The Magnus Archives (Season One) Production Design Project

Hello everyone! Let me introduce myself- I'm Tilda (or Tilde), and I'm want to be a production designer.

Production designers create the overall look of a piece of media. From costumes, lighting, environments, props, etc., these designers make sure that everything looks cohesive and sets the mood.

So, I thought it would be fun to put my skills to the test by designing season one of The Magnus Archives. My winter break started as soon as I became interested in the show. Needless to say, a new obsession and an abundance of free time go well together.

You may have seen these illustrations posted separately, this is a master post of the whole project. My thoughts, processes, and critiques are all included under the cut. If you read them, I hope you enjoy! If, not, thank you for supporting my work regardless.

The Characters

When designing these characters, I tried to avoid being influenced by fan interpretations. Though, that was a challenge (especially with Jon and Sasha). I found that I looked to my friends for inspiration. Certain elements (Jon's glasses) were based off of what they wore.

Pinterest was also useful for finding clothing and pose references. Some looks were based off of different actors- in particular, Tim was inspired by Nicholas Galitzine and Elias inspired by Matthew Lillard.

Jane was the most fun to design! I believe in making terrifying characters actually terrifying.

Elias's design needs the most work. Having now finished the show, I see that it doesn't fit him. The purple is overly saturated, especially compared to the set. He looks out of place! I'd reverse the color palette to mostly green/yellow with purple accents instead. Although, I will forever defend the purple tint in his gray hair.

The Set

Jonathan's office was a treat to design! Balancing the color and clutter was especially important. This room is meant to be claustrophobic and uncomfortable, but not overbearingly so.

The wood looks to be full of splinters, but not so worn that it can be thrown out. The chairs offer no back support, and the shelves make the room smaller. The goal was to represented Jon's mind. Intricate, messy, and suffocating (Note: that is more of a season two description).

One goal was to capture the look of an actual archive. Valuable times was spent researching the different kinds of storage, files, paper, etc. The texture and color had to be accurate.

A split-complementary color palette of blue-green, yellow-green, and red was used. Of course, I had to get green in there, and the varying hues and desaturated reds worked well for the wood and filing supplies.

Jane's ashes and the Web lighter on the desk place this set at the end of season one. I find details like this to be important, it's one of my favorite parts of design. There is much needed abundance of eye imagery as well. Most obviously in the carpet, but eyes are carved into the table and watch from the shelves.

My main critique is the lighting- the filters used could be adjusted as to not distort the colors of the boxes. They look inconsistent. The Web lighter could also be more obvious, yet it is small and pixelated.

The Props

I designed these as I re-listened to season one, and it is the most recent piece I finished. Combining the details described in the show with what the objects would have realistically looked like was interesting. That was most useful for the clown, the Ming vase, and Ex Altiora.

Each of these objects came from a specific time with a specific look. Ex Altiora was bound in calf leather from the 1800s, so those books were referenced. Same with the frills on the clown's outfit.

The Ming vase was especially interesting, as it is from the Jiajing period. When looking at photographs of Jiajing vases, I found that many of them lacked handles and had an hourglass shape. That was fascinating to me, as many artists depict a standard oval-shaped vase. Also, the vase's design is described as straight lines that create distorted patterns when looking at it. That effect was achieved using chromatic aberration and the liquify tool (chromatic aberration was used to create a vertigo effect on Ex Altiora).

My critiques are... nitpicky. minimal. The shading on top of the garbage bag is unnatural. The thickness of the gold engraving on Ex Altiora is uneven. The "I" in "Immediate Consideration" is not capitalized. Other than that, I'm happy with how the props look.

Conclusion

First off, if you read everything, thank you!! It is a lot, I know.

My greatest takeaways are that 1) ask for critique, always 2) research skills are necessary for design 3) references are your friend! Seriously guys, use your references.

I hope you enjoyed this project and I'm excited to share more of my work in the future!

They ain’t even looking at you, baby, they looking at me | Guillermo de la Cruz + Looking At Me by Sabrina Carpenter

It should be evident why Ferrari is very done with this driver lineup

Not me genuinely considering learning how to edit videos just so I can create this one beautifully painful idea that I had because even months later and these two fools have me in their grasps and refuse to let go.

