#also its amazing to see how many different ways there are out there to structure words and make sentences. i love languages

[bengaly]

Experimenting with different visual cues to show that a character is not quite fluent in a language yet. Commentary and extras below the cut. (the other language is kalaallisut, a real language spoken in greenland, albeit machine translated and probs not 100% accurate)

1. Blurred bits

I feel like this one isn't very visually pleasing, but it speaks to me more regarding how learning a language feels. You don't quite make out what the words are, and slowly pick up bits from what is being said. This also adds room for uncertainty on the character's POV, the speech bubble wouldn't be theirs, but what you read off it would be their thoughts regarding whats being said. The blur also helps keeping things incomprehensible even if you speak the other language being spoken.

2. Bits in multiple languages

This one adds room for out of the speech bubble commentary. It doesn't make misunderstandings as easy as with the blurred speech, and with an agglutinative language like kalaallisut it might end up being confusing to organise or break the sentence's syntax. It looks cleaner than the blurred bits though, and it still makes the other language incomprehensible (if you dont speak kalaallisut, that is). Colour coding would help indicate whats being understood by the main character and what isnt, and the texts would slowly be fully red across the chapters.

3. Faded colour to indicate not understanding

This makes the reader able to understand everything, and relies on the reader memorising that faded = not understood by the character. Other than that, colour coding would indicate a change of languages.

I like the reader only understanding what the character can understand and I like the types that leave kalaallisut still visible. Though option 3 might be cleaner and easier to manange.

4. Faded colour + blur

This is something I thought after posting it earlier on patreon. Blurring the parts the main character wouldn't understand can be a way for the brain to quickly skip through the missed text, in hopes that at least the first reading will match what the character is understanding.

Also, for the enjoyment of my 4 greenlandic followers, heres the machine translated kalaallisut version I used for 1 & 2. I had to use a double way translation tool and an annotation tool to be sure the words were somewhat related to what I wanted them to be. I can't really fact check it though, so I hope that whichever way the translator messed up is at least worth a chuckle.

If you'd like to see more of this kinda stuff, please consider supporting me on patreon

#comic #marangatu #language learning #brart #brazilian artist #latino artists #brazilian artists #greenland #if i were to make this a big project id hire a translator btw #and fool myself into learning a 7th language probably #the more languages you learn the less you care about how many people speak it or how profitable it'd be #sometimes the most dellicious languages to study are hidden in a 800km range area #also its amazing to see how many different ways there are out there to structure words and make sentences. i love languages #kalaallisut #comics

[emo-batboy]

Battinson on SNL

Idk how popular Saturday Night Live is outside of the US so there will be some links for context. That said, as a New Jersey native, I think Battinson would totally watch the show. And since he's a celebrity...👀

SO

To promote WE’s newest charity fund, Alfred signs Bruce up to be a guest host on SNL (à la this post) The announcement is made, and everyone’s like “oh this is going to be a disaster. That man can’t even hold eye contact or speak a full sentence without crying.”

But oh, that’s why it’s so funny.

Now, hear me out. Bruce’s strengths are displayed best when he’s himself. That’s why he’s so popular in Gotham. That’s why the internet calls him Relatable TM and a Disaster (Affectionate) and “Poor Little Meow Meow.” It’s his ✨ essence ✨

But he tends to get overwhelmed or self-conscious onstage, right? Because he can’t be Himself himself if he has time to overthink something. So after a few meetings with Bruce, the writers of SNL figure out the perfect way to keep Bruce from getting anxious.

They decide to load this episode with as many skits where Bruce plays different caricature-like versions of himself as possible. The objective? Make him break character and laugh so he doesn’t overthink. And if he breaks character, he’ll still technically be in character because he’s playing himself, you know? Genius.

So that’s how they go about structuring the show. During the few days they have to write, they decide to take everything about Bruce’s public image and either ramp it up to 11 or turn it on its head.

He speaks quietly? Turn it into a running gag. He dresses in all black? Make him emo. He tips well? Add that in too. He’s “depressed” and “sad?” Literally, all he does on screen is laugh and break character. What’s not to love?

Of course, Bruce also gets to decide what skits are in each episode as well. (Refer to this if you have no idea how SNL works.) He loves the idea, though, and he has a surprisingly dark sense of humor which bleeds into some of the sketches. They add in a few skits without him, and they’ve got their lineup.

It’s the wildest episode of the season. Here are the highlights:

OPENING MONOLOGUE

It’s the big night, everyone’s excited to see Bruce Wayne hosting a live sketch comedy show with no idea how it will turn out.

To begin his monologue, Bruce walks on, opens his mouth to start talking, and immediately two cast members appear as stagehands to set up six microphones in front of him. He is already struggling to keep himself together.

