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carnivalcarriondiscarded · 3 months

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i've drawn this twice over and finally finished it on stream the other day! Yippee!

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fozmeadows · 30 days

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hey. i think i'm going through a phase of self-hatred and… I don't know, of believing I'm not capable of anything. would you have any tips or books that approach this from an AFAB/trans perspective so I can cope? (it's not that I hate myself for being trans. I just have insecurities, anxieties and I don't know what to do to stop most things from seeming so discouraging, for lack of a better word.)

I'm sorry you're having a hard time! I don't have any book recommendations, and I'm not exactly an expert, but:

Where possible, try to focus on what you enjoy about the process of an action instead of worrying about the end result. A lot of anxiety comes from privileging a hypothetical future version of yourself ahead of the person you are in the moment, and while it's still good to have goals and aspirations for the future, that doesn't render your present self irrelevant, because that's who you have to be to achieve them.

To give a personal example: late last year, I was really disappointed with how little reading I'd managed to get done in 2023 particularly, but also over the pandemic. I'd bought all these awesome books that I really wanted to read, but I never seemed to get around to starting most of them, and meanwhile, I was spending hours of my life mindlessly doomscrolling Twitter and TikTok, which regardless of anything else is a really good way to depress yourself about the state of the world. So I sat down and thought about it, and I realized that the problem was how much pressure I was putting on myself about reading. I wanted so badly to finish books that I was psyching myself out of starting them in the first place, because each choice had to be Perfect, lest I pick the wrong book at the wrong time and waste twenty minutes or an hour or three reading something I might later set aside. And because I'd subconsciously set the stakes for starting a book so much higher than they needed to be, I'd end up dithering and scrolling social media to delay having to make a high-pressure choice at all.

In other words: I'd become so concerned about Future Foz's hypothetical dislike of a book I was yet to start reading that Present Foz would be scared to start it in the first place. I was forever privileging a version of myself that didn't exist and likely never would over the person I was now, and it was making me wildly unhappy, because it felt like I was failing at something I loved.

So my single New Years' Resolution became: to value myself and my time in the moment. If I catch myself scrolling for too long, I ask myself: is there literally anything else I'd rather be doing right now? Could I start a TV show, or a book, or a game, or write something, or message a friend, or have a bath? It doesn't matter if the activity goes anywhere long term; what matters is that I inevitably get more pleasure out of doing something than not. My time now matters, because I matter.

And suddenly, just from that one change? For the first time in I couldn't even say how long, I've read something every single day this year. In the whole of 2023, I read just 67 books; it's now the 30th of March 2024, and I've already finished 33. By giving myself permission to start things without the pressure to finish them, I'm suddenly finishing way more than when I was telling myself I had to finish everything, and I am vastly happier for it.

Is the world still a burning hellscape that daily makes me want to yeet a solid 80% of elected politicians globally into the sun? Yes. Am I still working on self-improvement in other areas of my life? Yes. Is it magically any easier being trans and queer in the current moment? No. But it helps to focus on who I am now, in this hour, in this minute, instead of worrying so much about whether some future version of me will think I spent this time badly that I don't use it for anything at all.

I don't know if this is helpful to your situation, and if it's not, I apologize for rambling. But it's a little change I've made lately that's helped me a lot, and I hope it might help you, too.

#foz answers things #self help #anxiety #self improvement #self care #reading

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deusexlachina · 4 months

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Cheeseaged Exocolonist Age 15: Use my transcendence of time to cheat at cards

In which I befriend a furry by financially ruining him, in order to reach my full potential and ascend as an autistic god.

Year 15 starts with your home in ruins. There's no special dialogues, and only two ways to pass the first three months: help rebuild or mourn. I choose to mourn, because this is Sol's first time experiencing death (in this lifetime), and because, having maxed out Organizing, rebuilding is highly suboptimal, whereas mourning lets me avoid stress and trim my deck of useless non-blue filth.

Because I chose the sportsball, I find it when sifting through the rubble of my room and get this rather sad dialogue.

Mourning gives you many opportunities to level your Empathy. However, because I have the In Mourning status, all my stat increases are reduced by 1, rendering every single one of these +1 boosts completely worthless.

This always happens, because Kom always dies. I'm not sure if this was an attempt to really underscore how hurt Sol is, an oversight, or a straight-up troll.

After three months of developing my Empathy in nonexistent amounts, the Heliopause arrives, and Sol's home is gradually taken over by fascists who enthusiastically spread disease, worship the military and hate transgender people. I enjoy visual novels because it's a fun escape from the problems of the real world.

Fortunately, there are exactly two nice Helio kids, Nomi and Rex. Nomi is an nonbinary AuDHD techie and Rex is a furry engineer. Rex often reminds you that he is part dog, in case you had missed the ears. His dog traits include a reduced lifespan. This is not, to be clear, a setting where people just have mutations. This was a deliberate genetic augmentation. Someone purposefully made their kid part-dog. Incidentally, Nomi likes anime, so here's a panel from one of my old favourites, Fullmetal Alchemist. They've never seen that one, so really this picture wasn't relevant. Sorry.

I improve my friendship level with Rex by giving him sticks, his favourite item because he is part dog. Rex is easier than most to befriend because he enjoys physical affection, because he is part dog. I love Exocolonist, so rather than saying anything bad about the game here, I will reiterate that my favourite character is Tangent, because she's a complex person with a well-integrated character arc in dialogue with the central themes. The writers really took their time to make a fleshed-out character with deep relationships with the others and multiple character traits.

Once I have high enough friendship with Rex, he wants to play cards with me. I wait to play cards with him until after Vertumnalia, where I beat both Tangent and Nomi at the trivia game. The card you get from doing Trivia is worth 8, making it as powerful as the card you get for defeating a giant in a fight to the death. Better yet, it's blue. Why do I keep picking blue cards? You're about to see.

After Vertumnalia, I am Popular because of my detailed knowledge of pop culture trivia. I would fit right in on Vertumna, except it is currently ruled by fascists. We'll take care of that, but first we need to arm ourselves. Popularity doubles the amount of kudos you get for three months. From all sources. Now's the time to take Rex up on his offer to play cards. Rex is good at cards, but he has one critical weakness: he's playing against someone who has played this particular game countless times. I use my past-life knowledge to win the game, betting 100 kudos that I have a better card.

