#taking a break from high effort shitposting to do some low effort shitposting | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

spearxwind · 4 years

Note

Hey Windy, I've been struggling lately with artblock/fatigue, and I was wondering; how do you go from idea to art, even with like little scribbles? Do you have like a mental list of ideas for drawings already, or do you just sit down to draw and have it come to you then? Do you ever have to force yourself to draw something? What would be your advice to someone who is trying to draw more frequently, but is struggling with ideas/things to draw?

well, that’s funny because I have ALSO been going through some bad artblock/fatigue lately

I rarely RARELY have an idea come to me when im facing the canvas, I cant just sit down and wait for an idea to slap me in the face. usually when i try to do that i just end up either scrolling through social media or just looking at a blank canvas for hours and hours without doing anything

most of my ideas I get either through friends or through music! I talk a lot about ocs with my friends, and we think about interactions with each other or send each other memes that remind us of our characters, and sometimes we do that (even though we DO talk about cool, more aesthetic ideas) but shitposts are a effort-cheap and easy way to draw stuff or break out of art block

With music I just let it play and let my mind go nuts with oc AMV scenarios. Like not to be cringe on main or whatever but imagining your ocs doing crazy shit to edgy music?? absolutely fucking rules and I think everyone should do it. I really like making different playlists for my characters and playing them depending on who i want to think about, since i end up associating the songs to each character whenever i hear them my brain goes hey!! think about this bitch now!!! I’m not sure if you yourself have characters, but if you DONT then making playlists for general vibes works just as well. want to draw something dark and gloomy? make a dark ambience playlist. want to draw smth dynamic and actiony? bam, playlist with songs with a high bpm. this doesnt ALWAYS work, but it helps me enormously! I only have singular oc playlists for like 6 of them (my main ones) even though i have many characters, because its actually very hard for me to associate songs to a character, the rest of my oc lists are general story/universe vibe lists. My bf though has a playlist for each of their characters its incredible idk how they do it

sometimes I will have ideas while listening to music but i cant act on them until weeks later, for whatever reason, so a lot of times i will make a WIP file (i have a folder specifically for WIPS) and pick it up whenever in the future i feel like it (or maybe never) or if i cant get to my laptop ill make a note of the idea wherever I can so I can remember about it (for example that pic of alex shredding a guitar i did for tapas? that one actually sat as a single line of text on my sketchbook for like 2+ months)

speaking of, having a sketchbook is also great! just a small little notebook where I draw... random crap. very low effort nonsense, with pencils and pens and dollar store markers. its a cheap sketchbook too, it doesnt have to be anything fancy either, but it helps for drawing out ideas/thumbnails (that you may or may not polish later), just drawing things to get them out of your system (with the least effort required) and keeping notes for overall stuff (i have... so much extinction crap written down on these its so disorganized oh god)

I hope this helps! at the end of the day there’s not a guaranteed-to-work solution, but you could try other things in the meantime a lot of people also just tell you to plow through an art block by forcing out art which is horrible advice. unless art is your work you shouldnt HAVE to force it. youre doing it for fun! it’s ok to put it down and focus on other things. it might take a couple days, or over a week, but sometime you’ll think ‘oh shit i want to draw’ again and youll get back to it :3

#wow i wrote the fucking bible 2 wwoogghh #if you read it all youre braver than any US marine #advice #ask

15 notes · View notes

tricktster · 5 years

Text

Disclaimer: For new followers who only know me from my recent Great Tumblr Posts, please let it be known that I am not just a fantastic shitposter but also, and I know this ridiculous, the author of the number one Ao3 undertale fic (which is a sans/reader fic) and furthermore, technically, a salesman of fine branded apparel based upon my own intellectual property that I developed FOR the number one Ao3 undertale fic (which is a sans/reader fic)

okay.

Author Interview

tagged by @kastlecastles

name: tricktster on tumblr, totalskeltetontrash on ao3

fandoms: I gotta tell you, for the author of the #1 Undertale fanfiction of all time [by certain metrics], I’m not great at being a participatory part of any fandom.

where you post: ao3 and tumblr

most popular oneshot: Probably “In Which Capra Gets Some Bad News,” if by “popular” you mean “people get the most upset with me about it”

most popular multi-chapter fic; favorite story you’ve written; fic you were nervous to post: Since I have taken an utterly bizarre route of basically only writing one fic consisting of two books (and quite a few spinoff one-shots), the answer for all of these has to be Chill or Be Chilled. In particular book 2 of CoBC.

how you choose your titles:

I chose Chill or Be Chilled basically on account of laziness, because I had a really antagonistic mentality towards writing a fanfic at the beginning of creating what would end up being a 2 book, 176 chapter, 480,000 word work. It was a super low effort thought process, along the lines of “hahahha wtf dude i’m actually writing an undertale fanfic for some reason and these idiots are gonna have to read it, okay, what’s a line from undertale that I can make a halfhearted attempt to reference, kill or be killed, ok, got it, publish.” Joke’s on me, though, that’s a STUPID name that we all have to live with now.

