#I THINK I learned how image descriptions work!!! I’ll update all my art posts to have them now sry it took a sec lol
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I JUST REALIZED I NEVER POSTED THIS WHOOPSIES-
I drew this after listening to the track that plays at the end of the pacifist route again, the acoustic guitar and whistling makes me emotional
really like the way the colors turned out
#undertale yellow#clover uty#my art#I THINK I learned how image descriptions work!!! I’ll update all my art posts to have them now sry it took a sec lol
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Free Resources For Writers & Creators
This is a quick post of free resources that may help fandom creators (or creators in general). I’m sure many of these have been shared before. However, it doesn’t hurt to spread the word. A few quick points:
As a professional writer, I think this post will cater mostly towards writers.
I’m also a freelance photographer, so digital photography/editing/art sources are included, too.
I chose not to use any affiliate links in my post. I don’t want to profit from this, and I’m not sure that’s allowed on Tumblr anyways.
If I’ve listed a resource I haven’t used myself, I’ve made sure to state it.
Masterlists and/or huge resource compilations are marked with asterisks.
Alright, here we go! I hope you all find this post helpful. Happy writing/creating!
Research
All of these are free resources for research. I use most of them for my writing jobs because they are extremely credible. These are great for making accurate references in your fics/creations.
1. ***Research Resources For Writers***
Writer’s Write has an enormous database of research resources for writers. They are divided into 20+ categories such as:
careers
historical research
crimes and forensics
religion
Each category contains 10+ resources like websites, articles, tips, databases, and so much more. It’s the most comprehensive and organized free research tool I use.
2. PubMed
My go-to source for citing medical studies. You’ll find 30 million citations related to numerous physical and mental health issues.
3. BioMed Central
I don’t use this website as often, but I keep it in my bookmarks. It’s similar to PubMed - great for discovering current and former medical research.
4. Drugs.com
If you need to name a medication and/or refer to medication side effects, Drugs.com is a straightforward resource. It’s easy to navigate and understand.
It also has a tool that lists potential medication interactions. This is really useful for accurate descriptions of med combinations.
5. Merck Manuals Consumer Version
Merck Manuals started out in 1899 as a medical reference guide for professionals. This consumer version is really comprehensive and updated regularly. It includes definitions, studies, and more.
6. FindLaw
If you’re writing about legal topics, FindLaw is useful for learning about laws/procedures in reader-friendly language. Categories include:
accidents/injuries
criminal law
family law (divorce, custody, etc.)
Keep in mind that laws vary based on location! You’ll often find additional links to state-related laws within articles. I do recommend double-checking state/location-based legal resources for accuracy.
7. APA Dictionary of Psychology
This psychology dictionary is provided by the American Psychological Association. It covers 90+ areas of psychology and 25,000+ terms/definitions.
You’ll also find links to additional psychology databases, resources, and so on. The website is updated frequently to provide updated information.
8. U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics
If you’re writing about a character’s job/career in the United States, this is a great source for accuracy. For any job sector, you’ll find details about
education requirements
positions in the sector
average salary for positions
what the positions entail
I imagine there are alternatives for other countries, too!
9. Investopedia Financial Term Dictionary
My area of expertise is personal finance; all of my writing published under my name is in this niche. I still refer to Investopedia’s dictionary for help. It’s excellent for understanding/explaining financial terms in a way that your reader can understand.
10. MedTerms Medical Dictionary
This is the medical version of Investopedia’s dictionary. I use this source less frequently, but I find that it’s accurate and helpful. There are many similar references online if you search for “medical glossaries” or “medical dictionaries”.
11. Domain Authority Checker
I’m not sure if this one is too helpful for fic writers, but it’s one of my most used tools. Domain authority “a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how likely a website is to rank on search engine result pages (SERPs)”.
The Wikipedia page for domain authority (DA) explains it clearly and simply. To sum it up, websites with good DA scores are considered reliable and accurate. If I cite sources in my work. I always link to sources with good DA scores.
Writing/Editing
This section is the most thorough one. All of these are completely free tools for writing and editing any type of content. I currently use or have used all of these at some point in my career.
1. ***List Of Free And Open-Source Software Packages***
This Wikipedia page applies to multiple categories in my post. It’s a masterpost of free and open-source software for anything and everything. Software is divided up into categories and sub-categories. Some relevant examples include:
media
networking/Internet
image editing
file management
There are hundreds of free software links on the page, so you’ll need to do a bit of browsing. Start with the categories above to find software geared towards writers/creators.
2. OpenOffice
This is a free alternative to Microsoft Office. I’ve used it for nine years and love it. OpenOffice software includes free applications for:
text documents
spreadsheets
presentations
drawing
templates
There are many more tools with OpenOffice that I haven’t used. If you write offline, I cannot recommend it enough. Tutorials are readily available online, and the software is pretty user-friendly.
3. Evernote
I briefly used Evernote and found that it’s very user-friendly and helpful. Most of my colleagues use Evernote and recommend it for taking notes/staying organized.
(I’m personally not a fan of note-taking software or apps. My method is messy text documents with bullet point lists.)
4. Google Drive
This might seem like an obvious one, but Google Drive/Docs is my writing haven. It has the tools included with Microsoft Office and OpenOffice and then some. It’s great for collaborative writing/sharing documents, too.
5. Grammarly
I use the Premium (paid) version of Grammarly, but I also used the free version for years. It’s helpful for detecting simple spelling, style, and grammatical errors.
There are numerous ways to use it - desktop, copy/paste documents, and so on. I’m not a huge fan of how well it works with Google Docs, but they’re improving it/it’s moved out of beta mode.
If you’re interested in the paid version - which I highly recommend - wait to buy until a holiday pops up. They offer a major discount on the software for almost every holiday/special occasion.
6. Plagiarism Detector
This website is handy for scanning for plagiarism. You can scan your own work to ensure uniqueness, too. My clients are big fans of this tool.
(I no longer use this resource; I use a paid tool called Copyscape Premium. The low cost has a big return on investment for me.)
7. TitleCase
The name says it all. It’s free and simple! I’ll be honest - I’m terrible with proper title case. You’d think after a decade of writing I’d nail it. However, I use this tool pretty often.
8. Hemingway Editor
Hemingway Editor is an online and desktop editor. It’s excellent for scanning your writing to check for:
readability (a grade-level score is listed)
adverb usage
passive voice usage
complex phrase usage
estimated reading time
This tool is color-coded to make editing easy. For example, adverbs are highlighted in blue. I don’t use this as often as I used to, but it was essential for my early writing career.
9. Polish My Writing
This tool is very straightforward. You paste your writing into the text box. Spelling errors, grammar suggestions, and style suggestions are highlighted in red, blue, and green.
It’s great for double-checking your work alongside Grammarly or Hemingway. When using free editors, I recommend using at least two for higher accuracy.
10. OneLook Reverse Dictionary And Thesaurus
I’m going to use the definition directly from the website:
“This tool lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept. Your description can be anything at all: a single word, a few words, or even a whole sentence. Type in your description and hit Enter (or select a word that shows up in the autocomplete preview) to see the related words.”
To put it simply, you can use the reverse dictionary/thesaurus to find those words/thoughts that are on the tip of your tongue. Use the tool to:
find a word based on the word’s definition (i.e. search for “inability to feel pain”)
find synonyms and related concepts
generate a list of category-specific words (i.e. search for “cat breeds”)
answer basic questions (i.e. search for “what is the capital of France?”)
The results can be hit or miss, but I usually find the information I’m looking for. It’s a solid resource any writer regardless of genre.
11. Word Frequency Counter + Phrase Frequency Counter
I cannot emphasize how much I love these tools. Repetition is the bane of a writer’s existence; it’s simply inevitable at times.
These two tools count the number of times you use a single word or phrase in a text document. Just copy/paste your document, hit submit, and you’re all set!
For the phrase frequency counter, you can scan for two-word to ten-word phrases.
12. Thesaurus.com
This is another tool that might seem painfully obvious. Combined with the word frequency counter, it’s such an essential resource for me.
It’s especially useful if you’re writing about the same topic multiple times (i.e. love, getting drunk, sex, etc.). I always use this combo of tools to ensure uniqueness.
13. Lists Of Colors
Are you stumped when trying to come up with unique shades of blue? Is describing your character’s hair or skin color difficult? This Wikipedia page has you covered. It contains:
lists of colors (alphabetically)
lists of colors by shade
lists of Crayola crayon colors
lists of color palettes
I typically use this resource for product descriptions, but I also used it for creative writing many times. It’s a lifesaver for all things color-related.
Free Photos/Images
Tons of creators need free photos/images for numerous reasons. All of these sources provide 100% free photos, illustrations, etc. that have a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. This means there’s no copyright whatsoever on them.
You can edit the images however you’d like, too. All of the images in my post are from the first source listed below. I made them black and white and added text.
(A lot of these sites have donate buttons for contributors. Donating a dollar here and there goes a long way!)
1. Unsplash
Unsplash is my personal favorite for high-resolution photos. It’s easy to navigate and has over 2,000,000 free images. Downloading an image is a one-click process, and you don’t need to create an account.
2. Pixabay
Pixabay is my go-to site for illustrations and vector graphics (they have photos, too). There are 1.9 million free images to choose from. You don’t need an account to download images, but I recommend creating one. It’s free and with an account:
you don’t have to complete a CAPTCHA every time you download an image
you can access higher-quality/larger/etc. versions of images
I often use graphics from Pixabay to create overlays and masks for mixed media art pieces.
3. PxHere
I’ve never used PxHere, but one of my writing clients recommends it. It seems very similar to Pixabay, and the interface is user-friendly.
4. Pexels
In my limited experience, Pexels seems to focus on “artsy” stock images/content. I found great high-quality images the few times I’ve used it.
5. Burst by Shopify
I haven’t used Burst, but it’s another free image site that a writing client recommended to me. It seems a little limited compared to the other sites, but it never hurts to add it to your toolbox!
Digital Art/Photo Editing/Etc.
This section seems brief, but the tools listed are pretty comprehensive and diverse. They are geared towards many creative needs/projects like:
Creating manips of people/etc.
Adding text to images.
Creating collages.
Digital illustration.
Advanced photo editing.
There’s something for everyone. In my experience, finding your favorites among these will take some trial and error.
1. Pixlr X and Pixlr E (app available)
Pixlr X and Pixlr E are both versatile free editing tools. Pixlr X is ideal for less experienced creators. Pixlr E is comparable to Adobe PhotoShop.
I’ve used both software formats for personal and professional art projects.
The Pixlr app is handy for making collages, adding filters/overlays, adding text, and so on. I’ve used it for creating fanfiction collages and similar projects. It’s super easy to use.
2. Remove Background by Pixlr
This is one of the easiest/fastest tools I’ve found for removing backgrounds from images. It’s perfect for creators who make manips using photos of people.
It takes literal seconds to use. The tool automatically removes the background. If you spot any mistakes, you can refine the results with brush/erase tools. Then you download the cutout and you’re all set!
Unfortunately, this feature isn’t available on the Pixlr app. There are a lot of smartphone apps for removing photo backgrounds.
3. GIMP
If you need a full-fledged Photoshop alternative, GIMP is excellent software. It’s not an online tool like most I’ve suggested; you’ll need to download it to your computer.
There’s quite a learning curve for it, unless you’re familiar with Photoshop already. Fortunately, the free video/text GIMP tutorials online are endless. I no longer use/need GIMP, but it’s a personal favorite of mine.
4. Paint.NET
Admittedly, I haven’t used Paint.NET, but my art/photography colleagues commonly mention it. It’s comparable to Photoshop and GIMP. It’s a web-based tool, and a quick Google search returns several tutorials for it.
5. Photopea
This is more or less a Photoshop clone, but it’s free and web-based. If you watch Photoshop tutorials, you can usually follow the same steps in PhotoPea.
I’ve only used it a few times; I have Photoshop so I don’t need it. Still, it’s very impressive - especially for a free tool.
6. PicsArt (app available)
PicsArt is a photo editing website and app; the app is much easier to use in my opinion. It’s a “fun” editing tool for photo manips, collages, and fan art in general. A lot of users post their art in the app, and I’ve noticed tons of cool fandom edits.
Some of the features are Premium (AKA cost money), but I don’t think they’re worth the extra cost. PicsArt also has a digital drawing app. I haven’t personally used it but it may be worth checking out!
7. Adobe Photoshop Express (app available)
(I’ll preface this by saying I have an Adobe subscription, so I have access to the “locked” features. I’ve used the free versions, but my memory of it is a bit hazy.)
Photoshop Express is a free web-based tool and smartphone app. The app is very user-friendly and can be used for detailed editing, adding filters, adding text, and so on.
I’m less familiar with the browser version; I only use it for the cutout tool when I’m feeling lazy. It seems to be a good fit for quick edits - filters, cropping, and so on.
8. Make PNG Transparent by Online PNG Tools
This tool is awesome for removing solid colored backgrounds. I use it to create graphics for mixed media art pieces. Here’s how it works:
upload an image
type the color your want to remove (name or hex code)
type the percentage of similar color tones you want to match (for example, 25% will remove your chosen color plus similar warm/cool tones)
the removed color is replaced with transparent pixels
If you want to make a JPG transparent, start with the website’s JPG to PNG Converter. There are a ton of useful free tools offered, but I haven’t tried out most of the others.
Wrap Up
That’s all I’ve got for now! If I think of additional free tools, I’ll add them to this post. Feel free to reblog with your own recommendations or message me if you’d like me to add anything.
I hope my fellow creatives find these too
#writer resources#writing#writblr#fanfiction#fanfic#creative writing#writing reference#writing resources#writer reference#obviouslygenuinely#creators#artists on tumblr#fandom#fan art
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Introducing: ~~ OLIVITA’S SCHOOL ~~
The photo above is me in my backyard studio in mid-late 2020.
[Image Description: A young woman in a small garage converted workspace stands by her desk with a sewing machine and other appliances on top. She is looking at the camera with a slight smile on her face. Next to her is a clothing rack with pants and other garments she has made. Behind her over looks palm trees and other trees in the background].
The quick update is that it’s 2021, we’re still in the covid-19 pandemic, and after being forced leaving my job at the most beautiful intergenerational community technology center ever, running away to Aruba for 10 days and then two weeks later to Mexico for a month, and finally getting out of my 3 year saturn return (whew!) I’ve decided to go back to school 😝. I’m getting my DIY PHD in something like technology and new media applications for community empowerment movements (😂 I just made that up! so it will probably change on a weekly basis haha). I started on January 4th, 2020 and so far the schedule is bomb and the syllabus is cute and I’m excited to see how this evolves, shapes, grows, and what I take away from it. Over the next several months, I’ll be documenting my classes, process, progress, and insights here (hopefully 🤞). Keep reading to see my course schedule, what I’ll be studying this semester and why I’m doing this.
I will be using this space to document each class, project, learnings, and findings. Sometimes these posts may long/insightful, other times they may just be notes so I can remember things later. I’m trying to get better at documenting my process, and that’s what this is all about enjoying, being present in, and learning from the process. Not only am I the eager student but I’m also the eager professor so I will be developing my syllabus, assignments, and a process for evaluation (!) as I go. So let’s get started with the basics.
COURSE LISTINGS (which of course is subject to change, grow, all the things)
Sewing Techniques (Sew It Academy)
Conversational Spanish (Pimsleur language app)
Witchcraft, Death Studies, and Magical Development
Fashion and Waste (Slow Factory - Open Education)
Independent Study 1: Waste as Wearable Art
Independent Study 2: Creating fashion as tools of political and social resistance and protection.
SCHEDULE
Monday, Tuesday:
10-11am: Conversational Spanish
11-1:30pm: Sew It Academy
1:30-3:00pm: Lunch break
3:00 - 4pm: Witchcraft
Wednesday:
10-11am: Conversational Spanish
11:00am - 1:30: Independent Study 1
1:30-2:30pm: Lunch
2:30-4:00pm: Independent Study 1
Thursday:
Hanging with Ziva (6-year-old neice) all day!
Friday:
9am-10:00am: Fashion & Waste
10:30-11:30: Conversational Spanish
12:00 - 4:00pm: Independent Study 2
I also do a lot of my reading for my witchcraft class every night. The syllabus is as follows but continues to grow.
Syllabus for Witchcraft and Magical Developments:
You Were Born for This, Chani Nicholas
Witchery, Juliet Diaz
Plant Witchery, Juliet Diaz
Pleasure Activism, adrienne maree brown
Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown
Surviving Death, Netflix Series
(syllabus will be updated as the semester continues). I will also be keeping a dream journal as I am focusing on dream messages and I also have downloaded the Chani app for weekly and daily astrology readings.
A little bit about why I am doing this...
2020 was a crazy year for us all. For me, it involved leaving my dream job 9 months into the year after experiencing months of horrible toxic masculinity from a new employer. This was the year the Earth threw us Covid-19 and was like, “I tried to tell y’all to stop with your fuck shit that is destroying us all so you know what, I’m gonna kill you now and in order to stay safe you have to stay inside and think about how to create a new world that actually works for the Earth and for the people.” So I listened and now I’m thinking. In December, around the time of the Great Conjunction and Saturn leaving Capricorn, I went back and reread old journals from my three year Saturn Return, to reflect on how much I’ve grown. Except I went back even further. And I realized that there have been project ideas and skills I’ve been wanting to learn for years that I haven’t gotten the courage to pursue yet. So I wanted to take the time to learn them and finish them. And in order to do that, I knew I needed to have some kind of schedule. So I decided to pretend I was in school and write down what the courses would be if I really were. And viola, I put the classes on my calendar and I started after the holiday break. I have some project goals and outcomes that would be nice to have come out of this time, but I’m really just here to learn, to practice, and be in the process not focused on the end result. This concept is so new to me, so I’m really happy and excited to be here, to have the opportunity available to me right now (disclaimer: I have unemployment and some savings) and to see where this takes me next. But I’m excited for this ride.
Okay that is all for now!
