once.

After my next Wonder Trade, I marked my 250th point.

I thought I wouldn't see this screen again until I marked 300 points. The Rare Candies will be of great use in the future.

SEPTEMBER 3RD

I finally finished my new art piece. (The first real piece of artwork I've drawn since July.) I based it on an official crossover between the Pokémon franchise and Hatsune Miku. (Yes, that is something that ACTUALLY exists) You can view it on my website.

SEPTEMBER 4TH

I visited the Jubilife TV Station to win my daily lottery prize. I was expecting something like a Lucky Egg or some PP Up. Instead, I got the first prize:

It's not a Master Ball. But it's still something handy. I knew visiting this place every day would pay off!

After another battle, I went back to Pokémon Violet to add more Pokémon to the Paldea Pokédex. One of the Pokémon I needed was a Primeape. And luckily, there was a shiny Primeape available for trade on Pokémon HOME's GTS. I got it in exchange for the Cresselia I caught last month.

I knew I'd be able to trade her for something someday.

SEPTEMBER 5TH

I struggled to complete some assignments because of the air quality. It was just as bad as the middle of the summer. Despite that, I still managed to get things done.

I thought about taking on the Wi-Fi Room in the Heartgold Battle Tower again. This time, I'll use a Ditto with Quick Powder to deal with the hacked Pokémon in the 7th round. Even though it sounds like a solid strategy, my current internet connection doesn't support non-DSi enhanced games. I'll find a way to connect it someday.

In Pokémon Violet, I was going to fly somewhere until I came across a wild Sliggoo. It was a roaming Tera Pokémon that was at a low level. Fortunately, Braixen was enough to lower its health so I could catch it.

In all honestly, that might have been one of my difficult catches in this game.

Speaking of catch, these Poké Ball descriptions are a little confusing.

Is the Dive Ball more effective than the Lure Ball? Is it the other way around? Someone should have written these in a way that explained the Ball functions more clearly.

While trying to find Flabébé, I decided to talk to one of the nearby picnickers. To my surprise, she gave me some new sandwich ingredients.

The interaction made me talk to other picnickers. Sure enough, they also gave me some things for sandwiches.

While the ingredients were cool, I was disappointed in the fact that I couldn't join in with the other people on the route. (Like with camps in the Sword and Shield versions.)

I used Pokémon HOME to transfer a few Pokémon I needed to complete the Paldea Pokédex. While I still had the game open, I converted some of my HOME Points into Battle Points for Pokémon Brilliant Diamond.

I spent some of the new BP on a Muscle Band for CHAIRMAN.

Back in Violet, I was looking around for a Masquerain. I stopped to fight this Poké Maniac just for his dialogue.

But Pokémon ARE like the monsters in movies. (At least most of them are...) I thought I had to reset the game because he had a Pokémon that could help raise the stats of my Pokémon. That was until I realized Bagon was the only one he had on hand.

This might be the first time I've heard Pokémon be referred to as "monsters" since 2005. (And outside of Japan, too.)

But Pokémon always win.

After I beat that guy, I went off to hatch a Slakoth. But not before witnessing a Magikarp aimlessly flop around, waiting to become dinner for some predator.

After racing around on Miraidon for a bit, the Slakoth finally hatched in one of the Ten Sights of Paldea.

Secluded, this is not.

With a nearby Crabrawler, the caught Pokémon total rose to 355. Now there's only 45 more Pokémon for me to deal with.

A task I'm sure I won't have any trouble with in the slightest.

AUGUST 6TH

I managed to speed up my schoolwork and completely embarrass someone by getting better grades than them in my classes. I wish most of my school days could be like that.

When I went to see the Pokémon I got through Wonder Trades in Pokémon HOME, I managed to get a Chatot.

It came from the DP series and belonged to someone named Concert. I was about to trade it. But stopped after I learned about this Pokémon's value.

This Chatot is actually an event Pokémon. Given away in honor of the 10th Anniversary Concert held for... ...Pokémon's 10th anniversary. This explains the name and why it came from the DP series. What makes things more special is that I obtained this little guy through a Wonder Trade as opposed to the GTS or regular trades.

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theschlaepfer · 1 year

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The future of video editing is probably virtual reality.

The rumors of Apple’s AR/VR headset have me thinking about how it might apply to me as a video editor. I’ve long thought that NLEs are somewhat unintuitive systems. Obviously digital video editing can be complex, so it stands to reason that the user interfaces to accomplish it are complex, with a lot of options and control.

But when I think of film editing - meaning physical film editing - it’s somewhat simple at its core. Flatbed editors like the Steenbeck enabled you to get up close and personal with the footage, inspect each frame in its context, then literally cut → trim → paste. This tangibility is somewhat lost in the world of digital video.

I actually think Final Cut Pro X is really close to replicating that tangibility in its UI. Clips aren’t locked to tracks, but instead are anchored by a primary storyline. Dragging a clip into the timeline feels really good. It’s designed with a mouse in mind so it’s really easy to pick up and go. It’s intuitive in the same way cutting footage with scissors and taping them together might feel. It just makes sense.

Another system I’ve used recently is Scenery, currently in beta. It’s this unique cross between a traditional NLE - which works in 1.5 dimensions: the timeline axis and track layering - and something like Figma - which works in 2.5 dimensions: x-axis, y-axis, and a simplified z-axis. You can trim clips, freely move them around a board, and conjoin them wherever you want, making the assembly of sequences much more stream-of-consciousness. Then when it’s time to get into the weeds a bit more you can pop out these sequences into a more traditional NLE timeline view. This builds on Final Cut’s upending of expectations by reintroducing the feeling of strips of film on a table. It’s extremely intuitive in that way. It’s not a perfect product, but this it does very, very well.

That being said, maybe a mouse isn’t the most intuitive control. I’ve really been enjoying the DaVinci Speed Editor I got a year ago (so much that it’s in my profile pic on Mastodon). The jog wheel is intuitive in the same way the magnetic timeline feels intuitive to me. It just makes sense. A timeline moves in two directions so a single axis controller makes a lot of sense for editing with (although this limitation gets a bit annoying on multi-track timelines, which everything becomes eventually). Pressing the split button and hearing the clunk of the mechanical key feels solid and tangible.

But there’s still a disconnect. Because I’m interacting with something in my physical world and watching a screen update. I think it’s the same reason watching magical things happen in a Studio Ghibli film feels more real than a spell cast in a Harry Potter film (or TV show now, apparently 🙄): you, the audience, have already suspended disbelief in engaging with an animated film with animated humans and clearly invented locations. When a character then flies or does something else clearly untrue to reality, there’s no leap of faith or broken immersion because the immersion broke when the film started.

While this is unique to narrative mediums, I think something similar happens with regards to user interfaces. It’s why people hate video games that halt gameplay and become “menu management”. I don’t want to do menu management for my editing system. I just want to put shots together to tell a story. The more you edit, the less you notice the disconnect, but it’s still there, especially when projects come to a grinding halt as the program does something you didn’t expect or you aren’t allowed to do something you thought you could.

This is where something like AR/VR might enter the picture. By leveling the playing field, blurring the lines between our digital interfaces and the physical world or eliminating the lines altogether, I think we’re going to see some really novel interfaces appear. Interfaces that might seek to recreate the tangibility of film editing within the realm of digital video editing, or even beyond that, innovating in new directions we might find hard to imagine currently.

That, for me, is a really exciting prospect - to bring physicality into a digital world.

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silverlineswap · 1 year

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Weekly Crypto News

The weekly roundabout revolves around bitcoin, polygon, the Nigerian government’s play, and a lot more!

So dive in, right away, and let’s start it with the African nation that barged so much deep into cryptocurrency!

DID BITCOIN PREMIUM REALLY HIT 60% IN NIGERIA RESTRICTING THE ATM WITHDRAWALS AS WELL?

This move by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to limit ATM cash withdrawals was made in order to reduce money laundering and other financial crimes. The CBN also imposed a daily withdrawal limit of N500,000 ($1,400). This means that Nigerians are now turning to digital currencies like Bitcoin for their transactions instead of using traditional banking methods.

As a result, demand for Bitcoin has skyrocketed in Nigeria over the past few weeks and this surge in demand has caused its price to rise significantly higher than in other countries around the world. According to data from CoinMarketCap, one bitcoin is currently trading at $14,890 on Nigerian exchanges compared with $11,735 globally — representing a premium rate of nearly 60%.

This isn’t surprising given that many people have been looking for alternative ways to store their wealth due to economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and rising inflation rates across Africa’s largest economy. With more people turning towards cryptocurrencies as an investment option or even as a way to make payments online without having access to traditional banking services — it looks like we can expect further growth in crypto adoption across Africa going forward.

It will be interesting to see if this trend continues over time or if there will be any changes once restrictions on ATM cash withdrawals are lifted again later this year. For now, though it seems clear that cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly popular among Nigerians who want access to secure digital payment options outside of traditional banking systems — making it an attractive option for those looking for alternative investments during these uncertain times.

