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kiwinatorwaffles · 1 year

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you know, i used to really hate it when people asked me “why are you so good at art?” because how the hell am i supposed to answer? it’s such a broad question! what part of “good” are you referring to? my anatomy? my colors? my faces my expressions my composition my posing my What?????? and clearly i am not the best artist around; i wouldn’t even consider myself truly good until i’ve gotten to a point where i can draw anything i want without being limited by my skill!

but then i thought about it more when more people asked me that question. clearly they mean no malice by it; they think i’m considered a “good artist” and just want to know how i got there. while the vagueness of that question does hinder some proper responses i can think of, i think i have a pretty solid answer:

practice.

well, it’s not That simple. of course everybody tells you to practice if you want to improve. but How do you practice? the way to do that is pushing past your comfort zone! the first time i tried to draw perspective in 2019, it fucking Sucked Shit. i mean, look at this!

the foreshortening is very lacking, the body is too long from an angle like that, and the background doesn’t match very much. but guess what? i tried something new, and that’s already progress! now the only thing left to do is keep trying. i went through trial and error. i traced reference images (yes, tracing is insanely useful and should be utilized as a tool for references). i tested what worked and what didn’t, and over the course of three years, significantly improved in 2021! if i simply gave up with perspective and left it at that, i wouldn’t have been able to draw these in 2023.

and more about pushing past your comfort zone, i was forced to improve at anatomy when i started watching jojo’s bizarre adventure. before jojo, all of my characters looked like flat pancakes on the screen with noodle arms. but after seeing my blorbos we’re now buff men, i had to adapt! i had to learn how to draw different body types and muscles! i had to find a way to actually draw five fingers! after jojo, my anatomy significantly improved because i had to change how i did things. that did mean significantly altering my style, but i bet if i went back to try and replicate my old style now, i’d have a much better grasp on anatomy and all that good stuff.

here’s a comparison my art directly before jojo and directly after (they’re both very old, but you can see a difference!)

so yes, the short answer is practice. but the longer answer is practice what you’re not good at. it’s gonna suck for a while. it’s gonna look goddamn awful for the first few attempts, but if you trace reference images and try to replicate them time and time, you’re going to get better. art is not something entirely supported by talent; it can take you so far, but the rest needs to be carried by brute forcing practice.

and here is my best example of art improving through the years!

(and tutorials on youtube are a godsend. personally, i recommend winged canvas and moderndayjames for useful tips!)

#kiwi’s calls #kiwi’s scribbles #long post

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thegreenwolf · 1 year

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Weekend Sketches

I got in a bit of drawing time this past weekend. On Saturday I decided to try out the new sketchbook I got that has paper specifically for markers; I also played with a little heavier line width than what I usually do, 1.0 as opposed to 0.3.

On Saturday I drew a plant that I have a love-hate relationship with, trailing blackberry (Rubus ursinus.) On the one hand, it’s a native species and I frequently see leaves that have been chewed on by insects, which means it’s feeding the local ecosystem. On the other, it grows VERY quickly, and I’ve had to clear a bunch back as I’ve been slowly trying to introduce a greater variety of native plants to my yard.

I really like the marker paper, especially for blending colors. However, it’s all new fibers as opposed to 100% post-consumer recycled, so I’m going to see if I can find any recycled marker paper.

And then yesterday I did this pencil sketch of P-22, the mountain lion (Felis concolor) who has lived in Griffith Park in Los Angeles the past decade. Over that time he became more than a bit of a celebrity, and his popularity helped to increase awareness for the need for wildlife crossings over highways, and other methods of connecting increasingly fragmented piece of habitat. The sketch is based on a well-known public domain camera trap image from 2014, after he was released having completed treatment for mange.

I chose this pose because I wanted to challenge myself. It’s a difficult pose due to the foreshortening, and the fact that two of his legs and his tail aren’t visible, making his silhouette unusual. So it was a good chance for me to practice portraying depth. I’m probably just going to leave it as it is, rather than ink and color it; it was good practice.

