#people say AI can't draw great hands
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This is the first drawing I did in 2023
IT'S SO CUTE I CANT
#but#WTF happened with randal's hand#people say AI can't draw great hands#they're right#<- AIkin#ranfren#should i redraw it#idk
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Safe Haven (Post-movie comfort)
A couple paragraphs of hurt-comfort for each turtle post-movie
CW: a sprinkle of angst, rottmnt movie spoilers
Raph:
Raph didn't think he deserved affection after he broke free from the kraang. He remembers very little of being controlled, but that might be a good thing. He doesn't want to remember the faces of people he's hurt or the horrified looks his family must've had upon seeing him.
All the while, guilt weighed on his shoulders. It whispered in his ears, 'It should've been you.' No matter how much Raph wanted Leo to step up and be a hero, he could never have predicted the pain it entailed. This guilt consumed him to the point he would freeze up when spoken to.
This doesn't happen in your presence. A single touch silences his thoughts. Your thumb tentatively rubs over the scars around his blinded eye. It's like you're giving him sight. His head goes to your lap, face buried into your stomach. Neither of you says anything. You just play with the tails of his mask and hum to him. He couldn't want anything more than that.
Mikey:
Mikey never regretted saving his brother from a life of misery. However, his hands were never the same. His green skin cracked and leaked an orange glow whenever tapping into his mystic powers. Although it was a beautiful sight, this created problems.
It was harder to draw now. His hands were so shaky that a straight line turned squiggly the moment his pencil hit the paper. It was almost as if he forgot how to create. To Mikey, his life as an artist has come to an end. Any piece he created looked horrible in his eyes, but not in yours.
You either said, 'It's beautiful,' or 'Your hands are getting better.' Both phrases were interchangeable. They were also enough to make Mikey's heart melt. He's done for if you take his hands in yours, (bonus points if you kiss them repeatedly.) It's as if Mikey's hands are still from your touch. Mikey likes to call it, 'the power of love.' He can't help but cling to you now.
Donnie:
Donnie was never the biggest fan of touch or emotion. However, merging with a spaceship and being forcefully pulled out might have done something to his brain. The sliminess of it all unnerved him on a whole other level compared to his normal distaste for certain textures. He would get by with it, however. He had plenty of weighted blankets set aside when he goes into sensory overload.
It's the emotions that Donnie has a hard time dealing with. He didn't like the idea of losing his family for even a second. It was already bad with SHELDON, an ai that he considered as his own child. Leo, his own twin, trapping himself in the prison dimension made things worse for him.
Your very presence tells him that everything is going to be okay. You just sit next to him and let him pick himself up without saying a word or trying to touch him. You'd sit there and listen to him vent without a hint of resentment. It didn't make his problems go away completely, but damn does it make a great illusion.
Leo:
The prison dimension was cold. If anything, Leo thought it would start snowing as the kraang leader beat him senselessly. And yet, a voice in the back of his said told him it was his fault. He wanted to sacrifice himself, why was he so traumatized by it all, then?
He didn't tell anyone this, only looking onward and putting the invasion behind him. That was a lot harder since Leo is the leader. He gained the responsibility Raph once hand. He understood why it put him under so much pressure, even before the invasion. In the night, Leo was plagued by nightmares and overwhelmed by the cold.
On nights like those, he would come to you, portaling into your room. You didn't mind, letting him crawl into your bed. Leo's head buried into your chest, relishing in your warmth. It was like a flame he desperately didn't want to go out. He didn't worry about the prison dimension or the order of his family's deaths. You were next to him, in his arms, and safe.
#rottmnt#rottmnt x reader#rise leo#tmnt#tmnt x reader#rise raph#rise donnie#rise mikey#leo x reader#mikey x reader#donnie x reader#raph x reader#angst#hurt/comfort
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You have been one of the most unapologetically yourself artists Ive come across and I dont mean that in the cliche way I mean like... your idiosyncrasies seem particularly unstifled. Your art is purely yourself and the mainstream isnt gonna go for it but the audience you do speak to gets to feel like an alien finding someone else from their homeland. AI image gen feels like a beautiful cake with flowery frosting and when you cut into it its actually frosting all the way down and has nothing of substance. I obviously can speak only in metaphors lol so I just wanted to say I appreciate reading your thoughts on AI and tho I feel strongly abt it I have a hard time putting exacting words to what about it is so worrying to me. As an artist it energizes me when I see artists who are wildly unique and expressing themselves without a care to their skill limitations or personal strangenesses (read: mainstream unmarketability). Manga artist ONE and his charming and funky style is a great example. Anyway I love your thoughts and wanted to say thanks and also throw words at you
FUCKIGN DAMN DUDE, ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME CRY? Why is the weather getting misty on my face specifically. Thank you. My most contentious trait is that I keep forgetting to care what people want from me.
It's really interesting following people who are very honest but more mathy than me, because the way they talk about art and AI lately has gotten... increasingly callous. Even bitter. It's partly justified, because artists tend to suck at defending themselves charismatically. ("AI art isn't real art"; the "AI can't do hands" thing was always destined to age badly) But also, I can't stand the sheer selfishness of people who claim to be rational but don't seem know how to investigate what art at its best is for and why they view it the way they do. When I read "AI is great for hobbyists" I'm like. 95% of the time, I'M A HOBBYIST... I would never generate a script, or music... javascript maybe, but I'd feel guilty about it... but the excitement? I think some guys are just looking to suckle on a feeding tube. Cos they were done a disservice by thinking they had to stop visual art after fingerpainting!
I don't think AI NEVER has substance, but the type of person who gets excited about AI doesn't tend to do interesting things with it. And what really bothers me is that I can never tell exactly WHAT they did, versus how much was a coin flip. This is useless for understanding your voice as an artist. I don't care to see more by you.
ONE is a perfect example. His style MAKES that story. The manga and the anime feel so different. That's why I hate when people say that hating AI is discriminating against people who can't draw, cos like... if you can't make something intentional and real without using what's functionally a search engine, why would I believe you're having ideas worth the cliche conceptartdotcom overrendered AI polish at all? Not to be a dick, but like. In terms of rate of return on my attention investment, so far I'd do better by sitting at a craps table.
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Ais headcanons pt 2 ! (Touchstarved)
GN reader - no warnings | Ais, my beloved. My brain won't stop thinking about him, there's so much to say omg ! I need to draw him this is serious :')
+ Not really a headcanon but when I first saw Ais in the trailer I thought he would be a kinda pirate character :') don't make fun of me lmaouiadubgziu !! I really imagined our first encounter with him on the coast of the city/harbor and that his story would be based on pirate tales and marine legends. I'm still sticking to my idea that it would be fucking awesome to have Ais as a captain or something, traveling the seas and oceans with him and his crew. (let me dream) PIRATE AIS AU WHEN ????!!? (Helloooo sailor !!)
• Has really pretty hands for someone who fights so much ! Likes to be presentable in front of you.
• He's a simp in his own ways. Someone making a remark about how good looking you are, he's gonna brag "Damn right they are ! Look at them."
• If you're mixed or have unusual features for your ethnicity, he would try to guess your origins (and he's strangely good at it ?). And if you have a weird/rare mix it's even more fun to see him struggle a bit.
• Likes to share foods ! Please feed him, he loves it. He'll just watch your dish with insistance until you ask him "You want some ?" and lean opening his mouth. He'll gently make you taste his meal in return. You're his little sparrow after all, so of course he's gonna let you peck in his plate.
• If your gaze meets his, he'll wink casually. It's his way to say "Hi babe."
• Completely forgot to ad this in my last hc post but !! If you use ASL, he will learn just so he can talk with you. Teach him everything you know, he's a good student >:) And if you happen to know how to read lips, this man would be thrilled to learn how to do it ! I just know he'd love to spy on people's conversation and gossip with you hehehe
• When you guys go on a walk and see sparrows he's always saying stuff like "Look, your friends' saying hi !" "This one looks just like you, cute." or "Wonder who's the real little sparrow… Sure you're not an impostor hm ?"
• When he doesn't smoke, he smells like a mix of cloves, iodine, humid air & metal (you know what i mean ?)
• Ties up his hair in a little ponytail sometimes and it's the cutest thing ever !!!
• If you're sensitive to the smell of cigarette (I personally despise that shit), he'd be careful not to smoke near you or puff in your direction. Passive smoking is not an option ! When you tell him it's fine, he responds "I don't want to screw up your healthy lil lungs !"
↑ However if you take cigs too, he'll gladly share a smoke with you. Really likes to have a calm talk with you while you guys enjoy your stuff. (+ shotgun kiss grrr)
• If you trip on your feet or something while walking, no need to feel ashamed. He would simply do the same on purpose to reassure you and act like it's something casual. "Can't watch my feet either apparently :)" You can be clumsy around him, do not worry !