I NEVER SAID THIS, BUT WHY IS THE WORLD SPEAKING ABOUT BITCOIN STAYING OUT OF FEAR FOR 11 STRAIGHT DAYS AS THE PRICE TIPS NEAR 24K?

The cryptocurrency market has been on a wild ride this year, and Bitcoin is no exception. After reaching an all-time high of nearly $24,000 in December 2020, the price of Bitcoin has remained relatively stable for 11 consecutive days. This stability comes as a welcome respite from the volatility that characterized much of 2020.

The current period of relative calm is remarkable given the tumultuous nature of the crypto markets over the past few months. In November alone, Bitcoin experienced several large swings in value ranging from highs near $19,000 to lows around $16,500. The fact that it has managed to stay out of fear for such an extended period speaks volumes about its resilience and potential staying power as an asset class.

It’s worth noting that while Bitcoin may be experiencing some stability right now, there are still plenty of risks associated with investing in cryptocurrencies like it. For one thing, prices can change quickly and drastically due to news events or other external factors beyond investors’ control. Additionally, many governments have yet to create clear regulations surrounding digital currencies which could lead to further uncertainty down the line if they decide to crack down on them more heavily than they currently do.

DID POLYGON’S FORMER VP GIVE UP THE SECRET BEHIND MANY PARTNERSHIPS?

So what he said was,

As the former Vice President of Growth at Polygon, I had the unique opportunity to work with some of the world’s most successful companies. During my time there, I developed and executed strategies that enabled us to form major partnerships with these organizations. In this blog post, I want to share some of the secrets behind our success in forming these partnerships.

The first step in any partnership is identifying potential partners with a shared vision and business goals. It’s important to find an organization that has similar values and objectives as your own so you can ensure a mutually beneficial relationship. Once you’ve identified potential partners, it’s essential to do your research on them before reaching out. This includes understanding their target audience, product offerings, competitive landscape, etc., so you can craft an effective pitch tailored specifically for them.

Once you’ve done your research and crafted a compelling pitch outlining how both parties will benefit from working together, it’s time to reach out! The key here is making sure that all communication is clear and concise while also being friendly yet professional — no one wants long-winded emails or calls! Additionally, make sure that everyone involved understands what each party expects from the partnership; this helps avoid any confusion.

BOOYAH! SOLANA DE-FI PROJECT FRIKTION SHUTS DOWN ITS PLATFORM

The DeFi space has been growing rapidly over the past few years, with new projects popping up all the time. One of these projects was Friktion, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform built on the Solana blockchain. Unfortunately, it looks like this project is no more as its team recently announced that they are shutting down its user platform.

Friction was launched in 2020 and quickly gained traction due to its innovative approach to DeFi. It allowed users to earn rewards by staking their tokens and participating in liquidity pools. The project also had an impressive list of partners including Binance Smart Chain, Polygon Network, and Avalanche Network among others.

Unfortunately, despite having a promising start and gaining some traction in the market, Friktion’s team decided to shut down their user platform citing “unforeseen circumstances’’ as the reason for doing so. They have stated that they will be refunding all users who have deposited funds into their platform within 30 days from now but did not provide any further details about what those unforeseen circumstances were or why they decided to close shop suddenly without warning anyone beforehand.

EXPECTING YOUR USUAL CHART REPORT — NEWS? — WE GIVE YOU THAT AS WELL!

This week has been exciting for those interested in cryptocurrency, with several major developments taking place. Here’s a quick roundup of some of the biggest stories from the past seven days.

First up, Bitcoin (BTC) surged to its highest price since January 2018 on Wednesday, reaching $13,800 before settling back down to around $12,500 by Friday morning. This surge was largely attributed to PayPal announcing that it would be allowing customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies through its platform starting next year. The news sent shockwaves throughout the crypto community as many believe this could open up access to digital assets for millions more people worldwide.

In other news, Ethereum (ETH) also saw significant gains over the course of this week after hitting an all-time high above $400 on Thursday night. This came shortly after ETH 2.0 went live earlier in November and is seen as further evidence that investors are increasingly bullish about Ethereum’s future prospects due to its improved scalability and security features compared with Bitcoin’s blockchain technology.

Finally, Ripple (XRP) made headlines when it announced plans for a new payment system called “RippleNet Cloud” which will allow users to send payments across borders quickly and securely using XRP tokens as collateral or currency exchange fees between different currencies such as USD/EUR/GBP etc..

The move is seen by many analysts as another step towards mainstream adoption of Ripple’s products and services within financial institutions globally — something which could have huge implications for both XRP holders and traders alike going forward into 2023!

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stellarisium · 1 year

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Why Marketing Agencies Should Use Blockchain Technology

Blockchain is a form of disruptive technology that did not enter the market quietly — it threw open the doors and made its presence known. But while blockchain has been busy shaking up the financial sector with cryptocurrency, that's not all this new kid on the block has been up to.

Blockchain ledger technology has proven to be incredibly valuable to many industries beyond its more well-known use in cryptocurrencies. From asset management and tracking to regulatory compliance, blockchain technology offers businesses new efficiencies and opportunities with its use.

While many of these blockchain services are still in their infancy stages, implementing this disruptive technology into your marketing suite can provide the following value for your business and clients, including increased transparency and trust; reduced advertising fraud; and increased security and privacy.

As many people still view blockchain as this esoteric and far out technology, it's becoming increasingly clear that Web 3.0 will revolutionize the world and our industry. That's why I want to discuss three primary areas that blockchain will revolutionize your digital agency and provide immense value to our businesses.

Blockchain increases transparency and trust

Blockchain is a decentralized technology that does not rely on a central point of control. Instead, its functionality depends upon the consensus of a vast network of nodes to confirm and approve any transaction on its chain.

With traditional computing systems, data is typically stored on a client-server network and relies on one central database. Every computation and action taken feeds into one place, and all action items are held in a central location. Unfortunately, this model places a lot of control in the hands of internet providers as a "trusted third party." To find out additional information about blockchain marketing, you've to check out blockchain marketing services website.

Blockchain flips this model on its head, hosting transaction blocks on hundreds, if not thousands, of computers worldwide, decentralizing it. Most importantly, this data is entirely available for anyone to find and verify on a public ledger. With blockchain, any change to the chain will be immutable — stamped, recognized, unchanged and viewable for anyone to see going forward. This technology is very similar to how peer-to-peer networks work.

This puts transactions back in the hands of the people, and makes data trusted again- and gives your audience more control over their data.

So how does this principle of transparency and trust apply to marketing?

Simply put, using blockchain for marketing builds trust and increases transparency with our clients. For example, blockchain can show customers how the advertising efforts of big businesses are using their data. Unfortunately, with a centralized client-run database, it's nearly impossible to tell what a company is doing with your data, how they share it and with whom.

Blockchain provides security and protects privacy

Enter blockchain for cybersecurity. Security is an inherent part of the blockchain ledger, as every time a new chain is created, it is encrypted and then linked to the previous transaction. Once these chains are made, they are impossible to alter or hack.

On the marketing side, using blockchain to build smart contracts is a way for businesses to provide additional security measures and assurances to clients. Smart contracts offer increased security by verifying, recording and encrypting all blockchain transactions. These contracts can also automatically generate backups and duplicates, providing additional security, trust, transparency and security. Using smart contracts, digital agencies can establish greater trust with clients and protect their data and privacy.

Blockchain is the future

While blockchain still feels like some futuristic tech we read about in journals, large corporations like Microsoft and Amazon have already made the switch to blockchain to improve everyday processes and online security.

It seems like everyday we read about new cybersecurity leaks and hacks from malicious actors. However, very little seems possible to stop someone from stealing our financial and personal info. Unfortunately, the NFT marketing industry can relate to this as it has long suffered with ad fraud and digital theft.

That's why blockchain is not only a great investment to create trust with our customers, but also to protect our collective online privacy and cut down on fraud and theft. Philosophically and pragmatically, blockchain presents a vision of a more secure and trustworthy digital experience.

Clearly blockchain and cryptocurrencies will have a significant impact on Silicon Valley in the coming decade and as the next layer of the internet gets built out. The question is, how will we impact the direction of the Web 3.0 tsunami that is coming to provide our clients greater value, or will we lose out to those who took the step toward early adoption?

0 notes

cristodelaroca · 1 year

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Why Marketing Agencies Should Use Blockchain Technology

Blockchain increases transparency and trust

This puts transactions back in the hands of the people, and makes data trusted again- and gives your audience more control over their data.

So how does this principle of transparency and trust apply to marketing?

Blockchain provides security and protects privacy

Blockchain is the future

0 notes

whatisyour1more · 2 years

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How Does Cryptocurrency Even Work, and What are its Benefits

How Does Crytptocurrency Even Work, and What are its Benefits

Have you ever watched something rise in popularity seemingly overnight and wondered how it works or why it’s even a big deal? That is what cryptocurrency is for a lot of people. It can be a divisive topic.

