#will be my biggest print yet at about poster size

[celestialtulip]

Feeling a little shy about posting drawings again, but here’s a sketch for a linocut I want to make. Archangel Michael x Dame Aylin, pose based on “The Archangel Michael Weighing a Soul” by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1506.

[newtafterdark]

Taste of Metal - Chapter 11: A Closet Full of Memories AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26157634/chapters/66510040 What if the overwhelming VR experience Gordon went through, had a deeper purpose than just being a simple simulation & a freelance debug job for him?But most importantly- what if Gordon Freeman listens to Metal & used to be in a band? aka. the “Metalhead Gordon AU”

- -

“Okay, run this by me one more time, so I can be 100% sure this won’t wreck my apartment beyond all recognition.”

 Gordon stood beside Tommy, the papers G-Man had given him days prior in his hand.

 “W-Well, we just need to find something in your apartment that can be accessed through a door or something similar… a-and then Benrey and I can start working on the pocket dimension inside it! It is completely safe for everything a-and everyone outside of the pocket dimension, I promise!”

Earlier, Tommy had sat down the entire Science Team to explain what the papers were that G-Man had given to Gordon a few days prior.

 As it was clear that their entire group that they only felt safe when all of them were in close proximity to each other, so finding a way to have them all live comfortably closeby was really the only option that could work for them in the long run. 

 Apparently, in G-Man’s mind, that meant that some part of Gordon’s apartment would become the entryway to pocket space. Which in turn would basically be an extension of the apartment where the other members of the Science Team could create rooms and spaces as they pleased.

 “So… if something goes haywire in there, like an explosion-”

 “- it wouldn’t affect your apartment!”, Tommy confirmed.

 Gordon ran his hand through his hair in thought. This… didn’t seem like a too bad idea in all honesty, but he couldn’t help worry about the Science Team’s track record of somehow even turning the best ideas into pure chaos. 

 Eventually, he sighed and gave Tommy a nod, giving the papers to him and putting his hand on the taller man’s shoulder for emphasis.

 “Alright. I will trust you with this. Just… please make sure it’s absolutely safe for everyone? And my apartment walls? This is drywall, man, not Black Mesa’s almost laser-proof tiles.”

 Tommy beamed at him, bouncing on his heels in excitement-

“I will not only make sure this is OSHA-approved but also Science Team proved!”

 Gordon smiled softly up at him, patting his shoulder gently-

“Tommy, you’re a godsend. I honestly don’t know where I’d be without you, bud.”

A quick search for a fitting area later, they decided that Gordon’s storage closet would be the best option. 

 For one, it wouldn’t look suspicious to his landlord. Additionally, should they ever decide to move elsewhere, they could simply take the closet with them and avoid whatever having to “de-install” a pocket dimension entailed.

 The only thing they had to do at this point was simply emptying out the closet before they got to work.

 Gordon carefully opened the doors and assessed the situation with a hum and furrowed brows. There were some things he would have to find new places for… and a lot of stuff he’d probably just bring to nearby thrift stores and the local Goodwill.

 He almost jumped as he felt Benrey lift his arm and poke his head through under it to catch a glimpse at the closet contents as well.

 “Oh, nosey much?”, Gordon asked with a smirk, looking down at the guard.

 “Gotta make sure you don’t- uh, steal anything.”

 “From my own closet?”

 “Yeah, ‘cause that looks like quality loot to me. Lots of mystery boxes. Minecraft Lucky Blocks.”, Benrey said with a nod.

 “Oh, those? That’s mainly stuff from my MIT days. Lecture folders and all that-”

 Gordon pushed the leather jackets and winter coats on the rack aside to give Benrey a better view and access as he motioned at him to help him carry the boxes into the living room. 

 “- but I guess there’s also a lot of B.V.R. stuff in here too...”, Gordon added.

 Darnold, who was currently watering Gordon’s (only slightly) neglected house plants, turned towards them with a questioning look on his face. He quickly walked over to where Benrey placed the stack of boxes on the floor, the plants forgotten for now.

“B.V.R…? What does that stand for?”, he asked.

 Gordon smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. 

 “Remember when I said that I didn’t really get to tell you guys much about my interests during the simulation? Well… uh, this is one of them. The biggest, honestly...”

 Benrey picked up the box on the top of the stack and looked it over. It appeared to be an old and worn shoe box. It was covered in what seemed to be stickers of band logos he had seen around the apartment already… aside from the ones that read “BVR” and-

 “...”Black… Velvet Rabbits”...”, he read off the box. Suddenly, it was if someone had finally figured out which way the battery went into his brain to activate a thought process, as he connected the dots. 

 Gordon liked music, judging by all the countless band posters on the walls, even if he had yet to share what their tunes sounded like. 

 Gordon could play different types of guitars. 

 Gordon also had said that he hadn’t played on any of them “in a while”.

 And now this old box was exclusively covered in band stickers-

Benrey's head snapped up un-naturally fast to stare at Gordon with wide eyes. 

 “Yoooo… Gordo was in a band? Gordon... Musicman?”, he whispered out in a slightly unbelieving tone.

 Before Gordon could even attempt a reply, Bubby yelled from his spot on the couch-

“WHAT?! NO! Now you’re just bullshitting us!”

 “That would be several big boxes full of bullshit, dear!”, Dr Coomer countered as he looked at the stack in question from the doorframe to the kitchen.

 “What are we yelling about?”, Tommy threw in as he opened the door to the balcony from the outside, looking in with Sunkist and a peacefully sleeping Joshua in his free arm.

 Gordon let out a nervous chuckle at the entire scene-

“My band-past, apparently.”

 He then ran a hand through his hair, fluffing it up and ruffling through his slightly out-grown undercut to psyche himself up-

 “ALRIGHT! Time to dive right into this, I guess. Let me open these...”

 It took a box cutter and several backseat comments on how to open a taped box properly, but eventually, Gordon managed to get each of the six boxes open. He attempted to open the one covered in band stickers as carefully as possible, but as he pulled the lid open, several old polaroids and concert tickets fell out regardless. He silently cursed himself for having absolutely overstuffed the thing with memorabilia in the past. 

 He picked up one of the photos carefully, while the Science Team got closer to him to look at the other contents with high interest. 

 Bubby pulled out two seemingly hand-printed t-shirts. The print on each depicted a simplified front-facing head of a rabbit with ear piercings, lightning bolts at the side... and under all that calligraphy-like font reading “Black Velvet Rabbits”.

 Meanwhile, Darnold was intently scanning the concert tickets. A good chunk of them were from big and small cities in America, but there were also a few European ones. Berlin specifically popped up several times. 

 Tommy and Dr Coomer were fascinated by the amount of seemingly random tiny items in the bottom of the box - Safety pins of varying sizes, bottle caps, empty lighters with sharpie writings on them, an ungodly amount of mismatched guitar picks, a pair of plush cubes, numerous cassette tapes and CDs, two pocket knives, patches, buttons, several pieces of steel jewellery… and a tooth??? 

 While that was happening, Benrey had carefully picked up each of the polaroids that had tumbled out of the box. 

 Looking at them, he could make out that they were probably taken at concerts. Several of them were blurry either due to poor lighting conditions or the photographer moving… or both.

 Some were of several people in dimly lit backstage areas… others of the same people in other spots, smiling, laughing, hanging out with food and drinks… and playing and tuning their respective instruments.

 Benrey counted at least four people… plus the person he couldn’t mistake for anyone else.

 He looked up from the polaroids in his hands and over to the one Gordon was still staring at.

 On that one, standing on a small stage, tightly gripping a guitar and leaning into the microphone as he seemingly yelled into it… was Gordon. A slightly younger Gordon, but unmistakenly the man beside him.

He leaned over more to get a better look, his helmet bumping gently against Gordon’s arm in the process.

Most of what wasn’t completely in-focus was blurry... but Benrey could still make out the shine of a leather jacket, leather pants, heavy boots… and oh FUCK- okay, he was absolutely staring at this photo like a cat high on catnip now but he could not give two shits - the hair. Long and curly and 100% a sidecut that had been dyed an obnoxious orange. There was a shine of snake-bite piercings… and the hint of more piercings on the visible ear.

Gordon shifted slightly beside him, smiling at the photo.

“I think I still have most of the piercings… somewhere in these boxes. Black Mesa didn’t like seeing me wearing any to work, but you know… we’re not going back there anytime, so…”

Benrey needed to say something. Anything. 

He had no idea what, but this was worth so many words-

“Awooga.”

Gordon instantly let out a sudden loud laugh, followed by a wheeze as he bent slightly over, holding his stomach-

 “Really?? “A-Awooga”??”, he asked in disbelief, yet still smiling.

 “Yeah, dude. Like… uh.. uuuuh...”, Benrey started, but it seemed like he couldn’t quite figure out how to exactly end his sentence. A stream of pink Sweet Voice escaped him before he quickly covered his mouth with his hands.

 Gordon chuckled at that and patted Benrey’s helmet.

 “‘s all good, man.”

 He looked over to the rest of the Science Team, blinking in surprise as he saw that Tommy and Dr Coomer had picked out the cassette tapes and CDs and placed them on the table.

“Would you mind if we listened to some of your old tunes, Gordon?”, Dr Coomer asked as he held up one of the CDs. That specific one was labelled “First Band Practices with the Rabbits - 2012”.

 “As long as no one comments about my inability to grow a proper beard back then-”

 “You tried anyway, didn’t you?”, Bubby asked with a smirk.

 Gordon inhaled deeply, looking contemplative for a second before replying-

 “Look... I had only been on T for about 2 years when we founded BVR. This-”, he pointed at his current full beard- “- takes time.”

 “A-And for some people it doesn’t get easier over time either, Bubby! That’s why I personally stay clean-shaven!”, Tommy added with a nod before he looked over to Gordon with a bright smile. 

 Gordon looked at Tommy with surprise, but quickly beamed and tapped his hand rapidly against his thigh in excitement.

 “YOOOOO!!! NO WAY!!”, he exclaimed.

 “Yes way!”, Tommy confirmed, followed by a soft giggle.

 Darnold raised his hand with a shy smile. 

“Same hat.”

 Coomer stood up a bit straighter, patting Gordon on the back.

“Gordon, you’ll find that no one in our group of friends falls under the label of “cisgender”!”

 “Yup.”, Benrey added, popping the “P” loudly- “You’re good. Not gonna pick on the stuff your body was still getting a hang of. Your tunes though? Those are gonna get the full, uh, the full IGN rating.”

 Gordon let out a soft breath he didn’t know he was holding.

 “You know what? Yeah, put that in the stereo! You can also help me sort through… well, all this.”, he said with a chuckle, looking down to the remaining boxes beside him.

 Looking back up, Gordon saw that each member of the Science Team was fiddling with one or two smaller items from the shoe box. He let out a short amused huff as he smiled at the scene before him.

 “Oh, and If you find anything you like, you can keep it! That also goes for the leather jackets-”

 Gordon barely moved fast enough to avoid Bubby as he scrambled to get to the closet first, closely followed by Benrey.

 Gordon called after them with a laugh-

 “OH MY GOD! THERE ARE ENOUGH FOR EACH OF YOU AND THEN SOME, YOU HEATHENS!”

[sharethisgemwithme]

Zach and Grace Friday panel at Connecticon 2019

Some highlights and notes from the "Growing Up with Steven Universe" panel featuring Zach Callison and Grace Rolek, Friday afternoon at Connecticon 2019. There are some promo spoilers. Most quotes are approximate from the notes I took on my phone. There may be a recording of the panel, but the camera was blocked by the audience question line for a while and when I got to the front of the line, I saw it wasn't even pointed at Zach and Grace.

Sorted into broad categories:

Movie hype / spoilery talk

Host asked about the poster. Zach said he's kinda looked at it, but not studied it closely. Grace: "Spoiler alert, someone has a neck." Zach: "That's all anyone can talk about."

What's the hardest scene to record that you've done. Zach: "I hate to do this but the hardest scene I've done I did a few weeks ago and I can't talk about it for quite a while." [audience groans]

Audience member: "I have a question about the movie." Zach makes police siren noises, "Oh no the Cartoon Network spoiler police!"

Attempts to get even small details were denied. "So we saw you have a neck. Is your voice going to change?" [pause] Zach: "A week from today (Friday), there's a big panel and there's gonna be a bunch of stuff. I recommend you watch."

This was earlier in the day, when I met Zach in the autograph line. Me: "I'm really looking forward to all the stuff that's gonna come out next week in San Diego." Zach: "There's so much. I'm not going to be there, after six years of going, I need a vacation."

Zach makes ABUNDANTLY clear how excited he is for what's coming up, "I am thrilled with what they've done after CYM."

Reaction to the new gems from CYM. Zach: "Sunstone is one of my favorites now. Like an after-school camp counselor." Grace: "Obsidian is one of the hardest secrets I've ever had to keep on this show." They finished recording CYM in 2017!

Have you ever cried in the recording booth? Zach: "Over a dozen times. One time really badly... with something that hasn't come out yet."

What's the biggest theme you've taken from the show? Zach: "I'm really sorry to do this, but I'm gonna skip this question because the theme I take away is something that hasn't come up in the show yet." He says the show has become intensely personal to him and his experiences, both intentionally and unintentionally, and says if he accidentally gave hints as to upcoming themes, it wouldn't be fair to the crew. (This probably ties in with some of the stuff below under “Outside of SU”)

Favorites and funniest

What's the hardest scene to record that you've done. Among stuff that's aired, Zach: Storm in the Room. Connie: "Either Nightmare Hospital or Full Disclosure when Connie is like 'Stop ghosting me, Steven!' "

What are some funny moments from recording? The opening scene from "Winter Forecast", the directors INSISTED on real marshmallows, "nothing else would do". Grace: "And these were not small. There's jumbo and then there's novelty size." Zach: "They got novelty size." Grace: "I could barely fit one inside my mouth."