• We know he doesn't like easy fights and he's kinda into brats so… give him challenges. Dumb ones, hard ones whatever you want ! He needs adrenaline and what's better than a little dare. "Bet you can't climb that tree in less than twenty seconds !" "Oh yeah ? Don't be presumptuous, I'll show you." and there he goes, perching himself on a big branch.
• Related to that... You're a snarky little shit ? Good. He likes it. Be cocky with him, that's what he needs. Of course he loves your soft side but no bickering nor teasing would be boring. This man needs a challenge.
• Loves going on walks with you and his babies (soulless). He'd show you around, make you visit nice places you've never been to and you get to play with Princess + the rest of the pack ! Sometimes his destinations are a little perilous but it's worth the risk. Two whole hours walking in the mist to watch the sunset ? Okay let's go, handsome !
• You're a trans person ? Great. He is too. Now go makeout like the T4T couple you are. (My Ais is trans and I won't come back on this statement 🏃🏽♂️💨)
• Always rests his hand on your hip. Number one resting place, comfortable & perfect shape for it. Sometimes the touch feels almost ghosting against you, you wonder if you're imagining things. Please, do the same for him. His waist is literally snatched with that pretty belt of his, perfect place to put your hands on ! He would really appreciate.
• He's good with makeup. Let him put you some red eyeliner so you guys can match ;) Just imagine him holding your face gently while he's concentrated on making a cool pattern with the liner. "Don't move." "I'm trying sorry !" "Am I that distracting to you ?". He won't mind if you try some on him. Dark lipstick omg, he'll rock that shit !
#touchstarved game#ais#touchstarved ais#touchstarved#ais x reader#gn reader#ais touchstarved#headcanons#touchstarved headcanons#touchstarved demo#red spring studios#so obsessed with this guy it's insane !#okay but guys imagine trans pirate Ais i-#promise i'll write about the other guys don't worry#my hcs
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Ah, this is one hell of a mixed bag.
Here's the thing, I like the manga this is based on. I like it quite a bit, actually, but I also like it with MANY caveats, the biggest of which is that it is a pretty shameless ecchi thing on top of being a horror-mystery series in that "Japanese urban legends all connected by an overarching metaplot" genre. (If you think of it as "Otherside Picnic but straight and with way more titties" you're not entirely off the mark.) I won't pretend I'm immune to this kind of material, and one of the reasons I started reading the source at all is that the main character, Sumireko, is absolutely gorgeous in her normal form (we'll circle back to that specificity in a second), but a lot of these scenes, translated to the anime, just don't do anything for me. Not to mention, I think a lot of people who might be interested in the mystery half of the premise are going to be put off by the ecchi material. Not that the series has any obligation to capitulate to those people, but it is at least worth thinking about.
I think the smart thing to do might've been to minimize this stuff, but they were never going to do that, so going in the other direction and getting a team who could really amp up the raunchiness would've been an approach that at least engages with the source material, too. (If nothing else, no one can ever claim that original mangaka Nujima is not very much horny for Sumireko.) Unfortunately, and to be probably too blunt, the team from Zero-G working on this just aren't capable of making normal Sumireko as hot as Nujima draws her in the manga. Sorry, but it's true! A lot of the egregious shots in here don't really do anything except remind me of the "everyone is so mean to me :(" meme.
And as for her *other* form, her childhood self which she reverts to by reading a magic poem, well, I'm not into that kind of thing. Is the show into that kind of thing? Honestly, in the manga it was an unequivocal "yeah I'd say so," but here I'm not entirely sure? There's definitely some camera angles in here that I did Not Enjoy, and I can't imagine putting that in a series where that's not at least part of the intent. On the other hand, Sumireko's actual transformation is evidently painful and by the episode she's bleeding out of her eyes, which seems to indicate to me like we are perhaps meant to find this gross and offputting. This was an equally strange thing, in terms of tone and presentation, in the manga, so I can't really blame the anime itself here, but it's pretty unpleasant all around and I'm not a fan. Also there's a ton of crude humor directed at Sumireko by our other protagonist, Ren. This is another thing that eventually becomes more tolerable, but I forgot how much of a snot he was in the first couple chapters and he just comes off really badly here for all sorts of reasons. Cool eyes, though. I'm glad those survived the transition to the anime.
As for the actual horror / mystery / urban legend / whatever elements, those survive more or less intact and I think are what works best here. The nighttime city shots are suitably liminal and creepy, and as weird as the execution is, we do get a good sense of the kind of person Sumireko is from her abuse of the poem book's age regression spell in order to feel like a child prodigy again. Also, Ai Fairouz absolutely kills it as Sumireko, but she's a great actress in general, so of course she would.
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Second drabble incoming for the "Trio are AI" AU, been a while but I'm still overthinking this AU in particular. I have the background written up it's just I need to not overthink the slice-of-life moments haha
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"What's your name?" Jeremie fingers hovered uneasily over the keyboard, his eyes still adjusting to the darker lighting in the lab.
Neon orange eyes narrowed in thought, "...PNX-458."
"Bzzt. Wrong answer!" His fingers glided over the keyboard, the light churning in his gut fading at those words. They're still not ready yet, eh, "Let's try this again tomorrow."
His gaze was quickly ripped from the monitor by a white tail covered patches of purple-brown fur wiggling around, "C'mon Jeremie, you didn't even ask the rest of us!"
Jeremie turned the chair away from the screen. He probably wasn't going to make anymore progress on the materialization program today anyway. These AI seem way too determined to get out in the public.
It was a very bad idea. They're too limited in their thinking to interact properly with other humans. It was better for them to stay close to the supercomputer, ready to deal with the latest scheme that XANA conjured up. And yet...
"Fine," He humored the calico cat-boy. Slit purple and gold eyes light up once Jeremie's gaze focused on him. Heck, the cat ears perked up along with it, whiskers twitching along in the midst of pink tribunal markings, "Alright PNX-621, what's your name?"
"Mmm," A claw lightly taps their chin, then the boy smiles which allows Jeremie to fully view the sharpened canines trying their best to blend in with the human-like teeth, "Odd!"
Jeremie put his hands on his lap, "Odd's not really a real name..."
Fluffy white paws crossed together to form an 'x', "Wrong! Oddr is a name in Old Norse!"
"You didn't say Oddr though?"
"Nicknames, my dear Jeremie!" The AI chattered excitedly, "Humans tend to use those all the time with people they know well. They also use it as means to shorten their own name. So 'Odd' is perfectly fine!"
This likely wasn't an argument that Jeremie was going to win. At this point he knew how much give and take it was to deal with these three. He sighed aloud, adjusting his glasses a bit, "Well... alright. You still have to come up with a surname though, Odd."
The boy's tail swished behind him, "Don't worry, I'll figure it out in no time."
"Now as for you, PNX-379..." Soft pink eyes lazily glanced over, her hands gently twisting a flower back and forth, "Do you want to give it a try?"
"Akizakura Yumi," She muttered tiredly, "The first name is Japanese for beauty. The surname is a homage to the cosmos flowers that bloom in the fall."
He can't really argue with this one, huh, "That's really good Yumi," Jeremie complimented, "You just have to flip it around here. The surname goes last in France rather than going first."
Her long red-black sleeves decorated in small sakura petals slips down as she placed the thin pink flower in her hair. With only one flower in her hair, it seemed to trigger more cosmos flowers to grow by the first one. It reminded Jeremie of a flower crown, just more haphazardly put together.
"Let me try again," The third AI chimed in, raising a metallic hand up to draw Jeremie's attention.
Well, it wouldn't hurt to give him another go. This has been great progress considering it took them a while to step away from their PNX assigned numbers, "Alright PNX-458, give it a go."
The boy tapped lightly at the pointed metallic pieces fixed on top of his ears, each tap flickering a red scanner in front of his eyes, "...Ulrich," Those orange eyes gazed away, a small white-blue flush creeping on his cheeks, "I looked at a ton of German names and that's the one that stuck with me. It means 'chief'."
"Well, with your warrior avatar I think it makes sense," Jeremie reassured, "You and Odd just have to think about your surnames and then you'll be good to go in the naming department."
"And then can we go to human school with you?!" Odd blurted, his claws digging into the supercomputer's chair.
Jeremie was quick to shake his head, "Certainly not! You three still have to get a hold of shifting your appearances. You can't just walking around looking like a cat-boy, or a samurai-knight warrior, or a ninja performer!"
Odd sticks his nose in the air, letting Jeremie get a first hand look as the shudder of code covered his entire head. The sound of static crackled in the air, at first twisting the pointed blond hair into a soft brown with a hard to see purple splotch. Then it swept away the heterochromia purple-gold eyes for a light amber, alongside tucking away the white-purple cat ears for human-like ones.
"See Jeremie, perfectly fine!" The boy flashed a grin, the large canines still standing proudly alongside the human teeth.
Jeremie raised an eyebrow, completely unimpressed, "Your fangs and markings are still there, Odd. You at least tucked away your whiskers this time so... progress!" He offered a thumbs up.
Ulrich snorted as the other brunet whines, the code shuddering away to give him back his original avatar appearance, "I don't think we can tuck away everything on the first go, Jeremie."
"If you want to blend in and try your hand at a human life, it'll take time to make something 'normal'," Jeremie reiterated once again, "I'm not going to keep you from trying your hand at school. You guys just need to look... average enough." He finished lamely.
Orange and purple-gold eyes continue staring at him. Thankfully, Yumi chimed in and dragged their gazes away, "I don't understand how you two struggle with tucking away everything." She tucked away a strand of black hair behind her ear.
Her kimono had vanished, instead replaced by a thick grey sweater with a spiral of roses at the bottom. Her jeans were pitch black, alongside some grey-navy sneakers. Rosy pink eyes had been tucked away for a stormy grey, while her palish face had more color to it now.
"We're not able to blend in like you, PN- err, Yumi," Ulrich grumbled, "It wasn't in our code to do that. I'm a fighter, your a spy, and PN- um, er, Odd's a uh..."
"Calculator," The calico added in without a second thought.
"Right," Ulrich then gestured to his head, "Your also not out of the clear either, Ms. Ninja."
Her eyebrow raised, "What do you mean?"
A small smile grew on the warrior's face, "Your hair pins are changing color."
That one jab alone completely shutters the illusion, Yumi rolling her pink eyes again as her sandals lightly tap the ground, "I'm going to the scanners. You boys can have fun without me."
Jeremie huffed as the male AIs snicker conspiratorially, the creaks and groans of the elevator echoing around the lab, "You know she's just gonna take it out on you two on Lyoko, right?"
Odd's paw waved back and forth in the air, his tail mimicking along, "It'll be fine, Jeremie. Besides, Aelita has not mentioned XANA attacking yet."
"I mean, it was pretty fun learning about how to blend in as humans with you four," Aelita's voice rang from the supercomputer, quickly dragging the boy's gazes to the pixie and her bright green eyes, "I hope the next lesson is as fun as this one."
Jeremie groaned, burying his face in his hands. Why did he even agree to this...
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Okay so originally the second drabble was going to be a Jim & Delmas focus continuing along where we left off from the first drabble feat. Sissi, Herve, and Nicholas (where you can read here fwiw if this one caught interest enough haha)
The reason it shifted to this was more so because I had Ideas and then this one wouldn't let me go. So here it is lmao
Also down to answer questions and such in the ask box (not just for this AU but the other ones I've mentioned)!
Thank you all for reading and for the support everyone o7
#code lyoko#code lyoko au#odd della robbia#ulrich stern#yumi ishiyama#jeremie belpois#should i really tag aelita if she only made an appearance at the end???#drabble moment#A Bizarre Guide to Living A Human Life AU#trio are ai au#abgtlahl au
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Also, I want to be clear - part of the reason I am so vehement about the value of AI as assistive tech is...because I use it as such.
Not for any content I post to this blog, not yet anyway. As of now, all my writing and visual art is 100% manually done. But...my arms and wrists are getting worse. When I was on my great worm drawing spree earlier this year, I ended up with my wrist at a solid 8 on the pain scale for weeks and discovered I no longer only have carpal tunnel issues, but cubital tunnel as well. This is only likely to get worse because I am, uh, according to my physical therapist, shockingly hypermobile, and nothing makes nerve entrapment issues worse like bones that refuse to stay in place. Several of the exercises commonly recommended for this only make it worse. Furthermore, I do already use LLMs in my personal life to translate my thoughts into more understandable full sentences when I'm really burned out and Language Is Hard and if I keep getting misunderstood I'm gonna have a meltdown. It's great for that, because if I have to try multiple times with a chatbot, it's way less frustrating and upsetting because it doesn't go on the defensive if I don't get it right the first time and imply something that sounds way worse than I mean!
I'm using everything I can to slow my joint problems down because shit, man, there's a LOT of stuff I love that involves intense work with my hands and arms and wrists, but even so...I may not be able to draw or write manually forever. I already can't use a keyboard and mouse for PC gaming anymore, even with braces; it's controller or bust if I want to play anything for more than 5 minutes.
If I can't draw manually anymore by the time I'm 60...I dare you to look me in the eyes and tell me "okay, well, I guess you just don't deserve visual expression anymore, pay me for it instead." I fucking dare you to.
I already play around with AI on a "how can I use this 'wrong' in a creative and strictly non-competitive way without paying an exploitative corporation?" basis sometimes, but one of my dreams with it is to eventually train my own personal model from a post-privacy law base (i.e., one that is constructed solely of data derived from public domain, licensed, and volunteered works) or, failing that, one based on the current Common Crawl protocol (i.e., respecting robots.txt instructions) after more sites have updated their headers, with my own hand-drawn works, so I can continue to use my own style(s) even if I reach a point where I physically can't do the fine movements with my fingers anymore and end up screaming in pain after holding a pen for 5 minutes. I want to do similar with a locally hosted LLM for writing, if my brain fog gets worse.
And hey, speaking from experience, that's still gonna involve a lot of Work and Effort...not that the value of what I have to say should be based on that in the first place.
If you take issue with this Because Capitalism...then we're on the same page. Fight capitalism, not me and people like me.
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5 (yukari) + 12 (kaveh) + 23 (ayumu) + 30 + 46 (zizel) !!
(5) — a memory with family / those you considered family
YUKARI ; i guess this is for S.E.E.S. my feelings for them were very mixed for a while, only because i didn't really want to be in that situation and just made it an excuse to escape other problems. there was a time though that i felt like, huh, i could really treat these people as my family, and i did just that. because the fact is we were all losers and outcasts in some way, and in a twisted sense i felt as if i had found my people. sure, some of them were pretty hard to deal with, but it's times better than what i had and... hey what do you know, saving the world is a family activity! i'm glad i walked the path i did with all those guys.
(12) — a memory of home
heavy warning // KAVEH ; wow ok see, i. also had extremely mixed feelings about my home. i mean, i think i had a pretty good life there, for what it was worth. my parents loved me, and i loved them too. when dad died and mom spiraled, i was only 10. i still had my drawings of us on the walls, but i tore them down for mom's sake. she left when i was 12 because she saw her husband in me and couldn't bear it, i dyed my hair but nothing worked, so i let her go. i could deal with my own grief, but i can't bear to see her like that. the house felt so empty every time i came back to it, and, well, what's a home without the people in it? some might judge me for selling it for quick money but 'home' has always been a fond memory, not a building. if i could, i'd want mom and dad in the family room with me again, but it's a distant image at this point haha. besides, i found a new home with my person, so it's not all that bad.
(23) — first memory you can recall
AYUMU ; volunteering at the animal shelter with yuu-chan! there was this cute pair of rabbits that looked so cute but were so fierce, they nearly bit my hand off rbbdkfd... it's that orr seeing myself on tv for the first time, maybe. it's just such a surreal experience seeing yourself being aired to everyone across the country like is this real life?? i always struggled with confidence so i also saw it as a significant startup in my path as an idol! nothing would hold me back anymore !!!
(30) — someone you didn't expect to kin and/or someone you knew you would kin immediately
someone i knew i would kin immediately is kokomi. i keep saying this but i am literally the first kokomi kinner i mean it. dating all the way back to late 2020 when we knew her as mimi. therefore i am gatekeeping this identity no one else can be kokomi. jokes but not jokes ^_^ and also march 7th to a lesser degree, i knew about her only a bit before i jumped straight into hsr and went “yep, yeah, uhuh” asdhjkhd.
someone i didn't expect to kin is like... ai hoshino, i eyed her for a while but didn't really see it even though i did have that “overconfident idol who's not as confident as she acts” type streak bc of rise until i found out how she struggles with love which is like. oh! (plus it's not a great source but i don't take pride in it anyway.) mmmaybe kaveh too, since i wasn't going to kin anyone in sumeru but Things Happened. highkey hate how he's a really common kin bc apparently “gnc suffering artist who struggles with self-worth, family, and belonging finds a home in another person and maybe himself too” resonated with a lot of people and i mean. ok. im fine with this (im not)
(46) — your favorite things
ZIZEL ; floral tea, ribbons, dresses, lolita fashion, satin and silk, flowers, shiny trinkets like gems but also jewelry, most things feminine, i also like “rich” things if that's any definition, but not money because it's of no use for me. and claire :)
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I cannot express this clearly enough so let me say it as best I can...
The reason I don't go off about "AI is bad AI is scary!" is not because I condone the use of AI to steal people's art, writing, voice, or likeness; because I don't condone that at all. The reason you don't hear me go off about "AI is bad AI is scary!" is because AI isn't actually the problem here... The people who use AI for these things are the problem and I refuse to let them get away with their horrible shitty behavior by letting them scapegoat lines of code that we've literally had for decades but haven't been usable for the common individual due to a lack of understanding, an understanding that the common individual STILL lacks.
If you actually care to know my thoughts past that summary I got you fam. All that I ask of you is that you have the reading comprehension level to understand that I do not condone theft in any form, outside of shoplifting necessities from specifically large chains (do not steal from mom and pop shops or small chains like mall stores it impacts the workers on the lowest rungs of the ladder.)
I literally expressed to a good friend of mine not too long ago that I had used an AI to generate a reference image since I'm trying to get better at art. Without so much as any understanding of my process he began to shame me for it, which made it very hard to explain to him that I had actually trained the model in it's entirety myself; on my own art so that it would produce reference images closer to how I actually draw already and thus make it easier for me to understand how the drawing would look in my style. He then went off about how even if that were true, it wouldn't know what common things are, like how it knows what an owl looks like; to which I had to explain to him that stock photos exist and how I have literally done photography as a hobby for years so most of the images were literally my own photography (most of my family are artists whether that be photography, writing, music, or painting and I grew up in this environment) the only images used to train the AI that weren't literally created by my hand were legally owned stock photos that I used to help round it out a little since obviously I don't have great photos of everything ever that I might want to try my hand at drawing. This explanation literally took me hours, and the actual explanation would have taken me about 5 minutes but we couldn't get past "AI bad AI scary!" to get to "actually you can ethically train an AI to use art, photography, and images of your own creation and not have to steal anything from anyone; ever. All of the images, and art that are used by my AI are used with permission of their original creator, because I am that creator." The AI doesn't even run on the internet or connect to the internet, so it's not like it could pull results from some secret third party or website or something. It's just a huge help as someone who suffers from ADHD, I can't very easily keep an image in my mind and remember the finer details as I draw, and I am not a skilled enough artist yet to know how things should look in relation to other things just yet. However despite all of this I still have had a lot of people get upset with me simply for even USING an AI in the first place.
It's honestly as if people forget what "AI" really even is, it's code. That's it; that's the end all be all of it. Every video game under the sun that you love uses code, and I'm willing to bet good money it uses AI, it's own AI; because a lot of shit has for a long, LONG time. We're only seeing a problem with it now because it's finally being made open source, brought to the masses; and in those masses there will always be people who use it for the wrong reasons. I've been told that my thoughts on AI sound like some 2nd amendment right winger talking about guns and gun laws, which is honestly just annoying because I cannot in my right mind think of an ethical use case for a gun. The best case scenario with a gun is that it's a waste of money you never have to use. However when you break down what AI really is, it's just a bunch of code that can use the knowledge given to it (by a human being) to discern patterns and calculate what mathematically should happen next based on the parameters and then do that thing. There are so many use cases for that, everything from simply trying to calculate a minecraft seed to stuff as complex as surgery (although I would probably still feel more comfortable with human surgery lol)
The only difference between AI and say a basic start up sequence for a computer is that a sequence like that is pre-written by the programmer, it's a line of commands the computer will just follow; while AI has a line of commands that tells it to basically write it's own code and execute it based on the commands that give it "knowledge" of how to do everything. There's no "thinking" there's no "consciousness" it's all calculation and mathematics; which some may equate to consciousness and thinking; but like at that point I think you're just getting into the weeds about it.
What I'm trying to say with all of this is simple though, the tl;dr is this:
That age old saying of "a computer should never be put in a position of power because a computer cannot be held accountable for it's actions" is how I feel about AI, people want to point the finger at AI saying that it stole someone's art or voice or something; and no it didn't AI didn't do that A PERSON DID, BLAME THE PERSON; DO NOT LET THE INDIVIDUAL GET AWAY WITH USING A TOOL TO MAKE THEIR THEFT EASIER, THE PERSON IS STILL THE ONE AT FAULT.
Ai has no conscious thought, it cannot do anything it is not explicitly told to. If I go out and use an AI to generate art or to steal someone's style, that's on ME not the AI; the AI is just a tool, I could have just as easily gone about it some other way. I view AI as a sort of accessibility tool, it makes a lot of lives easier it can make everything from hobbies to jobs easier WITH PROPER USE, but the lazy idiotic assholes who don't bother with proper use and wish to abuse it should be the ones being held accountable. If a studio uses an AI to steal someone's voice and likeness then blame the studio for misuse of their tools!
If I run over 20 people with my car, the car is not at fault; I am. Rightfully so! If I generate 20 images that uses art from various photographers or drawings from artists without their permission or knowledge well, I guess the AI did it; can't blame me right? When people aren't held accountable, they'll just go do it again.
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Hello! I just wanted to say that I really appreciate your input on my CiFlower post and civility in handling this matter. However, I'd like to point out that this isn't the first time this artist has used AI art in an otherwise professional work.
For the piece on the left, look at the man in blue's hands, the man in red's chest under his coat, the layering of certain parts of the woman in white's outfit, etc.
For the piece on the right... well, you can look at almost anything in the image and it'll begin to look off, but a special shout-out goes out to this girl right here.
Besides, I wouldn't say CEViO would be above asking an artist to use AI for official art. Several CEViO products support NFTs (KZN, Kafu, Sekai, the Tohoku family, R/ME, etc.), so it's clear that CEViO does not support actual artists.
I'm not saying you've done anything wrong by disagreeing with me! Again, I appreciate your input, but I this is really important to me and I'd like to share. Thank you for your time!
Alright, once again no hate towards you I bet you're pretty young and not an artist so I can't fault you for thinking this way and can fully ignore this this post is more for my own benefit than yours it's a subject I've wanted to talk about for a while.
Unfortunately your examples aren't really that great if you want to convince me that they do AI art... if these hands are bad I don't even want to imagine what you'd say about mine...
Actually no I'll show you some bad hands I've drawn right now
(these are all from the same piece and it's unfinished but I have drawn these and I can prove it in many ways)
There's nothing wrong with not being able to draw hands, and there's nothing wrong with making mistakes it's human, it's natural. I've looked at all these example images and unfortunately I can't see anything that tips me off about it being AI.
This girl's face looks fine actually it's clearly just stylized and she's definitely not human so that's why she looks off
To be honest, to me this seems more like you personally didn't like the art that much and were looking for reasons to dislike it, which is fine and normal. It's ok to not like art u can just say that. Sure, it's kinda mean, but it's a lot nicer than tearing apart a picture and meticulously pointing out the flaws to "prove" it's AI. This kind of thing is dangerous it can really affect an artist, I know if this happened to me I'd probably leave the internet forever, not to mention spreading rumors that this artist uses AI can ruin future job prospects.
They could lose their current jobs, since using AI would be a breach of contract, and it can prevent them from getting jobs in the future. Not to mention that it could potentially lead to them getting sued because selling art that you don't own/didn't create is fraud. And getting stuck with the reputation of an AI artist if ur not an AI artist would probably make you completely unemployable.
On another note, ceVIO would not use AI art. It's clear and obvious that the community does not approve of AI art whatsoever and I'm not sure if you're in the same circles I am, but game studio Rayark made a statement that they were replacing their art staff with AI art, and they were eaten alive. They lost most of their community support and even after walking back the decision, a lot of people completely abandoned them and they lost a lot of money. CeVIO would not risk this. I did not know about the NFTs before and I won't defend them, but this and that are different situations entirely. I could walk you through how the ci flower art was not AI step by step but that wouldn't be very constructive and I doubt you would ultimately care.
Once again I'm not attacking you by saying all this, and I don't even expect you to read all this. Honestly, I didn't expect a response at all I was mostly talking to myself here. I don't know what backlash you've received and I'm sorry if you've gotten any hate that's not the way to talk to people you disagree with, and even if we don't agree I would never wish anything like that on you. Please stay safe and know that I have no ill will towards you, I just don't think speculating on whether something is AI or not without knowing the trademarks of AI art is a very good idea.
Also, on a side note, the ci flower art was released a while ago, before AI art was as advanced as now... honestly if she was AI she'd probably have a third arm, or something like that
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PINK KKOMAS KOHAKU OUKAWA 80
Spoiler for my stories
Blood, sewing the last thread to finish the lining for the outfit, stared at the other finish work of his which is reaper wearing a matchmaker outfit for the dead, Bee wearing Chinese ghost outfit with doll. He stared at Sea who's holding a basket of charms with "happiness" in it with Bee(?) waiting for waiting for his, which is just a suit.
Blood: you guys look great! ( ꈍᴗꈍ)
Doll: if we're sharing the same sizes. I would question why you know our sizes. But WHY DO I GET THE ROLE OF THE GHOST BRIDE?! (ʘ言ʘ╬)
Bee:... I wanted omae as my ghost bride. (●´⌓`●)
Reaper: well we draw lots and you pick your own--
Doll, held the bouquet and start to smack Reaper with it: SHUT UP!!
Sea, held doll away and put shell charm around him to not make him do violence give him candy by shoving it to his mouth like a baby:... (￣ヘ￣;)
Doll:...
Reaper: thanks sea... (●´⌓`●)
Blood who's finally finish and wear the dress and walk toward bee(?) Who look at him with disgust.
Blood, flattering his fake very long eyelashes: why are you looking at me like that hanii do you not see a pretty lady like myself before? (ㆁωㆁ)
Bee(?): Disgusting.
Blood, open fan and start to act like a noble woman with fan: when you look at the mirror with that long hair of yours. You call yourself disgusting then. After all we all share the same face... (ʘᴗʘ✿)
Bee(?):... ರ_ರ
Bee(?), Held up a gun and point at Blood if not for sea pulling him away from blood who's also drawing out his knives.
Sea quickly put them in the same shell locks and put candies to their mouth to shut them up.
Bee: woah, sea is super cool!
Sea:
Sea:... (｡・//ε//・｡) 'n-not really... '
They could hear his shy voice telepathically. Before sea hides inside the pot besides him.
Reaper, takes out candies to put over the opening of the pot, a tentacle come out and takes it. But gives back shell to reaper
Reaper: don't just hide there till the end of practice ok? We still need to do our part. You just have to throw those charm.
Sea shakes the pot as a yes before reaper went besides the three tied up kkomas and bee who's eating candies that given by blood who's one hand out of the binding already.
Bee: what's the title of the script again?
Reaper who read the script: ghost wedding.
Bee: oooh. Why do we play this and not the reverse au of doll? (；^ω^）I don't wanna be married to another me even in just a role play.
Reaper: doll burn the script for that and cursing someone while he does that... So we can't. (・–・;)ゞ
Bee: i see. (●´⌓`●)
Reaper: the plot is...
A girl who will be played by Doll pick up a red pocket and saw hair inside with big cash. Before long people who set the trap of red pocket come out and said
"congratulations! You have chosen to be the wife of my dead son." The father who will be Other Bee and the wife of the other Bee is Blood who will just dress pretty and stand there.
"what the fuck." Doll the now chosen ghost bride is now force to be the wife is the said dead son--who will be played by Bee. And I'm the matchmaker of the dead. With my assistant Sea who will throw charms and conduct the wedding.
Alas there's a plot twist...
Bee: ehh. There's a plot twist?? (^～^;)ゞ
Reaper, flip the page:
Turn out The ghost groom become a Chinese zombie which is like a vampire but you only jump to walk. And come out from he grave to take your living wife to the grave with you when you realize you been put a Green hat by her when she decided to marry another person.
Bee: ehh. But don't we lack a person for the supposed to be second husband of doll. Who is he going to be then. (・_・;)
Reaper point at you, who's carrying mofumofu: the husband.
Bee: the little guy?
Reaper, sweat drop and taking a few steps away from bee: no, it be played by your spouse and Mofumofu is their baby--
Bee:... ◉‿◉
Bee(?) Who snap the charms and glare at the script: what did you say. (✿^‿^)
Reaper: hey now! It's decide by draw lots!! I don't decided this!!! ヘ（。□°）ヘ
MC: aiyo, I have two babies... Well three actually but ok then. ( ꈍᴗꈍ) I'll be husband of Doll. I will take him away from hanii. (*´ω｀*) Through I'm not confident in such things. I shall do my best for my role! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ I will make Tarunii-san proud of my acting!
Bee, hugs your right leg: omae!!!!! Why would you go marry someone elseeeee ahhhh. Doll and I have the same face... Don't leaveeee meeee huhuhu :ﾟ(;´∩`;)ﾟ:｡
Bee(?) Hugs your left legs and slap bee face along with it: DONT MARRY THAT GUY! I DONT ALLOW IT! I DONT EVEN ALLOW THIS FAKE OR THAT RAT TO DO SUCH THING!!! I REFUSEEEEEE AHHHHHHHHHHHH(ʘ言ʘ╬)
MC, who's already devoted to the charai: but I most! Not hanii! (●´⌓`●) It is My lottery draw lot fate!!!
Bee/bee(?): Fuck that fake shit again!!!! (ʘ言ʘ╬)
.
.
Doll, your supposed to be soon to be wife by role play: (c" ತ,_ತ)..
Blood: what a drama not even the play began yet. ♡(ӦｖӦ｡)
Doll: ... (￣ヘ￣;)hmmp. I don't even like my role.
Blood: we can exchange if you want. (◕ᴗ◕✿)
Doll: what ... What .. (・_・;)
Blood: we can exchange roles if you want. I am fine with your role.
Doll:... No. You sound suspicious. I don't want too. I rather not test what's up with your derange mind for saying such odd thing like your up with no good things.
Blood: how sad.(´ε｀ ) oh well, if still stand either way.
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Hey, the images you post seem like they are very obviously ai generated images (the weird hands, extra limbs, "blurred" swirl look of the images) and I am wondering why you are claiming that they are not ai images. If they aren't, could you post your process? I would love to see how you get that look in your art if you are actually drawing them. But if they are ai generated... why lie? It feels weird to claim that they aren't if they are. Why not just tag them as ai images?
They are NOT ai generated, and if I have to say this one more time and thanks for calling me a liar, BTW, it feels great. There's a difference between ai generated photos and what I do. I use a photo editing app, and a lot of times, I am using photoshop like tools to do it. I don't actually use the Photoshop app. I can't draw for shit but I can edit photos. I never ever claimed that I drew them. This is for anyone who is also curious because people keep asking me, and it didn't bother me before, but now people are getting rude about it. So stop asking me about it, please.
#stranger things#steddie#steddie fanart#digital art#stranger things fanart#rueleigh's art#eddie munson#joseph quinn#stranger things s4#eddie stranger things#steve harrington#steve x eddie#steve harrington x eddie munson
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‘How Do You Live’
The 96th Academy Awards saw Hayao Miyazaki's new film "What Kind of Life Do You Want to Live?" win the award for Best Animated Feature Film. This is the second time Miyazaki has won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, after winning in 2003 for A Thousand and One. I'm honestly looking forward to it, so I thought I'd share the news. Although everyone probably already knows about it. hh
Launched in 2017, the film is based on the 1937 novel of the same name by Genzaburo Yoshino. The book tells the story of a 15-year-old boy, "Copernicus Jr.", inspired and guided by his uncle, a university graduate, explores topics such as friendship, wealth, poverty, discrimination, bullying, people and society, and courage, to clarify "the value of what makes us human".
Still hand-painted, this production of What Kind of Life Do You Want to Live is Ghibli's largest production to date, with 60 painters working simultaneously.
I would like to share an artist who has held the position of background artist in many of Ghibli's works, Kazuo Oka, who is known to be the royal scene painter of Hayao Miyazaki's old grandpa. Since the film hasn't been released yet, I can't find any proof that he was involved in the production of the film What Kind of Life Do You Want to Live? It's said that you can only come up with one minute of film a month so this film is really precious.
Especially in the stage of rapid development of AI drawing now, the existence of old grandpa Hayao Miyazaki and his works seems to be a constant wake-up call for me not to forget the most basic and primitive way of expression. About male deer, Kazuo is a painter I have always liked very much and participated in "Totoro", "magical girl otaku rush", "the fairy tale of the Years", "a thousand and a Thousand Searches" and so on background paintings. Hayao Miyazaki once commented, "His work looks careful and serious, but when you look close, it's rough. He uses only one light stroke, and I think that's what makes his work so marvellous."
There is a Chinese saying that means that when you see a person's writing, you can learn about that person's character or can imagine their temperament. I think this saying is also very suitable to apply to paintings. hh
I guess the male deer and male must be a very quiet person, carefully observing the subtle changes around here. Perhaps he had very few words, perhaps he loved to laugh. It is as if there is a soul in each of his paintings they are either clear or silent. The paintings are all landscapes, just landscapes without a single distraction. So a pure idea is so clean. I can't find beautiful and touching words to describe his works. It's like taking a sip of sweet tea.
He has a unique way of filtering light, even the white snowy landscape seems like a warm afternoon, and the use of warm colours is also something that fascinates me. What is his understanding of colour?
There has been a constant topic of discussion about whether AI painting can replace the original artist. Every time I think about it, after seeing his work, my answer is no way. Maybe they have similar styles and colour relationships, but the feeling of handwork and painting is not there. A sensible design, a sense of realism in the conception, the colours about your mood. These are things that a machine doesn't have, and a machine is like a baby that needs to be fed and nourished by you. So don't worry too much. Use AI as a tool to increase our productivity, in more intensive hand drawing practice. Produce great work.
References：
(Longport App). [Online] Available at: https://longportapp.com/en/news/109912123 (Accessed: 23 March 2024).
Quality Culture. (2022年8月27日). [Video]. [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG6XzB_J3IA (Accessed: 23 March 2024).
Variety. (2022). Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki Teases His Final Film, ‘How Do You Live?’. [Online] Available at: https://variety.com/2022/film/news/studio-ghibli-hayao-miyazaki-how-do-you-live-new-film-1235459163/ (Accessed: 23 March 2024).
"The Boy and the Heron". In Wikipedia. [Online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy_and_the_Heron (Accessed: 23 March 2024).
Oscars. (2024.3.11). Best Animated Feature Film | 'The Boy and the Heron' | Oscars 2024 Press Room Speech. [Video]. [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvAe9rWaSpY (Accessed: 23 March 2024).
Wikipedia contributors. Kazuo Oga. In Wikipedia. [Online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuo_Oga (Accessed: 23 March 2024).
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Let's talk about AI "Art"
I was watching a comment section spiral into arguments about what is or isn't wrong with AI "Art" and I have thoughts. You've been warned! I'm going to address all the pro-AI argument points people were making and my thoughts.
(I'm assuming you know what AI "art" is for this)
"It's just automation, you just don't like it because of capitalism
No, even if I don't need the money from my skills, I still feel like the title of Artist and Art matters to me. This leads into the next one-
"It's a tool - if you can be an artist as a photographer, then you can call people making AI art artists."
This is a weird one and super rude to photographers - see, if you take a photo that doesn't make you a photographer. You have to develop some kind of skill here. Even if you're using a digital camera, you have to understand what you're doing, and be able to produce these good results over and over - one good photo doesn't make you a photographer. If AI image generation continues to be wonky, then I'm ready to call a person who is good at producing NON-wonky images with AI an AI Artist. But if you just say, "gimme a blue duck." and it spits out a blue duck - no. Just like I'm not going to call a person who builds flatpack furniture a Carpenter. That's rude to the craft. Let's stop calling it art.
"It's just leveling the playing field/making art accessible to all."
Art is already accessible to all- you just haven't put in as much work as me. I know plenty of differently-abled people who are artists- this isn't about that kind of access. I can't speak for them, but I'm fairly certain they aren't on your side of this either. This isn't a stylus holder for somebody who doesn't have hands.
"Leveling the Playing Field" is also disingenuous. We aren't talking about making Drawful or Pictionary with your artist friend more fair. We're talking about big companies not hiring an artist and using AI images instead, we're talking about people circumventing commissioning an artist to get AI to make images in their style. The problem isn't with your GM who has no money getting the AI to make them a quick portrait for the BBEG - This is a much deeper problem than that, and I'll cover the actual issues I have with AI generated images in a moment.
"It's just a tool - like a stylus, the undo button, or a camera."
It is - but it's also not. I've played with AI image generators and they're great for concepting, or making a quick image when I don't have time to draw it myself (for personal use, not monetization). I'm not completely against AI Art, and I don't think other artists should be either - BUT I believe our concerns over it are very valid. Let's use photography as an example because I think it does well in this instance - the big complaint artists had when photography became more widely available is that this would take their jobs, and it did. They weren't wrong. The good thing about photography is no one was trying to pass off photos as being drawn by humans and the title for humans who took the photos is Photographer - they don't get considered an artist without a level of skill in the photography.
Capitalism makes this issue suck- but if I offer you a photo-realistic painting vs. a photograph, you understand the difference in value.
AI image generation is going to take jobs away. Just like photos did. We artists will be okay so long as the same level of understanding and respect is applied like it is between a photo vs. something drawn or painted by a human.
Some Thoughts:
The problem isn't a one off image. It's not somebody playing with their own photo in an AI generator. It's not the GM making a quick portrait for an NPC, or a commissioner making a quick reference to show an artist they're paying to make them something custom. It's not the little guy that's the problem. The problem isn't even necessarily the shitty companies who are now going to use AI instead of hiring an artist - they weren't going to pay them well anyway.
The problem is that getting people to actually value what it takes to make art, to be an artist, is already a problem for a lot of us. The problem is people trying to pass off AI images as art they created. The problem is a person developing a unique art style and having that reproduced by an AI and either having these fakes passed off as their work, OR having people decide they don't want to pay. The problem is in art budgets getting cut as large companies devalue art because the machines can just do it. The problem is the terrible art that's going to get slapped on things as a result of greedy upper management not valuing a job well done.
If AI images get the same value as a photo or an Ikea chair - if the title of Artist is respected, and people still value it, then I have no problem making room in my heart/life/whatever for AI Images- but right now it doesn't. It prowls the internet looking for images to add to it's database without the consent or at least consideration of the person who made them.
This brings me to my last point-
"Human artists study each others work all the time and copy from it - that's all the AI is doing."
Only it's not. If somebody see's my work online and goes, "Oh, I like how she draws -insert aspect here-" and copies that, then I don't care. If somebody looks at my style and wants to emulate that themselves? Well, it's going to take them learning the skills to do that at least - though generally speaking, a fan learning from me is going to add their own spin to differentiate us from each other. I don't know enough about AI image generators to tell you -exactly- how they're making their images. Some study data points I'm told, but some straight up mix images together - and if a human took some of our art, mixed it together, and just presented it as their own art without acknowledging us in any way- we wouldn't like that.
Ultimately I think what I want from AI developers and the people who want to use the AI to make images is 2 things; honesty and consent.
Call it what it is- AI generated images. And stop pulling from the whole of the internet without the consent of artists. Let's add available for AI or something to the creative commons licensing types. Let's have open submissions. Let's have searchable AI resource databases so we can see if somebody submitted our art without our permission. I'd be happy to teach an AI how to draw- so long as I consented to it. I bet I'm not alone here.
Is this too much work? Well, guess what - this is the price of being an artist. You want the title? Work for it.
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Yugiri's smile is everything. She has so many of them and they all mean different things. When she's relaxed, when she's excited, when she's confused, when she has no clue what's going on but everyone else is happy so she's happy, when she's relieved, when she's proud... She has so many different smiles and if Tumblr didn't have the 10 image rules, I would absolutely gush about every single one of them in detail. Unfortunately, if I do that, all of those posts will probably be eaten out of the tag, so instead, here are my top 10 favorite Yugiri smiles so far, images included. (Pre-Revenge episode 9)
10. Season One, Episode 2: The First Smile/ 9. Season One, Episode 10: The Sentimental Smile
Episode 2 is the first time we ever see Yugiri smile. Before this, she seemed relatively nonplussed or generally disinterested in pretty much everything going on. Even though she was in a different time period with complete strangers and a madman demanding her to be something she has no knowledge of, she was fairly calm. Then the first time we see her smile, it's when she sees something completely familiar. Her own face. Not only that, but she directs that smile toward the character that is going to become basically her little sister. The first one means so much and it's so important.
Within the same vein, her smile to Kotaro in episode 10 is one during an emotionally heavy moment. It's the first time he's hit an actual snag in his plans. Sakura's singular focus on the Arpino show rather than on the bigger picture of the group as a whole would have been a massive roadblock had she not realized her mistake.
Yugiri is the only one who properly realizes the reason they were sent into the mountains in the first place. Instead of simply sitting on the information, she's proactive about it and actually goes to discuss the problem with Kotaro. She wants to understand his reasoning so that she might be able to help him. And when she turns toward him, she also gives him the observations she's witnessed throughout her new life. This smile may be low on my list of favorites, but it's still unbelievably important.
...Also, when they released the preview image of this smile, my brain short-circuited for ten minutes, so it had to make it onto the list regardless.
8. Season Two, Episode One: The Professional Smile
This smile isn't much out of the ordinary for what we've come to expect of Yugiri, but it's on here because this was our first look at Yugiri after basically two years of very little. None of us knew how the group would come back, how the writing team had incorporated the unexpected pandemic, how things would play out, or what would be happening. The Promo showed Tae's hand flying off to knock off Sakura's head, but as 2018 displayed, the promos can't always be trusted. This showed that, even in this new world where she's only been awake for a year, she's putting her skills to use and working just as hard as the others. Thanks to the conversation from Episode 10 of the first season, we know she was trained as a geisha which would make service work much easier than it would be for the other girls.
I don't have too much to say on this one, to be honest. I do like that she's in softer lighting, as opposed to the others who were all surrounded by harsh lighting on their season two introductions. The softer lighting lends itself well to the lack of pigment and coloration in the girls' makeup, allowing Yugiri to look like she has some color, even if she still looks somewhat pale and tired. It doesn't give her quite the same sickly look the others have at their jobs. The red dress? 100/10. Perfect decision.
7. Season One, Episode Five: The Proud Smile
SHE. DOES. GYMNASTICS. She has every right to this smile! I did the math for this specific part of the episode and Yugiri got third place. The judges liked her rope aerobics so much, they shot her all the way to third place even though her distance was zero meters. It wouldn't have gotten her interviewed, but it would have at least put Franchouchou at the forefront. I still applaud Tae snagging first place, but Yugiri deserves some praise. She really did go face first into the mud on a bike and said, "Never again." She's so proud of herself. I'll be gushing about the actual gymnastics part in a different post a little later, too, but she definitely deserves to be proud of herself. I'm really gay...
6. Season One, Episode Four: The Cute Smile
Originally, this was just going to be me doing some keysmash version of a squeal or something, but there's something I'd like to draw attention to. I'm pretty sure that, by this point, Franchouchou only knows two songs. Yomigaere, which was supposed to be performed in episode 2, and Mezame Returner, which is what's being performed here. Of these two, Yugiri has more experience with this one, but from what the audience had been shown, it wasn't good experience.