Bruce: “You may be wondering why I’m host- Cast Member: *adds one more tiny microphone to his chest* Bruce: “You may be wondering why I’m hosting tonight.”

It’s working. The audience loves it.

Halfway through, Kate McKinnon comes out in a dark cloak with a chalice. “Your sustenance, my lord.” *sees camera* “Oh. Sorry. Carry on.” And she shambles off. Bruce has to take a second before continuing.

Bruce knows when (most of) the jokes come. It’s literally on the cue cards, but he still falls into a fit of giggles.

There are a few more gags, including Lex Luthor peeking out from behind the band set-up, all teasing the show to come.

Overall, an amazing way to set the tone for the episode. Expectations have been set. Then the skits begin!

(Oh but before I forget: During every single live skit with Bruce, the writers have scheduled for one of the cast members to run in dressed as a stagehand and put an extra mic on him. They do not tell him when it will happen.)

SKIT #1

Between the monologue and the first skit, he has to do a really fast quick change, but to everyone’s surprise, Bruce is a natural. (Huh, wonder why.)

The skit is called Gotham PTA Meeting. We open in a meeting room full of stereotypical PTA moms setting down baked goods and gossiping. And apparently, there is a new PTA member attending today 👀

Right as the meeting starts, he enters. Bruce walks in wearing the most emo get-up imaginable. He’s got a Nirvana shirt, a comical amount of eyeliner, black skinny jeans, chain accessories, metal rings, AND a clip-in extension to give him fringe.

Someone immediately runs in and puts another mic on him.

PTA Mom: “Oh, Bruce! You made it! Did you bring a snack?” Bruce: “I brought lemon bars.” PTA Mom: “Why are they black?” Bruce: “They match my soul…they’re also vegan.”

He talks like a moody teenager. HE CONSTANTLY has to brush the fringe off to the side to read the cue cards. And because there’s so much eyeliner and he’s sweating a bit from the lights, it starts running everywhere.

PTA Mom: “Bruce, you’re a little quiet. What are your thoughts on increasing the school lunch budget?” Bruce: *eyeliner dripping down his chin* “I think it’s a great idea.”

SKIT #2

For a pre-filmed skit, they bring back the Chad character with Pete Davidson.

It’s 2 am, and Chad is working at a 24hr drug store in Gotham. He’s reading Twilight (the book is upside down) when the lights begin to flicker.

He turns around and tries the light switch, turns back around, and JUMPSCARE it’s Bruce dressed as Edward from Twilight.

Yes, he IS sparkly.

Bruce is awkwardly holding a bunch of items, all concerning. He plops down a few knives, several raw meats, Sudafed. Chad: “Oh hey.” Bruce: O_O “I’d like to check out please.” Chad: “Lit.”

Chad’s “No Fucks Given” energy and Bruce’s “Please Do Not Perceive Me” energy clash like titans. The whole skit centers around it.

Bruce: *sweating bullets* “Oh. You’re reading Twilight?” Chad: “Just the title.” Bruce: *throws the book through the window at lightning speed* “It’s not very good. You should probably read something else.” Chad: *shrugs* “Okay.”

Chad: “ID?” Bruce: “ID? For what?” Chad: “Sudafed.” Bruce: “Oh. I don’t really need that, actually.” Chad: “Already scanned it.” Bruce: “Haha. Of course.” *awkwardly produces a scroll from his pocket that says Bruce Wayne DOB: 1901* Chad: “Okay.”

Bruce checks out, Chad picks up a porno mag or something, and we see Bruce turn into a bat and fly off through the window behind him.

SKIT #3

The next skit they have is Celebrity Family Feud: Billionaires Edition. Again, Bruce plays himself, but he’s more of a background character. Instead, the skit makes fun of billionaires as a whole.

Bruce’s team consists of Kylie Jenner, Lex Luthor, and Oliver Queen. So just imagine three Lucille Bluths standing beside one another. 

Bruce’s bit? He just keeps handing cash to Steve Harvey every time he breathes in his direction.

Host: "We got the richest man in the world: Bruce Wayne!" Bruce: *hands him a roll of cash* Host: "Oh, what’s this for?" Bruce: "It’s your tip. I always tip." Host: "Oh, Mr. Wayne, you don’t usually tip the show host. I’m also a millionaire myself." Lex Luthor: *snatches it* "Well, if you’re not going to use it, I will…for charity, of course." Host: "Uh huh, whatever helps you sleep at night."

Just a ton of fun quips, the usual.

At some point, Harvey says, “That’s batty.” Bruce: *ducks* “Where?!” Host: “Oh, I don’t mean Batman. He’s not here.” Bruce: “You don’t know that.”

This time, the mic bit is a bit different.

Host: “We asked 100 billionaires: How much does a loaf of bread cost? Top three answers are on the board.” Bruce: *hits buzzer* Host: Bruce, your answer is? Cast Member: *runs in with a megaphone and holds it in front of Bruce* Bruce: “TEN DOLLARS?”

Board dings! That was the #1 answer

Brucie Wayne for the win

SKIT #4

Next is a skit that dares to ask Gotham, “Why would anyone live here?”

The skit begins with someone opening a press conference for Wayne Enterprises. “And now presenting: Bruce Wayne!” Bruce walks in…

But it’s not him. Instead, it’s one of the cast members dressed in a black suit with horribly gelled brown hair.

Everyone in the audience is wondering where the actual Bruce is before another cast member runs onstage crying, “Help! Help! I’ve just been robbed! Somebody call Batman!”

A mini version of the bat-signal lights up…

We hear some generic hero music play…

And there he is: Bruce Wayne dressed in a horribly cheap Batman costume

(They got the cowl ALL wrong btw)

Bruce puts his hands on his hips in a weird superhero pose. Bruce: “I’m Batm-” Cast Member: *runs out to attach another mic to his costume* Bruce: “….I’m Batman!”

Cue all of the gags and digs against Batman. The fake Bruce faints then starts crying under a table. Someone calls Batman a furry. Bruce is barely keeping it together the whole time. Lord help him, but he asked for it. He approved the skit.

Bruce: “Looks like a job for my bat taser!” Cast Member: “Isn’t that just a taser with a bat on it?” Bruce: *whispers* “You shut your mouth.”

He saves the day, the police take the thief into custody, then Batman myStErioUsly disappears. Bruce: “Look over there!” *runs off* Cast Member: “Oh my gooood, how did he do that?”

CLOSING SEGMENT

Finally, they have the Weekend Update where Bruce comes on as himself for the final time.

Since they got his permission, the writers switch out some of Bruce’s jokes last minute. (Think Bill Hader’s Stefon which notoriously caused him to break character because the writers would mess with his cue cards.)

News Anchor: “Here to promote his newest humanitarian project: Bruce Wayne!” “Mr. Wayne, what a pleasure to see you today.” Bruce: “Thank you. This is probably the longest I’ve been out of the house.” News Anchor: “Since the Riddler catastrophe?” Bruce: “Since ever.”

News Anchor: “So Mr. Wayne! Before you make your announcement, any life updates?” Bruce: “Yes, actually. Just a few days ago, I adopted five- *starts losing it* five more children.” News Anchor: “Wow, really? So you have eight kids now.” Bruce: “Uh huh. *tears streaming down his face* One more orphan and I get the tenth one free.”

News Anchor: “So where can people find you online?” Bruce: “Well, I don’t have social media because I’m afraid of people, but sometimes I’m on Twitter.” News Anchor: “What about a phone call?” Bruce: “Oh no, phone calls- *giggle* phone calls give me fainting spells.”

It’s a great way of finishing the show, with the most genuine version of Bruce. Then, he gets to what’s really important!

News Anchor: “So if they can’t reach you on social media or on the phone, what else can our viewers do, Mr. Wayne?” Bruce: “They can donate to the Wayne Foundation’s newest charity called The Arts Initiative. It funds programs for the arts in underdeveloped school districts nationwide. I’ve already donated $30 million, and I’ve pledged to match every dollar donated within the next week.”

And that’s what he’s here for :) They share a link for where and how to donate. The anchors praise him for his charity, which he deflects because he can definitely afford this, and the 90-minute broadcast is over.

The camera pans away with the whole cast waving goodbye, and Bruce is seen keeling over with laughter.

Along with some of the other skits, these four specifically go viral. WE raises a fuck ton of money, and everyone loves Bruce.

THE END

LOVE YOU ALL!! Let me know what you think :D

#battinson #bruce wayne #batman #batman 2022 #the batman 2022 #the batman #battinson needs a hug #gotham #dc universe #dc #saturday night live #snl #soft bruce wayne #batdad #batfamily #gotham city #brucie wayne #only in gotham #give battinson a child 2k23

[fipindustries]

not a question but basically any time i remember your art exists im looking it up and down and trying to take inspiration from it. your expression work is always top notch, and the way you depict faces is the perfect balance between cartoony and well defined

oh my god this is such an amazing compliment! thank you so much!

you know, i think this has been a long time coming. im going to take this as a chance to go in depth about how my style works, why i do what i do and how i do it. do keep in mind that none of this is me saying "this is the objectively correct way of doing art" but rather just how my own process works, what I like to see in my own art.

that balance that you speak of comes from a commitment to underlying structures. what im going to call the stylization sandwich

i start with a clear, well defined solid structure, i add whatever wacky cartoony features i want on top of it (none the less strongly tied and guided by the underlying structure) and then i refine by adding as many more realistic, grounding details i want, although you can go too far with it so i gotta be careful or ill end up with those shitty "cartoon character IRL would look scary!" clickbait drawings.