Favorite episode (this question might've had a "besides the Big Plot episodes" caveat).

Zach: "Onion Gang. Any of the weird Onion episodes."

Grace: "I realize this is an unpopular opinion but I love the Ronaldo episodes. I have a Keep Beach City Weird sticker on my laptop. I don't like having stuff that's too overtly Steven Universe because I don't like to toot my own horn, but KBCW is great because it's 'if you know, you know'." Zach: "It's a lifestyle."

That segued into talk about "Rocknaldo", which Zach thought was hilarious, especially the way CN trolled everyone with the Bloodstone promo. Grace "Was that the one where Ronaldo tried to kill someone in the basement?" Discussion brings up that's "Horror Club". Grace continues, "That was a great one, like what are we DOING? No one went to jail for this?"

Favorite songs:

First, ones that they did.

Zach said "Let's Only Think About Love". I think he added a second one, but my notes say “or” and then stop there so I think I moved on to the next bit and forgot what else he said.

Grace says "Of course 'Do it for Her'" but also that she loved providing background harmonies for "Escapism". "Aly and AJ was the first concert I ever went to, so to do back-up vocals for AJ was the greatest fangirl moment." (There’s been some confusion as to whether Zach and Grace had vocals on that song, it’s now clear that they did)

Then, overall. Zach immediately sings "It's over, isn't it? Isn't it over?" Grace grumbles that she can't take the same answer, so she throws out "Stronger Than You".

"Back in the start of the show, it was a lot more lighthearted. What's the funniest or weirdest line you had to record?" Zach IMMEDIATELY goes into voice: "A boy on the cusp of manhood can't spend the whole day wackering." Grace enjoyed her line from "Open Book": "Of course you like the ending, you LOVE schmultz."

Pivoting into the weirdness of early episodes, Zach says "Frybo and Cat Fingers were back to back, 5 and 6. I don't know how anyone stuck with the show after that."

What's the biggest theme you've taken from the show? Grace: "I think about Mindful Education all the time. Here Comes a Thought is such a great song but also an important mantra."

Other than Uncle Grandpa, what crossover would you like to do? Zach: "I wanna be the very best!" Audience cheers. Grace says she would've loved to do "Adventure Time".

This segues into a joke that people confuse Zach for Jeremy Shada (Finn), in some cases even when Zach is standing in front of a poster that says ZACH CALLISON. Grace says that her boyfriend loves the joke so much that Zach is listed in his phone as "Jeremy Shada".

Behind the scenes

What was it like seeing the show blow up the way it did? Grace: "I used to go on Tumblr and read all the posts, all the reactions people had, but after Jail Break... couldn't do that anymore." Zach: "I poke my head into a reddit every once in a while."

What's it like in the booth with the rest of the cast? Grace: "Deedee and Michaela always get to do the funniest things."

Discussion of how voice acting lends them a little more anonymity than live-action, and there's still a spectrum of how recognizable people are.

Grace recounts a story from earlier in the day, possibly on the way to that very panel. "The elevator was pretty crowded and I was able to get on but Zach wasn't. And as soon as it closed, one of the other people in the elevator was like 'Oh my god, Zach Callison almost got on the elevator with us!' And I was like 'Oh my god, that would've been so cool!'"

Both Zach and Grace recounted times when they've greeted stranger wearing SU apparel and gotten blank stares in response, like, "Uh, yeah, what's your point?"

Zach: "As of Sunday, I'm leaving the country to be a hobo for a bit." He's flying to Siberia, then taking a 62-hour train ride to get on a boat to Korea, where he plans to visit the Korean animation studio where SU is drawn (as seen in "Steven's Dream"), something almost no actors do (apparently Michaela was more or less the first to do so, for any show at all).

Sometimes Grace will have a lot of "catching up" to do with the plot. "One time Rebecca was like 'oh by the way Lars is pink now." Zach jokes, "Lars is pink, Ronaldo and Pearl are married, oh and Steven is dead."

Have you ever cried in the recording booth? Zach: "Over a dozen times." Grace says she has, sometimes in group records.

More joking around: "Yes, I'm Zach Callison, the voice of Onion. I'll be in my booth." "You should have a print that's just Onion." "With the flames behind him."

What were your auditions like? Grace: "I was reading the sides from 'Bubble Buddies', and Connie is worried she's gonna die with no friends and I was like 'This is a kids show? This is a show for children and I'm supposed to say these words?!'" She saw Rebecca Sugar's name attached to the show, which she recognized as a fan of Adventure Time, particularly Marceline "I'm edgy like her!"

Audience member starts her question: "Ohmygod, my heart is in my ass. Wait, can I say ass?" Grace: "You can say whatever you want, you're not under the thumb of Time Warner." Zach: "Technically, I've never signed any NDA. Oh hell, I'm leaving the country in three days. ACT ONE!" [laughter, and he does not continue with joke spoilers]

Outside of Steven Universe

Tell us about yourself outside of Steven Universe. Zach: "I'm a dirty rowdy hippie." He goes to music festivals barefoot (but not urban ones).

Zach talked about some of the over-the-top scenes he's been in or seen on "The Goldbergs", where he plays a minor recurring character, including one where the actual rain they were filming in wasn't enough, so the producers dumped thousands of gallons of additional rainwater on the cast.

Zach said he hasn't auditioned for anything new in a while (I think he said at least a year) because of burnout. Whenever SU may end, he's ready for a break. Following on with that, discussion of what a shitty industry Hollywood is, especially for kids.

Zach: "A lotta people (in this industry), their big break is a show they hate, and that kills me to think that. And it couldn't be further from the truth for anyone in SU. If I had booked a live-action sitcom that ran six seasons, I wouldn't be here. I'd be in a much darker place."

What would you be doing if not this?

Zach: "I enrolled in college, signed up for things, never went to class, and eventually dropped out. I never had any other plan." Ties into further discussion of what an absolute nightmare Hollywood is for kids, that some of his friends from high school are no longer around.

Grace: "I went to college for two years (she would've graduated this spring), trying to make sure I had a plan B lined up. But flying back and forth from San Francisco to Los Angeles was getting ridiculous and I realized I wasn't being fair to my plan A."

[evilovesyou]

50 questions you’ve never been asked.

@whatagreatproblemtohave tagged me. Thanks, love! I love talking about myself.

1. what is the colour of your hairbrush? It’s made out of wood so...brown?

2. a food you never eat? I’m not a fan of innards, I’ll eat like chicken liver once a year but anything else I’m not a fan of. 

3. are you typically too warm or too cold? I’m like a human furnace. Always warm.

4. what were you doing 45 minutes ago? Trying to find a particular piece of the giant puzzle my mother and I started yesterday. I did end up finding it!

5. what is your favourite candy bar? There’s this Hungarian chocolate bar called sport szelet, which is as ironic as it sounds. It has a cocoa-rum filling.

6. have you ever been to a professional sports event? I’m not sure actually...I’ve been to a horse race?

7. what is the last thing you said out loud? “No, I can’t watch that. I’ll get sick!” before I walked out on my mother watching one of those dermatology shows on TLC where they pop pimples and take off all sorts of skin growth and shit. I’m grossed out just thinking about it.

8. what is your favourite ice cream? Hazelnut! If you live in Vienna and we get to leave the house this summer you have to go to Tichy and get their hazelnut ice cream. It’s life changing. 

9. what was the last thing you had to drink? Water.

10. do you like your wallet? Yes! It’s Steve Madden, off-white with a spring flower print on it. It’s actually the size of a small clutch ahaha

11. what was the last thing you ate? Chocolate easter bunny. 

12. did you buy any new clothes last weekend? Ironically for the fact that I’m a designer, I almost never buy clothes. I did order Harry’s charity shirt though. 

13. the last sporting event you watched? Probably one of the games from the European handball championships.

14. what is your favourite flavour of popcorn? Just regular salty popcorn, I love chocolate popcorn though. It reminds me of my childhood.

15. who is the last person you sent a text message to? My friend Helene.

16. ever go camping? All the time. I’m a scout. 

17. do you take vitamins? Nope.

18. do you go to church every sunday? No.

19. do you have a tan? Not yet. 

20. do you prefer chinese food or pizza? Pizza.

21. do you drink your soda with a straw? No.

22. what colour socks do you usually wear? I like to change it up. 

23. do you ever drive above the speed limit? I don’t have a license.

24. what terrifies you? Uncertainty, the inexplicable.

25. look to your left, what do you see? Most of my room. My wardrobe, my bookshelves, my records, the door (with my This Is Us poster on it)...

26. what chore do you hate? Cleaning the bathroom/toilet.

27. what do you think of when you hear an australian accent? Bushfires, koalas and beaches. Jazza, who does art videos on YouTube. 

28. what’s your favourite soda? Cherry Coke? Ginger Ale? Tonic? 

29. do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive-thru? Go in the fast food place.

30. who’s the last person you talked to? My mother.

31. favourite cut of beef? Huh? 

32. last song you listened to? Come on Eileen.

33. last book you read? I started “Die Känguru Chroniken” by Marc-Uwe Kling the other day, before that I was reading Emma by Jane Austen, but I haven’t finished either.

34. favourite day of the week? No idea. 

35. can you say the alphabet backwards? I’m not even gonna pretend I have the brain power to do that.

36. how do you like your coffee? Mélange if I’m in Vienna, Cappuccino everywhere else.

37. favourite pair of shoes? I love my white leather boots, but with the warm weather my Birkenstock’s have come out to shine. I live for comfort.

38. at what time do you normally go to bed? Anywhere from 11pm-2am.

39. at what time do you normally get up? 9-ish?

40. what do you prefer, sunrise or sunsets? Sunsets.

41. how many blankets are on your bed? One. And I’m blown away by anybody who manages to sleep with more than that. I would die of a heat stroke.

42. describe your kitchen plates. We have one set that’s white squares with two of the edges rounded off and one set that’s also white and has a weird pink print on it.

43. do you have a favourite alcoholic beverage? You can never go wrong with rum and coke, but I do love a good gin and tonic.

44. do you play cards? Yes, but I only know one game. 

45. what colour is your car? We don’t have a car.

46. can you change a tire? I’ve never tried but I think I’ve watched enough times that I could attempt?

47. what is your favourite province? In France? I’ve never been. alskjfsal

48. favourite job you’ve ever had? Being backstage at fashion shows is the most stressful job I’ve ever had, but it’s also the most fun!

49. how did you get your biggest scar? I don’t really have scars...I’ve got a small one on my knee from falling off my bike when I was a kid. Another one from when my cousin’s dog bit me.

50. what did you do today that made someone else happy? I found two of those fucking pieces of our puzzle that seemed impossible to find. 

I’m gonna tag @disgruntledkittenface @reminiscingintherain @muchbetterjulia @gothfob @beau-soleil-louis and @statementlou if you want to give this a shot! <3

[prairiesongserial]

11.7

Ice cream in hand, and Val’s wallet a little lighter, Friday and Val explored the steamboat. The outside walls of the middle deck’s cabin were papered with posters - the photography kind, which was rare and expensive. All pictured the same girl in the same pose, about a hundred of them in a row, some overlapping, even. The text was printed in a regional style that gave Friday a headache if she tried to read it, though that didn’t stop her slowing her pace to admire the figure of the pictured girl.

“You think I could clean up that nice?” she asked Val around her ice cream.

Val seemed to notice the posters for the first time. His eyes scanned over the girl’s slinky dress, each wrinkle in the silk intentional and suggestive with light and shadow. Three strands of pearls were fastened close to her neck, her dark hair tidily pinned away so the pearls drew in the eye and held it. The girl’s features were dainty - and clearly belonged to someone several years Friday’s junior.

“You already dress like that,” Val said.

Friday laughed. She didn’t own anything that rich. “What are you talking about?”

Val gestured down to Friday’s sundress, then kept walking. Friday wanted to make fun of him for the crime of conflating cotton and silk, but she couldn’t quite shake the compliment under the comparison. She trotted to catch up with Val.

A young mother was passing in the other direction, counting coins out of a change purse. She wore her Sunday best, a green dress that closed at the neck, with sleeves that billowed outwards. Her three children circled, nearly tripping her, their eyes on the purse.

“Hold on, now, all of you,” she snapped, counting pennies into their palms in turn. “Don’t spend it all on peanuts, do you hear? And Gawain, watch out for your brothers.”

Friday tugged Val’s shirt, steering him over to the woman. As the last of the three children hurtled off with his handful of pennies, Friday gave her a wave and a smile.

“Hello, do I know you?” the woman said. Her change purse still held loosely in her hand, the woman’s attention slid from Friday to her children, still barely in sight.

The pickpocket in Friday, long retired, wondered what on earth was wrong with this woman. She felt baited into robbing the poor creature, though of course she kept her twitching fingers to herself.

“No, Ma’am,” Friday said. She looped her arm in Val’s, sensing he wanted to escape. “We’re in town with the circus.”

“Oh, how lovely,” the woman said with a smile. “I’m Marian Pérez, pleased to meet you.”

“Friday Wilmot, and my associate Valerie Lecter.” Friday held out her hand to shake. “This is our first time in Everglades City, so we really don’t know our way around yet.”