Callum took her by the shoulders, anchoring her to him, and she looked at him, a tightness in her chest that had to rival his. “It wasn’t your fault,” he said. “It was my choice.” “I don’t understand,” she said quietly. He shook his head at her again, like he knew she didn’t. “And knowing what I know now,” Callum said grimly, a hand over his heart—where the dark magic would never entirely leave him, even if his love for her had; in that way, anyway—where Aaravos’ claws had sunk into him, and Rayla looked away in shame. It was her fault. “I wouldn’t make a different choice.” Her head snapped up. “What?” “I would do it all over again,” he said. “The dreams, the drowning. Even if you still left me. Even if you never came back. Because it was you or me that day and goddammit, Rayla, you don’t always have to lay yourself down for other people. I’m allowed to protect you—I want to protect you. To worry about you, to care about you. I can choose to risk myself for you. I needed you then and I need you now.” “Callum—” “If things go wrong, do you know why I want you to be the one to kill me?” he said, taking her hands, and she let him. It didn’t feel quite like weakness, even if it was tentative and new, and still so scary. “I know whatever reason it is can’t be good enough.”

—this fall just might kill me

the way elmike had the possibility of a very close and real and intimate friendship stolen out from under them because of heteronormativity telling them the only way they were meant to fit in each other's lives was romantically, even though neither of them truly wanted that... pushing them further apart... tragic. literally so tragic

looking at the leafs fanbase & realising that most people have never watched a team sport before becoming a leafs fan and finally realising that’s why people act the way they do.

oh my god i got so emotional SHUT UUUUUP

*sinks to my knees in devastation* nacho

Bad news, got back from the vet and my beautiful baby son is going to have to be put down soon, probably tomorrow or the next day, so send him best of wishes for his next few days~ Luckily, he's actually not in a lot of pain (for now, hopefully he won't be) and is acting pretty normal, so I'm hoping he won't suffer at all and everything will be peaceful for him.

s4 episode 9 spoilers without context

this'll probably get rehashed in a blog post at some point because i have more to say. but the thing about watchers, or any reading of the life series that takes it from "game people are willingly participating in for fun" to "fucked up situation people are trapped in by a higher power" is that the cultural imagination for death game fiction does largely fall into that second category; minecraft hunger games as a foundational part of early mc pvp tournaments is literally Minecraft Hunger Games. but these things are also usually a social critique of some kind, and to write a social critique requires a grounded world with history and governmental systems and all of this stuff that minecraft never NATURALLY has. when you play out the hunger games in minecraft it becomes a decontextualized tournament for tournament's sake. the archetecture of minecraft as a setting implies that, unless something else is clearly and intentionally set up to take it's place (for example, qsmp's federation as an in-universe entity keeping the players "trapped"), a minecraft server is a thing that people join intentionally and can leave as they please. life series is very much just minecraft. the thing that makes a "trapped by a higher power" story meaningful, its defined world and system, is absent. so the watchers as a villainous force end up feeling directionless, especially when they've traveled so far from the starting point of evo's little meta nod to the audience/early-mc herobrine allusion that mapping them onto the audience nets you... nothing really? like, "the audience controls the death game" no we don't, the players do. "the audience... likes watching the death game" yeah, because it's minecraft?

Drivers I am going to be following the closest this season(as far as on track driving goes):

Charles Leclerc (obviously) George Russell Logan Sargeant

Drivers I will post about if there is anything really notable in a certain race: Fernando Alonso Lewis Hamilton Alex Albon These are the drivers who I am most interested in seeing how they perform on track in 2024. This doesn't mean I am not following my other favorites(like Max and Oscar) but I am probably not going to do in depth analysis. And just because everyone isn't on this list doesn't mean I don't like them, I just don't have time to follow everyone's season that closely.

Obviously if there are any big incidents etc I will talk about it. Especially if Max and RB have any issues(I doubt it but anything can happen during a race)

Still going to be posting about everyone and doing weekly race analysis. But I will always be mainly focused on Charles and Ferrari, and then how these other 5 drivers are doing and what it means for their teams and careers.

Anyway this is my plan for this season, so you're gonna see a lot about these guys(especially Charles, if he gets a podium there is a good chance I forget other drivers exist so you've been warned)

Charles is really the only driver I care about, I want him to do well. When cheering my loyalties lie with Charles and Ferrari. This shouldn't come as a surprise but I am saying it now before racing begins. My analysis will heavily focus on Charles and how Ferrari are managing his season. I would sacrifice any driver for him to do well and win everything ever.

However I am very interested to see what this season has in store for everyone else:

Lewis this season should be interesting because of it being his last season at Mercedes. I'll be interested to see how they play it with him. Also I am hoping that we really see George just shine this year, I think that as Mercedes are going to have to shift towards him he may get more priority which will be interesting.