#diy education#diy learning#diy school#diy phd#diy witchery#diy witchcraft#diy witch#diy fashion#diy sewing
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How I Write Blog Posts and Why You Need a Writing Routine
A lot of small business owners want to start writing blog posts for their business. Writing takes one part discipline, one part research, and one part art with a touch of psychology to do. I’ve written this post to help those starting out building their own writing habits. Writing is like any other skill, it takes practice and dedication. We all start somewhere and every one of us can become pro bloggers.
Planning
The first step I take to write my content is to sit and plan the post out. Writing isn’t like the movies where you sit by a sunny window and type away building a million dollar blog. Writing quality content takes practice and planning. You can achieve both over time.
Planning your post starts with your topic. Planning topics can be a huge roadblock and many people quit writing before they begin. Develop categories for your blog based on your products or services. After that develop topics for each category. Try to develop 10 to 20 topics to start. These topics can be further broken down or developed into long-form content.
Once you have a topic you know you can write 300 or more words for, start to plan out the post. On a Word document or Google Doc, start with a basic title you'll build-out later. Make a section for keywords to help get your post ranked. Make a section for SEO meta titles and descriptions. Finally, outline the actual post with headings for each point you want to make in your post.
Research for Your Blog
Researching key aspects of your blog before you write will help you create content that brings value to the people that need to read it. Researching before you write will refresh your memory and help you back up your facts. With researched data and info, you boost your authority and trust with readers. People that trust their information sources are more likely to convert.
Persona
Personas are a fictitious person that represents a segment of your target audience. Building an in-depth profile for your persona including a name, family, job, and pain points humanize your persona. Personalizing personas give you a “person” to create your blog post to read.
Having these personas allows you to write like you are having a conversation about your company to a friend. Knowing who you are writing for is a huge step in creating great blog posts.
Keywords
Keywords act like triggers for search engines when people are looking for specific topics. Finding keywords can be tricky if you don’t know where to look or how to use them. How to do keyword research is an entire post on its own
Brainstorm a list of words that you would use to search for the topic of your post. You can use a tool like Google Keyword Tool or a free tool like Ubersuggest by Neil Patel to get an estimate of how much traffic those keywords get. Once you find a handful of relevant keywords, search them on Google, and look at the “People Also Asked” section. This is a great way to either find new topics related, refine your post, or find your alternative or long-tail keywords.
Authoritative Sources
The last thing to research to create your post is several sources to back your content and show trust and authority. Trying to find at least one credible source per point will help with readers and your SEO. You can also learn something new about the topic you’re writing about. If you use someone else’s work to back your post then it’s only right to give them credit.
Blog Writing
Now comes the fun part. Many people, myself included, get stuck in the writing phase. Here are a few suggestions and tips I use to start and finish a blog post.
Make Time to Write Like it’s Your Job
You need to set aside time to write. Create a block of time in your workday to just sit and write. Write one or two blog posts for practice and to publish later. Writing can be a very Zen-like activity once you start to develop solid writing habits. You’ll get better at writing as time goes on and you’ll start writing more and faster.
If you write your blog post a little bit a day, eventually you’ll find it takes 2 months to finish and by then the entire thing could be outdated or look like a jumbled mess. You need to sit and get your thoughts down while everything is fresh in your mind.
Find a Place to Write
Finding a comfortable place with little distractions is the next step. Unrestricted writing is key to getting your post written quickly. Find a space to call your own and camp out to build your writing habits. You need as little interruptions as possible to get all your thoughts on paper.
Don’t Stop to Edit or Think
One of the biggest contributors to writer’s block I run into is when I stop to correct grammar, spelling, or anything that doesn’t look right to me. I’ll fix all those little red underlines from Grammarly and next thing I know, boom there goes my train of thought.
When you start writing, don’t stop until you’re finished. Get all your thoughts out and in a logical order for your blog post. You’ll have time after to edit, add, or take whatever you want away. This is why large publishing companies and marketing agencies have editors. Their job is to fix errors and make sure the post is readable. Don’t let imperfections stop your progress.
Blog Editing
My process for editing my blog posts is waiting a day until I even look at the post again. By waiting a day to read and edit the post, I give myself a fresh set of eyes and detach from the post. I can make sure the post is accurate and conveys the message I need it to.
The first thing I do is make sure grammar, spelling, and punctuation are correct through an app like Grammarly. I use the free version which works great for me. Using another app like the Hemingway app will help you when you’re starting out to keep your post readable.
Next, I read through and make sure the information is organized and makes sense. I may reword sections or even completely remove anything I don’t see as relevant. Sometimes on more complex posts, I’ll ask someone to read it and make sure they understand what I wrote.
Blog Publishing & Distribution
Once the post is edited, it's ready for publishing. Before you publish, find a few decent and relevant images to add to the post including a featured image. These can be stock images or photos you took for your business. Your photos need to look professional and you need to be able to size them appropriately.
Once you’ve entered your post and images into your preferred platform, optimize it for SEO. Make sure you have one H1 and the other headings follow suit according to importance. Use ALT text on your images. Add your meta title and description. Any links need to be semantic for Google. Finally, make your URL short and descriptive for Google and readers.
Once you publish your post, decide what platforms and when you’ll distribute your post. Just writing a post won’t get eyes on it. The more traffic you get to your post, the more authority your post will get. Decide how you want to section your post for social media. Do you want to publish to Medium? Maybe you want to repurpose the post into a video for YouTube. There are a ton of possibilities. The most important thing is to get your post out there.
Repurposing Blogs
Repurposing your posts is something to consider down the road. There are several key ways to repurpose content that works great. Repurposing allows you to take an existing blog, build it out or fix it, and keep your existing link and SEO juice.
Pillar Posts
Pillar posts are for posts you can easily make into 3,000 plus words and create a web of links between smaller posts. Pillar posts are a comprehensive, long-form post that acts as the hub for a web of similar links. Pillar posts are amazing for boosting SEO.
One downfall is you need around 10 posts on the same topic you can tie together to start your pillar post. Once you have a good amount of posts on a topic, it's truly something you need to consider.
Updating Blog Posts
Google loves when content is updated with new information. I’ve seen client posts skyrocket and do extremely well with SEO once they were updated and given a fresh headline. The best part about updating posts is you get to put a new perspective and eyes on it while keeping the SEO you earned for the original post.
Alternate Media
Making your post into different media types is a great way to create funnels with video, infographics, podcasts, and other content types. Having your message out in multiple formats gives you a great opportunity to get more eyes and ears on it. The more funnels you get out there, the more traffic you get back to your site.
Social Media Posts for Funnels
This isn’t so much repurposing but a way to build more funnels with your post. I usually add this as part of a content marketing strategy. Planning to take stand-alone parts of your post with custom graphics make great social media posts. If you have a post with enough info, you can have months worth of social media posts from one piece of content.
Conclusion
Writing a blog post can be daunting and sometimes writer’s block will hit you and you’ll give up. Hopefully, this post will give you a little light on how someone who does this for a living handles it. With planning, research, and practice, you’ll become a pro in no time.
If you find yourself stuck or just don’t have time to start building your content, feel free to contact me to learn more about how I can help. I’m a content marketer, writer, and SEO specialist helping small businesses build an online presence for more conversions and sales. Contact me or email me today.
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So I’m just gonna get right to the point. I love playing Skyrim, I love playing as my OCs in Skyrim. I especially love modding the living heck out of this game while playing as my OCs and pretty much living vicariously through them.
However, as much as I love this game IT IS SEVERELY LACKING IN LGBTQ+ CONTENT AND THE OPTION TO MARRY SOME CHARACTERS OF THE SAME GENDER AND ONE INSTANCE OF AN MLM COUPLE THROUGH A LETTER BECAUSE THEY’RE BOTH DEAD AF IN THE DRAGONBORN DLC IS NOT ENOUGH FOR MY QUEER ASS!
So what to do? Mods! It’s 2020 and a lot more people are openly accepting and open-minded, right? So finding LGBTQ+ mods should be a lot easier, right? Eh.........no. I’ve spent several days trying to find mods to make my Skyrim playthrough as queer as I possibly can make it, specifically for my High Elf OC who is trans (FtM), very effeminate, has a none muscular body and build and very gay. I think now, after several days of research, tutorials, testing and an endless amount of headaches I think I have the mods to make my play through true to how I imagine and have written this character as.
Bare with me for a few seconds, I promise I’ll get to the point and this is worth reading. I’m trying to get as much information in this as possible.
Disclaimer:
This mod list is only for the PC version of the game. Look, I’m super, super sorry but basically over 95% of all these mods are exclusively found online and even if they ARE on beth.net they aren’t used at full capacity from what I understand. Believe me, as a mainly console player, it breaks my heart that I can’t include the consoles for this list.
I won’t be linking to just Nexus. I’ve found a bunch of mods outside of the Nexus that are reliable.
I’ll only be working with the Special Edition version of the game. It’s the one I have and am playing on.
I will NOT be covering female body replacers. At freakin’ all. There are literal dozens of mods covering this. There will only be ONE and it is for very specific reasons only.
In my little venture into finding these mods I came across a lot of homophobic, transphobic and downright disgusting comments within the Nexus. I also found out a lot of queer mod authors were driven out of the Nexus because of said homophobic people. This is what happened to Vector and also why SavrenX refuses to upload anything other than weapon, item retextures to the Nexus. Nexus users and community overall is very homophobic and toxic so I’m very sorry if you see or read something upsetting. I advice you avoid the comments (known as posts on Nexus) tab as to avoid seeing some vile shit. Ignore them and don’t engage them ffs, they just want a reaction out of you. There’s no correcting these assholes much less educating them. They ain’t worth your time. Just report and move on.
The majority of the mods linked in this post have been tried by me, if I haven’t tried them out I’ll say so. Again, I’m learning as I go along and believe me this hasn’t been an easy task to find all of these working mods.
No, I won’t be searching or uploading any ports, texture, mesh or mod edits I myself have done. I ain’t confident in how well I may have or not have edited the mods and more importantly that’s as bad as uploading art that wasn’t done by you. Sadly, you’ll have to do these changes yourself. I’ll try my best to link tutorials. Also don’t go and harass the authors for a port or an update ffs.
I’ll most likely be editing this list as I learn more.
Yes, I will leave links from adult sites. A lot of these sites pretty much force you to sign up in order for you to download their content. It’s fine, just make some random account and you’ll instantly gain access to the mods. Just know there’ll be nsfw images, gifs and videos everywhere in these sites.
While I will be referring to male characters a lot of these if not all can also cater to non-binary characters too!
No, I will not be covering sex mods. I have no intention of adding them to any of my load orders and I really don’t care to. You’re on your own for that category. Try Lover’s Lab.
*Body Mods/Replacers/Races:
Schlongs of Skyrim (aka SOS). Not the only choice out there but the most current and fully working one. Pretty much mandatory for a bunch of mods so might as well have it, ya know?
Tempered Skins for Males. Was known as Better Males; pairs up beautifully with SOS. Super amazing work if you ask me.
Shape Atlas for Men (aka SAM). This is literally the god king of all male body replacers. Want a twunk? This mod will do it. Want a regular Joe? This can do it. Want a bear of a man running around in Skyrim? Yeah, girl, this can do it. Ever since I discovered it I have been obsessed with it! HOWEVER, the full working mod is only available for Old Skyrim, maybe for Legendary Edition but I’m not sure. Vector said he had plans to port the full working mod to Special Edition but confessed he was having issues with the scripts. Also afaik Vector’s last updates on working on the mod were back in late 2016 so I think it’s safe to say this beautiful mod will never be seen running on SSE. Sadly Vector just up and left the modding scene somewhere in 2018. It none of our business but from what I read he faced a lot of homophobic harassment from people not liking his body mod or giving him shit because he didn’t want to make a female body mod. He even faced harassment from our very own community.
Not all’s lost though. Some of the amazing modders in Vector’s site have made a working version for SSE.
SAM Light, SAM Morphs for RaceMenu, SAM SE Vanilla Armor Refit, SAM High Poly Conversion, SAM Light Texture Add-on, High Poly Head
The Ultra Femme. Title should be super self-explanatory. Super good if your character is really femme or non-binary or trans. I haven’t tried out this body myself and I’m not entirely sure whether this is compatible with SE or not. RefurbMadness has a lot of mods hosted in her site and still has some in Nexus that are being hosted by the site’s Care Taker. I’m actually gonna link a few later. I honestly suggest going through her site and reading up everything. She’s pretty clear when it comes to instructions, the only problem is she’s not exactly clear on whether her mods are compatible with SE or not. Maybe it’s written somewhere in there, I’m still new to modding and need very clear descriptions (you kinda gotta talk to me like I’m 5 when it comes to mods). I need to check more of her content and test a bunch of things. She also has armor and clothing mods.
Milkdrinker Male Texture and Slim Male Body for SoS (<3<3<3). Both by the same mod author. Sadly only available for Old Skyrim but the only reason why I linked it is because both mods are super easy to convert to use for SSE. Sweetie, if I managed to do it, you can do it too. Watch this, or this or this or try to Google it and see what comes up. Personally I tried the Slim Male Body and it was pretty good. Unfortunately you’d have to refit all the armors to fit either body yourself.
Transgender Race and NPCS SSE. Like I said before I wasn’t going to link or talk about any female body replacers except for one. This one! Look, there are a few out there but they’re extremely transmisogynistic and fetishistic and use a lot of outdated and transphobic language plus they’re mostly sex mods so I will abso-freaking-lutely NOT be linking them. Anyway, the people behind this port are back to working on this mod and have plans for adding transgender men. As of now the mod only has transgender women. They can’t add more genders due to the engine limitations and FYI they used “race” in the title because this isn’t a body mod, it’s actually a race. This is one of the few mods that won’t play well with SoS.
There IS one more body or better said, race, I tried but I really didn’t like it. Mod worked as it was advertised but--well, whatever, it’s for personal reasons that I didn’t like it and it depended way too much on a lot of more mods and it bloated up my LO something fierce so for that reason I ain’t gonna link it. Mod’s called Femboy if you wanna give it a try yourself.
*Extras (edits, armors, clothes and more):
Enhanced Character Edit SE. Tl;dr this is like RaceMenu but on steroids. It offers way more sliders and because of this it has fantastic potential to mold your character’s body to your personal liking. I used this instead of RM for my High Elf I mentioned earlier. He has a more “delicate” frame and is much thinner than my other OCs and this mod did exactly what I’ve been trying to achieve for a very long time now. Works like a charm.
SSE Luscious Locks for All - Unisex KS Hair. Makes it so that male characters can use all the hair options that comes with KS Hairdos SSE. Guys with long hair! Yummy! <3
Oooooooorrrrrrr you can just install ApachiiSkyHair SSE which has a bunch of long hair options for men to look fabulously yummy! This is the one I’m using.
Femfeet Redesigned SSE Port For Everyone. Look, it’s a foot texture mod, that’s it. Works with Better Males aka Tempered Skins and SoS, so yes, your guys will have pretty feet. Load this AFTER you body mod of choice.
Apachii Divine Elegance Store. This store has so much to offer. Really beautiful clothes and armors, exceptional jewelry, wonderful accessories aaaaaand your male character can also use the nails that are offered by the mod. So if you want your male character to have some stunning and colorful manicures done this mod offers it. They also offer actual claws that also comes in different colors so you can have both styles. Look, imo this is a must for femme male and enby characters. Your guys are going to look beautiful!
Immersive Jewelry - Earring for Male Characters. This enables Immersive Jewelry earrings to be wearable and visible on male characters.
Light Elven Armor for Men, Light Glass Armor for Men, Light Daedric Armor for Men. Tired of women being the only ones to get skimpy outfits? Ja, me too! Here’s some of the armor mods RefurbMadness ported to SSE before she left Nexus. There’s more available for Old Skyrim but you’ll need to convert them over to SSE yourself.
Slof’s Lair. Slof has a collection of skimpy armors, some accessories and even modern clothes (if that’s your thing). They have a link to their Nexus profile on their page but instead of adding all the links I just figured to leave the link to their site so you can check everything they have to offer. I haven’t tried any of Slof’s mods myself though I’m super interested in the Just For Men collection of mods and the Goth Shop (chill, it’s mostly Tera armors without the need to download that massive Tera mod).
Tera Armors Collection - Special Edition. And here’s that massive mod I previously mentioned but it’s actually a really good one. I’ve tested this out on both pc and Xbox One and it looks gorgeous on both!
The Well Dressed Mage. Not exactly skimpy but kind of revealing. Idk, these look lovely af and I wanna try them on my Altmer. Maybe someone else will want to try these too.
Modular Bandoliers and Pauldrons for Males. Pretty simple and to the point. Haven’t tried it since it wouldn’t go with my elf’s more refined bitchy tastes.
Bad Dog’s Skimpy Clothes SE. Some skimpy outfits for guys that were converted over to SE apparently not too long ago.
Bodyslide and Outfit Studio. So none of the stuff listed above is to your liking. That’s where this comes in. Thing is you actually CAN convert female armors and clothes for male use. So download the armors and clothes you wanna use and throw them and the body meshes you use into Outfit Studio. I myself am still learning how to go about doing this and the tutorials out there are kinda hard to come by. Try this video. I followed it and managed to convert a female outfit to fit on a male body I was using. Still need a lot of practice though but am working on it.
As far as makeup goes you can edit the colors of your character’s eyeshadow, eyeliner, cheeks and lips but with ECE or RaceMenu you can edit the colors further. May need to do some extra hard tweaking some choices though, not gonna lie. If I find a much better option I’ll post it.
I’m currently trying to find how the heck to get male characters to wear heels or if there’s a mod that has it. Like, that’s the last thing I need to make clothes complete. I’ll get back to this when I find it.
*Animations:
FNIS PCEA2 - Player Exclusive Animations (Dynamic) SE. So you got your character, you’ve dressed them and done up their hair and all that and to this point it’s all come together perfectly...until your femme male/enby character or your butch female/enby character starts walking and standing idly by and the poses and animations are completely and utterly wrong. Why is he walking like an angry gorilla? Why is she walking like a Victoria’s Secret model down the walkway? Can you switch their animations?
YES!!!