Marian’s sons were out of sight among the distant circus tents. Marian didn’t seem to be concerned. She set her purse down on the boat’s railing to shake Friday’s hand. Friday frowned at it. People passed by on either side. In Vegas, that purse would have already been gone, but there it sat.

“Is Everglades City a very safe town?” Friday asked.

“Oh, certainly,” Marian said. Friday barely heard the response, watching the change purse bob with the gentle rhythm of the water under the boat. “There’s no safer place to live. I’ve only just moved here recently myself, when I was pregnant with my second, and that was exactly why. Even you can tell, and you’ve only been in town a handful of hours.”

Marian beamed at Friday proudly.

“It’s due to the Bellamys, of course,” she added. “I only found out well after I moved here, but I was curious too!” She tittered, touching Friday’s arm familiarly, and Friday laughed with her. This was getting very interesting.

“What do the Bellamys have to do with it?” Val asked. He no longer looked like he was waiting for an opening to slip away, his gaze focused intensely down on Marian.

“They got rid of the crime,” said Marian simply.

Friday’s eyes went wide before she got her face under control.

“The Bellamys operate Everglades City,” Marian said, finally taking up her purse. “There hasn’t been crime here for as long as they’ve been in charge, and that’s been a long time. If you’re interested in the town history, I’m sure there’s someone else who could tell it better. Oh, let’s see...”

Marian’s attention jerked back to one of her sons, who had reappeared with ice cream, and seemed to want nothing of his mother but to show her. Friday licked a drop up from the bottom of her own ice cream cone. She had to agree with the kid; this was noteworthy ice cream - and in her book, all ice cream was noteworthy.

Friday grabbed Val’s sleeve urgently, and he went rigid, startled.

“What?” he hissed.

“If we travel with the circus, we can eat this all the time,” Friday hissed back, voice tight with emotion. She waved her cone around. “We can eat ice cream every day, Val.”

The kid stopped mid-sentence, looking at Friday with the eyes of a hawk.

“Mama, I want to join the circus,” he said. “Mama - ”

Friday took a big bite of ice cream, looking innocently up at Marian as the kid’s idea began to increase in pitch and volume. Whoops. Val began to steer her away, which was probably for the best.

“Thank you for the pleasant conversation, Mrs. Pérez,” Val said quickly. “On behalf of the Madsen and Something circus, I hope you enjoy your afternoon.”

Marian’s expression was quickly turning sour, but Friday and Val happily made their escape before the kid really began to squall. Val had led her down the ramp, back onto the pier they had arrived by, before Friday cracked up.

“I didn’t mean to do that,” she laughed, ice cream running down her fingers.

“You’re awful with children,” Val said wonderingly. It only made Friday laugh harder.

“Christ, I need to sit down,” she gasped, stomach aching. The pier looked like it had been put together without much care to how long it would last, or the unlucky fate of the person who would finally find out how long that was, exactly. The planks creaked loudly as Friday hoisted herself up on a barrel. As she straightened, the wind whipped a lock of blond hair in front of her eyes, reminding her that she was still wearing the wig she’d found.

Val paced in front of her, the skin at the base of his neck pink and glowing with sweat. His hair was so long, now, he must have been hot. It was hard to say whether or not he was in better spirits now, but his forehead wasn’t knotted with worry anymore. Not that he looked anything near relaxed.

Friday smiled to herself. She had leveled the top of the ice cream, though half of it had dribbled down her fingers.

“Here, eat this,” she said, holding the cone out to Val.

Val paused his pacing and came over to her. He took the ice cream, then sighed.

“This is sticky,” he said.

Friday hopped off her barrel and pulled a pink handkerchief from the pocket of her sundress. She wiped at her fingers, but found them unpleasantly still sticky. The water lapping at the pier was fairly high, high enough that if she reached, she could probably dip her handkerchief.

Friday was showing off a bit, as she knelt by the edge, straining to reach the surface of the water, but she almost hoped she would fall in. She was already clowning - it didn’t matter that she was wearing a nice wig and not a yarn one. She wasn’t running around interrogating young mothers for the joy of it; she was trying to make Val forget they were kind-of-sort-of prisoners of a traveling circus and there was no knowing when Val would see the door of the convent again. Why not commit to the bit and fall in a few feet of water? Val was too nice to laugh at her, but he would make a big fuss over her and forget to be melancholy for a few more minutes.

Friday’s concentration was complete as she strained for the water, her ankles wobbling as the handkerchief danced a hairsbreadth above the water’s surface. Several locks of hair fell in her eyes, and her ankles wobbled again as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

“What are you doing?” Val asked. She couldn’t see him, but she heard him quietly crunch through a piece of ice cream cone.

An oar passed under the water, just under the spot where Friday’s handkerchief hovered. She looked up. An old man sat in a rowboat, kept company by a writhing net of the biggest fish Friday had ever seen. Each one was the size of one of Marian’s kids, four feet long at least. The fish took up more room in the boat than the old man did.

The old man paused his rowing. He glared at Friday - or more likely, into the sun behind her.

“You’ll lose your arm,” he said, and spat over his shoulder.

Friday straightened up. The man had the ordinary things one expected of fisherfolk in his rowboat with him, but he also had a shotgun wedged under the seat.

This was the person Friday should be asking questions. Friday shoved her handkerchief back in her pocket. The old man was moving on, bringing his rowboat to the shallow end of the pier. Friday followed, jogging along the pier to keep up. She could hear Val behind her, following at a sensible pace.

“Hey, I was wondering if you know someone named, uh…” Friday struggled to remember the previous courier’s name. “Adams! Someone named Adams?”

The man grunted.

“You don’t know him? Or you do?” Friday pressed.

The man was wrapping rope around a post as his net of fish flopped back and forth, rocking the little boat. A cloud moved overhead, its shadow passing over the water. Friday frowned. In that case, why was the old man still squinting like the sun was in his eyes?

Val caught up, finally.

“Something’s bothering me,” he said, pulling Friday aside. His hands were sticky too, she noticed, with satisfaction. “On the way in, Ezra told us not to wander off. But Mrs. Pérez says there’s no crime. And you saw…”

“How she just left her purse there?” Friday finished.

The old man tossed his fish up onto the pier; the writhing net landed an inch from Friday, and she screamed, jumping out of her skin. The old man climbed up after his catch.

“Don’t know an Adams,” the old man said. Friday wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or to himself. “There’s more than two dozen people living here, pet. Haven’t you ever been to a city before?”

Friday barked a laugh, stepping toward the old man. Val caught her shoulder.

“How about any disappearances at all lately?” Val said.

The old man cracked up, howling with laughter. A shiver ran down Friday’s spine. Val was perfectly still beside her, his stiffness validating the wrongness that Friday felt under the old man’s laugh. The two of them stood and watched him, his net of fish all but forgotten as he cackled.

“...What’s funny?” asked Val.

“There’s more disappearances in Everglades City than there are people,” the old man said. “And as I was telling the lady, there’s no small number of people.”

The old man’s face twisted now, not in laughter, but in some unclear emotion. No feeling came through in his words, his laughter dead in the air.

“Been a peculiarity of this city as long as I’ve been alive,” he said. “People’ll pack up a boat and row out into the glades, never come back. Leave their whole family behind. Some weeks, it’ll be one a day. Then you’ll have a dry month or two...but it never stops.”

The old man rubbed the white stubble on his chin thoughtfully as his net of fish slapped the pier in a frenzy.

“Just keep your hands where they are, young lady,” he mumbled, finally turning away. “Just keep ‘em where they are.”

11.6 || 11.8

[malereader-inserts]

Golden Slumbers

Fandom: Avengers Pairing: Tony Stark & Son!Reader Summary: Sleep pretty darling, do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby. Word Count: 2044 A/n: tbh this is to cure my heart for TONY (i just want him happy okay, married to pepper and have a child - look how happy he is) It’s 3:49 am I’m off to bed. Also, I’m very happy about your nice responses with my last update about my worries, y’all great. 

Christmas was arriving, yet Tony Stark rather stay in bed and not celebrate. He didn’t care for the snow that was covering New York City, he didn’t care for the beautiful grand Christmas tree that the Avengers and he had put up together as a team for the first time since Thanos.

Tony Stark did not care for the presents that sat under the Christmas tree, he had almost everything he wanted at his fingertips but there was no desire for it. He didn’t care for the movies nor the hot chocolate, he didn’t care for the family dinner in the evening after unwrapping presents.

Nothing seemed right, not since you had last been seen.

The team was repairing their broken cracks, it was hard to do so but they have never felt closer than before. They had pitied Tony, however, because it had been months since they fought their biggest threat, it’s been months since they had last seen you.

(Y/n) Stark had never returned from the snap, some say you did and was on the run, hiding or some cowardly act. Other said that you were the sacrifice that needed to happen, you weren’t able to come back to life - you had died that night.

You see, when a child loses a parent then they’re an orphan. But, Tony often wondered, what do they call a parent who loses their child?

They don’t stop being parents, to get that name, that title ripped away from them was hurtful. They’re still parents, rightly so, but who do you call a parent without a child?

Tony felt nothing, numb to everything, he wanted to believe you’re still there.

Still, almost six months without a sight of you and Tony just didn’t feel complete, the first three months he had refused to believe that you didn’t return, he spent days looking for you, the team came out looking for you too. By the fourth month, Tony stopped, sometimes he went out to hang some missing posters.

By the fifth month, the team stopped looking and most nights Tony was either drunk or in the lab.

Tony had never felt so empty, you were the light of his life - a little terror that blessed him. He couldn’t remember what was Christmas was without you. 

You were only eleven when you fully entered in dad’s life, it wasn’t just spending summer with him anymore - your dad had full custody of you and now you weren’t tucked away with your mother. Tony adored his son, you looked just like him. He often hates that he didn’t get to spend the first eleven years of your life properly, how you went sent gifts for Christmases and Birthdays instead of hanging around.

Last ten and more years, spending quality time with you was normal. Christmas felt complete and he made sure you did something for your birthday. 

Yet, Tony still tried to be positive for his teammates, he went out to get some gifts - it took his mind off you. But, most things had reminded him of you. Even so, there were presents under the tree labelled with your name - he checked.

At first, there was one, signed by Pepper. Tony loved that woman so much, he watched how Pepper became your new mother when you moved in, she was hurting that her little boy wasn’t home for Christmas like usual.

The next day, another two presents for you turned up under the tree, signed by your Uncle Rhodey and Uncle Happy. Tony smiles to himself when he checked, he may not have blood brothers, but his friends - these people he had cared so much was a good fill for Uncles for you, the family seemed better with them.

After three days after the show of present for you. Bruce, Peter, Steve and Thor had added to the collection of presents for you. Soon, Natasha and Clint added theirs into your pile under the tree, Tony sobbed that night in his room.

A week later, a few more present were added. Vision added his whilst Wanda’s gist presented itself next to it, wrapped neatly with her cursive writing addressed to you. 

Tony wanted to shout and scream that you weren’t coming home, but he just couldn’t.

The tree collection had started to grow, more people were living in the tower meaning more present under the tree, more to buy for. Gifts that were stacked on each other and some pushed to the very back, but there was a clear distinct pile just for you and no one dared to move it.

The next time Tony checked under the tree it was two days before Christmas, he had finally added his last present to the pile for Pepper (He had bought her a stack since he just couldn’t pick what to get her) he was surprised to find more addition under the tree.

He found Dr Stephen, Sam, Scott, Bucky and Hope had gifted you with something despite barely knowing you at all. Sam hadn’t had a clue who you were despite included into the team at the same time was Wanda - perhaps it was the fact that you were often in the tower which he stayed well away from.

Yet, Strange, Scott, Bucky and Hope were to go off with stories about you in the past six months - reliving your moments, your greatest achievements, stories from the team that knew you. Yes, you weren’t an Avengers but somehow you became the heart and soul of the team, someone who kept them close together.

You updated their technology on their uniforms when your dad was busy, often helping them in battle from the camera you placed in the uniform - imagining it was a video game. You did the research, the contracting of the Avengers at such a young age. You did the business side, filing every file there was, reading caseloads to know who to send out on the mission. 

The tower was full of people, but it was missing your Christmas playlist blasting on full, your cheery laughter that travelled down to every room. It was upsetting to be reminded that you weren’t home to dress the tree, to put the star at the top and flip the switch on.

The atmosphere seemed different.

Christmas day had arrived, everyone had unwrapped or ripped their gifts and enjoyed their morning - yet every time they looked under the tree their heart sinks when they see your untouched present.

“Is that everything?” Steve asked.

Tony sat on the floor in between Pepper’s legs, her hand running through his hair, his back against the sofa. He sees the mess created, the ripped wrapping paper littering the floor.

“There’s one more for Tony,” Bruce pulls a medium size box, “There’s a card for you too.”

Tony holds the box, he looked confused as he noticed the perplexed and curious looks of each person - realising none of them had bought him an extra gift. Pepper and Rhodey looked at each other, Tony looked at them suspiciously before they urge him to read the card with it.

When he flipped the card open, he almost choked on his own breathing. He recognises that writing anywhere - the small capitalising of your printed handwriting was almost a foreign familiarity.

“Dear dad,” Tony read out loud as the team’s eyes widen, Tony already had tears brimming in his eyes, “Since last Christmas, I’ve been struggling to buy you a gift, it’s hard when you’re rich and need nothing. But, I think I found the thing I can best offer. Over the months I’ve collected and found items that will mean so much to you as it does to me.”

The team listened, they watched how Tony was trying to compose himself as he continues.