Many people, especially those used to traditional assets, might see crypto as volatile, unpredictable, and unstable. The problem is, those are usually the people who don’t understand it.

I’m here to tell you that not only should you take the time to learn what cryptocurrency is, but that it has unique investment opportunities. Let’s digest this a little bit.

What are Cryptocurrencies, and How Do They Work?

When most people think of crypto, they immediately think of Bitcoin, but there is so much more to it than that. In general, cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual tokens that use specific technology (cryptography) to secure their transactions and control the creation of new units.

The biggest thing you need to understand is that cryptocurrencies are decentralized, meaning they are not subject to government or financial institution control. No Federal Reserve or a central bank is required to facilitate the flow of funds.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies utilize blockchain technology to keep track of transactions. A blockchain is a distributed database that allows for secure, transparent, anonymous, tamper-proof transactions. Think of it like a bank ledger. Everything is recorded on that ledger as an account of each transaction.

This technology is used in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin to create a digital ledger of all transactions. This makes it difficult for hackers to steal or counterfeit bitcoins.

So with this information, why is this a recipe for its popularity?

The Benefits of Investing in Cryptocurrencies?

Cryptocurrency may be one of the most transformative inventions since the internet. At first, it’s a novelty, then one day, it’s adopted in mass, and you can’t imagine your life without it. The crypto space is more than just a way to make a quick buck—it can also have utility (a real-world purpose).

For example, because of cryptocurrency’s decentralized nature, you own your own assets without the risk of control from a financial institution. This makes them an attractive investment option for those opposed to entire markets being changed because of the decision of an entity like the Fed.

Cryptocurrencies are also associated with anonymity. Instead of requiring a human to be able to access your account to some degree, you become the manager of your own bank to assets that you own. This is an appealing feature for those who want to keep their financial activities private.

One final benefit (among many still) is that people who invest now may still be early enough to benefit from mass adoption. This is because, as time goes on, more use cases are being created for cryptocurrency, both online and in the real world. Even some banks and stores are allowing transactions to be done using them. Getting into the market now could lead to multi-generational opportunities in the future.

Final Thoughts

This is not financial advice, and you should understand that crypto has risks, like any other type of investment. But I have a saying I like to stand by, don’t bet against innovation. New things can seem scary. Especially when you look at the crypto market, everything is down by something like 70%.

Does that mean you should ignore it or wait for it to turn around? No, because you might miss the opportunity. You don’t have to go all in, but getting involved little by little could help you learn what you need to know when the market turns around. As a starting point, Coinbase is an easy-to-use platform that’s beginner friendly.

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emmanonstop · 2 years

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Why Marketing Agencies Should Use Blockchain Technology

Blockchain increases transparency and trust

With traditional computing systems, data is typically stored on a client-server network and relies on one central database. Every computation and action taken feeds into one place, and all action items are held in a central location. Unfortunately, this model places a lot of control in the hands of internet providers as a "trusted third party." You can get more details on NFT marketing by browsing crypto pr agency site.

This puts transactions back in the hands of the people, and makes data trusted again- and gives your audience more control over their data.

So how does this principle of transparency and trust apply to marketing?

Blockchain provides security and protects privacy

Blockchain is the future

0 notes

angy-feral-cat · 2 years

Text

Why Marketing Agencies Should Use Blockchain Technology

Blockchain increases transparency and trust

With traditional computing systems, data is typically stored on a client-server network and relies on one central database. Every computation and action taken feeds into one place, and all action items are held in a central location. Unfortunately, this model places a lot of control in the hands of internet providers as a "trusted third party." To discover more details about blockchain marketing, you have to visit Blockchain pr agency website.

This puts transactions back in the hands of the people, and makes data trusted again- and gives your audience more control over their data.

So how does this principle of transparency and trust apply to marketing?

Blockchain provides security and protects privacy

Blockchain is the future

It seems like everyday we read about new cybersecurity leaks and hacks from malicious actors. However, very little seems possible to stop someone from stealing our financial and personal info. Unfortunately, the crypto marketing industry can relate to this as it has long suffered with ad fraud and digital theft.

0 notes

trustil · 2 years

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Cuphead drawings

#CUPHEAD DRAWINGS HOW TO#

#CUPHEAD DRAWINGS TV#

The animators also used stop motion animation for certain scenes-for example, the opening shot of Cuphead, Mugman, and Elder Kettle’s house-giving them a vintage flair. Each background is an actual watercolor painting. Plus, if you noticed that the backgrounds look especially rich, that’s because they weren’t done digitally at all. The studio began with a huge number of handmade drawings and then used a digital platform called Harmony Animation to animate them, creating a look that evoked traditional cel animation.

#CUPHEAD DRAWINGS TV#

Speaking with The LA Times, art director Andrea Fernandez explains that “I think people tend to forget the pipeline to produce that look just doesn’t exist anymore….To re-create that level of art was actually really daunting and difficult for a modern TV pipeline.” Simply put, the creative team didn’t have the infrastructure to produce The Cuphead Show! completely by hand.īut they wanted it to look as much like hand-drawn animation as possible, so they set out to replicate it as best they could. After all, a single second of hand-drawn animation usually requires 24 cels, and with each Cuphead episode running for roughly nine minutes … that’s a lot of cels. Unfortunately, as much as the creative team wanted The Cuphead Show! to stay true to Golden Age animation, the modern demands of TV production didn’t allow for the painstaking process of drawing, coloring, and filming animation cels by hand. But How Feasible is Hand-Drawn Animation? This animation style was what blew people away when they first played the game, and the executive producers wanted to stay true to what fans of the game loved the most. Because of that, the acting in those cartoons is often wildly over the top, lending them a surreal quality that later cartoons often lack.

#CUPHEAD DRAWINGS HOW TO#

As Chad Moldenhaur explains in an interview with The Los Angeles Times, rubber hose animation arose very early in the history of motion pictures, when animators were still figuring out how to translate acting techniques to drawings. Wasson points out that the rubber hose aesthetic relies on characters who don’t seem to have joints, instead moving freely as if they were made of, well, rubber hoses.īut there’s more to it than that. According to Variety, the team really wanted to capture the aesthetic of the Golden Age cartoons of the 1930’s. Also joining the team are executive producers Dave Wasson and Cosmo Segurson. The Cuphead Show!‘s creative team includes Chad and Jared Moldenhaur, creators of the original 2017 video game that the show is based on. In the first episode, Cuphead manages to accidentally sell his soul to the Devil in a skeeball game, and the rest of the 12-episode first season sees Cuphead and Mugman running from the Devil and his various henchmen while getting themselves into one scrape after another. The Cuphead Show! follows Cuphead, a brash and headstrong kid with a knack for getting himself into trouble, and Mugman, his more timid and cautious brother. But is The Cuphead Show! actually hand drawn? The Animators’ Vision All in all, the aesthetic is a refreshing change from the computer graphics of most animated shows. But the show also has a modern look to it, too, with each character’s movements and facial expressions holding more detail and nuance than original rubber hose cartoons. The backgrounds in The Cuphead Show! look like a combination of watercolor and stop motion, and you can even see flecks and dust motes flashing across the screen as if it were shot on 35mm film. Rubber hose animation is distinguished by characters who sport wildly flailing limbs, outrageous physical comedy, and those weird poofy gloves that are a hallmark of old-timey cartoons. The characters are drawn in the “rubber hose” style of animation’s Golden Age, which occurred almost a hundred years ago. The Cuphead Show! has dropped on Netflix, and although overall the show has gotten middling reviews, there’s one thing everyone can agree on: the animation is beautiful.

#Cuphead drawings

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k-dokja · 2 years

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Texting Habits: Daniel Park, Jake Kim.

— Daniel doesn’t use a lot of emojis but his ? punctuation ? is nonexistent. It’s weird because he uses proper grammar but there’s no ? punctuation ? like ? What gives? Daniel? Does it ? hurt you ? to use ?the punctuation?

&. He makes up for this with how you can basically hear his voice in how he talks. Examples of his replies are something like ‘ooooooh’ (understanding) vs ‘ohhhhhh’ (volunteering) vs ‘oh’ (disappointment) vs ‘oh oh’ (excited) vs ‘oOooOoOoOh’ (teasing) vs ‘OH’ (surprised)

You get the point.

&. He compensates for his underuse of emoji everywhere else with his overuse of 🥺 and 🥰 plus the countless heart ones with you. Again, examples show best:

Zack: hey let me borrow the jacket you wore the other day

Daniel: ?

Daniel: what for

Zack: I need to look good for my date with Mira

Daniel: kk

Daniel: 🥺 do you want to come over 👉👈

Daniel: i got the snacks you like 💕💞

You: ah

You: am i staying overnight?

Daniel: if you want to 🥺

You: oooh okay let me prepare

Daniel: 💗

&. Always texts you goodnight before bed if he doesn’t get to call you that night. It’s always coupled with him reminding you that he loves you and if he doesn’t receive the same in return then he gets a bit pouty about it.