I spent a lot more time on chapter titles, because I could actually accomplish something with those. I wanted to establish a chapter titling convention from the beginning, and I’ve always been fond of old fashioned chapter title stylings (I.e. “in which” or “wherein”) combined with either “something that happened in the chapter that is not actually important” or “an actual lie about what happens in the chapter.” What I liked so much about that method, in particular, is the dramatic effect that straying from the convention could cause. I mean, look at these:

When I published 146, which is a weird and spooky chapter (and a definite break from a lot of the other stylistic conventions that are well established in CoBC by chapter 146), I wanted readers to feel on-edge/wondering if this was the beginning of the endgame/searching for hints or double-meanings throughout the chapter. I just checked out the comments on that chapter and screengrabbed a handful of the reactions, which are all kind of along the same lines:

As a rule, end of book/endgame chapters also got titles that were outside the normal conventions. Book 2 was fun, because there’s a miniboss and a larger boss, and I didn’t want to tip anyone off as I was publishing the miniboss chapters that a bigger fight was coming. So for BBEG1, I used thematically appropriate font names as titles, which were genuinely fun to try to find. BBEG2 represented the actual end of a lot of work and a story I’d really grown to care about, so I played it straight and used titles from the undertale OST.

do you outline: I started out refusing to outline, because that would mean that I actually cared about what I was writing, and if I cared, that meant I couldn’t stay ironically detached from the whole thing.

But then I gave up on being cool and instead I decided to write a time travel plot that required me to set some things up 70+ chapters before I’d write the chapter that would reveal their significance ... so yeah, I broke down and finally outlined.

I think an outline is generally a pretty good idea, with the caveat that it’s fine to keep it as bare bones as possible. You can always add to it, but I find that the more I focus on making sure my outline is immaculate, the less I’m able to pivot on the fly when I stumble upon a smarter or more fun way to introduce a plot point.

complete: CoBC is complete, but it’s marked incomplete because, you know, bonus chapters

in progress: There’s a bonus chapter for CoBC that’s half-drafted in a Google doc somewhere. I haven’t touched it in a while, but when it comes out, I think people will be into it, insofar as they like and want to know more about Cody (who is a pretty fun OC, honestly)

coming soon/not yet started: Any part of my original work, High Fantasy, that takes us out of Farhold, and into the greater world at large. Farhold is finally starting to feel fleshed out in my own mind, so bringing an entire continent to life around it is DAUNTING

do you accept prompts: Uhhhhh you can certainly try I guess

upcoming story you are most excited to write: High Fantasy is so fun to write, and I love imagining that distant date where it’ll be finished

tagging (no pressure!): @mod2amaryllis, @kaytemchugh, @wrexie, @thaylepo, @dismyblog. @misssugarpinkshome, @trucbiduleschouettes

57 notes · View notes

underpuffau · 6 years

Photo

Underpuff 200 Follower Retrospective

Well, we’ve done it Underpuff now has 200 followers. How many of them actively follow the AU is impossible to know, but one thing is for sure. That 200 people saw my AU, and enjoyed it enough to hit follow. This means so much you can’t even imagine. No matter how you look at it, 200 people is a fuckton of people, and I couldn’t be more happy you all decided to follow this little ol’ Kirby AU. Sadly though, unlike last time, I really don’t have a way to celebrate this via a sneak peak of the next part. There also isn’t anything I particularly wanna show off either as far as roles or plot goes. So clearly the most logical thing to do is talk about my old work and laugh at it. That’s right, to celebrate this step forward, let’s take some steps backwards, and look at the hilarious atrocity that was the Underpuff Preboot.

Let’s start from the beginning. Starting from the middle was considered but I thought it was too post modern. Back in ye olden days of Sprite AUs, crossovers were just becoming a thing, the leaders of this format being Undertoad, and the now dead Smashtale.I oved the idea of crossing over Undertale with other series, and the number one AU I wanted to see happen, was of course, a Kirby AU. Every day I prayed for some kind of music track or comic part to be made for one, rather than all the vague concepts I saw thrown around from time to time. I waited an waited, but a Kirby AU never came. One day, on a Meta Knight as Mettaton shitpost on r/Undertale, I talked about this want for a Kirby AU in the comments, and some vague ideas I had for one.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Undertale/comments/4h335y/metta_knight/d2nb7p7/

As you can see things, really didn’t pan out like this, but one step at a time. After posting this comment, and reading responses to it, I came up with more and more ideas, and I even drew concept art of all the roles!