CW DEATH

Sadly, P-22 was euthanized this past Friday due to multiple illnesses, and injuries from being struck by a car recently. He had attacked two dogs that were being walked by their owners, a sign of desperation as his hunting ability dropped due to those many health issues. Because of the extent of his injuries, his overall poor physical condition, and his advanced age (twelve is VERY good for a wild cougar) it was decided the kindest thing to do for him was euthanize him. He would have had a long, lingering death in the wild preceded by a lot of suffering if he had simply been released, and a sanctuary--even a good one--would have been horribly stressful for an old cat that had spent his entire life in the wild.

What is remembered, lives.

#CW death #animal death #mountain lion #blackberries #native plants #wildlife #big cats #animals #nature #sketches #P-22 #trailing blackberry #plants #berries #cougar #Felis concolor #Rubus ursinus #illustration

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samrosemodblog · 4 years

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Looking back at my art from the 2010s. I went through and picked 1 piece I drew/wrote from each year that I felt either showed off my best art, my most iconic art, my best improvement, or was simply a personal favorite of mine.

There were a lot of possible choices and it was kind of difficult to narrow it down to 1 per year, since each piece tends to encapsulate so much more than just a single moment per year. Especially with stuff like Motherly Scootaloo or Aria’s Archives encapsulating so much history in a single picture. But under the Read More are my choices at the end of the decade:

1.) My Old Drawn Blog # 53

Man, the years before MLP existed were really weird for me. I knew I liked drawing and telling stories, but I had no consistent direction on what I wanted to do with my art. I was still jumping between different comics and ideas, and in 2010 I was going through some of the worst depression I’d ever felt in my entire life. I hadn’t even had the experience of being kicked out of the first place I tried to move out of home to yet. It was wild.

As for the ‘joke’ that seems ‘so obvious’ in this post, I had a running gag back then of the face the Flower makes, known as the ‘screaming window’ face. I drew it whenever I needed to draw something screaming in pain or fear for maximum comedic effect. Maybe I’ll bring it back some day lol

2.) Silent Ponyville

I couldn’t NOT put Silent Ponyville on this list. I was gonna have both 1 and 2 as different spots, but I wrote them both in the same year. That seems insane to me now?? Like WOW, I just WROTE those fics and then they became fandom-wide phenomenons. To the point where even in 2019 I’m still getting people drawing fanart of it, or people telling me “Yeah, I got into Fanfiction because I read Silent Ponyville”.

I don’t know if I’ll ever make a creative piece as universally known in a fandom as Silent Ponyville again, but I sure would love to make an original piece of art that is as beloved as Silent Ponyville one day, if not more so. It’s a testament to the fact that if I put my mind to it, I can create a really amazing horror experience, and I know I do plan to do so again some day.

3.) Pirate Dash x Dead Rainbow Dash

Who doesn’t love shipping wars that get large numbers of people involved? This is probably the second most involved in the ‘community’ I got, though it was certainly the better experience of the two. And it was all just for silly fun at the end of the day.

And funnily enough I never ACTUALLY shipped these two, I just thought the reactions from the creators seeing them be shipped was hilarious, so it just kind of grew from there. It was all fun and games at the end of the day, and made for a good memory, and a pretty dang ambitiously drawn pic for the time!

4.) If Twilight Wasn’t a Princess

2013 was surprisingly sparse as far as ambitious projects or art pieces go. I was in full swing with Motherly Scootaloo, and nothing really ‘amazing’ happened in 2013 for the blog. Which was surprising. But Season 4 of MLP DID happen! And it started with the Princesses going missing, and authority over Equestria being transferred to Twilight as the next closest Princess around. And with Cadance ruling the Crystal Empire, I thought, who did that leave to rule if Twilight HADN’T been able to temporarily take the role?