Daniel: good night 😘

Daniel: i love you 💕

You: night dork

Daniel: dawww 🥺

You: 😑

You: love you too simp

Daniel: 🥰

&. Any of your friends who don’t know him and see the text tend to be like 🤨 is he like that in real life?

The answer is yes. Except you have to see his 🥺 in real life which is ten times more effective because of how pretty he is. It’s super destructive.

&. He prefers video calling over texting in general. Around two to three times a day if the two of you can’t see each other at school. But what he likes bet is still meeting you face to face. He just wants to see you !! He misses you 🥺🥹

&. He sends you !! picture !! of stray animals he sees on the streets !! or just pictures of cute and strange things he sees or pictures of things which remind him of you. Your shared media is cluttered with random images and you’d never be able to find anything you wanted if it was sent a week prior.

&. If the two of you aren’t preparing to go out together from the same place then Daniel always snaps a picture of his outfit and sends it to you before he leaves. It becomes a tradition that the two of you do that to see if your outfits matched. The condition of what would happen if it did or if it didn’t change depending on the occasion.

— Jake texts you so much that you have put him on mute at this point and it depends on God when you decided to check and answer him. Somehow, he always manages to reply back within the minute, not even leaving you the chance to leave him waiting again. Then, before you know it, you were stuck talking with him for the next 40 minutes.

&. Employs his artillery of digital kisses at his own convenience. From 😘 to 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 to xoxo, anything to fluster a little and put a grin to his face. He continues to do it even when you’re no longer moved by his actions. It’s just his little ways of showing affections.

&. You think this man would care if he? double-text? triple-text? Once, you opened the chat with thirty notifications from him and all of them are just ‘hey’ and ‘heeyyyyy’ plus a bunch of emoji spams.

&. That was the first time Jake got blocked.

He will pester Jason and Brad to let him borrow their phone to ask them to unblock you. When that doesn’t work, he’d transfer to your bank account like 10000 won with the message ‘unblock meeee’ and when that doesn’t work he will transfer another 90000 won with the message ‘pleaseeee’

&. Another one who likes video calling to text messages, but doesn’t have as much chances. In contrary to his constant texting, his calls tend to be one long one in the evening instead of calls throughout the day. It’s mostly because he tends to text you while he’s doing Big Deal business. Some of them, while not entirely illegal, can be sordid and more than a bit violent.

&. Also another perpetrator of sending random images. However, he often sends weird selfies of himself or candid images/videos of Big Deal members. Aside from that, he’s very liberal with his uses of sending pictures as reaction images.

&. I’m in the firm belief that Jake and Big Deal would re-enact various memes and trends whenever they can. If you have a bad day, you can always count on them to cheer you up with their unexpected silliness.

#lookism #lookism x reader #daniel park #daniel park x reader #Jake Kim #jake kim x reader #headcanons

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gentrychild · 3 years

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So Anyone is very much a comfort fic and this last time I read through it I'm not sure if I missed it or it was just briefly mentioned or what. But I have to ask. When and how did Izuku manage to crack the safe all of his merch was locked in?

It was a blink and miss it moment in chapter 25, after the Nightmare incident!

Snacks were eaten behind an ice wall so Dabi couldn’t get to them, the solid surface deliciously cool on their overheated backs.

Izuku could have stayed there for a while, just hanging down with his friend, waiting for lunch to arrive. He also still had to empty the safe that Kurogiri had gratefully brought to the beach house. It was was currently laying in the sand near the house, freshly gutted. The teenager might have lost patience at some point and kicked it until it opened just a little, then finished the rest with his bare hands. Now, the treasures unfairly stolen from him were within arm reach.

But instead, Todoroki got up and walked to the designated sparring zone, completely expecting for them to finish their traditional three matches.

So Izuku followed him.

I had an actual scene where I showed Izuku cracking the code digit by digit but I never finished it and I wanted to advance my plot.

I'm happy you like Anyone, Anon. ^^

#the code of the safe was Izuku's birth date btw #anyone fic

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ac3id · 3 years

Text

“watch and learn,” | 18+

pairings: incel sakusa x fem!reader x ushijima

summary: sakusa gets tired of watching you take advantage of his friend, so he takes matters into his own hands to teach you a lesson. fortunately for him, ushijima feels the same

warnings: noncon, humiliation, voyeurism, anal, hate fucking.

a/n: this was high-key inspired by @vermiliren ‘s sakusa and ushijima concepts,,, love you <3

wordcount.: 4k+

tagging: @minitaureland, @oikawoahh, @lady-tokugawa-of-mikawa, @sunshine-fangs

dm to be added/ removed!

Sakusa has a problem.

Well, Sakusa has many problems, but this one in particular manages to drive him crazy.

It makes his blood boil and his cock hard, it’s an irritating itch he just can’t scratch which makes him absolutely mad.

One could say such a problem must be nerve-wracking; something which keeps you up all night wondering how you can overcome it. Maybe it’s family, maybe it’s financial. It must be a big deal, right? But luckily for Sakusa, it’s just you.

His problem is you, his teammate’s girlfriend.

It’s weird. Technically, there should be no reason for him to think of his teammate’s girlfriend as anything but just as another girl but his heart tells him another story.

Whenever he thinks of you, he either imagines punching your beautiful face until it’s stained with wine red blood or shoving his cock down all of your holes which he hears you cry in agony. He imagines filling you up with his cum, clearing you of all your filth. There’s really no in-between, but sometimes he imagines doing it both...in the same order.

But hey! Sakusa is a good guy, he would never do such a thing! He respects women and most certainly he respects you. He obviously doesn’t think you’re a whore or anything for talking to a guy who isn’t your boyfriend, Ushijima. But gosh, even you notch it up a lot.

He rarely ever sees you, only when you arrive at bars uninvited with Ushijima or when you come down to the volleyball tournaments for Ushijima or when you wait for Ushijima while he practices in the stadium or….. When you go down to the grocery store where he just happens to be….multiple times.

Maybe you’re getting food for Ushijima, but he’s sure his teammate’s not going to eat half the junk you buy. Ushijima has a body to maintain, his health is very important to him. All of that fast food is not going to work him any favors.

Don’t you cook for him? You know, like a woman should?

You see, Sakusa is a little old fashioned. He likes tradition and sincerely pesters everyone to follow it. So it’s not a big surprise when he expects the same from you or any female in general. In the past, he’s been called an incel; a man who hates women was it? But that’s definitely not him. He loves them. Especially when they are naked on his computer screen, getting pinned down by a man two sizes bigger than themselves.

Sometimes he imagines you and Ushijma in their place and way more often, he imagines him with you over there instead.

So, see? He doesn’t women. He loves them! But… some women get on his nerves.

Some women like you.

He would never admit this, but Sakusa follows you around only because he does not trust you for Ushijima. Even when Ushi’s around, you flirt with other men while he’s sitting right next to you with his arms wrapped around your shoulder. It gets worse when he is away.

He can always hear you make suggestive comments to the cute cashier in the store while he lurks away. He’s disgusted. He can’t understand why Ushijima still chooses to stay with you.

He’s dating a whore, you don’t care about him- you’re just having your fun. You’ll leave him once it gets over, you don’t like him. But you still have him entranced, so madly in love with you. Sukasa think-no, he knows it’s only because you’re good in bed. There’s no other reason for him to keep you around for so long, being a slut you probably know how to make a man feel good.

Sakusa understands that but it still bothers him. Like a good friend he is, he decides to tell Ushijima about you. It starts in the locker room after practice. Both of them stand together changing out of their sports gear, it was a tiring day, and the two men were tired. He’s surprised when Ushijima starts the conversation, midday through changing his shirt, he starts.

“So, what do you think of her?” Sakusa knows who he is talking about, you had come into the stadium that day to watch Ushijima practice, and he had spent the better half of his time glaring daggers and staring at you. Sakusa says your name cluelessly, “Yes, her.” Ushijima replies.

Sakusa clicks his tongue, “I think-” “Cut the bullshit, you’re fucking her aren’t you?”

Ushijima turns to him, his eyes dark and fatal. A frown rests on his face with his fists balled as if to throw a punch. Sakusa panics, not understanding why such an accusation could fall over his head.

“No- I- that’s not true!” he clarifies but Ushijima looks unmoved, “Then why the fuck do you keep looking at her?” the murderous glint in his eyes doesn’t disappear as he just gets angrier. A newfound fear forms within Sakusa, he had always respected Ushijima as a player and a man, he sure as hell didn’t want to start a fight with the green-haired man. He spills everything he knows, everything he’s seen.

The night when he spotted you kissing Atsumu, the relentless flirting, everything. It’s brutal, it breaks Ushijima’s heart but a necessary evil. He watches Ushijima’s spirit break when his eyes turn blank. He stares motionlessly on the floor, thinking. Sakusa feels the rage return, he’s so mad at you- how could you do this to anyone? All of you are the same, all women are the same but….but you are the worst!

