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saintgale · 3 years

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I’m just. Venting a little about stupid art things.

It’s super frustrating to me when popular artists complain constantly about not getting enough views/likes/engagement/whatever on their art. Like, I get it. Especially once I guess someone has gotten used to a certain amount of interaction, be that likes or comments or whatever, but here I am still bitterly happy if I can get like. 10 likes on an art post. (Which, thank you so much to those of you who do, it’s like each and every one is a little smile that lights up my day, and I appreciate it very much.) Here and there I will get one that “blows up” to me (these are fanart posts, and I’m only talking like, a few hundred notes, which for me is a mindblowing amount), but it’s disheartening and discouraging when I put so much time, so much into making art and there’s nothing to show for it.

I know I shouldn’t, and I do not, make art to get engagement on my posts, and I have long ago given up the “gauging my self worth on how much interaction I get,” even though that mindset is STILL lodged into me (”you don’t get engagement on your artwork because your artwork is bad”), that I am not good enough, that I will never be good enough, that my art sucks. At the end of the day I’m drawing things like my characters because they make me happy, but damn if it wouldn’t be nice to be at a place, like those popular artists, who constantly have people asking about their ocs and reblogging their oc art and all that. I know it’s not going to happen to me, and that’s okay. But when I see people with like, consistently hundreds or thousands of interactions on their content, who have thousands of followers, and then are like “I’m underrated” and all that, it’s like, then what does that make the rest of us “invisible” artists?

I will make a small disclaimer up front that I’m not upset at their success (if anything I’m happy for it), it’s not anything like that, it’s more frustration at myself as to why I can’t reach that, and frustration that the consumer media culture has made it so that nothing is ever “enough.” (And I get that wanting to still grow and improve is perfectly valid.) But the whole phenomenon of making someone who has tens of thousands of followers and constant interaction with their content feel as if that still isn’t “enough” is really awful, for them and for everyone else who can’t “make it” like that.

And look. I know my art’s not “great.” It’s certainly not “professional” quality or anything like that, and I constantly struggle to find what I like about it or to just refrain from putting myself down about it. And part of the reason is the shit like this, the feeling that “no one likes it” and that it’s “not good enough” to get interaction or commissions. And I know, I know deep down that’s not true, that on the technical side I am the same skill level as some of these more popular people, then I think, well there must be something wrong with what I’m doing or something wrong with me.

It’s like. You pour your heart and soul out into trying to make things and trying to improve and you throw it out there and it just sits there. And rots.

It just kills you inside. And yes, there’s that stubborn part of me that persists and will always persist, that I make art for me, I make art because I like to, I do not make art to measure my self-worth or my success, I do not make art to try to beg for interaction, I make art because it makes me happy. But at the end of it all, it’s still a slap in the face. It still hurts, you know?

Especially when you try, and you’ve been trying for years, and it’s never amounted to anything. Years, and there must be something wrong with me, because I’m still stuck here, in the same place, I think with even less interaction than I used to get (I think that’s just because some people have moved on, and some people just left bc of the whole tumblr bullshit thing, which is totally understandable and okay), but what do you do after that? There’s no hope left, really. It’s just the feeling that you’re going to be a nobody forever, that no one cares, no one will care, that your art will always suck, and there’s nothing you can do about it no matter how hard you try. (So why try anymore?)

Also another thing I’m just salty and bitter about that’s somewhat related: not being able to sell commissions when I see popular artists around similar skill levels charging even more than x2 my prices for some things and getting commissions constantly/people asking about them constantly. (Which I know of course doesn’t mean people will buy in that second scenario, but it’s still so frustrating.) This goes also to adopts, which I don’t do and don’t buy (no money even if I wanted to lol), but I see the “popular” designs go for several times the amount of designs with similar detail and all that, the only difference being they’re done by smaller artists. Which, yeah, I also know right now the whole world is fucked and we’re all trying to just scrape by and keep ourselves afloat. And buying art is a luxury, I know that and I think artists absolutely should be charging more for their work. It is just, again, frustrating and disheartening, that I can’t even make a decent living wage on things even when I do sell. (And, again, then it just goes back to the stupid little voice in my head that goes, “Dratz, your art isn’t worth that. No one wants to pay that much for your bad art.” And I know that’s all bs but it still stings and persists.)

Which, again, thank you from the bottom of my heart to those who do commission me. I appreciate you all and love drawing for you!

I really hope this doesn’t come off as me being ungrateful for all that I do have--I am very humbled and of course immensely thankful. Sorry I’m just not good at articulating my thoughts and feelings.

#shut up dratz #negative //#text post //#i'm sorry i'm just tired and sad

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cheollies · 6 years

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The Artist

Warnings: none

Everyone thought you were weird. For someone so talented, so unbelievably intelligent, you chose to fall in love with an amateur artist. you chose game night ins with his incredibly rambunctious group of friends instead of the black and white star studded event with caviar and platters of tiny food.

