#well it's not... inktober's themes but you know for tagging purposes

[gwinverarrouz]

I’m doing an October inking challenge! The rules are: work traditionally, in black and white, in a 1:1 format, and try not to spend more than 20 minutes on a piece at most. Unfortunately 1) I’m a perfectionist and 2) I want to get better with hatching and doing tons of tiny lines takes longer than just filling an area with black, so. Some of these may have taken longer than 20 minutes. But it’s been really fun so far. :D

Part 2 here! Part 3 there- and finally part 4 :)

[aiweirdness]

A.I.nktober: A neural net creates drawing prompts

There’s a game called Inktober where people post one drawing for every day in October. To help inspire people, the people behind Inktober post an official list of daily prompts, a word or phrase like Thunder, Fierce, Tired, or Friend. There’s no requirement to use the official lists, though, so people make their own. The other day, blog reader Kail Antonio posed the following question to me:

What would a neural network’s Inktober prompts be like?

Training a neural net on Inktober prompts is tricky, since there’s only been 4 years’ worth of prompts so far. A text-generating neural net’s job is to predict what letter comes next in its training data, and if it can memorize its entire training dataset, that’s technically a perfect solution to the problem. Sure enough, when I trained the neural net GPT-2 345-M on the existing examples, it memorized them in just a few seconds. In fact, it was rather like melting an M&M with a flamethrower.

My strategy for getting around this was to increase the sampling temperature, which means that I forced the neural net to go not with its best prediction (which would just be something plagiarized from the existing list), but something it thought was a bit less likely.

Temperature 1.0

At a temperature setting of 1.0 (already relatively high), the algorithm tends to cycle through the same few copied words from the dataset, or else it fills the screen with dots, or with the repeated words like “dig”. Occasionally it generates what looked like tables of D&D stats, or a political article with lots of extra line breaks. Once it generated a sequence of other prompts, as if it had somehow made the connection to the overall concept of prompts.

The theme is: horror. Please submit a Horror graphic This can either be either a hit or a miss monster. Please spread horror where it counts. Let the horror begin... Please write a well described monster. Please submit a monster with unique or special qualities. Please submit a tall or thin punctuated or soft monster. Please stay the same height or look like a tall or thin Flying monster. Please submit a lynx she runs

This is strange behavior, but training a huge neural net on a tiny dataset does weird stuff to its performance apparently.

Where did these new words come from? GPT-2 is pretrained on a huge amount of text from the internet, so it’s drawing on words and letter combinations that are still somewhere in its neural connections, and which seem to match the Inktober prompts.

In this manner I eventually collected a list of newly-generated prompts, but It took a LONG time to sample these because I kept having to check which were copies and which were the neural net’s additions.

Temperature 1.2

So, I tried an even higher sampling temperature, to try to nudge the neural net farther away from copying its training data. One unintended effect of this was that the phrases it generated started becoming longer, as the high temperature setting made it veer away from the frequent line breaks it had seen in the training data.

Temperature 1.4

At an even higher sampling temperature the neural net would tend to skip the line breaks altogether, churning out run-on chains of words rather than a list of names:

easily lowered very faint smeared pots anatomically modern proposed braided robe dust fleeting caveless few flee furious blasts competing angrily throws unauthorized age forming Light dwelling adventurous stubborn monster

It helped when I prompted it with the beginning of a list:

Computer Weirdness Thing

but still, I had to search through long stretches of AI garble for lines that weren’t ridiculously long.

So, now I know what you get when you give a ridiculously powerful neural net a ridiculously small training dataset. This is why I often rely on prompting a general purpose neural net rather than attempting to retrain one when I’ve got a dataset size of less than a few thousand items - it’s tough to thread that line between memorization and glitchy irrelevance.

One of these days I’m hoping for a neural net that can participate in Inktober itself. AttnGAN doesn’t quiiite have the vocabulary range.

Subscribers get bonus content: An extra list of 31 prompts sampled at temperature 1.4. I’m also including the full lists of prompts in list/text-only format so you can copy/print them more easily (and for those using screen readers).

And if you end up using these prompts for Inktober, please please let me know! I hereby give you permission to mix and match from the lists.