Sakusa waits for a moment before speaking, “You can’t let her get away with this,” he starts. Ushijima looks up at him, listening diligently to his plan. “You should take revenge, don’t let her get away with this.” Revenge?

Ushijima’s eyes lit up at the word, many thoughts came into his mind when Sakusa said it. Revenge? Should he also kiss any of your friends behind your back? Should he be cold towards you? The idea of making you realize just how much you hurt him by lettering you experience the pain excited him. He loved you, he did but sometimes drastic measures have to be taken. “What should I do?” he asked impatiently, he wanted to find a way to fix his deteriorating relationship.

Sakusa pauses, his mind racing back to the many porn clips he has fapped to before and settling on which the big boyfriend destroys his little girlfriend’s pussy for cheating on him. “I’ll send a video.”

Later that night Ushijima receives a link from Sakusa, titled ‘boyfriend punishes girlfriend for cheating.’

“Wakatoshi?” you bask in confusion at the man standing next to your boyfriend at the front door. It was late at night and you were almost going to bed. Ushijima had texted you telling he’d be home late that night but you had managed to catch him just in time. You were not expecting his teammate to come along with him, though.

It was awkward, dressed only in some sleep shorts and Ushijima welcoming Sakusa in the house was weird. He never seemed to take his eyes off of you, you were genuinely creeped out. You let the two men talk in the living room while you headed to the kitchen to prepare them a little snack. They said they had already eaten but umm...hospitality? It was fine to both of them, they liked you better in the kitchen anyway.

“Have you tried a threesome before?” Sakusa asked, taking a seat. It was finally the day Ushijima was going to man up and teach you a lesson which you’d never forget. “No, I don’t like to share,” he replied. Sakusa nodded, “understandable.” they stood quiet for a second only for your humming to fill the room. Even though you were in the kitchen, your sweet melody still ringed till the other room. Ushijima threw Sakusa a knowing glance before he made his way to the kitchen to see you. Heading over next to you, he sized down your form.

Ushijima took a step forward, trapping you between the kitchen counter and his huge body. You bring your hands to his chest, keeping him at a distance from you and just feeling his warmth under your palms. You did this often, it wasn’t anything sexual. You just enjoyed feeling him under your fingertips.

“So, what’s his deal?” you ask, your voice low not to alert Sakusa sitting in the living room. It was late, very late. There was no reason for Ushijima to bring a friend over now, but if Sakusa needed a place to spend the night- that was a different story.

“He will go in sometime,” Ushijima answered back, his huge, warm palms caressing your cheeks. You lean into the touch as he looks down at you affectionately with pure innocent eyes until he can’t. The spell you have him under breaks and he remembers why Sakusa is here.

His thumb trails down to your lips, pushing against the soft and pillow-like features. You look at him in confusion, Surprised by his bold actions. Ushijima was a private person, seeing him act so suggestively while another man sat right in the next room shocked you...but you liked it.

You obediently open your mouth letting his digits enter your hot carven. A tingle of a dull, throbbing pull settles on your tongue as you frown. Looking up at Ushijima through your lashes, you watch him glare at you while he pinches your tongue between his two fingers.

You whine out, there was no lie that you like it rough but the unsettling expression on Ushijima's face frightened you.

“Do you remember the last time we went out for drinks with the team?” your eyes widened and your blood ran cold, you knew exactly what he was getting at. “Nod your fucking head, bitch.” his pinch grew tighter making you squeal harder and you hastily nodded. You heard footsteps ring as Sakusa appeared into the room. Turning your eyes to his immediately, asking him for assistance. You hope to see a reaction out of Sakusa, disgust at most- he’d tell you both to cut it out but Sakusa stood still with an unreadable expression. Was he not going to say anything?

Ushijima caught your attention back by pinching your tongue hard, once again. drool pooled in your mouth, slowly leaking past your lips. It was disgusting.

“That night, did you kiss Atsumu?”

He knew. This is why he was doing this, you could understand that, but why was Sakusa just watching?

Your gaze lowered to the floor and Ushijima let his fingers leave you, letting you talk. You kept your head down as you spoke. it was too heartbreaking, you knew you should have told Ushijima but for some reason you never did. you were sacred Ushijima would leave you.

“That night, Atsumu came onto me…. when you left me with him that day, he kissed me- I didn’t want him to..he just…” shaky breaths leave your lips as you recall the dreadful incident. Atsumu was drunk that night, he wasn’t thinking straight. He apologized to you sincerely the next day but the damage was done. you could still feel his uninvited touches roaming all over your body when he tried to grope you.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Ushijima turned to sakusa, the glare which was burning you now directed at him. Ushijima was furious at sakusa for accusing you but sakusa knew what he saw. he frowned at you, he remembers seeing you kissing the blonde back- you’re just lying now, trying to get out of this mess.

“She’s lying, I knew what I saw. don’t trust her,”

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Who do you think you are?”

You scream at him with angry, glassy eyes immediately turning to Ushijima and begging him to not believe the dark-haired man. Sakusa watches you with calculating eyes, revising his next move. He knows he’s not going to let you go so easily, there’s only one reason he’s here tonight. And that’s to put a whore in her place, he’s not leaving until he gets a taste of you.

He starts again, “don’t listen to her, Ushijima. listen to me, I have no reason to lie to you I’m your friend.” He chooses his words carefully to manipulate Ushijima into siding with him.

Ushijima stares at you for a second before grabbing your wrist harshly, “it’ll be okay,” he whispers your name, pulling you along with him. you scream at him, trying to pull your hand out of his grasp as he thrusts your forward.

“Toshi’ stop. seriously, no. stop,” you cry and beg but he shows no mercy. He pulls you into your shared bedroom, throwing you on your shared bed. Sakusa quietly follows, locking the door behind him as he enters. “What should I do now?” Ushijima turns to sakusa who stands next to the door, his eyes run towards you and he watches you cowering on the bed. You curl yourself up, pushing your knees to your chest and burying your head in between. You sit at the edge of the bed, far away from the two men quiring in fear and dread. Sakusa had thought you’d be putting up more of a fight but seems like you knew your place. Besides there was no way you’d manage to win against the two giants, they’d crush you even before you can try.

“Do you not remember the video?” Sakusa asks, pulling his phone out of his pocket and opening a porn site. He clicks on the video he had forwarded to Ushijima, the video starts normally; a man talking to his supposed girlfriend but he skips the clip forward to the part he wants to see.

“You seriously want me to do that to her?” Ushijima asks, frowning at the screen. The porn actress is bent over the actor’s lap as he showers her bottom with powerful slaps. Blistering her ass and making her cry.

Sakusa nods. Ushijima looks bad at your quivering form before whispering, “like a child?”

Truth to be told, Sakusa knew Ushijima was a softie and that he cared about your feelings. That was the difference between him and the ace. He loved you and he loved you a little too much, you were the first thing swimming in his mind and it may be defined by some as romantic, Sakusa thought differently.

The thought disgusted him, caring so much about a mere woman; the man has to be crazy. Don’t get it wrong, Sakusa loves women so much he’s cornering you like this but he also firmly believes that women have duties. And by what he can see between you and Ushijima, you’re not fulfilling them at all and Ushijima is too much of a pussy to make you fix your mistakes.

He’s just helping his bro out. xx

Sakusa doesn’t answer him, instead, he looks at him with a fixed glare. Ushijima clicks his tongue, he didn’t want to hit his girlfriend like a child but he didn’t want to disrespect his friend either. He thinks for a moment before turning to you, making up his mind he chooses to spank you. A small smile of satisfaction crosses on Sakusa’s face as he watched Ushijima approach you.

His knee dips down on the bed as he moves forward to get you, “Toshi’ please, I will never, never talk to any guy ever again. You don’t need to do this.” you beg. Your eyes are glassy and your face is flushed from crying. You look up at your boyfriend with pleading eyes, hoping he’d listen to you. Ushijima stops in his tracks, hesitating to get you. He thinks about, maybe he should let you-

“Ushijima.”

Sakusa’s stern voice pulls him back to reality, he clicks his tongue and grabs you by your arm pulling you with him to the opposite edge of the bed. You keep crying and begging but Ushijima doesn’t bat an eye as he pulls you over his lap. He presses his hand against your back to keep you from running away while the other paws at your sleeping shorts.

“Stop screaming,” Sakusa commands, but you never listen to him. “Is this okay?” Ushijima flashes Sakusa a perfect view of your naked ass, your panties, and discarded on the floor. Sakusa walks over, standing in front of Ushijima, he leans in to grab a handful of your ass but Ushijima pushes his hand away. “No touching,” he commands.

As if they put salt on the wound, Ushijima moves along to fondle your ass. Playing with the soft flesh, squeezing them, spreading them all to his liking. A small smile grazes his face and for the first time, he realizes how much smaller you are compared to him. It makes him feel mighty, he loves the power he holds over you right now. The thoughts about what he can do to you flow straight to his cock. You feel his ever-growing bulge poke at your stomach under his pants.

