#my art style changes every 2 seconds and you all have to deal with it < 3
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sometimes you’re just. too comfy to be your usual drama level.
and then you get teased by your crush about it
#my art#Star Trek#Star Trek TNG#Star Madness (across the universe)#Q Star Trek#Jean-Luc Picard#qcard#body horror#?#yea let’s roll with that#I’m very tired and didn’t mean to spend thus much time on what was supposed to bea sketch so have at thee /lh#my art style changes every 2 seconds and you all have to deal with it < 3#is Picard a bit ooc? yeah. do I care? no.#I am cringe but I am free#and Hey maybe it’s the “Q became crew timeline’’ and thats why his dear Captain is so comfortable#rea’s trash
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intro post whoopee!!!
hi guys im lucid :D you can also call me daylin i don’t really care but i may be like woah how do you know my name (i will forget about making this post 2 seconds after posting it) also I AM AN ADULT im 22 and i do not use pronouns just use my name pleaseeeeeee if you have a disability that makes words hard to process i understand if that’s difficult you can just use they/them instead
first off just getting this out there if youre proship, zoo, pedo, incest supporter, endo system supporter, any kind of discriminatory against protected minority groups, and anti-otherkin, shoo. dont want you here youre not welcome. bye bye my content isnt for you.
immmmm an infp-t 4w5 sanguine-melancholic existential-intrapersonal-visual learner seer of heart prospit dreamer true neutral rogue shifter airbender and dragon type trainer for all you personality label freaks
i like to DRAW!!!!! this is an art blog!!!! i will only post art here, all of my reblogs will be on @trickstergemini save for the posts my close friends make that i want to support here. sometimes i will post just text but thats only if i really need to let you guys known something or im answering a question
my commissions are OPEN!!!!!!!! right now they are strictly on emergency status, which means you choose the price and what i draw and ill agree if its not ridiculously unfair. check back soon for it to be changed to fixed price commissions though
im AUTISTIC i am on that mf spectrum been diagnosed since i was three. for me this means im not naturally fluent in social norms or what’s expected from an interaction or how to read others very well. i also have heavy special interests and find it really hard to turn the conversation away from something im fixating on or specially interested in. i also have extremeeeee sensory issues and a hard time being completely flexible when im comfortable in a routine so just be patient with me man adjustments are hard for me. my empathy is also extremely low and im a really really high masking person so if i come off as well versed or allistic just know that i either took a million years to format the right way to say things or i am entirely going off a predetermined script and will fumble if caught off guard. other important stuff ive got adhd bpd cptsd and major depressive disorder which all those combined makes me really flaky when it comes to responding or follow through. i may not reply to you for like 500 years or maybe i will be gods speediest most motivated soldier. just don’t expect me to be a readily available fully capable robot ok?? ok.
i am one half of @ask-kas-n-lamp the other half is some guy i don’t know he just hacked himself into the account and now i have to deal with him
in all seriousness mod dum, aka @unoriginal-and-dumb or unodum or unoriginal or whatever u know him by, thats my qpp thats my platonic soulmate my bestest friend my number one crate my brain cyst the doctor has to surgically remove from me my parasocial relationship my stalker my servant i keep locked up in my basement and i feed him cement and staples for every meal and for dessert maybe he gets rust shavings. he will be featured in my art like a lot or in my comments and reblogs and i will also be present in his stuff sometimes. if im drawing kasper im drawing his design, that design is not made by me its made by him sooo you should check him out and support him if you like that style or how about instead we get a mass unfollowing going there and you all come to my page and i exclusively will draw his design of kasper and get all the credit lets do that instead
if my requests are closed that means theyre closed EXCEPT for lampert requests those will always be open please ask me to draw him and i will take like three weeks but will happily draw him
uuueeehhhmmm my special interests are pokemon homestuck regretevator geography disney parks and personality psychology. i guess i also am specially interested in dragons but its less of an ill infodump to you interest and more of an i want to be surrounded by this thing because it brings me extreme comfort because it feels like me. i am otherkin im a dragon and i look like this:
i will also represent myself like this if im feeling it:
yes i know i am not actually a physical dragon and im not a spiritual kinner i kin for identity purposes and the fact that i feel some pretty intense crippling species dysphoria idk ive been like this since i was 5 i don’t really have memories of my life where i wasnt experiencing animalistic behaviors and instincts
my favorite music artists are s3rl twenty øne piløts onerepublic imagine dragons of monsters and men thefatrat glass animals ajr queen nine inch nails and muse my favorite medias are httyd movies pokemon homestuck regretevator invader zim our flag means death infinity train gravity falls rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead doctor who my little pony fim dont starve and the mcelroy brothers content
heres some more characters i represent myself as:
ok BYE
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It’s the Tar Taking Over That Came Unexpected
12 Days of Aniblogging 2023, Day 2
Back when it was a frustratingly rare Wii exclusive, I braved a storm to hunt down a used copy of Xenoblade Chronicles, and it still surpassed my every expectation. So finally sinking my teeth into Xenoblade Chronicles X earlier this year felt right.
This was a Wii U game and it’s still nuts that this was a Wii U game. The only change I made when emulating it was bumping up the internal rendering resolution, and it’s crazy how good it still looks. The highest-fidelity games I play are FromSoft so my frame of reference is busted, but even still, it’s frequently breathtaking. Monolith Soft has always had a reputation for building impressive open worlds on underpowered hardware, and their first foray into HD might be their greatest feat. Or maybe I’m just easily impressed by pretty skies. Emulated at 1080p 60FPS, the experience really clicks, with snappy menus, fast loading times, and the ability to alt-tab to the map on the gamepad. For once I didn't feel like I was missing out at all by not playing on original hardware.
After starting a new game you're immediately dumped into a character creation screen, which means I already have to navigate an old stupid censorship debate. See, there was a whole internet shitstorm back in 2015 when this game released stateside because the English version removed the bust slider from the character creator. This was the era of GamerGate and “localization versus translation” and Fire Emblem Fates taking out a waifu-touching minigame and everything surrounding Tokyo Mirage Sessions – things got really heated for a second! In hindsight, it was weird mixture of niche game publishers misreading their target audiences and hypervigilant right-wing provocateurs gearing up for larger culture wars, using titty games as a nexus for radicalizing nerds.
Things have cooled down a lot since then, as Japanese games generally release unaltered these days, rendering it a non-issue. When controversies do happen, it’s not in Nintendo's court anymore, it’s usually Valve removing Japanese visual novels from their store page in an act of laughable double standards. Anyways, thanks to the wonders of PC emulation and memory editors, I was able to restore the boob slider to Xenoblade Chronicles X, and valiantly used it to make my character flat.
XCX’s design sensibilities are a pretty sharp contrast from the direction the series went afterwards, instead dealing in guns, gritty sci-fi, and a more realistic color palette. The storms and forlorn mecha on the box art tell you all you need to know. It’s all very western, with the designers definitely taking cues from Halo and Mass Effect in a lot of places. The hub city is also based on Los Angeles, further cementing the American influence in everything but the mechas.
Ultimately, I think this all worked out well. The original Wii release of Xenoblade Chronicles isn’t particularly “anime”, after all. Its aesthetic sensibilities are closer to Final Fantasy X than, say, any given Tales. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3, as well as the Switch remake of the first game, hew much closer to games like Genshin in terms of colors and character proportions, but Xenoblade X takes the original’s artstyle and places it in a more serious context. I’m glad the series didn’t commit to this direction (it would have gotten bland fast), but it’s cool that we got it exactly once. Despite the more western stylings though, this is still fundamentally a niche anime game, much more so than the first Xenoblade. There’s titty armor and fanservice outfits as quest rewards, a young moe girl in the main cast, and the occasional pervy sidequest. A lot of the localization conflict may have been Nintendo attempting to clean up Xenoblade X in order to pitch it as a mainstream release at a time when the Wii U really needed a hit. While it’s a solid game, it was never going to be able to appeal to a very large audience.
Also, the story’s a bit of a mess. The tone is all over the place, with both comic relief and serious moments frequently failing to land. What starts off as a surprisingly grimdark sci-fi about the last remaining humans trying to survive on an alien planet as their crashed generation ship-city runs out of power quickly morphs into Star Wars levels of goofy aliens. Plot twist after plot twist ensues, defusing a lot of the tension because you know that they’re just going to pull something even crazier out next. Though the main story struggles, the emergent narrative of New Los Angeles is actually pretty good. A lot of the player’s side questing is dedicated to resolving interpersonal conflicts and helping make the city feel like a real home for everyone. Gradually, NLA begins taking on alien immigrants and the mutual fish-out-of-water situation between human and alien refugees leads to some funny moments and the occasional surprisingly thoughtful quest about cultural tolerance.
But for the most part, the story takes a backseat to exploring planet Mira. Through the gameplay loop I’ve come to understand Xenoblade X as something of a single-player MMO. The combat system is based around positioning, auto-attacks, skills that go on cooldown, and extremely customizable character classes. There’s a nightmarish amount of skill trees to keep track off, to the point where I’d forget about them alone until I was having trouble with a fight, and then remember an entire system I’d forgotten to take advantage of. There are item collections to fill out and side quests of all flavors and secret areas and difficult raid bosses yada yada yada…
Okay I can’t hold off from discussing the music any longer. The combat theme for Xenoblade X is the stuff of legends. Terrible, terrible legends.
Putting vocals in your RPG’s regular battle music is a bold move. You really have to make sure you knocked it out of the park, because singing is going to grate on the player far more quickly than any instrumental. Because of this, the battle themes of Persona 5, The World Ends With You, and Get In The Car, Loser! are all something of a flex. Black Tar is not that. I’m just going to link the song, because it really has to heard to be understood.
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Xenoblade X’s battle theme starts off strong, the grim sci-fi tone clearly communicated through the moody synths. Soon enough the guitars come crashing in, giving way to a distinctly nu metal sound. That stylistic choice alone pissed people off in 2015, to which I say grow up, it’s great. But if you let the battle run on for 50 seconds, someone starts rapping.
Black Tar has some of the most nonsensical lyrics ever put to pen, delivered in the jankiest way possible, with words just kind of crammed in without any regard to flow. It’s not even a case of “non-proficient English speaker comes up with shoddy lyrics” as occasionally happens with Japanese songs. Every single word of this is an act of malicious fluency, and if I singled out all the lines I had questions about, I’d be here all day. Opening the first verse with “We’re stuck on a whole different planet” tricks the listener into thinking that the lyrics will to tie into the game’s events and setting, but this is a fool’s errand. The titular tar has no in-game corollary, so to make any sense of it you have to go metaphorical and claim that maybe it stands for losing your squadmates and giving up hope. That's still pretty flimsy! Maybe it really is just be about heroin.
Eventually though, we reach the chorus, and it’s actually a great hook! Except for the fact that it’s sung by a Japanese singer in English. The lyrics were clearly written with no regard for which syllables he’d have difficulty with, and making this guy utter the phrase “Black tar’lll” was an open act of cruelty.
In a 2015 interview, Black Tar rapper and lyricist David Whittaker brings up that the he wrote the words for his first video game song in about two hours, going for “just foolishness”. I imagine his work here was a similar situation.
It’s so, so easy to harp on Black Tar. Everyone did at release, and everyone who hasn’t played the game still does. The thing is, it’s impossible to keep that antagonism up when you’ve got an 80-hour game ahead of you where this is the standard battle theme the whole way through. For the sake of your own sanity, you have to learn to love Black Tar, and pretty much everyone who finishes the game comes around to it. Much to the chagrin of my girlfriend, I quote Black Tar constantly, with less of a sense of irony each time. Eventually, you too will find yourself shouting along with David Whittaker as he raps about being on a sea of dark matter. And of course, the instrumental was always a banger if you weren’t a coward. The theme for New LA also gets a lot of flak for its gibberish vocal samples and St. Anger snares, but I’ve always been a fan and think it holds up great as an endless-looping hub area theme. It’s so…. Sawano zeitgeisty.
The entire soundtrack is actually a Hiroyuki Sawano joint, and he does a pretty good job. It very much all sounds like the kind of music he’s known for, with the exception of the overworld themes, which instead try to mimic the compositions of the first Xenoblade Chronicles. Primordia’s theme is an excellent response to the first game’s Gaur Plain, with a more techy and ominous tone that nevertheless still evokes the sense of grand exploration ahead.
The edgy atmosphere, the washed out palette, the Sawano tunes….Xenoblade Chronicles X is extremely of its time, in a way that comes across as deeply charming 8 years later. It’s kind of terrifying that something can already be an early 2010s period piece! The Sawano music alone will shoot you back to the days of Kill La Kill and Aldnoah Zero, when Gen Urobuchi was absolutely everywhere and the default crap anime genre was magic school instead of isekai. The mere idea of early 2010s nostalgia sets off alarms in my head, but it’s definitely real, and will only become more of a thing in the next few years. Brace yourselves for the flow of time.
Last, but certainly not least, the mechas! They’re one of the main reasons I tried the game out in the first place. Giant robots are often part of Xenoblade worldbuilding, but they don’t really factor into the gameplay. X is the exception. From the first preview trailers to the title screen to their first step into New LA, the player is made to want a Skell. They’re so cute! The Skells were designed by Takayuki Yanase, one of the people who worked on Gundam 00, and I can see the similarities in the combination of curves and blocky elements. There’s quite a few mecha otaku who work at the NLA hangar out of love for the Skells. Most of them are women, a detail that made me really happy!
Adding even more to the player’s desire is the fact that Xenoblade X withholds Skells for a very long time. You have to make it more than halfway through the story and substantially explore the first three continents on foot before receiving your piloting license. And it’s Xenoblade, so these places are massive. Even with an extremely generous jump, you’ll run into countless clifftops out of reach. They really make you work for it, but at least the core gameplay loop of exploring to setting up waypoints and mining devices is a lot of fun on its own (I was curious if the plot would ever get around to problematizing the resource-extraction gameplay loop, but no dice).
party members next to the Skell for scale purposes
When you finally get a Skell about forty hours into the game, everything changes. One of the major challenges facing mecha games is getting the scale right –it’s pretty easy for the giant robot to feel human-sized if all the player is ever doing is piloting. Xenoblade X avoids this by making your human pace painfully clear before giving you a ten-meter robot to traverse those same landscapes. It’s night and day how much more quickly you can navigate. Skells are also wildly stronger than characters on the ground, and being able to take on behemoth creatures as well as pulverize the human-scale enemies you’ve been fighting all this time keeps the scale relevant. It provides a real power fantasy and makes them feel believable in-setting. Being able to get in and out of your Skell at will goes a long way towards making it truly feel like yours, and this mechanic also acts as something of an on-the-fly difficulty modifier for the remainder of the game. A few chapters later you get a flight pack for your Skell, and the world opens up all over again.
not pictured: the j-pop earworm that plays every time you start flying
After spending so much time hanging out with the mecha pervert mechanic girlies in the NLA hangar, the back half of Xenoblade Chronicles X finally lets you be one of the mecha pervert girlies. Customization is on the lighter side, as you can’t mix and match body parts like in Armored Core, but there’s still plenty of color customization and weapons fine-tuning to do. I totally fell in love with my robots, and that alone makes it a victory of a mecha game.
A new song plays during Skell combat, and it’s…. more verses of Black Tar!! There truly is no escape. The backing has more of an EDM sound to it, and the lyrics are even more laughable than before. “Shoot them with your guns” still gets me every time. And yet, I would be lying if I said I’ve never headbanged to the part about being stuck on a different planet. You learn to love these things.
So that’s Xenoblade X. It’s a weird-ass game, a real triumph but also absolutely the wrong thing for Nintendo to have to put out in 2015. It’s easily the most impressive Wii U exclusive and I’m glad Monolith Soft took this detour. You’d be disappointed in it if you went in with purely the expectation of a mecha game, but as a Xenoblade fan who’s been gradually falling deeper into mecha, it was a great genre blend. Xenoblade X’s servers will shut down next year, and while I didn’t partake in any of that (the multiplayer elements seem fairly minor anyways), it will be the end of an era for sure. Just in time to start fondly reminiscing.
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Oh my EFF, where DO I START. Moonlight Chicken, episode 7 thoughts and impressions. But first, a question for the family:
Did any of you notice the filming style slightly change during the condo/living room scene with Jim and Wen (after Jim put on the chicken shirt), and the second scene with Jam and Li Ming, when they’re eating the ginger stir-fry? In both scenes, I noticed that the camera pans were a bit more fast/jerky between characters, and that Jim and Jam (#jimjam) were filmed from the chest up. I wish I knew more about cinematography, but it seemed to me that the other shots throughout the show were wider and taller. I don’t know if this means anything to anyone, but if it does, I would love to hear thoughts on it. I feel like the shooting style gave those scenes some kind of different old-school flavor.
1) JUST GAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH WHY IS THIS SHOW SO GOOD. Sorry for the yelling, but now I know, I KNOW, full-bodied, there is no way one post is enough for each of these episodes, so just expect a whole freaking unspooling over the weekend. ANYWAY. I’ll try to organize the quick thoughts first, then the deep thoughts.
2) Just get First and Khao together again already! They can’t help their chemistry to be ridiculously great. AND HOW GOOD IS FIRST. HOW GOOD IS HE. Just knowing when to fume just slightly, when to pull back for the sake of a scene. AND HOW GOOD IS KHAOTUNG. God. His crying! It took me OUT. Tears over here, streaming tears.
3) Speaking of hearts aching, I cried not only during the funeral scene because of Khao, but because I love this now-repeating motif that Aof uses of bringing a song that’s sung in the show as music for the background of the show, à la Bad Buddy. To think of every step of art to weave into a drama to keep you fully connected -- it’s really beautiful to me.
4) Mark/Leng with his UCLA jacket, what up, Cali, cute cute. (By the way, I’m missing View/Praew. She was incredible in 10 Years Ticket, and I think she could have lent her brilliance to MC. I’m going to add The Shipper to my list for First/Ohm/View.)
5) The continued motif of showing the cast participating in time-honored spiritual rituals. As sad as it sounds, I love funeral scenes and the way a temple brings together a community. Even Wen working at the temple -- it’s very real (at least at the Indian/Asian funerals I saw as a kid) to basically have a lot of the funeral feel like a community get-together.
6) Heart joining Li Ming to hand out drinks at the temple just messed me up. It messed me up good. When the young adults automatically help out at events without being told by their parents. It means a lot in Asian societies.
7) Deeper thoughts. @wen-kexing-apologist hit on this in their BEAUTIFUL POST about the show being centered on parent-child relationships. There’s a lot here in this episode, I may not get to it all.
Here’s how I’d break it down (and this post by @justafriend-ql covers so much so well):
a) Jam comes back after years of not seeing Li Ming
b) Li Ming is OBLIGATED, by UNSPOKEN CULTURAL RULES, to continue to respect her as a parent
c) Li Ming, clearly, wants fucking none of it
d) Li Ming/Fourth EMANATES distaste for what he’s dealing with
e) Li Ming STILL has to control himself around his mom who moved him aside to live her life
f) He has to ALSO DEAL with his uncle, who (yes, hypocritically) (but also hypothetically) asks him why he’s gay
g) So Li Ming has to also deal with his uncle’s internalized homophobia and old-fashioned views on gays in society, which may very well arise in part from his upbringing in rural Isaan
h) Jim has to also deal with his sister’s guilt over not having been a mom, and her trying to sort of half-heartedly show up (until the last scene with them, which I think was meant as a symbol that there might be healing happening among the three), and
i) Jim beginning to see Li Ming for the adult that he is becoming.
@justafriend-ql covered in their two posts about Li Ming the sheer SIMMERING, the shimmering ANGER that Fourth portrayed, and I felt @wen-kexing-apologist’s pain in my bones when I watched those scenes.
So much of what I am loving about Aof’s work as I enjoy my ride through his oeuvre is this family dissection -- the microscopic examination of the painful aftereffects of holistic filial piety (COUGH Bad Buddy) -- and I can never say enough how important his family art work is to Asian audiences. When I see these scenes of young adults holding themselves back with every iota of their energy to not JUMP KICK their parents when they’re acting stupid -- man, I feel that so hard.
Jam coming back and asking for Li Ming is just lame, and we all know it, and Li Ming knows it. And yet, he is BOUND by CULTURAL PRACTICE -- cultural rules that even JIM REFERENCES -- to need to hold back and respect his mother, because that’s what Thai cultural boundaries demand. So I agree with @justafriend-ql that what Fourth radiated was beyond brilliant. As a viewer, I really want to see Li Ming’s gates open and to see him rage, because my inner child wants to rage right along with him.
But that night scene with Jim and Li Ming, man.
I think this bit of this scene is what ended up helping Jim to relax, and to see Li Ming as an adult.
I am loving how Jim is written. The constant, CONSTANT pull between old values and new. This scene so beautifully depicted Jim in that balancing struggle.
Li Ming is just pulling Jim along to the light of the future, as children/young adults do. Li Ming NEEDS his uncle to see HIMSELF (Jim) in Li Ming. And I think that’s what’s happening, in part, in this scene. Jim sees that Li Ming CAN understand how complicated the world is around him. Jim SEES that Li Ming is a CRITICAL THINKER.
Jim has been a solo parent for so long. He’s worried about his kid. They’re poor. His kid’s gay. Jim’s worried about his kid being poor and gay. Jim expresses it, at first, in an old-fashioned, shouting, angry way. Jim accidentally outs Li Ming to Jam.
And then. The two guys -- the guys -- sit with each other, rest and wash in the process of mourning an important member in the community. Jim tries to hear Li Ming at Li Ming’s level. And Jim finds that he can hear.
And maybe, even, Jim is beginning to learn that he can transcend those old-fashioned values -- those UNSPOKEN CULTURAL RULES that still bind much of Li Ming’s behavior towards his mother -- to be a model for Li Ming, AND TO HIMSELF, to live a hopefully more fulfilling life. (I think that might be what’s happening, in part, with the cancellation of the diner’s lease at the end of the episode -- but the preview for the finale has me wondering if I’m right.)
8) I don’t know how much I have left, but I took these screenshots to also talk about Jim’s internalized homophobia. I think I’ve covered it already in my Li Ming analysis, but come AWN, just look at this SASS BUCKET OVER HERE:
I took these to confirm that Jim was “just being a dad” (ugh) in the moment of him yelling at Li Ming, but I think Jim redeemed himself with that night chat with Li Ming. So I’m just gonna leave these screenshots here BECAUSE COULD WEN/MIX BE ANY MORE SASSY?
I’m already missing these guys. I need Our Skyy 2 REALLY SOON.
I’m gonna need a lot of sleep tonight to manage tomorrow.
#moonlight chicken#moonlight chicken meta#earthmix#firstkhao#earth pirapat#mix sahaphap#first kanaphan#khaotung thanawat#fourth nattawat#gemini norawit#jim x wen#wen x jim#alan x gaipa#gaipa x alan#these tags already existed i have nothing to do with creating them
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(back to our regularly scheduled programming)
So I know I said I was about to read Leviathan Falls, but I had to put a hold on it at the library, so I grabbed Ten Arrows of Iron in the meantime.
Ten Arrows of Iron is the second book in the Grave of Empires trilogy by Sam Sykes. I read the first book, Seven Blades in Black, nearly a year ago now. It was... well, if you wanna read my review, you can search its title on my blog. Ten Arrows of Iron is preeeeetty much the same deal.
Before, I compared this story to Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames (one of my all-time favorites) by saying Seven Blades in Black had all the same things right with it as Kings, but more things wrong with it.
The world of this series is pretty compelling, with Sal, the protagonist, on a revenge quest the no-man's-land of a war between the militaries of the Empire (made of mages with a comically hackneyed array of powers) and the Revolution (Basically the Imperium of Man from Warhammer 40k). There's some wacky interdemensional shit going on in the way background, but the foreground stuff is basically "Sal has a haunted gun and a list of people to kill. She is mean, bad, funny, and in extraordinary pain with even more extraordinarily bad coping mechanisms."
These books, the Grave of Empires trilogy, are an exercise in non-restraint. Sykes lives and dies by the idea that every single line he writes should be fucking killer. He makes liberal use of paragraph breaks, italics, choppy sentences, and all-caps dialogue to this end (kind of like I do in these reviews!). You might be able to tell this just from that description, but these books can get BEYOND exhausting to read. Blah blah, "when every line is a showstopper, none of them are," blah blah.
However! If you let yourself melt into the narration, you can see it as both 1: characterizing the narrator (diegetic narration; Sal is telling another character her story) and 2: a thousand attempts at greatness with about a hundred successes. Sykes takes that 10% success rate and says "Fuck it! Good enough!" assuming that you'll also feel that way. As I believe the old crusties on this site say, "YMMV" (Your Mileage May Vary, for those of you who also didn't know what that meant).
Personally, I read these books in the same way I watch action comedy movies. They aren't high art. Are they constructed well? Yes. Are they changing my life? No, not at all.
Do I have a good time reading them? You fuckin betcha! They're oozing style in a way I don't see often. I've seen somewhere that Sykes created his setting inspired by old-school JRPGs; to this I say nay, this is Wacky West. Y'know how Sergio Leone basically said "Here's what a cowboy looks like!" and all of America went "Yeah we're cool with this, it's awesome!" Sam Sykes agreed with all of America on this and made Sal his Clint Eastwood. She's a cowboy through and through, in all the most ridiculous ways mythologized by classic American filmmakers.
Or... at least, she was in the first book. The second book cranks up the melodrama quite a lot. It's actually a very pleasant transition, with Sal having plenty of reason to become more emo and the difference coming out fairly smoothly. She's really questioning herself more in this book, which is saying something, but her narration does show wild swings in her belief that she's a bad person that are actually super interesting to read, but... possibly too deeply buried for some peoples' tastes. It's not that Sykes actually buries anything--he's about as subtle as, well, a zeppelin falling out of the sky--but because he's so blindingly hamfisted most of the time, any character or plot beat that's done normally feels like a little secret just for you.
I can't say I'd recommend these books outright, but I will say that if you're in for a couple 600+ page brain candy fantasy action comedies, these are pretty fuckin' stellar.
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Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 1: A Letdown
Look into Toji's eyes. Take it all in, that the father of all DILFs has been nerfed to this degree speaks to what I'm going to share today. And that's mostly my indescribable disappointment in what this first episode brought viewers. My words may be a bit harsh, but I really do love Jujutsu Kaisen an incredible amount, and the slow descent into concern since we knew Park wasn't returning amounted to broadly gestures, this. Anyways, allow me to get into voicing my frustration as an avid reader of the manga.
So, let's begin with what Mappa seems to love as of late: weird walk cycles.
But really, I think the piece that's more insulting is what follows. Was anybody that's an anime only left confused about what Geto was saying at the beginning of the episode? Don't fault you, because they took an incredibly important monologue for his character from nearly the end of Hidden Inventory/Premature Death and stuffed it right at the beginning of the episode for the entire arc. I don't think there's really words to describe my frustration with this decision, to alienate such a core piece of Geto's character arc just to use it as an introduction. To completely remove any weight or value from his words, and provide a segue to begin our look back at Gojo's past. I'm just sort of blown away.
And this is the tip of the iceberg, I wouldn't say it's an exaggeration either.
Weird posing, weird designs and proportions, the list goes on and on pretty early on as they continue to tease viewers about the end of this entire arc.
Now, I'll stop myself here and say: Goshozono (who is the lead director alongside this episode's director) does have good ideas. I don't mind their very wide and spacious layouts. I think it can add a lot of feel to things like Geto in the alleyway, for example. It's not '100% bad this is terrible it shouldn't exist', it's, 'this episode goes against what JJK is in nearly every way'. It doesn't mean that the direction and execution is inherently terrible in all facets (though in a lot of cases it is), but that there's a massive gulf between what JJK is and what we're being shown.
So let me show you a penchant of Goshozono's: rotation. Yes, rotation, he is after all the person behind the Mai vs Maki episode in S1. I don't really mind it, when used effectively, but Gosso (Goshozono's nickname) doesn't seem to like half measure with their rotation. I really want to stress that the idea of rotation itself isn't bad, or that Gosso's sense of direction is bad because of it. But well, look me (figuratively) in the eyes and tell me that the rotation is something that fits, that the environment looks natural through the rotation of the camera, so on and so forth.
I had a friend once say that "Mappa wants to be a CGI studio really badly", and I had brushed them off thinking it wasn't really true. Then Chainsaw Man happened, then this that and the other, and now we arrive at Jujustu Kaisen. Anyways, the point is this. The composition in these environments is really off. Utahime and Meimei stick out like sore thumbs through a great deal. And really, I think it's incredibly apparent throughout the episode. The whole scene have a green tinge to it? Guess what, the characters won't be affected by that.
I honestly didn't think it was going to be so glaring, but it is. Regardless, back in time we go! Goshozono loves being really experimental, and I can appreciate it when the content calls for experimenting. But Jujutsu Kaisen isn't all that experimental. And it's definitely not experimental enough for rotoscoping a la Flowers of Evil (here's the trailer for it, where it does it better than JJK), and it absolutely isn't experimental enough to change the art style about 4 times in the span of 30 seconds.
Now just a quick aside, what makes other series "okay" to experiment with, like say, Heavenly Delusion 10? Well, the answer is rather obvious: understanding and consistency. The idea of freedom in character designs is consistent throughout that episode, and the idea of the shifting art styles is applied directly to the moments. Though this also doesn't mention the fact that Heavenly Delusion is a series purpose built for experimentation with its approach of a sci-fi mystery/horror-thriller.
I've really got to get better at managing my thoughts, but anyways on we go. Let me speed things along a little. Thankfully, this sequence of Utahime and Meimei on a missions covers basically all of the aspects that I feel the need to complain about. Definitely cool moments within, and you can pick them out, but it's vastly outweighed by the bad. I mean, first, look the quality of the borderline pngs that litter the hallway in this scene. Then secondly, look how out of place Utahime appears amidst it.
Picking up the pace I'm jumping right into Geto and Gojo antagonizing one another about an important piece of their characters. I found this a real big let down. Geto's curse looks great still, but I think it's a solid example of how disparate the facial expressions of the pair are to their source. Geto just flat out doesn't have the same aggression, while Gojo's smile is completely misconstrued.
Also, what's going on with Amanai? They have a totally different vibe in the anime to the manga, on a near Toji level mis-tranlsation of character design (though I'll say they did get the super long neck correct).
Alright, let's end this thing on a high note! Really weird/bad CGI and composition coupled with Gosso's rotations. Just for reference, I've included an image of the same/similar area that's shown in the following clip, just so you can see the disparity between the quality of the two.
But yeah, I think the point has been made. It doesn't feel all over the place in a creative way, it doesn't feel strongly tied to the content of the episode. The composition doesn't attempt in the slightest to hide the issues of the 3D used, or how layered the environment and characters feel unless they're in default lighting. The character designs are a mess that gives Geto a pair of ballsack pants, and Gojo a chin that could be classified as a lethal weapon, and absolutely disrespects Toji. It's a massive list of flaws that pile up and completely outweigh the good moments that exist within the episode. As a fan, I don't think there could have been a more disappointing first episode for this season really, so I'm hoping and praying that as we go on it gets better.
Anyways, here's an image of manga Toji to cool off with.
#jujutsu kaisen#呪術廻戦#jjk#sorcery fight#gojo satoru#geto suguru#toji fushiguro#anime review#anime and manga#anime
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So Super Mario Bros. Wonder is out and it’s great. But I specifically want to call out something about it’s approach to animation, because yes Wonder looks better than the New series but it’s important to acknowledge WHY.
youtube
This video, without words, does SO MUCH to demonstrate the difference between Wonder’s philosophy and the New series philosophy. And it's something I'll be discussing more... AFTER THE BREAK!
I think something that gets lost in the discussion about the NSMB series is how the series evolved graphically, because it’s easy to look at the difference between U over a decade ago (or U Deluxe just shy of 5 years ago) and Wonder and wonder (heh) just what was going on with U.
The answer is that for 5 years U represented the culmination of a different kind of graphical journey, one that I was there for and remember noticing even at the time. And look, YES the NSMB games are generic but let’s table that for a second and go on a bit of a journey here.
NSMB DS came at a time where having a 3D game on a handheld was a BIG DEAL, and NSMB reflects that in more ways than one. Because while the promo art looks like THIS:
The actual game looks more like THIS:
If you go back and play NSMB today the thing that’s going to surprise you is just HOW LITTLE 3D is in it. Yes Mario is 3D and most of the enemies are too but the blocks you bash, the Koopa shells you kick, the power ups you collect and the backgrounds you run through are NOT. They’re all rendered as 2D sprites to help the game run smoothly on the DS.
Why do I point this out? Because it’s indicative of the New series’s approach to 3D. The sheer act of being in 3D is a spectacle, having a 3D rendered Mario is a graphical trick so cool that the first game has to invent its own hybrid art style to show it off.
Now let’s flash forward to Wii:
Immediately we’re looking at a big shift, we’ve still got a hybrid art style but one that looks much more cohesive.. This game is a much more significant graphical leap, it LOOKS in gameplay like the first game’s promo material! And this trend would be continued by 2 which upped the saturation in its art style (2 is both my favorite game in the New series and my favorite pre-Wonder 2D Mario (no really) and I usually hate that it gets the shaft but that's a discussion for another time unfortunately).
Now jump ahead to U:
Nintendo's first game on an HD console, U was considered U-niversally (heh) underwhelming by graphical standards but for my money I think U still had a distinct graphical goal: to create environments that were U-nique (heh) to the previous games. NSMB is famous for using the same world themes in every game, but U takes them, polishes them up, and gives them a bit of personality to help stand on their own. From the moai and dessert motifs of layer cake desert to the mushroom trees of acorn plains to the night skies and auroras of frosted glacier. YES its the same themes but they have a bit more pop this time and that's intentional.
What HASN'T changed is the approach to animation, and this is where we circle back to Wonder. The "Wow" factor of these games is still that it uses 3D models, so it doesn't focus on HOW it uses models as much or how those models look in 3D space.
Go watch the video again and what stands out is how... for lack of a better term... utilitarian the U animations are. The Wonder animations are all peppered with bits of personality but the U animations are all focused on just manipulating the models, because the 3D models are the (theoretical) draw.
Moreover, look how the models are constructed. U Mario faces forward as if he is in a 3D space, while the Mario Wonder model is built to more closely resemble the Super Mario World sprites. If you look at the Mario Wonder model closely it doesn't totally make sense, Mario is tilted at a diagonal angle at almost all times, why? BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT LOOKS BETTER IN 2D. The U model is technically what looking at Mario from a side on perspective would be, but the Wonder model brings in elements of 2D animation to create something more visibly appealing. Honestly that's basically the MO of Wonder's graphical style, ignore realism and create visuals that LOOK GOOD with the perspective of the game. It's one of the reason that I find it so strange for the game to use the standard character models in the promo material:
Compared to how they look in game:
But that's just my thoughts. I'd be interested to hear what more seasoned artists think as well! And thanks for tuning in to this tangent haha.
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10 Anti LO Asks
(Note: All of these asks are before episode 206 (Season 2 finale) so some may be dated.)
1. ok but I love Rachel spent the latter half of 2021 being like ooooh Kronos is coming back!! this is a big deal!! only to timeskip ten years and NOTHING happened. like wow even Kronos isn't a big deal when it comes to how totally not pathetic Persephone is as a 30+ year old doing no work and only being obsessed with a guy she knew for a month. literal masterclass in awful writing. It's almost impressive how bad it is.
2. Deadass I don't even get why RS is like oh yeh nymphs and other creatures should be second class citizens but they're also all "trash" and thus its good and even encouraged to abuse and mistreat them. like yeah that's what was missing, racism where the marginalized group are evil and "deserve" to be abused and mistreated by those with all the power over them. THAT's what mythology was so sorely missing. jfc. I know a lot of the WT staff are white people and so is Rachel but wtf???
3. It's quite funny how a woman old enough to be my mother cannot draw or write worth shit and there are literal teenagers on this website who are a thousand times the artist and writer she could ever hope to be.
4. This isn’t me trying to be mean but like, why is everything from the book covers to the official merch so ,.. cheap looking? Like these are supposed professionals, not Rachel, doing it, yet they’re still so poorly designed and crafted. It doesn’t help the images Rachel gives time to work with are all in the rushed, ugly style now either 😪
5. I just find it funny that every time an LO fan or even WT promotes it its like ... they ONLY use art from the first 10-ish episodes at best. Like yall, that was over four years ago, why aren't you using current art to be more accurate? Like it's kinda telling on themselves they know the quality declined rapidly after the first few months but are like "just ignore that! look at this three good panels from 2018!"
6. I HATE those panels where RS tries to be anatomically correct to IRL humans and its like omg they look even worse (and are still wildly wrong anyway?? She cannot draw heads to save her life for real). Like lady just work within your stylization, there's a reason people picked up your work off what it used to be versus what it is now.
7. this isnt necessarily LO based but I do find it crazy how people like RS and her fans viewed the original hymn like ugh Demeter is such a bitch why wouldnt she be happy Hades married her daughter like .... you guys are aware ancient brides tended to be married at 14, right? maybe that's why Demeter was pissed and creeped out by him. They're so blinded by their fantasy of this "perfect Hades" that never existed over the truth of a mother defending her literal CHILD.
8. Zeus is objectively the only hot man on cast because he actually has a personality, fashion sense, and pretty hair meanwhile Hades just looks like a dusty old man with zero drip and a million and one red flags 🫣
9. "This style of story telling" what style? just lying and making everything up to where it matches nothing in mythology? my god, she's so concerned over looking like a clever writer who has everything planned out and knows more than anyone else (including actual greeks??? ma'am) over actually telling a decent story. ive never seen someone so self conscious about being perceived as a "real writer" before.
10. Why even use mythology when you won't keep any of the stories true to how they were, change all the relationships, and just make up whatever else instead? At that point just go "this was inspired by the greek myths" and use your own OCs, not claiming you're telling an accurate story with a ton of research put into it. Rachel really just wants to have her cake and eat it too, huh?
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High School Crush ~ (Part 1)
Hot Wheels Acceleracers Vert Wheeler x fem! reader
POV: The reader knows Vert ever since high school, but she is very shy and Vert saw her a few times during their high school days, the reader was so in love and still is. Years later the reader is becoming a very good art designer and it's called to help the TEKU team with their new team logo, but she didn't know that Vert Wheeler was part of this team.
(Y/F/N) - Your Fake Name
(Y/N) - your name
(E/C) - Eye color
“Dear Diary, today I went to the art club to send my banner ideas when I suddenly saw Vert with his friend group-” You were reading your diary and laughing at your teen version from the past, you were so in love with that blonde surf boy. He was one of the coolest guys at the academy, but he had an arrogant personality.
Besides, it seems you haven't changed at all, you are still shy and still blush every time you remember that Californian boy. You have noticed that there are still some white pages left in your diary, maybe it is because you didn't have more time to write in a diary during your senior year.
You are doing an art college because you found out you have the biggest talent in illustrations, you have created your own art account on your social media, but you kept your identity anonymous. Your arts are being liked by people whom you have never met, in one of the notifications, 2 accounts liked your designs and followed you. The first is TEKU Official Account, and the second is Shirako Takamoto.
You went to see the accounts and you got really surprised, these accounts are famous, and both of them are music creators, you saw that this Shirako Takamoto guy is the DJ of the TEKU team. And the best thing is you receive his messages on your DM's:
Shirako- Yo! What's up. The name is Shirako Takamoto, I'm a DJ of a street racing team called The TEKU.
(Y/F/N)- Hello Shirako Takamoto, very pleased to meet you. I heard some music when I have seen your account, you make amazing kinds of music!
Shirako- why thank you so much. And your arts are amazing too! Speaking of which, the leader of my team is looking for a new design for our logo, and I've tried to look for some good designs and now I think I chose the perfect designer for that. Please, can you help us with our new logos? We promise that we'll pay you.
You just thought for a minute, a guy who followed you and then suddenly asked if you could help his street racing team with a new logo design. It might sound suspicious but you got not very good clients, some were scammers, some stole your work, and some only wanted inappropriate things. But some part of your mind said that this dude is trustworthy, so you said "yes, I can help you :)"
Shirako- Good! Can we meet in real life? Because we can work together and think about the logo designs.
(Y/F/N)- OK, but how can I know that you are not a serial killer? LOL
Shirako- LMAO don't worry, since we live in the same city, how about we meet on California Street?
(Y/F/N)- hmm... deal
Both of you said your goodbyes and you turned off your phone, you are so excited and yet worried at the same time, you went to write in your diary.
"Dear diary, its been a time, yeah? But I'm going to finish you soon, anyway, I got commissioned again, but this client is different, this is the first client who asked me to meet him in real life. And the best part it's that he is from a very famous street racing team called TEKU, I've done some research of course, and it seems a very popular team and very trustworthy. I'm going to get dressed and meet this Shirako Takamoto guy at the California Street, hope I don't die today XD. Wish me luck."
You put your comfy and yet good-looking clothing, nothing too tight, a shy style I would say, but that doesn't matter, you picked up your phone, your sketchbook, and pencils. You prepared your backpack and left home. You went to California Street and started to wait for Shirako.
After some minutes of waiting, you finally see a white car, with yellow and blue details, with a TEKU logo on the car hood, and it was playing loud music. Really loud.
The car stopped in front of you, and its driver rolled down the window, revealing that it was Shirako Takamoto. Making you recognize him, Shirako called your name as you entered his car (yay Bassline).
He drove you both into a place where it is customized with the TEKU colors pallet, Shirako then opened the garage and parked there, but you saw other cool-designed cars inside. After this, he showed you the place outside the garage.
You heard voices and you noticed that it is coming from a living room, you and Shirako entered there, and you saw a woman with a blue outfit, a man using orange glasses laying down on the sofa, and a boy with long black hair with a yellow jacket and a T golden necklace. Those 3 were relaxing until Shirako cleared the throat.
"Guys, I want you to meet (Y/F/N) she will help us with our new logo design” exclaimed Shirako
The long-haired man looked at you with surprise and then shakes your hand happily, you could see a relieved smile on his face.
“Nice to meet you, (Y/F/N), I'm Nolo Pasaro, the leader of the TEKU team. Shirako showed to us all of your work" said Nolo smiling at you
You blushed a little, because Shirako showed to them your arts, you started to feel really shy right now.
"One of our members is late, but I guess we should get started then?” asked the woman wearing the blue outfit
“This is Karma Eiss, she is a little bit... Direct” said Nolo trying to make a good presentation between you and Karma
“Direct? Me? I’m not...” said Karma refusing to believe what she just heard from her leader
“That one on the couch is Kurt Wylde, he is one of the most trustful people that I ever met,” said Nolo saying good things about Kurt, but you kinda know him because he was a famous driver at Grand Prix but he was accused about cheating on a race. You just smiled at him and waved, and he just looked at you and said only “hi...”
“One of our members is late, we should wait for him and then we’ll start to work”
Nolo let you sit on the couch next to Kurt while you wait for the last member, you took the time to look around, and you saw so many photos, medals, and trophies. It's been an awkward silence until you hear someone opening the door.
“I’m here! SORRY, I’M LATE!!”
You went to see the person and you couldn't believe who is the person in front of you. It was Vert Wheeler, your crush ever since high school, he looked at you and smiled.
"hey I know you. Do we met before?" asked Vert trying to remember if he ever had met you
"huh? Oh yes yes! We have met before, highschool. We didn't had a talk actually" you responded him, and surprising yourself that you talked to him without stutter.
And he still look stunning after high school, the only difference is the goatee, you both looked at each other until Vert remembered
"OH YEAH! You were my neighbor, the girl who always loved to draw."
"O-Oh how did you know that I love to draw?"
"My dad met your parents, he told me that you are very smart, a very good artist and the most sweetest person" Vert smiled with his beautiful blue eyes, and your face started to get hot, really hot. Your cheeks started to blush, your heartbeat started to get faster. He knew about you, it's good to know that you weren't a ghost in his life.
“H-huh?! That's- I mean I n-never” Damn it, you are stuttering in front of him and his friends, you hide your face in your hands trying to pretend that you didn't blushed, but the TEKU team had noticed.
"I see that you two kinda know each other a long time" Nolo giggled a little bit and then he dragged you and the rest of the team to the garage again.
When you got there, Shirako was holding a lot of rolled papers and he put these on the desk nearby. He opened the papers and he showed a lot of drawings and designs for their logos.
“Here are some ideas that I got before commissioning you, I was thinking if we could the TEKU logo with a blue dragon or- OH how about the letters have a sound wave design,” Shirako said so excitedly because he wants to share this idea to another professional and you found it cute.
“I must say, these aren't bad ideas, but I think I got an idea. Instead of a dragon, how about some blue and orange flames? To make it simple and terrific” you said confidently, there is a short awkward silence and then was interrupted by Vert.
“Hmm, that isn't a bad idea, like we shouldn’t make our logo very specific and difficult to understand. And seriously, Shirako, I still don't understand the reason for a dragon being in our logo” said Vert chuckling
“Shush Vert. This is a chat between professionals” pouted Shirako, making everyone laugh
You and Shirako have been debating and making ideas for the logo for hours because Nolo says it needs to look cool. Meanwhile, Vert watches you two working (but he is hidden), and Nolo gives him a coffee.
“So you know her?” asked Nolo smiling at his friend
“Not as much as I remember, we just exchanged looks and hi’s and goodbyes. She was very shy, I always thought that pretty cute” answered Vert while blushing a little
After the World Race, Vert Wheeler, that teenager who commanded the Wave Rippers changed his personality a lot. He learned about thinking of others when he discovered Kadeem, his friend from the World Race, was racing for his people and it gave a reality shock to Vert.
So he started to be respectful to other people, acting so differently from his school days. Vert couldn't take his eyes off of her, she looks even more beautiful after years. You have changed a little bit about your looks, like your hairstyle and the colors of your type of clothing.
Not only Nolo has noticed that, but Karma and Kurt notices too. They shared a smirk between themselves and they decided to give Shirako and (Y/N) a break.
"Nolo is calling me, wanna come, (Y/F/N)?" asked Shirako
"no thank you, and you guys can call me (Y/N). It's my real name" you responded Shirako. He nods as you permit him and the rest of the TEKU to call you by your real name.
Shirako went to talk with Nolo outside of the room, and you sat down on the wooden chair next to the table you were working on your project. As you were folding the papers, someone entered the room, you hold the papers and look who entered the room... Vert.
"hey (Y/N). Can I talk to you?" asked Vert in a friendly and calm tone in his voice
You blushed when you saw him and let some papers fall from your hands and you started to stutter. "O-Oh yeah s-sure. We didn't t-talked when you arrived" you said while holding the stuttering feeling
"how's your life going? Your family moved to another place when we finished high school and... we rarely talked" asked Vert while helping you to collect the papers, when you both are about the pick the same and the last paper. You both touched hands accidentally, you felt his fingertips on the top of your hand, you looked at each other in the eyes, his damn blue piercing eyes looking straight at your (E/C) eyes.
You two stayed in a crouched pose looking at each other's eyes for some seconds until you wake up to reality and blushes harder, and surprisingly... Vert was blushing too, but it was a slight blush.
~CONTINUE~
(Author’s note: hey guys, Liane here, and hope you liked this Acceleracers x reader. This is part 1 of the longest works that I did and wrote for MONTHS. I’m in my Senior Year and I decided to write a self-insert with Vert because he IS one of my childhood crushes and he inspires me a lot. Also, Vert’s voice actor named Andrew Francis dubbed a character from an old Barbie movie who is EXACTLY like Vert. And that's it y’all! Hope you have a wonderful day and drink water, byee! OH, I ALMOST FORGOT, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAYCEE SQUARED!! ❤️)
#SoundCloud#fanfic#x reader#hot wheels#hot wheels acceleracers#hot wheels acceleracers x reader#hot wheels x reader#self insert#vert wheeler x reader#vert wheeler#hot wheels acceleracers headcanons#simping#fanfiction#writters on tumblr
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🌿💞🕯️
🌿how does creating make you feel?
at its best? fuckin amazing buddy. like i am the architect and guide through a world and i'm showing you its most compelling parts, like i am engaged in the transcendent act of making art. idk im not a poet, usually. i absolutely adore creating and i think i always have?
at its worst (i.e. if i'm tired, burnt out, etc) it is a slog and nothing fun happens and i have to go do something else lol.
usually, it's somewhere in the middle, but decidedly on the positive side. i am making a Cool Thing To Show My Friends and my heart and soul does in fact always end up in all of my creations, at least a little bit. i'm a big "making art is and should be an Experience" kinda gal, even if that's only in a little way, so yeah. does that make sense?
💞what's the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language
2 answers secretly - firstly, the CHARACTERS i love characters so much. i love to put characters in situations and throw them at each other (rarepairs yay!) and put them through the Machine Of The Story so that they come out fundamentally changed from when they went in. i eat that shit UP i love it. a story doesn't have to be character driven for me to love it but it being character driven is a strong point in its favor. that sweet sweet interpersonal relationships, babey.
secondly, a close second behind that, building out a scene - this is sort of technical but sort of figurative i guess? like, in prose specifically, building out an image in the reader's head in a way that feels almost poetic. i don't know if i'm that great at this, but sometimes it feels like i tap into a Something about descriptive prose and temporarily ascend to a higher plane of existence so yeah.
🕯️--uhh this seems to correspond to 2 different questions if i'm reading it right? so i'm answering both.
was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn't think it would take you?
frankly every chapter of my fire emblem anime script continuation fic lol! i haven't written this sort of episodic style before really ever, and it's really testing me, because i want every chapter to have its own satisfying setup, arc, and resolution; focus on a few members of the ensemble cast; introduce new characters usually; and further the overarching plot of the story. it's a lot to squeeze in every time (and you can tell by the way the chapters get longer after the first one and i find my footing lol) but i am having a blast doing it. every single chapter i realize i have more arcs to resolve, more scenes to fit in, more downtime that's necessary between fights (in order to get that sweet sweet interpersonal relationships in eyyyy), and they always end up being longer than i anticipate them being and taking longer to write than i anticipate, but coming out the other side i always end up feeling like yes! i made a cool standalone episode of script, and i achieved my goals, even in ways i didn't anticipate!
outside of that, every single piece of writing i finish is an achievement because i have ADHD and it gets in the way of completing things all the time. shoutout to @gravitonbeamemitter for keeping me honest about the fire emblem anime script fic, because otherwise that thing would not have made it through one episode.
how do you think engaging with each other through tumblr, twitter, comments, kudos, creates healthy fandom experiences? How do you deal with that if you're not a social person/experience social anxiety?
that's a tough question! personally, i consume fanfic like it's water (or at least i have or had for a long while) and tend to leave comments and kudos all the time. so every time i see a comment or kudos from someone whose works i've read and enjoyed, i get a little ":0!!!" burst of shock and joy that someone i admire liked my stuff. for a while, only reading fics, it was very easy for me to build up a sort of hero-worship around the authors whose work i was a fan of? which looking back wasn't like, ideal. but uploading work of my own and interacting with other authors directly through comments and what have you (especially authors whose fics i've loved) really helped dispell that. we're all just people!
personally, i really love talking about my works! which is why i keep reblogging these ask games whenever i see them lol. so it's not a super hard thing for me to do as a comparatively social person? though responding to comments is like, Difficult, because i don't know how to take a compliment through text lmao, but i do manage.
thanks so much for asking!!
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Top ten worst artist’s versions of Morbius
Okay, one disclaimer first, obviously this is my opinion and my opinion only. I’m sorry if an artist you like makes it on the list but they deserved it *Coughs*. Also this is just the comics. Not including other media here, so don’t worry that stupid Spider-Man run game app version won’t be in this list to give you nightmares. Also because this is comics this will ONLY be 616 appearances that I find horrendous. So without further ado...
10: This is Peter Parker Spider-Man 78, art credited as by John Romita Jr. Yes, I’m already going to get hate. He’s a good artist but Jesus Christ on a cracker look at this.
THIS is the version of Morb I hated because he looks like a WWE wrestler. He’s huge! He’s a bloody boulder! His clothes are always too shiny and they are ripped all over. Look, I just hate it. The man can draw great superheroes just never draw Morbius like this again. This is a oil tanker in human form with fangs.
9: Jackson Guice. AKA the artist for Doctor Strange #10.
Look, I LIKE ugly. I really do but Morb isn’t supposed to look like a general plague victim. This guy looks more like a zombie than zombie Morbius does. Desiccated inbreed dog version Morbius, I hate it. He needs to be put down.
8: Paul Gulacy, Adventures into Fear #20. I said in my AIF review that Paul was not my fave artist. What I really mean is the art... it’s terrible.
That speech bubble is my reaction entirely. Look, I can deal with the face but again, too buff and this man cannot foreshorten limbs to save his life. Morb looks mangled and wrong on like every page of this comic. My least liked classic Morbius.
7: Look, I hate to do this but... Jackson Guice is on here twice because he amended his style from Doctor Strange# 10 to Doctor Strange #14 but uhhhh...
I like this LESS. Goth dandelion looking MFer. This Morb listens to the Cure and cries. Entomological damn eyes. I hate it. I promise this is the only artist on this list twice and it is ONLY because his style changed so much in four issues.
6: AKA Marvel Comics Presents 144 AKA M.C. Wyman *Dodges a brick* I’m sorry okay!? But this is freaking terrible! LOOK AT HIM!
I LOATHE it. The over shading, the warped features. This is demon Morb most of this issue so he gets a slight pass. That’s the only reason this art isn’t higher up this list of dread.
5: Morbius #16 Isaac Cordova. This pains me but this deserves this slot.
I hate it. This is demon Morb here and yes, at the end of the issue it gets just a little better but holy hell do I hate looking at this. There’s no detail in this art, too much shading, crappy backgrounds. It’s only saving grace is there exists worse art.
4: Now we’re getting into the REALLY bad art and it breaks my heart to put Morbius #25 in here because it also houses a short story at the back that is one of my favorite story/art combos ever, but THIS, This Craig Gilmore art...
THIS Craig Gilmore art... I am seething. This is objectively bad. The art loses all fine detail. The backgrounds suck, the way he draws women is a joke. Fabric with no folds, crappy shading. I could go on for houuurs. I hate it. I think it’s a big contributing factor to the comic getting axed so fast after this change though they did shuffle around the artists the last few issues which sadly brings me to...
3: Morbius #31, art by Fabio Laguna.
Look, other artists wound up here for making Morb incomprehensibly ugly. THIS artist is here for making him Clark Kent. He’s super buff, all the women in this issue are drawn super-sexy and all T+A. Proportion is lost on this guy he just makes shit up. This is so bad I have to post a second sample. This one is from the next issue.
I’d show you how he draws women but ya’ll can just look up any porn magazine and there you go.
2: TODD MCFARLANE YOU HAD THIS COMING TO YOU.
I despise his art. I hate how his capes take on sentience. His webbing looks like barbed wire, every damn guy he draws looks contagious! Jawbones don’t work like that!!! Gritty grimdark pig nosed Morbius. Tiny eyed untrustable armhair covered sewer urchin. Old mop haired snub-nosed pitbull. UGGGGH.
For years Mcfarlane was the absolute top of my most hated list because of Spider-Man #13-14. Because of this art. There’s only one worse artist on here.
1! Spectacular Spider-Man vol 2 #14 Paolo Rivera. No. No no no. I don’t know how such a good artists did this to our boi.
The writing is even completely OOC for this. For the longest time I assured myself this had to be someone POSING as Morbius. This cannot be him. Didn’t act like him, didn’t speak like him, and CERTAINLY did NOT look like him. Hairless grubby tights-clad nosferatu twink. THAT is slenderman. It’s like the artist was just told “LOL draw a vampire but poorly.”
Also not forgiving Spidey for that really offensive wise-crack there. So it goes that I would not trust one of the best artists, Paolo Rivera, with drawing Morbius EVER again!!! AGH I’m enraged now. I need to go look at good art and calm down. Hope you guys enjoyed the list!
#Morbius#Morbius The Living Vampire#Marvel comics#Michael Morbius#Bad comic book art#The last three in particular are terrible#The urge to burn these comics
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Orange Show+Movie
Hi! Welcome back to my blog! This time, we're in for a doozy.
Hold up. I'm not watching a sport anime? What alternate reality have we entered?
ORANGE SEASON 1
Just kidding. If there's one thing I love to watch as much as sports animes, it's animes that are guaranteed to make you cry. And boy did this one deliver.
BACKGROUND
The morning her second year of high school begins, Naho Takamiya receives a letter addressed to herself from 10 years in the future. The letter states that the events that will occur over the next few months will leave her with insurmountable regrets. It also includes a list of monumental moments that Future-Naho wishes to change. Finally, the letter states the most important thing that Present-Naho should be is be kind and take care of new student Kakeru Naruse, because 10 years into the future, Kakeru is dead. The letter ends with Future-Naho saying that her biggest regret is the fact that she and her friends could have saved him. The show follows Naho as she tries her best to change Kakeru's fate, all while slowly falling in love with him.
REVIEW
I cry semi-often when I watch anime, but it's usually at random times. I can say will full honestly that this is the most I have ever cried over a TV show in my life. I cried in literally Every. Single. Episode. The art style for this show was perfect, even if they made Naho's eyes weirdly large at some points. The plot and storyline were phenomenal. I'm a huge advocate when it comes to mental health/illness and media that surrounds that topic always ends up hitting me really hard. This show was no exception. I really enjoyed how about halfway through the show, it was revealed that the rest of Naho and Kakeru's friend group also received letters from their future selves, telling them what actions to take to save his life. Knowing how the characters' future ends up and seeing if they can change it meant that I couldn't bring myself to look away from the screen for one second. Seeing each choice they characters had to make and the different consequences each action had led to a gripping story that had me audibly gasping and yelling a TV that can't hear me. My roommates had to come into my room multiple times to check up on me because I was having full-on breakdowns over this show. This truly was a masterpiece.
BONUS: MOVIE
Imagine my joy when I finally finish drying my eyes and find that there's a movie sequel from the point of view of Hiroto Suwa, one of Naho and Kakeru's friends who ended up marrying Naho in the original future (a fact that everyone but Naho and Kakeru knew through the events of the original series). The movie is essentially just a retelling of the show from Suwa's perspective, but it does include a few new scenes from both the original future and the future that exists after they saved Kakeru. This one wasn't as sad, but it still packed an emotional punch; dealing with lost love, selflessness, and putting others' happiness before your own. I will admit that I also cried to this one.
SIGN OFF
When I started this blog, I thought it would be enjoying the shows that interest me. This show had gone above and beyond, it may have just changed my life. I had tried to watch this show sometime last year but after about 2 minutes, I just couldn't stay interested. All I remember is I liked the theme song and downloaded it. Finally watching the show now, I will probably never stop thinking about it. It's the kind of show where every so often, I'll think of a scene from it and be overwhelmed with emotion while I'm putting away groceries or answering a question in class. It's more than I ever could have imagined.
8/30/22 3:02pm
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Revamp Your Style: Whereas jean alterations can seem like a daunting task to some, there are several tips and tricks we can share for making the process easier.
Your style has finally been completed with the right curtains but those curtains require tailoring since they are too long. It will definitely be intimidating to trim the curtains; however, you don't have a sewing machine or have not mastered the art of sewing. But if all you need is minimal and money mid ways, you can save a lot with just change the boards all by yourself. Curtains are nice and quick to trim to the desired length using a lightweight ironing tape or a piece of fabric adhesive.
Expert Insights: It is significant to pick bracelet as a curtain and this is what I genuinely believe from my heart.
● Firstly, the memory can stop Lucy from being indecisive, as she will have something to remind her gently about what her true motives is By using the bracelet to keep the fabric from folding the bottom, you will have your Curved Alterations part done correctly. If the fabric is carefully pinned together, the bracelet will have the optimal length that is also perfectly clean and ironed
● Keeping the RPM dial as a reference point to keep track down of the spins during rebalancing. In the case of folding material, the wristband aids in accuracy and uniformity, so no mistakes are made when making wristbands. The bracelet under control the pinning process, thus the successive tight-pinning every 2-3 inch distances goes well and the cloth folding is proper and uniform.
Since it complements well with other materials of curtain, the bracelet further enhances the tidiness of the home decor. The cuff holds the fold of the fabric very well when the appliance is pressed with a hard iron on the bottom of the panel in order to create a sort of a fold in the fabric. The bracelet exists which affects the iron elastic measuring and straitening processes and makes all the panel plates look like the rest.
The 3-inch strip of paper slipped under the curved edge in the last stage is the rafter which binds the tape between the packed edge and the panel. This is the basis call of a real professional which guarantees your satisfaction. To sum up, necklace here serves as the vital means of checking accuracy, consistency, and uniformity in the acts of a stage change.
● Maintain your grill about medium heat. On each of the tabs, use an iron to bind the tape with one hand by folding the cloth over it and then folding it back in again. Pull the iron evenly across the panel for 2-3 seconds keeping the iron in the panel’s width. Work on each panel again and again after this.
Then, set the panel aside and wait till it gets to room temperature. Let's start with focusing on the hair that is still attached to the tape. First, take the edge tabs in your hands and insert them over the strips. Apply pressure on the fabric for approximately 10 to 12 seconds, then move on to the next one. To avoid heat emanating from the curtain rail, ensure that you completely cool down the panel before recharging the drapes.
You would be better off getting trained advice for Curtain Alteration Rickmansworth, in order to get professional tips and a neat finish.
Locating a Suitable Curtain Alteration Service: A How-to Guide
Curtain alteration Watford is not an exception as it works with an extensive list of professionals in the cutting and alteration of curtains industry. Their services are the perfect solution to offsetting the work you would usually do and giving you the time to concentrate on what is vital in your life.
Secure a service sleeve form B X Tailor and Alterations and decide which one suits your needs the best
Secure the best deal at your budget and sky will be the limit. My Curtain Alteration Stanmore Service takes the stress out of finding the perfect curtains and renovates your room into a home. Being an expert staff, our top priority is alleviating you from the task of making the correct selection, a burden that would weigh you down. As stipulated by prudential standards, they should meet particular service quality criterions as provided by their service providers.
Obtain service quotations from B X Tailor and Alterations and choose the one that best meets your demands.
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Evaluation
I have experienced the joy of working on a 10-week project, which I believe in my eyes that I did well with. Just like using all the tools and skills that I have acquired in the past for this moment and all the artists who gave me these ideas and creativeness. When I talk about artists, I mainly mean artists such as Bridget Riley, who inspired me to create my own illusions for this project as my theme. Now, regarding ethics, I believe I took this into consideration as I tried to make sure none of my illusions was a cheap copy of someone else illusions and tried to create it in my own style. This leads to copyright, which is honestly the worst feeling an artist can get as it feels like plagiarism. For my FMP I looked into the difficulties of making illusions and videos based on creating illusions but before I could do this I had to check for the environmental hazard as I realised it has a bad effect on the environment such as printing paper it like destroying a tree and the fact that we are using tons of electricity to create our FMP means pollution get worst and this will affect the wildlife so I took this into account and told myself that I will take breaks from using tons of electricity as consumption rates just get higher the more you keep using electricity.
My intentions for the project did change for a slight bit as first I wanted to make a chair while destroying and rebuilding a chair, but when I had a talk with my lecturer it opened my eyes as we knew this would be insanely tough because I don't have any experience in wood crafty nor do I have the material to make my own chair so I decided I shall find a chair instead and use that as a bases.
However, I came to learn and understand that the majority of people never tend to think about what they seeing or watching and just look at everything from a one sided point so this just further motivated me to create illusion so that I can give the audience a second hand point of view which would make them feel uncertain and be wary until the see what the object truly is. This research inspired me to create an artefact to showcase this such as how illusion can give you a different point of view just like a side effect but once you come to realisation then you realised the illusion would no longer be there. It distorts your senses.
This issue I had to deal with was that during my FMP, my ideas seemed to be difficult to create as they required a lot of time and skills to produce. Like during ym pitch presentation, the feedback I received had made me ask myself questions such as how shall I connect the background illusions to the chair illusion or how will I make the effect become real and not look fake.
On to my project, the number of artists I have researched and studied about gave me inspiration such as Yayoi Kusama and this is because her artstyle had made me use different shapes such as circle rather than squares and rectangle and the way she uses 2 colours to make an object seem real such as the pumpkin she had created with polka dot art.
How does this FMP outcome relate to my audience? That is a good question, but I want to say that in art, we always have multiple meanings towards any art piece, via our own interpretation, but what I want to do is make the audience see different sorts of image from the same illusions to then give every individual their own specific reasoning and meaning to my outcome rather than making it look like a one sided point of view type of art which is bland and everyone knows what it is talking about while mine is their is no right or wrong answer. So this just relates to my audience as we all have been in situations where we want to believe this is true and this false, etc.
Even going to a gallery had given me new ideas because when I went to a gallery with my peers, these arts, which are shown there always set a high standard for art, and this inspired me to do better.
The skills I have learned throughout this entire project were skills like blend tools and even using the 3d tools to create your own pots and vases, etc. This was indeed enjoyable, and I had a lot of time to learn these skills. Other skills that I have learned to do as well are grayscale with bitrot and this was a very easy skills to come across. I have also learned to create different types of contrast and exposures for my illusions in order to make it blend with my images + I even learned how to create Yayoi Kusama polka dot art and how to create my own illusions.
I also did a pitch presentation like I said before, which helped me and made me gain more knowledge, and this pitch presentation was to showcase and give the audience an image of how my final outcome would be like and how I shall create and the equipment and the time managing I need in order to successfully complete my FMP. I know I presented it well via the audience themselves, understanding my concept. These presentations help give me more confidence in my ability to talk and present my idea with my own voice.
Overall I think this entire FMP outcome has gone well and why you might ask and that is because if you look at my tumblr it quite easy to follow and understand as majority of the images have something to do with illusions which is my theme so I am giving a consistent impression of what my theme is based on what i want you to believe and understand so I believe my actions follow my project proposal correctly and that this is what I consider went well.
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How to Unfuck Your Sleeping Space in a Few Hours (A Mentally ill Adults Advice)
The thing about living with mental illness for 15 years (only 10 of them diagnosed and medicated) is that you cycle through a few sets of coping mechanisms, each more healthy than the last.
If you, like me, are chronically depressed and anxious with su*cidal ideation it can be easy to get yourself into a place where every part of your life is fucked up. If you, unlike me, have not been dealing with this for very long, it can be hard to know where to begin in the process of unfucking it. Some parts are easier than others - sorting your sleeping space is objectively one of the more manageable.
In fact, I find it personally the most manageable, because when my bedroom is fucked, I don’t even want to wash myself - for me, this is the first step in unfucking my life. For you it might be the second or third, either way I urge you to let my decade and a half of experience help you if it can; you don’t need to struggle to figure this out alone just because I had to.
Side note, if my profanity offends you I wish you all the best, but literally do not give a flying fuck into a rolling jam donut - Peace Out ✌️
Unfucking Your Sleeping Space - Zen in the Art of Practicality
I know there’s a part of you that demands perfection, but tell it to get fucked. That little bastard voice has no idea what its like to be you and if getting a college certificate, a bachelors degree, and a masters degree has taught me anything its that this:
“Anything worth doing is worth doing badly” G. K. Chesterton
Is true. Seriously. Washing just your face is better than not washing, writing five bad lines is better than not writing, and half assing a cleaning day is better than wallowing in your own filth.
Here’s how to half ass cleaning your living space in style.
1. Take Off that Dirty Shirt and Use it as a Duster (Put a Clean One on Too, You Adorable Dumb Dumb)
Go to the bathroom, put a little water on it and use that shirt to wipe away dust, debris, and any spilled drinks, makeup, etc. This has the added benefit of making sure that you dont put that dirty ass shirt back on - don’t argue with me, I know its been on for more than a few days.
2. Throw All Clothes From the Floor into the Washing Basket
Unless you’re at crisis point you can actually wash them another day, but get them off your damn floor so that you can see the thing. Look, isn’t that better? Take a breath, drink a glass of water - I know you just want to lie down, but we’re nearly there.