“I know we have an imminent threat coming, I wanted to get this present completed but I know it wouldn't - I have things to gather but not enough time. This is probably the fifth card I’ve written, updating it each time, it was to say if I don’t make it, here’s what’s to remember me by.

Love, your son - (Y/n).”

Placing the card on the coffee table, Tony softly sets the gift on the floor in front of him as he sat cross-legged. He gently lifts the lid of the present and sees photographs, books and videotapes, something he hadn’t seen in a while since the world was evolving.

He picks up a picture, a small little boy smiling so brightly with a toy guitar around his shoulders. He flips the picture to the back to see any writing.

“(Y/n), 3 years old, future guitarist.”

Tony finally lets out a sob as you gifted him the thing he yearns the most, the first eleven years of your life. He found videotapes labelled such as your first word and the first time you walked, even you doing sports, small little moments in your childhood. Pictures of you as you were growing up, every Halloween costume and bad haircut documented, pictures with stories Tony would love to hear. Your record book in the box as well, tatted but well loved by your late mother, it recorded your weight, your footprints and your handprints. Your mother’s handwriting documenting small details such as your favourite show, your favourite food and colour at the time.

“Rhodey and I found the gift under his bed,” Pepper spoke, it was calm and soothing yet Tony pulled away from his small moment and realise he was crying, “You have a lot to go through, there are some cassette tapes in there too.”

Tony smiles to himself, “Always thinking ahead doesn’t he?”

The team, who knew you, mumbles an agreement. Tony sobs out a chuckle, a hint of short happiness in his eyes as he wanted to rifle through the box and examine, listen and watch everything that you gifted him.

“Favourite song: Golden Slumbers by The Beatles,” Tony read out from the book he had opened, “Rogers, Barnes, you have that on your list to catch up? Listen to the Beatles - timeless musical geniuses, my son has good taste.”

Steve and Bucky simultaneously pulled out their notebook to write down the band, as Tony’s thumb rubbed over the song title.

Once there was a way to get back homewards.

Tony was sure that he heard you say that it was still your favourite song, a song that your mother used to sing to you if you had trouble sleeping. It was soothing and kept the troubles away. Tony had heard the song a few times, he found comfort in the words, maybe you will come home.

The elevator door dinged open, no one was expecting anyone. Friday usually told the team who was coming up to greet them, they were never a fan of surprises anymore. The team looked at the incomer, and shock had frozen them. 

They expected Nick or even Maria, but not you.

However, without a doubt, you were still the handsome young dashing chap who could get a run for his money. Yes, you looked like hell, a few scrapes and bruises and looking exhausted. But, you didn’t care, your eyes landed on the person you craved for - the touch and loving reassurance for the past months.

You can barely remember what had happened, you just remembered you needed to be home. You could feel the blood pumping to your ears, the loud vibrating noise goes unnoticed as you step closer into the warm atmosphere, your eyes flickering at the impressive tree and the untouched gifts that you knew was for you.

You turn your attention to your dad, his hands pushing your gift away as he slowly stands up.

“Please say this isn’t a nightmare.”

You could see in the lighting that your dad was on the verge of tears as were you. You softly lifted the corners of your lips forming a small smile, already taking a step closer to engulf your dad. 

Six months of alone and despair and Tony wallowing in self-hatred, everything was complete, luckily just in time for Christmas.

“I’m home, dad, I found my way back homewards.”

[recentanimenews]

My Favorite Art Books of 2019

This year I reviewed 62 art books, a dip again from the 74 I did last year, and 82 back in 2017. I attribute the reasons for the falling numbers to a combination of reduced readership for my blog ( less readers = less conversion, which unfortunately gives me less resources to procure books ) as well as the comparatively smaller number of interesting Japanese art books that I felt was worth picking up.

Despite the reduced quantity, there’s still plenty of great art books that were published in 2019, and these particular 10 are my favorites. I hope you’ll find something of interest in the list, and here’s to a happy 2020 ! –

1) Spider-Man : Into The Spiderverse – The Art Of The Movie

Published in late December 2018, this book narrowly missed my fav art books list of 2018, so I’m including it here for posterity.

Winner of the 2018 Academy Award for Best Animated Film, and a movie I’m super proud to have worked on, this book explores the stunning concept art created for the film, with a surplus of sketches, storyboards, character/environment designs as well as color scripts. The beautiful images that you see in the film were greatly informed by the amazing visuals the concept artists created, so if you like the movie, you’ll the art work in this book too.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK | Buy From Amazon Japan

2) Tokyo At Night – The Artworks of Mateusz Urbanowicz II

Tokyo based Polish illustrator Mateusz Urbanowicz‘s first art book Tokyo Storefronts was one of my favorites in 2018, and he’s back again this year strong with Tokyo At Night, a collection of delightful watercolor illustrations that explores the the moody nocturnal sights of the sprawling, skyscraper topped metropolis saturated with neon lights, mysterious back alleys, wet cityscapes lit by reflections and more. It’s a stunning art book from start to end, and I love it.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon Japan | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK

3) Real Size – Katsuya Terada Art Book

Renowned Japanese illustrator Katsuya Terada’s Real Size is a superb collection of his black marker art works, many of which were created during his live drawing events. The title refers to the print size of the reproductions which are at 100% scale of the original art works, large mural pieces which are cropped and presented across several pages in the book. The complete drawings are also included, scaled down to 16% of the original size.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon Japan | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK

4) Making Solo: A Star Wars Story

Industrial Light & Magic Presents : Making Solo: A Star Wars Story is a handsomely photographed making of book by Rob Bredow, the SVP, executive creative director, and head of Industrial Light & Magic.

As a child, the production photographs of the AT-ATs from The Empire Strikes Back inspired Rob to become a filmmaker, and in meticulously documenting the progress of the production on Solo he hopes to do the same – to inspire the next generation of artists, engineers and storytellers.

The beautiful set photographs gives readers an intimate glimpse into the journey that Solo took from pre-production, production, and post-production, fully documenting how this film came to the big screen.

This book is a great companion for the equally fantastic Art Of Solo – A Star Wars Story, which focuses on the concept art behind the film ( and incidentally one of my fav art books of 2018 ).

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK | Buy From Amazon Japan

5) The Idol – Sushio

Sushio is a Japanese animator/illustrator who started his career as an animator at studio Gainax for the TV animation series Neon Genesis Evangelion. After working on many renowned anime series and movies such as One Piece, he took on the character design work for the anime hit series Kill La Kill, catapulting his status in the animation world.

This book is his long-awaited first commercial collection that looks back over his career to date. It features notable works from Kill La Kill, Gurren Lagann, Momoiro Clover Z, along with a panel illustration of Anime Matsuri 2015, his work overseas for an annual anime convention held in Texas, and much more. This book also features Sushio’s illustrations of AKIRA: two original illustrations depicting the imaginary post-AKIRA world, which was officially approved by Katsuhiro Otomo himself, and two illustrations taken from the Tribute to Otomo art book.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK | Buy From Amazon Japan

6) The Making Of Alien

The Making Of Alien is an in-depth and comprehensive book charting the complete story of how Alien was made, featuring new interviews with Ridley Scott and other production crew, and including many rarely-seen photos and illustrations from the Fox archives.

I already own several excellent books on the making of the Alien films, Alien The Archive and Aliens – The Set Photography just to name a few, but this huge hard cover volume explores plenty of material that I’m only seen for the first time, most notably the huge collection of “Ridleygrams”; detail storyboards draw by the director himself, as well as on set production photographs and a giant depository of concept art pieces by several artists like Eliot Scott, Chris Foss and Ron Cobb.

But the book isn’t simply your regular coffee-table book glossed over with just pictures and images. The small print text accompanying the visuals are cramped with detailed production stories and are more scholarly than just a casual read.

As a big fan of the franchise I’m absolutely delighted with this book, and I really look forward to the upcoming Making Of Aliens book, also by J.W. Rinzler.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK | Buy From Amazon Japan

7) Children Of The Sea Background Art Book

Children Of The Sea ( Kaiju No Kodomo ) is a Japanese animated film directed by Watanabe Ayumu and produced by Studio 4°C, based on the highly acclaimed manga by Daisuke Igarashi. The art direction and background art is supervised by Kimura Shinji, who previously bought us the amazing background art in Tekkon Kinkreet and Steamboy.

Published in the same format at the fantastic Shiro ( White ) background art book for Tekkon Kinkreet, this hardcover volume is bursting at the seams with stunning background art painted by Kimura Shinji, with some 250 pages of art work.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK | Buy From Amazon Japan

8) Hellboy – 25 Years Of Covers

I enjoy every page and panel of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy comics, but the art covers he has illustrated for the comic are something special; often drawn with just that extra, delicate detail. Over the years as the volumes of Hellboy and the shared universe BPRD grew it became harder and harder to keep track of all the covers that he has illustrated, and I started hoping for an art book that is dedicated to just the covers. Hellboy – 25 Years Of Covers is exactly that.

This hardcover volume features more than 150 full-page cover pieces from Mike Mignola, Richard Corben, Duncan Fegredo and more, all neatly collected for easy viewing and enjoyment.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon Japan | Buy From Amazon UK

9) Ikegami Ryoichi Art Works

An art book that is long overdue, Ikegami Ryoichi Art Works is a superb collection of illustrations from the famed manga artist of Crying Freeman, Sanctuary and Mai The Psychic Girl.

Running at a sumptuous 288 pages, the art book is split into 2 separate volumes, with one book dedicated to male characters, and the other female. While a good portion of both volumes feature illustrations from Crying Freeman, likely the artist’s most famous work; there’s still a good spread of content from Ikegami’s other mangas, and this is the biggest collection of his art work published yet.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK | Buy From Amazon Japan

10) Akira Art Of Wall Art Book

This book arrived just in time to be included in this year’s list, and also made for a very splendid Christmas present.

Four sets of giant Akira murals ( see the pictures I took here, here and here ) used to decorate the construction walls of the Parco Shibuya shopping mall in Tokyo from the period of 2017-2019 are fully reproduced in this stunning boxset. The panoramic art work looks spectacular when fully extended, and would immediately class up any wall lucky enough to be adorned with it. I think this might very well be my favorite art book of the year, among all my favorites.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK | Buy From Amazon Japan

Besides the 10 books that I’ve listed above, some other noteworthy mentions include Marvel Monograph: The Art Of Esad Ribic, Perfect Blue Storyboard Book ( New Edition ), The Art Of Kazuchika Kise and Bram Stoker’s Dracula – Mike Mignola Graphic Novel ( B&W edition ).

You can take a look at the full list of 2019’s art book reviews here, and I also recommend my favorite art books of 2018/2017/2016/2015/2014/2013/2012.

If you need help with ordering on Amazon Japan, the FAQs below will guide you through, step by step.

One small request – Due to the falling readership of my blog, I’ve been finding it harder and harder to purchase more books for review. I kindly ask that you use any of the Amazon purchase links in this post or anywhere on my blog to buy books; it won’t cost you anything, but the affiliate fee I earn as a result will allow me to continue reviewing more books. Thank you !

And lastly, I’ll love you hear about your favorite art books this year too, if you have any to share. Happy New Year !

The post My Favorite Art Books of 2019 appeared first on Halcyon Realms - Art Book Reviews - Anime, Manga, Film, Photography.

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Related Posts:

My Favorite Art Books of 2018

My Favorite Art Books of 2015

My Favorite Art Books of 2017

My Favorite Art Books of 2016

My Favorite Art Books of 2014

By: yonghow

[redrobinfection]

So, I've been on-the-go practically non-stop for nearly two weeks now - bouncing between traveling, work, and school - but I've been meaning to make a post to say...

I finally made it out to Anime Expo this year!

Two weeks ago I made the trip out to LA and had a total blast at my very first AX, from seeing all the cosplay (so many Red Hoods!) to going to panels (including a world premiere!) to seeing LA for the first time, but, I have to say one of the biggest attractions for me was the chance to find and meet up with so many super cool fanartists in Artist's Alley, in particular the artists making batfam art. I'm so over the moon with all the merch I snapped up:

Posters, stickers, so many buttons, oodles of charms, washi tape, and even a shirt! (Oh my god the shirt, I love the shirt, ashsjdkkajfhd!!!). All from so many amazing artists...

Some amazing stickers, sparkle charms and, my favorite, the washi tape from @epitomime , who I'd barely found on tumblr only two weeks before the con! (Still such a shame the Tim and Jason charms sold out so quickly - both online and at AX! - but I'll be sure to send in a preorder for the next batch ;3)

Ahhhhh these adorable cat!batfam stickers from @demograph (the charm is going on my car keys without a doubt, just as soon as I get around to removing everything from the keyring that might beat it up ;_;)

So much from @kohichapeau (ugh, I love the TimKonBart buttons SO.MUCH.)

OH MY GOSH THE SHIRT I LOVE IT I WEAR IT ALL THE TIME I WANT TO COLLECT THEM ALL NOW!!! (No one's asked me about Tim Drake yet, but I have my answer ready and waiting ;333)

(Also on tumblr: @battlerobots --> I love the Tim Drake and Jason Todd in civvies charms; I'm still looking for the right places to hang them and to show them off to everyone!)

So many thanks to the artists for choosing to share their art and for selling merch at the con; it made my summer to finally make it to con where I could pick up some awesome batfam stuff!