And judging by the length of the comments section on DA, a lot of people found the idea hilarious as well lol. Blue Blood NEVER showed up again for the entire run of the show, and it’s a shame because there was a lot of hilarious joke potential they could’ve done with him. But ya know, the show is what it is is, and this joke still makes me laugh.

5.) My Time

My first original music video, with a song I had commissioned and everything! While it wasn’t my first video involving music and MLP, it was the first time everything was mine in one way or another. I wish I could write music, but the ambitiously talented AllLevelsAtOnce and Queen Mickey the Sass Master made this project well worth the time and effort put into making it!

And of course, it encapsulates the kind of futures I wish the CMC had acquired, with Sweetie Belle finally achieving her foreshadowed talent of singing. Apple Bloom built the stage, and Scootaloo likely would’ve ended up the choreographer if not for her baby. Sadly we shall only ever have fanon for that.

6.) Demonloo

Love or hate the wedding arc of Motherly Scootaloo, this will always be one of, if not my top, favorite panel from the entire arc. Scootaloo looks just so appropriately menacing, and the effects placed on her are glorious. And then of course, I love the little twist of “That’s not just an audience visual effect, she actually looked that way in the comic” rofl

Motherly Scootaloo was a trip that got weird with my inclusion of magic and magical beings from the show, so much so to the point that if I were to ever remake the whole thing one day, a LOT of that would be toned down. Probably to the point Chronus wouldn’t exist. But hey, things are the way they are, but I will forever love the art of this arc.

7.) A Motherly Scootaloo Christmas

If there ever was a picture that basically summarized the entirety of Motherly Scootaloo, it was this picture. Pretty much ever major character of the stories over the years was in the picture (minus Starlight) and showing their relations to everyone pretty much. I remember this picture basically killing me when I was drawing it, but was really proud at the time of how it came out. Of course, I could see how to improve it now, but I’m not gonna lol

It’s still crazy to me how many years Motherly went on for, and how much time and effort was put into it. But I’m still glad I did all of it over those years. It taught me so much about art, and about myself, and in the end, taught me the skills I needed to make art a true career for myself. And I’ll always love it for that. And introducing me to the best friends I’ve ever had, of course.

8.) Twilight-Midnight is PISSED

Look. I recognize the Aero crossover had some convoluted issues with it, but god DAMN if I didn’t enjoy drawing that fight scene! I GENUINELY loved every panel of it! I can only hope that in the future the fight scenes I draw will be just as fun to draw as these were. And as visually impressive!

That’s ultimately why this won my pic over say, the time-glitch arc with her Mom. The explosions, the action lines, the visual foreshortening, I’ve never seen such visual improvements in a single update from me quite like I have these entire scenes. When I push myself to be amazing, I can pull off some fantastic art, and I need to do it more!

9.) A StarTrix Christmas

2018 had a LOT of really good choices. Like. Too many choices. So many art pieces I was super proud of, so many pieces that showed growth as an artist, was a personal favorite, that people loved... So in the end, I went with the piece from the end of the year that is still a piece I hold up as truly a cultivation of how much effort I can put in to a picture.

Also it’s Christmas related. I LOVE Christmas. Never enough Christmas.

And as much as I hate FriendLight Glimmer, I still ADORE StarTrix content. It’s the good food for me, one of the rare things that the later era of G4 got right for me. And since I can make them be however I want in fanon, making them a GOOD loving couple was top priority for me, and I just adore them together. I truly do. And this picture is beautiful because of the love I put into it.

10.) Fate of the Lost Princess

I couldn’t NOT put Fate of the Lost Princess on this list. It’s too important to me, means too much to me, and shows my growth as an artist the most. And of the pages of Fate of the Lost Princess I have done so far, the piece of Tina and Noah on a bus stands out the most for me because, I ACTUALLY managed to make it look and feel like they were on a bus! I was so worried about this page and I spent so long working on making it look right, and in the end, I succeeded in a way I never thought I could!