Update: My US and UK publishers are letting me give away some copies of my book to people who draw the AInktober prompts - tag your drawings with AInktober and every week I'll choose a few people based on *handwaves* criteria to get an advance copy of my book. (US, UK, and Canada only, sorry)

In the meantime, you can order my book You Look Like a Thing and I Love You! It’s out November 5 2019.

Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Indiebound - Tattered Cover - Powell’s

[anneshirleywasmychildhood]

Anne inktober

I’m going to run an anne inktober this year. For those who don’t know inktober is a event where everyday of October you draw something new, usually halloween themed, every day.  If you decide to post some artwork, please tag it as anne inktober and tag me if you want. I will try and reblog as many as possible.

The themes for every day are as follows:

To start Halloween month, draw a character standing alongside a classic Halloween monster (vampire, werewolf, etc.)

Draw the character alongside their actor. How would they interact?

In addition to having great protagonists, this show has great antagonist. Pick one and draw them as a great cinematic villain. (For the purposes of this day, yes Miss Rose does count as a villain)

There are so many ships, but so few couples. Today, pick one of those ships and draw them in a couple’s costume. 

The Island is so beautiful. Today, don’t focus on the characters. Draw the island in all it’s fall colours. (You can use Google images to help you if you need it.)

Jerry is under-appreciated. Draw Jerry.

Draw your favourite character doing some magic. Could be spells, potions, riding a broomstick, anything.

Adventures in screen capping!!! Go back, and redraw a screen shot from the show.

Today, there is too much shirbert going around. Draw a couple/person, that is not shirbert/Anne/Gilbert.

October is candy month as well as just Halloween month. Draw your favourite character eating your favourite candy.

Miss Stacey is under-appreciated. Draw Miss Stacey.

Draw your favourite behind the scenes moment.

Tomorrow is thanksgiving for all us Canadians. Draw everyone getting ready for thanksgiving at the Green Gables.

Draw the actual thanksgiving scene today! (Bonus points if you include Gilbert, Bash, Mary and Delphine at the table)

Free Space! Draw whatever you want!

Draw older Anne talking to younger Anne. What words of wisdom do you think she would pass on?

There are many ghosts on the show (John, Marilla and Matthew’s brother, their mom, Miss Stacey’s husband, etc.) Draw them surrounded with their loved ones.

Diana is under-appreciated. Draw Diana.

How would the show be different if it was set in your town instead of Avonlea? Draw the characters at your favourite spot in your hometown.

There is nothing better than having a sweater. Draw your favourite character curled up in their sweater. Possibly with a book or cup of tea.

Draw Anne surrounded by all the fall colours/scenery.

Today, redraw one of your favourite promotional shots/a shot from the trailer.

Bash is under-appreciated. Draw Bash.

Anne loves Jane Eyer. Draw her into the story.

Draw the character dressed up in their halloween outfit. What would this character want to be dressed up as?

Draw your favourite character in your favourite Halloween movie.

Since I am writing this on the 30th of September, I have no idea what has happened since then. What is the biggest surprise I have received in the past month

Who do you think is under-appreciated? Draw them.

IDK what is happening with Shirbert at this point, but lets not focus on that. Draw Shirbert 15-20 years in the future, having already gotten married and had a bunch of kids. 

Yall getting ready for Halloween? Draw one of the households getting ready too. (Green Gables/The Blythe-Lacroix Household/etc carving pumpkins/decorating/sewing costumes)

Since Harry Potter is very centred around Halloween, pick a character and draw them in their Hogwarts house. 

[mythandlaur]

A Role to Play [Laur Steals Inktober Prompts, Day 2]

Prompt: Tranquil Fandom: Spiral Knights Warnings: Anxiety, mention of killing local wildlife for survival purposes Notes: I write a lot about the Alpha Squad, but this is the first of it I’ve ever actually posted. Credit to my friends Burai and Nerd for encouraging me on my SK nonsense. Also, I like how I say “not all of my drabbles will be as long as the first one” and immediately write one that’s longer, I got carried away and it went off-theme because I was enjoying it and the conversation kind of hit closer to home than I’d intended.

“...This almost feels like a real place.”

The words slipped out before she could think to stop them, a quiet murmur as she stared into the stars overhead. She didn’t even realize she’d spoken aloud until someone pointed it out, startling her out of her reverence.

“As opposed to what, exactly?”