Two very special shoutouts:

The first to @oshetart for selling me the only jaytim art in the entire convention - only the second time I've found/bought jaytim merch anywhere - namely the beautiful poster of them on the roof with the gargoyle. Asgdhdkksjdk, I love it!!! We're such a small fandom so it made my day to find your art and your blog at the con, Olivia ❤ (You can find that poster on tumblr here and be sure to check on the artist's tictail!)

The second shoutout - last but very certainly not least - is to @paperdollteeth who drew the oh-so-sexy-scandalous nightwing pin-up (which you can find on tumblr here). Paperdollteeth was one of the very first art blogs I started following after I started my batfam sideblog in 2016, and the very first batfam merch I ever bought was from paperdollteeth's online stores. I've snagged so many cool stickers, charms, buttons - all leftovers from past AX and Anime Los Angeles cons I wished I could have attended. Paperdollteeth didn't have a booth at AX this year, but it made my day to see some the prints and charms at a friend's booth and to meet the artist there on the very last day! Thank you so much, Cathy, for sharing your art and making it to the con - crazy busy life nonwithstanding - one way or another! It was an absolute hightlight to my trip to finally meet you - and buy your merch - in person :)

Of course... the above isn't everything I bought at AX. Heheh...no. I'm not sure if I should be proud of or embarrassed by the size of my haul, but for better or worse here's all of it (send me a note if you follow me for the batfam content but you see another fandom you love here; I would love to scream with you over any and all of it) -->

(So. Much. Stuff!!!!! But no regrets ;3)

[maryelizabethmuga-blog]

Convert to Cash and Goods Please?

Election period is fast approaching and as a law abiding citizen and a fairly active voter who hopes to make a difference through casting her vote every election, one of my biggest concerns aside from it being so chaotic and dramatic and exhausting is the loads of money spent during this time of the year. It somewhat feels like Christmas in the middle of summer, right?

I know, it probably is not my business snooping around somebody else money and how they spend it but I think I have to voice out my nitty-gritty about these because maybe I am not the only who has the same inkling. Who knows, perhaps this could change laws regarding elections, too (fingers-crossed for the ambitious hopes).

Ever since I became a voter, I am one of the people who get annoyed with all of the redundant leaflets that are distributed and the ginormous posters plastered on designated areas as if their victory depends on the number and the size of their printed ads. Not to mention the “catchy” ads that always pushes me to roll my eyes in dissatisfaction.

How much really do politicians and their supporters spend during election period?

In a blog about different analysis by experts in the US Elections, Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, said that 86 percent of the top spender politicians won.Most of the expenses are allocated to advertisements.Last year’s US elections cost reached to 5 Billion, surpassing the previous elections by a billion according to Center for Responsive Politics. Now that’s a lot of money.

In the Philippines, we can only rely on the previousstatement of accounts which is a summary of all the expenses that a either a candidate, candidate’s supporter or firm provides 30 days after the elections asper the requirement of the Omnibus Election Code. Yet there are different sectors who keep tab, track, and estimate election spending such as the Nielsen Media even before election period begun.

On an article by MalouMangahas on Philstar under Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, she wrote about politicians spending large amount of money that is beyond the limits of their salary according to their SALN (Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth). She posted 20 out of 61 senatorial candidates who spent amount ranging from 11 Million up to 422 Million pesos each. Nielsen Media estimated 2.4 Billion pesos expenditure on TV, radio, print and outdoor ads from these said politician. The thought of the article is to question where the politicians got their money to support these ads however my point somewhat deviates from the gist of her article.

My concern is where the money should probably go and not where they come from although it is also interesting to know where they got these amounts of money because perhaps we could also avail their privilege since we are all Filipino citizens with the same rights and privilege, right?Going back to what I am proposing, instead of wasting money on self-centered videos, recording and ads why don’t they just spend in on more useful cause? Like community outreach and developmental programs? If they and the people who support them can spend such amount of money during elections why don’t all of them give the same to useful projects? Isn’t concrete and sustainable projects better testament of their achievements than what we see and hear on the television now?

Imagine donating 2.4 Billion to humanitarian, educational and environmental causes before elections, and then they wouldn’t be having problems on how to sell themselves during election period.Thus, I am emphasizing the thought of them doing these activities before elections is because according to the Omnibus Election Code of the Philippiness, Section 104, politicians, their relatives and parties are not allowed to “directly or indirectly make any donation, contribution or gift in cash or in kind, or undertake or contribute to the construction or repair of roads, bridges, school buses, puericulture centers, medical clinics and hospitals, churches or chapels cement pavements, or any structure for public use or for the use of any religious or civic organization…”

Let’s face the truth, those leaflets they distribute to people only serves as wrapper for dried fish, eggs and the likes. Personally, I use them as scratch papers after reading what’s in it. I know you’ve seen lots of it thrown on the streets, too. The numerous redundant posters on the designated areas turn out as trash once they are blown by the wind. These advertisements we see on the TV and the jinlgeswe hear in the radio are as good as nursery rhymes to the children who are attracted to the tunes. The rallies and convoy they do are sometimes just nuisance to the elders’and babies’ nap time. I don’t know but it seems like a waste of a lot of money. This may come off as an insult but these are true as far as my observations are concern. The only useful and effective promotion I could only agree with are the debate that various TV network are conducting. So why not just conduct a lot of debates involving all the senatorial candidates in different sitting? Isn’t that more fair instead of allowing them the privilege to splurge their money that not all of them has?

[areidfad-blog]

Final Major Project Evaluation

Being surrounded by creative people definitely helped me tune into more unique methods and ways of seeing my project. From the practical side of my posters like the printing and the unfamiliar territory of Photoshop to the technical side compositioning, I was never left stuck or stranded for long. By having that physical contact with other classmates and being able to see their approach to their project, it allowed me to have the confidence to dive deep into my project immediately.

I chose the theme of climate change and pollution because I was concerned and shocked by the lack of interest and effort the world is making to change this, especially me. To begin with I thought I would be at a disadvantage for choosing such a large theme, however this gave me many roads and possibilities for my project to take whilst also teaching me so much about the world I live in at the same time. The do’s and don’ts of Pollution weren’t the only thing I learned over the course of the 10 weeks; I also learned how to use Photoshop, which I had never used before. The simple Photoshop techniques I learned were a massive help throughout my project, they saved me time, which was needed because of the 10-week time constraint.

Through the whole project I think what I learned most was the benefits of research, primary and secondary. Research helped me from the get go, and directed me into a positioning where my posters would be most effective.

I think a big failure for me was starting to create what I thought I wanted my posters to look like before thinking about them thoroughly, although this then lead to my biggest success, brainstorming. Brainstorming allowed me to record all my ideas, all the silly, weird and unexplainable ones, however also the good ones that eventually started the ball rolling for what my posters would become. Adapting to unforeseen practical and technical problems I felt was easier than I thought because of the previous 4-week rotations. These allowed a small trial run for what was to come in FMP. However I did think it was quite difficult having such a long period of time and being flustered with what and where to go next with the project. This is when I would look at classmates for influence or even lecturers on the next step forward, which was always very beneficial having fresh eyes looking at such a time consuming project. This made me see my work from different angles especially after being stuck in the same one for so long. Looking back on previous work from other rotations was beneficial for me as I got to see what worked and what didn’t. It saved me some time as well.

Brainstorming played a massive part in the process of creating my posters. If I were stuck I would just reflect on spider diagrams I had made or I would create another spider diagram. This helped me get all of my idea out and decide which were good and bad. It also allowed me to sprout ideas from ideas. This is essentially what gave me the final outcome I have now.

I did have a big problem creating the plastic poster as it didn’t seem to link in with the others because I eventually realised it wasn’t vertical enough compared to the air pollution posters. I found that moving on with other work and going back to it after a while let me see the issue from a different angle and let me fix it almost instantly, with help from a little brainstorm.

My time management was really helped by creating lists. This helped me stay focused on what I need to do within personal time deadlines. I didn’t feel that the 10 week plan I made at the beginning of my final major project helped me so much as it was quite broad, however when writing it I felt I couldn’t be too specific either as I wanted my project to take most of the lead, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to stay on track specifically because that’s not how I like to work. Using lists that were specific to what I was doing that day/s made me aware of what needed to be done and helped me complete my project on time.

I do think that at the beginning of my project I was quite ambitious as I mentioned in my 10-week plan about perhaps creating t-shirts and logos, however I never anticipated the hurdles when creating the main part of my project, the posters. This then ate into the time I dedicated to the exploring the t-shirt and logo idea. Perhaps if I had more time I could of explored other forms of media like merchandise.

Using a roller and ink gave me my favourite texture, which was used in the background and subjects of my posters. I also tried painting, collaging and using random materials such as leaves and matchsticks to print with. I wish I experimented with much more, such as lino printing and pen and wash, however I am really happy with the technique of the roller and ink because of the intricate details and marks that were made so randomly. As time went on I feel that I knew how to get the look I was going for by only adding a small amount of ink randomly to the wheel of the roller and rolling in random directions, I feel this gave me the best outcome. Photoshop was something that also took a lot of practice as it was very new to me, I definitely improved over the weeks and become faster, which was beneficial for the time constraint.

I wouldn’t necessarily say that my crafting sensibilities are to a professional standard yet, however they are increasingly improving. To improve my crafting sensibilities I think having a faster response time to uprising technical problems or dead ends would help. Also experimenting more medias may help get different, perhaps more unique styles and also a better outcome.

I found it very easy to reflect on my work as almost every lesson I would chat about my work with my lecturers and classmates. This helped me create new ideas and also reflect on where I could improve. I found that physically talking about what I was doing helped make it seem more real and helped me understand my project even more than I thought I already did.

Prior to starting my final major project I aimed to show the effects of climate change and pollution in a unique way. I think talking about my work and brainstorming a lot made the outcome more realistic and manageable.

As my posters came out in quite a graphic design style I think this has opened opportunities to try graphics, its also made me more confident about starting the HND Illustration course next year.

The presentation of my posters seems very simple, however I really thought hard about how I wanted them to look. I thought about having them all A2 size but when I got my exhibition space I realised that they would be lost on the wall as I got a very large area. I then thought back to the previous week to the discussion with Michael where we spoke about doing 1xA0 and 2xA2 posters. I liked the idea however I didn’t want the A0 poster to overshadow and seem more important compared to the other two as they all hold an important message. As my space was so large, I thought it only be right to do all my posters A0, and because I didn’t create any extra t-shirts or logos, I didn’t have the clutter and distraction from my posters which was a positive to not having the time to actually do them. I also thought about positioning of my posters, perhaps diagonal, but again I didn’t want there to seem like there was a hierarchy, so I kept them all aligned and the same because they are all as important as each other.

[wallpaperpainting]

20 Facts About Flower Art That Will Blow Your Mind | flower art

NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 19: Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio appear The Museum … [ ] Of Modern Art Blur Benefit Presented By Chanel, A Tribute To Martin Scorsese at The Museum Of Modern Art, NYC on November 19, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro’s Killers of the Flower Moon will get a accepted affected absolution address of Paramount afore acceptable a alive accident for Apple TV .

So sayeth Deadline and the added assorted trades, a accord for Martin Scorsese’s mega-budget adjustment of Killers of the Flower Moon has been reached. Based on David Grann’s book book, the Eric Roth-penned blur would detail an aboriginal FBI analysis in 1920’s Oklahoma apropos a cord of murders of affluent Osage Indians who had been accepted acquirement rights to oil apparent beneath their lands. Paramount was allegedly accommodating to aftermath and administer the picture, alike with a $180 actor price-tag, but back the account allegedly went to $200 actor (and potentially above), they understandably got algid feet.

Even with Leonardo DiCaprio headlining this one alongside Robert De Niro, that amount would crave a phenomenon to compensate in today’s all-around affected marketplace. Apple will handle the budget, operating as the film’s artistic home, and will present the blur as a above Apple TV alive event. But its alive admission will be preceded by Paramount giving it a accepted affected release. It was the affiance of a all-around affected comedy that acceptable angled the scales from Netflix (which broadcast The Irishman via a bound affected absolution above-mentioned to its alive launch) to Apple.

Paramount gets a super-duper acclaimed affected alms after any absolute charge to accidentally absolve that over/under $200 actor assembly budget. Apple TV gets addition huge cine which will attending rather arrant alongside their contempo acquisition, for $70 million, of Tom Hanks’ Greyhound which they bought from Sony aloof aftermost week. They additionally co-produced, with A24, Sofia Coppola’s On the Rocks starring Bill Murray. This absolutely is a win/win for all parties, and the affectionate of absolutely absolute cine account that about doesn’t abide anymore.

Even with DiCaprio co-starring with Robert De Niro in a Scorsese abomination melodrama, a cine like Killers of the Flower Moon would never accept justified a $180-$220 actor account via accepted affected metrics. At alike $180 million, alike numbers according to The Revenant ($183 actor calm and $532 actor common in 2015/2016, or DiCaprio’s third-biggest all-around grosser abaft Inception and Titanic) wouldn’t cut it.  

Quentin Tarantino’s $90 million-budgeted

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[trishagoh]

NESTLE CERELAC CAMPAIGN

#SAVESYOUTIMEFORTHEMOREIMPORTANTTHINGS is a mock campaign created for Nestle Cerelac. 

The objectives of this campaign is to present Nestle Cerelac as a quick yet healthy solution, to help parents save time on having to prepare meals for their baby to have more precious time spent with their baby. 

The problem is that Nestle Cerelac is perceived to be boring. Flavors are too basic and plain: wheat, grains, bananas... 

Parents tend to think if it’s so simple and plain, they might as well make from scratch. 

Hence, I decided to use that as its unique selling point and brand it in a way where spending precious time to create fond memories with baby is more important. 