Sakusa picks up your panties from the floor and right over in front of you, he grabs your face with his hands, squishing cheeks before shoving the panties into your mouth shutting you up once and for all. Ushijima throws him a glare but decides to ignore it eventually. His hands roam over your back one last time before he brings it up into the air and slams it down onto your round ass swiftly.

You cry out in pain, your bare ass stinging and burning. You hope for your boyfriend to calm down but he doesn’t give you a break, repeatedly hitting your ass with no sign of mercy. You cry and wither around, mumbling words that get muffled behind the gag making it impossible for any of them to understand.

Sakusa patiently watches the scene in front of him, you’re crying in pain while Ushijima spanks you. It’s kind of like the scenes he always fantasized about, the only difference being it’s him who’s raining down slaps on your naked ass instead of Ushijima.

“You’re doing it wrong.”

“What?”

Sakusa wants to touch you, he wants to feel you under him. He’s not going to let himself watch you both doing it all night while he stands at the side with a raging boner and besides, Ushijima wasn’t hitting you hard enough. He pauses, looking up at Sakusa and you sigh in relief.

“You’re hitting her hard enough, at this rate she’ll never fear you,” he taunts and you frown. Your ass was already painfully red and swollen, you couldn't imagine how much longer you’d last.

In a flash, Ushijima pulled you on your feet, holding you by your arm. “You do it. I’m not enjoying this,” Sakusa’s eyes light up and he holds his urge to smile, he does not want to out himself.

“Watch and learn,”

He quietly walks over and changes roles, you squirm in his grip shaking your head no. You did not want to left under Sakusa’s touch at all, you had a feeling he hated you- which he did. He pulled you over his thighs where you could feeling his raging boner hit your stomach and just like Ushijima he started slapping your ass swiftly faster and much harder than your boyfriend.

They come without any warnings one after the other. You feel yourself tapping out now and then but a swift, harsh pull to your hair did just fine in waking you back into the nightmare. After Sakusa was done with abusing your ass, he started rubbing and playing with you. He squeezed your cheeks making you wince, spreading it open staring at your pulsing hole. His fingers even slipped down lower, dangerously close to your cunt.

“Sakusa,” Ushijima’s heavy voice cut through and Sakusa immediately lifted his hands off you. He pushed you down on the bed and removed the panties he had stuffed into your mouth. You coughed, your throat hoarse and your body exhausted.

Your bottom was numb, you could not feel a thing and your body was on fire. Ushijima called out to you, caressing your cheek. “Are you okay?” Ushijima felt bad. In all honesty, he did not want to hurt you but hearing the things Sakusa had said to him about you and what you did when he was not around made him feel like a small man, a man with no pride. It bothered him so he listens to Sakusa. He seemed to know what he was doing but now he sat filled with regrets.

Sakusa slapped Ushijima’s hand away from your face, “She’s fine. We aren’t done yet.”

Sakusa pulled you closer to him and ripped your shirt off your body, squeezing your tits and rolling your hardened nipples between his fingers. Ushijima dragged you back to him, at this point both the men were using you like a rag doll, literally. “I’m fucking her pussy.” he declared. You whined as he made you sit down on the bed but quickly switched positions so that you were straddling his thigh. You could see the dent in his jeans propped up, begging to be released. “What? Am I supposed to take her ass? That’s gross.” “You can use her mouth too,”

That was even grosser, Sakusa wanted to fuck your pussy. No doubt he’d love to ruin your ass and your mouth but today he wanted your pussy. He opened his mouth to speak but was immediately speechless when he saw Ushijima making out with you. He kisses you so passionately, your lips molding together, his tongue going down your throat. For a moment it felt like he wasn’t going to rape you here and now. Hell, maybe you are even enjoying this.

He scoffs, unbuckling his belt he walks behind you, settling for your ass. He feels like a third wheel, watching Ushijima kiss you so lovingly; licking your neck and biting down your tits making you moan.

He lifts you, spreading your cheeks, presenting your gaping hole to Sakusa. “You can go first,” he offers. Your start squirming around once again trying to free yourself from him. “Please, Wakatoshi no it will hurt. Please don’t-” “Shut up, bitch” Sakusa comes behind you, his hands closing around your petit neck. He squeezes around the soft flesh, effectively shutting you up. Out of desperation, you look up at Ushijima with watery eyes only to see him glaring at Sakusa. He slaps away Sakusa’s hand away from your neck, “Careful, she’s not yours’ bro.” his voice is filled with sarcasm. Sakusa scoffs moving back, “is she yours though? Sucking up to every guy ever who gives her an ounce of attention? Hate break it to you but your girl’s a whore, dude.” Sakusa returns. Sitting in the room with a hard-on, they glare at each other. Co-operating with Ushijima was harder than Sakusa thought and Ushijima much more possessive than he seemed.

The longer he stared with Sakusa with murderous intentions, the more fragile his grip on you became. Once you spotted it was weak enough, you broke out of it made for a run.

‘Fuck!” Ushijima screamed and chased after you with Sakusa following. You don’t get far, they catch you in the corridor. Ushijima pushes you against the wall, his hand coming up to grab your jaw making you look at him. ‘One fucking thing [y/n]. I told you it’ll be over fucking soon, didn’t I?” he slaps your face once. “It’s all your fault anyway. If it weren’t for you whoring out there like a fucking slut you wouldn’t be in this situation.” he slaps you twice, ouch. You plead guilty, promising him you’d never do it again but after repeated denials, you change your request. You choke back sobs as you try to calm your uneven breathing, “You can do anything you want to me but...just not him, please.” you turn to Sakusa shaking like a leaf. You didn’t want that man to be near you, nevertheless, touch you.

Ushijima thinks for a moment, turning to Sakusa. He thinks long and hard before answering, “It will be okay.” he says before pushing you against Sakusa. He didn’t want to give you up but you know what they say...Bros before Hos. Sakusa catches you roughly and pins you against his chest. He wraps his arm around your waist, letting the other pulls his pants down and pull his throbbing cock out of his briefs. It stands tall, not as thick as Ushijima but he’s big. With the red tip leaking with pre, he gives it a pump.

“Hold her legs,” he commands. Ushijima walks up to the two of you with his huge cock out and leaking, he wastes no time in grabbing one of your legs and pushing it up.

He lines his tip with your dry hole, “that’s enough foreplay, now,” he slowly truths inside, breaching past your cute cunt, splitting you into two. A burning pain flashes through you, slowly getting replaced by pleasure. Your tight cunt sucks up around his cock, salivating as he hits deeper and deeper. Sakusa gets tired of watching as he pushes his tips past your rim making you scream out. The intrusion is weird and unfamiliar, the deeper he goes the more evident it becomes. Sakusa decides to show you some mercy when he flicks down your little clit, pulsing with need. All of a sudden you start withering with pleasure, completely forgetting about the compromising position you are in.

“Fuck.” Ushijima mutters, your moans a melody to his ears. “Fuckin whore likes this,” Sakusa wanted you to shut up, your moans were turning him off. Sakusa felt he was close. Your walls hugging him snuggly, trying to milk him for all he’s worth but he doesn’t want to give up yet. There's an unspoken competition between the two men; whoever can last longer and his pride won’t let him loose. He holds himself together for a little longer, hoping for Ushijima to come before him.

“Don’t cum inside,” the green-haired man commands. He is close, his thrusts hit sloppy and uneven. He bits down on your neck as he shoots his thick, white load into your womb cumming with a loud grunt. Sakusa follows soon after, his length twitching he pulls it out of you. He jerks his cock over and cums all over your back.

He lets go of you, and you fall onto Ushijima, your boyfriend's strong arms wrapping around you to steady you up. “You should leave,” he suggests. He pulls his dick back into his pants and walks to the door, throwing a glance behind his shoulder; he sees Ushi stripping out his shirt and dressing you with him. He scoffs and turns around, feeling disgusted he can’t wait to go back to his own home and take a fucking shower. Even though he finally gets what he had wanted, he can’t help but feel unsatisfied. It would have been much better if it was just him and you minus the possessive freak, maybe….he can come again when Ushijima is not around….What’s the worst which could possibly happen?

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dduane · 2 years

Text

Hair

It’s nice to win an argument with an artistic medium once in a while... or at least fight it to a draw. Since I think I’ve just pulled that off, I can now safely do a post about it, put the whole business (pretty much) to bed, and get on with other aspects of life.

What I’m about to discuss here, at length, is a long stubborn struggle with the hairstyle(s) of the current Sejant of the Throne of Arlen, Holder of the White Stave, Lord by the Lady’s and the Lion’s grace of the lands west of Arlid, blah de blah de blah through five or six more phrases’ worth of formalities... in short, King [that being the best translation of his job title...] Freelorn stareiln Ferrant stai-Héalhrästi: or as his friends, spouses and other associates usually call him, Lorn.