Sorry, make that 200. Sucker.

I now have a vast wealth of kudos, most of which I gained from cheating at cards by consulting my past lives. With this ill-gotten fortune, I buy the ultimate weapon in the game, which is surprisingly not the Drone Rifle, an actual gun. It is a "vintage focus device," a fidget spinner. Because Sol is very autistic indeed, a fidget spinner allows her to reach her full potential by letting her stim. Accessibility tools being a luxury you have to buy - in fact, the most expensive luxury in the game - paints a very bleak picture of the colony's ability to handle disability.

That would be just a joke, but Nougat's learning disability, Tangent's drug abuse and burnout, Dys' (potentially literal) alienation and Tammy's phobia of nearly everything all go pretty much neglected unless you step in. It's interesting how much Vertumna recreates the same oppressive structures that it is an attempt to flee from.

Fortunately, we can get rid of ableism through autistic world domination, to which we are one step closer.

#cheeseaged exocolonist #iwatex #excolonist spoilers

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gattnk · 8 months

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About accessories and their secondary functions in Animation and Character Design

Well that title makes it sound way grander than it is, haha! I've no idea how this thing will go since I don't really have experience writing essays in english, but I'll do my best to give it some semblance of order. Shoutout to @haloheadhater who brought the topic out of me and showed interest in my sharing further!

Here's the TL:DR. Characters often wear accessories to complement their outfits, and these items don't just function as a visual representation of their personalities and interests (like real people); they also may have a "mechanical" function, so to speak. This function is much more secondary to visual storytelling, but sometimes designers will strategically place accessories on a character to facilitate their jobs on the long run. It is often a "two birds, one stone" situation, really.

Here's how that works in more detail.

Disguising Joints

Humans have joints all over their bodies, that's fact. It's what allows us to move and bend like we do. When designing toys, we try to imitate just that: articulated dolls, mannequins, marionettes, figurines and puppets have hinges and ball joints so they can be posed more realistically. A sign of care and quality in manufacturing all these is how well these joints are disguised, so they look as "organic" as possible. Screws and hinges get covered up as seamlessly as possible, so these puppets may resemble people more accurately: obvious, open and visible joints quickly break the immersion (and often places them in the uncanny valley). Compare these high-quality doll hands to your basic wooden posable hand models. Notice how the doll hands do their very best to imitate the natural curves of human hands and how the knuckles cover the joints as much as possible even when they're bent. Meanwhile, the joints in the wooden model hands are plainly visible, and the shapes are very stiff-looking, so they don't feel as human.

Animation is no different! A good animated character manages to suspend disbelief: for however long the character moves on screen, the audience has to feel like this character is alive and real enough to relate to them and their story. Human brains are really good at detecting when something moves wrong, so the more "natural" your character is, the easier it'll be to keep up with them. In puppet animation (often called flash animation thanks to Adobe Flash, now Adobe Animate, popularizing the method), characters are made of cuts, individual pieces held together by joints, much like traditional paper shadow puppets.

Animators and character designers often place accessories to cover up these cuts between joints, so when the character moves there's less risk of seeing them. My favorite example is vambraces, wristbands, watches and bracelets! Notice how uncommon it is to find a character with naked wrists? Well now you know half a reason! As the years go by and animation softwares improve, there's less need for this trick, or rather, it is often less obvious.

Disguising Texture Seams

Now see, 3D models look gray by default: you have to paint them over, like one of those tabletop figurines, for them to look pretty and presentable. This painting process results in a 2D image (called texture map) that has to be projected onto the 3D model. There is a variety of other maps that control different things, like how the model's surface reflects light (specular and diffuse maps) or if it's a porous, creviced or bumpy surface (bump, normal and/or displacement maps), but let's just focus on the texture map this time.

The process of projecting a 2D map onto a 3D model is called UV Mapping, and it looks similar to sewing patterns. There's plenty of methods to hide the seams in maps, but computers can be a bit unpredictable, and all 3D renders require touch-ups and a post-production process (especially light and reflectiveness). Sometimes though, covering seams with accessories is frankly easier, so CGI artists always keep clothes and items in mind when UV mapping, as well as the natural folds and crevices in the character's model.

Here's a good example of what I mean (by Thora Tong). This 3D model's UV seams, highlighted in white, were placed in a way that they'd be easily covered by clothes and accessories. Notice the seams on the wrists and ankles, and how the other seams around the body are very similar to the ones you'd see on actual pieces of clothing.

Volume and Foreshortening Guidelines

Drawing perspective is hard as it is, but organic shapes are particularly complicated. Accessories can help disguise certain perspective errors, or help convey the volumes and shapes of the body much more clearly. They are especially useful as guidelines for foreshortening.

Anything you append to a character is a useful marker for later. The way these items bend alongside the body thanks to perspective is a useful visual key for later. If you're not sure how an arm will look from a certain angle, maybe imagining a bracelet on that same angle would be easier! The bracelets I drew over the naked arm serve the same purpose as the guidelines you see in the image above. This is especially useful for drawings with little to no shading, where conveying the volumes of muscles presents a challenge.

Bonus - Body Lines

When a human fetus is forming, its cells grow in a particular pattern; these patterns that the body cells follow determine the flow of muscles, nerves, and even how the skin folds or how pigmentation distributes itself. There's a variety of body lines, though the most known and studied (as far as I'm aware) are Blaschko's, Kraissl's and Langer's lines. Langer's lines are particularly interesting: they're also known as skin tension lines or cleavage lines, because they indicate the best place for medical incisions on the skin, especially in the forensic field. There's many different models but here's a good example illustrating them.

Placing accessories following Langer's lines can be really aesthetically pleasing. Since tension lines follow along muscle mass and fat, they also indicate how the skin warps and folds around them. Knowing tension lines is especially useful in terms of studying how the body creases when bending around (and subsequently, clothes too!), so discretely marking them out with accessories can be useful on the long run.

Japanese animation is especially guilty of using Langer's lines on skin-tight scifi suits. They're simply incredibly useful as design and anatomic guidelines, and they look so good, they easily survive the test of time!

Conclusion

Character design often involves following rules of practicality that viewers seldom notice. This is perfectly fine because they're not really meant to be noticed by anyone, except members of the team of course. Design of any kind should be done under the premise of aesthetics and function working together, and not against/in spite of each other, so it is no wonder that animators and character designers put some thought into meeting both when adding a little "spice" to their designs. Anything and everything you can do as a character designer or animator to facilitate your work on the long run, or that of your team mates, is welcome. Covering seams and joints makes it easier for the guys in postproduction, as they have one less thing to look out for, for example. The animation industry is built on the backs of (often) exploited employees that sacrificed a lot of their time and resources into doing what they love most: deceiving the human eye and brain into believing for just a little bit that what they made is real. Truly wonderful! So next time you're working on a character, try to think about the functionality of what you're including into them. Test your imagination, and see what comes out of your mindful placement of accessories with secondary functions.

#about art #essay #animation tips #character design #things to think about

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dawntheduckrb · 4 months

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I didn't know how exactly to make one of these so I just picked my favorites from each month :3 there were some months I didn't really do a lot (and some where I did a ton) and that made this really hard, so I picked some honorable mentions too haha

Also, since I think it was a neat side-by-side...

I did that redraw of Ralsei from A Heart, Frozen in Time, and putting it side by side with how I drew it a little over a year ago, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. I drew it twice last year; the one on the left was the final version, and the one on the right was my first overly-ambitious attempt

And cut to now...

Looking back on it, I completely messed up the hat the second time around (wrong color, no ear covers), but I guess that's what happens when you try to do something from memory instead of pulling up a reference haha.

Regardless, I see where I need to improve still, but I'm still very proud of how far I've come in just a year. This new one didn't take me nearly as long, and I'm light-years more confident with my work than I used to be. I'm more comfortable with rendering in color (although, the rendering in this one is very light), and I hit my primary goal for the year: anatomy (he has elbows in the right place now! and shoulders!! woah!!!)

Going into the next semester, I'll be taking a figure drawing class, so I'll keep working on anatomy. Because of that, I think I want to shift my focus towards thinking more about color going forward. Gonna try and push myself to make my color schemes a bit more thought out, since that's a huge aspect of composition building (which I also need to work on). This is a personal goal, so I don't know how crazy I'll go with it, but it'll be something I try to be more mindful about.

Anyway, that's my all for my wall of self reflection, so with that all said...

Happy New Year everyone :D 🎉🎉🎉

#i did a horrible job cropping these but oh well #my real new year goal is to get better at cropping i guess #/hj #not related to art but i made a couple new friends this year as well :)#reconnected with an old one irl and met a couple online #its the first time in ages I've actually felt like I've had an actual friend #and now i have quite a few #it's a nice feeling ^-^#this next semester has me terrified but I'll be okay #this time i have people to talk to about it :D #happy new year people in my phone 🎉🎉#not rb

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alionanight · 15 days

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A prompt from one of the JSAB Discord server's I'm on was "oldest Blixer design meeting your newest/current Blixer design", so I drew these!

Originally it was just going to be a sketch but then I decided to color it. If I had more time I would have loved to make both of these drawings fully rendered with clean line art, but I really need to focus on my 4 MAP (multi-animator project) parts right now.

(Don't ask why my current Blixer design is missing his hat in the second photo, the reason is that I forgot to draw it and then was too lazy to add it on. We'll just say that OG Blixer knocked it off his head and that was what tipped him over the edge)

This is the first/only (until now) drawing that I made of my first Blixer design back in 2021 (colors for this design were taken from a second but similar design that also only had one drawing ever made of it, however that one drawing was digital and had color)

Sometimes I don't think I've improved in my art at all, but then I look through my old sketchbooks and see things like this...

#jsab art #jsab #just shapes and beats #jsab au #art #artwork #artists on tumblr #my art #digital art #funny #jsab blixer #new vs old #sketch #clip studio paint #csp ex #csp #csp art

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ozwuv · 3 months

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I would like to draw more but I find myself overthinking it and then losing motivation. So, I was wondering if you ever had a similar issue and if so what do you do to stay motivated and not overthink?

Really good question actually!

What nipped the overthinking for me was just completely dropping the planning stage of drawing. I don't put much thought into composition, colors, etc. I don't have any solid ideas of how I want things to look before I begin. Obligatory disclaimer that this is from my perspective as a hobbyist and therefore not practical for an aspiring professional, & this is gonna sound like BS but hear me out lol

Most of the time the only things I have in mind are 1. What character(s) I want to draw and 2. A vague idea of the atmosphere I want the finished product to convey. And "finished" can mean a lot of things -- a messy sketch can be finished, a fully rendered piece I spent an entire day could be finished. A common pitfall people fall into is having an impractically rigid idea of what a "finished" drawing is and subsequently what they want their art to look like, all the bells and whistles etc, when realistically your art is never going to look exactly how it did in your head. But is that really such a bad thing?

I guess the overarching concept is to just fall in love with the process and enjoy the journey rather than the destination. This obviously sounds easier than it is in reality, but imo people focus way too hard on what they're producing rather than how and why they're producing it. Other people loving what you draw and praising it is wonderful, but if you don't enjoy the process, what was the point? Drawing (and I would venture to say most other forms of art in general) becomes a chore with that mindset applied.

A lack of planning may very well mean you wind up drawing a lot of stuff that doesn't seem interesting, maybe haphazard, difficult to parse, etc, but this is all your perception. It's cliché, but there is always going to someone out there that adores something you think looks like a dumpster fire, and that applies to the things you draw too. Over time, just doing whatever you want and enjoying the process has this trickle effect that will improve your output. In the same vein, constantly overthinking will also inevitably trickles into your output. You can often tell when someone enjoyed the process of something they drew vs when it was just a slog for them to get through (at least relative to their other works).

I would venture to say that you could spend your entire life studying and could be the most technically knowledgeable person about illustration ever in the world, but if you don't genuinely love the process, your work will never be as good as it could be if you did.

If you finish something and think it looks like shit that's always a bummer, but if you had fun with it, I think that was time worth spending. I've said this before, but most of the time I only truly dislike something I've drawn when I spent any part of the process frustrated with how it was going. It's counterintuitive, but I really think that placing so much emphasis in how you want the finished product to look is what ultimately is going to make it look like shit to you.

All that being said, once you do get past that initial overthinking phase, you can start to get more specific with planning and whatnot. The key is to just stop holding onto the idea of what you want and allowing things to develop as you go. Your art will naturally improve this way since you're actually enjoying it. To me, that's what people mean when they say they can tell something was made with love.

Side note: Let go of the need to be consistent/have a developed style. Just let yourself be inconsistent. You don't need strict consistency unless you're like an animator who needs to keep characters on-model or something. Experimenting is not only way more fun, but leads to improvement and discovering new things to implement into your process/style at large.

Tl;dr just get a lil silly w it :3c

#hope this made sense i feel like it sounds like mumbo jumbo but it works for meee #yip yap #if you saw those typos no you didnt

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ask-obt · 1 year

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A question for Woo. Would you enjoy an explorers DX getting revealed on the upcoming Pokemon Day?

// if this hypothetical proposes that this sort of explorers DX would be almost exactly the same in execution to rescue DX then I'd have to say................ no..............

before you bring out the pitchforks, let me explain myself. anyone who attends my streams or catches me in the wild in discord servers knows that I don't really like how the 3d games look. it's not as much a debate on "does pixel art or 3d models look better", but more "which style does chunsoft handle better", which I can sum up how I feel about in one screenshot

which is to say, my main problem with the 3D games is that the charm kinda got sucked straight out of them. it's true that pixel sprites have limitations- it's why we have portraits to more easily convey how characters are feeling, and your brain can fill in any missing details. but with 3D games, every aspect is able to be rendered out, and if you aren't going 100% all in, it's a lot more easy for the intended emotions to fall through. we have the ability to have pokemon emote like this now,

so why on earth is this the range that we're stuck with for PMD?

the simplest answer I can think of is that chunsoft is trying to apply the same strategy they used with sprites onto 3D models... which I think could work in theory, but not in the way they're applying it. as is, they don't have the models emote much and rely on portraits to carry the intended emotion through. the models also have some of the most stiff rigging I've seen in any game to date. I'm sure it has something to do with hardware limitations, but if that's the case I don't see why they couldn't create something that would fit their needs better like pokemon rumble's low poly models. well I know the answer is that they don't wanna actually render new 3D models for a PMD game and just use the library of models they got from gamefreak, but I like to think something like XY or ORAS's overworld models would make for a nicer looking game.

one pet peeve of mine is seeing folks praise DX for its unique look, which I think is true for the backgrounds!... but not really the models. I don't think putting an outline and paper texture overlay on the models is particularly revolutionary. it's a good direction to start, but far from peak aesthetic.

other problems I have with DX are how the main hub areas look (the grass for pokemon square is so blown out I have to play the game with lowered saturation and a darkened screen), and how the general UI looks in the dungeons. idk if it's because I'm neurodivergent or if it's just a "me" thing, but there's so much useless information being thrown at me at all times in a dungeon that it makes it really hard to focus on what's happening

I imagine this is mostly a side effect of losing the dual screen ability on the switch and I don't really have a proposed solution, but at least removing the text bubbles that come up every single time you get attacked or use a move would be a good start. maybe just save those for critical hits or smth idk, I don't really need to hear every single thought that comes out of my team.

I also think accessibility features like the auto-dungeon crawl feature are nice for those who want it, but it does feel a little overpowered by (seemingly) knowing exactly where the stairs are in a dungeon, which can take the exploration aspect out of playing the game. I'd also like the ability to disable that feature in a menu since I tend to misclick sometimes and accidentally activate things lmao

I just kinda tore into DX, but there are a few things I do like about it. the gummi system is vastly improved first of all (thank god I can stop grinding for one million gummis), and I think the dungeon environments are some of the best to come out of the series. I also think the models wearing scarves is super cute, I loved it in Super and am glad it made a return here. I'm sure there are other QOL features I'd like in theory but I kinda... didn't get very far in the game due to the aforementioned graphical and UI issues that felt like actual sandpaper to my brain.

if there was an explorers DX, I actually think one fun direction the series could take is something like pokemon cafe remix or paper mario, which is still the energy of a 2D game just using nice looking art assets instead of sprites. I just think a PMD game that looks like this could be really cute and charming...

and it'd probably be closer to chunsoft's wheelhouse since it'd take notes from how they put the sprite games together! just wishful thinking though. my current crack theory is that rescue DX was just to test the waters for how popular PMD still is and maybe to test out the engine on switch before releasing an original game, a la let's go pikachu/eevee to sword/shield. I doubt they'll make an explorers remake.

#on borrowed time comic #ask-obt #ooc #pmd dx #dx #that was a lot of words hopefully this is readable

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cassandragoth26 · 4 months

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✨Simblr New Years Resolutions 2024✨

Ok, let's go with this ajsdjasjd

Tagged me uwu: @lynzishell (I don't know what to say, I like spaghetti, pizza, cachapa and hallaca(?)... Oh great, now I'm hungry ajsdajsd)

What's your Resolution for your Simblr?

Well, continue constant with The 10 Disasters, and start with The 10 Disasters Extra, I also have other stories that I want to upload here (It's legacy challenge a little changed, but it is a legacy challenge ajsjasdj), continue uploading makeovers, I have other projects, how to learn to use blender, not only to render, but to create my own poses or maybe also animations ajsdjas (get a job because I really need that graphics tablet) and probably get back to drawing, because I have wanted to draw my sims for a long time ahsdajsdj Only for now it's just a hand, with a pencil and a piece of paper qwq Start making gameplays, I just need to have a little more confidence… And a new laptop :v Make videos of how I do my makeovers, I want to start making machiminas! For some reason I want to learn how to use blender asjsdjasdj But I want to focus on making dance videos, opera concerts, orchestras, and the occasional video of everyday life jasdjajds God I have a lot of things on my mind! And what's missing!

What do you want from the Sims Franchise?

Rather, I don't want asjdajsdjas okno, cars, and open world (Even though I ran out of a laptop afterwards asjdja), as lynzishell said, I also want bands 😭😭😭. Personally, I want to fix the pronouns in my game, which don't appear (I'm very excited because finally my trans sims will be able to use their pronouns, and this happens to me 😭😭😭). Not only cars, but also airplanes, skateboards, motorcycles. AAH, DREAMING COSTS NOTHING! I would like babies to be able to ride in strollers and that wheelchairs could be included. Well… There are so many things, but I don't want to make the post long ajsdjasd

Any other New Years Resolutions?

Well, let's say that since last year I have been trying (I know I will succeed) to not let depression consume me as it had done these last 5 years, to be more organized in my stories ajssdjasd, to improve my English, to remain constant with my stories (Because I have several, not only of The 10 Disasters, there is also the extra, which tells stories of secondary characters and some other extra, there is the Robles Legacy, which I do have to update because I upload that on Tiktok ajsdjas)

Ok… I'll tag randomly as always (I like it like this, I don't know, I cover my eyes and tag asjdajsd): @aroundthesims @bbdoll @candysims4 @pamsimmer @aelestie @fleeblesim @geeky-simz @hazelminesims @nitrozem

If you have already done it or want to do it, do it(?) and if you don't want to do it, you can ignore it ajsdjaasdj I hope that this year you accomplish everything you set out to do, and if not, that's okay! It doesn't matter! The important thing is that you are getting closer to achieving it! Kisses❤

#simblr resolutions #tag game

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alagaesia-headcanons · 5 months

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I have a proper update for Clear Horizons!

(For my new followers, here's an explanation of this fic!)

I've finally finished drafting the section that was giving me the most trouble!!! I'm not entirely out of the woods yet, but it's a significant and gratifying mark of progress. The part I'm working on is after Murtagh and Orrin first meet, but before a scene I've planned where their relationship takes a turn and reaches a new understanding. So in that span they have a lot of chemistry and care for each other but they're also still hesitant and guarded. It's a very tricky dynamic to write. It still needs more depth, I haven't gotten to that emotional development scene yet, but I'm now finished with the first week Murtagh spends in Aberon with Orrin.

My main breakthrough with the frustrations I was having with that was to cut two of the scenes I already wrote and move them to a later point in the story. Then I reconsidered what I wanted the first week to cover. The writing progress went especially slow, even by my standards, and the section ended much longer than I expected it too. But I think both were worthwhile. This section is crucial for laying a lot of the foundation everything else will build upon. The prolonged time I spent with each piece gave me the room to untangle the needs of the story and the detail throughout numerous consecutive scenes gives clarity to the major cornerstones. (I pray I'll still feel that way when I go back to edit it later lol)

I optimistically think the pace will pick back up again when I carry on with the rest of act 2. This should be one of the only continuous spans of time that's fully rendered out with such intensive and thorough detail. I think just two other points in the story might get a similar treatment. I'm approaching the rest with a more selective focus that helps move the story along.

I have a plan for how I should proceed now, which has numerous parts. First and foremost with concerns to Clear Horizons, I'm going to take the opportunity to pause writing the actual fic and shift back to note taking, with the goal of hammering out Thorn's character arc. Unlike my last desperate bout of note taking, I've been prepared to tackle this from the outset. In this whole process, Thorn has been by far the hardest part for me, for a myriad reasons. It's very important to me to give him a character arc with meaningful significance to the story, and initially I had no idea how to accomplish that, but I realized that I had to start without it if I wanted to start at all. So I drafted all of act 1 aware that I still needed to figure out my intentions for Thorn and I would have to add in more writing to integrate that.

I can tell this is the right time to do that. I'm glad I didn't let it stop me from jumping in; it feels more approachable now then it did then. I still anticipate that it'll be very tricky, but now I have some ideas to guide me and I believe I can do this. I also hope it will fill out some of the other gaps in the plans I do have. My last note taking stint helped a lot with the other main character arcs. Orrin's specifically is the strongest right now, I think it's in a really good pace. Murtagh's is far improved, though it feels like it still has some pieces missing. As I wrestle with Thorn, I'm going to pay close attention to how that can contribute to Murtagh's arc because they naturally should weigh on each other quite a lot. I hope figuring out my intentions with Thorn will provide much of the connective tissue I'm missing right now.

Before continuing with the main writing, I'd also like to edit the rest of act 1 that I haven't gotten to yet. It's a pretty arduous process, but I know it wouldn't be smart to put it off much longer. It's very valuable and I should at least edit up to the last section of act 1. It might be more effective to wait on that one because I think it will be overhauled the most after Thorn is properly added to the equation.

There are some other things I want to add in act 1 too. While making those notes, I recognized key aspects of both Murtagh and Orrin that deserve more exploration. I plan to take the first two sections, one about each of them, and divide them both in half so there's four sections, then I can add those details throughout them. I think it will also improve the pacing. That's currently not my priority, so I don't know if I'll do that before returning to writing progress, but it's in the plans.

On a different track, I want to take a small break before getting back to that grind. For a significant length of time now, Clear Horizons has held my attention largely uninterrupted. It's eclipses my other creative impulses. I don't feel like that's inherently bad, I often set aside my other interests for a while to pursue inspiration for a certain thing. But given how long I think Clear Horizons will take, even from this point, I don't want to do that the whole time. It's already been a long time since I've drawn anything, and longer still since I've worked with clay. I have a stretch of time off around Christmas and I think I'm going to force myself to not work on writing during that and enjoy other things. Since I have quite limited free time in my day to day, part of me gets frustrated feeling like having a lot of time and not using it to work on this is a waste. I need to remind myself that a project like this is not a sprint, it's a marathon, and taking breaks will benefit me in the end.

(There's a very high chance I'll make some Eragon related art anyway lol. And also Hubert. Maybe I'll show you guys Hubert.)