Adecryforhelp

Keel me

Kirb stomp me into the ground

LololOH GOD

JOLY SHIT

eta knig.

eta knig period.

Whispy (why) Wood(you do this to me)s

Here take this for your eyes, I bet you need it right now

But yeah, my art and design skills weren’t up to snuff at the time. I’ve obviously gotten much better, but at the time I was a full blown amateur and was blissfully unaware. Gotta love that Dunning Kruger effect huh?

But all these “ideas” and art were for nothing, as I had a shit laptop at home that couldn’t do jack shit without coming close to fucking combustion. Like, it was so bad, I used my Wii U for everything Internet related. The Internet Browser on the Wii U was a better alternative than my actual computer. Let that sink in. However, spending so much time on the Wii U would lead you to discover new games and apps when they popped up, and for me, one of those was the software called Pixel Maker. And this is where Underpuff would get it’s start.

Pixel Maker was a pretty good software. I did exactly as was advertised, allow you to make pixel art on your Wii U. I saw this as my opportunity to finally make my ideas a reality, and when I had enough money, I bought it without delay. I got started making the first stages of Underpuff. I had no way to pull straight from Undertale. I had to eyball the maps and recreate them to the best of my ability, with the Great Cave reskin aesthetic of course. When I went to make text, I tried to recreate the UT font myself, but was unable to do it. With all the pre made fonts in PM not being to my liking, and the software lacking text sizes at the time, I decided to make my own font.

This was a mistake.

It was poorly made and ugly to look at, but I used it throughout all 7 preboot parts. And since this was my own font made in PM, I couldn’t use the text tool to apply it. I had to meticulously copy paste EVERY SINGLE LETTER. It was annoying, and resulted in me despising text. But hey, it’s just the font, so long as the spritework looks good, who cares?

Anymore of that bleach leftover? It’s for me.

But yes, Underpuff, in all awfully sprited and JPGed goodness, was murder on your eyes. (And probably soul too)

Why is the file type blurry ass JPG o all things you ask? Well my fan, allow me to tell you about my process for getting Underpuff to imgur.

Step 1: Create Panel

Step 2: Go to miiverse

Step 3: Save screenshot of the panel into screenshot album

Repeat till part is complete

Step 4: Access album from browser

Step 5: Copy image url

Step 6: Paste this url into imgurs uploader

Repeat until part is uploaded

But what does this have to do with JPG? Well, the answer is that Miiverse’s screenshots save in, you guessed it, JPG! So my images were blurry not of my own volition!

But, even if the visuals are completely, 100% awful, the dialogue must at least make uop for it. Surely I didn’t stoop so low as to just slightly modify Undertale dialogue right? RIGHT?

...

God dammit.

Underpuff was a reskin to the highest degree. Character relationships, dialogue, areas, all just Undertale with a Kirby paint. That’s all it was. And I was sitting here, wondering why the hell I couldn’t break 10 upvotes on reddit. This was why, cause I was a terrible writer, artist, and typographist. But it added up to something in the end, because one day I realized this, and rebooted Underpuff into it’s current state right now. A fully fleshed out, new story, with logical relationships, and a huge focus on lore and characterization. You know why I put those on such high pedestals, because of this. Because of preboot. I don’t want anything like Preboot to ever exist again, and it’s why I want to make Underpuff as sound in the Kirby universe as I can, while still having plenty of characters to work with..

And now, I have an actual computer, that I can actually make panels with. I still go back to PM from time to time, usually for battlesprites, since I like doing those by hand, but most of my work is done on here now. The parts may come out slower these days, but that’s because actual effort is being put forth now. Everyday I think of how to improve Underpuff’s story, fix plot holes or mistakes, all so I can make what I’ve been told is the only good Kirby AU the best it can possibly be.I take my time and not try to rush parts out per month like I did, all so I can achieve the quality I want. (The Reboot battle system wouldn’t exist if I didn’t take so long on Part 2.)

While I may not get the amount of asks, fanart, or music as I would like, one thing remains true. 200 of you appreciate the new Underpuff, and the work I put in. You appreciate the fact it’s not a shitty JPG reskin. You appreciate the fact I try to be lore and characterization friendly. And I appreciate all of you, my friends and fans who support me and what I do. If it weren’t for all of you, I may have given up, but all eyes are on me, and I’m not gonna disappoint. I may be a little sappy right now, but hey, I’m a Kirby AU, gotta be somewhat wholesome right? But to all of you, whether you have been here since the preboot, or jumped on for the reboot, I just gotta say...