Parma jumped, head whipping back down to face the others. Rulen was sitting on the other side of the campfire from her, dark blue eyes watching her carefully behind his glasses as he awaited an answer. As usual, he was unreadable.

“W-well--I mean--” Parma stumbled over her words, instinctively trying to hide in her scarf.

“She means as opposed to the rest of the clockworks,” Grantz supplied, without looking up from his current task--having borrowed Rulen’s heater shield, he was now using it to cook some wolver meat from the previous stratum. Their field rations were going to have to stretch for longer than they expected, and besides, none of them were eager to go back to bland, dry rations after letting Grantz cook for the first time.

Parma nodded, pulling herself into a more upright sitting position. “Yes, exactly. A lot of the rest of the areas we’ve been in so far have been very...artificial. This place looks like it could be...I don’t know, on a real planet somewhere.”

She gestured out at the landscape surrounding them. Indeed, the mechanical nature of the Clockworks was almost imperceptible, here. There were a few support struts that could be seen in the far distance, and the sound of grinding gears was still everpresent, though faint. And yet, the rest of the land was natural, an endless expanse of floating islands lazily drifting along in a sea of twinkling stars, underneath a bright full moon. The whole place was bathed in an azure glow that seemed to make everything a little softer around the edges, a light breeze gently brushing the grass and bushes.

Of course, what they had dubbed the ‘Starlight Cradle’ wasn’t nearly as tranquil as it seemed--the four of them had spent a very long day navigating the dangerous maze of an area, and it turned out that the floating islands were home to a new sort of slime none of them had seen before, capable of secreting a sedative mist that had caught them off guard. Just an hour previously, Grantz had been forced to carry both Parma and Rulen, unconscious, one under each arm, out of a lair of the things. But they’d managed to find what looked to be a quiet enough area to set up camp for the ‘night’, and though they all knew the silence couldn’t be trusted, Parma hadn’t been able to find any threats nearby.

Rulen looked around as if he were sizing up the area, before giving a noncommittal huff in reply to Parma and going back to looking at his holographic display (he was refining his Arsenal blueprint for the umpteenth time, it looked like.)

Parma let out a long sigh, gaze dropping to the floor. She cursed herself for saying something like that--they all still barely knew each other and had never really talked casually in any capacity. Apparently, Grantz and Euclid had worked together during some Morai engagements, but other than that, the four of them had only met in a Stranger’s shop a day before deployment. There was no personal connection between them all; just three knights experienced at the top of their fields, and her, a prodigy.

Clearly, they weren’t having any problems with the mission so far, so she shouldn’t, either--or at least, none of the others should have to deal with them.

“...I wonder why that is.”

Parma glanced up, surprised. Euclid was spread out by the fire, propping himself up with his hands behind him, seemingly deep in thought.

“What do you mean?” Parma asked.

Euclid shifted around to face her better. “The gremlins don’t bother making most areas look this realistic. Why are here and the Wildwoods different?”

“I’m starting to become convinced the gremlins didn’t build this at all.”

All eyes turned to Rulen, who’d raised his head from the blueprint still floating in front of him. The staring made him scoot back a bit, not quite looking at any of them.

“Then who did?” Euclid prompted, after a moment’s silence.

“I’ve had this theory for a while now that they couldn’t build anything nearly this advanced. Even if they could, they’d have no clear reason to, and there’s always a reason.”

The others waited for Rulen to continue, but he just went back to his hologram. Parma chewed on her lower lip. “Maybe this was all built by something--some...race we haven’t seen yet, something closer to the core?”

Grantz grunted, “Maybe there isn’t a reason this time, kid. Either way, figuring that out’s not what we’re here to do. Steak’s done, eat up--we’ll all need our strength.”

Parma couldn’t sleep that night.

It probably had something to do with the fact that she’d been sleeping for most of the day, courtesy of the slimes, but she found herself restless. She was still kicking herself for almost letting her misgivings slip, and her mind was racing with possibilities from the earlier discussion--if the gremlins hadn’t made this place, who had? What was waiting for them at the core?

...Would they ever return to the surface? And if they did find this power source they were searching for...

The landscape had made her terribly homesick.