...Don’t know (or care) who this guy is? It’d hardly be a hanging offense. He’s one of the major characters in the Middle Kingdoms books. Among many characters I’ve worked with over four decades, he’s something of a favorite for me... possibly because he’s so very flawed, but over the course of the core trilogy still manages to get his job done despite those flaws (or sometimes because of them). Lorn is a potential poster boy for Characters Who Learn Better—though at the auctorial end you might want to slap them around a little, sometimes, as regards how long it takes.

Not very self-examining at first (until shocked into it), initially way too expectant that others will enable him and his needs, and way too short on agency—except for the wrong kinds of it—until events nudge him toward better behavior, Freelorn has unquestionably sustained some damage from the vicissitudes of his life (the loss of both parents, outlawry and exile, years spent on the run). But he always keeps managing to grow through or around the damaged areas. Becoming more and more sensitive to previous bad choices (as he’s confronted first-hand by their results), Lorn starts trying to put right the things he’s gotten wrong as his lurking destiny drags him into increasingly awful places. He does his best to try to make the burden of his increasingly-unavoidable future fall on him, instead of the people he loves and the people he ought to. And finally Lorn puts his head down and wades straight into the final acts of heroism that will save the world even if they kill him. (Which they do.) His arc, to sum up, makes a King out of some very raw princely “raw material”; but his own hands have been as deep in the modeling clay as the Goddess’s have.

So, as I said, I’m rather fond of Lorn. Which is why it bothers me that he’s been suffering from an unending series of bad hair days over the last half-decade or so.

What follows here is an occasionally fairly technical discussion of the challenges of digital art and media in relation to the never-ending struggle to get your character to actually look like what you’re seeing in your head. This record is intended mostly for fellow digital artists who may be suffering through the same agonies and looking for possible solutions. My tribulations may possibly throw up some useful suggestions for people working in the same medium or on the same kind of thing.

I need to warn just about everybody else that what follows will probably strike you as excruciatingly boring, so most of you should probably look away now. If you continue reading this and get bored, I assume no responsibility. I’ll even put a break here. And a picture of what this is all about: that problematic hair.

Above: When somebody has to tell the King that his hair is sh*t

So: let’s take this from the top, as it’s likely enough that some folks will come across this [screed] and have no idea what the hell I’m going on about.

Writers now live in a publishing ecosystem where one’s backlist is no longer just a sort of annoying albatross hung around your neck, about which you have no power to do anything unless a (traditional) publisher thinks they can make some money out of it. A writer can now manage their own backlist (insofar as their publication-rights situation allows them) and keep it in print, or not, as they please.

Deepest in my own backlist lies my first novel, The Door Into Fire, which kicked off the LGBTQ-friendly Middle Kingdoms universe and got me a fair bit of attention (back in the day) and some award nominations. With this in mind—and encouraged by people who found its early representation of queer characters in fantasy settings positive, or enjoyable, or both—it seemed like a good idea to get Fire and its immediate sequels back into print. So I started looking into this.

One thing became obvious right away. In this marketplace, there’s no launching a series (or re-launching one) without a website. But also... for a website, you need graphics. And there were never any graphics for the Middle Kingdoms books except what appeared on their (originally pretty dodgy) covers and in the occasional magazine where various pieces of MK short fiction were published. Leaving their general sketchiness aside, those graphics—being copyright to the publishers—weren’t something I could use in new-edition web pages or promotional material. It would’ve been nice if there was other art I could have used, but there wasn’t any. And stock photography isn’t that much use for illustrating a world full of magic-users, 747-sized Dragons, and fire elementals that look like somebody just torched a horse.

So I said, “Fine... I’ll just have to do the graphics myself.”

The only problem with this is that I can’t draw. ...But these days, there are ways around that... particularly digital art. It’s come a long way in the last decade or two.

Therefore in the 20-teens I started experimenting with 3D-art creation software—initially with a program called Poser. I was disappointed to find it nowhere near as intuitive as I’d hoped (as a long hard learning curve was the last thing I was interested in: I’ve got enough other stuff on my plate).

Then I came across Poser’s main competition in the commercial digital-art marketplace, Daz 3D. It didn’t take too much experimentation for me to realize that this was more like what I needed—simpler to get to grips with (especially in terms of dressing and moving characters), and with a far larger product base to draw on.

...Because this isn’t a drawing program as such. It’s probably most helpful to think of Daz as a platform for working with digital “paper dolls” of the kind kids used to play with back in the day. You start with a basic figure, and then cut out “clothes” and attach them to the figure. Don’t like those clothes? Pull them off and attach others. (The one below comes from Paper Thin Personas.)

Working in Daz Studio is like that... except in 3D. (Below, a view of the basic dashboard, with a Genesis 8 male figure in the basic “ready to be dressed and posed” position.)

And (because naturally the image-building-and-handling platform is the overlay on a business), there’s a financial component involved. Some basic starter figures do come free. But if you want better ones, you buy them. Want clothes for them? You buy them. Need sets? Props? Character poses? You can buy all of those. They come (mostly) from independent digital artists, who sell their work through the Daz3D website sort of the way independent sellers work through Etsy.

So you can see that this can run into serious money if you’re not careful. (In fact it can run into serious money if you are careful. The wise digital artist hangs onto their receipts, as all this is stuff is potentially deductible if you’re using it for business purposes.)

I spent some time experimenting and finally decided that Daz was probably my best bet. So in sort of 2015 or thereabouts I started the (still ongoing...) business of learning the platform and acquiring character assets and clothes.

My first job at the Middle Kingdoms end (because I was also using Daz to create Young Wizards material, specifically the covers for the New Millennium Editions) was to find 3D figures that looked at least something like the characters I saw in my head. In one case I got lucky straight out of the box. Daz’s in-house-created Leo 7 figure, with the Jonas hair offered with it in the same starter bundle, was so nearly a dead ringer for the way I’d always seen one of the protagonists—Herewiss—that I was frankly kind of astounded.

Similarly, the Gianni 7 figure (with its facial hair in place) was quite close, facially, to the look I’d always imagined for the other half of the original protagonist pair, Freelorn. But there the easy ride stopped... because Lorn’s fair hair, during the years when he was outlawed and on the run, I’d imagined as being worn fairly long. And when I started working on the 3D version of his character, there just wasn’t that much middle-length male-character hair to work with on the Daz platform. There would be various reasons for this, but let’s lean in on one of them in particular.

Daz is an unabashed hotbed of the Male Gaze. There are many, many more available ways to sex up female characters than there are the same for males. Oh GOD so many. Much more flesh-exposing clothing, much more clothing held up by good intentions alone against the depredations of gravity, much more desperately stupid female armor (don’t get me started...!), many more overly-sexualized (or -sexualizable...) female figures. (Could this be because the majority of content creators are (cis) male? As Spock would say, “Insufficient data.” But I have my suspicions.) Only now have same-sex pose packages and gender-fluid figures begun to creep in.

It’s also noticeable that the majority of Daz male figures lean toward Hard Tough Types: warriors, space warriors, urban warriors, cowboys, knights (in too many variants of Male Stupid Armor to even begin discussing here, and again, if I get started I won’t stop, so: some other time...), Vikings, et al and ad infinitum. A lot of these seem to be viewed as inherently short-haired types. Mid-length hair is surprisingly more difficult to find, even when the figures are portrayed as fantasy-universe natives. (Outliers to this analysis would be elves. All the elves seem to be assumed to have quite long hair.)

The best of the relatively few mid-length hair props available when I started working with digital!Freelorn was one called Dorian. (Mostly content creators give their hairstyles and characters names [in the IKEA manner], though I know at least one of the most prolific hair-makers who’s given up and simply started assigning month-and-year numbers to theirs.).

The Dorian hair prop was... all right to be going on with, if not really what I’d been hoping for. I looked high and low and found nothing better. Finally I sighed and said to myself, Yeah, fine, whatever, let’s get on with it... and got busy with creating concept art for the MK site.

Five years went by, and Daz’s platform program, Daz Studio, began to de-emphasize the older rendering engine it was using (3Delight) in favor of an Nvidia-chip-enabled and much more photorealistic rendering engine called Iray. Most things looked way better when rendered using Iray. Some, alas, looked way worse, and cheesier. Chief among these was a lot of character hair... including Lorn’s Dorian hair.

So I began looking around for a better equivalent, and sure enough... there wasn’t one.

(cue here image of frustrated digital artist collapsed on her desk) After FIVE YEARS? REALLY?

(sigh) Yeah.

...For the sanity of everybody involved, I’m now going to compress a prolonged spell of Desultorily Hunting For Better Hair into the shortest period possible. Every now and then, between sort of 2018 and now, when working on one project or another, I’d pick up one hairstyle or another (ideally ones that were on sale, and usable on other characters) with an eye to seeing if they’d work better on Lorn than the Dorian hair. In the meantime I converted Freelorn’s Gianni 7 figure into a newer version based on the newest Daz “basic male” figure, the so-called Genesis 8 Male. This conversion meant (among many other things) that I could put hairstyles on it that had been designed for earlier/different figures… even styles that had been designed for female characters. (Unisex hair has also been starting to become more of a Thing on the platform of late, so the G8M figure could use those as well.)