It feels good to end the decade on my original webcomic, showing just how much I’ve grown as an artist. Going from a successful fanartist, to a successful original artist, that still does fanart on the side, but I’ve grown into my own person now.

I’ve lost track of how many times I tried to start an original comic, only to stop working on it and let it fade into obscurity. Fate of the Lost Princess is the most effort and work I’ve put into an original comic before, and I’m so proud of myself for not only getting as far as I have, but proud of how much effort I plan to put into it in the future, and how much effort I’ll put into the comics beyond Fate of the Lost Princess.

It represents everything that is me from the last 10 years, and I hope it’ll be the fantastic start of the 2010s I want it to be. And I couldn’t have picked something to be more proud of to wrap this decade up with.

#Personal Art #Looking back at the decade #Art of the 2010s #Silent Ponyville #Motherly Scootaloo #Tumblrpon #Friendship is Magic #StarTrix #Fate of the Lost Princess

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steve0discusses · 4 years

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Yugioh E8 S4: Joey’s Turn to Hallucinate During a Card Game

Alright, lets jump into Yugioh while I wait to wake up this morning. Hate mornings. Hate them.

So I guess in the Yugioh universe, San Fransisco avoided Loma Prieta, but instead got smacked by a KaibaCorp satellite dropping from space. Dunno which is worse but uh.......thanks, Seto. Maybe the building was empty though. I mean it’s not like anyone is here right now. apparently everyone working for Pegasus does so from their laptop in their pj’s situated in their apartments in Oakland.

And good news, this is one of the episodes with That Really Good Storyboarder. Like you can REALLY tell when this particular storyboarder enters the room, and apparently they really like Joey episodes?

Anyway, for anyone who’s like “I want to draw hands better.” This whole episode is a good study for how to do dynamic hands. It’s insane.

In fact apparently there is an art book just about hands in the works BY the guy who designed a lot of the Yugioh hand shots--thing is it’s entirely in Japanese and I don’t really know much Japanese....so I’m waiting for it in English. But, my friend translated the promo for me and mentioned that if you preorder the book you get 3 instructional videos for drawing dynamic hands from this particular artist.

Only problem is, the videos would go right over my head because it’s still not in English, so uh, missed opportunity because I never got serious with my Duolingo. O well. And people keep asking “are you learning Japanese for anime? Are you dating a Japanese guy?” and it’s like no, for reals, I’m an artist, this is just what you have to do, learn Spanish, learn French, learn Japanese, or you will miss out on so many good tutorials. Like every DAY I see a good ass tutorial on Twitter and it’s like...did they have to hand-write it?

Anyway if you want to buy it, it’s on Japanese Amazon and I don’t know what it’s called because it’s been a hot minute since it’s been a few months since I’ve looked at it. But it exists. I have no idea if it’ll be shipped internationally either, in fact, I was just gonna ask very nicely to my one friend like it’s middle school and I need some good looking authentic jelly pens delivered. But youknow...instead I’ll keep an eye out because I’m banking on this getting translated into English.

I will let you ALL know when I see this book translated into English.

(read more under the cut)

So, we start this episode with Mai being transported to Atlantis island. I’m not entirely sure if the Atlantis Island is the same place as the Atlantis on the bottom of the ocean, but whether she’s above or below the water won’t matter because they did a very wise jump cut.

So I have no idea if she jumped out of a motorcycle to get here. Maybe?

Anyway, Valon introduces her to the Lair. Shows her the snakes, the fire torches that are always lit, a couple more snakes. Youknow, normal stuff for a completely normal date.

PS I do appreciate the bismuth pattern here. Bismuth is a really amazing under-used concept art tool. I mean LOOK at bismuth.

Gollllll I just want to see a whole lot more bismuth in art, it pops.

And then, Valon decides to introduce Mai to his Dad, who is a LOT when you get up close to him.