Or, perhaps homesick wasn’t the right word--Isora was ‘home’, and it was not much like this at all. But it made her sick for the time before. The sky here reminded her of the infinite cosmos she could catch a glimpse of staring out the window of the Skylark, before everything had gone wrong and become confusing and despite their desperate situation there was still hope out there, the chance at something new.

Now, she was in over her head, and she knew it.

Parma stood up. The scouting battle sprite that had been ‘resting’ beside her head made a few mechanical chirping sounds as its eyes lit up and its neon wings manifested, and it flew up to her side. The campfire had long faded to crackling embers, and Euclid and Rulen were sleeping nearby, Euclid ramrod-straight and Rulen curled in on himself with his glasses off to one side. Grantz had, of course, gone on watch patrolling the campsite--he’d offered, and as it would likely take at least ten of those slimes to even try to knock out someone like him, he was the obvious choice. Euclid had offered to relieve him in a couple of hours, but they all knew that Grantz never woke anyone else up to take watch, even during the rare times they could get a full night’s rest rather than a few hours.

The group had set up camp near the edge of one of the floating islands--perhaps not the most strategic position, but it left them with fewer sides open to a nighttime attack. As quietly as she could manage, Parma slipped away from the remains of the fire and off towards the island’s border a handful of meters away, her sprite following after.

The floating islands had nothing but a small raised lip of dirt serving as a railing between the island and the endless blue expanse below. Standing so close to it made her nervous, so Parma sat down near the edge, scooting herself as close to it as she could without feeling a terrible sense of vertigo. After a moment’s consideration, and a look around to make sure she hadn’t been followed, she pulled off her helmet and set it by her side, letting her short, crimson-pink hair be gently stirred by the slight breeze.

It really was beautiful, she thought as she stared off into the distance. True, the moon hanging above was likely artificial, but for an illusion, it was a pretty good one--better than most she’d seen so far. It was peaceful, and even though one of the first things a Recon Knight had to learn was that peace was often deceiving, she decided she didn’t mind being deceived by it right then.

It felt like ages since she’d been able to be alone like this, even if the expedition probably hadn’t been going on that long. True, she’d always wanted to go on some grand adventure, but she’d always thought whatever that adventure was, she’d at least have a decent chance at making it back from it, and at least she’d be going somewhere real, after all those years in training simulations. She hadn’t expected it to be like this, her tagging along with a trio of legends while fumbling about and having absolutely no idea what she was doing the vast majority of the time, trying to keep it together and act professional when she wasn’t sure she was, yet.

She wasn’t sure how long she spent just sitting there before her scout let out a few warning chirps and she heard footsteps in the grass nearby. Parma jolted from her thoughts and scrambled to put her helmet back on.

“You don’t have to do that.”

She froze in place, her helmet halfway to her head. “Are...you sure?”

“Yes.”

Parma slowly lowered the helmet back down. “I thought you were keeping watch.”

Grantz took the cue to sit down next to her, setting his massive tower shield aside. He really was large, for an Isoran--probably twice her height, and the guardian’s armor he wore made him look even more bulky than he probably was. Parma always felt intimidated standing next to him, not helped by the fact that she was a bit short by Isoran standards, herself.

“I went to check on the others,” Grantz replied, simply, “I saw you weren’t there and got worried.”

“Oh, I’m fine…” Parma crossed her legs underneath her. “Just, uh, needed some air.”

Grantz nodded, though she got the sense that he didn’t quite believe her, with the way his eyes seemed to be searching her. It made her vaguely uncomfortable.

And then, to her surprise, he pulled off his own helmet, setting it by his shield. His hair, like most Isorans, matched his color--cyan, in this case--though he had his buzzed practically to his scalp. His expression was difficult to read, but not unkind.

“Do you need to talk?”

Parma pressed her lips together. “I...It’s not important, nothing you guys should worry about. We need to focus on the mission.”

He let out a long breath that was almost a chuckle. “I’ve been a rookie. You’re very talented, but you’re still new at this.”

Parma’s face went warm with embarrassment and she looked away. Was it that obvious that she was flying blind? Of course, he’d notice--sometimes she forgot how much older and more experienced the Guardian was than the rest of them, even Euclid.

“You were quiet after dinner.”

“Sh--shouldn’t you still be patrolling?”

“My sworn duty is to protect you all. There are more ways to do that than just carrying a shield.”