The magazines whispered of a possible lovers quarrel to which you and Seungcheol ended up cackling about. Everyone had felt duped at the announcement of dating. People reasoned Seungcheol was using you, it was for promotions of his next art exhibit, and he only wanted your money and luxurious lifestyle.

And many nights you kissed away his worries, his fear of the media, of all the press just waiting for the possible gossip of a break up. You reassured him, hugging his body tightly, whispering his name to rid of the demons in his mind.

Seungcheol wished he lived in the simpler times. the times when artist were appreciated and glorified for their hard work and diligence instead of being seen as outdated. He spent hours, days, weeks, and months perfecting every detail of his canvas. he poured his heart into everything, and yet he still stood in an empty art gallery, watching as you walk in with a box of pizza and the warmest hug. you’d mask his tears with words. with “I’m so proud of you” and “I love you” and “you’ve worked hard”.

“Y/n, the world’s most first and beloved time traveler, and Choi Seungcheol, the world’s most famous boyfriend, rumored to be broken up?” Seungcheol scoffs, “where do they even come up with these ideas. they stalk us day and night. when have we ever looked like we broke up.”

“Maybe they’re talking about the time you cheated at the video game and gloated to my angry face.” You pull the shirt over your head, laughing as you dodge the pillow he threw at you. You crawl onto the bed, bringing yourself to straddle the male’s hips. you’ve discarded his phone to stare at the loveliness of his facial features, “it doesn’t matter what they say or what they assume or anything else.” you hover yourself just above his lips, your hair falling and tickling his skin, “I will love you. and I will always love you. now, forever, until my last breath.”

“ugh. disgusting.”

“Seriously Jun.” you throw your head back in annoyance, dragging yourself off of Seungcheol, “who let you in?”

“excuse me. I let myself in. world’s hottest time traveler is standing in your room. let’s go to work.” Jun exits the room, muttering about raiding your kitchen for his starving stomach.

You go back to looking at Seungcheol, caressing his charcoal colored haired as he leans his head onto your shoulder. his hands make their way to wrap tightly around your waist, almost refusing to let you go.

You murmur against his ear, “I really have to go to work now.” he takes a deep inhale and you know how much he needed you, “how about, when I come back, we can go out. piss off the paparazzi maybe? totally make out in front of them. the whole usual thing we do. I’ll let you even put your hand on my butt.”

Seungcheol snorts, smiling against the skin of your neck where he’s begun go place small kisses, “I’d love that so much.”

The paparazzi raided you and Jun as you two stepped out of the apartment building. Photographers followed behind, snapping pictures away with their unnecessary amount of flashes. Reporters screamed, shouting questions they hoped would be answered.

“Are you and Seungcheol broken up? Are you and Jun going on a date? Did you break up with Seungcheol or did he break up with you?”

You roll your eyes at their idiotic questioning, shutting the car door with a grumble, “These people need to get lives instead of following other people’s lives.”

Jun can only snort as he starts and car and drives away from the madness of the people. Your eyes turn, staying locked onto the building. You could spot Seuncheol peering out from the window, staring like a lost puppy who waits for his owner to return.

You loved your job just as much as you loved Seungcheol. Time travel became the new rave in scientific technology. You remembered the days before time travel was discovered, when life was more simple, when everyone wasn’t so obsessed with science and technology. As soon as time travel was perfected, it seemed as though the entertainment business plummeted and technology skyrocketed.

“Oh my god I missed these so much!” You let out a groan with the soft warm cookie melting in your mouth.

Jun stares in complete amazement at you devouring almost a whole plate of cookies, “We traveled back in time to gather resources, not so you can eat cookies.”

You glare at the man, swatting his hand when he tries to take a cookie off the plate, “We gathered it and now we can play for a little while.” You kick Jun under the table when he finally is able to steal a cookie from your plate, “Oh, I should totally pack some up for Seungcheol. We used to come here all the time when we started dating. It’s so sad that this place shut down.”

“What do you expect, this part of town basically becomes laboratories for experiments and development.”

“Oh my god!” You squeal in your seat while Jun turns to look out the window, “It’s Channie!” You jump in your seat from excitement, “He’s so small! How old is he again in this year?”

Jun smirks at the younger boy crossing the street, his oddly chopped hair and small height, “He’s in his first year of high school I think.”

“Ugh, I just wanna pinch his cheeks.” Your eyes follow the high schooler until he passes the small shop, “Can we go see Seungcheol?”

Jun raises an eyebrow, “Are you sure you really want to do that.”

You and Jun enter the small art gallery. A face mask covered the lower half of your facial features, and a hat shielded the most of your upper half. Your hands are stuffed deeply into the pockets of your jacket, a big sigh leaves your lips as you watch a more younger Seungcheol set up a tiny area.

“It’s his first gallery.” You say to Jun as you two stand in the entrance, “Today was his first time showing everyone his art.”

“Let’s just hurry up and go home.”