PCEA2--and yes, you will need FNIS to get this working--allows you to make animation changes to only your character. You can even add and/or remove which animation packs you want your character to use! I’ve just barely begun testing this mod as well as adding some specific packs for my Altmer and the pretty female idles works like a charm for him. I downloaded FNIS Sexy Move SE to try this out on him and see if it works but according to Fore it should work as long as you installed everything correctly and ticked the appropriate box to activate the animation pack you want. I’m not entirely sure if you can customize the choices given by each animation pack, probably something as simple as deleting the animations you don’t want and leaving the one you do want. I’ll have to test this further.
*Gameplay and Voices:
Simply Gay Letters. Simple and sweet little mod that adds some letters in certain places all over Skyrim tying certain NPCs to other NPCs. The hinted at couples are all the mod author’s headcanons so if that bothers you I suggest moving on.
Queering Skyrim - Blueflower Necklace. Basically it stops female NPCs from showing interest in your male character when wearing an amulet of Mara.
Queering Skyrim - Lavender Menace Necklace does the exact same thing but for female characters.
Same Sex Perks - A Lover’s Insight - Agent of Dibella - Allure. Y’all remember Confirmed Bachelor from New Vegas? Remember how no Beth game has put it in their games again but are totally adding some lazy attempts to include us LGBTQ+ folks? The author has a pretty clear and easy to understand description of the mod in the page. There’s also Gay Insight - A Lover’s Insight Tweak which does the same as the other one but much simpler. I guess it’s up to you and your tastes when it comes to which one to use. I myself am using Same Sex Perks since it adds other perks.
Player Voicesets for SSE - Custom Voice Version. I downloaded this but I haven’t installed it yet. If I understood correctly this lets you change your character’s voice to any of the in game voices. My advice? Go into the page and read everything.
PC Head Tracking and Voice Type SE. The reason I haven’t installed the previous mod is because I have THIS one installed because of the head tracking but it also comes with an added voice feature so this might clash with the other one. I still need to test whether they do the same thing or not.
Skyrim - Player Re-Voiced Series. CaseyTheVA was kind enough to make a bunch of voices for your character. Just your character. I’ve tested these on Xbox and they are legit really freakin’ good! They seem to have added a lot more since the last time I checked. Unfortunately these are only available on beth.net or for Old Skyrim on the Nexus. You could just download them from the game’s mod page and remove the files and upload them back into the game using whatever mod manager you use. I did this with Cheat Room. Or you can port them yourself from Nexus. Honestly the quality alone is worth all the trouble.
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Hi Jack! We’re an 18+ Original Character Pacific Northwest Gothic RPG and were hoping you had time to give us an opinion please and thank you so much
hi there @thepinesrpg! i’m happy to give you an opinion. since you didn’t specify private, i will post this on my blog. feel free to ask me to take it down if that was a mistake.
NOTE: all opinions expressed here are mine, jack’s, belonging to jack. i make no claims to knowing what is best for every group – i only offer advice based on my experiences, what i’ve seen in the community, and my personal knowledge. no one person knows what is best for you or any group other than yourself; because you were the one who put all of this together in the first place. so take everything i say as a suggestion, and remember that you have accomplished so much!!
i want to point out before the opinion that this isn’t just a shoutout, it is a very big rec!! thepinesrpg is a great place to form a muse in a creative yet familiar supernatural environment
and if you have any questions, want feedback on something specific, or want elaborations on anything said in this opinion, don’t hesitate to message me!!
start: 13.15 | pause: none | end: 13.40TOTAL: 30 minutes to read all pages excluding skeleton bios, lore pages, informational pages, etc. (this isn’t an indicator of anything, I simply time myself)
So first impressions by the main are excellent. Your header image is minimalist but with that slight movement from the gif that it doesn’t draw attention to it repeatedly but also it’s not cluttered and an eyesore as some headers often can be. The contrast of the dark green with the white shades of the background create a good balance too. Personally I’m a BIG fan of sidebars that include a lot of worldbuilding information like the calendar, the weather forecast, etc. I will say though it IS a lot of scrolling. Ideally finding a theme with two sidebars would be perfect to kind of give a balance to what you’re looking to have included but I know they can be hard to find while still including everything you want out of the theme itself -- so that’s not a big issue.
The one thing that I’m against is the length of your sidebar description. It’s catchy, sure, but three paragraphs is a bit long compared to other rpgs. I’d recommend bringing it down to one paragraph with your favorite parts and then including a generic statement at the bottom. I actually ended up putting one together myself (which you’re free to use if you want to take my advice on condensing it, otherwise feel free to ignore it) below:
They say it’s the quiet ones that you have to watch out for ― that the most dangerous people wait in silence to strike. Places are like people in that way. With big cities it’s all noise… but towns―towns are quiet, aren’t they? And this town ― Blackwood Pines ― made quiet danger an art form. But you’ll never know about the accidents, the disappearances, the murders or cults or hauntings until you move here. That’s how we like it. So why not stay a while? Take in the sights, breathe in the mountain air. If you’re brave enough see what kind of trouble you find… or what kind of trouble finds you.
I’m also wondering if it wouldn’t be more prudent to reduce your sidebar links to your primary focuses? I feel like Tasks and Events can be brought up to the Post Acceptance tab. In what I’ve seen the existence of Sidebar links is for those things that don’t really have a PLACE on a main link bar, or that would extend one subsection way too far. Reducing it to your mobile nav, trigger list, announcements, discord, and inspo blog might help you seem less cluttered in the long run.
I love love love your Plot. It’s well-written, well thought-out, and just overall cuts right to the chase and gives me the information I need while also encouraging me to keep reading to learn more. My recommendation would be to move the timeline of events to its own page. I get how it builds on the plot but thinking ahead it would be an excellent page to include RP Events and Plot Drops, but you don’t want the plot page to seem too long. I love the timeline idea but adding it to its own page highlights both the Plot and Timeline separately as their own informational pages.
Your Guidelines, not gonna lie, are HELLA long. Many of those points can either be condensed into one statement or brought together with other points. I’d say just go over them as admins and see what is redundant and what could be worked out with less words. The reason I say this is because a lot of times long rules pages -- while personally something I like, as it proves the RPG has structure behind it -- can be a huge turn-off for potential members. God knows why, but they just are. You can still say everything you have with less wordage!
Just so y’all know -- your FAQ link redirects back to the main. Don’t know if that’s on purpose yet or not.
So your Character Masterlist page theme… shows a LOT right off the bat. I can get why that’s appealing but have you considered down the line when you have tons of members keeping all of that information in line and constantly updated? It can be really time-consuming. Finding a page theme that has room for the FC, name, and species (and player, but that’s optional i.m.o.) would make it seem much neater and then you can link to pages with all of that additional info as well as character biographies. This is partially personal preference but also just what I see from groups like yours in the rpc, while also taking into consideration the amount of work you’ll have to do down the line.
As a whole your worldbuilding pages are great! I’m not gonna comment on your lore because, well, it's YOUR lore. But I am seeing a lot of different page theme codes and while it can be helpful in differentiating the different info… I’ll warn you that it can alienate potential members. There was a bit of discourse about this a while back in the rpc and while I couldn’t give less of a fuck about what people think so long as my info is presented well, as someone with attention issues it is a little hard for me to keep focus when there’s just so many different layouts changing; some unnecessarily. Some people just don’t like it -- which is silly -- but it can take away from people’s experience if they have attention and focus issues like I do.
I’m a big fan of how all your forms are on one page?? Hiatus, Connections, Application; having all of that in one place makes it very easy for members and newcomers and honestly can we make that the standard?? I’ll happily pitch it.
There is only one thing I’ll request y’all DO change, and this is something I’ve spoken to other rpgs about before. I’d like for you guys to go through your pages and take every instance of “MALE” and “FEMALE” and replace them with “MEN” and “WOMEN.” It’s a common language mistake but does wonders for showcasing the inclusive environment I know you admins are striving for here. Especially since you do have a Non-Binary section as well.
Overall I’m a HUGE fan of your rpg. It’s not my personal cup of tea but I’m a sucker for lore, worldbuilding, and tons of info and history to suck up before I’ve even started thinking about a character. Many RPGs with these types of in-depth info pages are limited only to skeletons and I think your choice to have open characters and apps is a great one. There’s a lot of long-lasting potential here as well as great and juicy Events and Plots. You guys should be very, very proud. And you should also know that there are groups of people who are NOT as excited about extensive lore as we are. It has the potential to alienate some just looking for a place to make a muse and write in a new setting--which is what you guys are at your core. Whether you’re fine with that or maybe want to go back and see if there’s anything redundant that can be erased or condensed -- that is completely up to you guys. I had my own lore-heavy RPG and know the pros and cons firsthand.
I can see you guys being around for a long time and I urge you to keep up the amazing dedication! There’s a great admin team here and that’s apparent from the first page. Good job guys!!
Jack
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Pixelmator Photo
The Pixelmator Pro image editing engine is seriously sophisticated and incredibly powerful. It’s designed exclusively to take advantage of the full power of Mac computers, using advanced Mac graphics technologies like Metal and Core Image. Pixelmator Photo for iPad is here!In this live session I'll show you everything you need to know to get the very best out of this amazing iPad app.
The timeline for many a photographer — at least, this was the case for me — can be outlined somewhat as per the graph below:
Here, photography gear and kit starts out as the ultimate source of inspiration. This inspiration declines steadily over time, but rears its ugly head on occasion.
The inspiration derived from other photographers takes essentially an inverse effect as gear and kit do. When gear and kit delusions subside, the drive to emulate your favorite photographers rises.
And finally, your own skill set not only grows over time, it also becomes the main source of your own inspiration over time.
I’ve developed a bit of a list for the second step — photographers like Kate Holstein, Sam Nute, Finn Beales, Dan Tom, and more are stunningly skilled and worthy of emulation. Their compositions are great — often, near perfect — and their colors are their own.
I think the prevailing advice to improve your abilities as a photographer is to focus on composition. Work with prime lenses, learn to position your body and camera in the right spot, and ensure all the pieces of the puzzle fit into your photograph beautifully.
Color is just the icing on top of the composition cake, and everyone likes different brands of icing, right?
It is the largest aircraft in the Embraer E-Jet family. It is an extended version of the Embraer E-190 aircraft. X-Crafts‘ goal from the beginning was to create a great high quality add-on that would be very interesting for both, the hardcore simmers as well as new flightsim users out there! Check Out the Embraer E 170 by SSG avaiable on the X Plane Forum!!!Check it out at:http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/34117-embraer-e-170-e-jet. X plane erj. FS2004 Aeromexico Connect Embraer 190. Model by VirtualCol. Texture by Carlos Daniel Gonzalez. Author Diego Israel Correa Vazquez. Traffic Global for X-Plane 11 adds high quality AI aircraft in authentic liveries and will full 3D sound and lighting and effects. It comes with 65 aircraft types and over 860 liveries and is simple to use. Embraer E175 and E195 v2 package by X-Crafts. Embraer E-175 v2.4. EMB190YTxp11 for X-Plane 11 Part of the message is hidden for the guests. Please log in or register to see it. Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
Pixelmator Photo’s latest update brought the power of Pixelmator Pro’s ML Match Colors from the Mac to the iPad, promising the ability to match the color palettes between sets of photos. ML Match Colors is wonderfully implemented, quickly performed, and easy to use. It promises to use all the powers of the iPad.
But does it promise the power of stealing your favorite photographers’ color palettes? Will it make your photos look as good as your favorite photographers’ photos?
Of course not!
As is always the case in photography, there are a multitude of variables at play. ML Match Colors handles one specific variable: color.
Using ML Match Colors to Match Your Own Photos
This is the method that I expect the Pixelmator team both wants and expects customers to implement when using ML Match Colors. At first blush, ML Match Colors seems best designed for applying a relatively close color palette to all of your photos in a set.
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The original photo on the left and my personal edits on the right. Clearly, these two photos are very, very different.
To test the power of ML Match Colors, I used a single photo of my own from a few years ago. Evidently, I’ve heavily edited this photo, so I exported a copy of the original photo and a copy of the edited photo from Lightroom to my camera roll.
From there, I opened the original raw photo in Pixelmator Photo, dragged an instance of Photos into Split View, and dragged my edited into Pixelmator Photo to match the color palettes.
In general, if an app can or can’t deliver on a promise, it’s usually due to improper expectations. And since I originally came into this thinking ML Match Colors would also match saturation, hue, intensity, and exposure all at once, well, I was originally disappointed. Here’s the result:
But upon further inspection, Pixelmator Photo actually performed great work in matching the colors in these two photos. In retrospect, it’s obvious: the colors are properly matched. However, to get to my original end result, I had to jump into the color tools in Pixelmator Photo to dial back intensity, hue, and saturation of individual colors. After maybe a minute or two of experimentation, I came to this end result:
Not bad, actually! Not bad at all.
As I mentioned above, ML Match Colors is explicitly designed to match colors — matching any other elements of exposure, saturation, hue, and more either has to be done manually or through other forms of Pixelmator Photo’s machine learning features.
Using ML Match Colors to Match Someone Else’s Photos
This whole section likely gets dicey, so I want to ensure I give credit where credit is due, and I want to ensure that the end result of “stealing” someone’s color does not actually happen. I fully believe, after you’ve read through this section, you’ll agree that a photographer’s stylistic brand and color choices are not in jeopardy thanks to ML Match Colors.
So, Finn Beales is one of the professional photographers I mentioned above who I have a ton of professional respect for. Beales has one of my favorite photography blogs on the planet, shoots some of the best travel and brand photography in the world right now, and has provided a wealth of photographic knowledge in his photography course at Strohl Works. Tableau jira connector. If you want to get a behind-the-scenes look at how Beales works and how he achieves some of his results, that course was some of the best money I’ve spent in the last two years.
Finn Beales’s tremendous travel photography — known as “72 Hrs In…” — is showcased on his personal site. There are a wealth of photos to digest in that section of his blog. One of my favorites is his commissioned work for Travel Alberta, a province and location here in Canada I had the opportunity to travel to myself.
So, with that backstory out of the way, you can likely understand where I’m going with this. Here’s Finn Beales’ photo of a man at Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada:
Photo by Finn Beales, used solely for color reference and nothing more.
And here’s my photo of that exact same location, albeit with slightly different composition:
It’s very hard to say whether Beales and I shot the photo at the same time of day or in the same kind of weather, among other variables. We were at Lake Louise in the earliest part of the morning, so the orange glows on the mountaintop peaks are about as close as I could get to the oranges in Beales’ photo.
And here’s the result after dragging and dropping Beales’ photo into Pixelmator Photo:
Did my photo change at all? You’d be hard-pressed to tell. I believe many of the colors indeed match those in Beales’ photo, but again, hue, saturation, luminosity, brightness, and other variables play a major role in keeping Beales’ stylistic color choices his own.
This is good news, in nearly every facet of the story. The learning lessons I’m taking away from this:
Composition remains the most important element of photography. If you don’t have good composition, the amount of beautiful color you add or take away from a photograph won’t magically transform it into a mystical work of art.
Understanding “color” involves much, much more than simply dragging and dropping one photo onto the other. To achieve a certain look, a full understanding of the color wheel, color and light curves, and color tools is still required.
For all the work professionals have put in to create their own style, brand, and “look”, they can be rest assured that other photographers like myself won’t be able to replicate that same look with a simple feature in an iPad app.
Other Updates in Pixelmator Photo 1.2
Despite the title ML Match Colors feature debuting in Pixelmator Photo 1.2, the 1.2 app update housed plenty of powerful features for photographers looking to utilize the iPad more and more in their workflows.
Notice the trackpad cursor right in the middle of the photo on the left and the re-shaped cursor in the top right in the right photo. Cursor support is very nicely baked into the latest Pixelmator Photo update.
Trackpad Support: iPadOS 13.4’s new trackpad and cursor support has taken the platform by rage. Any app designed with many custom elements has struggled to organically adopt cursor support out of the gate, so updates have been needed to have all apps feel at home in iPadOS 13.4. Pixelmator Photo 1.2 brings full-blown trackpad support to the app, allowing you to whiz around with a mouse or trackpad much like you would on a Mac.
Split View: We chose Adobe Lightroom CC as the best photo editing app for the iPad because of its ecosystem, and we chose Darkroom as the runner-up because of Darkroom’s adoption of iOS technologies. With Pixelmator Photo 1.2, you can throw another app into the runner-up column. Pixelmator Photo may now have the best iPadOS technology support of any photo editing app available. The app now supports Split View, which is very powerful in how ML Match Colors is used. The app adeptly uses the iOS photo library rather than maintaining its own photo library housed within the app. And all the machine learning features built into the app make it one of, if not the, most powerful iOS photo editor available for the iPad.
Adjustment Intensity and Recent Adjustments: Pixelmator Photo 1.2 now allows you to fine-tune the intensity of color adjustments and presets. As described above, these tools are fundamental to achieving a desired look after ML Match Colors has done its job.
You’re also able to quickly reference and copy the adjustments from your most recently edited photos in Pixelmator Photo 1.2. Legal audio transcription. This, combined with ML Match Colors, make for a quick and easy workflow to edit a batch of photos with the same colors and settings.
Wrap Up
ML Match Colors debuted as a powerful machine learning feature in Pixelmator Pro for the Mac. The feature alone almost had me download Pixelmator Pro. However, I held off, knowing my workflow was going to increasingly move to the iPad. I admit, I didn’t expect ML Match Colors to come to the iPad so quickly.
I’m glad I waited. Because I’m positive I would have been initially disappointed with the ML Match Colors feature on the Mac.
Now that I’ve had a chance to try the feature, I’m more likely to purchase Pixelmator Pro for the Mac, simply because of the feature.
Pixelmator Photo App
So much of the iPhone and iPad’s being is wrapped up in simplicity. The devices themselves are fairly simply to use and can somehow house multiple generations of people into their user bases. This air of simplicity, applied to photography, almost makes it feel like you should be able to take a boring photo of the tree in your backyard and turn it into a masterpiece worthy of the Louvre.
The machine learning features in Pixelmator Photo are a taste of this simplicity, but don’t let your imagination run wild. Machine learning features in Pixelmator Photo take advantage of the deepest iOS technologies, eliminate a plethora of difficult and complicated tasks, and make editing photos easier than ever. They aren’t a perfect, one-tap-done editing tool.