Man just SO many elements here. The head chain, the yellow eyeball (which is the same eye that Pegasus wore his golden eyeball--dunno if it’s related but as I’ve mentioned before, this show is rude to eyes), The very LONG lower lashes (I’m a SUCKER for putting long lower lashes on all of OC’s myself, it’s a good time) the amount of side-bangs on this guy that would have taken like 12 hair extensions. the wind always seems to flow around him to pick up his cloak and his cape (yes he has both) And on the back he has like a princess Jasmine style ponytail where it’s like......how does he do that? Truly magical, this Ultimate-OC-looking-guy is.

We again recap a little more of Mai’s perspective from the Prism, which I didn’t think she’d be able to see everyone else from...but apparently she saw enough.

And so, because Mai didn’t want to feel scared ever again, she decided to instead feel nothing. Trade in your plateauing card career for getting OP card magic powers. I mean, it tracks.

Then our Storyboarder just started FLEXING.

Y’all.

He just...did that.

Do you know how good you have to know hands to draw that? You’d have to firstly know hands like a freakin hand surgeon, then you’d have to get like so many different references to study what the hell is even going on there. Go ahead and do this hand pose. You CAN’T. It’s amazing. And on top of that--she’s wearing a fingerless glove? And a weird duel disk in perspective?

This whole thing is FORESHORTENED are you freakin kidding me???

This storyboarder!

Enter Duke, who just woke up today thinking it’d be a normal day but alas, it was a Yugi Muto day, and you can’t escape this asshole even if you fly halfway across the world. He will show up, somehow blow up some gas station, and your boss will be mysteriously dead and there’s nothing Duke can do about this horrible curse he’s had to deal with ever since Pharaoh cursed him with Being Friends With Pharaoh. The worst curse.

Like imagine you showed up at Apple Headquarters and this madness was there instead of a lobby.

Then, because things aren’t yet weird enough for Duke Devlin to just walk into, the dragon card starts glowing and takes our third dragon boy on a Spiritual Dragon Journey.

Right now.

During a card game where Joey is facing off a serial murderer/ex-not-a-girlfriend.

And it’s not just Joey and Yugi this time.

...I know I was just applauding this storyboarder but there is NO WAY they didn’t know what they were doing. I get that Seto has a thing for dragons. I don’t need this upskirt shot to remind me of his weird hallucinatory love affair with dragons.

The amount of weird upskirts they like to do with Seto. I mean I’m glad it’s not Mai but youknow...I just didn’t expect this.

Ever.

I never expected this shot with the...joystick.

There is a very obvious joystick in this shot and like 15-45 animators looked at this and said “well it’s too late now, the good storyboarder likes it, and this is the toll we pay.”

I just want to know if any animators saw this and said to their friend “hey....I need to go take a break. Want to go to a very long lunch and forget this ever happened?”

And that’s the whole dream. We are now officially out of porky dragons, which means everyone else in this party will just have........nothing to do, right?

Is it too much to ask that Mokuba get to have a dragon?

Way too much to ask, just realized it as I was typing it.

The concern coming off of Mokuba right now.

Like seriously Mokuba is in a constant state of “do I listen to my older brother or do I heavily sedate my older brother before I get abducted for the sixth time?”

Apparently all of the Orichalcos etc is responding to the dragons, which makes sense, since it’s like...toys that were sold next to eachother in the toy store. Just feels like these things are constantly glowing but everyone forgets that there’s not just three cards and three stones but also Yugi has a stone in his pocket somewhere.

We just have a lot of artifacts hanging out everywhere but it’s Yugioh, so of course no one is going to keep track of any of them. If only Bakura were here, he’d have that down but like...instead it’s the Yugi team, so if it’s not directly around your neck it just doesn’t exist.

Anyway, it’s the holidays so I’ll get the next post up......sometime? Kind of a shame what happened to my update schedule but that’s life.

