#I can't express enough how much I love the art style and the character design

[dangerousdan-dan]

I can already tell this show is going to consume me body and soul

#my adventures with superman #clark kent #superman #lois lane #jimmy olsen #this looks so good and pretty #I can't express enough how much I love the art style and the character design #this is the first time I make an attempt to create gifs pls don't judge me too harshly #dc #dc comics #mine

[sylenth-l]

Hello! I've been a lover of your art for a while now but also been to nervous to leave an ask haha, so I will now!

I was curious if you had any design/hc for Felwinter if he was human? I'm always super curious to see what people think Exo's would've looked like prior to them being Exo (though Felwinter is a special case since he wasn't ever human)

Absolutely love your work, your art is very appreciated and loved 🫂

Oh thank you so much!! 💙

MAN, I know what you mean, I'm always super curious to see these too, but at the same time I can never do it myself. I tried it with Cayde a few times, but it always doesn't look... right. Even though I have some rough idea of what pretty much all Exos I've drawn could've looked like if they were meat humans, it's always hard to put it on paper. I think my problem is that while drawing I have to settle on some particular details (nose shape, hair style, etc), which can be undefined and everchanging in my imagination, and I'm never sure enough in these details to pick just one. With Felwinter - I feel like it's both easy and super hard, because, like you've said, he never had a regular human body to begin with.

On one hand, it's easy to see him as this tall, distant lord of the mountain, with facial features both elegant and sharp, resembling more a marble statue than a human being in his cold, unapproachable beauty. Always proper, always collected, always perfect. He just has this... distinctive image which will be recognizable in any form, I think. On the other hand, that still takes away so much from him that - for me personally - makes him, well, himself and such an interesting character I like to dig into. Felwinter is the only Exo for whom his Exo frame is his very real, original body, he never had another one. He takes all its pros and cons as a given, having nothing to compare it to even on some subconscious level like other Exos. This inevitably affects pretty much every aspect of him interacting with the world - how he behaves, expresses himself, even just moves in general. It gives him this slight fleur of uncomfortable eeriness which is pretty much impossible to achieve with an imperfect meat bag body, which needs to breathe and blink constantly at the very least :D and also can't have these piercing glowing orange-red eyes

I think I've gotten a bit too carried away, not sure anymore where I was going with this, lol 😅 Anyway, I like the idea, it always sounds super fun! I want to try it someday, but, as I said, it's a bit hard for me now. I just need to stop taking this so seriously probably askjdhfkljs

#ask #maybe i should just accept that it's impossible to convert an exo into human with no loss at all

[animehouse-moe]

The Witch and The Beast Episode 1: The Witch and The City of Blazing Red

I'll be brutally honest: this is still a Yokohama production. Hamana brings some good work with their helming of the production, but there's still struggles. But in spite of those struggles I can't help but love this episode, and I can't help but want to talk about it. So let's talk about it.

First of all- the negatives. Characters are off model as often as they are on model, the animation is rather sparse and there's some awkward sequences throughout the episode. Some designs end up a little too simple for my tastes due to limitations with animation, and Hamana's storyboards and sense of direction do not mesh very well at all with this episode.

In spite of all of that there's still a mountain of work that I can only describe as incredible within.

For one, the environment art and art direction was superb. I was worried about how flat the colors were in the PVs, but this episode proved they're able to deliver a great deal of range on incredible environments that mesh 2D and 3D almost effortlessly. A Sign of Affection by and far has the best backgrounds in this season, but personally I'd put The Witch and The Beast as a reasonable second place (with Ishura hot on its tail).

The backgrounds in The Witch and The Beast really bring out the most in terms of style and color, really embodying Satake's modus operandi with them: very strong and full color palettes that hinge around a color or combination. It has me incredibly excited to see how they tackle other sequences in this season.

But that's about the only aspect in this episode that deserves its universal praise (aside from the OST, which is great) , the rest tend to come with a caveat. Like Hamana's boards.

I did sort of tear them apart earlier, but I'll come completely clean: there's still some really great layouts in this episode. They're not god tier and they miss out on the potential with symbolism and whatnot, but they're still damn good pieces that help sell the episode to viewers.

And then there's the animation. Hamana's boards don't really give much opportunity to effectively animate, but there's some sequences that really stand out.

Take, for example, Gideau eating. Sure, it might be a simple and short sequence but the fact that it was animated as well it was speaks volumes to the level of work that can appear with this series.

Similarly, there's this clip of a rotoscoped Gideau winding up a punch for Ione. It might be a little awkward, but the idea and execution of the rotoscoped sequence was really cool to see.

And there's a handful of other moments that express the surprisingly ability of Yokohama's animation for this series. Unfortunately we don't get much animation in Gideau's fight, but I'm hoping that we'll see better work done under more creative and involved storyboards we move along with this story.

It's overall a very middle of the road production with this first episode for sure, but I think that the bad parts are rather mild, while the good parts are quite inspiring. So rather than feeling concern or reservation with this adaptation, I oddly enough find myself excitedly waiting to see what Yokohama manages with the next episode!

#the witch and the beast #majo to yajuu #魔女と野獣 #kousuke satake #anime and manga #anime #anime reccs #anime recommendation #anime review

[littlecritterz]

Urusei Yatsura Art Book Review!

Before I get into the review, I want to gush about how much I adore this book, the series as a whole, and its characters! I started watching the 2022 anime, after seeing a clip of it. The art style is so cute and very colorful!

Prepare for a long read!

I've been keeping up with this series a lot lately, I recommend it if you like slice-of-life mixed with some silliness (and great animation)! Recently, I started watching the original series, which is just as amazing as this one- there's also things that weren't shown (yet?) in the 2022 version of the series. I would like to read the original manga soon, too!

Alright,

Time for the book review! Please note that I'm not showing things in any particular order, and that I'm mainly going to be talking about how cool stuff is lol. I got the book from Ebay (that's what I use the most), and it arrived safe and sound a few weeks later.

The cover art is really cute, especially with the two chibis on the bottom left! I really love how they went about shading Lum's hair in this iteration of the character. I don't have any translations for anything in this book, unfortunately, but we can still appreciate the art!

Upon opening the book, there is a poster that unfolds- above is the front:

And here is the back! The art on both sides is really charming, and the backgrounds are absolutely stunning, especially in that front image. There's just something about it that I really like, from Ataru and Lum's interaction, and the lighting: it works together so well!

On the flipside, all of the characters running is really fun to look at- each character is running (or flying) in a different way, it's subtle, but it shows a small piece of their personality, in a sense.

This is the page before the character design section of the book, which is absolutely stunning: The artists use a lot of patterns and shapes, and I'm all here for it!

Here are some snippets from the character design portion:

One thing I really enjoy about character design is the expressions, and the various outfits the characters are drawn in. Each character has their own unique sense of fashion! I like Ataru's clothing choice, it's stuff that I could see myself wearing- comfy long sleeved tops and simple, cute button downs!

The expressions are so cutesy and cartoonish, I can't get enough of it! As a character artist myself, these pages are great references on how to go about fleshing out my own characters.

Here is Lum's character sheet, as well as the expression part of Mendo's- his expressions are extra silly so I added them!

This art for the Highlight and Staff Interviews are super cute! Lum's outfit with the suspenders is adorable- and the fact Ataru's outfit is coordinated makes it all the more cute!

The visuals for the opening and endings are stunning- I have to sit and watch them each time, plus the music that accompanies it makes it even better! I need to go back and watch it frame by frame, its a masterpiece~ I can't get over the use of color in this series, it's amazing!!! Take a closer look at the visuals here, it's worth it!

You know what, watch the first Opening/Ending here

And the second Opening/Ending here

And check out the channel I got these from (UruYatsu Sensei), they've got full episodes of another series by the same creator, Maison Ikkoku, and a few Urusei Yatsura episodes as well. I appreciate them uploading these, because all the other ones were those interpolated 60 FPS nonsense (ugh).

That's all I got for this review, I hope you enjoyed reading/looking at all the art here, If you're an art book enjoyer like me, I recommend getting this book! And check out the series (OG and 2022 ver.) if you're interested!

Thanks for reading! (Back of book illustration below)

-Imp

#lilcritterz book review #urusei yatsura #art book #concept art #character design

[artfoold00k]

Hey Dook, I really hope the upcoming year brings you nothing but good vibes and a perfect harmony in your awesome art! Your new pieces always make my day, seriously. You're such an inspiration, so dang talented.

Quick question for you: I often find myself stuck when I try to draw in my free time. How do you always come up with such cool ideas? Share your secrets on finding inspiration and drawing as expressively as you do, please!

(´｡• ω •｡`) Ah, you're so kind. Thank you for the good wishes. I wish you an awesome upcoming year as well.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

That's a good question! It's relevant for many fellow artists out there.

SUMMARY: Mix: your passion, your favs, a theme, portfolio and art goals. Power up with your references collection.

In details ⤵️

For me, stumbling onto those bright ideas that really click, started with digging into who I am and what I love.

It's mainly about recognizing the roadblocks and figuring out a fix that fits you. And it's like having a chill heart-to-heart with yourself:

you: I'm stuck. Can't figure out what to draw! mind: Okay. What is your main objective? Work or hobby? you: Feeling a bit rusty. Maybe I should start with something personal, you know, for practice. mind: Got it. First things first, let's jot down your favorite things. Got a list handy? you: Uh, not really. They're all up in my head. mind: No biggie. We can roll with that. It might spark some inspiration. But hey, to spice it up, let's create a visual board of you as an artist. Your focus, your style, your values — everything. Think of it like a moodboard. you: Sounds kinda complex. I just wanted to doodle in my downtime. mind: Trust me, this won't eat up much of your time. It's a breeze, and the result might just be the secret sauce for your future drawings. Start a bit now, pick it up later.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I, actually, aided it further.

All my ideas that wake me up or keep boiling in my head, I write into digital lists (in my case is TickTick app). Because when I see something inspiring (or someone) I can attach a link where needed, or add a custom note with markdown available.

Then I began to fill up my reference folders. I work on them from time to time with a timer (20-30 mins). In my case, when I focus on character design, I have a collection of styles I want to try (including art from my favorite games cuz sure I want to learn how pro artists do it), coloring and drawing tutorials, educational (anatomy and all that), poses/faces/expressions, fashion, etc. *can be on your device, online drive, or a platform like Pinterest. Each set is not enough on its own. To make it work - combine things. Example: pick a pose, add a face to it, choose something trendy and fashionable, add your favorite colors/items/theme, throw some VFX. Mix and mash, don't be afraid to combine incompatible.

By establishing my priorities, I made lists (yet again, my obsession) of what I want to practice and then added each category in a randomizator to pick for me 3 elements to match and challenge. Here is my approximate plan (WIP). Random color generator (one of many out there)

I trained myself not to take too broad themes and stick to what I want to have in my portfolio (what drives my future commissions) while staying versatile. Takes practice.

I hope it helps somehow. It's something that works for me these days but might change in the future.

Find your own way because no one knows you like you do, so the most comfortable way to resolve an issue is the one that's crafted by you. Believe, your mind can find shortcuts and tips for you if tasked to do so. Don't forget to research and store.

#FUQ_Dook ❓ #art advice #dook titips 🔖

[eternal-savvy-blog]

What's your favourite artist?

Oh many!!! Buckle Up cos I'm going all in on this one I'm gonna include SFW and NSFW artists haha. I'll mark what each of them do so you aren't blind sided. And of course there wont be NSFW images linked here. Their names will have links to either their main Twitter, or other primary site you can find their art. And I'll @ their tumblr if I know it below that For sure Junji Ito for horror stuff. That almost goes without saying and I don't think I really need to link his stuff xD he's an absolute titan of horror art

MackleNG (SFW & Horror)

Absolutely amazing linework and generally incredible vibes. They are drawing a webcomic called CHOKEPOINT i have been meaning to check out but I adore their art just in general. I've been using a lot of their art as inspo lately and can't get enough of their cyberpunk designs, horror vibes, and use of pops of colour to emphasise and showcase their incredibly in depth line work and details!

QSY (SFW & NSFW) @qsycomplainsalot

I continue to come back to their art and they are also a huge inspo for me. I'm generally trying to find a way to adapt their colouring into my own style because it's absolutely gorgeous! The way its simultaneously crisp and crunchy, while also soft and expertly blended! It's like candy for my eyes! Add into it their fantastic expressions, excellent pallette choices, incredible weaponry, and of course some excellent NSFW with really great curves, colour, and characters, and they're easily one of my top 3 artists

Tyto_Alba (SFW & NSFW)

Do you like Mecha? Do you like guns? Do you like cute girls and/or boys!? Well, hot shit, me too!!! You NEED to check out Tyto_Alba! Straight up, another one of my top 3. He has legitimately changed the way I do my lineart, the way i draw soft shapes (like butts and stuff :3c) and my god the mechs as well! I legitimately had a hard time finding a good singular piece of their art to use here cos they are so fantastic at both sexy art AND mechs that i really had to find something that showed off a little of both! Something that I personally have noticed with their art as well is just how fuckin incredible they are at drawing HANDS! I am obssessed with their skill with hands and I hope to match up to them some day in that regard! I feel like I'm getting there but I LOVE the way theyre always so Shaped and well posed. As well as how detailed they manage to be without being too attention grabbing unless intentionally in the focus! What's more, they use simple colours so effectively! Much to be loved here! And of course, their NSFW content is top tier! Really excellent soft shapes and squish and really fantastic context and intensity!

RizDraws (NSFW)

Listen... LISTEN OKAY!!! We're hitting the NSFW exclusive part of the list and you have to understand that NSFW artists are just as incredibly skilled as any other artist and that porn is FINE AND NORMAL! Having sexual interest is not unusual. Having a desire to draw these things is a human and regular thing. I could talk for paragraphs about how puritanism is harmful and ultimately denying something natural and inherently human and anyone telling you otherwise has ulterior motives. But that's not what this post is about. I say this because an artist showcase tends beat around the bush with this stuff but I am unwilling to be vague about this. NSFW art is valid and, what's more, Important! That being said, Riz is incredible! The squish! The faces! The fluids! The Dicks! All so good! They somehow straddle the line between pinups and porn in such a brilliant way that I would be happy to have their art on my wall and I'm not kidding haha! The particular way they colour with the chalky texture is often sought after and I see why! Personally I don't look to emulate it myself but I most certainly enjoy looking at it! The way Riz uses their lines and their particular style of chalky colour to make the squish of clothes against flesh really look real! It's somethin else!

Andava (NSFW)

Now where Riz does the mid point between pinups and porn, Andava is definitively porn haha! xD That being said. Hot damn dude! In particular the way they do bodies and have a variety in body types, shapes of boobs and faces. Especially faces. Their characters are really good too and it's very easy to develop a favourite (for me it's Erika and Alexis) There's a reason people have cosplayed their characters and it shows! Absolutely love the variety, the situations/positions they draw! Theyre incredible as making stuff feel messy as well! Highly recommend browsing through their stuff and finding a favourite OC of theirs haha! I was lucky enough to get a commission off them years ago when they were still fairly small in terms of following. So long ago that Tumblr still allowed porn at the time haha! I dont think Discord even existed yet! Still wanna grab a commission off Andava of the same character one day! ALRIGHT I think I will leave it there for now! I could absolutely go longer and talk about even more of my fave artists and why I like them, and how they've inspired me but I get the feeling I should hold off haha (unless of course people would like to see more) I hope this has thoroughly answered your question. Though I know for a fact i will kick myself over not mentioning an artist i should of included later but forgot to lol

#Savvy Speaks #savvy moment

[marustonks]

Oh my lord. Oh my lord, your art is the absolute cutest, most adorable, most scroogly, scrunchable, eepy little thing ever and the English language does not have enough words to describe exactly what I love about the way that you make things. Like, your art is the emoji where you hold the pointer finger and thumb together. It's the word pequeño, but specifically the word pequeño, not the word small.

Your art style is just absolutely adorable, and you draw characters so undeniably beautifully in it that I can't help but smile whenever your artwork pops up on my dashboard. You use colors and clothing beautifully. Your character designs never feel crowded, nor out of place on the character. It feels like something that the character would genuinely wear, a pose or expression that the character would actually have. More than anything, it feels like the character.

I hope you continue making things, because they're all so adorable that they make me want to scream in the best way possible. You're a very, very talented artist.

AWWWJHSJAD thank u so much ;; i'm glad that u like my art style and my designs, i really stress so much making those JJASHD u no have idea how happy made me read this, i'm too insecure about my art style but reading this it really motivates me to upload more !! thank u so much again for ur beautiful words i needed this sm :') <33

[windy-trickster]

Imma just make a list of other moots and talk about them <3 🍓 - @chirp-trolls Hey Spoots <333 You're dorky and friendly and I love that about you. You've helped me a lot w/figuring out chars and classpects and things like that. Your designs are always killer and I love seeing your goofy little fellas on my dash. Thank you so much for being my friend 🍓 - @latkestein Joan Joan Joan!!!! So talented w/both art and music! I still can't thank you enough for that beautiful fansong you made for Ninara!!! You're silly and I adore that about you. Keep up the great work and remember that you're loved and cherished by the people around you &lt;3 🍓 - @duskhunter713 Gretch and GG? My love for them will never falter. I really wanna see more of your art on my dash someday man. I love getting to interact w/you and having our dorky little gray aliens talk to one another. 🍓 - @rabbit-trolls Bestie you're so strange you're so funky but you're so cool bc of it. I love your art style, I love how your art style is so fluent as well??? Like you're really good at copying art styles and capturing the energy of them all. Never a dull moment when talking to you. And thank you for all of the art you've made for me <3 🍓 - @moonie--loonie You. You're cool. You're awesome. I love talking to you. I love your art style. You're so expressive!!!! Your colors and lineart always look nice. I also love getting sprites from you man. Always perfection. 🍓 - @ask-swagger-dagger-trolls Man idk you're pretty freaky??? You're kinda weird??? /pos. Banger character designs, killer art style. You're so goofy and strange to talk to as well. Never a dull moment with you around! 🍓 - @bloodydumpsterrp Idk if you'd consider me a mutual or not but I like to think we're at least friends!!!! [Only if you want to be obviously, no pressure]. Akasha is so cool and a genuinely interesting char. I love your art style and getting to see it on my dash is a blessing. I really wanna see a friendship between Cervin and Akasha bloom if you'd be interested <3 Also I look at that Anahit fanart you made and I cry tears of joy 🍓 - @trollbreak Hi Jonah you silly goober!!! Adorable art, hilarious chars, fun designs! You're an absolute delight to talk to as well!!! Someday Imma doodle one of your silly little aliens!!!!! Someday!!!! I love any art you've given me for the time I've known you. It's always so soft and so so cute looking. I love that my silly ocs are friends w/your silly ocs as well :)

#windy talks #ooc #chirp trolls #latkestein #duskhunter713 #rabbit trolls #moonie loonie #ask swagger dagger trolls #bloodydumpsterrp #trollbreak

[katyspersonal]

I think the most wholesome thing I saw today was a Twitter artist accused, and instead of instantly dogpiling on the easy reason to bully and "cancel" someone, people who enjoyed their art mostly instantly went like 'this is a shame if true, hope they will do better since they clearly have a skill and did so much good stuff already' and 'but I really love their works, hope this is a misunderstanding and will be cleared up'.

Like... I can't stress it enough that creators who do not mind growing rather than staying within small audience of like 4 friends, MUST aspire to build this sort of following. The kind of neutral people but thankful ones, who will not jump into conclusions or at least won't turn so easily. I've seen so many kinda big creators get cannibalised by their own "fans" who instantly forgot everything good this person provided them so far. The trademark "supporting attitude" of the so-called "allies", huh? It is just so terrible how easily the audience you basically have been serving can turn on you once things get bad. All to win cheap sense of moral superiority of throwing the 'strong' person off the platform.

The easiest way to avoid letting this sort of treacherous fake "fans" become your following is, honestly, avoiding catering to the people who pretty much just live to fight (online, of course). Twitter zombies that only care for what race/gender/sexuality someone is and nothing else is the quickest example of the audience that WILL betray you and ENJOY tearing your whole online life apart when they get a reason - even if you are same minority as them or whatever. Like, there is little difference despite what you might expect. If you are a cishet ally being supportive - you are wrong because you are a cishet, if you are a queer person - you 'do not exist in the vacuum' and just queered the 'wrong' way.

Although I intend to stay a niche artist until I die, seeing this happen over and over is more or less why I never draw focus to my queer headcanons even if I have plenty. It is just a good course of action. Like, no flags unless June, no specific words unless asked or relevant to the discussion, etc. I've noticed just depicting love between same gender characters attracts more chill audience than drawing strong focus to how gay/lesbian they are or whatnot, for example. Just drawing different people as people, not as revolutionary statement to "piss off the bigots". Making your designs not white, drawing your favs as not cishets out of love and not out of "spite" is probably the first prevention from attracting the blood thirsty squad who, I can assure you, will absolutely not have your back or remember your services once you disappoint their expectations from you as a perfect pure person with perfect pure history.

Nobody wants THIS sort of audience, really. Attracting people who are here for your style and talent, not for seeing you as a valuable 'blade of justice' is IMPORTANT. Like, may be cynical but when I see a creator that clearly 'serves the community' rather than simply expresses themselves or what they know, I just can't help but go 'yeah, wonder how soon they'll make a mistake and get cannibalised'. "Accountability" is just a justification for witchunts.

#/vent #creativity #internets #naturally the most safe audience you can gather if you just draw white passing people and no ships or straight ships lol. #but it is like... i feel like this is a little boring. people are different and it is great and it is great to at least sometimes remember #but there is a way to go about it that doesn't rely on people who just need a reason to burn YOU even if you were burning other- #-witches with them for months if not years. #granted it often applies to celebrities like actors and writers not just artists but yeah

[briarrosescurse]

Good day, how have you been lately?

(Long text, skip if overwhelmed)

Tbh, your art isn't something I could give any critique of—coming from the perspective I write, I don't really know much of your art journey, so I don't have the right to critique or analysis you in full.

Don't mistake, your art has a distinct style that is impossible to replicate (exclude stealing and tracing, not respected tho), you developed a strong sense of anatomy that I envy, and you're beloved by your mutuals/friends for your upbeat attitude and chaotic, fun-loving nature. Though, I do notice that you are envied and admired for your art, primarily. From what I see, however, your art is only part of your charm. Your characters, drawn or not, are possess personalities and designs that create a diversity acquired by your own view. From someone sheltered and sociable to someone aware yet chaotic, brief description can easily make the concept of your characters clear. Then, there is you, the person that makes these characters possible. From one of your responses, you said that journey and growth are some of the major aspects you often share with the characters you seen yourself the most in. That, is simply an important character essential for you express wonderfully. I admit, I got carried away when I wrote this, so much of this is disorganized.

I probably just took up a lot of your time by sending this, but the thing I wanted you to know the most is that, you are someone incredible for simply being you.

I hope your day goes well.

hello, anon!! first of all, i hope you've had a great day! i wished i could've replied immediately when i saw this, but i wanted to give you a proper answer to this ask, because i honestly felt so touched reading this 😭😭😭🥺🥺🥺

IM JUST. honestly when i first saw this, my heart felt SO warm and i was at a total loss of words, because this was so out of the blue but moreso appreciated??? this is really the most sweetest ask i've ever received from anyone and honestly, i know i will always fondly look back it 🥺 i never really would've imagined that someone would view my work and myself like this, but hearing this genuinely made me SO happy and has to be the highlight of my week !!!

i can tell that just by the fact you took your time for this, you put your thoughts into this and you sounded so polite, that you're a really thoughtful and kind person, anon 😭😭 i have to thank you !!! never change in that aspect, it's a genuine treasure of a trait to have 🥺💗

it feels so rewarding to hear how you perceive my artwork, my ocs and myself included, it's genuinely so sweet of you and i rlly can't thank you enough 😭💘 i'm glad i can share my journey here and that you and other people find it fun to witness!! i hope this can go on for a while longer and i hope to share more with everyone whenever i can 🥺 (ofc the... stealing/tracing incidents are very unlucky but !! i won't let myself be stopped by that !!)

thank you again, anon, i wish you ALL the best!!! 💘💘💘

#ask #[favs] #PLS anon u are an angel on earth i can feel it in my heart #U GENUINELY MADE MY DAY... #and i hope i was coherent enough NSGSJSBKDK

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Hey 💚 Love your new shoujo manga. What were your thoughts while writing and drawing it?

Great question, and I am glad to hear it.

While I was in the middle of writing the story, I started reading some manga of that style, like One Piece, and was amazed by how much the art felt like an extension of the text – I felt almost as if I were watching the panels move along themselves, not just because of the art's expressiveness, but because the panels and their emotional/visual/verbal messages were so closely aligned.

So what I was imagining was a story whose visual style matched its story very closely, so that the art of the story was inseparable from the storytelling itself. The characters and the events would be fully animated, but also in a realistic way.

(For a comparison, see this amazing page from the visual novel Symphogear; the visual style of the whole thing is in that close to anime, in some cases.)

But I didn't know enough about how to do this in graphic novel style to know how to make it work – although I did know a guy who made visual novels and liked to explain how he did various tricks, and then we would do those tricks together, sometimes over Skype. So I was wondering what I could ask him and learn from him.

But I couldn't ask him and learn – he lives in Japan and works as a game developer, so he doesn't have the exact same skills in the manga world as I do. And in a way, the skills aren't actually the main thing – I mean, yes, you can't just copy a visual novel's art, but rather than copying the art, you must imagine what it would look like if it were like a visual novel, even if you're not an experienced artist.

But anyway, the skills are a small part of the challenge, and the bigger part is making the transition from visual novels to graphic novels. There are two things you can do to improve your chances – if you don't have them, you can get Kodansha manga editor-in-chief Hiroaki Yamamoto's Manga Comics: Create to Enjoy, or you can read more about manga cover design. For example, there is a huge difference between manga like One Piece and manga like Girls Last Notebook. Girls Last Notebook is a manga about a girl who is the only character in the entire book, but the story and the visuals tell a much more complicated story than that. I mean, at the time I started my manga I had never read much anime of this style (which may itself have been due to not being into this type of thing) so I didn't even have a sense of where the medium could go, so the visual style of my manga was the thing that I picked completely at random (because of course, I knew nothing about this).

I mean, you can learn more about the visual style of one particular artist or manga by reading a lot of their manga – but you can't do this kind of learning process just by being exposed to a few artists and their styles. Instead you must read enough manga, and read enough different manga, that you can learn the many subtle and not-so-subtle things that an author or artist might do to give their story a particular look.

That's the real skill involved in telling a story with graphic novel-style pictures. It's something you can't really teach other people. The closest thing in the anime world would be to try and become an animator and work on shows you like, or something, but that's different from the experience of, say, animating your own animation or doing manga art, where you have more of an idea what the picture should look like before you start drawing. (The anime world, in addition, has an artstyle – there is a visual style to anime – that is much more recognizable than the unique visual style I'm trying to capture for my manga).

So anyway, as for me, I've now learned more about manga cover design, reading more manga, and working more closely with my artbook guy (he sent me an early draft of what turned out to be a very successful manga). My artbook guy said he was going to teach me how to use Clip Studio Paint (which I know a lot of people use, although for me it's been very difficult to use to its fullest potential). And I've been working with some manga artists to practice things like the art of Yamikawajima Hiroshi, who seems to do very stylized, very expressionistic drawing and who I want to work with more.

In other words, I am in the manga world of now, and I am making the transition to the manga world of the future! And I am sure you can see why I want to be so careful, and make the transition so well.

#holyscream

[splashink-games]

A Note On... Bittersweet Melon Soda

Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is a narrative puzzle game by Froach Club/Poppy Works! Search for your best friend in the streets of Hog Town and have a melon soda while you're at it.

Melon Journey was recommended to me by a friend based on vibes alone. Kind of wild to me that I can get games recommended to me based on vibes, but also I love it.

Anyway, it is beautiful. Both the art and the music went so hard I couldn't stop gushing about it during my playthrough on Twitch.

Like damn, there were bangers in there. And it looks like the music was so good XSEEDGames (the publisher) posted a whole remix playlist for the game. I honestly can't get enough of the music, for real.

That's not all though. I can't express how happy the green palette made me feel during the game, it's insane and incredibly impressive because I knew, but didn't realize, a monochrome palette can work so well for an entire game. Not to mention the graphics are actually, like, so good that it's crazy to me.

The game is pretty simple and standard for your typical RPG Maker-style narrative game. Interact with things and people, find out stuff, collect stuff, and solve the mystery! It works pretty well for the vibes of this game.

My only issue was that there were points in the game where I had no idea what the heck I had to do. Especially with some of the side quests. I'm not sure if that's a level design issue or if I was just smol brain at the time (I did, in fact, underestimate the complicated nature of streaming), but there was big struggle being had while I figured out how to progress the story. That's not to say there were a lot of progression issues, but when there were, I was kind of stumped.

Besides that, I think that the writing is a pretty strong point. There were a lot of funny lines and things you could read just by interacting with nondescript objects. The references (that I managed to catch) were pretty cool. The characters were so good too. They're well-defined and the important characters all have their parts to play. I need Strong Dog and Kitten Princess as besties.

The mystery of the game is also well-executed for my standards (I'm not a mystery reader at all so this was fun). Finding the clues that leads to things and clues that lead to nothing, very cool, indeed.

There's a kind of spoilery section of the game that I won't get into much detail, but it kinda introduced an interesting twist that wasn't really a twist. And that was severely disappointing because of how sudden and how well executed that scene was.

An amazing experience, Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is a definite recommend for my monochrome-coloured, narrative-loving gamers out there!

As always,

Enjoy gaming!

#video games #game review #gaming #ink reviews #a note on... #Melon Journey #Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories

[animehouse-moe]

The Yakuza's Bias Volume 1: Stan Culture X Criminal Underworld

Teki Yatsuda, the author of The Yakuza's Bias, has now had both of their works licensed in English within a single year. Considering there's only two however, there's almost more than a world of difference between the tragic and heart wrenching one shot A Home Far Away, and the incredibly humorous and over the top The Yakuza's Bias. Does that difference stop either from being outstanding reads? Absolutely not.

A Yakuza boss stanning a K-Pop idol isn't exactly the kind of thing you'd think of when "gag" or "comedy" manga comes to mind, but it's here, and I had no idea I needed it this bad. Yatsuda's character designs continue to be incredible, and their art remains impressively detailed and expressive in all the right ways. In this case, more than the subtle emotions and conflictions that plagued Yatsuda's last suite of characters, this time around it's all about conveying the crazy, and they nailed it.

Yatsuda's able to reconcile their very detailed and sharp character designs with smoother and more simple ones to sell the comedy, and I think it's something that should really be commended. Finding a way to preserve style through a lack of detail isn't easy, and they make it seem like it's effortless with the amount of variations they have throughout the first volume.

Similarly effortless is Yatsuda's merging of Yakuza and idol culture. Two extremes within the social sphere that, rather than clash, mesh hilariously well, and produce scenes like this one

And in truth, I think that effortless meshing of idol and Yakuza comes down to Yatsuda's approach. There's a clear lacking of a straight man through effectively all of its humor, so it's almost similar to something like D-Frag! in how it approaches comedy. Just so off the rails that you have nothing to compare it to, so it feels perfectly at home so long as it's funny.

And funny it is. The lead male character, Ken (the second in command of the clan he's a part of), has such a ridiculously fun personality. He's the kind of person that once he starts talking he can't shut up, and it produces some of the funniest skits and ideas you'll come across, like getting into a deep conversation about the idol group MNW with a hostess at a club that gets so emotional you end up buying a couple of bottles.

Past that, there's not really much else to say. It's incredibly hilarious, and continually finds ways to reinvent the wheel with its humor a la The Way of The HouseHusband, and it comfortably wades into the details and world of idol and stan culture. It provides all sorts of info and discussions surrounding this like merch swaps and social media cliques, and even stages several idol arguments in different capacities.

Comedy manga is definitely one of the hardest things to sell people on because of varying senses of humor, but I can't stress enough that people should be trying The Yakuza's Bias. K-Pop fans and Yakuza (parody) fans will certainly fall in love with this first volume, but even outside of those specifics, I think there's plenty for everyone to laugh at with this outlandish concept from Yatsuda. So, if you can, go out and buy this first volume, and if you can't, at least give it a shot online.

#the yakuza's bias #the yakuzas bias #yakuza no oshigoto #やくざの推しごと #comedy manga #gag manga #shoujo #shojo #shoujosei #shojosei #shojo manga #shoujo manga #manga review #manga recommendation #anime and manga #manga

[sessrin-eternity2]

Yashahime Second Act Teaser PV

Yashahime The Second Act is almost here and we have a wonderful yet mysterious new teaser? This is definitely showing some clips from the Second Act preview but we've got some new ones as well because I really don't recall seeing some of these clips in the first preview, so this is interesting. We have Towa here holding the tenseiga above her head while many demons are flying upwards... not sure how they got there... from what I'm thinking someone or something may had summons them possibly for Towa to absorb demon energy to the tenseiga or something. There is still no full confirmation that Towa will keep her father's blade, she may give it back to him or he'll request for her to return it to him since he may need it for another situation. We'll have to see what really happens. I do hope we get some interactions between Sesshomaru and his beloved daughters and hopefully his cinnamon roll niece, Moroha. I'll fangirl so hard if that happens.

Moroha looks like she's ready to take down a foe of some kind, it could be those demons or another rival has arrived to the scene. She looks quite frustrated here, and who could blame her? She's also still furious about Setsuna's unexpected death, they're all family after all. I wonder if she'll be getting new power upgrades like Towa and Setsuna. I hope her parents will be able to see her in action soon.

Setsuna is looking more and more like her father Sesshomaru, this is one of his signature expressions, the eyes, the mouth and the look, definitely Sesshomaru. It appears Towa has been either knocked out or blacked out from something, you can see her down on the ground just a little bit in the top frame of this set. Is Setsuna protecting Towa while she is down and out? I want to see more scenes like that. We've mainly seen Towa or Moroha protecting her the most, now it's time for Setsuna to help protect her big sis. Her new blade is so uniquely designed, I just love it to pieces.

Wow, Riku?! We can already see him here in his newly designed attire, and I love it! Not only he has new clothes, he also has a new earring accessory or possibly the same one and he has added an intriguing sword charm to it. I really admire the style of it... Hm, that's odd to have in the federal era though, unless they did make such charms in that time. We also see some ice or crystal debris flowing around... what happened here?! Did Riku obtain new skills or did he always have these? Is he breaking something? Just what is he doing? Can't wait to see how this unfolds.

What has happened to Kirinmaru?! I don't know why but he looks like he's in deep grief or in some kind of depression... Is he remembering something disturbing of his past? His past wife? His daughter Rion? Things his sister, Zero may had done? Toga perhaps? He looks pretty distraught, almost the way Sesshomaru has been looking lately. I wonder if Zero has messed with his memories... and I do often wonder was she the one involved in causing trouble in Kirinmaru and Rion's relationship as father and daughter. I really want to know what happened with them too. There's not much new with Rion but she seems to have a hand gesture of prayer or begging... She's very beautiful, I love her design, very cutesy.

Oh my flipping Mokomoko! Zero what have you done now?! The pure look of evil and hate in her eyes... who the heck is she even trying to burn in this house?! She's certainly talking and looking down at someone. There are so many theories of what could be going on in this scene...

①️ Many have pointed out that this is Lady Izayoi's mansion and Zero may had contributed in trying to kill her and baby Inuyasha on the same night Toga died. That's a big possibility because Zero can use puppets of herself, we saw that in episode 15 of Season 1. And she may had helped kill Toga? But there was two people in battle, Toga and Takemaru... wouldn't he had of interrupted Zero to stay out of their battle? Or did Takemaru die by Toga's hands immediately... and Toga was able to survive, tried to make his escape but Zero decided to take his life away due to pure jealousy... Oh that would be such a big fat shocking twist if she really was the one who really slaughtered Toga...! Think about how even more infuriated Sesshomaru would be with Zero, he'll have more reasons to kill her... But remember this too, Zero had her other demon markings when she found out about Toga's death and they faded away after making her wish. She don't have those markings in this scene at all.

②️ Could this be Zero on the night she may had of killed or tried to kill someone else? Like... Kirinmaru's Wife? (Don't know if we'll find out about his baby mama and such, plus we don't know if Kirinmaru got married or it was one of those one night stand sort of things.) Was it another character we have no idea about? A familiar character? Or is it Rion? Or worse... possibly Rin?! Girl! You better not be trying to burn Rin after you tied your sorry tail to her beautiful soul, get a life will ya?

③️ Could this be Sesshomaru and Rin's mansion Zero is burning and she trapped Rin inside while doing so? I know there's a lot of us who really want to believe this is the mansion of Sessrin and there's some of us who really don't wanna get clowned but this is a possibility it could be true... because not so long ago Sato gave us some new artworks of Sesshomaru and Rin... and they were in a house together, it's very rare to see them in such places. I often wonder if Sato is telling us stories about Sessrin's life before Rin got into the tree through their art. The artworks they released came before the new preview and not so long ago either... could this house been a spoiler? What if this house or mansion could of been a safe place before the fire in the forest? Did you notice that the walls are almost the same as the ones from Sato's picture? Let's all wait and see if it comes together as these things.

I know for sure this scene of Sesshomaru slashing a butterfly in half has a lot of people worried and pondering about what is going on in this clip... Yes, it is just like the purple dream butterfly, they look the exact same but are colored differently. Not sure if this is the present or just a flashback. This scene actually makes you wonder are there two dream butterflies? One is good and one is evil? The purple could mean Kirinmaru's butterfly or the green one could mean Rion? Her aura is the same color as the green butterfly... however this could be just a spirit like a Japanese user mentioned on their Twitter. Is it a puppet? Is it a ghost? Is this dream butterfly dangerous and has other meanings to it that would cause Sesshomaru to slash it in half? Was it going after Rin? The girls? Inukag? Or Sesshomaru himself? And Sesshomaru, he looks extremely upset in these frames... oh no... what's happened? Please don't be anything bad about Rin, she's dealing with enough as is Sesshomaru.