I'd do Max but if it's anything like last year there won't be a whole lot to say. Like if you run a perfect race what do I do besides cheer?

I always like following a driver in the mid/rear field. I think that Logan's career is at a make or break it point, and with the improved William's car I am excited to see what he does. He has proven himself to be fast, and the gap between F2 and F1 being so big I think with a full season of F1 done he will be fighting more regularly for points.

Fernando is just my guy, if he does something cool I will have to talk about it!

Alex is also a hot driver on the market and his season will probably inform which seat he gets(or if he stays at William's) I like Alex as a driver, and he's also one of the key silly season players.

But just remember, this is a Charles garage first, everyone else is behind him in priority for me.

for all my grievances with tangled the series, one thing i cannot criticize them for is their songs, i mean, sure, not all of them make sense in context (let me make you proud comes to mind), the songs are spectacular, from the vocals to the instrumental, all of them are a joy to listen to, whether they are just incredibly goofy, like the buddy song, to heartbreaking, like waiting in the wings, whether its a solo, a duet or a group, they are wonderful to listen to

i loved ur lmk fandomification rant, now i'm curious- who's your favorite (non-monkey!) lmk character (and any insights you want to share with the class? :eyes:)

Mei, Lady Bone Demon, and probably Azure!

But I could go on a long rant about any character in the show tbh, they're all my favorite character with the 3 I listed and MK being my "favorite favorites" (except maybe Jin and Yin, sorry guys. I do like their place as a sense of normalcy for MK, acting as the "monster of the week" antagonists in 4x01).

Little miss "I would watch my sword break 1000 times so long as I used it to protect the ones I care about" is my girly. Watched her best friend die in the A Hero is Born (AHIB) special and held onto that as a grudge all the way until 3x10. She just wants to see everyone make it out alive, but I doubt she's ready to pay the price required for that. No one in this show is. Mei watched Peng run away in 4x14 and wanted to kill that bird with her bear hands. She took everything Subodhi said to her in 4x09 so personally, like Subodhi probably knew she would, which allowed her to build off of MK's plan so they had a chance at succeeding. She's at her god damn limit. Her episodes (1x03, 3x02, & 4x05) are some of my favorites. She drives a motor cycle, she wears lipstick, she's a gamer, she wields a kick-ass sword, she's a dragon. In 3x12 she's willing to sacrifice Wukong for the sake of the world and more specifically MK. "Don't you realize you're hurting the people who care about you the most?" She's "fakin' it until she's makin' it". Literally what more could you ask for in a character.

Then you have LBD, who fights for a perfect world supposedly for mortal souls yet discards people the moment they no longer have a use to her. Ultimately I think she uses destiny as a crutch, as her way to cope with all of the suffering in the world. "I won't let you take my Destiny from me". You wonder how much it was about perfection and how much it was about her ability to change anything in the world she watched play the same tragedy over and over again. For the first 3 seasons she seems to be acting on destiny itself, she's the narrative our protagonists are running from. Then Embrace Your Destiny comes around, and you realize she was just as doomed by the narrative as anyone else. Doomed to a world of pain, unable to fix anything. The "to pain" scene is one of my favorite scenes, just in general. "Do you really still think the universe wants anything, from any of us?" "Don't you?" LBD and MK's foil is so fucking good. A delightful antagonist who they justify but don't victimize. Killed Spider Queen on screen. What more can I say.

Now Azure. Sweet Sweet Azure. The tragedy of Unckie Lion. Sincerely wanted to make the world a better place and was willing to sacrifice anything for it, just like LBD. I think about his scene with the Jade Emperor at least once a week. "How is it you come to stand before me today Azure, was there a point where you questioned it, or where you too oblivious in your own delusion to realize you were a mere piece in somebody else's game." Fucking insane. His abandonment issues are off the charts. He was gay for Wukong. He thought he could fix the world, and instead barely left it unbroken. He died with the power he couldn't use to change anything. He let himself become a pawn (continuing LMK's habit of manipulating royalty) thinking he could somehow avoid his fate. But the only way to win was to stop playing, and at every opportunity he had to stop he kept pushing. Moving forward. Just like LBD he was coping with the suffering of the world in his own way. It didn't work. Does it ever? Maybe MK will figure it out, maybe he'll leave the world better than he found it, but it's looking bleak. The 3 way foil between LBD, MK, and Azure haunts me.

And then maybe you realize every character in this show is just trying to cope with the world in their own way, and you stare at a wall for 3 hours about it.

Overall I think this image encapsulates it best: