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catboybrain · 10 months

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studying tips

ok so i keep seeing posts saying do a shit ton of work but let's be real, you're an engineering major and you have 5 classes and a lab, you don't have time to read through every little thing before an exam.

the main idea is studying is not confined to a specific time period, like before an exam. to properly study, you passively do it when you work on things for the class! the bulk of the studying i do is NOT in the week before the exam, it's in the downtime i have between exams. i also normally don't call it studying, to me it's just work on a subject. the fun thing about this method is it means you get to generally be lazier over a longer period (my executive dysfunction is very happy @ that) since the work is spread out but more thorough!

your goal should be to fully understand and apply the concepts! to do this most efficiently and seamlessly, you want to master them (or at least be able to wield them) as they come up in lecture. doing problem sets is studying. doing prereading for lectures to give yourself an initial footing on a topic, if that helps you, is studying! if you're trying to put the scaffolding in place some set time before a test, you're eventually going to get into a situation where you can't put it up, and then you're going to be in trouble.

here are some things i do to "study"/ master topics as they come up in class.

go to class. this seems silly but yk I should put it in here. if you need to skip, try and skip on a day where you think you already know what's going on (and it's ok to skip if you need to! just don't let it stop you from mastering the concepts)

do the assigned homework. if a class assigns work but it's not due, do the FUCK outta that work. my basic rule is do 75% of the work that's assigned (100% of work due obvs) if you already feel like you have a type of problem down. but don't stop doing problems until you feel like you completely understand how to do the problem!

rubber duck debug your own learning. talk to people, explain how to do a problem. if you don't know why you're doing a step, you probably don't have a strong enough understanding of the concept yet! talking out loud will help you see much easier.

ask for help. sometimes textbooks legitimately suck. sometimes professors suck! if you're struggling to understand a topic, seek out a bunch of different sources of explanation. normally it just takes one good perspective to click, but it's hard to find that perspective sometimes.

when a test is coming up, be realistic with yourself. oftentimes in this period there will be topics where i'm like "oh, i don't have a great success rate for these problems." that'll be what's important to review. don't spend your time studying for everything if you already know most of it.

if you're right before a test and you haven't been doing the above, pray. no, i'm just kidding. there's a concept in the pikmin games called dandori, the art of organizing your time. become a dandori master. think about which topics (and or ask around! always feel free to ask a prof what will be on the exam, i find they always give you at least some useful information if you're not like "uhhh what problems are on the test" LOL) are most important, and prioritize learning those. cover as much ground as you can, instead of just starting at the beginning.

this one might be controversial but. study to learn, not for the grade. if you're in college, this information will directly help you in your field. obviously if you're in a GE or something this doesn't apply as much but if your only motivation is an A, you aren't going to go as far. if you can nurture your inner curiousity and connect with the content you're learning, it'll be way more fun and it won't seem as much like a slog <3

ok that's all i got. knock 'em dead, kid. and always remember: C's get degrees <3

#studyblr #engineerblr #study tips #d.txt #wonder if this will help anyone #probably not but i see a lot of studying tips as in . study before tests and im ngl #i almost neever hella study before tests except for one dumb english GE i took but even then this still applies!#you can forget it all after the class if its unimportant but like thats another post for another day (wrt keeping info in ur brain LOL)

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shipshoping · 2 years

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!!HI HI HI!!

-yvngngh anyways sorry I didn't know how to start this off!

I'm just making this post to try and find some moots to chat with and stuff /possibly roleplay with aswell!

Below I'll list some fandoms I'm in // I'll probs forget a few so feel free to ask if your curious about one please! // And Characters I'd most be good at roleplaying! And rules and such I have for that sorta thing <3

FANDOM'S IM IN 🙋

• Arcane lol // don't know the games so we'll tho //

• The outsiders! // Ma fave book //

• my hero academia! // Haven't seen it all/am not caught up but I enjoy the characters and know most! //

• Animation just in general really like ik a TON of Disney shows/movies and love other studios to like Pixar/blue sky's/illumination etc!

• Dc/Marvel // I know wayyyyy more about marvel then dc but enjoy them both!

• SCP foundation // certain ones ik better than others but I love hearing about new things when it comes to it! //

• Backrooms Lore // just getting into this one but I understand how they work and it seems super neat! I'd love to create OC's for it with someone and have them interact :D

• cbs ghosts! // Unpopular fave m8 //

• Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss // I do not support the creator but I do enjoy the concept of the show and characters btw! //

• Steven universe // I don't rlly like the later seasons but adore certain characters! //

• Creepypasta! // I sooo wanna get back into this fr like I used to know every lore detail but just grew apart from it I'd love to reconnect through chatting! //

• mlp // a total comfort show of mine <3 //

• edd ed n eddy! // Surprisingly I never really got into this as a kid, as I wasn't allowed to watch it for some reason but I recently discovered the show again and I really love it <3!! //

• yandere sim // again I don't support the Creator or many things that happen in the game but I do like the concept and some of the character designs / art!

• F/O community! // I would totally be up to doing roleplays playing anyone's fictional other! / Or perhaps taking turns doing so? :), And or just chatting about our different ones in general! //

• Villainous // WOAH BOI-this is a big hyper fixation for me so please please feel free to message if you want to talk about this one! :D //

• RWBY // similar to what I said about the creepypasta fandom I used to know a lot about the show and was really into it!, But I drifted away and with its new adaptation I found myself going back and watching the older seasons I quite like it again! Though am just getting into it once more :) //

• DDLC! ( Doki Doki literature club )

• Disenchantment// such an underrated show oh ma gosh-//

• Sally Face // Though iv drifted away from this one a bit I'd totally be up to finding my way back to the fandom <3 //

• Slashers!/Scary movies / ghost face is my favorite one :) / just alota nostalgia attached gvjvbh //

• Camp Camp! // One of my favorites of all time tbh! //

• OUAT ( once upon a time)

Again I may have missed a few so please feel free to ask! <333 now!- onto my rules on roleplay/chattin and such if you have any questions feel free to ask aswell :)))

I am a minor ( 16 ) so I am not comfy with nsfw content, hinting/joking abt it is fine I suppose tho!

I'd like to talk with those in my age range as it would make me feel the most comfortable so please put your name in your bio or tell me before hand

I'm totally up to talking on other platforms like Instagram :)

- I'm up for any length when it comes to role play/musing whether that be three paragraphs long or 5 sentences! // Just something I can work with please <3 //

I'm most comfortable writing in third person but I'm willing to try other ways :)

I'm pretty much open to playing any character though there are some that I would choose over others as I just think I'm better at playing them hgjgvjg

I tend to be descriptive but I do understand that others have different writing styles so feel free to write anyway you want of course just wanted to say that yghyghhg

I am a major major crack shipper/crossover lover! tbh as long as it's not illegal you can probably get me that ship it so I'm up to any pairing mostly! <3

And lastly just don't be rude or be a creep Below will be my do not interact list <\3

// DNI-pro ship, pedophile, Zoophile, sexist, homophobic, racist, transphobic, pro life, anti-Semitic or any others like that! //

hope to hear from a new moot/friend in ma dm's or comments soon! Thankyou for taking the time to read this if you did, I hope you all have a lovely day/night !!!💗💗💗💗💗!!!

#looking for friends #moot moots #rp?#Anybody up to chat #hgbgvhghv #Calling out to da void ¯\(°_o)/¯#wink wonk #fandom #im bored #the backrooms #scp containment breach #the owl house #writing #aesthetic #scenarios

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pandemique · 3 years

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hI!! i love your art and was wondering if you could make a tutorial showing how you paint stuff? only if you can! it's just really pretty !!

hi nonnie! thats very flattering !! i’m sorry i dont think i’ll be very helpful bc i’m a mega noob as well :D but i’ll try my very best <3

my process is very tailored for speed instead of quality (oops soz LOL) so i do suggest this for if u have short doodle breaks ⬇️⬇️⬇️

thumbnailing (for comics) -> lines (sketch who?) -> bucket tool/color drop in the base color -> color in the lines -> one multiply layer for a “base” shadow (in the vid below its purple!) -> one (1) render/paint layer a.k.a lawless no man’s land

full rendering process & more general painting tips below the cut‼️

NOTE: i’ll be focusing more on traditional/fundamental tips for stylized art because i’m sure there’s a much more effective way in digital. I truly do only use one normal layer for render... i think this is bc before i made this blog, my only prior experience in drawing is middle school art class, so all i know is traditional painting on one layer.... pray i can answer this again in the future with something smarter lmao

🌺 MY PAINT PROCESS

1. Choose a color scheme!

It doesn’t have to be set in stone like below, but i at least keep in mind the color range i’d like to use depending on what i want to convey (ex. soft pastels for soft fluff, or warm colors for happy vibes). I try to be as limited as possible for base colors because I tend to go ham when painting, you’ll see later AHAHA

2. Base coloring + Base shadow

Base -> bucket tool in the color scheme (I know other artists are against this but when i discovered the bucket tool in digital art I immediately divorced manual coloring i’m sorry i loved you tho bae) (this is why my style and lines are simplistic as they are, so the color drop works!)

Base shadow -> in theory, warm-colored light creates cool-colored shadows and vice versa. because i’m a fluff addict i mainly use warmer light, so i like using blue/purple as the shadow. generally u can’t go wrong with complementary colors!! (yellow light & purple shadows / orange light & blue shadows).

I make a new multiply layer (decreased opacity just bc i like things soft okay) and clip it on the base layer, then block in the areas i think would get blocked from the light.

3. Color in the lines!

for simplistic styles i swear this works wonders. i just clip a layer to the lineart and manually color the lines with a darker but more saturated version of the base color. it just tends to look more dead i guess with low saturation lol (ex. u can see above i use both peach and red or pink for lines of skin, i guess it implies the blood under the skin too. or something :D)

4. RENDERRRR

when i’m not in a rush i just paint things completely (and mindlessly), but here are the things i almost always do:

line the shadows with a saturated color! i’m not sure this is common but i love it lol, in almost all my doodles just check the shadows—on the edges, there’s bound to be a wild color :D (usually its the light color, shadow color or a color scheme color but sometimes i’m just like boY do i loVe piNk)

my art major friend told me about saturated colors on desaturated bases and my life was changed forever lol. u can see below even when my base is very grayyy, my rendering is very gay :D ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

make the shadows darker where i think they should be darker. usually i can just colorpick from that darker, saturated lineart color!

if it’s a more realistic piece i usually make the highlights lighter, but in simple doodles i find it unnecessary, and i dont like how light/white it looks :( i tend to just make the areas exposed to light more saturated

color in the rebound light~ in reality there’s usually not only one primary light source, at least there’d be secondary light from where light bounces off objects. in art we just emphasize that! so in large shadow areas, or in areas close to other objects/colors, i like to ‘splash’ other colors on

yeah this part is less intuitive for beginners and u have to learn a grasp on the concepts over time, like for lighting and structure. values can be more important than color, so i do suggest learning shading first before coloring, but only if u like (u can always be like me and just pull up references when u dont get how the light would fall on some materials :>). i have more general paint tips below! don’t give up okay, i believe in u nons, we’re all still in the eternal learning process together ( •̀ᄇ• ́)ﻭ✧

5. OOOOHHH SHINY ✨🤩

this step is just me being mesmerized by how easy it is to play with lighting in digital. i play around with the layer settings (multiply for shadow, overlay for light, and often try out the other settings too!). my favorite effect is the highlight glow thing, where u just make a copy layer of the highlights below the original layer, and blur it slightly so it looks like glow ✨✨🤩 overpriced acrylic could never

6. COLOR ADJUST / EDIT

Truthfully i usually skip this step, but my more pro friends really vouch for it!! i think definitely an incredible thing with digital is that u can edit proportions and even color after you’re done. i think they usually use like the curves adjustment layer in photoshop until they get colors they like, but for me, well, in a reaally diligent day i like to slap on the “auto” fliter in the iphone’s photos edit button lmaoooo

🌺 GENERAL PAINTING TIPS

learn basic theory: i think theres free courses everywhere online, but heres a few things u might like to have a basic understanding of: color, perspective, shape language, lighting, composition. don’t sweat it too much tho, it should be fun to explore the concepts!

and for drawing hoomans: proportion, gesture, expression, and veery basic anatomy. i find that overall forms are so much more important to learn than like detailed anatomy bc u can always look it up lol

but remember, u mostly want to learn the rules so u know better ways to break them :)

uuuuse manyyyyy referencessss every time u draww!