I also hope the mental break will push me to answer the asks people have sent me too! I'm sorry it's taken so long, I promise I won't forget! Clear Horizons honestly has been the biggest distraction from that. That being said, since it occupies so much of my mind, I always adore taking about it. Of course I still welcome all kinds of asks, but especially anything about Murtagh, Orrin, them together, or my fic specifically- and I'll also probably answer any of those right away because I seriously can't resist lmao (This isn't a headcanon blog anymore but this ship is the sole exception, I have so many feelings)

I really hope you guys will love this when it's finally complete. Part of me is nervous, but I'm doing my best to trust that the act of putting so much devotion into it will shine through on the other side ❤️

#clear horizons chatter #eragon #inheritance cycle #murtagh #orrin #yall this is Long ahdjdhsjfk #if you read it all youre a real one #ill also be considering how to share more wip content going forward!#(justice for hubert)

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puphoods · 4 months

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claire from the start of the year vs end btw. :)

i think ive improved a lot but on small things... i think im better at drawing bodies + have a better understanding of where things go when i draw a person(/whatever)... i think the way i draw faces is better but i really need to improve on how to draw mouths + different expressions its something i dont have a good understanding on. i dont think ive improved much with colours which is another weak point of mine that i struggle with a lot. i think my lines look more confident and purposeful and i think im better at at least trying to draw things im not confident in rather than avoiding it or drawing around it as a copout. umm what else... i feel like ive gotten better at drawing hair. realising i much more enjoy making it look more realistic + that i enjoy my art looking more realistic (comparatively) in general so i want to work on that but also work on exaggerating shapes and poses and lines etc. etc.

some things i want to try and focus on next year... that stuff i already mentioned ofcourse but also really need to buckle down and focus on learning to use colour better. i want to figure out a colouring style i enjoy more as well bc i dont really enjoy the way i do it Or how it looks rn. i also want to try drawing different perspectives and more interesting looking + dynamic poses and art pieces in general. id also like to start focusing on drawing things that arent just characters as i would enjoy being able to do things like backgrounds props scenes etc. sometimes. i also really need to figure out how to draw multiple characters interacting + touching etc. and how to make it look natural/good bc it always looks stiff and awkward

i would also love to try drawing with different styles and methods (ie painting/rendering things sometimes stuff like that) bc the times i do try out different styles i enjoy it :) i need to do style studies. i also need to look at some tutorials or whatever for different digital art methods like painting which i dont really enjoy bc i can never seem to find any that i like

and i need to remember to have fun with it... i always end up trying to draw so people will think its good rather than because im enjoying it and i really need to focus on that again. and i want to draw More which i say all the time but i really do as ive said i dont draw much more than gets posted but even if i do sketches or practice more often would mean a lot to me. i really have in the last little while been much more motivated to actually start creating some of my stories that i have and while i think im still a long way away from being in a position where i would feel confident starting i want to start doing things that are pushing me in the right direction and alot of this here is doing that (along with practice writing and stuff but thats a big different thing). well i dont know what else to say. goodbye

#et cetera #um btw if anyone has any opinions on any of thiss or just abt my art in general... looks away shyly

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pine-niidles · 4 months

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Looking Back on 2023

Heyyy folks! Long time no news from me huh.

I'm struggling to think of what to even say about my silence. I've not been doing so bad I'd call myself depressed, but I'm doing a tad worse than just a slump. It's been a rough 6 months, not because of one big thing. Instead, a bunch of medium-sized reasons all piled up on top of each other to leave me extremely drained. I've mostly been working on the two commissions I still had in my queue (thank you to my commissioners for being so patient with me, I'm so sorry to make you wait so long <3). I've done a little personal art other than that but didn't have the leftover focus to keep up with sharing it on social media or writing up any updates about my situation. I've pretty much only been active sharing things in my art discord. I'd like to say I've been doing better in the last month or so, but I hesitate to make any promises at this point! We'll just have to see how things go :)

Artfight

So you were promised a more in depth artfight review but I think I missed the right timeframe for that... instead have this look at 3 years of unfinished artfight thumbnails from my new year's wip clean-out!

Year of Art Summary

All things considered I made a lot of art this year, and I'm really happy with how most of it turned out ☺ I did a bunch of experimenting with more playful techniques and color schemes and I think they suit my style a lot. I want to try and much those limits even more next year to see what kind of fun art I can create! Something with colors specifically really clicked in my brain after that witch drawing I did in April, before then I would spend a long time figuring out the perfect color scheme and doing a bunch of adjustments but ever since that drawing things have really been coming together super quick? I'm not sure what changed but no complaints from me.

Life Drawing Summary

I rarely post my life drawing but I've been keeping at it! Actually, I put together a few pdfs showcasing all my life drawing going back to 2022, you can download them for free in my itch or ko-fi shops! :>

I also put together a yearly art improvement comparison going back to 2015 that I was planning to put here. However, seeing how long this is already getting... I'll make a separate post for it.

Commissions

I've been gearing up to open commissions again after that unintended hiatus. I don't want to open slots until I'm sure I'm back to being able to finish them in a reasonable timeframe, so I've been using that leftover energy I do have to think about revamping some things and new styles to offer. Back in November I ran a survey on what people want to see from me (it's still open if you'd like to fill it out and help me get more stats!)

here's a preview of what's to come based on that & my whims:

- stamp commissions were super well received so they'll be added to my main repertoire

- A combo of me reading too much dun meshi and wanting to offer some kind of comicky commissions led to this idea of comic pages of characters eating together, I have a couple examples in progress, when they're done I'll add this style to my main offerings!

- I'm still not 100% set on sketchpages but I like the idea of them so if this test goes well I'll add them as an option

Onward to 2024!

I already completed my new year's resolution on day 1 of 2024, it was to pet a cat. I've made a second one which is to get a library card whenever my visa is approved and I move back home. It's been something I've been wanting to do for a while but never got around to, hoping this will be the excuse I need to do it.

Art-wise it's not a new goal, but I've been trying to focus on improving my rendering! Though I've also been playing around a lot with screentone... the two don't have to be at odds 🤔

I'm dedicating this year's personal art time to making new references for as many ocs as possible with nude bases so I can easily design new outfits for them whenever I want to without fully making a new ref from scratch.

Otherwise I'm just trying to take it slow, work on things one at a time and see what happens from there.