And if you want to read these from the beginning, you can click on this link here

#yugioh #ygo #joey wheeler #yugi muto #mai valentine #valon #tristan taylor #duke devlin #rex raptor #weevil underwood #seto kaiba #mokuba #rapheal #tea gardner #ah we're back to just 20 people on set all the time huh #S4 #Ep8

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thegraftedbranch · 5 years

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Fordshortened Future.

Yes, that’s really this post’s title; be glad it wasn’t “Marked Ford Death” or “Mental Forditude” instead. This meta discusses Stanford Pines’ pathological narrative arc in Gravity Falls, which I’ve referenced in posts like this, and this, and that, and even this. (Disclaimer: I’m no doctor, I just watch them on TV.)

As you know, Gravity Falls is a story about trust, family, and personal growth as they interact with the mystery element epitomized by “the Author” -really the tritagonist’s twin brother (twice removed). As you may not know, “sense of foreshortened future” is trauma-induced distrust, avoidance of long-term commitments, and the latent impression that one’s life will end prematurely or unfulfilled. It’s clear how the first applies to Dr. “Trust No One”, PhD (x12), but the last two are less straightforward. Ford seems so driven and sure of himself! But Ford is not what he seems. He’s just as unstuck in time as in space, and his entire arc revolves around a self-sabotaging search for belonging in both.

To recap, Ford sees his achievements as his only safeguard against abjection; take them away, and he won’t just be okay. People aren’t generally “desperate” for success unless they’ve staked their self-worth on it, or fear losing “finally a place where I felt at home”. If he’s wrong, it must be in every sense of the word -he can’t tell making mistakes apart from being a mistake. But whatever, a future overachieving for validation is still a future. Not so in the present when we meet him, an old man who refuses his twin’s help and guilt-spirals over Bill Cipher’s crazymaking and sleeps in his day clothes or not at all. He thinks Stan gives only to get (in reality that’s just half right), and his new life-consuming goal of atoning over Bill now denies him any long-term plans whatsoever -his history of paranoia and only feeling valued for his mind made this so. To put the “story” in “history”, his story could at any minute lose its authorship to the fathomless deep of his manifest guilt -to the ink blot he spots at the end of his timeline, dead-ahead.

But, here’s what’s great about Gravity Falls. We’re used to “trust no one” as a baseless absurdity, to paranoiacs not specifying what happens when “they” actually “get you”. Who’s to say it’s not to drive you downtown and take you out for ice cream? But the show constantly humanizes this ambulatory shipwreck of a person, whom lesser media would strawman as ~what not to be~, by depicting mental illness more sensitive than the childish notion of “crazy” we’d expect. (“The Last Mabelcorn” alone makes Ford nightmare-ridden from Bill’s influence and mundane trauma, and his distrust the result of abuse.) And still Ford is caring, brave, smart, enthusiastic, far more than just “meaning well”... he’s not the Bad Example™ that allistic heuristics would have you believe.

(I know my posts understate how funny and sweet this show is, but I’ve no grand statements about that. And right now, I can only take so much of sweet.)

So it’s not a reach to say that Ford calling his problems “not important” speaks to more than just the needs of the many. Look at the discrepancy where he pep-talks Dipper about future before unflinchingly throwing away his own. (The apprenticeship was impractical because it’s his first long-term plan in decades, clinging to the one connection he has.) Look at how he can’t understand Dipper’s response, or Stan’s even earlier. “He saved me, but” Ford doesn’t think he’s worth saving. He’s internalized that special catch-22 where he supposedly deserves to suffer, but not enough for catharsis. (Stan diminishing Ford’s suffering didn’t help.) Ford knows exactly how much he’s wronged his brother and closest friend, and he knows how this story ends: they “must” (surely and ought to) hate him. (Don’t get me started on him outright saying “suicide mission” about the kids going after Bill as he had, or what his “I’ll die before I join you”/“if I’m still alive, you must want something from me” lines imply about that.)