^this includes other people’s art — when u see good stuff, figure out why u like it and apply it to ur own art

get feedback!!!!

draw tons!!! brainrot helps !! ;D

aaand thank u for coming to my ted talk! sorry for the ramble nonnie, i hope u got something out of this lol

#VERY LONG POST ALERT‼️#thanku for enabling my rambliness nons #thanku for asking <3 #love u anon #demi rambles #untagged #art advice #art tips #art tutorial #art #painting #i’ll update this as i go bc lord knows im also just a noob

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wickedpact · 3 years

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A ranking of all the TTT stories in order of how much I liked them.

(Oh god this is so long)

1 My Mother's Axe

BABY ANDYYYYYYYYYYYY. Honestly this one had the trifecta of developing a character's motivations, developing a character's backstory, & developing their personality. The story starting out with Andy teaching Nile to use the axe was so charming and fun, and you could feel that chemistry they had in Opening Fire, the way they teased and bickered with each other so naturally. I loved the wedge between them on the subject of the axe, how Nile was perhaps a little too young to understand Andy's feelings about whether or not its the 'same' axe. I also love how the axe is obviously the symbol of the franchise and hugely important, but you never get a sense of exactly how important it is to Andy until you read the story.

I love the entire Ship of Theseus theme, and how it feels so natural that for Andy she has to get attached to the idea of things rather than the things themselves because she'll always outlive the things themselves-- the axe is symbolically her mom's axe, even if physically it isn't. And I love how she clearly clings to that concept so tightly. "This is the labrys she held in her hands...." IT GETS ME.

And the fact that this sense of BELONGING, of FAMILY, of CULTURE is so important to Andy that she clings to it (figuratively and literally) with both hands. And of course it's important to her, she spent so long alone that the woman doesn't even remember her birth name. That axe (or the idea of that axe) is all she has left of her mother and that family/culture she was born into.

PLUS on that note I love how Andy doesn't remember if her mom was her actual biological mother, but it doesn't matter to her. This woman was her mother in all the ways that counted. And how her mom BETRAYED AND KILLED Andy but Andy loved her so much that she avenged her and carried her axe for thousands of years. THOUSANDS OF YEARS!!!!!!

I also loved how the story transcends the timeline of the whole franchise and seeing Andy through the years. Loved seeing her with the varying squads and with varying axes. Also baby Andy was so cute. It was cool seeing her so young. like holy fuck. Andromache The Scythian, Immortal Warrior (but smol). Love that.

Also I think this one is one of the few ttt stories that doesn't suffer from length problems.

tldr: goddammit greg you've done it again.

2 Zanzibar and Other Harbors

Zanzibar my beloved. I've said before, but it's downright comedic how little regard there was for Joe and Nicky's character designs in this story. The same person who does the colors for the regular comic did the colors for this one too, and you can tell, every panel of this story was Beautiful.

Ik there was A Lot of criticism of this one (lmao @ how the fandom had no idea what was to come) but I thought a lot of The Discourse was a bit dramatic. I did think Nicky came off as a little oblivious to Joe's feelings in this story, but I've said before, I honestly think that was a 'tone not translating' thing. It felt like Nicky was nagging Joe for [checks notes] saving innocent people, but Joe was so amused by Nicky's complaints I really do think it was supposed to come off as teasing.

Plus I know the 'Joe running off into danger and Nicky reluctantly following' dynamic wasn't popular (I'm a pretty meh on it meself) but I did love how Joe's impulsiveness (if you want to call it that) was interpreted as heroism and not hot-hotheadedness. All of the examples Nicky and Joe talked about included Joe explicitly saving people. (and it also took A Lot for the nazi to actually provoke Joe).

I also feel like their characterization here was closest to the movie canon-- the bit where they hear the woman scream and Joe goes running in to save her while Nicky swoops in on Joe's heels to comfort her while Joe and the nazi were fighting reminds me of the train car scene. Joe had suggested First that they go find Nile because she needed to be protected, and Nicky later added that Nile probably also needed emotional support. Similar reactions.

But it was So Good, the themes of queer community and the enduring nature of queer culture are Not themes you see in media that often and it was such a delight how it was done. Also it's one of the few more modern TTT stories that has a completely valid excuse for taking place when it did. Chef's kiss.

3 Passchendaele

I love the Duality between seeing baby Andy and then seeing Mama Andy in the very next issue. This story doesn't have a ton of meat to it, but the entire concept of Andy adopting a war orphan straight off the battlefield PLUCKS MY TENDER LITTLE HEARTSTRINGS, and I think it's especially poignant for comic!Andy. I think most people wouldn't think twice about movie!Andy doing something like that but comic Andy is so hardened and almost cruel sometimes, and seeing that even for her the world hasn't beaten all of the compassion from her yet is SO!!!!!!! this woman contains MULTITUDES okay, she's violent and angry and tired and Done but she's also so kind and compassionate and THE STRENGTH OF HER!!!!! Also the idea of her and Yitzhak co-raising a kid together is so damn cute. It was #mysterious pre-Yitzhak-story but now it's cute. holy fuck. It's cute.

& the headbonk panel of her and Zeus lives in my heart. anyways.

4 Many Happy Returns

I Know people weren't thrilled about Booker being in this one, but I've developed a pet-peeve about that: this story was *not* booker-centric. Booker only exists in this story to the extent required to explain the importance of the gesture Nile makes towards him. If there was a story about Booker making some grand gesture of kindness to Nile no one would be saying it was Nile-centric. bc it wouldn't be! Booker exists in this story to explore Nile's kindness, its not about him. I saw that a couple times and it bothered me. anyways.

AAAAAAAAAA I loved this one, the art was beautiful, I loved how Andy Nile and Booker were drawn (like their comic selves but.. more looking like actual people). I loved Andy and Nile's Bants, how Andy wanted to jump right in and Do Violence but Nile was basically telling her to hold her horses.

I feel like I'm just repeating the post I made on this story a few days ago, but I LOVED how Nile's plan revolves not around violence or Cool Mercenary Skills but on Nile's own life skills (as she canonly did a lot of minimum wage job-hopping before the marines in comics canon). Her plan used her skills, not the skills of an immortal warrior, and HER SKILLS were in fact more useful for the situation! lov to see Nile's resourcefulness and planning skills.

AND HOW NILE WAS PROBABLY WATCHING BOOKER??? it's so Much bc 1.) nile knew booker A SINGLE DAY and yet he made such an impression on her emotionally that she had to keep an eye on him and 2.) she said in the movie she wanted Booker to get off free with an apology. Yes she's a member of the team but that doesn't mean she's necessarily going to follow orders like a good little soldier. I also love how she convinced Andy to go along with it. her HEART, her KINDNESS, her THOUGHTFULNESS, UGH.

5 The Bear

Honestly I have like no negative things to say about this one other than a.) character design issues which is less about the story itself and is more of a 'tog comic in general' criticism and b.) too short, but it was supposed to be a tease, so.

But I loved Yitzhak, I wasn't expecting to really like him at all but like I said in my other post, he tickled me. I love characters who are Kind™, especially if they have little reason to be so given their backgrounds. Chef's kiss. Lov him.

6 Bonsai Shokunin

I know this one was a little controversial bc of the outsider POV but whenever I see people upset about that they never point out that the Outsider Guy (the samurai) existed as a reflection on Noriko. His ideas are explained in the text to develop hers. The whole story follows how she gave mercy to a scared young man and in response he murdered Noriko, repeatedly! Who gave him the right to inflict such pain and suffering on the world? In his opinion, the lack of response from the gods was his permission. And for Noriko-- over and over again she dies and suffers because she gave mercy, which lines up with her ideas in FM about how it's their fate to rule mortals and if they don't align with that plan/fate/whatever then they suffer. It shows some background to those ideas and how they developed in her mind outside of Ocean Madness™. Additionally, his idea of 'the Gods have done nothing to strike me down so it's fine if I do these things' kind of explains how Noriko may justify her own morally corrupt actions-- she's died so many times and it's never stuck. Maybe if she did die any of those times, or while she was in the water, maybe that would've been a sign she was doing something right, or at least doing something normal. But she hasn't died. Fate isn't done with Noriko yet. And maybe there's a reason for that. In her mind, it's just not a very pleasant reason, is all.

There were things I was kind of meh about tho. I did kind of wish we saw something of Noriko and the team, or smth explaining the way she was before her dip in the pool-- personality, likes dislikes, etc. but it wasn't bad or anything. It was super vague tho, I had to read it a few times before I got what it was going for. Liked the art. Liked the bonsai metaphor. And of course I Respect the decision to use the 1300s (1200s? I don't remember off the top of my head) rather than using the last 200 years.

7 Strong Medicine

Honestly looking back, this one made me kind of sad because both this one and Bonsai Shokunin explored character's ideas on Fate and The Divine and how that intersects with immortality and I totally thought that theme would be continued, especially with Love Letters. But Then It Wasn't™.

Admittedly.... I had to re-read this one to remember most of it. I liked Booker's ideas on God, 'The conductor of the symphony just may not be very good at his trade' but the plot itself was kind of forgettable. Some fuckin cowboys try to kill a doctor (their second) because he couldn't save their sickly brother. Book tries to stop them, gets killed, and then comes back and kills them all before they get the doctor. Alright. I liked the artstyle because the characters were ugly in a similar way that leandro's are, but way more bearable.

I love the Irony of Booker concluding that there is no such thing as fate or destiny and nothing has meaning, AS HE UNKNOWINGLY SAVES MERRICK'S GRANDFATHER FROM BEING KILLED. Booker getting fucked over by life/god/destiny yet again. It also kind of explains about where the fuck hell Merrick's interest in immortal mercenaries even came from.

I originally had this one a lot higher and then I thought about it and moved it down like two spots.

8 Never Gets Old

I liked seeing Booker interact with his kid. And we got a name for the kid! Philippe was a little bitch though, he was a little obnoxious. I liked how Booker was so thrilled to experience a restaurant with his kid (and since we know he was there before, it can be assumed he went with all of his kids and yet he was so charmed each time). It fits with his line to Nicky in the moon landing story about how you don't appreciate beautiful things 'unless you have someone to share them with'. It was charming to see Booker interact with his kid, and to see him so happy. Also lmao @ Booker's big fat Ye Olde Crush on Andy.

However at the same time it was like.. of all the things to write about,,, I guess? Booker's Night Out...... alright. Especially since Book had so many stories.

I don't know, it was alright. The old man killing him really came out of nowhere, (but the 'Salut, asshole!' panel was funny tho).

9 How To Make a Ghost Town

I've hit a point where talking about these stories has gotten less fun. I liked this one but I felt like Achilles getting lynched was not really necessary for a story that was already tragic (a story that already involved Achilles doing a lot of suffering at the hand of bigots). When we first got the blurb for this story I thought it would be about Andy returning to the squad and making friends with Booker after losing Achilles and them butting heads on the idea of family and when to cut off ties. So a little bit of my underwhelmedness about this one might be just my expectations being different.

Honestly I was pretty interested in Andy and Achilles' relationship and I would've liked to see more of them-- like, what was their dynamic like? What did they love about each other?

But anyways Andy leaving and Achilles getting killed anyways feels so pointlessly tragic (which I suppose is the point..... I don't like tragedies) she left to save him and yet people killed him anyway. Meh.

I did love the bits about Andy wanting to have a domestic life (Andy and her multitudes again) and the little detail about how she buried her axe near the road but he buried his guns under his bed-- he was an escaped slave, he never had the luxury of assuredness like Andy did. It was a sad story.

10 Lacus Solitudinis

'You put this one above love letters crim??? how could you???' easy, lmao.

There was stuff in this one I liked. But to talk about stuff I didn't like: (I'll keep it brief, I know ragging on this story has been done time and time again)

UH, setting aside the 6 year cold shoulder between Joe and Nicky, I thought their chosen method of conflict resolution was... bad at best. Nicky's inability to talk about his feelings was also annoying, especially since the entire point of this story is a fight Joe and Nicky had, and yet we don't get both sides to the story, which is...... important? That fact is especially annoying bc in the absence of Nicky explaining his side of the story, it's absolutely a possible (and admittedly probably unintentional) interpretation of the text that we do get that Joe routinely resolves conflict between him and Nicky by simply cutting Nicky out of his life entirely until Nicky just. caves? Even if it takes years?

WHICH i could get into that interpretation and how fucked up i find it. but im not going to. out of restraint.

I don't know, I think there are a lot of interesting ways to go about this conflict but 'Nicky wants to kill a guy and Joe refuses to acknowledge his existence until he stops because he thinks Nicky is too much of a Good Boy to get his hands dirty like that' ('I wont watch as the world turns his (...) compassion into something ugly'. ) wasn't.. how I would've done it. (I mean you know Joe doesn't give a shit about what Nicky is doing in a moral way, because Joe doesn't even care or mention that Booker is killing those cops too. Joe only cares because he doesn't like the idea of Nicky changing in a way he finds undesirable.)

admittedly I've said before, I do like the emphasis Joe's reaction puts on Nicky's kindness. Joe has a complete inability to cope with Nicky simply Not Being Kind. It speaks to the steadiness of Nicky's compassion all those years. but still that fact doesn't make it the conflict feel worth it

hm. I said I would be brief and I wasn't.

oh well. basically I thought there was interesting conflict potential there but it wasn't done the way I would've liked, and the way it was done leaves a lot of disturbing (and again probably unintended) interpretations to lie.

What I did like? Andy and Joe having that pessimist/optimist dynamic. Joe nerding out about science. Andy not being impressed by The Achievements Of Man. I loved Booker needling at Nicky about his outdated slang and also trying to give him Older Brother advice practically in the same breath. I loved Booker giving The Worst relationship advice ever and Nicky being like 'I Will Not Do That, Ever, Thanks.' the family vibes were so good. The Joenicky vibes left a lot to be desired tho.

11 Love Letters

I talked about my problems with Nicky in this story (and Lacus Solitudinis). I don't know, the story isn't bad but I do hold a little bit of a grudge towards it because its very existence begs the existence of a solo Joe story and we didn't get one. If we never got this story, then we could happily count Lacus Solitudinis and Zanzibar as The Joenicky Stories™ and move on with our lives. sigh.

I remember when we first got the blurb for this story I was really curious about why Nicky specifically + the setting, and the answer kind of feels like 'the author had an idea for a story like this and saw ttt as a good enough place to utilize that idea'. Plus I was really underwhelmed by the Romantic Sentiment in the letter. If you look at it line-by-line, the majority of the letter is actually Nicky talking about how lonely and disturbed he is, rather than actual,, yknow,,, Romantic Sentiment. I mean, compare the van speech and this letter and this letter is just kind of meh in comparison. I liked nicky calling joe wise! and I liked the brief sun/moon metaphor! and otherwise it was eh. It didn't even have cute squad banter, which is why Lacus Solitudinis is above this one.

12 An Old Soul

Nun orgy. Nun orgy?????? Nun orgy.......

The whole story felt like a setup to have a nun orgy. Why did Booker have abs? Why did they do that to Andy's nose? ?????? the art was good at least.

nun orgy.

#tales through time spoilers #obviously #long post #seriously dont open that read more unless youre committed to scrolling past all these Words

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nostalgiaruinedme · 3 years

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Hey I love your fics and writing style and well since I've been meaning to start writing fics I wanted to ask you if you have some advice you'd give.

Ohhh advice? Sure, I can do that! I shall bestow all of my knowledge upon you now, but you gotta look below the cut. Shhhh, it's a secret~

Okay really I just knew this was going to be a really long post and didn't want to clog up everyone's dash lol. ONTO WRITING ADVICE

I kind of live by these rules in writing:

1. Know the rules before you break them 2. ANYTHING can be inspiration 3. Remember the doll 4. Use your resources 5. Don’t hold yourself back 6. Practice 7. Enjoy yourself!!

1. Know the rules before you break them

Pay attention in English class (or whichever class for the language you're writing in) and learn the grammar!! I don't always have perfect grammar in my fics and sometimes I consciously choose to ignore grammar rules to make it more impactful, but you HAVE to know the rules before you break them. Study those grammar lessons! Learn how to use the fun punctuation, like semi colons and em dashes and en dashes and all that good stuff. I know they're scary, but they're a lot of fun too.

ALSO PLEASE USE PARAGRAPH BREAKS IM BEGGING that's like, a HUGE problem I see with a lot of new writers. Paragraph breaks are not optional!! Change 'em when the main topic of the paragraph switches or when a new character is speaking. Overdoing it with paragraph breaks is better than underdoing it, I promise.

2. ANYTHING can be inspiration

Have you ever played Story Cubes?

If you haven’t, it’s essentially this game where you roll the cubes, they each land on a different image, and you gotta tell a story that uses all of those pictures. Some are literally just a question mark or a speech bubble and that’s what you have to use. Me and my siblings used to play the game a lot. And you know what? Some of those stories are the most creative ones we’ve ever come up with. When I say anything can be inspiration for a story or a character, I mean ANYTHING!

I based my Donnie design off of the vintage globes and journals I have in my bedroom.

My little sister threw a pillow at me and it inspired a funny scene I wanted to write in another fic

I designed two OCs off of Mars and Pluto and an ENTIRE 40,000 word fanfiction based off of a space documentary I watched

My NaNoWriMo story last year was based off of the concept of shadows and how cool I thought it’d be if they could talk

Me and my friend made an entire dystopian original story commenting on our world today. It was first inspired by a crack self insert Death Note RP we had at 13 years old. Not kidding.

Literally anything can be inspiration. Challenge your mind!! The best ideas come out of completely ordinary and unexpected opportunities, in my experience. You don’t need one of those super detailed and crazy expensive prompt books (though they are fun) to write a great story. Use music, use a color, use the sky, use your favorite food, use anything! Just find inspiration!

3. Remember the Doll

Remember Mulan?

We never got to see the Huns destroy the village and we didn’t get to see them kill anyone there either. But by showing that doll there, the animators took an entire battle full of death and destruction and summed it all up in one, heartbreaking moment. You don’t need to spend ten pages writing about how horrifying the bad guy was and listing everything he did from start to finish, nor do you need to write an analysis on why she’s bad. All you need to do is show one or two very meaningful ways they impacted the world... and you can do that with something as simple as a doll lying on the ground in a burning village.

Because the doll is there; the little girl is not.

There’s a quote that sums this up really well, and I have it written on the dry erase board by my desk.

“You don't write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid's burnt socks lying in the road.” - Richard Price

And adding onto that, try to write more about what’s there, not what isn’t. Mulan didn’t say ANYTHING about the girl in that scene, but by showing what was there, it told us a story about what wasn’t. Focus on what is in the scene and it will tell your reader about what isn’t.

I do think writing a balance is good though, so I try and keep it around a 3/1 ratio of what is there vs what isn’t. Remember this is art though, not math; you can change the formula as you please just to make it feel right. It all depends on the scene and what you want.

4. Use Your Resources

You know how, in the artist community, there’s this sort of stigma around using references? And some artists have to make posts reminding others that there’s nothing wrong with using references and you even should use them?

It’s the same concept in writing!

There is NOTHING wrong with looking to other writers’ work or keep a thesaurus constantly open or bookmarking a reference page of other words to use than “said”. Nothing wrong with it at all! When I write, I always have two tabs open: my writing document and thesaurus.com. I have a folder on my computer bookmarks of ways to describe a smile and a body language dictionary. Before I write fanfic, I watch a “best moments of *character*” compilation video on Youtube to remind myself of how they speak. I watch fight scenes from The 100 or Avatar or Marvel while I write my own battles!

There are SO MANY resources out there for you to reference. Use them! And if you need some to start with, shoot me an ask. I have a ton.

5. Don’t Hold Yourself Back

One of the scariest parts of writing is the thought of “what will people think?” Creative writing is EXTREMELY personal, and you’re going to find a lot of you inside your work, including the thoughts you didn’t want anyone to know about.

People will discover how often you think about love. People will discover how dark your mind can get. People will discover the morals you hold that even you didn’t know about. They’ll discover that the person you swore you’ve moved on from is still on your mind. They’ll discover that the pain you swore you got over still hurts you.

“you can tell the deepest truths with the lies of fiction” - Isabel Allende

This thought scared me a lot, and still does. I’ve let go of and forgotten about so many story ideas because they were just a little too personal. I could write it and not publish it, but what if someone still sees? Writing, like all art, comes right from the heart and reveals a lot about a person. That paranoia of being known kept me from writing so much.

But I promise you, your most powerful stories are going to be the most personal ones.

I wrote Hated Resemblance based on my thoughts about myself, and I wrote Dagger From the Mirror based on thoughts about myself too. A lot of it is dark, most is painful, and all of it is scary to show the world. But I wrote it anyways and it’s created something pretty amazing.

Hell, even now I’m wondering if I should post that lil anecdote, but I think it’s the best way to make this part of my point stronger. See? Writing about things that affect you is the best way to make them impactful, even for something as simple as advice.

And even if you want to write about light and happy stories- you’re still going to have to get personal.

This all got pretty deep but my point is this: Don’t hold yourself back. Write what you feel you need to and it don’t worry about what anyone will think. Don’t hide that one sentence because you’re scared who will read it because you’re scared to be known so deeply. Add it in even when it’s scary.

That’s something I’m still learning how to do, and it’s a slow process that has taken years... but it’s worth it, I promise.

“Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.” - Natalie Goldberg

6. Practice

I started writing in 1st grade. I’ve written regularly since then, and this is my word count every month this year:

Most of that is fanfiction. Some are just random thoughts, some are really thought out posts or answers to your questions, and some are made up of original stories. That total words written number is since November.

You don’t have to write this much every month, I promise, I just don’t really have any other hobbies lol. My point is that practice is really really really important. Write a paragraph or even just a sentence every day. You’re gonna improve so quickly, I promise.

“Write every day. Writing is a muscle that gets stronger with use.” - Abbi Glines

But take breaks too!!! Don’t overwork yourself. Burn out is a real thing and you shouldn’t force yourself to write just because you’re scared you don’t write enough! Write at a pace that’s comfortable for you. There will always be writers out there who write more than you and even more writers who write less than you. That’s okay. Everyone has a pace they’re comfortable with, and you just gotta find yours. As long as you’re writing consistently, the numbers don’t matter too much. 50 words a day or 5000 are both good!

7. Enjoy Yourself!!

You’re here to have fun!

No matter what you’re writing (angst, romance, fix-it, AUs, hurt/comfort, fluff, ANYTHING), remember that fic writing is supposed to be fun!! You’re not getting paid to do this. On one hand, that sucks, but on the other hand it gives you the amazing opportunity to write literally whatever you want! Find projects you’re enthusiastic about, meet other writers, do collabs, make playlists for your story, create over powered OCs for the hell of it, ignore plot holes and write without regard to canon, or write the most realistic and in-depth canon-compliant book ever. Create the most self indulgent story you can think of!

Have fun. This is your story and you get to write the rules. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise.

Oh yeah, and one more thing. Be proud of yourself. You can get all of the comments and feedback in the world, but if you’re not proud of what you wrote, it’s gonna be hard to look back on it with joy. Be proud no matter how many reads it gets—you made it!

“I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper.” - Steve Martin

#can you tell I like writing quotes #I have a whole pinterest board full of them #asks #writing advice #writblr #fanfiction #meg rambles

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dogtoling · 3 years

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I’ve been thinking recently.

Before I say this, know that I absolutely love your head cannons and the thought you put into every one of them.

But in regards to the mechanics of things like how ink weaponry seems to literally melt into the ink and how the ink itself seems to have a depth that affects Cephaling technology but little else, it occurred to me that some Cephaling equipment may just be more advanced than anything humans are used to.

For example, staple Octarian equipment includes invisible platforms, floating platforms, and invisible floating platforms. Because of this, could it be possible to take this into account for future headcannons?

Forgive the lack of grace with this ask, my head feels a little hazy.

Thanks for the ask and the thoughts! This is actually interesting stuff and something I have thought of before. There are reasons for specifically why I exclude them from my headcanons, though, and I will go into them here.

I try to go with the general approach of “a type of technology only exists if we clearly see it in game”, and even then, take it with a grain of salt. As this is a GAME world we are dealing with, a lot of things are implemented for game mechanics and simplicity. If it’s seen in use outside of gameplay purposes or makes up the majority of an environment, I say it’s probably a safe bet that it’s just futuristic technology (for example the aforementioned anti-gravity technology and some kind of invisibility)! So I’m specifically going to talk about hammerspace here because it is without question the hottest topic when it comes to sci-fi in Splatoon.

It’s an interesting thought that the Splatoon world would have technology that makes objects soluble into ink. It is shown a LOT, but obviously I have a lot of problems with it. One theory I see thrown around a lot is that all gear and weapons are made of hardened ink (which is a plastic-like material that’s mentioned at least once in concept art) or just ink as a whole. This doesn’t work for multiple reasons,

A. Many of the weapons DO have plastic-y parts that could be ink, but they also have metals, cogs, rubber, stickers and whatnot, all things that would not melt into ink if we were talking about a hypothetical scenario where ink melts inside ink... for some reason

B. If there indeed was a way to make all materials soluble into ink, it still means they would not only melt within milliseconds, but also pull out and reform into exactly what they were before within some other milliseconds. This is like melting an ice sculpture (or since we’re doing regardless of material, a WHOLE LAPTOP OR SOMETHING) into a lake and expecting it to reform itself when pulled out... and you can’t even pull it out because it’s just water molecules now within the other 150 million water molecules that were in that square meter of water before that (i dont know how many water molecules fit into a square meter but it is probably a lot)

C. Since the object literally turning into liquid ink is out of the question at this point, this leaves ink as a hammerspace entity. As we see in the game, things just dip under the surface of the ink. This is a cool gameplay mechanic but in practice it means that this random liquid of a random animal has physics-breaking abilities.

Hammerspace as a whole is one of those plot crutch things where it’s implemented to make things play out smoother, for example Turf Wars in video game form would likely be a NIGHTMARE if your weapons and gear did not conveniently slide out of existence when you need them to do so. You can also pretty easily tell when it’s implemented for gameplay reasons and not because the world is MEANT to have it.

Aside from the INK being hammerspace which just makes no sense whatsoever but IS definitely cool, I would be down for hammerspace to generally exist. HOWEVER, The sole reason the Splatoon world is not meant to have hammerspace technology (and this could literally change any time who knows what lore curveballs they throw) is because it Does Not Have Any. And when I say that, I mean specifically OUTSIDE of when it’s a necessary tool for gameplay, for example:

We see hammerspace technology in the game when it’s needed and used for flavor, convenience or game mechanic purposes. Gear and weapons disappearing into ink, Sting Ray from a lunch ration bag that couldn’t even fit a sandwich in it, 15 Cohocks popping out of one cooler box during Mothership (and we have to note these are probably 1,500lbs+ vertebrates with bones and muscles, NOT entities like Inklings that can squeeze into a jar or possibly even be made of liquid considering how closely you follow the game), THE ENTIRETY OF MAWS, secret boxes through the single player, Octobosses.... list goes on.

This might look bad because I’ve just laid down like 5+ examples of hammerspace indeed BEING in the game while trying to explain how it’s not. Looking back at all of these, they all specifically exist to enable something that the game does. Because it is convenient in a Game. You wouldn’t realistically have a Sting Ray in a Salmon Run because nobody is dragging a pressure washer into a fish mob where you’ll get your limbs ripped off, it’s there to add strategy and fun into the GAMEPLAY.

Now, how does this in any way imply that the world itself has no hammerspace tech? Well this is when we look past the gameplay and look at the WORLD itself.

Technology is usually developed to either make something pre-existing more effective or convenient. What does hammerspace make more convenient? It makes things fit into a smaller space, obviously. It would be an absolute turning point for logistics and cargo business everywhere. You basically wouldn’t need cargo ships, containers, delivery trucks. Or maybe you still would if you were to transport x200000% items as opposed to what they would fit in them before, so small scale is where this comparison makes more sense:

If hammerspace existed, we would KNOW. Space-warping technology would turn the entire society on its head. Inklings’ society is very human-like, meaning their technology has to be much like ours. Having hammerspace only in a sport and NOT in something like logistics and literally everywhere else, with the implication that it’s mainstream enough to be used in a kids’ sport and a crappy part-time job company, just does not work. That’s like if we invented the wheel and ONLY used it in like, uni-cycle races for people in their 30′s meanwhile Larry from downtown is still dragging home lumber on a plastic bag through the snow because no one puts wheels on things that they would be useful on.

Hammerspace is BIG technology and basically, if it existed, it would be the new mainstream. You can buy your house in a can and just unleash it onto some random plain if you want to. Buy your car inside a bottle and just uncork it when you want it. Nobody needs a backpack to school, just put your books inside a locket. Want a new couch? Put it in a bag. Bought a bunk bed? Put it in your pocket. Want to move the entirety of the Ruins of Ark Polaris into a nicer spot so it can be a tourist attraction? You can take it!

TL;DR Hammerspace is WAY too powerful and to make it “make sense” there have to be tons of unspoken rules about what it can or can’t engulf, how, or how long for. Also the point of this post was that while the Splatoon era and especially Octarians definitely have more advanced technology, hammerspace is not one of them. We would know.

#this is a long one #thanks for the ask part 2 #this is a WHOLE TOPIC that ive mulled over multiple times as you can probably tell #mewnimilitary

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bionerd2point0 · 3 years

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2020 Creator Wrap

2020 Creator Wrap: Favorite Works

I was tagged by the lovely @irolltwenties!

Rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (or so) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought to the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

I had to go look, because I really don’t check my stats all that often, but guys. I wrote and posted over 111,000 words this year. /o\ I’m seriously astounded, because it certainly didn’t feel like that much (mostly because all of my big projects are still in my docs ;P). I’ve met a ton of great people this year, and look forward continuing to get to know everyone. I don’t really have any big resolutions this year (besides to finish Honest Men 😂) but I have hope that 2021 will be a brighter year!!

(As a side note for anyone who follows these links to a fic they haven’t read yet, please be sure to read the tags. I’m not mentioning any warnings below)

1) Feelings of Life

What else would I be putting as my #1? XD Honestly, this series still means so much to me. I wrote Safety on a whim over the course of 4 days, and through it I met @feriswheel who is the best beta on the planet, and has become a very good friend. She pulled me into fandom (reading fic is vastly different than talking to people, and I’d never done the second one before then lol) and set me loose on the poor unsuspecting people there (let’s be real. I just lurked and screamed “WHAT DO I DO?!” to her every time someone said hello lmao). This series has a special place in my heart, and I was so happy that so many people liked it too!

2) Redfish

Can I just say holy shit???? This was my “I am ignoring politics in November” fic that was inspired after I bawled my eyes out to Bear’s fic and needed a Free Willy-type rescue op. In no way did I anticipate the level of feedback I received for this, but it made me absolutely giddy to know that it touched so many people, especially since animal cruelty and misunderstood creatures are one of the topics I care a whole lot about. Mandy was also an absolute joy to work with, and the way this fic just came together finally convinced me to put more effort into outlining other projects. XD Who woulda thought? haha

3) Operation Tim

This one started as a “WTF am I supposed to do?” for the casefic prompt for JayTim week, and turned into a super self-indulgent kid fic. I’m still surprised that it’s my most popular fic by kudos, cuz kid fics are one of those tropes that people usually find pretty cringy, but I had a ton of fun writing it. XP It’s angsty and fluffy and I had a blast letting Tim get angry not to mention the revenge on Ra’s in the sequel. It was a bit of a research project too, since I’m not a canon buff and it’s set in a canon divergence AU, but it was really nice to learn some of the smaller details from Snow that wifi likes to gloss over.

4) High-Flying Bird

I’d always wanted to do some kind of urban fantasy AU, and this idea was the one that made me want to participate in JayTimWeek. Building this world and creating background characters like Gerry was just so much fun, and let’s be real, Jason ranting about the lack of standard units of measure is definitely my own pet peeve with most magic potion-type stuff. XD It’s the chemist in me stewing about how everything is different sizes and materials and there’s no specifications!! Anywho, this one was a joy to write during an otherwise very stressful time.

5) Of Souls and Solitude

Last, but certainly not least, my daemon fic. This is probably my least popular fic by both hits and kudos, but it’s only been out for two weeks and is a ficlet, so that’s to be expected. It’s probably my favorite of the fills I did for my promptathon, and it was really interesting to learn about what daemon AUs are (I think I’ve actually avoided them in the past, because I thought it meant demon AU, and that’s not usually my jam). I’m very glad that Bear sent it my way, and I definitely need to read the series that created the idea! It’s just a truly interesting concept (and I got to kill the Joker so, you know, I’m a happy camper XD).

There’s so many people I could thank for encouraging me and helping me get this far, it would probably double the length of this post and it’s too long already. So instead, I’ll just put out a general, though heartfelt, Thank You. You guys have been amazing, and I look forward to whatever the coming year holds!

No-pressure-tags: @bearly-writing, @silver-snow-77, @themandylion, @generatorcat, @chibinightowl, @elyreywrites, @marudny-robot, @elareine, @glaciya, and I’m gonna stop there before I tag everyone I know XD

Happy New Year everyone!

#bio talks #2020 wrapped

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davidmann95 · 3 years

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Comics this week (5/19/2021)?

We Only Find Them When They’re Dead #6: Feels like a second book in a series that feels like a near-complete departure at first from the original volume in the best way, and the reveal about the giant we saw on the last page of the previous issue knocked my socks off.

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr #2: Hit me harder than the first issue, really well-done melancholy fairy tale stuff.

Ultramega #3: Still so dang goooood

Radian Black #4: Huh. Well color me intrigued.

Stillwater #7: Hahahahaha holy shit, of course

Daredevil #30: Breaking, Zdarsky hasn’t suddenly started to suck at writing superhero comics in the past week

Shang-Chi #1: I liked Yang and Ruan’s previous mini well enough but wasn’t blown away and might have skipped this if not for the high concept, but Yang’s already making the most of the grand tour aspect of this and I’m looking forward to where it goes.

The Mighty Valkyries #2: Not a book I have a ton to say on, it’s still pretty dang good though. Glad Gronbekk is getting opportunities off of this with that new Warhammer book, even if I’ll probably pass on that since it took a Gillen to get me onboard at all.

Fantastic Four: Life Story #1: ...this kinda stunk? It reads for all the world like Russell has a big FF vs. Galactus story he wants to tell and he’s phoning in the entire Life Story superstructure surrounding it to have an excuse to get there. There’s room for improvement in subsequent issues and I like Izaakse’s art but this is a stunning disappointment by the standards of both its predecessor and Russell’s oeuvre.

Heroes Reborn: Peter Parker The Amazing Shutterbug #1: There’s some alright storytelling here but the entire thing feels perfunctory, I’m not crushed or anything but there’s just enough potential glimmering through for me to feel let down.

Heroes Reborn #3: Hey so this issue is pretty good? Still the same flavor as my beloved Aaron Avengers trash, but the actually solidly done version of that rather than one that bypasses any good taste of mine to appeal to some kind of weird hindbrain enjoyment. Maybe the guy’s got a Flash run in him, this is the most inspired he’s felt in a hot minute.

Way of X #2: So this issue rules and the last page had me howling, but it extremely threw me when it was brought to my attention that there’s a character in here whose entire facial structure has basically been changed from a nonwhite person in her original appearance to pretty dang white. Initially flipped out Bob Quinn did this, turns out intermediate appearances between the image I saw and this changed her appearance bit-by-bit and this was just going off her most recent appearances so it’s not really his fault, it’s still not great.

The Immortal Hulk: Time of Monsters #1: Paknadel’s a name I’ve seen bandied around as a promising fresh talent for a few years who whenever I’ve encountered him usually just made me go “that was okay”, but this was damn excellent and whether it represents a level-up or a niche he fits in if he and Ferreyra took over Hulk after Ewing leaves I’d be all about it.

Catwoman #31: Still a really good run! Running out of ways to say it!

Justice League #61: There is a way that one moment could have worked but as played it’s the dopiest, tweeist kind of Bendisism. I’m gonna give this run some time to breathe because I’ve enjoyed most of his other DC work but this is starting to feel like the Bad version of Bendis we saw until recently coming back.

Superman: Red and Blue #3: Was already hoping to get the John Paul Leon cover as soon as it was solicited, especially glad now. The last two issues but this is a proper all-killer no-filler:

Holland/Braga/Sharpe: I was expecting this to be the forgettable installment of the bunch but this was a really fun little Trinity story.

Fiffe: I took a look at Copra in the past and thought it looked neat but wasn’t drawn in, revealing myself as a plebian once more. Loved this though, a fun, gorgeous adventure with an enjoyably personable take on Clark.

Thomas/Pekmezci/Sharpe: Brandon Thomas: a dude who’s been writing quite a bit of Superman lately, but still definitely isn’t writing nearly enough Superman.

Spencer/Ward/Sharpe: This pains me to admit, but even without the crutch of having Ward doing the absolutely fucking imperial work here you’d expect? Nick Spencer writes a really fun, sweet little Superman story here. Between this and that Jimmy Olsen story he did a long time ago I guess Metropolis just draws out his better instincts.

Stokoe: Stokoe doing a fun l’il Superman space adventure! What more could you ask for?

#Week's Comics #Opinion

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we-are-trickster · 3 years

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Tricksterly Output

Tagged by @theoutcastrogue (her post is here)

Rules: It’s time to love yourself. Choose your 5 favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

So I will preface this by saying that I spent all of 2020 back in school after a 10 year hiatus, so my creative efforts were a little stunted by the fact I really had to budget my time. But I’ve gotten to the age where I’ve learned to leverage my special interests into my schoolwork…

1. The Thin Line Betwixt Light and Dark I finally finished up my Fran Bow fanfiction series that centers around Remor. I’m really proud of this one specifically because it’s taken on a life of its own. There’s another fan author over on AO3, RebeccaMeyers12 who was inspired by my series to come up with some really good oneshots and a longer fic of their own, all playing with ideas that I infused into The Thin Line. It’s been such an honor to read their stories and see where they’ve taken what I started and just RAN with the concept.

2. Red Dirt DnD: Tales from the Ka’alban Fronter This one is a huge collaborative effort between me and some people who have become very near and dear friends (a couple of them already were, but we’ve gotten much closer over the last year). Trickster FINALLY has a podcast. I’ve been threatening to make one for YEARS now, but in 2020 we finally made it happen in spite of COVID. You can listen to Red Dirt DnD on almost ANY podcasting app: Apple, Google, Spotify, and probably a few others that I’m forgetting. Seriously… just open up your favorite podcasting app and search for Red Dirt DnD.

3. I made a surcoat/robe with the DEEPEST HOOD that I adore greatly. Initially, it was made for my Changeling LARP character Talesin, Sidhe Knight of House Gwydion, but I ended up wearing it all over the place because I adore it so much. It’s apocalypse chic at its finest!

4. Going back to Red Dirt for a moment, I wrote a Warlock Pact and stats for Jackalopes as a thank-you to our fans for helping us raise over $300 for Extra Life. I’m planning to work on a Hodag stat block next and possibly a few other fantastical animals from the American Frontier.

5. Honestly.. while it’s not something on the general ‘net, I definitely have some school projects that I’d classify under my creative output. I did an English Comp II essay over Power Fantasies that included a point about how Tricksters are non-binary power fantasies, then I did a Psychology paper about Tarot, and I wrote a shit-ton of comments in US History and American Government discussions that had both teachers praising my name. I’ve been a very busy Trickster who will hand you your ass in a discussion if you need it… especially when you decide to use CDC graphs and data to try and prove that COVID isn’t deadly…. Yeah, that girl gave me the tools to ensure her own destruction on that one…

Gonna tag… well… uh… *sweats*… YOU THERE, READING THIS, GO DO IT…. If you want. ^w^

#meme #Tag I'm it!#theoutcastrogue #collective tricks

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sundayswiththeilluminati · 4 years

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Hey so what do you think the seraphs were? The artifact lore says that the kahnjali were made for them, which means that they must have been human, or at least Exos. Swords kinda need hands. Lore seems to indicate that felwinter has big boi connections to Rasputin, possibly even being a Seraph himself (would explain why he doesn't have a reset indicator, that shit's classified af). If he is a Seraph, why does Rasputin say that they're "gone"?

Most lore we currently have points to Seraph being an organization under Rasputin’s authority. Based on the concept art Dima Goryanov recently posted, the Seraph bunkers were built to communicate with and interpret for Rasputin, continuing the fascinating idea from the Warmind DLC that even Rasputin’s alleged builders had serious problems just talking to him. There’s a reason Rasputin prefers to communicate either non-verbally or by quoting existing human literature. The Seraph bunkers seem to have functioned as a kind of mission control for a local instance of Rasputin; the Seraphim Vault in the Cosmodrome may have served a similar purpose on a larger scale.

But then we have the Tatarstan loretab. Rasputin says that the Seraphs were “all things to me. Everything I required,” bolstering the idea that the Seraph organization functioned as local agents of the Warmind. Ana also says the khanjalis Rasputin gave Guardians originally belonged to the Seraphs, and there are a lot of those, so maybe every member of the organization had one. However Ana then says he built “planetary combat platforms” for “seven Seraphs.” “Planetary combat platforms” is an amazingly vague yet ominous description. Does that mean the bunkers? Some kind of local HQ? Giant mechs? And why “seven Seraphs” if Seraph is an organization? We don’t know, although I have a hunch we may find out more as the season goes on. Maybe there were seven specific directors or agents of Rasputin in different areas? Worth noting that on at least one occasion Rasputin refers to an Exo as a “platform.”

Felwinter, on the other hand, is a different but equally fascinating story. tl;dr my money is on Felwinter being either Clovis Bray Sr., Clovis Bray Jr., or Alton Bray. Here’s what we know about Felwinter thus far:

1. Unlike other Exos he didn’t remember his original name when revived, but he immediately knew what the Deep Stone Crypt was and that Exos underwent “crypt processing.”

2. His Ghost immediately told him to use a different name because “they’re coming for you.”

3. Sometime after waking up Felwinter discovered something dire about his own identity that he and his Ghost are desperate to keep secret. If discovered it would force him and his Ghost to flee “again.” It’s dire enough that he’s ready to kill Lord Timur when he thinks Timur’s found out his secret.

4. Before meeting Iron Lord Timur he roamed alone for a significant time through a territory around the Aral Sea. During that time he had “extensive one-way conversations” with an unknown entity suspected to be - but not confirmed as - Rasputin. Felwinter met Timur in the Mothyards, part of the Cosmodrome.

5. Felwinter has a ton of information on the Warmind that’s all new to the Iron Lords, who didn’t even know the name “Rasputin” until he told them. He knows where Warmind bunkers are, how to break into them, and the sort of goodies that might be inside. He recognizes the word Seraph but plays dumb when Timur asks him about it; on another occasion he describes one of the Warmind bunkers as “a Seraph bunker.”

6. Felwinter and his Ghost consider an escape plan that would let them avoid “the Warsat network” and any planet “with a Warmind presence.” He comments that they’ve gotten “very good at hiding.”

7. Felwinter is a master tactician, the only Warlord to hold “an entire mountain” before joining up with the Iron Lords. He’s pragmatic and unafraid to break the rules; he executes the Warlord Citan and multiple other Lightbearers known to have committed major crimes. That includes Iron Lord Dryden once the Drifter tells Felwinter that Dryden had gotten the town of Eaton killed by using them as bait. Felwinter describes these murders as “operational necessity,” which Saladin comments is a weirdly blank statement for an Exo.

8. Felwinter went with the SIVA expedition into the Cosmodrome because he believed he could speak to Rasputin, “tell it we meant no harm.” Obviously that didn’t pan out and he ultimately died in the SIVA replication chamber.

So Felwinter is connected to Rasputin. But is he connected directly to the Warmind or indirectly through Clovis Bray Corp? His Ghost being so adamant about him concealing his name makes me think he must be Clovis Bray himself, either Sr. or Jr., because "Clovis Bray” is the only name I can think of that would be in danger of being recognized during the Dark Ages. The Iron Lords didn’t even know Rasputin’s name until Felwinter told them, but they did know Clovis Bray Corporation from its many ruined Earth facilities.

On the other hand, maybe his Ghost wasn’t worried about humans recognizing his name. If the “planetary combat platforms” Rasputin built were heavily-customized Exo bodies, then Felwinter could be one of those seven Seraphs, and if Rasputin discovered he were alive again the Warmind would probably want him back. That would also explain why they’re so determined to avoid the warsat network and the Warmind’s presence in general. On the other other hand, not every warsat belongs to Rasputin. The ones drifting around the CB facility in Uranus orbit definitely don’t answer to him until he takes them over. While Felwinter is a great Iron Lord, his Exo body doesn’t seem to be any tougher or more dangerous than others - hardly deserving of the term “planetary combat platform.” Plus Felwinter used to hang out in the Mothyards in the Cosmodrome. If he were hiding from Rasputin, why would he have been chilling on Rasputin’s doorstep?

Here’s my hunch: we don’t know what happened to Clovis Bray Sr., but we know he didn’t plan to die if he could help it. If he’s still around in some form, and if Felwinter is Clovis Bray Jr., he might be hiding from his scary lich dad rather than the Warmind proper. As a major player at CB Corp he would know a lot about the Seraph organization and Warmind facilities already. He might know he’s hiding from his dad, or have his dad and Rasputin confused, or Rasputin himself might bear Clovis Bray a grudge he’d be happy to take out on his son (but again, why leave him alone in the Cosmodrome?)

And one last tidbit that might not mean anything, but then again might: the pull quote on Winter’s Guile is “I know you.” In Ghost Fragment: Rasputin 4, someone assumed to be Cosmodrome-Rasputin speaks to someone assumed to be Elsie Bray/the Exo Stranger, and one of the first things he says is, “It’s like my cousin said, elsewhere: I know who you are.” Did Felwinter recognize Rasputin? Did Rasputin call him “cousin”? Would he use that word for a Seraph - or for a member of the Bray family?

Either way I have a major suspicion that we’re not done with Felwinter’s story this season. Exciting stuff.

#Destiny 2 #Rasputin #Lord Felwinter #Seraph #seven Seraphs #loremind #Winter's Guile #Felwinter's Helm #output generated #words words words #ra ra Rasputin Mars' greatest war machine #I DON'T EVEN GO HERE except now I do #givemerainbowfire

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southern-belle-outcasts · 3 years

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4, 5, and 20 mun views

Mun Views

4. On your fandom.

Which one lmao....um, well X-Men? Cool, a lot of the fandom to some degree is drawn cuz they can relate be they part of some type of minority group. Don’t see too many assholes, I think most of the jerks that were on here fell off during nippocalypse. There is a divide with the comic elitists vs xmcu and it’s dumb. I used to be an xmcu blog cuz I WANTED to read the comics but I was a broke ass college student who had literally no access to that, but I’d seen Wolverine and the X-Men, plus the movies that were out at the time. If I’d let those asses run me off, well, wouldn’t have continued to build my comic book collection (I’d already read Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, I’m talking specifically X-Men comics).

Arrowverse? I don’t follow many of the blogs, I have a select few I follow. My fandom experience is pretty much my friends with fairly similar views so I can’t speak on the fandom outside of the fact there’s a loooot of veiled hating on women of color under the guise of griping with the crappy writing. I try to avoid it. I don’t hold with Iris and Cecile hate, they’re good characters subjected to the writing of white men, what do you want.

Star Wars? NOPE. Hell naw. No thank you. Bye. I have no interest. I make it very clear this is a “the prequels are the shit, TCW is a fucking joke and trashes the characters, not!Star Wars mouse sequels are non-existent, the og EU is not legends it’s the only recognized canon” blog, and I’m this unapologetically. I have extremely strong opinions, I’ve literally been in the fandom since I was 6, I’ve spent hours reading EU content, visual dictionaries and encyclopedias, concept art of the movies books, comics, novelizations, etc. If you’re a stan of the other...stuff, I’ll probably say shit that will offend you and it’s probably for the best you don’t follow me cuz I’m not censoring these opinions, ever, at all. And for the love of all things holy, if you want to call R*ylo okay, or Anidala toxic, we meeting up behind Denny’s, yo.

Supernatural? Kinda sorta, considering I don’t link Nil and Farrar to any of the show canon besides using some of the monster lore. Like we don’t do the appropriation of native spirituality on this blog, so there’s no use of W*nd*g* cuz you’re not supposed to write or say that, like no. I have major problems with the show, that’s a mile and a half long, past season 5 it went downhill, they really should have left Swan Song as the finale. The queer baiting and bury the gays, the trash trash trash finale, the way any poc and female characters are handled, there’s so much oof. I stay away from it. Honestly kind of nice to see the SPN crowd was mostly quiet, it was RAMPANT when I first got on here, and there was a looot of drama. The way the extreme crowd of the fandom conducts themselves with the actors and stuff tells you a lot. Another nope. I prefer to stick to fandomless urban fantasy.

5. On exclusivity.

If that’s someone’s jam, that’s cool. Doesn’t bother me. At one point I was exclusive to a few versions of characters. Not anymore, but I can understand how sometimes someone just clicks for you to the extent it rubs you wrong seeing a different version. It doesn’t stop me from writing with other people so I literally give no fucks and don’t see why anyone else should either.

20. On 'popular' blogs.

Here’s where I piss a lot of people off, and I don’t really fucking care, as having at one point been an even more actively sought out blog back when the MCU was taking off in 2012-2014 and having tons of asks and thread requests, I can more than speak on what it’s like being a popular blog.Technically still am, you don’t have to take my word for it, just look in my thread tracker, and that’s not even all the threads cuz some are in drafts cuz they’re starters and I can’t add yet.

There’s nothing wrong with people enjoying your writing and following you. Awesome, good for you. It often proves to be a lot for people and I don’t like when I see people biting off more than they can chew but still pushing for more followers and asks and threads. Frankly, it’s really, really rude. I get wanting to make people happy, or wanting to try new threads and stuff, but you should also be reasonable with how much you can manage. If I see someone complaining about having too many drafts and asks and then not being able to write because of the pressure, but then daily pushing their promo or their wire or memes...and nothings coming of it...and they’re admitting they can’t get their muse to reply...then STOP. “You don’t owe anyone anything” means you don’t owe anyone respect and obligations that aren’t due.

When you decide to join a collaborative writing hobby, you’re still committing to your partners to write to some degree. Now if that means you’re going to be slow, and super minimal with which followers you actually interact with THAT IS FINE...as long as you have that communicated and make it very clear to the people who follow you they’re probably just following to be lurkers. But I can’t get with constantly pulling for interaction then within the same day the whole inbox is being dumped, drafts are being dumped, the same three people are the only ones ever getting a reply for the past three months, etc.

There’s been times I’ve said I can’t plot right now, there’s been weeks I bump all the memes in my queue further down so that they don’t post so I can catch up. I’m so secure with partners I don’t follow back unless I get my rules code sent in (newsflash: 9/10 I never see it). I never post a promo. I really don’t need to, if I see someone I really want to interact with on my dash, I’ll follow first, but I can’t in good conscious promote myself when I’m at a decent spot keeping up with a LOT. Sometimes I’m really glad I’m a multi with OCS and mostly female muses, it helps avoid ever reaching the point where I’m just getting too many followers to keep up with, but giving yourself a cut-off isn’t a bad thing people. Trying to do too much is.

There, I have successfully pissed off a ton of people, but I’m not taking it back. There’s way too much immaturity on this matter on here, and it’s really a litmus test of the people who HAVE been in group hobbies that are interdependent of cooperation of all members offline, and those who haven’t. “It’s my hobby” isn’t this get of of jail free card you get to wave everywhere when you want to ignore people. You can’t pull that in most hobbies that involve more than one person, whatever it may be, if it’s a DND group, rec sports, chess, whatever. This is my hobby too. I just probably take hobbies and commitment to other people to a more...respectful level. If I have real life, or physical issues, of course that takes priority, but here’s a little secret...we ALL, like 99% of the community, have some degree of mental health, nuerodivergence, jobs, home life, chronic physical issues. I want you to single me out the mun that doesn’t have any of that impacting their writing capabilities to some degree. Please, find them for me. You having those things doesn’t make you special and if you can’t communicate that it’s too much, you need the “flood of follows” from your promo circulating but can’t ever write...I’m just sighing over here.

If any of these opinions rub you wrong, I don’t mind you just unfollowing,that’s fine. No one is forcing you to remain. I strongly believe the people that don’t want to remotely take it seriously, and the people that do take it more seriously, should just keep to themselves, that way no one is getting offended by the other for how they choose to enjoy their hobby. You should enjoy it, goddamnit!!! But NOT at the expense of stringing other people along. Communication is kind of essential here, as much as people want to go “I’m too shy, BLOCK”, but y’all I have ADHD, RSD, social anxiety (I used to live in an anxiety attack it was so bad), and I still do my best to communicate with people even on uncomfortable topics. If I can manage, so can you. And if you CAN’T be mature...and communicate...then mayhaps stick to fanfic until you learn how.

#;out of the south #;munday #DUMPTRUCK OF SALT ALERT #watch my follower count go off the cliff i really don't care #hey nonny nonny #;little asks are made of gunpowder and lead

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bifacialler · 4 years

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This is maybe weird question, but. I'm strugling with drawing faces. My problem is, that any method of admeasuring face can't help me .Is there anything you can recommend me to do it better?

…this is a first art ask I ever got, this is exciting! =))

You wanted an essay. Here is an essay.

Let me start with a preface:

Faces are complicated. They are formed not only by bone and muscle, aka the ANATOMICAL STRUCTURE, but the also exist as parts of HEADS, that are parts of BODIES, and out bodies are basically objects like any other that exist within the multi-dimentional space of perceived reality, aka SPACIAL POSITIONING.

Sounds terrifying, I know.

Good thing about it is - we all are unique, therefore all faces are unique! Before starting with anatomy and such, I think it is important to welcome this idea that this Uniqueness IS Beauty. Therefore every face, no matter the proportion, racial features, anything else, is BY DEFAULT beautiful.

Basically, when drawing a face, the artist’s job (especially if this artist is of academic school, or focused on realism) is to detach from personal perception of aesthetical, and focus on studying the beauty of nature’s design. There will be time for personal taste and creative decisions.

To break the rules you need to know what rules there are.

How to Draw a HEAD

(Mostly because you can draw a disambullated head with some of that shoulder action and get away with it. When you draw just a face - it’s… well it can serve a purpose, but there will be questions. It’s generally better to think of a face as part of a head, it makes life a lot easier.)

As it is customary, the process of drawing an object starts with understanding two basic concepts:

The base shape: if you simplify the object to it’s most basic 3-dimentional shape, what shape would it be (a box, and elongated box, a sphere, a pyramid and so on.) Out of which comes the next one-

Where that object exists in relation to you, aka the Artist, since you are the one who will be drawing it. You have the power. The Power of Perspective.

A head is an object like any other. And a head, as an object, is A BOX.

The basic proportions of the box - and I’m talking the commonly art teacher accepted medium - are:

4 units tall : 2 units wide : 3 units deep

What is a unit, you ask? Will come to that, when talking about points and proportions.

So we have a box, and it’s something like this.

(Picture belongs to Stan Prokopenko, who is a remarkable artist of anatomical drawing, and generally a professional art teacher. I suggest watch everything he ever made, he has ton of stuff on anatomy. http://www.stanprokopenko.com/)

The grey line in the middle signifies the line of symmetry of the face. It’s on the front plane of box, in the middle. The box is much easier understand that a head with a face.

What we do with the box? We rotate it in any possible we can come up with, while keeping in mind the proportions. It’s important to always keep those proportions in the back of your mind.

Why we do this? Because this box will tell us about about the lines of perspective that will interact with our portrait’s features. As you can see on Stan’s picture, the yellow lines indicate which way perspective goes.

(Perspective is a whole another topic altogether that would require a separate tl;dr post, so I’m going to step over it in this essay.)

I took the liberty to use one of your pictures to illustrate, especially since you asked for some feedback.

Overall this is a good drawing, but see how the orange lines start to stray away from the perspective the box exists in? By sticking to the directions the box helps us with, we can get rid of that feeling of something being crooked - becasue all the facial features will exist in the same architecture as the rest of the head.

Second reason why the box is our friend is becasue on the box we can clearly understand: okay, this side is facing the light, and this is the side is in the shadow. This is the break line between the planes of the object.

But Ler, you may say, the face is curvier than a box.

Yes, young padavan. Here is a trade secret: first we tackle the overall, and then we go into details. (then we come back to overall, then back to details, and so on, until you can’t find anything sticking out of the unity of the piece, and you can decide that your job here is done. [it is never done, but perfect is an enemy of good, and sometimes good is “good enough” and “as good as I can do at the moment which is still good”)

This may sound familiar, because it is - it’s a lot like the Loomis method, which is, in it’s essence, your good old illustrative version of academic portrait, but without the hassle of learning all skull bones and facial muscles and crying yourself to sleep.

See how he clearly identifies here the border between the frontal planes of the faces and the side ones? Look how is is not afraid of laying that tone on the sides? This is what I’m talking about. He got it from The Box.

(I would suggest reading Loomis’s books in general, and especially “Drawing the Head and Hands”, where the illustration above is from. His method of drawing heads is quite good, and he explains it in a very approachable way.)

Now that we sorta figured out the head in space, and the box the head truly is, lets figure out

Where Do We Put The FACIAL FEATURES

There are a few different school of thought on “where the features are” and “what are the proportions”, so I’m going to share with you how I work around them.

My personal approach is a mix of different methods, and years of life studies - as I explained in the beginning every face is unique and has different proportions, and the more “cartoony” and “caricaturistic” (is this a word?) the style is, the more those proportions are exaggerated.

My approach to placement of features goes like this [unless I got a life model before me, then I measure with my pencil, old school style.] It’s pretty math intense, so buckle up.

1) [Purple] Cranium is a SPHERE. The axis of the sphere is your friend. Cut it in 3 equal parts. Add one part down - hey presto, this is the height of your head. [Remember the thing about the proportions of the box? These are the units I was talking about. It’s all coming together now.]

2) [Purple] Eyes exist in the middle of the axis.

3) [Orange] The protrusion of the face is *design* and may vary. Rule of the thumb: make it an arc, similar to what I did. The lower jaw corner falls into the same cathegory, but I prefer it to be on the same level as the corners of the mouth.

4) [Magenta] Mark 1/7th of the height from the top - that’s your hairline.

5) [Red] After you mark the hairline, divide the remaining part of the height in 3 equal parts. Lower part is chin to root of the nose, the middle one is root of the nose to eyebrows (actually to the glabella, but let’s call it eyebrows), the upper - from eyebrow to hairline. this is the Rule of Thirds. In reality nothing is perfect.

6) [Yellow] This is the tricky part. This is where I personally mark the border between the frontal facial planes and the side ones. There is a general guideline on how it’s done, but it does require understanding the skull and the subplanes of the frontal plane of the face. In layman’s terms, go from the hills of the forehead down to the middle of the brow, around the eye socket, over the cheek bone, through the middle of the cheek (preferably on an arc) to the chin bone, not foregetting the chind also has upper plane and lower plain and yes, there is a break between them, rounded as it is.

7) [Dark green] Back to eyes. They are also spheres. In the drawing above I marked them as “width of 1 eye = 1/5th of the face’s width”. This is my design (and also the “fashion portrait design”, but don’t get me started) . What is not my design is that the distance between eyes is about the width of one eye, very convenient. The distance between the ear and the outer corner of the eye is 1 third of the rule of thirds. (see point 5) Don’t forget: eyelids cover the eyeball like peel covers the orange. It has thickness.

8) [bright blue] EAR! Love ears. Their traditional space is snuggly in the middle third. Also their angle usually follows the angle of the nose.

9) [light green] Nose and Mouth.

Nose.Take your middle third. Divide it by three (approximately). The top part is where the dip of the nose is. For reference is about the same level as the eyes, maybe a bit higher. The nose itself is a trapezoid. The general width of it - the space between the eyes. There is a shadow under it, in most cases. When drawing from reference, pay attention is the root of the nose goes lower than the edges of the nostrils. It’s important. That’s where character hides.

Mouth. Take your lower third. Divide it by two. That’s - no, it’s not the slit of the mouth. That’s the dip under the lower lip. Take the distance between the eyebrows and the eyes, measure it, and apply from the root of the nose down. That’s where the upper edge of the upper lip is. The width of the mouth is very different, but I prefer somewhere between the irises.

Oof, that’s about it.

If you are looking into indepth anatomy, I’m going to recommend the bible of all anatomy artists, Mr Gottfried Bammes, and “The Complete guide to human anatomy for artists and illustrators”. No better book was ever assembled. I wouldn’t suggest “reading” it, it’s dry as stale bread, but it has hundreds of illustrations that are pretty self-explanatory.

How to combine this whole knowledge together?

By drawing. Honestly, the rest comes with practice. Lots and lot’s of it.

I would personally suggest downloading a million photos of faces, plugging them into photoshop and studying then step by step as per process above.

Second, I would suggest making studies of separate parts of the face: mouth, ear, eye and nose. Break them down into basic shapes. Look at what covers what. There things do in, where they come out.

Third. After you do your studies on photos, draw the faces you studied. But don’t draw them to minute details. Be as constructive as possible. Basic shape - ok. Hairline - ok. Thirds in proper perspective! - ok. Border of light and dark sides - ok. And so on.

First hundred many look like crap. It’s okay. You are learning. Then things will get better. The more you draw - the better it goes. The more your drawing chakras open.

I hope this was helpful. Have fun. Do art. Post art.

#Ler loves asks #oh this is long #but honestly there are whole books on how to draws heads #and this is extremely fast way to explain basic principles #mirrinka

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solacefruit · 4 years

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Writing advice meme, 1-10.

I saw this ask meme on this post and I love the concept, so I’m going to take a swing at it myself. The idea is to assess these common pieces of writing advice--i.e., what your interpretation of it, do you like/agree with it, etc.--and as someone who thinks and talks about writing a lot (and is perhaps guilty of giving a lot of advice myself), I have a ton of opinions on what good writing advice looks like and I’m so excited to go through this list with you all. I have to break it up into separate posts because I talk too much, so here’s the first ten!

1. Nothing is perfect. True! But I think this one sometimes feels disheartening to people, because they hear it as “your work won’t be perfect, therefore it’s not good enough and you shouldn’t bother”--which is extremely false. I think this piece of advice should feel liberating, because it’s giving you permission to make mistakes and be human! None of us make perfect work, because perfect isn’t a thing. Your work can (and will) be imperfect and valuable, and powerful, and gorgeous to read, and meaningful to others.

2. Don’t use adverbs. Wrong! A foolish opinion held and shared by people who are silly. There are definitely writers who misuse adverbs--notoriously, Joke Rowling--but adverbs are not in and of themselves bad and I personally love a well-placed adverb. It can so dramatically alter a sentence and frankly I just love the -ly sound, it’s so sleek. Better advice for this one would be “use adverbs with precision.” Fun fact: I have a non-zero number of characters with adverbs as names. That’s how much I enjoy these little guys.

3. Write what you know. This one’s interesting to me because I have a split answer. I think there’s a big truth to drawing on purpose from your personal experience and your unique pools of knowledge when creating, because you can bring so much to a work. You can ground the story in minute details and describe moments with such potency because they are familiar to you. There are so many stories in the world that are enriched by the fact the writer is a historian, or lived through a specific traumatic event that they now explore in their work, or has a love and passion for trains or botany or whatever their joys are. So on that side of things, I say true.

However, I think “write what you know” has a less wonderful underside, which is that writing what you know is often how certain hegemonic ideas and biased are recreated in works and then crystallised within genres. A passive imitation of your personal experience of the world and/or an unthinking loyalty to the tropes and traditions of your genre is not a neutral statement as a creator. I feel strongly that writers who belong to privileged groups--i.e., abled-bodied, white, straight, cisgender, Christian, male--and most especially writers who belong many of these categories simultaneously need to be aware of how writing what you know will produce a very specific, not-universal story.

So short answer: definitely draw on your specific banks of knowledge and experiences, but be aware that you do not exist in a vacuum and neither do stories.

4. Avoid repetition. Depends what you mean by that! A lot of writing is strengthened by repetition: motifs and themes necessitate repetition to be, well, anything. But if we’re talking about word choice, this is a safe general rule. That doesn’t mean grab a thesaurus, though! Just think about another word that you know that will get across the meaning you want--or move the sentence around until it achieves your goal. Swapping out a good word for a worse word with a different connotation is not better and definitely not a solution for repetition.

5. Write every day. Counterargument: write whenever you want. I don’t believe there’s one true schedule that everyone should follow, because people are different and creative processes are different. I myself am someone who tends to sit down and write a lot (sometimes a few days in a row), and then not write anything for the next day or even week. Some people can do the disciplined get-up-and-write-every-morning thing and truly I’d love to be one of those people, but my instinct is that I never will be. My way of doing things is more chaotic and less predictable, but I think any writing is always a win.

6. Good writers borrow from other writers, great writers steal from them outright. Hm. I definitely believe all good writers are discerning magpies who thieve everything that makes their hearts sing, and then spend their careers making nests of said things in different arrangements--but I don’t know if I’d call that “stealing outright.” I absolutely think a great writer needs a certain boldness in order to step out and confidently pilfer without shame or guilt, and then turn all those things into their things, so... I guess I agree? Maybe that’s the teacher in me, but this has plagiaristic connotations to me that I don’t love and don’t approve of, so perhaps I’d say for this one: “great writers make what they take their own.” 7. Just write. Highly contextual advice that is almost never helpful. This is perhaps because, personally, I don’t believe in laziness. I don’t actually think it’s a thing. I think often people will believe themselves to be lazy but what they actually are is afraid or stuck, and with that in mind, saying “just write” to people who’re blocked is about as useful as saying “just walk” to someone with a sprained foot: you need to address the underlying issue before someone can get better. If someone can’t write, it’s not from lack of effort--it’s because either something is wrong and preventing them from writing (which could be fear of failure, or anxiety, or overly stressed, or any number of causes) or they have become creatively exhausted and need to rest and consume art to restore themselves. Sometimes both!