Jun stays behind as you approach Seungcheol. During this time he was more lanky, his hair was more bushy, and he decked out in a t-shirt and jeans because he could barely afford anything. He stands proudly yet anxious next to his artwork. Everyone moves around his piece and you spot just how insecure he was.

But you stand in front of his piece. Admiring the familiar stroke of his paint and his favorite use of the color red. His first piece was of a sunrise, of the blazing sun peeking just slightly over the horizon to create the lightest of pink, purple, and blue in the sky.

“You painted this?” You look at Seungcheol, he was so thin, so tired but when you talked to him, he lit up so quick.

“Yes! I worked really hard to show just how beautiful sunrises can be. It’s called ‘The Artist’ because artist usually stay up day and night, they’re the ones most likely to see the sunrise and its beauty.” His toothy grin makes you fall all over for him again.

“I understand.” You nod.

His eyes are perked up, “You’re an artist?”

You shake your head, “My boyfriend is an artist.”

Seungcheol’s interest has been peaked, “Has he done any accredited work?”

You give a slight nod to his question, “I guess you could say so, but he’s a little ahead of this time.” His frowns slightly. Your hand points to his artwork, “I’d like to buy it. How much?”

Seungcheol is back to grinning, a relief washing over his facial features, “I listed it for only three hundred, but I can definitely drop the price for you.”

“No.” You take a good look at the hardworking Seungcheol before you had met him, “I’ll give you one grand for it.”

Seungcheol’s mouth drops open, “Are you serious?”

You dig through your bag, pulling out the largest bills you can find and placing it into his hands, “One day, you are going to look back on this, and I hope you think of it as a moment to continue your dreams. People may hate you, call you stupid names, belittle you,” You stare into the eyes of your beloved, “But you are going to be truly amazing.”

The beautiful frame in your hands rest neatly to showcase the beauty of the artwork. Seungcheol takes his time to continuously give you his gratitude, modestly bowing over and over again as an appreciation. He can’t help but break out into the largest smile as he looks at you.

“It’s Y/n!” Someone shouts in the gallery and before you know it, a crowd has gathered at the entrance of the door.

Seungcheol’s eyes are distracted at the sudden noise, when he turns back, you have completely disappeared into the crowd. The painting rests securely in your arm, careful to not ruin the bits because of the crowd. With your head lowered, your eyes cast to the side, glancing through the crowd, spotting the familiar hair-do, the familiar pigment of dress, spotting yourself. Eyes catch each other for the tiniest of moments before you turn, lowering your head even more before pulling Jun along.

“So you knew?” Jun glanced at you, you who marveled at the work in your hand.

“We met today, he gets overly excited about selling his first piece and accidentally runs into me. He was so careless in this age, never looked where he was going, always a busybody.” Your fingers run over the glass protecting the paint, “He thinks he’s lucky to have me. But in reality, I’m so much more luckier to have him.”

“Ugh, you guys are so sappy. Let’s just go home.”

You let out a laugh, elbowing Jun in the side, “Don’t even lie, we spend so much more time stalking your lover than Seungcheol. Remember when you outright punched their ex for cheating.”

Jun flushes, “Shut up. And he totally deserved it.”

When you had reached home, the night had taken over. Stars scattered around the moon as you walked into the lobby of your home. The artwork protectively in your hands, a smile dangling on your lips as you reached home.

“Seungcheol?” You called out, kicking the door after you had punched in the code. You struggled slightly with the frame in your hand.

You stepped through the apartment, feeling the slight chill flowing through the place. You find the door to the balcony wide open, the curtains flapping against the wind as Seungcheol is seated on a stool, a nice canvas sitting in front of him. His eyes remain fixed on the sky, his broad back facing towards you. You leave the artwork to hide behind the couch.

Your arms make their way around him, snaking an arm over his waist and the other over his shoulder to meet between his chest, you lean your body against his back, kissing the nape of his neck, “What are you doing out here?”

Seungcheol leans his head back onto you, curling his nose into your cheek, drowning himself in your soft touch, “I just missed you.”

Your laughter tickles his neck, “So you decided to sit out here in the stupidly cold weather.”

“You’re so cold to me, I thought it evened out pretty well.”

Your hand slaps his chest, “Just because you said that, you’re not getting my surprise gift.”

A grin inevitably comes upon his lips, his excitement causes him to dig a sloppy kiss into your cheek, “Please please please, let me see this wonderful surprise gift you have brought to me, my one and only lovely girlfriend.”

You wipe your cheek of the mess from his lips, lifting your head from his shoulder, you give him a cheeky grin, “Okay, stay here. Don’t move. And no peeking!” Your voice drifts as you quickly move back into the apartment to grab the frame.

Seungcheol’s lips hold a large grin, eyes carefully closed tight, hands clutching to the fabric of his pants for the surprise made him eagerly anxious. He can sense your presence in front of him and his smile grows.

“Okay. Open!”

Seungcheol flutters his eyes open. First he sees you, your smile and eyes show anxiousness too. He brings his gaze to fall to his hand. The piece of artwork in front of you, the familiarity, the piece he held so close to home for it was his first art. His hands fall onto the protective glass of the frame, he clearly remembers working ungodly hours just to afford the golden frame with actual glass. He admires just how new the glass even looks, just like how it appeared the first day he presented it.

“It’s a Choi Seungcheol original.”

Seungcheol can only stare at the piece of his he hasn’t seen in forever. He recalls the days and nights he spent perfecting this. This was his first, this was his defining piece of work, the one that made his love for art become his entire life.

“How did you get this?” Seungcheol whispers as he firmly grasps the frame, taking it from your own fingers.

“Someone was selling it.”

Seungcheol looks at you skeptical, “Someone was selling art? In this day and age?”

“Okay. I may have done some digging and found the owner. She was such a big fan, she didn’t even want to sell it to me at first.”

Seungcheol grins widely, “Seriously?”

You nod, feigning an annoyance on your face, “Luckily she was moving, so she sadly sold the painting to your real number one fan.”

Seungcheol’s toothy smile radiates in the night sky, “She was the first one to buy my painting. She was right, the media practically ridicules me.”

When he pauses, you bring your hand to his cheek, staring down into his eyes, “But you’re truly amazing.”

Seungcheol’s mind falters, the deja vu sending a shiver down his spine, “Yeah.” His lips curl when he steals a sweet kiss, “Yeah. I’m pretty amazing.”

Your fingers steal the painting from his hands, “Now, we should totally hang this up in the living room, so everyone can see the first Choi Seungcheol original.”

Seungcheol follows behind, cackling against the night air, “Please don’t!”

While you dodge Seungcheol’s many attempts to steal the framed painting, the lone canvas sits perfectly on the balcony. Lines decorate the pearl white canvas, pencil strokes outline the photo, a portrait sits neatly drawn. Eyes being the main portion of the facial feature shown as a mask and hat covers the entirety of everything else. The tiniest of words are scrawled at the bottom of the canvas in Seungcheol’s handwriting: The Traveler

a/n: Based on a dream I had, it’s not a loosely based dream, it’s more of my dream that has tiny parts included/excluded, so about 50%-60% of the story is actually derived from my dream. if you’re curious of the whole dream, don’t be afraid to ask!!

#seungcheol #svt #seventeen #seungcheol scenarios #svt scenarios #seventeen scenarios #scoups #scoups scenarios

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varsityleatherbluejacket · 6 years

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(Bus) Ride or Die

Pairing: Justin x Alex

Warnings: car crash mention, fluff, genitalia mention

Word count: 1283

Request: Could you please write the prompt "you're a senior for crying out loud, stop writing 'suck on deez nuts' on my window when we ride the bus" for justlex, it's my favorite prompt and I'd love to see how you'd write it

A/N: Thanks for requesting! I changed the quote slightly to make it work logically with the fic, but I hope you like it. I’m honored you trust me with your favorite prompt

Read below the cut or on ao3

You really don’t realize the things you take for granted until they’re taken away from you. Alex really didn’t fully grasp how much he relied on his car until the day he crashed it into a tree. He normally wasn’t a bad driver, but he had been known to be reckless at times and when it started pouring rain, he didn’t exactly slow down to accommodate the weather. He’d been having a bad day, and he really just wanted to get home.

He wished he could do that day over, but sadly, he couldn't. His parents were, of course, furious with him once they realized he was safe and no one was harmed. They were making him get a job to pay it off. He felt miserable, and now he didn’t even have his instant getaway for those nights when he just needed to drive away from his house for a while. He loved his family, but sometimes he couldn’t help but feel suffocated in those walls.

Being with Justin made it easier, but now he couldn’t even drive them places. Or drive to wherever Justin was. (Although, thankfully, Justin spent most of his time at Alex’s house nowadays.) He was accustomed to driving both of them to school, especially since now they were seniors, and most seniors avoided the bus at all costs. It was seen as much cooler when you drove yourself to school, and even if Alex didn’t really care about that part, he hated the bus. It was full of annoying teenagers who took up too much room with their backpacks and tossed garbage in the air for fun and honestly, once he left school, he really didn’t want to spend any more time with the student body at Liberty High. At this point, he’d spent enough time with them to last a lifetime.

It was just a terrible way to end the day. Normally he looked forward to driving him and Justin home or to Monet’s after school, but now, he didn’t have that nice part of his routine anymore. Justin, however, didn’t seem to affected by this change in routine. In fact, he seemed to embrace this throw in their daily schedules, and as soon as they got on the bus for the ride home, Justin grabbed his hand and led them right to the back of the bus, despite Alex’s protests.

“It’s been forever since I’ve rode the bus,” Justin commented with a certain excitement in his eyes. Justin always appreciated spontaneity; Alex, however, preferred structure and routine. His parents had always been very orderly, and he’d been raised on to-do lists and detailed itineraries. Justin’s life had always been a bit chaotic, and he did well under pressure. Justin knew how to adapt to change well. Alex did not.

Needless to say, Alex was taking the whole having to take the bus thing harder. He missed his car. Not because he was one of those guys who prided himself on the model or the engine or something like that, but because it was a mark of freedom and independence that he craved. It was practical; it gave him an escape. The bus did the opposite. Because now instead of being able to leave behind his fellow students once the school day ended, he had to take a bus ride with them. The situation was definitely not ideal by any means.

Normally, Alex loved Justin’s adaptability and optimism about change, but today, he was just really not in the mood. “Yeah,” he grumbled. “Me too.”

Justin nudged his shoulder. “Oh come on, Alex. It’s not so bad.”

Alex looked at him incredulously. “Yes, it is bad.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I hate the bus.”

Justin smiled, reaching over to pinch his cheeks. Alex grimaced, pushing his hands away. “Oh cheer up.” Justin shifted to look at the windows, which were fogged up from the weather. It was so humid outside you could feel the thickness of moisture in the air. Justin swiped the tip of his finger across the window. “Look! We can draw on the windows,” he exclaimed. Sometimes Justin got excited about the simplest things. It was infectious, and Alex couldn’t help but crack a smile. Justin twirled his finger around the edges of the window. “You try.” He grasped Alex’s wrist and pulled him closer to the window.

Alex rolled his eyes but indulged Justin nonetheless, writing ‘hi’ on the window. Justin smiled approvingly. “But it’s backwards!” He pointed out. “You gotta write it so other people could read it.”

He paused for a moment, thinking something over in his mind. He seemed to be so deeply concentrated that Alex couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking. He started tracing ‘DE’ with his pointer finger, and Alex furrowed his eyebrows. “What’re you drawing?”

Justin didn’t look up when he said, “You’ll see.”

By the time Justin had finished writing ‘DEEZ NU’ Alex started to catch on. “Are you seriously writing ‘DEEZ NUTS’ on the window?” Justin didn’t respond, but when he finally finished writing, he looked back at Alex with a look of accomplishment and pride on his face. Alex couldn’t help but beam back. His boyfriend was an absolute idiot, but he adored him for it.

“It’s good.” Alex bit his lip, teasing. “But it’s missing something.”

Justin glanced back at the window, eyebrows furrowed and confused. “What?”

Alex leaned over and above where Justin had written ‘DEEZ NUTS’ he began to write ‘SUCK ON.’ The ‘S’ was accidentally backwards. “Ugh, I messed it up,” he complained, biting his lip. Writing backwards was harder than it looks.

Justin wouldn’t stop smiling. “It’s perfect.” He leaned over and kissed Alex’s cheek, making his cheeks turn a tint of pink. “I love it.” He reached down into his pocket and took a picture of their artwork. “‘SUCK ON DEEZ NUTS.’ Truly a masterpiece.”

Alex laughed. “Send that picture to me, Picasso.”

Justin chuckled, nodding. “Personally, I think I’m more of a Vincent Van Gogh.”

“And I think you’re an idiot, Justin Foley,” Alex teased.

“You know you love me.” Alex just laughed and kissed him until the bus hit a pothole, and they were jerked into the seat in front of them. Alex rolled his eyes, but when he saw Justin starting to draw a penis onto the window, he thought that maybe, just maybe, taking the bus wouldn’t be quite so bad.

The next week they still had humid weather and the windows were still foggy, especially in the mornings. Each morning, Justin still wrote ‘DEEZ NUTS’ on the window. One day soon, the bus driver was going to find out who was doing this, and they’d both be in trouble. Alex didn’t care so much about that, but he still couldn’t help but groan on the sixth consecutive day at Justin’s antics, “You're a senior for crying out loud! Stop writing 'DEEZ NUTS' on the window whenever we ride the bus.”

Justin just laughed, poking at Alex’s side. “But it’s a tradition now.”

Alex smiled. “Alright,” he agreed, chuckling. “Move so I can write, ‘SUCK ON.’ I’m starting to get better at writing that backwards.” He wasn’t sure how he’d ever use that skill in life, but he was quickly learning that bus rides weren’t so bad. Not when Justin Foley was by your side to make you laugh. And yeah, their tradition was silly and dumb and immature, but it was theirs. Justin posed by sticking his tongue out underneath the words as Alex snapped a picture of their daily masterpiece. He grinned. “Perfect.” And everything truly was perfect, for this one dumb, immature, youthful moment.

#justlex #justin x alex #13 reasons why #Thirteen Reasons Why #13rw #request #my writing #it means a lot that y'all appreciate and support my writing <3

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flamecladconqueror-blog · 7 years

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TCGs - My return to them, and why they made me appreciate sports

I’m not really a sports person. I don’t like being physically active at all, and even getting out of bed is a dreadful activity that I’d rather just forget about and never do again. As a result of that, I’ve never really paid any attention to sports throughout my life. You don’t think about things you dislike that often, and eventually learn to ignore them completely.

But games, that’s something I love. Among all those different types of games out there, Trading Card Games (or TCGs) are easily among my favourites. I’m a sucker for shiny things and cool artwork, so naturally, as a child most of my spending money went towards booster packs of various TCGs. The one I poured most of my money into was, like for many others, the game of Yu-Gi-Oh! which I had been playing since its release here in [redacted country of origin and current residence].

Unfortunately I grew up with a mother who didn’t understand why her children enjoy playing with coloured cardboard - or anything at all really, she was and continues to be no fun - and who viewed our hobby as a waste of both money and space (those cards have to be stored somewhere). And as is usual for children of any age, there came a time when we looked at other things to pursue as hobbies, and our cards saw less and less use, until we stopped playing with them altogether and were told to dispose of them. Not sell them or anything, just throw them in the trash. It’s just a bunch of cards, right? Sometimes I still get a bit emotional over that moment, but it’s in the past now, and it’s time to move on.

And move on I did! Over the course of several years my attention wandered from genre to genre of games, taking a dive into the wonderful but expensive world of wargaming, until settling for video games. I still enjoy video games, but part of me always wanted to get back to TCGs, and when I saw an episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! on TV 3 years ago, I decided to get back into that game.

It started with a simple structure deck - a pre constructed deck of cards that often (read: always) revolve around a common theme, mostly an archetype of cards that directly support each other. While that deck was nice, it wasn’t quite what I was looking for. It didn’t feel like it did back then, when I was younger. I wanted that feeling of excitement I got when I opened a pack of cards and pulled something amazing.

So I made the only reasonable decision one could make when all he has is 30€. I spent all of it on packs of the newly released set Duelist Alliance.

You see, in 2014 a new era of Yu-Gi-Oh! started, introducing a new mechanic, accompanied by a new series (which I loved, but that’s a topic for another day). I figured if I really wanted to get back into the game, I might as well start with something brand new. I had my eyes on several archetypes that debuted in this set. Superheavy Samurai looked fun and were used by cool character in the anime, Tellarknights had a really neat playstyle of swarming the field to make big guys, and Yang Zing were a completely new type of monsters (Wyrm-type) that was bound to get better with future generic support.

So I pulled a card that looked like this. It was...a sports dude. In my TCG. A card promoting something I hated, in something I loved. I wasn’t very happy with it at first, but little did I know that this card was the beginning of a new flame of passion burning up within my heart.

You see, this card was part of a new archetype that made its debut in the TCG (for those unaware, the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG is called Official Card Game, or OCG, in Asian regions, and some cards are exclusive to each of those regions for a time until they get ported over). There was no info about how these cards performed in Japan, because they did not exist there. People in the west shrugged them off as being gimmicky and strictly inferior to the other TCG exclusive archetype of the set, Burning Abyss (spoilers: they were right), but that flipped my little hipster switch. I just had to make this work, somehow.

I couldn’t make it work. Not with the first wave of support. With a total of 3 cards (2 Level 5 monsters and a Field Spell), there was no way you could build a proper deck around these sportsmen. But they were gonna get new toys to play with in sets to come, so I anxiously awaited the release of the U.A. cards. In the meantime, I also got two old schoolmates back into the game with me.

To skip all the boring stuff, more U.A. cards came, I built a proper U.A. deck, it wasn’t amazing but man did I love it. And here’s why:

It’s a masterpiece of thematic/mechanic consistency. For the sake of keeping this short (he said as he looked over the wall of text he just wrote), I won’t go into detail here, so let’s just look at three cards. We’ll start with the card above, the star of the deck, U.A. Mighty Slugger.

Those of you familiar with the world of sports will quickly realize that this guy plays baseball. What’s a good thing to happen in baseball? A homerun. Why is it good? Because the opposing team can’t do anything about it, you just score. Mighty Slugger is a homerun, preventing your opponent from responding to his attack with cards or effects, until the attack is completely resolved. Not even the effects of monsters he destroys in battle will activate upon entering the graveyard. Mighty Slugger is the baseball concept of a homerun in card form.

The next card on our list is U.A. Midfielder. He’s the other star of the show, being the only monster in the archetype that can be Normal Summoned without tributing a monster. He plays football (or soccer), and the midfielder in that sport is an important part of the team, tying offense and defense together. That’s just what this card does, too! He allows you to tag out other U.A. monsters during either player’s turn, giving you a massive boost in flexibility. I should probably also note at this point that, yes, every single monster in the archetype has the ability to tag out - to return a different U.A. monster from your field to your hand, to summon the new monster. It allows you to attack the opponent with your offense, and then tag out for your defense to guard against whatever your opponent throws at you. Midfielder here let’s you tag out even during the opponent’s turn, which can be quite a surprise.

But what would a sports team be without a stadium of their own? U.A. Stadium is the archetype’s Field Spell, and it’s the concept of home field advantage. If your team plays in their stadium, on their home turf, where they belong, they have the fans on their side. They cheer for them, giving the team a morale boost, that comes in the form of 500 ATK points when a U.A. monster is Special Summoned (think of it as subbing in a new player for one who got hurt, for example). And when the team enters the stadium (in this game, when you Normal Summon a U.A. monster), there won’t just be one of them coming in, there’s gonna be the whole team, so go ahead and search another U.A. monster of your choice.