ML Match Colors may be the very best machine learning tool available inside Pixelmator Photo. Drag and drop your favorite photos — or perhaps you can create and use your own color templates — to match the colors, then tweak everything else inside Pixelmator Photo’s vast array of editing tools. If you really want to make it easy, enable all the ML toggles in the tool array, hit export, and you’re done.
We named Pixelmator Photo as the photo editing app with the most potential in our big review. This 1.2 update really, really builds out some of that potential. And if this is just the start, Pixelmator Photo may move its way up the ladder of the best photo editing iPad apps.
Must-Have, Most-Used Photography Apps
Pixelmator Photo Mask
We spend an inordinate amount of time sorting through hundreds of apps to find the very best. Our team here at The Sweet Setup put together a short list of our must-have, most-used apps for taking and editing photos on iPhone and iPad.
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Anime Midwest 2018, Day 2
Ah, Day 2. Aka, the day I forgot to really mark things in my program guide, so I’m having to read the schedule now, 9 days later, to figure out what I did.
Can I repeat my wish for AnimeCon.Org to create or pay to utilize an app that will let you highlight panels/take notes/etc? Please?
Day two’s morning started with another visit to the manga library. I didn’t stay long, but even just popping in briefly was a nice way to get my day going. From there, I wandered over to the “Two Guys Walk Into the Internet” panel so I could see Linkara and The Last Angry Geek again.
This was the panel to attend if you wanted to get not just info on YouTube experience and their preferred reviewing styles, but also the recent Channel Awesome debacle from April of this year. Some of it was what I knew from the Twitter thread and the Not So Awesome Google doc, but some of it was not stuff I’d known. And it’s sad to know that The Geek took a big hit to his viewing and subscriber base when he cut ties with the site. From what I saw of him during Midwest, he seems a cool guy, and I’ll be looking into his channel more.
From there, nothing really caught my eye for the next hour, so I decided to check out the game room, and man, I wish I had spent more time there. Honestly, I haven’t dabbled in the gaming rooms as much as I’ve been tempted, because of the “funk” that usually pervades them. But Midwest’s game room smelled just fine, and looking at the games on display, I was like a kid in a candy store. From giant-sized games meant to be laid out on the floor to classic board and card games, from games aimed at younger players, to games for adults, to all ages...seriously, the people they’d partnered with had it all. And the game room staff knew their stuff! I spotted a copy of Betrayal at the House on the Hill and was talking to @shbumi about it, and a staffer overheard and joined in. I love that game - it does not love me back.
If I do another Anime Midwest, I am going to have to spend more time in this area, that’s for sure!
After that, it was time for the Bad Music Videos panel with V is for Villains. Only one band member was on hand, but he made the panel a blast. Instead of my usual pic from the panel (even though I stole @lechevaliermalfet ‘s phone to take one), I’m going to include one of the videos shown. This one is a classic, so you may have seen it before:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC35cQKHwzg
I’m glad that this is a staple V is for Villains panel because I found it entertaining and wouldn’t mind sitting it again sometime.
Also, I need to thank @shbumi - while I was at this panel, she was out trying to catch a shiny Articuno for me. The raids in the area didn’t pan out, but I appreciate her making the effort!
I wandered for a bit, then I checked into the tail end of the “Sexy Multimedia Q & A with D.C. Douglas” panel, since I knew he’s funny to listen to.
I went back through the dealer’s hall and artist alley after the panel. I stopped to say hi to a friend of a friend in the AA, and snagged a copy of her comic.
I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet (I’m bad about that - I snag indie comics at cons, then they sit on my shelf for quite a while) but I’m looking forward to it!
This was my other score for the artist alley during that time:
@falsedelusion does absolutely gorgeous work and I was happy to find art for Violet Evergarden, since Violet could be considered my latest anime waifu.
After dropping my comic and print in the room and grabbing some food, I went back to the con for some people-watching before going to the “Great Graphic Novels You Should Be Reading” panel.
This is another one I’ll probably have to attend again. See, the manga librarian apparently updates it every 2 weeks. And she’s got waaaayyyy more titles to choose from than you might think. Everything she recommended during the panel, she had on hand in the manga library. She also gave out personal recommendations for attendees, if asked.
I did end up taking photos of each slide, though I didn’t take notes of what was said. Still, I can do a photo post of what was recommended that weekend, at least.
From there, it was time for the “Women in Anime, TV, Film, and Beyond” panel.
I tried to like this one - I really did. It was nothing against the women who were answering questions and talking about the industry. It had everything to do with the setup. See, to even get a clear view of who was talking, you needed to either be up front or super tall. I don’t know how the A/V setup would work, but this particular panel is one that would have benefited from using the projector to show the image of who was talking and when. Since I couldn’t see from where I sat (my photo was taken by holding up my phone way about my head), it was hard to follow who was talking. In the end, I had to leave - I just couldn’t focus.
The evening was moving on so I snagged some free ramen, then headed off to the “LGBT Equality in Anime and Games” panel, which was 18+. The staffer checking my ID recognized my cosplay as the Impala from Supernatural, which was awesome.
(Side note: my favorite moments from Saturday were the one I just mentioned and running into Sam, Dean, and Cas cosplayers and taking a photo with them.)
I don’t know that I’m as familiar with Oscar Seung’s work, but I can say this: Hearing him sing and play the violin was awesome! And it was funny to hear how he’ll stop, mid-conversation, if he learns he has a voice role for Funimation - he takes his prep that seriously. Which is great, but I would hate to be the one talking to him at the time!
After that was “So You Think You Can Broadway.” This was easily the panel I was most conflicted about, after attending it. See, here’s the panel description, from the program:
“Are you suddenly bursting in song? Being “Pulled” in a new direction? Can’t seem to “Wait for It” or “My Shot”? Do you think being on stage has always “Meant To Be Yours”? Then you might have caught the Broadway Bug. Let us “Whip Into Shape” and see if you have the guts to survive the stage.”
It was a Jeopardy-style panel. Okay, fine! I like Jeopardy! But a lot of the rules seemed to be sorted out as we went: how to divide into teams, how teams would give answers, how many turns before allowing the other team a chance at the board, etc. People were having fun - including me - but there were grumbles at times about how the uncertain rules were causing possible unfairness in the judging process.
The panel ended with the option to sing in front of the judges and be told if they thought you were Broadway-material or not.
After that, it was time to wait in line for the conclusion of my evening: The Forbidden Fandom Dames Broadway Burlesque Adventure!
It was only in line waiting for this event that I learned that Anime Midwest had wristbands for 18+ events, just like the parent company had done for Anime Zap!.I’ve since looked over the program booklet to see if this was mentioned anywhere, but it wasn’t.
The room was packed, and it was an amazing experience. All involved were incredibly talented and entertaining. I admire their confidence in being able to perform and show some skin in front of a room of strangers.
It was a great way to end the day.
All of my Anime Midwest 2018 Coverage:
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Hi guys! I’ve started Patreon!
After years of stalling, I’m finally at the point where I think I’m ready to try this. I love creating and posting free content for you guys, but some of you have expressed interest in supporting me in the past, for which I am infinitely grateful.
I’ve been drawing pretty much full time for over a year now, often spending 10+ hours a day working on art content with rarely a single day of no drawing. I’ve been free loading at home and living off my savings from my previous job, and those savings have about run out. I wish I could just keep drawing and improving my content, but I’m at the point now where I either cut down on drawing time to make money, or find a way to at least partially support myself on art.
I want to keep the majority of my art public and continue posting as I have, and this is by no means an obligation. If viewing, sharing, commenting and supporting me is all you can do right now, I am more than immensely grateful to you. At the same time, if even less than 1% of my followers pledged $1 a month, I’d be able to continue drawing without worrying about money. While again, most of my art will be public, I’ve added additional perks as thank yous to those of you who do decide to support me.
FIRST OFF: What is Patreon? - Patreon is a platform where creators of all sorts can get support from their fans to help continue creating their content. It’s a means of turning art into livable income. The supporters, called patrons, pledge to pay a certain amount every month, and the amount you pledge can vary.
For me, you can pledge as little as $1 a month, and it will help so much because it can really add up! Each “Tier” of pledges, which are determined by the amount of support you give me, come with different perks (they all build up, so you get all lower tier perks too!), my way of saying thank you for supporting me. Think of these less as you’re buying this content, and more as you like my art and want to support me, and these are bonuses. You may of course upgrade, downgrade, or stop pledging the next month.
I’m new to this platform and am still learning how to use it, and for now I’ve put some sample content on there. I have a ton queued and it’ll be updating faster than any of my other social media because I have a lot of content queued up. I have a surprising amount of content that I haven’t shared and never planned on posting publicly, and this is definitely a place to dump all of that (including nsfw LOL).
I don’t want to be a financial burden on anyone, but if anyone would be interested in supporting my work and seeing me continue to produce art, I would appreciate your support so much. Please check it out! ^ ^
MY PATREON HERE.
A more detailed description of all of my Tiers and their perks listed below the cut, but also viewable on my Patreon itself.
More detailed descriptions of tier rewards
Thanks so much for considering becoming my patron! I tried to be as descriptive as possible while remaining concise in describing the rewards for the tiers, but here's a more detailed rundown.
I'm still learning how to use Patreon myself, so apologies for any mistakes I may make! I'll do my best to make sure any changes to rewards will be clearly communicated in advance.
$1 - Bronze medal Tier
Thank you so much for supporting my work! You have my sincerest gratitude.
View WIPs, abandoned work, sketches, and unposted content not currently publicly available but may be at a later date.
View higher resolution less watermarked versions of some content, including Patron requests.
There will be 2-3 posts of the above types of content weekly.
NSFW illustrations, at least once every other week on Friday. These will be explicit NSFW and will never be available to the public.
Have access to my private patreon community.
Be able to view some of my publicly available art on a better platform. Because let's admit it, Tumblr is oftentimes NOT the best image viewing platform...
All art will be low-resolution + with my url.
$5 - Silver medal Tier
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
ALL PREVIOUS AWARDS PLUS
NSFW Comics - Some explicit NSFW, but with some short story for context! Almost all of these will be set in my Future!Verse ABO AU, though many will be vague enough to imagine out of context. Will be posted at least once every other week on Friday.
Be able to vote on polls, limited only to patrons this tier and above. Types of polls may include choosing what I draw, or general opinion polls that will influence upcoming content!
Be able to submit one request per month. I will choose one of the submitted requests from the pool to draw!
Art process/tutorials! This includes being able to see my sketches, lineart, and flats prior to their completed versions, and possible step by steps and explanations of specific techniques I use. I'll explain my art process to you in depth! ^ ^
$20 - Gold medal Tier
SERIOUSLY? THANK YOU!
ALL PREVIOUS AWARDS PLUS
Advance pages of my Inferno Yuri No Ice AU comic. I will be posting these to this Tier as I finish drawing them. While they'll be low resolution and watermarked, these pages will not be available to the public until I'm done with the entire chapter. The goal is at least one page per week!
Story spoilers! Length text headcanons of untold story for my AUs which will only be available to the public and lower tiers when I make them into comics, which may not be for a very long time!
Access to my much higher resolution, less watermarked versions of my comics.They will still have my url on the side, but it will no longer obscure the images. As you may or may not know, I've had a LOT of problems with art theft and am especially protective of my comics I hope to one day sell hard copies of. I trust you to protect my work, and grant you advance access to these HQ images. They'll be sent to you in a link at the beginning of the following month.
Early access to unreleased concept art of my AUs such as costume designs and world building for the Inferno AU and Future!Verse ABO AU. These may or may not ever be available to the public, but either way you'll be able to view them way in advance!
Submit as many requests as you want to the monthly request pool to up your chances of yours being chosen!
Get first notification when new merchandise is available in my store. Many of these items will be available in EXTREMELY limited quantities (single digits) and will likely take a long time to restock if they ever do at all. Get your hands on them before they're available to the public! They'll be available to lower Tiers in order after this Tier.
$50 - Legend Tier
...Seriously????? ;A; I, I just...thank you.
This tier is primarily just for people with excess $$ who want to support me and my art, and I can't think of much else to offer but my sincerest thanks ;A;
ALL PREVIOUS AWARDS PLUS
A monthly physical postcard of my art sent to your address with a personal hand written thank you note from me....
May include some surprise freebies! ;D
$100 - What is wrong with you Tier
I highly doubt anyone will choose this, but just so the option's there...but seriously, while I can't express how grateful I am that you're helping me live through just my art, I genuinely don't think I'm worth it. >.<; Thank you so much for your support, and I'll do my best not to let you down.
This tier is primarily just for people with excess $$ who want to support me and my art, and I can't think of much else to offer but my sincerest thanks ;A;
ALL PREVIOUS AWARDS
The monthly postcard will be sent in an envelope!
I will also send a hand-drawn sketch of a character of your choice!
May include some surprise freebies! ;D
Thank you again for supporting me, and please let me know if you have any questions!
#YukiPri rambles#Patreon#YOI#Inferno:YuriNoIce#Future!Verse ABO AU#not bothering to tag much since the external link will hide it in tags anyway ^ ^;#guys I'm SO NERVOUS#people have been asking me about patreon for as early as three years ago#Finally doing it#*prays but has low expectations*
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replies
because many and long and thorough:
danjaley replied to your photo “A single glance sufficed for Alvar to see he would have a hard time...”
I like this thought. And it links Alvar and Tobio on yet another level.
In future updates we shall learn how their relationship developed after that first sexual encounter, but I thought I’d already leave this hinting at their paths, that is really so different between themselves.
danjaley replied to your photoset “There lay a peculiar emptiness to the closet, though. Tobio’s clothes...”
Oh dear, this really is a large bottle of wine! ;)
And it’s a particularly beautiful one, right, @aroundthesims
tyrellsimsoficeandfire replied to your photo “The outbreak of war had interrupted the normal and predictable career...”
I like this so much. Fire always makes beautiful effects. And the background! I'm looking forward to see more of your WW I recreations.
It is so atmospheric, I agree. One can feel the ambient just because of the image of the fire pit. It must be our ancestral collective memories.
As for the WWI, this is when the steampunk accent creeps in... There is virtually nothing specific to recreate the war, so it will be more on the side of fantasy and imagination than recreation...
tyrellsimsoficeandfire replied to your photoset “There lay a peculiar emptiness to the closet, though. Tobio’s clothes...”
What a luxurious bedroom.
Oh, Alvar think it is so middling class, so constraining in its humbleness... But it did take a lot work to build this set!
tyrellsimsoficeandfire replied to your photo “Alvar had then ventured into yet another room of his friend’s house...”
Alvar still looks kinda hot...
Poor Alvar. He would never think of himself as hot -- did people use that term back then? --, and not in his lame post-war persona anyways... But I agree with you, he still looks fit and his partial nudity in contrast with the formal attire is kinda hot!
hyperkaos replied to your photo “The outbreak of war had interrupted the normal and predictable career...”
I keep coming back to see if you've added more to this, it intrigues me as to how it ties into everything else
And it took only a few days... Sorry to keep you waiting. I hope it makes more sense now.
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “Tobio?” Alvar inquired, in a voice that suddenly sounded not just...”
Oh hi!!! I remember you from 'beneath the stairs!' lolol x
And what stairs are we talking about? Because Alvar has been carrying Apollo Jim since the margins of the river, up those incredible stone stairs where Death tried to dissuade and distract him :)
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “Tobio!” He exhaled the name more than called it, and finally seemed...”
I love the blend also @tyrellsimsoficeandfire
I simply cannot imagine my game without the Greek outfits made @venusprincess-simblr, even if I am not playing the Greco-roman world any longer, so I always make up reasons to use them... :)
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “Where do I place him, Tobio?” It could have been said that he...”
What are the scars on his face from? Crazy experiments? Acid attack? He wants to be a super-villain?
Poor Tobio. He is super nothing, except perhaps super lonely, super devastated, super sad.
I don’t think I have described the ambush that cost his eye, have I? Then I should!
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “With a sharp sting across his chest, Alvar deposed Apollo Jim on the...”
I love the description of Alv's perception of death by the window. Beautiful!
Thank you! I’m glad you like it!
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “Tobio could tell why, but he wanted to listen it from Alvar. Lost Boys...”
Weeds on the soil of wealth. Wow. Your writing is masterful!
Writing is like bathing in a river that springs from yourself. You just pick the right words as they float by you.
But when I am not in the process of actually writing words down, I wonder... Did I really write that?
Thank you always for your support!
tyrellsimsoficeandfire replied to your photo “They hadn’t seen each other in nearly a decade. Freddie’s occasional...”
I always like the atmosphere your shots hsbe6. One can really feel the warmth and intimacy! Also, do I spot danjaley's fireside poses?
I don’t think I remember her poses, but I probably should... These poses are actually from two guys cuddling next to a car, on the floor of a parking lot... Not the least like this scene, actually! But when I saw it I knew it was just right for Alvar and his cousin Freddie.
tyrellsimsoficeandfire replied to your photo “Probably feeling guilty in his irresponsible repose, in dreams – where...”
I'm curious if there's some reason why they are associated with greece?
It’s the ideal time, in the understanding and idealization of the Victorian era, for their love otherwise condemned and forbidden, called then the Greek Love... I have explained it in this post, and declarations-of-drama has a comment below that adds to this, too, if you want to read my answer to it.
danjaley replied to your photo “I understand it, Alvie.” Alvar’s name in Frederic’s mouth was little...”
I was going to say they have these characteristic WW1 faces, but I've come to realize it must be the style rather than the faces, when I compare them with the Greek versions. That's interesting, as I always wonder where those types disappear to when they go out of fashion - or how we'd all look if the year was 1917...
Thank you for mentioning this! It’s very interesting isn’t it?
I did make a post with my inspirations to create the characters for LoSSS. I f look closely to their faces, they are timeless male beauties, considering Western and Classical Greek standards... And they do resemble contemporary male models or actors of our days. It’s their hairstyles and clothes and the photography of course that makes them dated, like you say.
Just like sometimes I meet Italian people who do look like a Roman marble statue come to life...
hyperkaos replied to your photo “Dreaming was all they had had for a while to keep their love thriving...”