Parma bit her lip, her gaze turning downwards over the edge of the island as her hands clasped in front of her. She did not respond.

“...A good team has to be able to trust each other.” His voice was surprisingly soft, with a note of earnesty that made her look back up at him again.

“I…” Parma sighed, “I hate how fake all this is.” She paused a moment, waiting to see how Grantz would react. His expression didn’t change, but he nodded for her to go on, and so she did, the words all tumbling out in a rush. “I mean, yes, I know we’re on an important mission on an unknown planet searching for something that’ll save our people and it’s kind of selfish of me to think this but--after all those years I thought I’d finally go somewhere real, to explore some big unknown uncharted place, but here I am in this--this fake patchwork world that it’s impossible to understand looking for something we don’t even know is real, already swarming with creatures who’ve made this place their home and now I don’t know if they have the answers either but I’m supposed to have the answers because that’s kind of my job except I’m not doing a really good job because I don’t know what’s going on, most of the time, and I shouldn’t be here.”

It had all been things she’d wanted to say for a long while, now, but she hadn’t expected to say quite that much. Her fists clenched in front of her and she refused to look at Grantz, her mind telling her how stupid she must sound to him.

She felt a strong hand on her shoulder and flinched.

“That’s a lie. You should be here.”

Parma hunched over a bit. “But why not just get Desna? Or one of the real Recon Rangers?”

“I know the Captain, and I know he had his reasons. And I also know that you don’t have all the answers. If you did, you’d be a researcher, not a recon.”

“But--”

He squeezed her shoulder lightly to stop her. “A recon’s job is to find out what they can about the environment and the enemy, so the rest of the squad can make decisions with that information in mind. It isn’t the same as knowing everything. And you’ve done that. You found and warned us about that massive predator in the Wildwoods and its weakness to loud noises. If it hadn’t been for you, we’d have been ambushed.”

Grantz spoke as if this was objective fact, but not in the same way Rulen spoke of objective fact--it was in a way that made it sound like it was obvious, though not in a condescending manner. As if he were reminding her of something he knew she already knew.

“Captain Ozlo decided you needed to be here for a reason.”

“I guess.” There was no way she could argue with that reasoning without insubordination, and really, she held the Captain in the highest respect--at about the same level as Desna, her longtime hero. “But I don’t think I know enough.”

“Learning’s also a recon’s job.”

“No, I mean, I’m--” Parma gave a frustrated sigh. “I’m sort of...I don’t have any kind of plan for what I’m doing, ever.”

Grantz let out a real chuckle this time. “Do any of us? Don’t tell him I said this, but Euclid doesn’t have things planned out as much as he likes people to think.”

Parma’s eyes went wide. “Wait, really? Euclid? But he’s a legend, he’s--”

“--an Isoran, like you,” Grantz finished, matter-of-factly. “We’re stubborn, and we don’t always think things through. And no, Euclid doesn’t know everything, either. That’s why he needs a recon. You.”

Parma opened her mouth, but couldn’t find any words, her eyes wide as she stared up at Grantz. It was totally plain and genuine, and yet it rattled her. She always felt like a tag-along, not someone who was really needed.

“No one knight can do everything. That’s why the Order exists. That’s why no knight goes alone if they can help it. That’s why we’re a team. Remember that.” Grantz dropped his hand from her shoulder and shifted in place as if preparing to stand up. “I should go back to patrolling the perimeter. Will you be okay?”

Parma took a few seconds to respond, not quite trusting herself to speak immediately. “I...guess?”

“At least think about it.”

“I will.”

She wasn’t entirely sure she could avoid thinking about it even if she wanted to.

Grantz put his helmet back on and took up his shield, standing in a clatter of armor plates. She looked up at him, hands in her lap, watching as he turned to leave.

“Wait.” Grantz turned around. Parma fumbled with her words for a few moments before giving a simple, “...thank you.”

Grantz nodded once in reply, turned, and left Parma alone with her thoughts. She watched him walk away for a few moments before turning back to the endless blue emptiness beyond the edge of the island.

It really was pretty. Even the distant sound of grinding gears was quiet enough to be soothing.

She still felt as if another Recon Knight could’ve done a better job than her, but...even if that was the case, somehow she was the one here now, and they’d come too far to go back. Recon was her job, and she’d do it the best she could, for the sake of everyone and everything lost on Isora...and for the sake of the team.