The entirety of this archetype consists of cards that perfectly combine both the theme of sports and the mechanics of the game to create something that feels just right. Playing this deck will have you thinking you’re the manager of your very own sports team, and I honestly haven’t played any deck in any other game that I’ve enjoyed nearly as much! Well, now that the F.A. archetype is a thing, that might change...car racing? That’s another thing I dislike. But the cards look great.

This archetype depicting a theme I don’t care about at all rekindled my love for TCGs, and has brought me many hours of joy. Since building this deck I’ve played several other card games, and am glad to have done so. TCGs are a fun way to socialize with people who share your passion, and there’s gotta be one out there that you can enjoy.

#yugioh #tcg #way too long

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silverstarsheep · 7 years

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I just adore your art style, it's so cute! I'm thinking of making comics myself. Do you think you could give me some tips on angling or facial expressions or overall detail?

Thank you so so much! I really appreciate that! Like, a whole lot. ^^

I’m not exactly sure how much I’ll be able to help you, though I can at least give you some pointers on expressions! I’ll do my best. I’m sorry this is coming a bit late!

I’m going to use Bendy for my examples, just because he’s super easy to draw and I have him on hand/mind at the moment. But! These can be used on just about anyone.

Keep in mind: this is just my way of doing things. There isn’t one “set” way to create great art! There’s a lot of experimenting, testing and growing when it comes to artwork.

When it comes down to expressions, there are a few things to consider: what are they feeling? How intense is this feeling? How far can, or should you push it? How can you make this feel realistic? In visual storytelling, showing what a character is going through is far more important than telling the reader. In a comic setting, there’s a very fine balance–since you have images to go with the words, but you can’t convey each minute action… At least in a reasonable amount of panels, the dialogue and the images have to work together when they’re used in tandem.

When a character is shouting, you have to push their expression further–it won’t be enough to show them with their mouth slightly open, or with a flat face. Give them wide eyes, or shut their eyes completely with frustration. Open their mouth wide, maybe even get their body language involved if you have enough room. Throw their arms in the air, have them pulling at their hair!

Likewise, if what they’re saying is quiet or somber, soften their expression. Have their gaze ill-focused, or looking to the ground. Their shoulders could be slumped, their brow could be low. Their mouth could be almost, or entirely closed. Or are they happy? Raise their eyebrows, widen their eyes with joy! Bring out that smile! Use as much variety and as many shapes as you can!

Because I’m a visual person, here are a few examples to give you a better idea of what I mean:

(I’m sorry if my handwriting is hard to read)

Which facial expressions are more interesting? Sure, the ones on the left are going through the motions of emoting, but the ones to the right REALLY show how the character is feeling!

Body language is also immensely important when it comes down to expressiveness. Every part of the body can be used to convey a message. The crossing of arms can indicate disgust, or even put a small barrier between two people. Slumped shoulders show disappointment or sadness. Every little movement a character makes can have a massive impact on their overall tone. Here are a few examples like the above:

Even minute changes to a static pose can make a BIG difference! Test around and see what works best.

I’ve noticed that some animators have mirrors near their desk. This is so they can look up at their reflection and make a face into the mirror. They project their character’s feelings onto themselves, that way they can see what sort of facial expression would be best suited to that emotion. Nowadays we can just google this, but it’s still a good idea. Don’t be afraid to look up references whenever you need them. I know I do frequently! There’s no shame in using references!

My friend linked me to this wonderful guide, which goes more in-depth than I did here. Take a look!

I’m sorry I can’t help you quite as much with angles. I feel that I’d need to do a little more research in order to be able to articulate this more fluently. Perhaps some other time I can try and revisit this and go more into depth about perspective and foreshortening, but for now, here’s another great guide that might help you along in the right direction. I use a similar structure for my own drawings!

Speaking of foreshortening, here’s another tutorial! I don’t use this particular method, but it may work for you!

I know you didn’t ask for it, but I’d like to give you some tips about comic making. If you don’t want them, then I guess you can just stop reading, pfff. Either way I’ll put it under a cut so this post doesn’t take up so much of the dashboard.

I have to admit, my method of creating comics is… Unconventional in a variety of ways. I’m sure it’s not the worst way to go about it, but it may be a bit odd. Everyone has their own way, and a part of the process is finding what clicks well with you and your work flow. This is just my method, one of many!

I’ll start off with some of the important basics in comic making! I went to a small panel about comics at a con last year, and there I learned a few tricks and tips!

When it comes down to speech bubbles, it’s a good idea to keep the flow of the comic in mind. Usually comics are read from left to right, so when it comes to speech bubble order it’s best to keep this in mind. Height and distance between the bubbles in the same panel can also alter the order that they’re read in. It’s likely that our eyes will go to the panels on top first, so when it comes to order, it’s better to put the first bubble higher up than the second!