So young, so willing to give up everything for hopes and dreams, for love, Alvar's innocence hurts
Yes, that is Alvar, at his purest in the company of the man of his life!
fancifults3cc reblogged your photo and added:
Oh no! A crime of passion!
Oh, I would say this is a crime against passion, Alvar and Freddie’s passion!
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “You already have, Lord Phallihurst.” Tobio affirmed, after having...”
So, something mixed with the Absinthe?
This is what we know or are led to believe so far. Maybe Tobio will find out more.
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “Tobio could tell why, but he wanted to listen it from Alvar. Lost Boys...”
I also had to come back to this chapter to read your description again of the brothels. I've done a bit of reading about these places before now and am sort of a bit fascinated by the whole logistics of how those places conducted business and the lives of the workers etc etc. You paint a very graphic image of it.
I admit to not having researched extensively on this subject, other than reading about brothels and a little about sexuality and pornography in Victorian times -- though this is supposedly Edwardian times (or the end of it) in the story, and then WWI and the changes it brought... I’m happy you did not find any inconsistencies, but please do let me know if you spot any!
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “The boy stood clearly not for a sailor, though the hat could have been...”
But why would he be wearing a false tattoo? Roleplay? To be seen as a sailor boy I guess?
The tattoo matches the strange outfit, though not so strange for a rent boy who is supposed to fulfill his clients’ fantasies...
The plots holds several small mysteries, and this is one of them...
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “I don’t think I understand it, Alvar Andrew. You don’t intend to...”
Why is there so much concern for this boy? I'm a bit lost here.
I hope this has been answered in this post, though it is left ambiguous and rather open as Alvar does not utter a word, leaving Tobio to conclude...
I shall have to be more explicit in the future about the link between Alvar and the boy.
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “You are taking him to your ancestral lands? To live under the same...”
Good question! And Tobio has probably seen too many to be as bothered about him tbh
Exactly, that’s what he says, too! And the next post to this holds the revelation...
declarations-of-drama reblogged your photo and added:
Art against art…
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “Not proud. Not the least, not Alvar. Not for any past weaknesses,...”
This is amazingly beautiful! The contrast really catches my eye and it's almost hard to distinguish the Sim from the painting! Well done!!! x
Thank you so much for the reblog, and your kind words, dear!
I did play a lot with this scene. I tried several choices of paintings, and different poses for Alvar, and changed the colors on the wallpaper until it matched and still contrasted with Alvar’s skin.
I’m hardly ever satisfied with lighting in Sims 3, and that the part I try to correct in PS.
I’m so glad you liked the final result, and the one shot I chose to upload from the dozen I made :)
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “But still, quite accomplished. As if again turned into thorn flesh,...”
Alvar should also have phantom pains, and boils would come and go to accompany the intrusion of a false support. Also he would probably call it his stump and not his amputated leg (which is by now probably lost, burned or used in medical science).
I did not reflect about this, thinking an amputated leg was both what remained and what was removed... But you are right saying that sometimes the specific word is stump... I’ll have to rewrite this, and pay more attention from now on!
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “His temples throbbed, too, as if his heart, oscillating between...”
Why do I get the feeling that Alv wants to be one of Tob's patients himself? Was it Tobio who took his leg?
Alvar is one of Tobio’s patients! But no, Tobio did not operate Alvar’s leg -- though that is maybe a good idea...
declarations-of-drama replied to your photoset “There lay a peculiar emptiness to the closet, though. Tobio’s clothes...”
Oh! That explains a lot!
I often hesitate about making longer posts, but sometimes it’s just what it’s needed to get the whole perspective, right?
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “Alvar walked slowly towards the armchair next to the rack of clothes,...”
Disliking women totally, as in sexually? I often wonder about things like this, such as the levels of bi-sexuality in us and how people must have coped when they were married etc in those days
I will develop this theme in the story, both from Alvar’s and Tobio’s perspectives!
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “From the beginning of his life – love life, sentimental life, intimate...”
I watched Troy the other night and then spent around 4 hours reading up on Greek Antiquity. It was fascinating! I'm guessing this is what Alvar with his cousin is resonating of a pedarasty relationship? Like was a required part of Greek Noble youth? It was all so fascinating to learn!
Greece was not an united nation back then, so this was mostly and Athenian thing. Pederasty, as I mentioned in this post , was not just acceptable but often a desirable thing as a rite of passage. It usually involved a wider age gap than this existing in the story, with Alvar submitting to Freddie or Tobio, that are not actually old enough to be the erastes. But I’m no expert in such matters and am writing a story, not a treaty. So you are right to mention Troy, a good movie despite all the Hollywoodian peccadilloes and hypocrisy, and the love between Achilles and Patroclus, which was not the same as in pederasty, since they were practically the same age, and not Athenians.
declarations-of-drama replied to your photo “The outbreak of war had interrupted the normal and predictable career...”
A story within a story. This should be interesting! I wonder where Freddy is now? Time for Dinner! These chapters made me HUNGRY!!! lol
This is usually how I write. Stories within stories, and plenty of flashbacks, and flashbacks withing flashbacks... Like in a mosaic, or a kaleidoscope.
Freddie is dead, like it’s been said before.
And I hope you had a good dinner!
tyrellsimsoficeandfire replied to your photo “Not proud. Not the least, not Alvar. Not for any past weaknesses,...”
I had the same though when seeing. @andantezen always does amazing artworks.
Thank you dear, it’s always a much needed encouragement to know that!
lifeasasim replied to your photoset “There lay a peculiar emptiness to the closet, though. Tobio’s clothes...”
Look at that room ;_;
Haha, the detail is intended to say things about the characters, that’s why I have troubled myself and gone this far...
lifeasasim replied to your photo “Probably feeling guilty in his irresponsible repose, in dreams – where...”
Gosh, this is so beautiful!
Thank you dear!
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Me and my quilt friends at the exhibition
This weekend was the first quilt exhibition WITH MY OWN QUILT in it! Exhibitions will never be the same from this day onwards. Unless they are without my work of course, then they will be very normal. But all joking aside, I sent my quilt in because I wanted to know how it feels to exhibit my own work and also because sharing is caring. I can tell you that it feels amazing to have my piece hanging there among other quilts as if it’s nothing. It’s a proud moment.
My part of the exhibition was organized by the national quilt guild in the Netherlands of which I am a member. Because of that, I was allowed to send in a piece fitting with the theme ‘Lineplay’ (Lijnenspel). Me and my quilting group, the MOQingbirds, decided to send in some work as a group. In the picture at the top, you see them admiring the quilt I sent in. Besides checking if they put up my quilt the right way around I, of course, also went to admire the quilts of other people and to browse the numerous shops that were attending. I’ll share some pictures of the quilts I saw and I will tell how I made my own.
A miniature quilt exhibition in Rijswijk
This is the Nearly Insane sampler quilt by Salinda Rupp and Liz Lois. I always love to see quilts I am making myself as well.
The nearly insane quilt: a machine quilting sampler
These are quilts by Klazien Hoomans. She told me she bought a lot of red fabric to sell in her shop, but I think we can all see what she did with that fabric…
A MASSIVE quilt. Left is my mother who joined me in this awesome exhibition experience. This is a quilt by Hilda Hoogwaerts.
Three versions of the Delilah design by Jen Kingwell. They had even more versions of this quilt and I loved to see how diverse the same pattern can look.
Some mini quilts that were particularly good in my opinion.
Behind the Lines, the story behind the quilt
Behind the Lines is what I called my quilt. A very fitting name for two reasons. This quilt is made to represent my mental health and how it is sometimes a battle between a lot of colours and cheer and darkness. I am always fighting for the sun to burst through and chase the dark thoughts away. The uneven triangle shapes signify the awesome creative chaos in my mind drifting who knows which way always surprising me. Behind the Lines in that sense means that there can be a lot behind someones cheery enthusiastic appearance.
The second reason is when I asked people what they saw in the quilt I got so many different cool interpretations that I don’t even care my own plan doesn’t come through very well. If art is creating something people have ideas or emotions about, I am very pleased to hear my quilt has that effect! In that sense, the title Behind the Lines means to look beyond the title, and the idea of the maker of the quilt, and to see in it whatever you want. Once you finish and exhibit a quilt, it is not only yours anymore but the quilt becomes part of the world for everyone to interpret. So I am wondering:
What do you see in this quilt and what does the title mean to you?
Look behind the lines mini quilt
The origin story of the quilt
Before I even left for Kenya I started sewing together random scraps of triangle-shaped fabric. The picture below shows the result:
The idea was to create a chaotic looking blanket. How interesting that idea might be, I lost motivation to continue, so this project ended in a box. When I and the MOQingbirds started thinking about our Lineplay quilt I remembered this project. The random shapes of the triangles create an interesting ‘Lineplay’. However, it was not until after my adventure abroad that the idea for this quilt was fully matured. By then I had learned how cathartic it can be to make a quilt or embroidery about something that’s on your mind. I was looking for ways to explain to people how I felt and how my mind works. To show that its’not only colour and happiness and cheer. Making this quilt also gave me peace of mind to accept that life is a never-ending balance between light, darkness and everything in between.
How this quilt is made
The triangles are appliqued on the dark blue background. After that, I added batting and backing and quilted through all the three layers by machine. For the triangles, I did Stitch in the Ditch, where you sew through the seams. This is a way to make the quilting invisible. In the dark blue fabric, I quilted distorted lines to signify how the mind can sometimes lose track and get messed up.
The sun rays are made by hand with the stem stitch embroidery stitch. That one creates a turn in the floss which makes the rays look alive. I used about six strands of floss in different colours. You can see the turning movement in the picture below.
The end of this story
And that’s the end of another story. As you can see, sometimes you can start with the plan for a quilt, which ends up looking different. Good, but different than expected. Personally, I notice I need to start sewing to have a better idea of the direction I am supposed to go. This always makes it a surprise where I’ll end up which keeps sewing always interesting.
The whole experience of the exhibition and sending in a quilt was so nice. It is inspiring and a lot of fun to see all the quilts of the other people. You can get so many ideas and learn so much. But also I learned a lot by sending in my quilt. I even put a label on a quilt for the first time! But the most important lesson I learned is that it is good to share the things you make, even when it makes you nervous or when it’s not perfect. People love to see what you make and especially fellow quilters will almost always react with buckets full of encouragement and praise. And who knows, maybe your quilt is just the inspiration somebody else was looking for?
Would you like to know more?
The big quilt: different applique techniques
The Dear Jane quilt: feeling blue
The Dear Jane quilt: a hand quilting sampler
I’m back! Or: Monthly Sewing Update March 2019
And to end things, the goodies I got:
See my DeviantArt or Instagram (username: bella.g.bear.art) for more artwork and WIPs. You can also follow my blog by clicking on the button on the left or by filling in your email address. There will be a monthly update at the end of every month and a new blog post every Sunday or Monday.
‘Look behind the lines’ miniature quilt This weekend was the first quilt exhibition WITH MY OWN QUILT in it! Exhibitions will never be the same from this day onwards.
#art quilt#creative blogger#dahliah sampler#exhibition#hilda hoogwaerts#klazien hoomans#lijnenspel#machine quilting#miniature quilt#patchwork#quilt#quilt blogger#quilt exhibition#rijswijk
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VGG, ResNet, Inception, SSD, Neural Style Transfer, GANs +More Using CNNs in Tensorflow, Keras, and Python
COMPUTER VISION
Created by Lazy Programmer Inc.
Last updated 12/2019
English
English [Auto-generated]
What you’ll learn
Understand and apply transfer learning
Understand and use state-of-the-art convolutional neural nets such as VGG, ResNet and Inception
Understand and use object detection algorithms like SSD
Understand and apply neural style transfer
Understand state-of-the-art computer vision topics
Requirements
Know how to build, train, and use a CNN using some library (preferably in Python)
Understand basic theoretical concepts behind convolution and neural networks
Decent Python coding skills, preferably in data science and the Numpy Stack
Description
This is one of the most exciting courses I’ve done and it really shows how fast and how far deep learning has come over the years.
When I first started my deep learning series, I didn’t ever consider that I’d make two courses on convolutional neural networks.
I think what you’ll find is that, this course is so entirely different from the previous one, you will be impressed at just how much material we have to cover.
Let me give you a quick rundown of what this course is all about:
We’re going to bridge the gap between the basic CNN architecture you already know and love, to modern, novel architectures such as VGG, ResNet, and Inception (named after the movie which by the way, is also great!)
We’re going to apply these to images of blood cells, and create a system that is a better medical expert than either you or I. This brings up a fascinating idea: that the doctors of the future are not humans, but robots.
In this course, you’ll see how we can turn a CNN into an object detection system, that not only classifies images but can locate each object in an image and predict its label.
You can imagine that such a task is a basic prerequisite for self-driving vehicles. (It must be able to detect cars, pedestrians, bicycles, traffic lights, etc. in real-time)
We’ll be looking at a state-of-the-art algorithm called SSD which is both faster and more accurate than its predecessors.
Another very popular computer vision task that makes use of CNNs is called neural style transfer.
This is where you take one image called the content image, and another image called the style image, and you combine these to make an entirely new image, that is as if you hired a painter to paint the content of the first image with the style of the other. Unlike a human painter, this can be done in a matter of seconds.
I hope you’re excited to learn about these advanced applications of CNNs, I’ll see you in class!
AWESOME FACTS:
One of the major themes of this course is that we’re moving away from the CNN itself, to systems involving CNNs.
Instead of focusing on the detailed inner workings of CNNs (which we’ve already done), we’ll focus on high-level building blocks. The result? Almost zero math.
Another result? No complicated low-level code such as that written in Tensorflow, Theano, orPyTorch (although some optional exercises may contain them for the very advanced students). Most of the course will be in Keras which means a lot of the tedious, repetitive stuff is written for you.
NOTES:
All the code for this course can be downloaded from my github:
/lazyprogrammer/machine_learning_examples
In the directory: cnn_class2
Make sure you always “git pull” so you have the latest version!
HARD PREREQUISITES / KNOWLEDGE YOU ARE ASSUMED TO HAVE:
Know how to build, train, and use a CNN using some library (preferably in Python)
Understand basic theoretical concepts behind convolution and neural networks
Decent Python coding skills, preferably in data science and the Numpy Stack
TIPS (for getting through the course):
Watch it at 2x.
Take handwritten notes. This will drastically increase your ability to retain the information.
Write down the equations. If you don’t, I guarantee it will just look like gibberish.
Ask lots of questions on the discussion board. The more the better!
Realize that most exercises will take you days or weeks to complete.
Write code yourself, don’t just sit there and look at my code.
WHAT ORDER SHOULD I TAKE YOUR COURSES IN?:
Check out the lecture “What order should I take your courses in?” (available in the Appendix of any of my courses, including the free Numpy course)
Who this course is for:
Students and professionals who want to take their knowledge of computer vision and deep learning to the next level
Anyone who wants to learn about object detection algorithms like SSD and YOLO
Anyone who wants to learn how to write code for neural style transfer
Anyone who wants to use transfer learning
Anyone who wants to shorten training time and build state-of-the-art computer vision nets fast
Size: 10GB
DOWNLOAD TUTORIAL
The post DEEP LEARNING: ADVANCED COMPUTER VISION appeared first on GetFreeCourses.Me.