-Thank you, Pika

#undertale #kirby #undertale au #undertaleau #undertale_au #nintendo #hal

23 notes · View notes

sentoku · 7 years

Text

Holy crap, the GMAT

There's a test called the GMAT, which colleges use to decide which applicants they'll let in to study MBAs. I found out about it a fortnight ago, when a prospective student contacted me via the tutoring company and asked if I could help her study for it.

The answer, I discovered after looking through the relevant material, was a surprisingly emphatic “yes!”. The GMAT seems unusually tailored to me, to the point where I'm literally considering applying for business school based on how well I'd do on the entrance exam*. I bring this up because most of the reasons I'd do well on the GMAT are reasons most rationalist and rationalish blogger types would do well on the GMAT; if you're reading this, have an undergrad degree, and would be interested in going to a fancy business school, I think that's a lot more of an option than I think you think it is.

The GMAT has four sections. I'll break these down below.

Quantitative

The quantitative section is a list of 75 math-based multiple-choice questions. These don't test any knowledge you wouldn't have picked up in the first half of high school, but they use it very trickily and creatively, and only give you two minutes per question. It's less a test of what you know, and more of how intimately you know it.

The questions are split into standard math questions and 'data sufficiency' questions. 'Data sufficiency' gives you two statements, A and B, and asks which of them are sufficient to find the answer to a question (the five options: A, B, either, both together, or none of the above). Highschool math plus rules of inference, basically; any HJPEV-wannabe types will be right at home with them.

Verbal

This section is composed of multiple-choice questions testing reading comprehension, critical reasoning, and sentence correction. These are all what they sound like. I have a special place in my heart for the last one; after years of being pedantic about grammar, my weird obsession is finally useful!

Integrated Reasoning

“Okay, so they can math, and they can words, but can they math and words?” Apparently a lot of people good at Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning turned out to be bad at using them in conjunction, so the Integrated Reasoning section was added in 2012 to weed such people out. I love this section; using multiple low-level skills simultaneously is what I was made for.

There are four question types, all of the same format: you get some data, and have to answer several multiple-choice questions about that data. The data can be in the form of a graph, a table, a series of fake news articles, or just a long and convoluted word problem.

It's fairly straightforward. I'd bring your attention to the 'two-part analysis' question type, though, since they're deceptively difficult unless you've become familiar with the genre. That is, they looked easy to me at first; then, I tried one and failed pathetically; then, I tried five more and they became as easy as they'd originally looked**.

Analytical Writing Assessment

This is the only part I might have a problem with. The actual content isn't likely to be an issue: they give you an argument and tell you to critique it, which is what we've all been doing since we got internet connections. But they give you thirty minutes to produce an entire essay. I can write, but I can't necessarily write like I'm running out of time; this post took me like three hours.

The good news is that terrible handwriting isn't an issue, since this section – like all sections – is done via computer. You can use the same skills you've been using to shitpost on tumblr to discourse your way into business school.

If all of those sections sound like things you'd do well at, then you may want to look into taking the GMAT, either as a route into an MBA or an impressive extra line on a resume.

If parts of it sound like things you'd do well at, while others sound like things you'd do okay or poorly at, don't let that put you off entirely. For one thing, the Total - which most people pay most attention to - depends solely on the multiple choice sections. For another, the parts of the test are scored separately; if you get a freakishly high Integrated Reasoning mark and average marks for the other sections, it won’t be averaged out to “slightly above average, in general”, and you'll be able to show off your one good section to employers who desperately need Integrated Reasoners.

And even if something prevents you from taking the test – you can't afford the entry fee, or you freak out under test conditions, or you can't read fast enough*** – it may still be worth knowing about, just because of how fun and lucrative tutoring wannabe MBAs can be.

To sum up: the GMAT is remarkably rationalist-friendly; business school is therefore surprisingly rationalist-accessible; GMAT prep tutoring is also a decent source of part-time work.

*I'm not even kidding. Please feel free to talk me into/out of doing this.

**Actually, that seems to be true of the GMAT in general. Many sections and question types look like they require no preparation, but turn out to need a small amount of preparation. I have a paranoid theory that this is a way to trick people into thinking that they need a large amount of preparation, so they buy prep materials from the GMAT-writers and their friends. Healthy young undergrad looks at example test, thinks it's easy, flunks and drops $500 in a panicked attempt not to fail the resit; many such cases, probably. But they can't actually make success dependent on access to expensive materials, since that would make it impossible for smart poor people who made a decent effort to pass, so they do the next best thing, and make it look easier and more approachable than it is to trap overconfident rich kids.

***I'd look into getting accommodations for those last two, FYI; the GMAT website is pretty emphatic about how it accommodates disabled people, though I don't know how much that translates into actual action.

#sorta notes #tutoring

30 notes · View notes