3. Wipe the Crumbs Out of Your Bed and Spray Fabric Freshener
If you can’t face changing the sheets, take the duvet off, wipe out any crumbs, pull the sheets tight and straight again, and spray some fabric freshener, bodyspray, or hell even some perfume. Leave the duvet off while you do the next step.
4. Put Books in the Bookcase, Magazines in a Pile, and Rubbish in the Bin/Trash
Clear your surfaces as much as possible. Books away, magazines in a pile, throw makeup into a box or bag until you can deal with organizing it, and put all rubbish/trash in a bin or bag.
5. Open the Windows and Empty Your Bin/Trashcan
Throw those windows and curtains open and empty the bin/trashcan. Leave the bin bag with your main bin/trashcan if you need to, just get it out of your sleep space. Once you’ve done this have another glass of water, wash your face, even if its just with handsoap and water, put the duvet back on your bed and climb back into it if you have to.
This may not solve your problems, but when you wake up to a cleaner, fresher, brighter bedroom with a clean face and shirt, the day might just seem a little more manageable.
If you found this helpful, please consider supporting me via Ko-Fi at https://ko-fi.com/chaoschaoswriting - tips are absolutely not required, but very much appreciated.
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Tattoo Shop AU - a quick, practical guide for writers
Guest Post by lebanon-hangover
lebanon-hangover said: this is based on my personal experience with the industry only, so depending on the era and country you are portraying, it may not be 100% accurate for your setting.
Hygiene
It may not be obvious at first glance, but most tattooists are clean freaks. We work with human blood every day, and we get clients from all ages, ethnic and social economic backgrounds, with all sorts of medical conditions.
We usually mop frequently, bleach the sinks, wipe down everything, and use cling film or bags to wrap everything. I mean fucking everything. We also scrub in, and sanitise the area on the person we work on.
Needles are collected in a sharps bin, and handled very carefully. Medical waste goes in yellow bags, and both are collected by a professional service.
Used ink caps may look full, but the ink gets diluted by blood. Like you dip the inky needle into the person, but you also dip the person’s blood into your ink. These are medical waste too.
Cleaning up must be done promptly after the session. Bin everything disposable, put things through the ultrasonic and the autoclave, and sanitise the area. We may take machines apart, but more for maintenance than cleaning, sometimes we swap parts in them too.
We have two sinks, one for hand washing, one for cleaning.
All inks and needles have use by dates.
The internal dynamics of a studio
Depending on the country, some tattoo shops tend to have ties to biker gangs, and some of those internal dynamics and unwritten rules are often present.
There’s a pecking order and it’s dead serious. Basically the longer you’ve been in a shop, the higher ‘rank’ you are, you get the better positioned stations, first pick of walk-ins, etc (Unless the client is asking for someone by name). Regardless of your actual experience in the industry, like if you move into your old apprentice’s shop, they are still senior to you. If the owner or their partner is an artist, obviously they are on top of the chain by default.
We are self employed, but we have a boss. You are only making money if you are working, but you still have set work hours.
We get paid by the clients, and we pay the studio a cut. In return, there are some items provided by them, and some we buy for ourselves. Usually the chairs, tattoo beds, gloves, cleaning products, clip cord covers, masks, aprons, ink caps, vaseline, green soap, and some basic ink is provided by the shop. We buy our own machines, arm rests, stations, pedals, power supplies, clipcords, tips and grips, needles, special colours, stencil fluid…these are a personal preference, and often depend on the artists’ style.
We totally ask to try out each other’s equipment sometimes, or ask for a certain type of needle if we ran out.
The receptionist is usually just one of us, maybe a piercer, but it also can be a hired person in top studios.
The apprentice in the traditional system is often mistreated, and they have to pay for their education, have to be there multiple days a week and don’t make any money. It’s kind of like a tear them down, build them back up again thing to see if they are really serious about the job. Times are slowly changing, but 99% of them will always need a second job. Most of them are working as bar staff.
When you open a new studio, you must visit all the existing local ones and introduce yourself, otherwise you may get a brick through the window. Otherwise there’s not much beef among individual artists, they are often friends, go to conventions together and party after, etc.
The Artists
Tattooing is a fairly physical job, stretching skin is very important. We have to also keep our clients safely still, so we often use positions to pin them down a bit. Sometimes you hit a reflex point on the foot or under a knee, and you don’t want to get kicked. Sometimes you have to pull away super fast, cos they are sneezing, yawning or giggling.
Most tattooists drink a lot of coffee, tea or energy drinks.
Some people are all rounders, some have specific styles, but we recognise each other’s art styles. Sometimes we delegate work to each other, if we think our coworkers style fits the concept better. For example if there’s a person who does script well, we give them those projects.
We don’t like when people come in with designs from other artists. Art theft is frowned upon, and we work best with our own drawings.
Most apprentices practice on their own legs, and sometimes we tattoo each other when it’s quiet. Most people have cover ups, or bad pieces from their early days. The artists’ own tattoos sometimes are in a different style than what they do, but we like to collect ink from friends or colleagues we admire.
In the first 1-2 years one is an apprentice, then junior artist. At 5-8 years of tattooing, you have earned your stripes and are considered an experienced artist.
Conventions are really fun, but can be stressful. You can make good money working at one, and sometimes get awarded for it too. We can also spend a lot at a convention.
Sometimes we poke our fingers by accident, and it’s a scary thing. Good case scenario is just some random dots on your fingers. Let’s not go into the bad case scenario.
We do guest spots sometimes, just to meet new clients, and change it up a bit.
We spend a lot of time drawing up things, and designs are meant to fall on specific muscles, stretch with the skin a certain way, so they are tailored to the body proportions of the client. A good tattoo is also an optical illusion, complimenting the body shape.
Social media presence is like a second job, you need good photos, and you need to market yourself.
Tattoo ink does not wash out, so some stains are inevitable when pouring it out. Those ink bottles get stuck so easily, and we wrestle them a lot. We try to avoid it, but wearing all dark colours is a thing for a reason.
The Clients
Tattooists need to have a good ‘bedside manners’ too. We get nervous or self conscious people, and we are told personal things during long sessions. For example scar coverups and memorial pieces can be very emotional.
We have pretty good poker faces and first aid trainings. People can faint, get shaky, throw up, some have seizures, have b.o., get sweaty, etc the same way as at a blood donation event? It’s no big deal really. We sit them down, give them some water and some sugar, and re-book them if necessary. Most artists keep some wet wipes, mouth wash, deodorant, sweets, maybe even some clean clothes at work, just in case.
If someone comes in with a wild idea for a jobstopper, we would sit down and have a long talk. If they haven’t got many tattoos, we usually try to stir them towards more safe choices, offering them creative ideas. It’s like those jedi mind tricks sometimes.
If someone is undecided, we show them our own hand drawn flash sheets. Once its gone, its gone tho, we don’t use the designs twice.
Pinterest is full of photoshopped fake tattoos, some that won’t even work as real ink. Many people also touch up their work digitally on photos, so some clients have really unrealistic expectations.
We can totally tell if someone is intoxicated or hangover. It thins the blood, and they bleed out the ink, and it’s super annoying. if it’s bad, they will be sent home and rebooked.
Some folks are self conscious about body hair, their size, stretch marks and scars. Chances are, we have seen similar, and we aren’t bothered by it, because it’s work. Surgery scars, scars from accidents, self harm scars, burns, we see it all the time. We shave some really hairy dudes all the time girl, your legs are fine. Seriously. If something makes tattooing you dangerous we will tell you.
Fit, muscular people are harder to tattoo because they are really firm. Its a workout for us.
Everyone gets midnight messages about the aftercare from nervous clients, and drunken booty calls about getting inked right at this second. We have copy paste replies…
We get creeps sometimes. Stalking, weird conversations, tmi info dumps etc.
Other things to include (for fun, or for plot reasons)
We sometimes have those “oh fuck” moments. We all do, but mistakes can be fixed, and we play it cool.
Tattooing takes time. Usually 30 minutes to multiple sessions though years and years.
Healing tattoos takes about 2-4ish weeks, and your characters shouldn’t go roll around in dirt, sunbathe, swim, pick at the scabs. Nasty infections, and messed up tattoos would be the results.
If you have a strong immune system, and you get a lot of work done in one sitting, you may get a brief bit of a temperature. It’s normal, and will go away.
Its a lot easier to get seriously drunk after getting a tattoo. Be careful.
We sometimes draw on each other for practice with our marker pens.
Tattoos are inside the skin, not on top of it. Imagine a low opacity, skin toned layer over the ink, adding to the healed tattoos’ colour. Please stop making your characters skin fully transparent.
Heavy blackwork and palms are done in multiple sessions.
You can’t cover up moles, because if they develop skin cancer, the dermatologist can’t see the signs.
There’s a stereotype about piercers having blacked out sleeves.
Stencil fluid looks just like cum.
You get that annoying itch on your face when you scrubbed in, put on gloves and finally ready to go.
Some artists have a strong preference for coil or rotary machines, and they bicker about it a lot. Coils are louder, more punchy, and more traditional, perfect for lineart. They can be customised, and they last forever. They are also called glorified doorbells by people who prefer rotaries. Rotary machines are smoother, lighter, and often use needles that are pulled back into the cartridges for safety. They are better for shading and delicate line work. Older tattooists often say they are dildo or butt plug shaped, overly delicate and are for “soft millennials” only.
Every artist owns like 5 to 20 machines, and they have specific machine builders they are loyal to.
The “which cable is broken and cutting out” guessing game. Clip cords and pedal cables get worn out easily, and that results in your machine running really jerky.
Walk-in always show up 10 minutes before closing.
We often look quite silly at work. Sleeves rolled up, folks use all sorts of plastic ppe, headlamps, and we tie up our hair. Add couple of purple smears from carbon paper, and we aren’t scary at all.
#writing guide#writing tips#writing advice#writer's guide#writeblr#writing community#writing#writing help#submission
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