#year in review #2023 #project updates

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captainbogwitch · 11 months

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Excerpt: Hands of a Healer

The chamber itself doesn’t seem massively large, but that’s more to do with the size of the furniture in it than the room itself. The bed he is in is several times larger than any one he’s ever seen before, and he knows he isn’t in the inn that have more Hylian appropriate accommodations. His mind clears and he recalls the smell of the healing salve, the feeling of Sidon’s hands wrapping the bandages over his wounds, the sound of his voice whispering gently before every touch. Heat rises to Link’s face, and he tries to push the thoughts back into the deeper parts of his mind in order to focus on what’s in front of him.

He is glad he is laying near the edge of the best so literally rolling off the (extremely, pleasantly soft) mattress isn’t too much of a chore. His joints ache in frustration when he stands on his feet and his stomach roars at him angrily. There’s no telling how much of the pain is from the physical injuries and how much is from the emotional toll of the experience.

In either case, eating would ease some of the pain.

The slate was sitting on a side table next to the bed and he slips on his well-worn trousers and tunic, grateful for the thin softness of material. His olfactory senses are activated by the smell of warm food sitting on the desk against the window. Two large clay, lidded pots sat beside a slip of paper with his name scrawled at the top.

My dear friend, Link,

The elders have requested a special council session that I fear I must attend, rather than wait for you to wake to say goodbye. I can only hope that it is brief, and I am able to return quickly, rendering this note effectively useless. But, if I have yet to come back to my chambers, I would be overjoyed if you stayed a while longer to indulge my whims in saying goodbye and give you my utmost thanks. I do believe that the hero of our home has the social capital to stop by the throne room and bid farewell to the King. Nephiri, the guard stationed in the hallway, can escort you there.

However, I understand that you have a duty to attend to, and I admire your dedication. If you must depart so soon, please know that you are always welcome back in the Domain, my friend. Words cannot express how amazing and magnificent you truly are, nor can they speak to how grateful I am for what you have done for my people, and for me. Thank you, Link.

Sincerely,

Sidon.

His stomach grumbles again, insistent that he stop reading and think about what is really important in this situation. He obliges and opens the lids to the smell of warm steamed rice and a deliciously sour and spicy tofu kimchi stew. He heats at his usual speed, immensely grateful to have a full stomach. The stew warms his entire body, easing some of the ache of his joints and the rice soft and fluffy. He reads the note again when he finishes and folds it into the pocket of his trousers. He’d need to find a way to store paper and recipe notes somewhere that wouldn’t be immediately destroyed with a failed attempt at using bombs to launch himself in the air.

Link looks around the room again, more than curious about the prince’s living spaces, finding it much messier than he expected from such a proper, polite prince. Small bits of paper litter the walls and floor where they must have fallen, each one some reminder of a meeting or a deadline, a few marked with names and occupations of other Zora. Many are random, scattered thoughts—

'dinner?’ ‘Bazz said I have to eat without working at the same time. Distract next time he asks.’ ‘vocal coach says tone needs improvement. Focus on tongue placement.’

—dispersed among the more “princely” ones. A number of books lay in stacks next to the various seats in the room, some rather close to the large pool near the open windows, despite having plenty of bookshelves against the walls. On the far wall Link can see a number of mounted weapons hanging above a large silver chest, which is, incidentally, the most organized thing in the room.

#I can't wait to finish the heart of a zora (aka princess knight beast) so i can use my brain power for hoah #sidlink #sidlink fic #link/prince sidon #link/sidon #I'LL POST ONE DAY #and i'll be updating pkb soon #my writing #fanfiction #zelda fic #botw zelda #botw link #botw sidon

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tiniblu · 8 months

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i love how your art clearly took alot of studies and effort and refining your artstyle to get to the level it’s at. Can i ask which specific studies you tended to focus on and for how frequently/how long, since the art advice of "just do studies" whilst very true is a little vague and very broad, and I’ve been wanting to improve.

hi! omg I am sorry for the late response, tumblr never notifies me about asks and I forget to check them manually...

Personally, sitting down and doing studies for the sake of studies doesn't really work for me. I've filled many sketchbooks of observational drawings over the years and I feel like they have gotten me nowhere, like what I am doing doesn't actually benefit me much when I sit down and actually draw non-observational stuff.

Instead, nowadays I tend to work on studies if I have a conscious goal in mind. For example, I'm not good at drawing shoes but I have an idea for a drawing that will require me drawing shoes, so I will make studies of shoes as preparation because I have more "context" of how my studies will be applicable. Approach them maybe like a math problem if that makes sense? Solving an abstract math equation might make you go like "well when would I ever need this in practice", but if you're counting watermelons it helps you see how solving this math equation might come in handy outside of dry studying. Studying shoes while you actually have no plans of drawing shoes in the near future, even though you know you're lacking, won't actually get you anywhere either, I find.

Sticking to the shoe example, making realistic shoe studies also isn't always necessary. A few might be helpful but there is no need to get lost in pages upon pages. I find it fun to make studies that also fit what I am working on stylistically. So it's not only about drawing shoes but also practicing how to simplify/stylize them to fit your style but still look "correct" and recognizable. In the end you might end up with a drawing with a specific stylistic direction but since you only learned how to draw shoes from observation, you might end up with shoes looking too realistic or over-rendered and it will stick out like a sore thumb (this I am still personally working on!). For that it is helpful to Observe how other people do it. Don't copy, by no means trace, but Research how artists with different kind of styles (even from different kinds of mediums or decades!) approach the same problem, it might give you good insight and ideas on how You can proceed with what You're working on, no need to reinvent the wheel all on your own when resources are out there.

I hope this helps, sorry for the ramble!

#ask

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life-of-kalos · 6 months

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I think you have some really good anatomy when it come to humans and pokemon, and really good skill when it comes to colors and lighting and even backgrounds!! I think something to work on however is consistency, i’ve noticed that your style can be super detailed one minute, or a different style the next, which is totally fine depending on how much time you have! That or it could be one rendered panel and the others are colorless. Some advice could be mayhaps simplifying coloring some asks if you’re worries about putting them out on time, or taking some extra time to ensure a style is consistent across a sequential set of panels? put your efforts into a style you can easily use for asks and save that detailed style for more important panels you want to emphasize! I hope this didn’t sound too confusing, art is hard, but don’t forget you’re doing great!! its all a journey!