Memorizing the lyrics would have been the easy part for her. It's that a good portion of the dance practice was also spent helping Lily get the steps down and potentially calming her frustrations. Then the performance itself would have been a complete disaster if Junko and Ai hadn't gotten over themselves at the last minute to finally help.
This is the first successful performance of Mezame Returner we're witnessing and it's clear the group's had more practice since then. You can see how excited and happy Yugiri is here because this one is actually going well. They had a bit more time to prepare, the two lead roles were actually involved this time, and the audience also was clearly enjoying the performance. She's so happy and it's just so heart-warming to see. Yes, even with the CGI. Don't @ me, she looks adorable.
5. Season One, Episode Seven: The Sassy Smile
This one also was just going to be a squealing keysmash thing, but again, I have something to point out. Look how much more confident she is now that Junko and Ai have, once again, gotten over themselves. Yugiri sees the effect that Junko stepping in had on the others and just like the rest of the group, her movements are more relaxed and free.
It's more obvious, actually, if you look at the way the other girls are moving directly after Junko helps Ai up in comparison to how Yugiri is moving. She did a spin while waiting for Sakura and Lily to finish their segment, and she could be cheeky during her own. She sensed that the tension had mostly dissolved and because of that, she allowed herself to relax and could properly throw herself into the performance. When she throws out this smile and wink, it's not actually directed at the audience. It's Yugiri telling the others that they've got this without breaking the performance.
4. Season Two, Episode Four: The Gentle Smiles
I put both of these here because Yugiri's just... so... caring? So much of what she does is passive that you don't realize just how much work she puts into relieving the stress from the other girls until long after the problem has been resolved.
In the first, she's speaking to Sakura. No doubt, Yugiri probably noticed how worried Sakura was about Junko. Even though Sakura was trying not to let the others catch on just how anxious she really was, Yugiri still knew that something was bothering Sakura as well as Junko. Yugiri knew that the key to easing Junko's mind lay in placating Sakura first. She's seen what happens to them all when they fall apart and she wants to avoid that at all costs. So, Yugiri lifts Sakura's spirits and gives her back the fire and determination to make a great performance.
In the second, Yugiri is watching Junko eat. Unlike the others, it's clear Yugiri knows that Junko is in much higher spirits than when last they saw her. Junko would likely have still been a stuttering, quivering mess otherwise, but she wasn't stuttering and her actions were purposeful and self-assured. Yugiri is very observant. She would have caught on that something had happened to make Junko feel better. What makes this smile even better is that she's not the least bit disappointed. The reason she made dinner was to help Junko, but she doesn't view the meal as a waste of time. She's so focused on other people, that she's happy Junko is feeling better at all and even offers her different platters to help keep her mood up.
These are high on the list for two reasons. One, they're a show of just how much Yugiri does for her girls. Two, YUGIRI COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS HEADCANON CONFIRMED BITCHEEEESSS!!! I GOT ONE RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!!
3. Season Two, Episode Six: The Affectionate Smile
I will be completely honest, I have no idea why this one is as high as it is. I admit, I did spend three hours replaying this single thirty second scene because it's really sweet and Yugiri and Tae don't interact very often, so seeing Yugiri not only be worried for Tae, but also be immediately reassured that Tae would be fine was just something my heart didn't know it needed until it had it. The sheer level of affection Yugiri shows toward Tae is too adorable. Especially since Yugiri usually only has moments like those with Sakura and, to a lesser extent, Lily. This smile's really cute, it's in the middle of a wholesome scene, and it made me love both Yugiri and Tae that much more.
2. Season One, Episode Three: The Excited Smile
Once again, an entry that was going to be a simple squealing keysmash until I realized there was something to point out here as well. This is the first smile we ever see from Yugiri that's genuinely enthusiastic. She has plenty of them, especially during her performances, but this is our first time seeing her fully incorporate herself into the group as an actual member and actually look excited to do something with the others. This was an omen of adorable things to come and damn did it deliver.
Honorable Mentions.
I'm only going to touch on each of these briefly because to be honest, there are a LOT of smiles I could've picked.
The first one is from episode 6 when the group is talking about their very first meet-and-greet. Lily asks Yugiri if she's keeping up okay, and Yugiri remarks that she's taking things as they come. This was a small look into the kind of character she is. As I mentioned before, she's very passive in the way she operates, but that's to the benefit of those she cares for. This is her admitting that she doesn't want to be a problem and it's just sweet that even though Lily is worried about her, Yugiri's still highkey thinking about everyone else.
To the right is a shot of Yugiri during Electric Returner. This one is just the squealing keysmash because she looks so genuinely ecstatic, it's contagious. She's NO DAMN CLUE what happened or why they sound so different, but she is absolutely living her best second life.
The next shot comes from the beginning of Yomigaere and is somewhat of a repeat of the above. She's excited to perform for such a big crowd, she's glad Sakura finally agreed to actually participate, and she's living her best second life. Whoever animates Yugiri's CG model? I love you. I want to send you a gift basket. She's always so happy during performances.
Then comes her smile after the group finds out Sakura's memories are back. She's just glad Sakura, her Sakura, has come back to them, that she accepts her crap luck and is still willing to stay. For Yugiri, this goes under the list of Best Possible Outcomes. Her family is whole again and she's so relieved.
Last in the top row is the first full frontal shot we get of Yugiri in the Saga Jihen music video. She's so unbelievably adorable here. I wish I could've gotten her first expression, but the curtain was still rising and without photoshop, I'm not editing an image to the degree needed to get her whole face lightened. Point is, she's cute and everyone deserves to see her adorable face on the first song she got to be center for.
First on the bottom row is Yugiri looking apologetic from episode 8 of Revenge. She's so cute. It was an honest mistake and she had no way of knowing the paper belonged to Kiichi. No doubt, that was probably why she offered to help him rewrite them later.
Next is how cute she looks in big sister mode. She's wiping the mud from Kiichi's cheeks and is taking such care with him. Throughout the entire episode, she treats him like a little kid and it's likely because her role was big sister for so long that she doesn't know how not to treat him that way. It really does shed light on just how kind she is to everyone, though, that she doesn't even think about her dirty kimono and focuses on cleaning him up a little first.
Then we have her smiling at Kiichi as she remarks on how beautiful his dream of reviving Saga is. She even says she hopes it comes true. His dream means something to her. She can't even fully see it, he can't even fully see it, but they don't need to. What Itou didn't understand this whole time is something Yugiri understood immediately just from listening to Kiichi talk. They don't need to see it in their minds, all they need is to feel it in their hearts, and that's something Yugiri knows.
And lastly on the honorable mentions, because this post is already super long, Yugiri smiling while she's cooking for her guests. It was a tossup between this or the pinwheel because it's just really nice that Yugiri can simply enjoy mundane things. I chose this one because it's a direct contrast to how she was at the beginning. Before, she ate with a disinterested expression, but now, she's cooking for guests rather than just for herself. The lift in her mood is obvious, and it's something so small but so heartwarming, I couldn't resist.
I would've put the pinwheel moment anyway, but unfortunately, as a com major, formatting and design are everything and an extra picture on the top or bottom without a balancer would've thrown the whole thing off. Maybe next time.
NOW FOR NUMBER ONE
1. Season Two, Episode Eight: The Softest Smile
This should have been expected. There's something genuinely touching about the fact that Yugiri really does give her everything, even to complete strangers. These girls barely know her, everyone in town barely knows her, but because her dance students suggested Yugiri go out and actually experience, Yugiri gives it actual thought. She doesn't dismiss them, she doesn't deride them, she doesn't make them feel foolish or anything like that. She treats their suggestion the same way she would if it had come from a close friend. And she does actually take them up on it.
Later, we see her come into contact with Kiichi to demonstrate that even full-on strangers aren't exempt from her kind heart, but this means more. All we know is that these girls take Yugiri's dance class, and from the way they speak when we first meet them, it's clear Yugiri has a professional wall between herself and those she instructs. But she still treats them as she would the girls back in Shimabara. It's proof that, even in the past, Yugiri really was just as kind-hearted as in the present. It's a show don't tell kind of thing that just speaks so deeply to the writer in me. I love this smile. It's everything. Her smiles are everything. She's everything.
#Yugiri#Yuugiri#Zombieland Saga#Zombie Land Saga#Zombieland Saga Revenge#Zombie Land Saga Revenge#Angel has spoken#rip mobile users#I'm sorry but I needed to do this#also sorry about the slight passive aggressiveness for entries five and six#I'll do better
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Horizon Zero Dawn Review
The game that critics have been raving about for years and I just haven't played. I heard a lot of people say "this needs a movie" but they say that about any game that dares to be a little bit cinematic because I personally disagree.
That first part is rough, the story seems so in your face, predictable and bland but I think the problem is that it didn't know how to put in its exposition. I think it naturally builds up as it goes on, getting bigger and broader, it's just those first experiences that can be a slog because you're pretty much learning what style you're going to play in.
I got more or less everything I expected, crafting, a skill tree, various weapons. What I didn't expect though are dialogue options. You can choose normally up to four paths, an intelligent one, a compassionate one, and a straightforward one. You don't have to worry about the stress of trying to reach a specific ending because there's really only one, the only thing that affects it is the amount of people that are in it. So does that make the choices irrelevant? Yes and no because there are different dialogue options and like I said, which means that you can get certain characters to like you more given the option you choose but not in the same way that relationship points work and I definitely felt the draw to do that whenever I came across my first side-quest.
Side-quests are interesting, I love tracking things in games, though it's rare that you actually get the chance to do it and here you have a good amount of opportunities. Is that all though? Far from it. I actually found myself searching for side-quests because the first two were so satisfying. It really only began to show its hand a bit more after those quests. As I mentioned, there are a lot more RPG elements than I first imagined but it starts to send you on scavenger hunts, especially that Dreamwillow one, that one I actually laughed out loud at every time I was turned away. It also starts to gatekeep to where it recommends that you be a certain level which is...odd? I mean at face value it looks like you could rock basically any combat situation that isn't context sensitive. Leveling up gives you abilities but they're more like Deus Ex on that front, where it's just for preference and upgrading, not necessarily strength. The only thing you improve on offense wise basically boils down to having the right materials or units to buy weapons then a matter of finding modifications. Other than that, leveling up seems to just increase your health. It really just depends on the quest too because I'll play one above my level and be fine then play another that's actually under my level and feel stuck.
Now I only played it on normal mode so something like "Ultra Hard" is bound to be more demanding but as far as actual side quest content, I feel like they have potential but just need tweaked, give me more stuff for major characters that affects their standing with me. Rather than having each quest be contained in its own story, have it affect you later in the game, let your actions be shown, give it rewards and consequences. There are some really great side-quests but there are also some crappy ones, it doesn't pass that threshold that most RPGs fall under or anything. However, I did find myself doing side-quests at my own free will and the ones that I didn't like or couldn't do at the time, I just skipped and focused on something else, I felt a lot more freedom with this game, like I didn't feel forced to grind or do a certain number of side-quests or really do anything. It encourages you to explore and play the way you want to play and I respect the heck out of that. Maybe it's different for other players though.
Perhaps my favorite actual side thing was the Cauldrons for those who actually played this, you'll know why. For those who didn't, just know that it's cool and let it be a surprise for when you go to one. You might expect these big set-pieces and bosses like Uncharted or GoW, but it's not really like that. I genuinely think that this is more video-gamey than it lets on which certainly takes up its runtime. One addition to side-quests that I would like to see is one where you don't know it's happening. For example, in this game, you'll come across random hunters who are attacking or being attacked by machines but rather than just going on about your day and them going on about their's, I want to fight off the machine and the person say "You saved my life, my name's Jara, I live in the town nearby and want to repay you." so you go there and there's trouble so it starts up a side-quest. Now don't get me wrong, there are PLENTY of instances of people getting attacked actually being a mission but most of the time someone in town will just tell you "I haven't seen this person in a while, can you go check on them for me?" It's the art of subtlety and also just doing a good deed and getting rewarded for it. It's a conscious choice and split decision rather than just another checkmark on your list to complete.
Now I won't bother listing the characters and rating them but there's a certain aspect that has me really enthused So, Aloy is an outcast and a lot of these side missions and scenarios reflect her, you'll see the way she can relate with other characters, making it almost poetic in a subliminal kind of way. Then they add this tribal and futuristic setting to it where Aloy acts as the medium, there are parts of the game where she questions the tribe because they cut themselves off from technology and just don't know any better and we as a viewer know that but having the main character view things in 'our' lens is pretty genius. To top that off, they give her enough personality to be her own character while giving us enough power to influence her so that we ourselves can REFLECT WITH HER. It's not her character that I'm impressed with, it's the layout of the story.
So, how is the main story? It's kind of like the Flood scenario in Halo if I'm being honest. I'm not going to spoil anything but it's passable, like I said, it's not like an Uncharted and it's not like a movie. The visuals just look good at times (I took all the pictures in this review myself and so much more!). I'd call it a futuristic/tribal mix between Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Skyrim but I see elements of a lot of things. (Also since it's post apoctalypic, you find items that we see in modern day, like how they call keys, "chimes"! They think they're windchimes because there are no more cars! I love that!)
It actually does a pretty good job at being an open world considering that there are tons of things to do on your routes as well as collect but it's not so much so that it seems unfeasible, as I said, I found myself doing a good chunk of the side stuff just because it was fun to do and I'm not even close to a completionist for any game. If you mess up, healing plants will still be there. As long as you save, enemy parts will still be there. A place can be cleared out and conquered so that enemies don't come back. The actual towns are peaceful so you can't get mangled by any bots outside of scripted instances.
The graphics are pretty good but I can see some error here and there, nothing necessarily game breaking but the animations and AI are definitely janky at times. It's pretty obvious from the get-go but I'll do my best to specify and give constructive criticism on what I found wrong with certain aspects of the game. Rost is slow, like slower than walking speed but that's not to speak for all NPCs, some run, some you don't need to follow, it was really just him. I've had NPCs who fight but miss every single time on simple enemies (that might not be a bug, that might just be a funny bit that someone decided to add in). Sabretooths have jumped through walls (granted the walls were kinda broken but I'm not sure if those big boys can fit when they can barely find the entrance) I found myself jumping to a ledge or on a rope but not land it and just drop (it really boils down to loosening the hit box for that). Which to add on to that, I would like more places to climb and jump to in general (other than stupid mountains). I felt like there wasn't really enough that I could climb and the places that I could, could've been a bit more obvious that I could, maybe even make it viewable with your focus if you don't want it to be visually outstanding. There's a day and night cycle and while I like that, I found some of the contrast to be annoying because I could be staring a ladder right in the face and not even know it sometimes because it would be so dark. I'm not going to complain too much about it because I didn't turn my brightness up, I just left it at default and I would assume the PS5 version fixes some of those little things.
Now, this one is kind of a gray area: Hiking up mountains. Skyrim, Fallout, and Death Stranding went too far and gave little to no barriers. They had you looking for sweet spots that weren't there in order to cheese your way through an area either on or off a beaten path. But I would compare this to something like GTA where it's not as bad and does have its limits but might need tightened up some more because I can certainly get to places that lead to nowhere.
I've made headshots that don't make contact or damage while using precision. Part of that problem was that they could be high up in a tower (which have spikes sticking out) and I would hit ABOVE the logs, to make a headshot but since it was in that vicinity, it registered that as the spikes' hitbox so it wouldn't cause any damage and just alert the enemy (same if I was in the tower, looking down). Input lag where I hit up button on the D-Pad to regain health and I have to keep pressing it. If I had to guess, you have to meet the requirements of not taking damage, staying still, etc in order for it to actually work but it doesn't really have a reason to do that and it doesn't "tell" you that those are the requirements (as far as I know).
During the final boss, one of the enemies hit me into a rock wall, trapping me inside of it and the boss was already half health so I really didn't want to have to restart (I also didn't know how far back the checkpoint was) so I kept shooting stuff and eventually the boss destroyed the wall, allowing me to get out (timed section, by the way). There have been a few times where a tree or leaf or something is obstructing a cutscene and sometimes there will be a mech in the background screaming over the NPC talking, which I'm sure is due to the cutscenes being real-time which is still pretty impressive. Now are these errors all the time? No, not at all, I'm just pointing out that some times these things happened and that I felt it needed ironed out but I wouldn't call this half baked or an unfinished product or anything, it's nowhere near that level. I get that there are so many NPCs that it's hard to account for them all with facial animations but whenever they're talking, it seems pretty static and sometimes the lips don't line up. There's this one guy who says that he got lost in a sandstorm but he's standing in snow. Again, little nitpicks in an otherwise great game.
Now, I got this game for free as a Playstation promotion but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll be great, I played a little bit of that Ratchet & Clank reboot that was offered and I wasn't impressed, I quit after the first few worlds and was glad I didn't buy it at launch, (despite being a classic PS2 R&C fan) but we're not here to review that. I also played Abzu and loved it but it was short so it was definitely worth a play but maybe not 60$ (I actually think it's 20$ at this point though). With this game, it's the whole complete edition with DLC and everything, it has the length, so it really just boils down to "Would I have spent money on it otherwise?"
I think I would've if I knew more about it because I think it just got better and better after that first part of the game. It's marketed a bit differently than what I ended up getting but I found myself pouring hours into this game and loving it for one reason or another. I actually bought Shadow of the Colossus along with it (which is considered a cult classic) but I liked Horizon so much better, definitely worth its full price in my opinion. (So your promotion worked on me Sony, congrats) It has its problems but the potential is there and I feel like a sequel would probably iron out a lot of my troubles with it, so it's definitely a franchise worth investing into.
If you're interested in what I thought of the DLC alone (if you didn't get the Ultimate edition and are wondering if the extra content is worth it) I have a separate post that goes into that here.
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