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[Udemy] 3ds Max + V-Ray: 3ds Max PRO in 6 hrs
3ds Max intro course: 3Ds Max and V-Ray for creating 3D architectural imagery, from beginner to advanced What Will I Learn? This course is intended to introduce 3d Visualization to the students, starting from the ground up. I will teach all the basic skills for getting you started making awesome images and building a portfolio. Learn to bring your 3D designs to life. Learn 3ds Max basic navigation, customization, transforms, modeling, etc. Learn the basics of rendering using Vray, the industry standard for Arch Viz. Learn Vray materials, lighting and cameras. Learn the basics of using Photoshop to create texture maps, and also post-process your renderings to create beautiful finished images. Provide the foundation for starting a career in 3d visualization. Complete your first photoreal, professional rendering using 3ds Max and Vray. Follow along with multiple professional projects, both interior and exterior (source files provided) Improve your lighting, composition, and post-processing skills Start creating professional looking 3d visualization by following along with the course projects. After learning the basics with the first projects, jump into more advanced projects with the latest versions of the software New content added regularly Adjust your knowledge for the most up to date versions of the software Requirements 64 bit Windows operating system Computer and Internet Ability to download / install trial software Basic computer knowledge Knowledge of CAD, 3d software, photo editing, art / illustration – helpful but not necessary. Previous experience in a design field is helpful, but also not necessary. Description *Course Updated 10/27/2017 - now contains resources for moving on to more advanced techniques after finishing this course. *Much more content coming soon (advanced techniques for arch viz, interior renderings with V-Ray, animation, etc) *I’ll be your technical support - I answer questions every day in the discussion area, and I always respond to your private messages. In these advanced computer programs, you will inevitably run into technical problems. I am always here to answer all your questions and help you troubleshoot. You can’t find another course anywhere that gives you this much training, from a practicing professional, who is also at your beckon call to help, for such a reasonable price. *Recent Student Feedback “The Missing Link Having done numerous on-line 3D courses I am always looking for new ways of doing things to speed up production and modeling. The course although basic is very well structured with very few ambiguities. What Adam outlines in the Intro clip is what you should achieve relatively easily by the end of the course. . The only downside is that he hasn’t done more advanced Visualisation courses yet. When they do come on stream I will no doubt enroll as his skill and experience within the industry comes through in his presentation.” NOTE: I do, in fact, have some more advanced classes now. “This course is perfect for the beginners in 3ds max and V-ray. The information is clear and easy to understand. The course was a blast…” About This Course: When I first made this course, it was to fill a void that I noticed in the arch viz industry. There are not a lot of tutorials out there that help you to learn arch viz from the beginning in a professional way, using the PRO software and a PRO workflow. So, I created this course, and I never could have imagined how popular it has become! It has also evolved a lot since that first time I published. Here are some key things to know: ORIGINAL COURSE teaches 3ds Max and V-Ray from the very beginning follows a project from nothing, all the way to the end demonstrates the exact workflow that I use daily as a practicing professional (thus the PRO part) uses my UI setup, shortcuts, etc (all downloadable for your use) shows you everything you need to know to create a basic project uses 3ds Max 2011, so as long as you have any version after that, you should be able to follow (updates have been made where necessary to account for changes all the way up to most current versions) contains 6 HRS of video from start to finish ADDITIONAL CONTENT brings you up to speed with the latest versions of the software and fills in the gaps where they exist more advanced techniques (i.e. HDRI lighting, etc) more advanced and complex projects currently two additional projects to follow along with, including an advanced interior and exterior. much higher production quality than original videos awesome new content being added regularly to make you aware of new techniques, software updates, etc. new projects coming soon About 3ds Max and V-Ray: Knowing how to use these two programs together is a valuable skill. Seriously, I taught myself how to use these programs many years ago, and now I get paid quite well for my expertise. 3d is not just my hobby, it is also how I support my family. You can learn, and start a career in 3d too. Everything you need to get started is in this course. I will take you through 3ds Max and V-Ray from the very beginning, and by the end you will be well on your way to creating your own images and filling up your portfolio with polished work. Keep in mind, you do not typically need formal training to get a job in 3D. What it takes is an awesome portfolio, so let’s get started on yours. Some Questions To Ask Yourself: Are you currently in a job you do not enjoy?Jobs in 3d are seriously fun and rewarding! Are you an architecture student who feels overwhelmed sometimes trying to learn complicated software just to present your design properly? This course can get you up and running QUICK! Plus, you’ll learn it the right way, from a pro. Are you a SketchUp user who is no longer satisfied with the modeling / rendering capabilities of SketchUp, and are ready to take your 3d skills to the next level? SketchUp is great at what it does, but it falls short when it comes to making flashy, photoreal images. Also, bring your sketchUp with you, then learn to import it into 3ds Max and render with V-Ray, the best render engine out there. Are you a practicing architect that needs a better way to portray your designs to clients? You’ve come to the right place. I am an expert at just that. Maybe you’re a gamer who wants to create your own game assets? Even you should learn 3ds Max. It is the industry standard for video games, and I personally have used it for asset creation for my unity 3d games. Course Structure (Original 6 hrs of instruction) For absolute beginners, I will show you how to get the software as a free trial and start finding your way around. I will also go over how to customize your UI for a professional workflow, because why learn the slow way to do things, right? I’ll also share with you my custom UI files. Of course, you can skip all of this if you are more seasoned. Next we will start with the basics of modeling. I will show you different techniques, and we will begin to work on our project. Again, files will be provided if you want / need them. With modeling down, we will go into V-Ray and start playing with lighting, materials, cameras, render settings, etc. Finally, we will learn how to enhance our images with Photoshop. I give some great post-processing tips in this course. By the end you will be able to create architectural renderings on your own with a completely professional setup and workflow. Then it is your turn to start practicing your skills, creating beautiful work, building a portfolio and landing a job. AFTER THE INITIAL PROJECT - once you have completed your first project and learned the basics, I will then move into more advanced techniques (also, there is fully professional interior V-Ray project coming soon that students will be able to learn along with – this is for more advanced users, or people who are ready to move on from the initial 6 hrs of instruction) How Will This Course Benefit You? If you are a beginner, this class will be a great overview of how to get up and running. It will cut out all the stuff you do not need and show you exactly the workflow necessary to work like a pro. If you are a veteran user, take this course to polish your V-Ray skills, and also to streamline your workflow. I show so many tips and tricks that I use everyday to pump out arch viz projects fast and on budget. There is no need to sacrifice quality and creativity if you can fly through the project quickly and on budget. I’ll show you how. COMING SOON: If you feel like you have mastered the basics, I have now added more advanced / obscure techniques that can really help your images to stand out, and much more will be coming soon, including a professional V-Ray interior shot that is completely photoreal. Ready To Sign Up? What are you waiting for? If you’re still not sure, check out the preview videos. Also, check out my profile to the left and see some of my portfolio. Cool, right? Wan’t to make some of your own images? Let’s get started. 6 hrs is all you need to get started, then take the skills I share and practice, practice, practice. Remember, I will provide the files and download links that you need for everything. My models are included. Come with nothing, leave with a finished project and a great knowledge base. Start Your Love Affair With 3d Today! PURCHASE THE COURSE. *If the price isn’t right, keep an eye out for Udemy promotions and coupon codes around the web, but I think a 6 hr training for $64 is a pretty good deal. Sure beats a semester at community college :) *30 day money back guarantee, no questions asked! (If you hate it, get a refund) -Adam Zollinger Professional (self-taught and ready to teach you) 3d Artist Who is the target audience? Design professionals who want to learn 3D Architecture students SketchUp users looking to advance their skill set Anyone with a vague interest in 3d Draftsman who are interested in learning rendering Architects Current 3ds Max users who want to learn how to work with Vray Gamers who want to learn to model their own game assets (especially architectural ones) in 3ds Max.
source https://ttorial.com/3ds-max-v-ray-3ds-max-pro-6-hrs
source https://ttorialcom.tumblr.com/post/177206613603
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[Udemy] 3ds Max + V-Ray: 3ds Max PRO in 6 hrs
3ds Max intro course: 3Ds Max and V-Ray for creating 3D architectural imagery, from beginner to advanced What Will I Learn? This course is intended to introduce 3d Visualization to the students, starting from the ground up. I will teach all the basic skills for getting you started making awesome images and building a portfolio. Learn to bring your 3D designs to life. Learn 3ds Max basic navigation, customization, transforms, modeling, etc. Learn the basics of rendering using Vray, the industry standard for Arch Viz. Learn Vray materials, lighting and cameras. Learn the basics of using Photoshop to create texture maps, and also post-process your renderings to create beautiful finished images. Provide the foundation for starting a career in 3d visualization. Complete your first photoreal, professional rendering using 3ds Max and Vray. Follow along with multiple professional projects, both interior and exterior (source files provided) Improve your lighting, composition, and post-processing skills Start creating professional looking 3d visualization by following along with the course projects. After learning the basics with the first projects, jump into more advanced projects with the latest versions of the software New content added regularly Adjust your knowledge for the most up to date versions of the software Requirements 64 bit Windows operating system Computer and Internet Ability to download / install trial software Basic computer knowledge Knowledge of CAD, 3d software, photo editing, art / illustration -- helpful but not necessary. Previous experience in a design field is helpful, but also not necessary. Description *Course Updated 10/27/2017 - now contains resources for moving on to more advanced techniques after finishing this course. *Much more content coming soon (advanced techniques for arch viz, interior renderings with V-Ray, animation, etc) *I'll be your technical support - I answer questions every day in the discussion area, and I always respond to your private messages. In these advanced computer programs, you will inevitably run into technical problems. I am always here to answer all your questions and help you troubleshoot. You can't find another course anywhere that gives you this much training, from a practicing professional, who is also at your beckon call to help, for such a reasonable price. *Recent Student Feedback "The Missing Link Having done numerous on-line 3D courses I am always looking for new ways of doing things to speed up production and modeling. The course although basic is very well structured with very few ambiguities. What Adam outlines in the Intro clip is what you should achieve relatively easily by the end of the course. . The only downside is that he hasn't done more advanced Visualisation courses yet. When they do come on stream I will no doubt enroll as his skill and experience within the industry comes through in his presentation." NOTE: I do, in fact, have some more advanced classes now. "This course is perfect for the beginners in 3ds max and V-ray. The information is clear and easy to understand. The course was a blast..." About This Course: When I first made this course, it was to fill a void that I noticed in the arch viz industry. There are not a lot of tutorials out there that help you to learn arch viz from the beginning in a professional way, using the PRO software and a PRO workflow. So, I created this course, and I never could have imagined how popular it has become! It has also evolved a lot since that first time I published. Here are some key things to know: ORIGINAL COURSE teaches 3ds Max and V-Ray from the very beginning follows a project from nothing, all the way to the end demonstrates the exact workflow that I use daily as a practicing professional (thus the PRO part) uses my UI setup, shortcuts, etc (all downloadable for your use) shows you everything you need to know to create a basic project uses 3ds Max 2011, so as long as you have any version after that, you should be able to follow (updates have been made where necessary to account for changes all the way up to most current versions) contains 6 HRS of video from start to finish ADDITIONAL CONTENT brings you up to speed with the latest versions of the software and fills in the gaps where they exist more advanced techniques (i.e. HDRI lighting, etc) more advanced and complex projects currently two additional projects to follow along with, including an advanced interior and exterior. much higher production quality than original videos awesome new content being added regularly to make you aware of new techniques, software updates, etc. new projects coming soon About 3ds Max and V-Ray: Knowing how to use these two programs together is a valuable skill. Seriously, I taught myself how to use these programs many years ago, and now I get paid quite well for my expertise. 3d is not just my hobby, it is also how I support my family. You can learn, and start a career in 3d too. Everything you need to get started is in this course. I will take you through 3ds Max and V-Ray from the very beginning, and by the end you will be well on your way to creating your own images and filling up your portfolio with polished work. Keep in mind, you do not typically need formal training to get a job in 3D. What it takes is an awesome portfolio, so let's get started on yours. Some Questions To Ask Yourself: Are you currently in a job you do not enjoy?Jobs in 3d are seriously fun and rewarding! Are you an architecture student who feels overwhelmed sometimes trying to learn complicated software just to present your design properly? This course can get you up and running QUICK! Plus, you'll learn it the right way, from a pro. Are you a SketchUp user who is no longer satisfied with the modeling / rendering capabilities of SketchUp, and are ready to take your 3d skills to the next level? SketchUp is great at what it does, but it falls short when it comes to making flashy, photoreal images. Also, bring your sketchUp with you, then learn to import it into 3ds Max and render with V-Ray, the best render engine out there. Are you a practicing architect that needs a better way to portray your designs to clients? You've come to the right place. I am an expert at just that. Maybe you're a gamer who wants to create your own game assets? Even you should learn 3ds Max. It is the industry standard for video games, and I personally have used it for asset creation for my unity 3d games. Course Structure (Original 6 hrs of instruction) For absolute beginners, I will show you how to get the software as a free trial and start finding your way around. I will also go over how to customize your UI for a professional workflow, because why learn the slow way to do things, right? I'll also share with you my custom UI files. Of course, you can skip all of this if you are more seasoned. Next we will start with the basics of modeling. I will show you different techniques, and we will begin to work on our project. Again, files will be provided if you want / need them. With modeling down, we will go into V-Ray and start playing with lighting, materials, cameras, render settings, etc. Finally, we will learn how to enhance our images with Photoshop. I give some great post-processing tips in this course. By the end you will be able to create architectural renderings on your own with a completely professional setup and workflow. Then it is your turn to start practicing your skills, creating beautiful work, building a portfolio and landing a job. AFTER THE INITIAL PROJECT - once you have completed your first project and learned the basics, I will then move into more advanced techniques (also, there is fully professional interior V-Ray project coming soon that students will be able to learn along with -- this is for more advanced users, or people who are ready to move on from the initial 6 hrs of instruction) How Will This Course Benefit You? If you are a beginner, this class will be a great overview of how to get up and running. It will cut out all the stuff you do not need and show you exactly the workflow necessary to work like a pro. If you are a veteran user, take this course to polish your V-Ray skills, and also to streamline your workflow. I show so many tips and tricks that I use everyday to pump out arch viz projects fast and on budget. There is no need to sacrifice quality and creativity if you can fly through the project quickly and on budget. I'll show you how. COMING SOON: If you feel like you have mastered the basics, I have now added more advanced / obscure techniques that can really help your images to stand out, and much more will be coming soon, including a professional V-Ray interior shot that is completely photoreal. Ready To Sign Up? What are you waiting for? If you're still not sure, check out the preview videos. Also, check out my profile to the left and see some of my portfolio. Cool, right? Wan't to make some of your own images? Let's get started. 6 hrs is all you need to get started, then take the skills I share and practice, practice, practice. Remember, I will provide the files and download links that you need for everything. My models are included. Come with nothing, leave with a finished project and a great knowledge base. Start Your Love Affair With 3d Today! PURCHASE THE COURSE. *If the price isn't right, keep an eye out for Udemy promotions and coupon codes around the web, but I think a 6 hr training for $64 is a pretty good deal. Sure beats a semester at community college :) *30 day money back guarantee, no questions asked! (If you hate it, get a refund) -Adam Zollinger Professional (self-taught and ready to teach you) 3d Artist Who is the target audience? Design professionals who want to learn 3D Architecture students SketchUp users looking to advance their skill set Anyone with a vague interest in 3d Draftsman who are interested in learning rendering Architects Current 3ds Max users who want to learn how to work with Vray Gamers who want to learn to model their own game assets (especially architectural ones) in 3ds Max.
source https://ttorial.com/3ds-max-v-ray-3ds-max-pro-6-hrs
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May 17th, 2018 CTP Archive
The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on May 17th, 2018, from 5PM - 7PM PDT. The chat focused on Super Galaxy Knights Deluxe R by snuffysam.
Featured Comment:
Chat:
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
COMIC TEA PARTY START!
Good day everyone~! This week’s Comic Tea Party is now officially beginning~! Today we are discussing Super Galaxy Knights Deluxe R by snuffysam~! (http://sgkdr.webcomic.ws/) For those new or in need of a reminder, discussions about the comic are freeform, so please feel free to bring up whatever you wish. However, every 30 minutes I will be dropping in a discussion question to help those who would like a prompt. These questions are totally OPTIONAL to answer, and you can pay them no mind if you wish. If you miss out on any though, they’ll be pinned for the duration of the chat once they’re posted~! Remember, constructive criticism is allowed, but the primary focus here is to have fun and appreciate the amazing comics that the community makes~! As a bonus, each chat a top comment will be picked and featured in the archives and on an ad for CTP! All that being said, let’s get started and have a great discussion!
QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Oh hey I heard it's CTP time
snuffysam
think i'll kind of sit back for this one~
hey justin
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Hey there
Especially since this comic is super huge
snuffysam
yes, i know lol
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Nothing wrong with that, but it kinda makes it hard to binge
snuffysam
yup
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
I'll just go on and say I like the idea of a comic that uses 3D graphics
it's not something you see too often
snuffysam
thanks!
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
You're welcome. :D Also huge props for inplementing browsing through the arrow keys
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
lets see. lets see. i think my favorite scene is actually the one where zofuhu tells everyone to back off because love is the greatest weapon. and then demands poetry. i really enjoyed the comedic value about how much he believed in his message of love being the greatest weapon.
snuffysam
i seem to recall him needing a knife to enforce that
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Made it. ^^
It's hard to pick out any one scene. I rather liked the "Boxing Match", both for the pun and the dynamic gif animation stuff really came into it's own. I was first impressed by it with the apple from the tree.
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Oh hey Math
snuffysam
hey math
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
oh yeah i really like the animated stuff in general. that sort of stuff definitely takes a lot of work
glad you could make it math~!
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Seconding the GIF's
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Zofuhu knows when he's licked.
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
The comic's got that "early 2000's video game graphics" style and I love it
snuffysam
i'm glad! the animated stuff took a lot of doing, both in 2D and 3D, so i'm glad that pays off!
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
If you're REALLY going to pin me down though... I may have to go with the cop just spilling his backstory to Pejiba. It's like, great, resolution to that plot so she can join the party.
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
http://sgkdr.webcomic.ws/comics/326 This page was a pretty nice one, if i had to pick one from skimming through Chapter 8
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
yeah i really liked how that played out and how it fit too since he already made it obvious from the start he was perhaps not the greatest cop
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Snuffy: I am blown away by how much effort you've put into this thing. Not just the animated effects, but going back to re-do earlier images, including musical links, an update schedule that looks insane... I mean, damn, when do you sleep?
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
An update every other day is perhaps the fastest I've seen an actual webcomic get updated
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Yup. Cop doesn't know about separating the witnesses even. Mizuki's really good at pointing out the obvious.
snuffysam
the cop scene was one of my favorites to write, yeah.
and i'm glad you like the brutality on that chapter 8 page, justin
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Favorite scene. HMM. I really liked the battle with king Zebugu, quite honestly. He's such a gigantic ass, BUT I can't help but love how Mizuki took what everyone else saw as a weakness and beat his sorry butt all over the place.
snuffysam
also, not sure what you mean by "actual webcomic", but there are webcomics that update every day. mostly gag-a-days, if that's what you're referring to.
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Oh about that
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
http://sgkdr.webcomic.ws/comics/156 Also this page made me laugh quite a bit. Sam, you write accents really well!
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
I should have said actual comic, since I've seen newspaper comics that update every day
My bad ^^;
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
yeah the fight with zebugu was overally pretty rewarding. i liked how mizuki kept turning everything on its head
snuffysam
the final battle was a lot of fun to write, because it involved going through the whole comic and coming up with uses for all the powers that have shown up so far
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Maybe not "actual" anything and instead focus on the fact that daily comics are closer to syndicated?
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Also wow, the difference in art style between the earlier and later pages is like, night and day lol
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
'cause webcomics ARE actual comics
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Okay I'll take your word for it @Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Speaking of that page, I'm going with the cast page fakeout explanation that the Captain is actually an elder God.
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
:3 I also really liked the integration of animation in pages. It was well done!
snuffysam
i honestly don't know what's up with the captain
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
>:3 All the better. Better not to know, I mean. like
he spends some of his time traveling to a city with a death rate of 100%
snuffysam
maybe his magic ability is just immortality
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
logic is kinda out the window there
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
he did take a bullet to the head
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Poor Capt'n just has amnesia. Doesn't know he's got powers to rival those of everyone else.
Arrow, technically.
snuffysam
maybe he's part of a secret cult of sea captains that uses their hospitality to gain unlimited power
nobody knows
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
GASP
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
they hired him for his immortality. its the only way to have a reliable boat service to the death island.
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Yea
snuffysam
this is true
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Nice job playing with the math too, speaking of 100% death rate.