By using Nestle Cerelac as a base, which is loaded with nutrients sufficient for babies, saves them time then having to make it from scratch as it is quick and simple to make just by adding milk formula or hot water.

The visuals would work as a poster series, capturing the fun times and memories parents can create with their little ones.

POSTER SERIES

Visual 1:

Visual 2:

Visual 3:

Visual 4:

Note: The images used are sourced from Google and edited on Adobe Photoshop. 

CRITS:

1. Joanna Dorai:

Consider a key message that is closer and clearer to the role of the product... In reality, parents would spend time with their kids with or without the product. Or, they could be too busy to spend time with kids anyway, let alone prepare a simple meal. In this way, the headline doesn't quite sell the product.

So think about what the product really solves - yes it is a quick and nutritious meal. The question is, so what? And why would people care?

Therefore perhaps think about what Cerelac (quick nutritious meal) would mean to them as a busy parent. For example, busy parents need a quick fix for their children's meals. The problem is the instant format makes them feel like it is less nutritious which makes them feel guilty for spending so little effort in preparing an important meal for their children. The challenge then is how do we make the simple act of pouring in hot water or milk formula feel like a respectable effort? Explore if this will inform better your copywriting and art direction.

2. Gabrielle Moey:

It's nice that you use another approach (sentimental element) on this as you are right, I think people generally see this as quite a boring product. I think your poster conveys that mum and kids relationship/memories very well. But looking from the branding perspective, I think your key message could be improved. 

Right now I see 2 key messages - "The More Important" & "Saves you Time". Perhaps focusing on just one can help expand your vision more and help you further communicate the message to your audience. 

Once you have your narrowed down key message and target audience, I'm sure that you will come up with a more clear direction of design that works for that particular audience.

3. Annabelle Foo:

Choice of visuals are warm and captures the heart of spending quality time with family.

Convenience of the product is clear & straight to the point.

Suggestions/Feedback:

Although the visuals revolve around a similar theme, try using images without watermarks on them! (Visual 3 & 4)

The messaging behind #SAVESYOUTIMEFORTHEMOREIMPORTANTTHINGS can be expanded more to highlight the values that your visuals are bringing out. Like you said, the series captures the fun parents have with their little ones - these important things are actually little things that a parent would never want to miss out on in their child’s life - like when their baby learns to crawl for the first time or when a toddler utters words. However in reality, these moments take time and it’s easy for them to go by. 

You could expand these situations into different headlines of your visual instead of having a similar headline since it’s already in your visuals! You have a really strong concept going on already, and if you boil it down even more to a single sentiment, I think it could be #NeverMisstheLittleThings or even #LittleThingsTakeTime which is where the main benefit of Nestle Cerelac also comes in - convenience! 

That way, the hashtag also becomes catchy/memorable and also most importantly easier-utilised on social media platforms.

3. Eunice Loke:

Layout is clean Question: If the time spent to make porridge from scratch and make cerelac and add stuff is the same, why would I want to buy this? Problem: boring and plain Solution: Spice it up 4. Basil Cha: Definitely a great cause, about creating time to spend with parents and kids- Think it needs a bit more depth. The direct solution is that the solution saves much more time that can be spent with kids, but how can the brand actually encourage this relationship between parents and baby even more? Feels like parenting is a chore and this solution is just helping your burden but what if we position it as “my favorite things” instead of “the more important things” e.g. My favorite thing is playtime and I have more of it because I spend less time prepping meals. “These are a few of my favorite things”    Advertising has gone past straightforward directions, need to tap into your audience. Is it stay-at-home moms? Working moms? What are their biggest pain points, what are their joys? When we understand our audience we know how to reach them. (Similar to evangelism no? HAHA)    

Try not to use pictures with watermarks on it (if not have to Photoshop them out with the Clone Stamp tool – you can explore this) but there are tons of free stock images now like Pexels and Unsplash. Also if you’re targeting Malaysian people use Asian families not white people? 5. Yae-ber Neo: Hashtag as campaign title ought to be careful with use of hashtags as campaign titles. Think from the perspective of a user on Social Media what would catch your eye, readability, length and message all play a part. Study the more successful hashtag campaigns and discover the big idea that drives their campaign to relate with the target audience.

Execution: Elevate your execution by photographing on your own, examiners appreciate this better because then you can also incorporate a stronger conceptualization to back your execution. If you have to use a stock photo, do make sure to get those without a watermark. Visual hierarchy: arrangement of your items (visual, headline, body copy) should lead your reader to understand the message just as you plan for. Choice of size, colour, contrast, alignment and placement will do the trick! Headline: your headline ‘for the more important things’ is not bad, the treatment however can improve. The visibility is not as clear as your slogan/subhead, ‘saves your time’. Experiment with choice of colour, outlines, drop shadow etc. to see how you can make your key message (headline) stand out. Colour: Creating a colour palette that you stick to would give overall brand consistency. Body copy: should give it a little more breathing space, have more negative space on each side, look a little cramp atm, and enlarge the bottom box. 6. Sarah Ann Toolseram: Choose the right images. Change The font or change colour to give allowance for printing errors. Pictures are appropriate for target audience -Feeding can be a bonding activity. -Saves you time from prepping the meal or feeding the kid? So you can have more time for fun things.For the more important things -TaglineDesign consistency. 7. Damien Chung: I Understand the idea behind it, the motivation behind it. It’s a good thought. Personally, I don’t find the selling point really convincing for me. It’s basically the same as milo or rather powdered milk (since it’s for babies), or baby food. Perhaps what can be done is not shifting away the focus from the boring flavours but instead find a way to highlight it and make it interesting. Because parents might actually find the process of making food for their babies even more so interesting and also worthwhile, rather than finding ways to save time on it. From that satisfaction, it might then translate to them having fun with children. Preparing food is also considered “an important” thing 8. Ian Lai:

I really like the concept of focusing on the important things, like special moments with your child. But “#SAVESYOUTIMEFORTHEMOREIMPORTANTTHINGS” doesn’t work as a campaign hashtag, it’s too long and hard to read and remember. Something simpler like “#theimportantthings” would be easier to remember.As for the visuals/ads, I think that it can be stronger to drive home the message of focusing on the important things. Right now parents spending time with their kids is too generic. You want to really guilt trip parents with the visuals. For example, baby’s first steps. It would really suck for a parent to miss it, and every parent can relate to it.  Copywriting can really drive the message across, “Don’t miss baby’s first steps just because you’re busy preparing her dinner.”“Saves you time for the more important things” is a good tagline for the campaign. Every ad could end with that as a tag. The typography can be more simple and tasteful, no need to have different font sizes or dancing letters (a bit high school word art). Also a better font choice for the body copy would help

[liliannorman]

Curiosity drives this neuroscientist and artist

When she was young, Christine Liu didn’t plan to become a scientist. But chasing her curiosity led her to love neuroscience, the study of the brain and the nervous system. She’s now a graduate student and researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. There, she studies what nicotine, the addictive chemical in tobacco and e-cigarettes, does to the brain. 

Christine Liu sells some of her art at a zine festival.Tera Johnson

Outside the lab, Liu makes art, including some that communicates science. As half of the collective Two Photon Art, with environmental scientist Tera Johnson, Liu makes self-published magazines that illustrate science concepts. And the pair designs and sells science-themed items such as jewelry and clothes. Liu also shares her work on Instagram (such as the posts embedded in this story). 

Liu isn’t yet sure if her future is in the lab or making art, but she knows that neuroscience will be a big part of her career. In this interview, Liu shares her experiences and advice with Science News for Students. (This interview has been edited for content and readability.)

What inspired you to pursue your career?

I pursued neuroscience because of a curiosity about how the world works. Even as a little kid, I was interested in how people experience things differently. So I would ask questions like, “Is the red that I see the same as the red that everyone else sees?” When I started learning about psychology and biology and answers to these questions that researchers proposed, I got more interested. In college, I jumped at the opportunity to get in the lab as soon as I could. And I quite like doing lab work. But I’ve been doing research for almost 10 years. So I might take the opportunity when I graduate to do art more seriously.

How did you get where you are today?

I grew up not really being that great at anything. It wasn’t like I knew I had a special talent in science and that I was going to become a scientist. I also grew up low-income. My family didn’t have a lot of money. As a kid, I spent a lot of time helping out around the house. I translated documents for my family and made sure that the rice was cooked before my parents got home. And I started working part-time jobs really early. In high school, I worked at a Jamba Juice and at a science museum. I did a bunch of jobs in college, too. 

My college applications weren’t very strong. So I didn’t get into the colleges in California I actually wanted to go to. Instead, I needed to apply last minute to the local state school. I went to University of Oregon in Eugene. It wasn’t on the top of my list, but there were a lot of opportunities in neuroscience there. I was really able to take advantage of them. I overcame a lot of what I thought were shortcomings in my ability and competitiveness to do science. 

When I started doing research, I was lucky to be in a lab with other female students. And I had done summer research programs with a diverse community of students and researchers. But when I started grad school, I was a little surprised at how few women and people of color I saw.

View this post on Instagram

.

everything matters

. Or is it that every thing is matter? Here are some molecule constellations! Molecules and constellations are very different in size but they have a lot in common too! The lines dont depict anything with mass, but rather a connection between two points. In the case of a molecule, it is a bond caused by very strong, but tiny forces. In constellations, the lines mean little more than a game of "connect the dots" with what we can see with our eyes from earth. Another thing that they have in common is that they are both quite pretty and fun to draw

A post shared by christine ramen liu (@christineliuart) on Jan 29, 2020 at 10:01am PST

I also wasn’t sure how to express myself — if I needed to conform more or if I could really be myself. But then on Instagram, I found all these women who were not compromising how they express themselves. They were doing incredible science. And they were wearing lipstick and doing their hair and being feminine. This was something that I hadn’t realized was missing in my life. I immediately tried to connect all of us on Instagram, and I created a group called The STEM Squad. (STEM is short for science, technology, engineering and math.) We now have over 1,000 people who identify with the gender that’s been underrepresented in science. We each share our experiences and support each other. 

How do you get your best ideas?

I get my best ideas when I’m taking a break. This happens for a lot of people. It’s like getting your best ideas in the shower or on a walk or right before you fall asleep. I find that when I’m taking care of myself and getting enough rest and social time, I come up with ideas I’m really excited about. Oftentimes, I’ll have a breakthrough in planning experiments when I’m not thinking about them. It’s the same for artistic ideas of what to draw or make. I think when I let my brain rest, it does its own thing in the background and ideas just spark. 

What’s one of your biggest successes?

What I’ve been able to do with my art in grad school has been one of my biggest successes. It’s brought me a lot of joy and connected me with people. It’s also given me an idea of how I might actually be able to continue doing art after I finish grad school. 

Labs in my research area can be competitive. Oftentimes, we don’t want to share our experimental results until we’re ready. So it wasn’t until this past year, my sixth year of grad school, that I presented my research at the biggest neuroscience conference. I presented it with a poster. But I’ve been going to this conference for the past four years because they have a section for neuroscience art. Presenting my art there was a big success. 

What’s one of your biggest failures, and how did you get past that? 

What I perceived to be a failure was when I worked hard in high school to try to be competitive for college. And I didn’t get into a school that seemed like a good choice for me. I was really sad. I thought I was a complete failure. A lot of my peers had gotten into great schools. But in the end, I realized that every failure is actually an opportunity to do better. I think if I had let myself get sucked into the narrative that I just wasn’t good enough, I never would have recovered. In the end, the University of Oregon turned out to be really great for me.

What do you do in your spare time?

I make art! Because research is really hard, there can be lots of failures. Experiments might not work. Or they might work and prove your hypothesis wrong. During a stretch of months when research feels like it isn’t working, I find it fulfilling to go home and draw, paint or share a piece of art. I really love painting. It’s one of my favorite activities. I love the colors and mixing them. And I like how it’s a little bit messy. I also do other things that keep me happy and healthy, like cooking and visiting my grandparents. 

View this post on Instagram

The sketch I made for the mural I’m working on at @missionscienceworkshop! The Mission Science Workshop is a really cool tinkering and science education space in the Mission and Excelsior neighborhoods in San Francisco. I’m excited to paint two walls adjacent walls to give some context for kids to learn about where different kinds of rocks are formed and whether fossils were found! I made this sketch in @procreate on my iPad and then mapped it onto a photo of the walls. You can check out the progress made during day 1 of painting in my story highlights!

A post shared by christine ramen liu (@christineliuart) on Nov 25, 2019 at 7:16pm PST

I also try to support other scientists who have artistic interests or artists who have scientific interests through The Stem Squad. We raise money through artists in the community who submit their art. We print it on shirts, hats or things like that and sell them. This raises money to give out awards for people who do volunteer work to improve inclusion in STEM.

What piece of advice do you wish you had been given when you were younger?

If there’s something that you really want to do, you have to take baby steps and start to do it as much as you can. If I had waited until someone invited me to join a lab, maybe I never would have started my research career. But because I was so in love with the idea of doing brain research, I emailed a bunch of professors and begged for a chance to work in the lab. Then I proved to myself that I can be a really great scientist despite my mediocre high school grades. 

Also, if I had waited until I had more time to make art or until I felt like a perfect artist before selling my art, I don’t think I would be where I am today. It took me a while to become comfortable sharing things that aren’t perfect and trying things even though I probably wasn’t the best person for the job. But taking the risk and putting myself out there and being willing to learn — I think that’s what’s gotten me the furthest.