“It’s the only way he’ll agree to save you and the kids” but not Ford himself, apparently. Following scenes visualize how Ford’s determination to negate himself falters only with the realization that he’d hurt someone he cares about in the process. This impulse informs one of the show’s darkest moments, where Ford talks his way into Promethean torture from Bill and only breaks when the kids’ lives are at stake. (If Ford’s endurance isn’t “fighting back even when it seems impossible”, nothing is.) In saving him sequentially, the kids, Fiddleford, and Stan show Ford he should rethink his unconscious self-endangerment. So the mutual forgiveness between Ford and the latter two goes quickly because in the end, it’s not the hardest. In the end, the person Ford hurt most was himself.

(Ever notice he holds onto where the shackles were? Tune in this coming never for my Lacanian psychoanalysis on how the show constantly anatomizes Ford because he’s had a fragmented self-image since mirror stage.)

Consider the absolution that Weirdmaggedon’s dissipation represents. Ford’s imperfections aren’t really the end of the world! He belongs with his family, not Bill’s “freaks”. (Hence Stan showing off his “nerdy bro” to a crowd, as opposed to Bill victim-blaming Ford in front of a crowd.) What really shows Ford this is the one action of Stan’s that Ford can’t twist into his brother not really caring about him (as “Trust No One” implies), into more permission for Ford’s self-loathing.

This story is supposed to end in guilt consuming him, or an Esoteric Happy Ending where Ford redirects his self-destructive atonement complex toward making amends. Instead Ford repeats “he saved me” in a way finally acknowledging that this matters. That he matters. That he’s good enough. The show lets us fill in the blanks on what comes next; I say he opened up just enough to finally receive the help and validation he deserves. Only processing and owning his feelings could enable him to be that happy. Stan saved Ford, but Ford also saved himself; his clock restarts when he allows himself to reconnect.

The lost years found and reclaimed, Ford doesn’t have to choose between mysteries and family. It’s not about atonement for the Stan twins anymore; they equally wanted to travel together, equally contributed to their conflict and world-saving reconciliation, are equals in every regard. (Co-captains!) Ford is still as cracked as his symbolism glasses but now he can finally see recovery ahead.

And maybe that’s not the most “relatable” story, but it’s real to those of us the sanctioned narratives have failed. It’s never too late, is a mantra that adults who watch and overanalyze kids’ shows often repeat. And it’s never too late for “weirdos” -alienated from others, our own emotions, or otherwise- to make peace with ourselves Otherwise.

#gravity falls #gf meta #stanford pines #ford pines #gf #long post

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riftp · 5 years

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Read It For the Pictures 38: Avatar: Tsu’Tey’s Path by Duursema, Smith, Dzobia, and Parson

NK: Welcome to Read It For the Pictures, the comic book blog where we read it for the pictures! So, Dave Clarke, may I ask you what you were up to in 2009?

DC: I was at home watching television, so no I don't have any witnesses who can confirm that. And on that television I was seeing ads for James Cameron's Avatar. I didn't see it in a cinema, though; it would take another year or so for me to watch a DVD copy on the crappy little tv in my dorm.

NK: I.e. not in 3D, its big selling point

DC: Yeah, I didn't really get the appeal when I watched it. But in the spirit of the looking back 10 years and comparing the exciting, brimming with potential world of 2009 to the bloated and depressed pointlessness of 2019, we're reviewing an Avatar comic that came out this week.

NK: Avatar: Tsu'tey's Path #1 is a prequel comic written by Sherri L. Smith and illustrated by Jan Duursema with inks by Dan Parson and coloring by Wez Dzioba. It tells the story of Tsu'tey, the native heroine's betrothed who, following the "Pocahontas in Space" script, is just there to get cucked and get killed, so it's not like he's a complex and memorable character whose rich backstory we're worried about contradicting.