Finally—specifically, last month, when I got into a chat on Twitter with another Daz user that turned into a prolonged whinge about this problem—I realized that enough time had been spent on it. I was going to need to stop dithering and make some choices... because the renders weren’t looking any better. Local hair technology had improved enough to make Freelorn’s present hair look far worse than it had before.

...And in this case, it was “choices” plural I needed to make... because further (prose) work on Lorn’s character had led me to some realizations about his character arc that I hadn’t previously had. More about that in a bit. ...In any case, when chatting with that Twitter user I’d decided to produce a series of renders in which I tried out all the candidate hairstyles I’d piled up. The intention was to use these for concrete comparisons in situ and work out which hairstyles were at least usable for something on this character, and which (in Peter’s favorite phrase for this kind of operation) should be “flung high and far.”

So that I’d have decent lighting to work with, I stuck Lorn and Dusty into this excellent and beautifully detailed set—rightly voted by people in the Daz user forums as one of the best-made sets on the platform: the ROG Red Crow Inn set. Its indoor daylight is terrific. (This has been turning up in various of my MK-oriented renders for a while now.)

What you need to know about the hairstyles that follow here is that in all cases I had a look at their product descriptions to determine (or attempt to determine...) how adjustable they were “under the hood”. Some styles have so many controls you can barely wrap your brains around them. (See the image right up at the top for the controls on the Dorian hairstyle.) Alternately, some have hardly any adjustability at all. Some styles look terrible until you’ve spent hours adjusting them to work correctly for your character; but some will look fine right out of the box, with little or no adjustment. Some that look good in the demo shots refuse ever to look that good on your character, no matter what you do to them. And some that might initially seem unpromising, turn out to work really well.

The main problem: usually you have to buy them first to find out for sure… and you are not going to be able to get a refund just because “this hair didn’t work on my character”. So this whole operation is something of a crapshoot.

...So that’s one set of conditionals affecting the choice(s). Here’s another, more story-driven.

During the seven-or-so years he was on the run across the Kingdoms as an outlaw, the length and/or style of Freelorn’s hair was hardly any kind of political issue. (At least, nothing compared to the one involved with keeping the head that grew the hair attached to Lorn’s body, and not packed into a bucket of brine to be sent home to Arlen by someone collecting the reward on it.) As it’d generally have been stupid for Lorn to go to the barber—because when you’ve got a dead-or-alive price on your head, do you really want to take the chance of being recognized by someone with a razor in their hand?—he’d routinely have just hacked it off with whatever sharp implement came to hand. And (as we know from canon) he often dyed it as an extra layer of disguise.

Immediately after the events of the great War and his return to Arlen’s capital city of Prydon, no one thought twice about Freelorn resuming his normal hair color and growing it long again... until some people did start thinking twice about it. Everybody knows that the new King was not exactly a model of good behavior in his princely days. And despite the White Lion himself making known that he approved of Lorn’s succession to the Throne, there remain quite a lot of people who would have preferred some other ruler, and who think taking Freelorn down a peg (at the very least) would be politically smart.

Notice was also taken, in the aftermath of his return, of how Lorn almost always carries Hergótha the Great, the (previously lost, now refound) sword of the Arlene rulers, everywhere he goes. Some people talk about this in terms of Lorn “overcompensating” for his past mistakes and using the sword to try to increase the appearance of his legitimacy. (And this of course is garbage. Lorn has his own reasons for this, and by and large ignores the comments.) But when the same people who’ve looked askance at his behavior regarding Hergótha then also start passing comment about his hair, and the fact that he’s growing it out long and “mane-like” again, Lorn pays attention.

So, while Lorn occupies himself with the day-to-day business of working his way into his kingship, he also quietly and gradually starts wearing his hair shorter. The more politically astute of his enemies, noting this, mutter under their breaths and turn their attention to finding other, more effective ways to discredit the new King. ...And Freelorn’s out-of-universe chronicler, on “discovering” this piece of business, abruptly realizes that she now has to find him two new hairstyles: a pre-War one and a post-War one.

(mutters) Great.

(then, helpless laughter) ...Okay. The one note of cheer regarding the post-War hair is that I’m never going to have to worry about how it’s going to look with a crown on it. This is because the rulers of Arlen don’t go in for crowns. It’s the right to sit on the Throne (and your political/spiritual ability to stay there) and the possession of the Arlene scepter, the White Stave, that imply and confer Arlene kingship. Which is just as well, because dealing with hats and headpieces as regards hair in the Daz 3D platform is a huge fecking nuisance. I won’t get technical about this. I’m just glad there’s no need.

...So let’s get the damn hair dealt with.

To begin with: here, using the present updated-to-Genesis-8 version of Freelorn’s Gianni 7 figure, is the Dorian hair that’s been in use for him until now.

Not optimal, as you can see. As it always has, this prop looks awfully 80s and too blowdried, and makes it look like Lorn’s preferred hair product is library paste. So, time for it to go.

Next up: a hairstyle I picked up along the way called “Deckhand.”

At first it looked like if it was adjustable enough, it could be made to work. Unfortunately this turned out not to be the case. It does nothing but make the King of Arlen look like the Knave of Hearts. (Or like he’s been dragged backwards through a hedge. Or both.) So: nope.

Next... a hair prop called “Grayson.”

...It has pretty good length adjustability, but there’s something weird going on with the colors. Also not sure about the complete lack of bangs. Kind of an Errol Flynn-ish look to this, but... Not convinced.

Next... A prop that’s enabled for the Daz3D dForce routine that allows materials to be made to custom-drape naturally for a character, and to be animated. This is called “Rogue Waves”. Here it’s been through the dForce routine with very simple instructions: “just fall downwards, don’t get fancy.” ...Unfortunately these hair props often wind up looking clumpy in a different way from older hairstyles. Not sure about this one either.

(sigh) Next: a prop called “Classic Side Part”.

Uhh... no. (It might have worked a little better if it was possible to change the side the part is on. But it’s not. So: pass.

Next: a prop called “Fallow.” This is a ladies’ style, but because this new improved version of Freelorn is a Genesis 8 character, that doesn’t matter. Here I just slapped it onto him to see what would happen.

It’s... not optimal. Never mind.

Next, a prop called “Thomas.” Again, had it lying around as a leftover from another project: slapped it onto Lorn on a whim.

This is... a bit interesting, but even after an hour or so of wrestling with it, it refuses to lie the fuck down on top. In back, in particular, it looks very odd when his back is turned. (sigh) So: nope.

Next up: a style called Jai. In terms of the Daz product universe this would be a very old style, going back to, oh, 2015 or so… meaning it probably won’t work all that well in Iray renders.

...And sure enough, it’s not great in terms of its texture or its adjustability. So: byebye.

Next: a style called “Varun.”

This one looks kind of messy and unshaped at the moment, but it’s very adjustable and has enough possibilities to warrant playing with it for a bit. The strands are kind of coarse, but depending on the setup of a given shot, that may not matter so much. This one, I think, is a likely candidate for the pre-War hairstyle (and as that’s the hair that Lorn is wearing for the first three books, I’ve got a fair number of renders to redo that will need it).

...And finally: a style called “Zoren”.

This one also looks fairly out of control at the moment, but like the Varun hair, it has possibilities if it can be quieted the hell down and flattened out. This would be a good candidate for Lorn’s post-War hair, once it’s been disciplined. (Which may require a whip and a chair, but whatever: nobody ever said this was going to be easy.)

What convinced me nine-tenths of the way about the usability of this one was a render that came out of the pre-Halloween “dduane is an anagram for Undead” business:

...That’s the Zoren hair, and it looks surprisingly good on Lorn there. I think I can make that work. (Leaving aside the more amusing aspects of this “crossing the streams” moment. I suspect that [in his position as adept/mage-in-training] Herewiss would be having to violently restrain himself from making MK!GrabbyHands at a wizard’s manual. Lorn, meanwhile, in his position as Master of the National Library of Arlen, would mostly be interested because a book was behaving like that.)

Anyway, after a day or three of mulling over those results and doing some experiments, I’ve decided that those last two hair props are going to be the ones I’ll be using for Freelorn going forward. Some art has already been re-rendered, with pretty fair results. Post-War...

...pre-War (or during, actually...)

...post-War...

...pre-War again...

...post-War...

...All not too bad.

So now begins the work of re-rendering all the other images of him on the website. (Some of that work is here already.)

(heaves long satisfied breath) ...So that’s finally getting handled. One less thing to worry about.

...Now where was I?

Oh yeah. :)

#Middle Kingdoms #Freelorn #Freelorn of Arlen #Daz Studio #Daz3D #digital art issues

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