This Q&A is part of a series exploring the many paths to a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). It has been made possible with generous support from Arconic Foundation.

Curiosity drives this neuroscientist and artist published first on https://triviaqaweb.tumblr.com/

[aananduniverse-blog]

Blog 8

1. Which artist or artists that you were exposed to through this class had the biggest impact on you - why? (in class work, video, trips, etc)

The miniature worlds of Tracy Snelling, I think, provided the greatest inspiration for my work. I think because we were limited to a box, when I read the article detailing Snelling’s work, I was able to make a connection between trying to portray a world in a box. The picture below shows some of the worlds Snelling created.

I wanted to create a world, bigger in size, limited in a box yet expanding beyond. I wanted to create a sense of infinity, and that was what I did through the backgrounds and lighting in my box. Snelling’s boxes, on the other hand, were with backgrounds that helped contain the world immediately in the box itself.

Snelling’s use of light to illuminate, and create shadows, also features in my own picture of the box!

2. How do you feel about your final piece as a box and as a final image? How do you feel that this work differs in viewing it as a 3D collection of objects vs. an image? Explain how these two were connected during your photographic process 

The final box, when I was trying to compile the objects I had (more than 30 unique items), seemed elusive. Yet, I used the knowledge that I didn’t have to use everything I had in the composition to my advantage. I placed and replaced and removed many pieces from the box. I didn’t use things that were tangentially related and used things that were directly related to the world I wanted to create. The individual pieces I had were similar in size, and there was no way of creating depth. So, I experimented, and built platforms for some of the pieces, to create depth.

The end result for the box was something I was satisfied with. However, I started thinking about the possibilities a bigger box could’ve had for all the pieces I had created over the course of the semester. I will take all the pieces I have from the Art Studio and try to recreate this in a large storage cardboard box from Home Depot over the second week of May, as one of my creative ventures post-graduation.

The pictures I had prepared for the final critique were ones I was extremely satisfied with! The black and white regular-sized picture encapsulated a city-scape that I had wanted to create towards the middle of the semester! The colorful second picture allowed me to change the same organization of objects into a foreign, surreal setting. It seems set in outer space, rather than on Earth. This was my objective, too! Finally, the large poster of the black and white picture, too, met my goal of trying to create a sense of urgency and fear – personally, the scale of the poster and the objects created this feeling, which I will further describe below.

(The pictures aren’t attached because they’re too big files. I will submit them via email if you’d like me to).

3. What do you think you did well and what do you still feel needs work in terms of your final piece?

I think working away from the physical to the digital went well for my final piece. Being able to use the Digital Photo Lab to manipulate the pictures that we took really allowed me to move the needle towards the world I wanted my picture to depict. Having the ability to magnify, using the poster printer, also broke a ‘barrier’ of sorts that the small-sized box seemed to have reduced the prospect to. For that reason, too, I was very enthusiastic about having my large poster in display for the final critique.

I think what would provide even more clarity to the final piece would be a greater sense of depth. If I could go back and redo some steps, I would iterate many of the processes (3D printing, laser cutting, molding, etc.) to create similar objects of multiple sizes. The size of my objects was set, because of how each phase was based on the previous phase, but with hindsight, I could’ve changed a few outcomes (doing multiples of the same object in different sizes, rather than different colors, etc.) during the semester that could’ve prepared me for a final piece that evoked true depth, rather than an artificial depth that I had to create.

4. Which processes or technology were most interesting to you this semester? What would you like to try again, why? What could you see yourself using again, maybe even for another (non-art) purpose?

I truly enjoyed laser cutting and 3D printing. Both of these will be staples in my near future, as I will try to find places, wherever I may be, where I can go and create more and more objects that I can use to decorate my living space with my own ‘creations’. I know that Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as Tinkercad, will be tools that I will use for various purposes, and I am truly grateful to have learnt these skills before graduating! I was always someone who didn’t want to take a intro to drawing class, or a traditional art class, but this course has piqued my interest and understanding of art and that knowledge along with the many processes I learnt will forever inform my observation of art.

5. What were your starting intentions in this course vs. where you ended? 

When we first started to play around with clay and make physical models to 3D scan and then 3D print, my idea was to create a scene where a destructive force was about to engulf humankind, with saviors attacking the destructive force and pushing it backwards. Keeping this initial idea in mind, I moved through the eight phases we had. However, over time, the idea had to evolve due to the nature of materials, techniques, and iterative steps we had to take, as well as limitations of equipment we faced.

While the final pieces seem like either, one, a cityscape, or two, an alien world, I personally am still able to see the main goal I was trying to allegorically depict. There is a destructive force in the top corner, and all the rest of the population is ready to face it.

Through the course, there were a lot of moments of learning and adapting, and I think that the outcome I ended up with provided better learning outcomes that what I wanted to end up with. It led to some abstraction, manipulation, seeking meaning from what exists, reading between the lines, and making deeper observations.

6. What was your intended tone and hierarchy for the final piece - example, how it makes viewers feel, the use of space and scale, the use of color and light, etc. 

The three pieces presented at the final critique were all intended to create different effects. I will discuss each below.

The first piece, the black and white 13*19 piece, was created under limited natural light. There were various lights illuminating different aspects of the box. On Photoshop, I stripped the photo of color, and created a black and white picture with emphasis on multiple parts and shadows in others. My intention was to create a cityscape that moves into infinity. The white dots in the background are a continuation of the city, and it truly looks and feels like that is what it is. It is a strong shift away from what the actual box looks like, but a shift that I wanted to create.

This piece, like other pieces, is crowded in the center and right, and empty-ish on the left. This is to create a divide between the object ‘hanging’ above, and the rest of the building and objects below.

The second piece, the colored 13*19 piece, was created with intense exposure to natural and artificial lights in the Art Studio. With long exposure time to light, the image was almost obliterated. However, using the Digital Photo Lab and the digital tools available there, I was able to manipulate light and colors to create the final image which is exactly what I wanted to do – create a surreal landscape, that seems out of this world. Furthermore, in this piece, the art seems to extend into infinity, because the background is no more an extension of buildings but rather into the sky, the stars, and further.

I presented this piece at the final critique to distinguish what the effect of light exposure can do to the same scenario. It also resonated with some of the comments that my peers had made during the in-class critique last week – that the black and white picture reminded them of an alien world. I decided I truly wanted to create an alien world – and allowing the faded colors, as well as the shape and textures of the objects to show, truly allowed me to create this effect.

The third piece, the poster, was my way of magnifying what we had created. This poster was something I deliberated deeply whether to include or not, and in the end, I decided it should be included. It gives perspective about the size of the objects. Throughout the class, we had talked about having some of my objects existing as standalone art work in public spaces, and those conversations also fueled my decision to present this larger scale poster at the final critique. I think the details of the art in the large poster allows the audience to see where the picture came from. The details and mistakes and discrepancies are easily visible, and that is something I wanted to lay bare.

Lastly, this has been a wonderful class of discovery, learning and fun. Thank you, Professor Boone-McCreesh! It has been an amazing journey, and it feels like it ended too early.

[sebastiankurz]

Have a look at some of the best Interior Design Projects

Interior Design Projects of quality can be found all over the world each of them with a distinct quality as well as a couple of differences influenced by both the taste of the interior designer and also by the country it’s located at. Join us in this trip around the globe in order to discover some of the best Interior Design Projects out there!

You may also like: The Best Design Spots you can’t miss while in London

Jonathan Adler

Jonathan Adler biggest aim is to always create a flawlessly chic home no matter the circumstances. He does this beautifully and the biggest proof of this is the designer’s exclusive collection for Amazon ‘Now House’, featuring a varied selection of outstanding furniture, rugs, bedding, artwork, and decor pieces!

You can see it in the above living room style to which the designer has brought his signature style – bold graphics, pops of colour, textural patterns, as well as eye-catching details. From large furniture pieces to smaller accessories, elevating a boring room into something really unique is Jonathan Adler’s mastery skill.

Ryan Korban

Ryan Korban may be better known for being a specialist of high-end retail design and having worked for remarkable houses such as Balenciaga, Alexander Wang and Aquazzura, but his talent doesn’t stop there. – 40 Bleecker is another remarkable project by this designer.

In the designer’s own words about the project:

“When designing 40 Bleecker, I knew my work needed to speak to a new generation of downtown buyers who are looking for luxury and elegance against a modern backdrop. This idea of contrast is evident throughout the spaces in everything from textures and materials to finishes and furniture—masculine contrasts with feminine, traditional with modern, soft with brutalist.”

You can also check out: A discovery of both Milan and Leonardo Da Vinci’s Work & History

Rockwell Group

The Rockwell’s Group work for this luxury hotel is astonishing and couldn’t stop ourselves from giving a special highlight to the bedrooms. First off, the hotel comprises a total of 349 rooms that the duo has set up with botanically inspired designs as well as artful interiors. Not only that, but the dynamic duo also made sure to incorporate plenty of whimsical details while also paying close attention to space and functionality.

The bedroom’s warm and open atmosphere is the result of the use of a muted colour palette which includes –  wood-like floors, army-green mosaic tile, as well as striped drapes. Each room also features custom-designed and multipurpose furniture designs that also elevate the rooms to maximum comfort.

Yabu Pushelberg

Yabu Pushelberg first major project in the UK — the new hotel from Ian Schrager: the London edition. Located in central London’s Fitzrovia, Yabu Pushelberg has preserved the finest aspects of the historic building (formerly the Berners hotel), while still reinventing the spaces and bringing to them a dynamic fusion of old and new; past and present.

The hotel’s lobby features a cosy, yet old-school glamorous atmosphere. The American minimal artist, Donald Judd serves as the inspiration for the room, making it the juxtaposition between the existing traditional spaces and the more modern insertions.

Peter Marino

With setting on Biscayne Bay, and located on Star Island, this long rectangle of land, was a challenge for the architect Peter Marino who only had a couple of rooms with water views.

Nonetheless, his artful talent and exquisite craft made it all possible and the result demonstrates, as per usual Peter Marino’s strengths as well as his undeniable connection to art. In this particular living room design, he worked with the owners’ Asian sculptures and paintings by Léger, Miró, Kiefer, and Prince, but was also able to commission pieces including Lalanne furnishings. The result is eclectic, inspiring and bold – perfect for anyone who hates a minimal room!

Marmol Radziner

As a regular guest of leading publications such as – Architectural Digest, Dwell, The New York Times Magazine, Wallpaper, Interior Design, and Architectural Record – Marmol Radziner is a must cover whenever showcasing the best design projects of the moment.

This time the project we would like to bring to your attention is the one developed in partnership with legendary music icon Lenny Kravitz, who founded Kravitz Design Inc., a design company focusing on residential, commercial, and product design. The pre-crafted, one-bedroom home was smartly considered to maximize the use of its compact footprint. The colour scheme is neutral and uncompromising which conveys it with a lovely sense of eternal elegance.

Hirsch Bedner Associates

Hirsch Bedner Associates has created various show flats and marketing Suites in a diversity of foreign places. Their approach to the whole design, spatial planning, detail, colour psychology and accessory selection is immaculate and inspired and a big reason why we wanted to show a little bit of his work in more detail.

The Altamount Residence in MUMBAI (India), is his latest design project and it features bold colours, rich colours as well as noble materials.  These luxury residences were inspired by the multilayered urbanity as well as the culture of Mumbai.

A small palette of materials is implemented throughout the space in varying finished and sizes to add richness. Architectural lighting plays an important role in enhancing and complementing the layered experience throughout the living room. One of the most iconic furnishings from this unique project is the Eden centre table designed by Boca do Lobo and is located in the living room.

Martyn Lawrence Bullard

Martyn Lawrence Bullard is great at bringing unexpected elements to the same place. This bathroom design is one of our favourites from all of his work and, therefore, definitely worth the highlight.

This phenomenal bathroom is located in Villa Luna, and the key element is the pop of colour that contrasts with the neutral furniture. Another noticeable element refers to the gorgeous cabinets which are fully covered in a gorgeous and classic, Missoni fabric.

Nate Berkus

Berkus believes that homeowners should think about bathrooms as more than just utilitarian and functional spaces. Instead, a thoughtful decoration method is set to leave us with a further nicer result.

According to Nate Berkus, the aim is always to express one’s style and personal preferences – from colours to materials, textures and accessories – for the designer, important is to never settle down in the sense of just doing things without a purpose or care.

Michael Smith

The old Hollywood elite’s favourite, Casa del Mar Hotel in Santa Monica, has been revived with modern-day amenities and some luxurious upgrades courtesy of celebrity designer Michael S. Smith.

We especially loved the work done in the rooms; the multi-level Penthouse suites which are reminiscent of Italian seaside villas and feature eclectic Venetian-designed furnishings, a living room with a fireplace, a formal dining area, and either one, two, or three bedrooms with separate sitting areas, giving guests the feeling they are in their own private, beachfront pied-a-terre. Not only that, but the rooms also feature custom designed alder and walnut furnishings throughout, with particular attention to the use of a variety of hues and textures. You will also be able to find ebony finished pieces that contrast with the light blue walls, as well as furniture with caning, or raffia wallpapered bookcases.

The centrepiece is a rich walnut four-poster bed accented with luxurious white linens, lush chenille throws, and a bisque-colored ceramic garden stool located at its base. Other gorgeous details include; an etched and hand-silvered mirror, a selection of thoughtfully chosen novels, and whimsical artefacts reflective of the property’s beach location, such as coral and vintage maps of downtown Santa Monica, inspired by an original print dating back to the 1930s.