Maybe the four of them should talk more. Maybe they had something in common. After all, they were going to be each other’s only company for a long time yet. What could it hurt, getting to know them? Asking about what Rulen was working on, or asking Euclid to tell stories about himself and his heroic exploits--he seemed to be the type to enjoy that.

She laid down on her back, staring up towards the false moon, her scout settling itself back into sleep mode beside her. Maybe this whole situation wasn’t so bad. It may have been a simulation, but how many knights were going to get to see a view like this? Probably plenty, she chided herself, as half of their mission was clearing a path for future Order members, but--still, they’d been the first Isorans to lay eyes on it, without even knowing where they were going. That in itself had to be a little special, right?

She couldn’t help but imagine what else they’d find along the way.

Parma did not notice when thoughts turned to dreams, and she fell asleep, there on the edge of the Starlight Cradle.

[kennothythebard]

It’s time for Rocktober!

What the heck is Rocktober, you ask? 

Well, let me take you far far back, to a dark time in this world known as 2016. It was the end of September, and the outlook for the world seemed bleak. In my despair, there came a bit of light, and I--

Yeah I can’t keep up that expositiony style. Basically last year I did Inktober prompts but with music. I wrote songs or did a cover based on the prompts and posted a video of that performance nearly every day. And I want to do the same thing again this year.

Great. So why don’t you just piggyback off of an inktober post?

That’s a really good question. The short answer is I was not impressed with the Inktober prompts this year and I don’t feel confident I can make all of the prompts work for my purposes.

So what are the rules for this different from inktober?

A little bit. The time honored traditions of combining prompts, uploading late, or skipping inktober prompts that don’t appeal to you are made a-okay in Rocktober. And with Rocktober the thing you post doesn’t have to be a final product, it can be super rusty if you want. The important thing is that you’re having fun, and stressing yourself for perfection every single day can be notoriously not fun.

Alright, how do I participate? Do I have to be a musician?

You can participate in whatever way you see fit! You can do covers based on the prompts, you can write original songs, you can do a combination of the two (I’m going all out and trying to write all of the songs, but you most certainly don’t have to do that). If music isn’t your medium, you can adapt it in whatever way you want. If you’re an artist you can draw art based on the prompts, or based on songs that fit the prompts. If acting’s your thing, you could do quick scenes based on the prompt (or you could use song lyrics to write a scene). Maybe you like dance and you want to express a prompt that way. Get creative! Rocktober is about showing how you rock! (Granted with a musical twist but still)

Anything else I should know?

If anybody decides to actually participate in this I’d appreciate you tagging me or letting me know because I’d be completely amazed. This years set of prompts has a theme: Musical Theater! My goal for this month is to create a mini-musical based on the prompts. Which leads me to the final bits of information. All prompts are based on TV tropes this year. Subcategories are included in the prompt list to provide guidance, but should not be treated as actual prompts if what you want to do is slightly different. Each prompt in this list is linked to the relevant TV Trope page.

You’re literally just copying Inktober, this whole thing is dumb.

We’ve established both of these things, but this post is as much for me as it is for anybody else who might want to do it. So without further ado, beneath the cuts are the 2017 Rocktober prompts. Have fun, and rock on!

Setting Introduction Song

Welcoming Song

Somewhere Song

Wanderlust Song

Location Song

Parental Love Song

"I Am" Song

Musical Chores

Hakuna Matata

Friendship Song

Sidekick Song

"I Want" Song

Villain Song

Villainous Advice Song

Villainous Lament

Villain Love Song

Villain Recruitment Song

"The Villain Sucks" Song

"Setting Off" Song

Patter Song

Let's Duet

Counterpoint Duet

Distant Duet

Duet Of Differences

Final Love Duet

Solo Duet

Dark Reprise

The Item Number

Irrelevant Act Opener

Torch Song

The Song Before The Storm

Quarreling Song

Musicalis Interruptus

Death Song

Grief Song

B.S.O.D. Song

Sanity Slippage Song

Pep-Talk Song

The Something Song

The Eleven O'Clock Number

"I Am Becoming" Song

Triumphant Reprise

"They've Come So Far" Song

Massive Multiplayer Ensemble Number