So much stuff going on, I can't stop processing everything and I can't stop watching the teaser over again. Season 2 please hurry up! *Waits patiently* We're getting closer, just need to keep waiting. (Had to reupload because the other is not appearing, so I take it as one of Tumblrs issues sadly. And sorry for taking long been moving and unpacking a lot. (つ﹏<。)

#sessrin #Yashahime thoughts and theories #sesshomaru #rin #towa #setsuna #moroha #Kirinmaru #yashahime #inuyasha

[theravenlyn-art]

Holy hell almighty I absolutely am in love with your ra art! All your art is amazing but I came for the ra stuff. Your character consistency and how you keep them looking the same with different poses, then the hair floof, I am so jealous of your skill! I aspire to draw like you do! I can't draw characters looking the same each time for shit and you're out here killing it! Thank you for sharing your art so I could stalk your blog to make goo-goo eyes at all of it 🥺💕

omg thank you for the compliments ;-; <3

(post got a bit long because i started talking about some things i do and what i keep in mind and so on, so for the sake of people's dashboard i will put a break)

for character consistency, i definitely referred to old drawings i did to get the design down packed (but also it's subject to change because everything can be improved). i try to have unique faces but i think that it's hairstyle that is what makes each character unique atm.. i guess anime rules? the quick-glance identifier for my characters is usually their hairstyle i think, which is bigger shaped and specifically coloured in comparison to,,, say, ear shape or nose shape.

in the end, it's all just practice 😅 which i know everyone says and it's probably annoying advice especially when a lot of people dont explain how to practice i guess? like i know i struggle sometimes. im also not a teacher so i dont have any good advice. for me, it's a lot of observation and then drawing the shapes over and over until i can draw them on my own.

i hope you have fun on your art journey! my personal opinion is that it should be fun when you create because it helps you be motivated, which in turns helps you to continue to create and to improve.

ive made a lot of silly meme art, for instance, that i only intended to do my quick monochrome style because it's just sketch and fill and done but then i decided to colour it. and from there im pushing to improve my colour choices and shading and all these other things. and i end up putting all this work into something technically silly, but it doesn't matter because i still did it.

another example is that i have a,,, sizeable insecurity/fear in drawing horses after some unsolicited criticism on a 5 min sketch i did a while back. it literally should not matter but it has stuck with me. and why i avoid drawing the ranger horses at pretty much any cost. but i wanted to do an animatic recently with gilan and blaze and it needed a horse,,, so,,, i had to figure out how to draw horses. and make it expressive at that. wasn't easy. but it did work out in the end. as i write this, i realise i should put a link to the animatic 😅

also to you and all the people who spam notes you have a special place in my heart. it's like 'oh i have just found you and your work was good enough to want to look for more AND visually sharing your appreication' so thank you <333

#ask #compliment ask

[friend-of-the-elves]

MORGANNNNNNNNNNNNN “not enough”?! I’m here to tell you how fucking amazing your art work is. Well start with a specific review of your 4 most recently posted pieces.

The Legolas one is incredible. It’s so elegant and ethereal and genuinely beautiful. (I’ve never read or watched anything lotr so this is the best I can do sadly because it’s just a surface level review)

The Celaena/Chaol/Dorian one has me dead. You whipped that one up so quickly after talking about it and you did such an amazing job. It’s hilarious. I love it.

The Gwynlain one(s) ugh it’s so tucking beautiful. It’s once again ethereal and gorgeous. And like you drew Gwynlain!!!!!!!! That just makes me so happy to see them portrayed and for it to be done so incredibly. It’s gorgeous and beautiful and amazing. I’m in awe.

The Tamlin one is incredible. It’s so expressive I can feel his pain and it is very beautiful just the quality and caliber of it and the style it is legitimately beautiful and I’m in awe of you. It is amazing.

So the general theme seems to be “ethereal” but regardless, your artwork is incredible. Truly amazing. And you’re amazing. So glad we talk. Incredible. You’re incredible.

Um oh my god I'm. Uh!! 😳😳 Wow thank you so so much???!!!! Wow!!!!! Such a detailed critique, I'm really humbled..... (Also I want to draw more Tamlin, I miss him so much that I can't stop drawing him...!!)

Yeah I'm 🥺🥺 I have loved everything androgynous since I was a child, whether it's androgynous elves, anime characters or takarazuka theater. Blurring the lines of gender in my art helps me get more comfortable in my own transmasc body🥰 It's very liberating.

You know, to be honest, I thought for a while that I should draw whatever straight couple is popular on bookstagram or whatever, because maybe it would bring in more likes and more followers. Feysand, Rowaelin, and the like. I felt pressured, I think... But in truth, I'm not very interested in drawing heteronormative ships, not only because they're absolutely everywhere in current media, but also because it often encourages unhealthy dynamics in the name of love and I'm... Well. I don't enjoy that!

I've realized I want to draw art that helps me express my thoughts about gender, and have fun with character design by drawing pretty men and masculine women! (And of course the enbies😄)

Thank you so so much boo you made my day!!! (Also I recommend LOTR 100%, the movies at least, even the books if you feel adventurous!! They're incredible, if you like high fantasy I'm sure you will enjoy them!!)

#my talks