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Oh Snuffy, have you ever considered updating the Cast page with updated mugshots/portraits in the newest art style?
snuffysam
my plan is to update the cast page the first time a character shows up in each book
so at the end of book 2 chapter 1, at the very least mizuki's portrait (and description) will be updated
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
The characters are all recognizable in either style so it doesn't matter too much
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
You mean she'll lose the hair? O.o
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
yeah the designs are really iconic so they're super easy to recognize
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
(I noticed a new style in Book 2.)
snuffysam
the hair will still be there in our memories
and who knows, maybe she'll go big again someday
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
and like this?
http://sgkdr.webcomic.ws/comics/349
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i like to think she decided to save the environment and stop killing the ozone at last
snuffysam
the latest page has her individually bagging a customer's purchases...
so not great for the environment
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i forgive her because i dont think id be able to fit those products into the same bag
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Pffft
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
She's using paper, not plastic.
snuffysam
does the village have plastic?
it is just a rural farming town, after all
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
There's elevators in this world. Maybe they export plastic. shrugs
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
instead of blaming mizuki, should blame that customer for not having reuseable bags
snuffysam
people probably regularly purchase large items in this village, i suppose
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Hmm
Is that so?
snuffysam
i mean farms r we is a farm equipment store
farm equipment is big
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Gotta sell those hoes too.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
wait so cows are considered farm equipment XD
snuffysam
don't be mean to mizuki
they're oxen
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
wait so oxen are considered farm equipment XD
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
inb4 you buy pigs and chicken
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
So, like, did the king's mage not take the food from the governors? Or were they superior and able to steal it?
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
So why is Mizuki charging for them? I thought you got all-y all-y oxen free.(edited)
snuffysam
they pull things
good question, kabo. there is a specific explanation as to why the twins didn't lose their food... which i think i'll get into in book four? lol
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Oooo
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
on a different note i appreciate the details on the products being sold. like i noticed the store sells manure and stuff.
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Possibly because the Governors were Galaxy Knights. They can put up magical barriers and stuff.
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
The king can't even compaaaaaaaaare to them
snuffysam
but in general it's difficult to sneak something by two former galaxy knights
^ ^ ^ ^
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Unless they let you, because they're nice about not using their flying ability.
snuffysam
but yeah the explanation is that when you join the galaxy knights, you learn how to put up magic barriers
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
stealing a whole kingdoms food would be difficult so yeah, i probably would just magically skip over the magical fighters food and say not worth the effort
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
also he'd probably want them on his side
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Unless they had strawberry ice cream.
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
It's all a conspiracy.
if he left them alone, they wouldn't come in and beat him up
kick him around
make him bounce 'round the room
snuffysam
fun fact: there are current members of the galaxy knights in the comic, as seen on the cast page
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Gotta be the Ferryman.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
speaking of zebugu for a moment, i liked that part where mizuki asked him how the kitchen gets food to the dining room and he was just like "nah dont question it."
snuffysam
there's a lot of "don't question it", i feel
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Actually, I really like that about your comic tbh
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
(Okay, it's actually the Wizard, I see now.)
snuffysam
like the ferryman, mizuki's muscles, the fact there's just a tree that can talk...
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
lol
snuffysam
yeah, the wizard is a galaxy knight.
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
there's a lot of authors who play it up like they've got an esoteric explanation and well NOPE, DON'T QUESTION IT - IT JUST IS
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
I like how there's callbacks to some of that. Like the "we don't elect kings" thing.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
QUESTION 2. During the course of Book 1, it becomes more apparent that magic is a key component of combat in the larger setup of the world. Thus, Mizuki takes a keen interest in learning it. Do you think Mizuki will be able to unlock her unique ability, or is there a reason that prevents her from learning? What do you think her unique magical ability might be? Alternatively, is her unique ability to use the abilities of others? If Mizuki continues to be unable to learn magic, how do you think she’ll adapt to this fact? Speaking of magic, though, Cahe does find a unique ability of his own during an intense fight to save Pejiba. Do you think Cahe will develop the skill more? Or, is it possible Cahe will struggle without the intense emotional motivation to manifest his magic?
snuffysam
to be fair, i do have an explanation for the talking tree in my head, but it's not really important enough to get into lol
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Mizuki's ability is her ability to copy. :3
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Mizuki gained the ability because of Holoclone, gasp!
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
mmm copying~
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
And Cahe.... Iunno. I'm shocked there wasn't more sword throwing tbh
snuffysam
combination technique
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
(but the subversion of expectations was amusing)
snuffysam
thrown sword beam
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
I liked the subversion there too, Kabocha.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i did kind of wish hed thrown the sword and then it got stuck.
i feel theres a lot of subversion in this comic in general. which is awesome cause i like not getting what i expected
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Though daaaamn, the slashing was kind of brutal. He's racking up quite the head count compared to everyone else.
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
But the subversion worked!
snuffysam
i like to imagine the monty python salad days sketch whenever i write cahe
in terms of the body count
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Pffft
Next thing we know, he'll have a castle, and deny people access because they smell like elderberries
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Maybe Mizuki's power is the ability to give others the ability to copy her.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i do think for the moment it seems like her speciality is to copy other ppls powers. whether its her unique ability or not i feel is irrelevant. i actually like that shes using this technique that everyone lets there guard down for.
snuffysam
http://sgkdr.thecomicseries.com/comics/237/ pejiba does talk about copying powers like it's something anyone can do - but perhaps it's something that only mizuki does well
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Also possibly the ability to catch and rotate objects thrown at her.
🎵Tenor🎶
(Couldnt get the time to READ but loved the new hair so wanted to attempt it, sorry for any inaccuracies! /yay phone drawings HOPE YALL HAVE A BLAST)
snuffysam
you say she's good at that, but has that ever ended without the object exploding in her face?
yo thanks tenor!
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Snuffy: She obviously needs to perfect that ability magically, rather than physically.
Wow, nice one, Tenor!
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
very cute tenor~!
snuffysam
(tenor, do you have something i should link to when i post that art on the site?)
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
In all honesty though, it seems to be her final "go to". The rubber/glue thing was kind of a rotation away as well, in a sense (even if it was someone else's power).
snuffysam
i suppose that is true, in a metaphorical sense
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Even metafiveical.
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
t!cookie
That was an awful pun and I love it
snuffysam
it was a very good pun
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i liked how that fight ended cause i 100% forgot that was an ability we had seen. so i kept wondering what ability she was going to use to win. and then it was an oh yeah this was an ability O_O
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Speaking of, I like some of the music puns in titles and stuff.
Rebel: Same.
snuffysam
i think pretty much every chapter title is a pun? and both book titles
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Puns are good tho
🎵Tenor🎶
( shinavar.weebly.com I think lol, and tyty ffff )
snuffysam
(ty~!)
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Mizuki's power is puns.
snuffysam
actually i'm not sure if she's said a pun the entire time
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
She just attracts them, doesn't produce them. Like magnetism.
snuffysam
ah
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
that is her special ability
she attracts puns
mystery solved
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Gotta say though, Pejiba is best girl. I ship her and Mizuki. (Big surprise, I know...)
snuffysam
to be fair, that one's intentional
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
her special ability could be more subtle in that its an ability to remember all the magical techniques shes seen. cause as i said i forgot about the rubber glue ability until she used it. so maybe she was get a brain filled with abilities she can access at anytime with no trouble
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
In all honesty, after the blushing bits, I thought maybe Mizuki was going to get a scene where love helped her find her way. But then it ended up being Cahe's scene. (Subversion?)
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Sam, I did have a question! Did you design the 3d models yourself? (That is a skill I do not have so it's like... daaaaaaaaaang)
snuffysam
cahe bites his cheeks rather than blushing
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Rebel: Like super memory? Hmm.
snuffysam
yup, made every model myself.
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Dang! That is some good work
snuffysam
oh, and not to spoil anything - but you'll learn the nature of mizuki's magic at the start of book 2 chapter 4.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
thats pretty soonish then
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
She can change her hair colour at will!
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
hopefully mizuki has learned meditation is bad and you should go out and dance with your love interests instead O_O
snuffysam
anyone can change their hair color at will with bleach, yes
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Pejiba/Mizuki slow dance. Make it canon.
snuffysam
maybe if mizuki gets that self confidence she's looking for
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
(I'm now thinking about how high Mizuki will be standing in front of Pejiba...)
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
that Q&A where we saw mizuki's confidence issues made me a bit sad. the one about pejiba
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
I heard stuff about hair color
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
wanted to give mizuki a hug
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Rebel: Yis. Nice to have things confirmed, but too bad.
Particularly given all the "ugly" stuff from when they met.
snuffysam
yeah, this bit here: http://sgkdr.thecomicseries.com/comics/188/
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Yis. By the way, nice style on the reactionary thoughts, shifting the colour palette. I've noticed it a bunch, though it happens 3 times on that page.
snuffysam
but yes mizuki + pejiba is kind of physically awkward on top of everything. pejiba is over 6 feet, and mizuki is under 5.
yeah i try to mix up the color palettes on occasion to make things more ~dramatic~
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
That's not a problem the way I was picturing it.
snuffysam
slow dancing i'd say it's a problem
for ~other things~, i suppose that's better for mizuki's knees
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i like how much taller pejiba is in general than a lot of people. cause its not something thats always on the peripheral but then you have those moments like her just grabbing mizuki and cahe and its like "dang girl youre tall"
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Tall and well proportioned.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
QUESTION 3. The comic is not without romance, as Cahe and Pejiba seemingly get together in Book 1. Do you think the two will be able to maintain a relationship, or was it something that only worked because of the dire situation? If the two do continue to have a relationship, do you think this will cause tension with Mizuki considering it makes her a third wheel? If you do think there will be tension, do you think it will arise from Mizuki being cut out of the relationship, or is it possible there will be issues of jealousy? In general, while the blooming relationship helped in Book 1, do you believe it well help or hinder Mizuki in Book 2? In what ways might it help or hinder her? Lastly, do you think Mizuki will find her own romantic partner?
snuffysam
that's something i was drawing from experience, lol
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
I think... Mizuki will be alone for the time being. While she likes Pejiba... Eh, she and Cahe are cute together.
snuffysam
i will say - there is somewhat of a time skip between books 1 and 2 (as evidenced from the hair), so we'll see how cahe and pejiba's relationship has progressed over the course of that gap soon enough.
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
I kinda hope they split, because I ship the ladies. Besides, when I did the "Valentine's Day" quiz, I got Cahe. A sure sign that the guy is really gay.
snuffysam
i dunno, cahe might be bi. the only relationship i really cared about with him was with pejiba, so anything else is up for grabs lol.
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Cahe has a thing for the tree. We saw that when we first met him. nods
snuffysam
i... he does?
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
He knealt down and prayed to it. Obviously infatuated.
snuffysam
lol
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
math has to believe to sail that ship.
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
He likes the wood.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
clearly just ship the threesome of pejiba/cahe/mizuki. best of all the worlds
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
I will have King Zebugu use his wind powers to send the ship on a good sail.
(Hmmm, maybe Zebugu and Cahe? )
snuffysam
zebugu is like the only character i have specifically listed as straight in my notes lol
him and suzigu ludi
gynu is totally gay though
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
im gonna shed a tear for math if it turns out that pejiba and cahe got married during the gap
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
I don't think the threesome's in the cards. They had separate girls/guys rooms at the hotel.
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Looking at that link
Kinda hard to look at these older 2D pages after seeing the 3D stuff
IMO
snuffysam
to be fair, the city chapter is 3d
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Nice pic!
snuffysam
yo nice!
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
That looks excellent~
snuffysam
(do you have a link too, kabo?)
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
I like how you handled the hair.
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Yeah, that hair is seriosuly awesome(edited)
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
I'll DM ya! :3 But yes. Ahaha, sorry, that's why I went quiet.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
ah man thats awesome kabo so beautiful
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
lol
snuffysam
perfect!
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
I'd make ya some fanart too but I'm kinda on an art block rn
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
It boggles my mind that people can do art in less than an hour.
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Cahe looks way too cute
I know right?
It takes me weeks/months just to finish one full pic but I digress(edited)
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
on a more serious note assuming pejiba and cahe are still together theres gonna be tension. cause being a third wheel sucks and combined with mizuki's low self esteem i think shes gonna self fulfill the being left out prophecy no matter how much the others try to include her.
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Maybe Mizuki's left them and is totally over it by now. Or the King is trying to date her.
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Rebel: 'Tis true. She's probably also feeling down, being back in her hometown after fighting a king. (Maybe she'll take up leaf delivery?)
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
http://sgkdr.thecomicseries.com/comics/206 plz no bully the Cahe
snuffysam
but yes, it would be quite sad for math/mizuki if cahe and pejiba got married during the timeskip, and if they had a baby, and if they didn't invite mizuki to the wedding or the baby shower or anything
that would be sad
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Snuffy: That was way too specific.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i hope they name the baby cahe jr.
snuffysam
or maybe it's just been a couple weeks and they're not even living together yet
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
YET?
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Maybe instead of a baby they figured out how to combine magic
for an extra special couple ability
and Mizuki gets more jealous
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
that would be too adorable
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Seriously, I'm fine. I just really liked the Pejiba character and like when my shipping of the ladies can be considered canon.
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
lol
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Maybe jealousy opens her magic ability?
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
And filled with all sorts of pun potential, too?
snuffysam
if i remember my notes correctly, the next two major female characters introduced are both lesbians
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Ooohhh~~~
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
So. ...romantic potential for Mizuki
snuffysam
unless they're both trying to kill her, sure
well, not that it would stop y'all
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
.................... Even more shipping fodder
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Also if they're, like, 80 and already married, that'd be a bit of a downer.
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
All them ships!
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
all it takes is for them to stop trying to kill her and learn the error of their ways
very easy
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Time to set sail~
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
mizuki vs. 80 year old lesbians sounds like something id want to see
80 year old lesbian assassins
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Same
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
One "homing arrow" later...
snuffysam
or say, if one of them is related to someone who hates mizuki and refuses to let her anywhere near her~~~
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
It's cool, Mizuki has an "in" with the King.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i feel like thats specific but im also pretty sure mizuki racked up quite the enemy count during book 1
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
it's the monster that possessed the tree
snuffysam
i'd say one of the women i'm talking about has a bigger "in" with the King...
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT'S HIS EVIL-ER TWIN SISTER
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
or his wife O_O
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
wait, crap, that crack theory doesn't quite work because it might be accurate in this comic
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
OMG. The "leaf bringer"! Mizuki punched her out offscreen.
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
!!!!
snuffysam
man that would suck if you didn't get to be queen because of a five minute difference
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
MATH! You've cracked it.
snuffysam
also, i seriously doubt king zebugu has a lesbian wife
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
darn it
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
It's called marrying for politics.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i super want to know about this leaf delivery business.
like
is this common
is it profitable
cant they just grow trees
snuffysam
it's a leaf of the month club
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
mostly is it profitable cause i will take a job as leaf delivery person
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
It's not fun delivering the poison ivy leaves.
snuffysam
each month a new leaf from a new (new to the club, at least) tree
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Is that so
snuffysam
not sure if there are any other members of this club besides zebugu
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
mizuki can join
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
So, when do we get to meet the King's sister
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
they can be leaf buddies
snuffysam
book 2 chapter 2
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Zebugu's all, "Why dont you make like a tree, and get outta here".
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
"Why don't you make like a tree, and die"
(that's for anyone that's tried to raise a bonsai tree :'3)
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Poor bonsai.
I wonder how bonsais stack up with Pejiba.
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Well, they didn't get shot in the leg so
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
That was so sad!
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
it was sad but also awesome imo. cause again subversion. was like "oh i guess these abilities suck. oh nevermind actually sucks to be pejiba."
snuffysam
i'd say about 20 bonsais stack up with pejiba
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Yep. Gotta watch out for those bank shots.
snuffysam
one of my goals with the comic is to subvert expectations with the abilities in particular. so it's like "my ability is complete control over space and time!" guy will get beaten in a minute but "my ability is to make your toenails grow faster!" guy will kill three main characters
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Cahe: "How are you today, Pejiba? ... Pejiba? Hey, wait, this is just 20 bonsais in a trenchcoat. Where did Pejiba go?"
Pejiba: "Mizuki, I think he's onto us."
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
That sounds nice.
Kabocha, Marquess of ���Sparkle✨
PFFFT
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Cahe: "Then again... I do like the trees..."
snuffysam
BLEASE
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
cough oh dear
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
coughs
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
I'll try to be good. Really.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
QUESTION 4. Book 1 ends happily with the food shortage being solved and Mizuki walking off triumphantly with Cahe and Pejiba. However, this leaves Book 2 wide open for many conflicts. Why do you think Mizuki is working at some store in Book 2, and where are Cahe and Pejiba? Do you think Mizuki will be able to live such a mundane life, or will the call of adventure get to her again? Assuming Mizuki goes on another adventure, what characters do you want or think we’ll see again? Give the title of the webcomic, what role do you think the old Galaxy Knights might play in Mizuki’s future? Overall, how do you foresee Book 2 going?
snuffysam
to be clear - the comic is fairly SFW as far as sexuality is concerned, so outside of characters orientations i won't really go into much. with that said, cahe's sword? undercompensation.
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
I think the current Galaxy Knights might be starting to look at Mizuki, what with her defeating the King and a couple of them working for the King and all. So maybe they'll set up some kind of tests for her to overcome, to see if she's worthy of joining them.
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
"Your branches are lookin' nice and supple if you know what I mean" (sayeth Cahe in an image)(edited)
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
:dissolves into laughter:
snuffysam
huh, a series of nine tests, with the nine most important galaxy knights creating challenges that demonstrate their personalities, establishing them as characters for the future?
seems unrealistic
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
OH GAWD
This doodle
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
cahe plz. that ancestral tree was a jerk.
snuffysam
and lazy
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
that is a suspiciously specific thing to say
about tests
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
HMMM
snuffysam
is it now
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
All the tests are multiple choice and must be completed with an HB pencil.
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Mizuki will clearly never be part of them. Or lead them.
They'll be graded by a scantron fwiw
snuffysam
yeah, you're right, that'd be dumb. she'd need people to compete with for it to be interesting
like the galaxy knights' leader's gay daughter, for example
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
The first thing she must defeat is the Ancestral Tree.
snuffysam
the tree is level 1 every time
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
GASP!