Timothy Corrigan

Timothy Corrigan is the owner of Chateau du Grande-Lucé, located in Le Grand-Lucé, in France’s Loire Valley. The chateau and its gardens are listed as French National Landmarks. When Timothy acquired the glorious 18th-century estate, restoration was on top of the list and the chateau was quite wrecked. The decoration was the next step, and it was also what brought life back to this beautiful property.

This French Chateau was built between 1760 and 1764, so stepping inside it, is a complete time travel experience. – While most of the rooms are very formal, the subtle pops of colour, whether it be on the walls or fabrics – keep the space looking far from a museum.

Kelly Hoppen

Kelly Hoppen signature style is a mix of contemporary and luxury, with bold and glamorous accents. This and so much more makes her stand out has one of the best interior designers of our times.

This home in London is one of her latest interior design projects and displays perfectly her decorating style that we all love and admire so much. In this specific project, we really loved her work in the living room. – The all-white family room, which includes the kitchen, and both dining and sitting areas, is decorated with contemporary furniture. It is highly functional, but also very comfortable, luxurious, and filled with light.

David Collins Studio

The Connaught Bar in London has been brilliantly designed by the David Collins Studio and comprises three rooms featuring hand-dyed degrade leathers, metal-studded black leather tables, and silver leaf mirror artwork.

The bar is panelled in a hand-painted Hibernian landscape which was designed in collaboration with Atelier Pierre Bonneville featuring gorgeous hues of dusty pink, pistachio green, and pale lilac; all framed in platinum silver leafed oak panels, which are a representation of the Irish inspired landscape.

David Collins Studio has done such an outstanding job that this bar has actually won many awards including “best interior design of the year” (Elle Decoration) and best bar for sealing the deal (esquire man at the top awards).

Zaha Hadid Architects

As a continuation of Zaha Mohammad Hadid legacy, Hadid’s Architects delivers this incredibly designed yacht which completely lives up to Hadid’s well-known design style – neo-futuristic and characterised by powerful, curving forms and elongated structures.

In the words of the belated architect – “As a dynamic object that moves in dynamic environments, the design of a yacht must incorporate additional parameters beyond those for architecture—which all become much more extreme on water. Each yacht is an engineered platform that integrates specific hydrodynamic and structural demands together with the highest levels of comfort, spatial quality, and safety.”

Within this project, we would like to highlight the beautiful exteriors which are characterised of a series of interwoven support beams; giving the superyachts Hadid’s ‘simple elegance’ signature style.

Everything inside has been designed in a clean, all-white manner and which is inspired by the ocean’s fluid form. The common area looks both futuristic and calming, mixing a white variety of minimal and practical forms.

Philippe Starck

Philippe Starck is one of the main French interior designers of the moment and is known for his incredible vision on interior design as well as design styles in general. He always creates a unique atmosphere in any place he decorates, and the work done for the Hotel Faena in Argentina is no exception.

We particularly love the work done in the bedrooms, where you can view the use of two main colours – white and red. This sets the mood for the entire room, making it a bold and daring space that also has a comfortable and cosy feel to it. The furniture has been meticulously chosen in order to create an environment that unveils perfect visual harmony.

Jean Louis Deniot

Jean Louis Deniot is known for his iconic design style that features no shortage of arresting materials and textures tempered with subtle colour palettes, muted tones as well as impeccable lighting. The result is a mix between classical terminology and contemporary aesthetics with a serene and elegant touch.

We loved the work he did for this Paris Avenue Montaigne flat, and especially the living room design in it.- The lines are filled with a multiplicity of layers, going from sophisticated furniture, a mixture of nude patterns, textures, materials and pieces from different periods, which are combined in his usual masterful way.

His design aesthetic can be defined as ‘French Chic’ and includes timeless interiors with different style inspirations and influences. Due to his tremendous experience and mastery conquered through the years, Jean-Louis Deniot is more than used to adapting the décor style around his clients’ preferences, and while always associating them with his, informal, but bold signature style.

Karim Rashid

Karim Rashid is known as one of the best interior design professionals, and owner of a fresh and truly unique style, where colours and curves are the main focus.

This living room style is the perfect example of Karim Rashid’s style and includes all of his signature decor elements – lots of colour, lots of prints, modern shapes, all of which on a contemporary looking backdrop. When Karim Rashid is designing a new space, there are no rules, there are only possibilities.

Patricia Urquiola

One of Patricia Urquiola’s most beloved projects was done for the boutique Hotel Les Cigales in Nice (France).

The starting point draws from Giannakopoulou’s origins: “xeno-dochio”, is greek for a box that contains travellers, otherwise known as a hotel. The architects’ interpretation centres on a narrative of geometric shapes appearing throughout the 6,000-square-foot, four-story property. The bedrooms are our favourite and include – boxy daybeds, round mirrors, triangulated brass wardrobes, each one unique but all with Achille Castiglioni and Joe Colombo light fixtures. Even the throw pillows boast a grid of rectangles, making it all almost look like “an abstract painting of Nice.”

Dimore Studio

One of our favourite projects by the Dimore Studio is ‘Leo’s inside The Arts Club’ on Dover Street, in Mayfair (London). In fact, the Italian duo Emiliano Salci and Britt Moran, worldwide known as Dimore Studio, have been tasked with the designing of the new interiors of Leo’s inside The Arts Club on Dover Street, in Mayfair, London. This is a major event for The Arts Club since it represents its most significant transformation since the overhaul of 2011.

This concept takes us through to the 1960s, where a mix of contemporary retro and oriental elements standout as the main stars. In the end, the result is divided into a bar with a counter (and counter stools), as well as a nightclub with a stage, where any guest can have a tremendously good time!

Marcel Wanders

Marcel Wander is one of the masterminds behind ‘Moooi’ – an astonishing brand that provides a wide range of solutions that clients find remarkably unique. Through its approach to shapes, patterns and textures, Moooi’s bring more boldness into any interior design style.

As you can see by this Moooi leaving room design; the brand goes the extra mile to take your home decoration to a stellar level. With an iconic mix of lighting, furniture and accessories, they are the go-to choice when inspiration is lacking as their fresh approach to interior design can spice up any creative mind!

Piet Boon

Piet Boon is one of the most important and iconic designers of our time, belonging to the list of ‘most famous Dutch architects and interior designers’. Together with Karin Meyn his creative director, this top interior designer leads his own team of designers, interior designers, and architects, who all together join forces with the aim of creating some of the best interior design and architecture projects to their ever-growing list of prime clients.

This ‘Paris Luxury Apartment’ is just another proof of Piet Boon Studio’s remarkable work. We especially love the bedroom where beautiful hues of turquoise, elevate this modern master bedroom to a place of luxuriant tranquillity

India Mahdavi

The Ladurée’s Tokyo Salon designed by India Mahdavi is one of the best examples of her signature style – “Queen of colour”.

In this particular project, Mahdavi has been consistent with the theme of French macarons and pastries. The end result is a whimsical combination of mint-green and bonbon pink that takes right into a glamorous Parisian dream.

To further enhance the interior design of the tea salon, Mahdavi added marvellous white candy-stick tables, bespoke and scalloped furniture with plush velvet cushions, grey and white marble floor; the walls are decorated with beautiful blown glass floret lamps that are an excellent complement to the cherry blossom-pink walls while meringue-shaped ceilings lamps soften the down lighting.

Twinkle Khanna

In this Kohler x Twinkle Khanna mesmerizing bathroom campaign you can see some of the most unique as well as beautiful interior design ideas for luxury bathrooms.

Kohler is best known for bringing innovation and style to the bathroom set, offering a wide variety of minimalist and sleek products and working with Twinkle Khanna was just the perfect fit for this project.

The range of designs is best described for featuring intriguing patterns inspired by cultural elements from all around the world such as – the Artists Edition sinks (Derring and Marrakesh) – which were inspired by Moorish architecture. These designs bring functionality and artistry to a whole new level and are beautiful statement pieces for any luxury bathroom.

In Twinkle Khanna’s words about the project – “This campaign really spoke to the designer in me. If you think about it, white and chrome have been synonymous with bathrooms. But that doesn’t have to be the case. There is a lot you can do. Especially, the collection that I worked with, is absolutely stunning as to what Kohler has done with decorative and colourful sinks and faucets by transforming them into artistic statements”.

Ab Concept

This project by AB Concept consists of an opulent colonial-inspired lounge bar which combines a mix of British and Chinese heritage and cuisine.

The Dispensary our favourite room, features an outstanding design concept that evokes the history of Cantonese heritage and emerges as a cut edge Hong Kong lounge bar decor scene, where the unofficial police bar originally stood.

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from Sebastian Kurz Blog https://www.designbuildideas.eu/look-best-interior-design-projects/

[r52lily-blog]

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The cropping device enables you to transform the size of your photo, and also to transform the facet ratio. You can chop an image from a rectangular shape to a square form. There are many factors you would intend to cut out, including for publishing in various layouts and also element ratios. Compared to the initial, I have cropped the image with photo editor to remove the shining component of the middle of the picture and reassembled making use of the regulation of one-third. It makes the coloring bolt extra the emphasis of photograph. When taking the picture, you may question why I did not simply make up properly. Well, in this situation, I was doing a lengthy presence shot without a tripod stand, so had actually the camera balanced on the edge of the pier for security. That quite limited my capacity to completely frame the minute, so I just shot broader, recognizing I had the ability to chop the photo appropriately after the truth. In both instances, cropping is really basic and also it is simply involves you picking the cut out appliance and afterwards selecting the location you intend to keep with your PC mouse. After that you use the changes and your new cropped picture prepares to go.

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More helpful hints to scale a photo with the photo editor download or powerful photo editor for Computer with a lot of practical settings to comfortable crop an image. Photo editor for PC for Computer or software to edit an image to enhance an image. Download here free the photo editor for speedy and simple cut photos. Whenever the perspective contour in a picture is not degree, one of my personal scratch nuisances in photography is. Often when we are actually caught up in the minute, this essential rule is failed to remember but the bright side is that modifying your shots with the photo editor to make them degree is additionally extremely easily done. Balancing the camera at the side of the pier implied that the picture was uneven this is notably noticeable to the sight whenever the image has a clearly specified horizon line, such as the seashore. The level method belongs to the output item, as well as you are able to simply just rotate the photo to fit. The grid will certainly show up to assist you acquire the positioning right if you utilize the photo editor.

Leveling a picture is a truly simple task this will certainly take just a few ticking, leading to a lot more visually pleasing photo.

In some cases if we take a photograph, parts of the shot can end up being gloomier than we want. I describe the gloomy spots of the image as shadows, and also the brilliant parts of the shot as spotlight.

Compare has to do with accentuating the variation in between the lighting and also dark parts of the photo. Increasing the variance of a picture can substantially improve the graphical effect in which has, by creating the limits between these light and dark components more clear. Color modification is yet another useful item of the photo editor. We can readjust photo color or texture in every sort of methods, from transforming the entire warmth of the photo like how blue and yellow it appears, to separately changing the color and also interpenetration of certain colors within a photo. I only would like to talk about a few very useful shade modifications anyone can easily make use of to create your pictures simply just a little bit more visually impressive. The fastest method in order to readjust the color in regard to a picture is definitely with the hue gadget from the photo editor for PC. That changes the look of each color or texture inside a picture to generate it essentially saturated. Similar to lots of changes, the trick is to get an effective evenness too much saturating the pictures often tends to look instead not naturally made. Hue photos can easily be actually very efficient, and also of course very white as well as black is a superb choosing for every kind of scenarios, in particular, family portraits, as well as some garden images.

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In some cases there may be a thing inside a photo that you totally do definitely not intend to be right there, like a bothersome acne breakout on a friend's nose. That is quick to erase in almost all the leading photo editor. It is actually simple to remove any sort of things taken away a picture however the photo editor for PC functions perfectly on distinctive, little things that are usually been around by even color schemes. This is because the heal tool needs to replace the area you desire to remove with another thing, and also this works best when it has a location close by that looks similar. For example, bright point on a face is bordered by a whole lot of in a similar way colored skin, so the heal device can conveniently determine what to replace the white spot based on the surrounding location. This specific is usually due to the fact that the photo editor for PC needs to change out the location you wish to take out along with another thing besides, and also this runs ideal whenever it gets a section close by that looks relatable to each other.

Photo editor for PC has become quite complicated and highly effective and it is actually possible to adjust photos and so they change into absolutely different from the initial. There actually are definitely loads of photo editor as well as wide ranges of solutions of achieving the same or very similar effects. The intent very most for the majority of photographs I upload process is usually to help make them appear as all-natural as feasible. I think this is an excellent point to start off, even if you would like to go on as well as produce more unique appearing photographs.

Tone variation on an image is among the biggest problems. The human eyes are able to usually see a wider range of tone than the cam most likely record.

The meaning of picture editing and enhancing is the act of adjusting a photograph, just simply put. Yet that is simplifying an issue which is more or less difficult. You can usually carry out simple picture editing methods like photos solarization rather easily and quickly however intricate techniques and electronic modifying might need photo editor and even more knowledge. Photo editor is a helper that you can work with to manipulate and also beautify photos. Due to the fact that pictures contain an enhancing number of usages, increased companies are finding means to reuse pictures as well as utilize them on countless channels. Learn here to edit pictures with the photo editor free download or brand new photo editor for Computer to crop pictures or software to edit an image to beauty retouching for amateurs. Photo editor for PC or edit pictures software to enhance pictures or texts in a photo. Download for free this photo editor for PC for quick and smart invert photos.