I don’t like telling people to “just” anything, because that word has such a belittling effect. Writing is hard, especially if you’re going through a lot of stuff. I think better advice acknowledges that fact and responds more compassionately: “identify what is preventing you from writing.” Most writers--at least, that I know--thrive when they’re writing and write best when they’re thriving. Not writing isn’t a choice they make for no reason, so if you can’t write, look for the reasons. 8. There’s nothing new under the sun. Basically true! We are all (more or less, some cultural elements are relevant here) playing with the same toys in the same sandpit. However, we are the final component in the work and that makes all the difference. Each of us is the thing that is new under the sun and because of that, our sandcastles are wonderful and unique. I find that very neat.

9. Read. Phenomenal advice. It’s the one I probably give out most often, because it’s true in a way that I personally don’t think can be understated. I think consuming media and viewing art in general falls under this bracket too. Besides being good for you and healthy for your creative brain, it’s going to polish your taste and teach you so much about writing without you even noticing, probably. Cannot recommend it enough.

10. Don’t think! I have never found this relevant or useful. To me, it often comes across as a worse version of seven (see above). Thinking is my primary mode of existence and so far, my writing seems to benefit from that.

#advice #advice meme

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hag-lad · 4 years

Text

Digging Deeper

Thank you to my radiant wonderful friend @alienfuckeronmain for sending me EXACTLY the type of self indulgent wind-down activity I wanted on this otherwise depressing weekend! If anyone else wants to answer FORTY-NINE QUESTIONS about themselves, I’m super nosy and will read it all! @fight-the-seether @ptolemyofchaos @butchwizard @metalbutch @nyndelion @comrade-ziltoid @leatherdear @kristalknobb Enjoy, friends!

1. Do you prefer writing with a black pen or blue pen? I prefer black, but I always feel like I write neater in blue??

2. Would you prefer to live in the country or city? The city, but only if it has breathable air, green infrastructure, and decent public transit. So like... definitely no city in America lmao

3. If you could learn a new skill what would it be? The ability to quickly become fluent in another language! I’ve been struggling with Spanish for literal YEARS and it’s honestly pathetic. My brain is so stuck on English.

4. Do you drink your tea/coffee with sugar? Look pal. If I wanna drink sugar, I’m gonna have a soda, not herb water or bean juice.

5. What was your favorite book as a child? I was OBSESSED with The Wish List, by Eoin Colfer (of Artemis Fowl fame). I remember being so fascinated by how dark it was?? It’s an afterlife adventure, where the main character has to escape purgatory by atoning for her crimes of robbery and fraud and whatever. I had a crush on her, so basically this book made me want to pursue a life of crime, even though it explicitly condemns crime and depicts Hell as a very real and horrible place. I was in like fourth grade and was super morbidly curious about Hell and the possibility of going there! Lol

6. Do you prefer baths or showers? Baths... but only when I’m not actually dirty going in. A bath is leisure, not hygiene.

7. If you could be a mythical creature, which one would you be? 100% fae! I would build my dwelling within a sidhe mound, steal shiny things in the middle of the night, make bastardly little contracts for no reason, and cause harmless mayhem and mischief because mortals really are fools (go off, robin goodfellow!) Also I love mushroom circles and dancing in the moonlight.

8. Paper or electronic books? Paper all the way! I read much more content electronically, but it’s usually in the short story or article format. Books are much better in print, I think.

9. What is your favorite item of clothing? Probably my rust-brown overalls.

10. Do you like your name or would you like to change it? I’ve always hated my name but no alternative has ever stuck, unfortunately. My name is Amy, and I don’t think it fits at all. If I knew I’d never have to correct anyone on it, I’d probably just change it to Amelia?

11. Who is a mentor to you? My little brother! He’s this genius musician, and he has taught me so much about song structure, polyrhythms, guitar technique, production tricks, all kinds of trivia that really deepen my appreciation for music and the LABOR that goes into it.

12. Would you like to be famous and if so, what for? No, never, not for anything. I cherish my anonimity so much, I don’t even put searchable tags on this blog cuz I get an adrenaline spike from anxiety if too many people interact with me. I also just think fame is a fucking hideous construct. I don’t think it’s even slightly cool or desirable.

13. Are you a restless sleeper? No, I’m a fucking log. I can easily sleep for 12 hours straight. Thanks, depression!

14. Do you consider yourself a romantic person? No, actually. I’m very much in love, and it brings me lots of joy to do nice things with and for my partner! But romance feels very difficult for me to connect with. I’m super domestic, like, I love the idea of marriage but not necessarily a wedding, or a moonstruck romance or whatever. Those dramatic gestures feel very awkward for me.

15. Which element best represents you? EARTH. Specifically, like... dirt, or soil.

16. Who do you want to be closer to? I want to be geographically closer to my family. We’re thick as thieves, but we all live like 50 miles apart from each other. I miss my brothers and my parents so much, I feel so incomplete and depressed without them to hang out with, especially since quarantine.

17. Do you miss someone at the moment? See above! Lol

18. Tell us about an early childhood memory. When my little brother was a baby, he had this grey car seat with a folding mechanism which held his legs in place. It made a very satisfying clicking sound when the mechanism moved, AND when it was fully unfolded, it looked a lot like a Klingon battle cruiser. (Or so my five year old brain thought.) So! My older brother and I would take this seat out of the car CONSTANTLY so that we could unfold it and “sing” the Klingon theme music from Star Trek: The Motion Picture while we scooched our car seat battle cruiser across the living room floor, pretending to shoot phasers into the TV or the dining table or whatever else got in our way.

19. What is the strangest thing you have eaten? Gifilte fish, maybe?

20. What are you most thankful for? My family, including my wonderful partner and all the cats in our lives!

21. Do you like spicy food? Yes! But my tolerance for extreme spice decreases every year, unfortunately. So I can’t handle as much heat as I used to, but I do enjoy a good kick.

22. Have you ever met someone famous? Lmaooo I made the regretful decision to PAY FOR a meet&greet with Fall Out Boy in like 2006, which was so fucking awkward and painful, I vowed to never approach that level of lame again.

23. Do you keep a diary or a journal? TONS! I’m an obsessive record keeper. Some years I journal more than others, and I’ve found that it is super difficult to keep up with it while working full time. But it’s absolutely one of my favorite hobbies.

24. Do you prefer to use a pen or pencil? Pen for writing. Pencil for drawing, and math.

25. What is your star sign? Virgo sun, Aquarius moon, Scorpio rising 🙃

26. Do you like your cereal soggy or crunchy? Crunchy! A shallow bath in that milk is key.

27. What would you want your legacy to be? My artwork. I go through these aesthetic phases every year that I become super obsessed with/ focused on, and I’ve always meant to catalogue them in annual art journals, but I’ve NEVER FINISHED ONE! They always get pushed aside by the need to work, and I hate that so much. If I could just take a year off work and backfill all of my missed concepts into completed books, I would be so happy. But I literally have NO WAY to pay for that, absolutely none. I fucking hate capitalism.

28. Do you like reading, what was the last book you read? I love to read, but finishing a whole book has been A STRUGGLE lately! Right now I’m chipping away at Tending Brigid’s Flame, which is a quaint lil devotional for the Celtic fire goddess. Very new agey, like cheesy Wiccan vibes. I love that shit!

29. How do you show someone you love them? Quality time!

30. Do you like ice in your drinks? Only if I have a straw. Ice touching my teeth kinda makes me wince.

31. What are you afraid of? Incompetance, doing a bad job, letting someone down, taking up too much space, being a nussiance, etc

32. What is your favourite scent? Incense! Especially cinnamon, dragon’s blood, and amber.

33. Do you address older people by their name or surname? I always call people, regardless of age, by the name they ask me to use. Sometimes it’s a surname or title, usually it’s a first name. I’ll ask their preference if I’m unsure. But I definitely don’t default toward a surname, that’s weird.

34. If money was not a factor, how would you live your life? COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY!!!!!! The need for money rules literally every single hour of my entire life, and I hate it so much. I’m naturally nocturnal, but my job requires me to get up super early and sit in a car for 11 hours a day. I wake up at 5am, come home front work at 5pm, spend an hour or two trying to unwind, then go to bed and do it all over again. I hate my life! Really! I never see the stars, I never exercise, I am completely exhausted and burnt out all the time, and I barely get any quality time with my partner. If money were no object, I would sleep til noon or 1, make art and hike all day, ride my bike and stargaze all night, stay up til 4am reading and playing with my cats, and sleep like a baby. My partner and I would cook dinner for each other and watch Star Trek and collaborate on art projects and I would be so happy.

35. Do you prefer swimming in pools or the ocean? Here’s my hierarchy: Private pool > ocean > public pool

36. What would you do if you found £50 on the ground? I’d look around to see if anyone obviously dropped it and try to give it back. If I couldn’t find anyone, I’d exchange it for dollars and deposit that shit into my account!

37. Have you ever seen a shooting star? Of course!! Hundreds!

38. What is the one thing you would want to teach your children? America is evil and needs to be destroyed.

39. If you had to have a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it? Lmao this is so cute. If you HAD TO HAVE a tattoo! I really wanna finish my damn sleeves, they’re literally 9 years in the making and barely half finished. But I’d also love more art on my legs! I DESPERATELY want Ziltoid in a lacy valentine heart on my thigh.

40. What can you hear now? Our fish tank water bubbling and my fan on full blast.

41. Where do you feel the safest? Home alone, doors locked, windows covered, lights low. I absolutely LOVE to not be seen or perceived in any way.

42. What is the one thing you want to overcome/conquer? My fear of discomfort

43. If you could time travel to another era, which one would you choose? I feel like I’d want to be a teen in the 80’s and an adult in the 90’s. Does time travel work that way?

44. What is your most used emoji? 😭 or 😎

45. Describe yourself using one word. Defeated

46. What do you regret the most? Convincing myself that math was too hard or boring (or something?) when I was in middle school. I feel like I’m actually a pretty intelligent person who could’ve totally overcome that difficulty and gone on to understand all kinds of patterns and concepts which have eluded me to this day! It’s so frustrating to try and fight that formative self-concept, which now comes naturally but ultimately sabotages me. 💀

47. Last movie you saw? I made my partner watch Troop Beverly Hills, one of my childhood faves. It’s so fun! I love chick flicks so much.

48. Last tv show you watched? Deep Space Nine. Getting through the first season has been harder than expected. It’s actually my favorite Star Trek show?? (Orrrr maybe that’s TNG, ahh! It’s so hard to choose!) But season one is so baffling and awful! Why is there so much space capitalism??! And racism? And war? And drinking alcoholic beverages? #notmystartrek

49. Invent a word and its meaning. I used to call a single strand of curly hair a “curly quink” when I was a child. Therefore, a “quink” is a section of hair, usually a particularly cute or iconic one.

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