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
the Ancestral Tree is secretely the mastermind
snuffysam
like whispy woods in kirby games
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
The Galaxy Knight's daughter and the King's twin sister?!!?!?!!
snuffysam
i did say two lesbians, yes
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
I THINK WE FIGURED OUT WHO MIZUKI IS GONNA DATE
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Though I'm okay with the first thing Mizuki defeating being the gay daughter too.
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
(joking)
So, with the Galaxy Knights, is it leadership by might? Or nah
snuffysam
it's leadership by the old leaders thought you were qualified to lead
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Mizuki's gonna date Knifeman? Too farfetched.
snuffysam
actually, i don't think knife man shows up again. a lot of other seemingly one-off characters do, but not him
he might have died actually
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
So, who is Mizuki gonna beat up next
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Oh. Well, it's been a slice.
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
is she going to punch someone in the store?
snuffysam
that sounds like a fun way to get fired
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
The "store"? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
to be fair its retail and when you work retail, 80% of customers deserve to be punched
cant wait for this person buying oxen to argue about how taxes arent real and the store is trying to cheat them
snuffysam
she's pretty old. that seems like something she'd argue
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Next arc: Mizuki fired. Tries many odd jobs.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
yes. and then mizuki tries to explain, the manager is called, and the manager says the same damn thing and the customer is like "oh youre so right wise store overlord"
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
how many jobs has mizuki been fired from :3
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i might have some retail ptsd
snuffysam
this is actually the only job mizuki's ever had
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
is that so
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
patpats Rebel
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
pats too
snuffysam
or, well, this store's the only place she's worked. when she was six or seven her dad probably just had her sweep some things to keep her occupied
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
that I can relate to
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
and then mizuki beat ppl up with the broom and her dad was like "never again"
?
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Ahahahah
I think putting her on register would be more of a liability
unless she's loss prevention
snuffysam
mizuki isn't THAT violent
though i suppose giving herself a reputation as the town bruiser would be better than her current reputation?
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
ahahaha
She could have an "enforcement' gig
"Oh, you... want me to stop this guy from bugging you? All right, but you gotta pay me"
and before she knows it, she's fighting another gang
every territory overlaps with 3 other gangs!
100% murder rate!
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Lol
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Mizuki's town is.... a shambles.
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Mizuki can try waitressing. Maid outfit and all. Speaking of, nice detail in places on the comic! I liked the menu -- "Pink Stuff", a couple hundred barrels appeared in our basement, we're trying to get rid of it.
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
I read that as wrestling
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Crossover with CHAMPS?
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
lol
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Who will be Mizuki's Tala to her Jane
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
I would be down for that
snuffysam
i wonder who would win that fight...?
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
one character i really hope we see is zofuhu. i need more electric zebra in my life
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
I bet we will. He seemed to have a rivalry with his subordinate that's rife for expansion.
Also there's the title opportunity, "Tanks for the memories".
snuffysam
cahe broke their only tank
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Now they fight with water tanks.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
why well see him again
hes gotta write a song about the tank
and how it served them well
but was cut down
snuffysam
it was a weapon of war though
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Ooooh
snuffysam
zofuhu hates war
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Don't we all?
Except those crazy addicted to fighting
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Zofuhu may be in the wrong line of work.
snuffysam
i suppose it does help keep the country at peace though
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
In peaces, you said?
snuffysam
if the leader of the army is an anti-military musician
maybe that was zebugu's plan when he appointed zofuhu
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
He takes good notes.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
hey now, even weapons of war are harmless if they arent used for their intended purpose
snuffysam
or maybe he needed a general and just appointed the first guy he saw
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
I'm now waiting for the King to pull a CSI: Miami or something.
snuffysam
has anyone straight up told a pun, actually?
except the demon possessing the tree, of course
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i dont know i sadly do not keep a pun tally O_O
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Hm. Someone should read through and do the math
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Did someone say Math?
snuffysam
oh, just you all wait until you get to book 2 chapter 4
there's a reason very few people we've met so far tell puns
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
ahahahah
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Math and puns. Yeah, you'd think I'd be on that. Pejiba's just so distracting.
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
All dem maths
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
is it because someone's magical ability is to be the only human who can tell puns in a certain mile radius O_O
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
O_O pun power
snuffysam
The Gang Visits A Penal Colony Of Pun Addicts
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
A punal colony.
snuffysam
correct
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Journey to the puniverse
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Where are the names from, incidentally? Is there hidden meaning there?
snuffysam
the character names? mostly randomly generated.
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
oh no, a punal colony
t!cookie
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
t!cookie
snuffysam
You All Think I'm Joking About The Punal Colony(edited)
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Oh no, I'm not thinking that at all
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Sadly, no. I take you very seriously Sam. XD
I've read your comic, I know what you're capable of!
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i dont think youre joking this seems like the world thatd have that
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
hence why everyone'names sound ridiculous
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
And I am afraid.
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Joe King? Is he the King's half brother?
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
and creative
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
PFFFFFFT
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
since we only have a few minutes left does anyone have some last minute thoughts they want to share?
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Yeah, I'm still shocked Mizuki was like "What's a shirt"
like, MIZUKI COME ONNNNN
you're sorta wearing one
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
The whole comic is just a powerhouse. Of productivity and creativity. Like, wow.
snuffysam
she's wearing a shirt in the latest page too, so that doesn't really track
Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨
Ahahaha
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Well I'd like to say, keep doing what you're doing, @
snuffysam. You got the makings of a great story on your hands unlike any other.
snuffysam
maybe it's just a short tunic
thanks everyone!
Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
You're welcome
Pleasure to be here and chat about your comic. (edited)
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
yes. i really enjoyed the sheer creativity in everything about the comic and it was fun to read
MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑
Looking forward to meeting Pejiba's twin sister that was adopted away at an early age.
snuffysam
if you all want more, there's short side stories based on the comic that are coming out in StArt Faire magazine
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
COMIC TEA PARTY END!
Unfortunately, the scheduled Comic Tea Party time is now up~! Thank you everyone so much for reading and joining this week’s chat~! We want to give a special thank you to snuffysam, as well, for making Super Galaxy Knights Deluxe R and volunteering it for our reading queue. If you liked the comic, please be sure to support snuffysam’s efforts however you’re able to. All that being said, if you would like to continue discussing this week’s comic, we highly encourage you to do so~!
For next week, Comic Tea Party will focus on Nwain by Terrana Cliff. As always, please use the next several days to read as much of the comic as you would like. We hope to see you next Thursday on May 24th from 5PM to 7PM PDT for the chat~! Until then, happy reading~! Comic: http://nwain.com/
#ctparchive#comics#webcomics#indie comics#comic chat#comic discussion#bookclub#comic bookclub#webcomic bookclub#start faire#startfaire#comic tea party#ctp#super galaxy knights deluxe r#sgkdr#snuffysam
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18 - now we are serious because we have a tea kettle, citizen participation, ethics and other design lessons
This week Master of Design for Social Impact students explore power relations in urban planning, run prototype workshops, develop future speculation analysis, and start questioning ethics in design. Oh yea, and we finally got an electric tea kettle.
Thanks to Amy we finally have a kettle in our classroom. It was such a sweet communal gesture that it inspired a little sprucing up. Painted a corner shelf, got a lamp, folded some paper cubbies, cleaned with tea tree oil and voila! Come on in to our classroom in room 102 of the Paris College of Art. The space looks warm, friendly and downright hygge. Just in time too - no sooner said than bam! We're in Week 3 of the spring semester and thick into our studies.
We have this brilliant class Mondays and Fridays called Social and Urban Governance. In class we talking about power relations in urban actions and discuss Shelly Arnstein's A Ladder of Citizen Participation. I think back on a college internship on Capitol Hill with Congressman Serrano (NY-D, Bronx). I remember the work I did as a diplomat abroad. I think about governance theory and the fragmented ways in which government systems actually work. In all, I find myself thinking cynically (because I'm old enough to know better) but hoping fervently (because I'm also young enough to believe in change). I hope this class helps me dream about what design can impact in the urban/government sector.
Research and Methodology class in the afternoon turns into another writing workshops so we can develop our thesis outline. This week my research buddy Rica and I scribble all over our outlines. We are trying to make everything clean and easily understood. Our session dissolves into back-o-the-class laughter. Inevitable. I'm lucky to have Rica as my partner because he cracks up all the time. And for someone like me who takes things WAY too seriously it's one of the best reminders to chill out and enjoy the littles of life.
I bustle home in the metro rush hour to skype John Shneider, the cofounder of a company called 3DFuel. They make biodegradable filament for 3d printing from all kinds of bio-waste including beer, coffee, trash and hemp. https://www.3dfuel.com He's classic hipster in a Fargo warehouse. Kind, quick, eager. I'm nervous and I ask too many questions. He links me to a project where the brown coffee filament they make is actually helping to create prosthetic limbs in matching skin tones for kids. I check out the website. There's a lot of good in this world, eh? http://enablingthefuture.org/lend-a-hand/
Tuesday morning I wake up early with my partner's alarm clock. He's off to work. I'm off to the gym. I pump on the stationary bike, catch up on political comedy skits and see all the hype about the upcoming State of the Union speech back in the U.S.A. Political positions fascinate me as a beautiful and inevitable part of identity and culture. I cannot help wanting to know more - especially since I have so many colleagues and friends who continue to work the political/diplomatic ring.
Home again I set up a series of recipes that I'm testing for my edible packaging concept. I'm extrapolating lessons from raw food cuisine dehydrating to design sealable edible food packaging concepts. Some of my designs are downright wacky (check out this lattice weave of a banana peel plate). But that's part of the experimentation phase. I'm hoping to develop a catalogue of my different designs. But I'm certainly no chemist! Let's just see what happens.
By Tuesday afternoon I am back in 3D Lab class practicing new tricks on Rhino. This semester we have three new classmates from the interior design degree and they are wizard-fast with the software. I feel silly with my rudimentary skills in comparison (last semester I barely worked out how to make a box print properly, see Week 14) but the goal is to just keep learning. Alessandro, who teaches the class (and just agreed to be my thesis advisor!) is hella patient. He reminds me that I can only get better.
Tuesday evening I create a photo shoot in my office/spare room and hang paper craft bits for a scene promoting my prototype creations. I spend a happy couple of hours cutting, glueing, arranging and testing the scene ready for the prototype. (It's still baking in the dehydrator.) I need to make a presentation that appeals to both adults and to children, so I decided that paper craft images could be an easy way to entice people into a whole new colorful and playful world. Plus, I can't help myself. It's so cute! Here’s how it turned out in post-edit. Ooh, and check out the facebook event for my upcoming artist residency at Living Lab: http://bit.ly/2DZhjxW
Wednesday morning I open up the dehydrator and pull out the newest prototypes that have been setting and dehydrating for 24 hours. They look good and I pack them into a box carefully and cross the city of Paris via metro to MakeSense headquarters. Once there Solene gives us an update presentation on the ways in which MakeSense is changing due in part from our class experience with their massive open online course (MOOC). They have fortified their programs for each volunteer level of participation.
More interestingly they are trying to reconcile their blursing (blessing/curse) of being a vague international entity. "MakeSense is....tools? a playground? a social thing? a movement?" They've been able to survive on a whole range of descriptions precisely because MakeSense can be different things for different people. But now they are heading into a rebranding to simplify how they present themselves. Good luck, and go make sense of those things.
"Have you eaten yet?.....Would you like to have lunch with me?"
Its time for my mid-week, mid-day workshop testing my prototypes in the PCA gallery (aka student union space.) My workshops do triple duty:
1 - test how the packaging holds food
2 - test how the package gets handled by users
3 - compensate my workshop participants (students love free food)
And since very few people know what I'm up to - it's a wonderfully confirming moment to watch their shock and surprise when they open the bag and pull out my packaging. Ta-da! It's confirming for me that there is a place for edible, compostable, biodegradable takeaway packaging in lieu of plastic.
Hanna reminds me later that food waste is also a problem that I exacerbate with my designs. And maybe my design is not circular at all since it doesn't become renewable material. She's absolutely right - I'll have to acknowledge that my packaging wastes food. I'll also have to figure out how to explain that it's not circular design, but it does have a circular mentality. I have to be smarter about my designs and keep trying to do better. Maybe there’s a way to use more food scraps in the design of my prototypes? Hmm...back to the drawing board.
In the afternoon I head to the pool at Neuilly-Sur-Seine for a lengthy swim to clear my head. The water is heated and laps in the pool feel effortless. I find in France no matter the pool I go to and no matter the lanes I pick (and they have plaques reading from slow to fast), the entire pool is filled with leisure swimmers paddling around. Fascinating but frustrating. I try to leave a gap for the swimmer ahead of me, forget the workout and just enjoy the swim.
In our second SPROUT workshop session with Maurizio and Laureano Thursday afternoon we test our observant eye for signals. "Look at the next image for 10 seconds, no writing and then tell me what you see." And we learn to pay attention to visual information and to categorize and title each with a concept. We’re not trend-hunting here. We’re future forecasting. It goes beyond the "cool" and into future realities with a subjective point of view.
One of the 20 slides shows a 3d printed ear floating in a glass cup of pink liquid. Another shows metallic medical tattoos printed on wrists. Yet another features cars that drive you according to your mental state and not your destination. Each slide makes me wonder what I know about the future. Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.
In Professional Practices later that night we meet Mathieu Merlet Briand, an artist who frames his work around the digital and technological perception of reality. He shows us his portfolio with marbelized glass created by algorithms of digital material [iceberg] to integrated iron sculptures on the loom [Google Dark Matter]. His generic advice "You will find a solution" sounds vague yet true. Sometimes all those questions we have cannot be answered, you just have to trust yourself to overcome that difficulty when it arises.
At home again I watch a documentary called Urbanized (2011) as homework while munching dinner. It showcases the plight of urban planners, politicians, residents, city-dwellers, etc. The documentary highlights 12 different cities and the social impact created or ignored based on planning. I think about all the places I've lived in city-wide project launches. Luanda's marginal construction, London's empty olympic city, Buenos Aires 9 de Julio bus. Design is integral to social impact in city planning. It feels more grounded to finally study practical applications that affect people’s day to day lives in an architectural way.
Friday afternoon we skype Thomas Watkin for Social and Urban governance class - this time about "What is public?" We compare our insights on the readings/documentaries and then talk about how to make a project public. How do you design a public space that allows people access? Allows them to be an audience? Allows an environment that fosters sharing? Its part of understanding the conditions laid out by Kevin Lynch in building Image of the City. We look at fun graphs showing walking spaces, architectural spaces, and public transportation studies.
I leave just a little bit early for a private meeting in the gallery hallway of PCA's entrance. Her name is Emilie Prattico and she clips her words with a slight British accent but has a very down-to-earth conversational speech style. She's our professor for Designer's Social and Ethical Responsibilities. I pose a question to her about how to design without using necessarily Human Centered Design (HCD). To me, HCD doesn't seem to be proactively supporting environmental needs. She pivots my question and asks why not include environment when considering an optimal human experience? I'm intrigued but not convinced I understand. I see so much displacement of nature in pursuit of human interests that I struggle to make sense of what is ok and what is not. And how do we know that we are doing ok when only hindsight is 20/20? More questions, less answers....sigh.
We climb the stairs and enter the classroom. A quick shuffle of papers (we have about 5 minutes between one class and the next in the evenings.) We spend the first rounds of conversation talking about our program, what we're doing and what were are studying. Emilie works full time and she teaches on the side. She confirms that she is passionate - Friday night/Saturday all-day classes means that all of us will have to be committed too. Considering my question earlier, I feel grateful that we’re finally talking about the ethical issues.
When class lets out early Rica invites everyone out to eat at a tiny Italian place around the corner from his place. Pizza? Yes. The music bips in the background, sourdough bread wafting, and we wait impatiently for our orders. We scarf down dinner while talking about Palermo, Italy (Hanna has a new job there potentially), New Zealand (Vaila is considering doing some back-packing), and Berlin, Germany (Rica is intending on going straight back to his company who he desperately misses.) I'll be in Paris for the foreseeable future. But you never know where a project might take you, eh?
Saturday morning I head to the gym with my partner. I love lifting weights and he's a great gym partner. Doesn't yell, doesn't compete. Just does his bit and helps me when I ask for it. I love working out together. I shower at the gym and then head right back to PCA where we have a second lecture in Designer's Social and Ethical Responsibility. We go through a slide deck, watch a documentary, talk about theory, watch conference lectures on Youtube, talk some more, and of course, have some tea.
Here's the quotes I pulled from our conversation in our ethic class:
"theory can be a bummer"
"your experience of your values is NOT the same thing as your values"
"if you blindly accept then you give up your rights"
"now you have tools to analyze very complex problems that arrive"
"what you do with the lenses is to focus on different parts of the situation"
"we generate reason from rational discourse with each other. Doesn't come from on high, doesn't come from a book. Everyone generates it through dialogue that is honest, equal, respectful..."
Afterwards, I walk into drizzles of rain towards the canals of St. Martin. I'm meeting my partner for noodles at Tien Hiangs. This place is always hopping, but class ended early and we're able to make it before the rush comes through at 20h. A vegan bowl of pho, a gorgeous basket of dumplings and my darling partner to share it with! What more can a girl ask for?
Sunday is studying, reading, writing, etc. I jump through 17 new articles related to composting, recycling, packaging, plastic, etc. I'm drowning in sources but I still cannot get enough to capture all the information I'll need. I'm sending in today my first draft of the thesis. I know it will go through many revisions, but I want it to be as close to finished as possible.
This whole month of February is going to squeeze us like a sausage factory. Both Social and Urban Governance and Designer's Social and Ethical Responsibility are front-loaded so that we finish the course requirements March-ish. This would give us time to create our thesis and individual projects afterwards, except that due dates are also front-loaded so that our thesis are due in early April. So right now it feels rushed and hectic, but it will slow down as the weather gets better and as the semester winds down.
Just gotta keep on track...which reminds me I feel like going for a run. It would be a nice way to rinse out my mind this Sunday afternoon. A long run always feels good. So I head to the neighborhood athletic track with my partner. We bounce on the rubber path and fall into rhythm of step. Just gotta keep on track and moving forward.
SMarti out.
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