It’s also a good idea to keep in mind where your speech bubbles will be, and how much space they could potentially take. To avoid covering up too much of the characters it’s a good idea to plan these out ahead of time, and leave some extra space for these.

As well as speech bubble order, character order is also important. Again, since we read left to right, the first character we see we will assume is the protagonist, or even the hero. For example, let’s say you have a man using binoculars to spy on someone within a building. This can go two entirely different ways! If this spy was on the leftmost side of the panel, looking into the building that the person on the right is working in, it’ll come across as a hero digging up some dirt on an evil organization. Flip it around, with the person being spied on to the left inside of his home, and the spy outside and to the right of the panel, it’ll come across as a protagonist in immediate danger!

Something I need to remind myself of frequently is guiding the reader’s eyes about the page. This is best done in a subtle manner, where you use the characters and scenery to “point” towards the next panel. You can also use speech bubbles to do this, as when we read our eyes naturally follow along to the next bubble! Having the rightmost bubble lead into the one within the next panel is a pretty easy way to do this. One way I did this in my BatIM comic was by using Bendy’s spaded tail as a literal arrow. Did you notice? Even if I didn’t have the end of his tail pointing, I tried to aim his tail towards the next panel, especially if he’s not facing the “right” direction. The way that a character faces can also have an effect on this, so keep that in mind. They shouldn’t always be facing right, so it helps to have ways to lead reader eyes along.

One comic I poured a lot of focus on for this particular tactic is this one. Here I have Reaper Bird essentially point to where I want the reader’s eyes to go. You’ll also notice that it pops out of the panel now and again. That was a fun little detail I decided to add; in this case I used it to make Reaper Bird feel a little stranger, as it didn’t always fit into the box, even though Gaster did. A nod to how it covers up the dialogue box in-game. You can use this tactic to draw more attention to a character, such as for an introduction! Sometimes you don’t even have to limit them within the confines of the walls of a panel!

Speaking of panels… Making them all the same size and shape gets relatively… Boring. Not to mention there will be times where you either will have too much room for a single panel, or simply not enough! It’s far more engaging when the panels are different in size and shape. Just be sure to keep the flow in mind. We read from left to right, top to bottom. If you want to stack corresponding panels, be sure to make it clear that the top leads into the bottom, and the bottom leads into the one to the left of those!

So here’s how I make my comics: first I start off with my idea, and I plan out the basic idea in my head. From there I’ll write down the idea, and where exactly I want the comic to go. If I need to, I’ll write a basic script so I know what needs to be said and when. If I need more detail, or if I feel I’ll forget what I want to see I’ll script it out more, maybe sketch out panel ideas/format. From there I sort of… Grab paper and start going at it. I ghost out panels on my page. When I say “ghost,” I’m referring to the very light sketches and shapes I create to give myself a basic idea of where I want characters to be, and what I want them to be doing. I start with these light sketches to help me shape my drawings, and so I can easily go back over them and fix any problems or errors.

Once I feel I’ve got the panel looking basically like how I want it, I put a box around it and move to the next one. Though it’s probably better to use a ruler or a straight edge to create your panels. Even though I’m pretty good at making a straight line, and when I ink the boxes it usually works out… My panels are a wee bit lop-sided, haha! I used to plan out each panel carefully and then measure them out on the page I’ll be drawing on. While this doesn’t work for my flow NOW, it may be a useful tactic for you! For larger comics, careful planning is definitely key, but for shorter comics it’s not quite as important.

Anyway, once I have a page ghosted, I’ll go back over it and finish up the sketches, and make sure that each one is easily distinguishable for the inking process. This is usually where I make sure that the readability of the comic flows well for the reader. It’s also when I’ll share it with friends to get outside opinions. It’s usually a good idea to do this! Because you tend to get used to your own art, and you’ll likely miss errors. (I’ve done this too many times to count.)

After things are settled, I start working on the backgrounds. While not absolutely ESSENTIAL, having backgrounds can make your comic look a little more natural. It can help build atmosphere, and give the reader an idea of where the character is! I usually wait until I get the characters drawn, that way the background and character can mesh together a bit better. However if it’s easier to start with a BG for you, then that’s fine, too!

Then it’s off to inking! I focus first on the characters, then the foreground objects, then the background. Colors are next, should I go with them.

Here’s one page I have where I have the ghosted sketch, please excuse the potato cam quality! It’s not much, but I hope it at least gives you an idea.

Here’s a sketch of the full comic, before I inked it. You can still see some of my rough sketch work and where I started to plot out the background.

But that’s all I can think of, at least for right now. Feel free to ask more questions–I’ll do my best to answer them! I hope this helped out, at least a little bit. I’m sorry that it got quite a bit long… And hopefully this all makes sense, somehow. I feel a bit scatterbrained when it comes to teaching!

Good luck with your comics!

#silver asks #bendy and the ink machine #long post #artist tips #phazerstorm

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