You're so right. I constantly change my style. It's mainly because I'm not satisfied with how I draw now so every time I draw I try to change things up in a way I might like. I'm currently going through a "what do I want my style to be" kind of phase so things have been very all over the place. That's honestly why I'm asking for feedback OTL I really want to love my style but I get bored with it after doing the same one a few times lol and admittedly, I use this blog as a way to try new ones out.

I've only recently been testing waters with lighting. I used to only do clean line art with flat color and simple shades but It became boring to me. Now I've been trying messy lines with more detail coloring. I am quite fond of it but there's still a lot more I need to figure out.

I tend to do colorless sketches as a quick way to tell more story without taking too much time. And throw in a detailed piece when there's more of a tone I want to set. It may seem lazy but I really don't have time to color all of my sketches. And honestly I lose stamina after coloring one piece lmao. I haven't really stepped back and took time on this blog because I'm trying to tell a story within this decade haha I'm not very fast at drawing so I cut corners when I can.

But you're completely right. I need to focus if I want to improve. Find a simple style for asks that I can do consistently and experiment on the side. Thank you for your feedback!

#bluetalks #dl #munday #ask #i hate that i get bored with my stylr #or i see one #and im like #oh i wanna try that #then do it once and like nah #not for me

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ketone-bodies · 1 year

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How I‘d Improve “Disenchanted”

ALT TITLE: What I Disliked About Disenchanted

Ok so forgive me in advance if this comes out incoherent and unorganized but I really need to let this out cuz this is a brainworm that won’t seem to go away. Now I’m not really a professional writer or anything and I’m basing this all on vibes and trying to figure out what kind of story Disenchanted was supposed to tell. So this is more like a mental exercise for me.

If you don’t wanna see any criticism of this movie, then don’t read. Otherwise, thank you for bearing with me.

So to start off, I’ll get this part out of the way: The animation felt inferior to the original. I get that they used a different animation studio for the sequel but heck, even Nancy’s design looked vastly different from what she looked like in the original for some reason. Did they not have the original model sheets? (This could be a nitpick, they probably wanted her design to look more like Idina). Anyway, would have been nice if they brought back James Baxter’s studio who had worked on the original (that’s a personal gripe I suppose).

Next, the thing with the original movie was that there was a perfect balance between the fairy-tale and real life, something I was also hoping for in the sequel, but instead they ramped up the fairy-tale energy, neglecting the real world aspects, and in the end, felt...cringey (and not in a so-bad-it’s-good way). While my thoughts about this part are a little more vague, I suppose it can be summarized with this: They should have been more willing to explore the deeper, more-real parts of the parent-child relationships in the brighter fairy-tale setting instead of externalizing the whole thing as a purely evil-stepmother-and-Cinderelly-in-a-fairy-tale-world conflict.

The thing with the original movie was that our two main characters ended up discovering what they want, seemingly away from the external conflict with the Evil Queen. The latter’s involvement was simply to move the plot along. Of course, her plot point needed to be wrapped up in the end, but she was barely directly influential during the middle portion of the movie except to have her henchman chase the princess around to kill her. This approach did not happen in the sequel. Instead, the external conflict of having to deal with a magical real-world and evil women trying to one-up each other took so much unnecessary focus and it felt like the setup was inappropriate for something as personal as a mother-daughter relationship. Maya Rudolph’s character had no real stakes with what was going on between Morgan and Giselle. Morgan was only used as a bargaining tool at the very end of the movie as if part of a checklist.

Also the thing with Andalasia magic felt a little phoned in. Did we really need the whole “If magic is brought to the real-world, Andalasia will die” schtick? Or was it just the easiest (and not very narratively effective) way of raising the stakes? Either way the magic appearing in the world didn’t need that explanation. It could have just...happened and we would be able to focus more on Morgan, Giselle and their family. Nancy filling in the fairy godmother role did not require her adopted fairy-tale world to be on death’s door. After all you already had the wishing wand there. There was no need for another explanation.

I also wished they hadn’t shoved Patrick D.’s character to sidelines and make him a complete bumbling fool. Robert was the straight-person in the first film, foil to Giselle, why suddenly take that out of his character and then render him a side character in a movie about his family? His involvement with the conflict between Giselle and Morgan would have been more compelling if he was his real-world self. Just look at Turning Red and Encanto where the fathers didn’t have such large roles yet helped the main character immensely.

And as much as I love Amy Adams going back forth as evil or good Giselle, perhaps her transformation didn’t have to be so drawn out? It would serve as a challenge for Morgan to understand and appreciate what her stepmother does when she has to deal with a completely evil version of her for a larger chunk/longer duration of the film. Here the Cinderella aspect could have been utilized more effectively, mixed with the realities of non-fairy-tale life.

Next, the music didn’t seem as good. For me, it wasn’t Alan Menken or Stephen Schwartz’s best work, as if, just like the Andalasia magic, the songs felt phoned in. It didn’t give the same energy as the original’s music did and felt more like obligatory creativity (ex. Disney Channel-level of music) than creatively genuine work.

Finally, take out the talking scroll. Alan Tudyk’s Magic Scroll character was completely unnecessary and made me take this film even less seriously. Why did he need to be there? “It could have been an email” as they say, or in this case, magically written instructions. Like those Magic 8 balls except it’s true. Besides, we already had Pip.

Bonus: It looked like it needed a higher budget and more time. Enchanted was such a well-loved and fantastic film but technically took 10 years to make from its very first conception. I’m not sure why but it felt like Disney skimped here when it came to the production value (incl. animation as said earlier). It would suck if it turns out this sequel had a higher budget than its predecessor though, with consideration of inflation.

Those are at least some of my thoughts. Apologies if I poke some bears or whatever. I really wish I liked this movie but I just saw too many problems with it and too many aspects that didn’t suit my tastes or expectations with it, considering Enchanted is one of my favorite Disney movies and whose songs still continue to give me goosebumps when I hear them.

So yeah, I was quite disappointed in this film :(

#disney #disney plus #enchanted #disenchanted #giselle #morgan #i can see why it went straight to Disney +#I mean even Prince Edward had less screentime #that hurt

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