( Also, while I hate the regressive misogynist types who use the word, I really like saying "Cuck" because it's a funny sound. Cuck cuck cuck cuck cuck )

DC: Yes, Ive been hounded all week by Neil wanting to review the cuck comic. The year of the orc is over, long live the year of the cuck

NK: I was skeptical about this because the only other comic I've read drawn by artist Jan Duursema was a Wolverine "Prestige Format" one-shot in a fantasy AU Fortunately she's done a lot more than just ridiculously jacked grumpypusses in her long career.

DC: And how do you think this held up.

NK: About as well as it could've in a dimly lit forest with entirely half-naked blue cat people. So definitely points for accuracy.

DC: Yeah folks, not much to talk about in this one were you wondering what the blue aliens were doing prior to humans showing up? Pretty much just hunting and stuff

NK: Did you have trouble telling the characters apart?

DC: One was a woman

Pictured: a distinct and memorable cast of characters

NK: There was some impressive facial work in this comic in the scenes where characters got to emote beyond being stoic. It is worth noting that Avatar's Pandora is a beautifully designed world with some extremely impressive creatures. The trees are impressively organic and create a nice environment

DC: Neil was always a better diplomat than I. The biggest hint, to me at least, that this wasn’t a passion project was that even the action scenes seem to have no attempt at foreshortening. (foreshortening is when you draw a long object, like an arm or leg, distorted in such a way to look like it's coming towards the viewer, creating the illusion of depth)

NK: A lot of these are fairly stock superheroey poses too.

DC: The mighty marvel method allowed Jack Kirby to infuse page with a dynamic and spontaneous energy and also allowed people to easily crank out tie-in comics to 10 year old movies no one cares about. A few action poses, a few meaningful looks in a conversation scene, fit the words around them

NK: Computer coloring only goes so far to enhance this, comics haven't benefitted from technology to compensate for flat story as well as movies or games

DC: Come to think of it this probably went through several layers of approval from the IP owners. I wonder who has the job of making sure that the clothing the na'vi wear across multimedia is consistent.

NK: I would've preferred they gone with a radically stylized look to showcase the Na'vi's movements being far more fluid and flexible than humans'. For example, a Ted McKeever Avatar

DC: Michael Fiffe's Bloodstrike: Brutalists which we reviewed a while back is the good version of this decade out of date revival done right.

NK: Yes, that is a much better way to revitalize a long dead franchise the world's long since forgotten

DC: I wonder if any of the kids who saw avatar at a formative age are old enough to be nostalgic for it while the Na'vi go through a Shrek style ironic revival?

NK: In theory I like the idea of telling the story of the Na'vi, a mash-up of indigenous cultures through the lens of a rich white guy's philanthropy, from the perspective of the actual natives

DC: Weirdly this comic, by mostly just being the natives fucking around doing their own thing, has less weird politics than the film, where the white outsider was the hero in a story about pushing back the colonizers

NK: Avatar is really a form of colonialism that, having exhausted the natural resources and human labor it brutally stole from the rest of the world, shows it sympathy it can sell in the form of a #NotAllWhities adventure.. The bar is so low for larger sociocultural consciousness in Hollywood films that it almost seems woke compared to, say, the Transformers movies At least this comic gives Tsu'tey another note or two to his personality beyond "Cranky Cuck".

DC: What note was that? I mean, I know what it was, I’m asking for the readers. Obviously.

NK: That he's still mourning the death of his true beloved, Ney'tiri's sister, and he's stepping up to roles set before him.

DC: Let this be an PSA to fellow content producers: reviewing an Avatar comic in 2019 is not the easy comedy goldmine it may seem at first glance. That said, are you excited for Avatar 2: the search for Na'vi's gold?

NK: If you'll excuse me, I gotta go fast to catch a ship that sailed years ago.

DC: At least spending $4 on a comic for ironic nostalgia is cheaper than spending $20 on a movie ticket. Anyway, happy new year everyone, we promise* to have more regular reviews this year

*not legally binding

#avatar #neil kapit #dave clarke #dark horse #tsu'tey #cuck

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