(quick aside, this trend fucking sucks, its obvious the artist went out of their way to make the drawing creepy, this pretension that "actually the character would look scary irl" deliberatly misundertands the principles of stylization, its as creatively bankrupt as jokes about mario eating mushrooms)

getting back on topic, the point is that, as long as the underlying structures are solid you can build whatever you want on top of them and it will make sense

a key tool here is internalizing the way the proportions on the face work. and i say internalize because obviously i dont actually have the golden ratio memorized inside my head nor do i stop and measure and calculate all the proportions in the features. i just read a lot about drawing, i drew a lot, i tried to always keep a critical eye to what im drawing and see if it "feels" disproportionate. once you get an eye for it then you know how far you can push things before they complitely break

let me give you another example of what i feel is a botched execution of this.

if you look closely at the face on the left there are a lot of things that dont make sense. the corners of the eyebrows dip down into the eyes when usually the eyes are enveloped by the eyebrows, the way the beard grows around the nose is just not how facial hair is distributed, the mouth is too big, etc. on the left i used photoshop to reorganize the factions into something that makes a bit more sense to me

(another quick aside, the real big problem at the heart of the original drawing were not so much the proportions but the tangents, when different lines touch each other like this that is usually a big no no but that is a topic for another day)

also a lot of it is just me cheating. yeah i cheat. you ever heard how people say there is no innate talent and its all practisce and hard work. well, yeah, that is mostly true, but is also true that some people are born with inherent advantages. either taller or more predisposed to being thin or with better facial structures or better innate hand-eye coordination. i was born with an uncanny capacity to visualize stuff. i have whatever the opposite of aphantasia is. i can borderline hallucinate things if i want to. and that goes coupled with the visual intuitions i developed through practisce and training.

so first come the learned wisdom, and then comes the innate talent that helps me exploit that learned wisdom to its full potential

on top of that is corporeality, i try to draw in such a way that it conveys depth and weight to the things im drawing, certain kinds of stylizations dont care about that and choose instead to have their drawing look flat, a classic one is the UPA style

is a very fun style! very cute, very dynamic, very expressive in its simplicity. it became very popular in the 60's and 70's. personally i choose to go in a different direction. i draw in such a way that if one were to turn my drawings into 3d models not a lot would get lost in the process.

whereas other artists....

...not so much

but yeah, ultimatly it all goes back to underlying structure. any drawing can work

as long as you have a strong foundation underneath.

PS: if you like my style i cannot reccomend enough the art of @rezuaq i feel they follow a lot of the same principles i talked about here but i could be wrong.

they have been my biggest inspiration as of the last 4 years, i shamelssly stole the design of one of their characters for jennyffer. go to their blog and give them a like

#art

[ink-splotch]

Hi!!! I just wanted to tell you that seeing your new game reminded me that Stay? exists and that it's soooo good. It's been a while since I played it, so I don't remember the details, but I do remember being amazed at how much variation there was, how every detail was perfectly woven into the story, and how human the characters felt despite us not getting that much time to know them. Plus, I personally love war plots, and yours DID NOT disappoint. I also really loved how the different "career paths" impacted your story, and just how many different details and paths you could get depending on what you did at every step of the way. I don't know, I just remember liking it a lot and feeling really accomplished once I managed to beat it.

Also, out of curiosity, who are all the LIs? In my lifetimes, I remained pretty faithful to Myka (love of my life, she was so great!!!), but I imagine Esteban, Jo, Suzette and Gemma to be romanceable. Did I miss someone else?

Another question I have is: how did you get the idea for the game? And by that I mean, what was the inspiration for the plot and all the different characters + why did you even decide to make a CYOA in the first place?

Because, again, it was incredibly good and I'd like to know which stars do I have to thank for it existing.

Anyways, once I'm really excited to play More a Haunting than a History, and I just know it's gonna be as great as Stay? was!

Thank you so much and have a nice day! ~ 🍪

Hello there! Thanks for writing me. There are five major romanceable characters in Stay?: Myka, Esteban, Jo, Gemma, and Suzette. Technically, there are some minor romanceable NPCs (ex. the different folks you can live your life with in the "fuck off into the hills" ending), but those five are the main gist of it. The main five can also also each be platonic life partners for you, rather than traditional romantic partners, if that's more your style.

Myka is my wife's favorite love interest in Stay? by far, so great taste.

Stay? actually has a very clear origin story for me. My friends and I played Outer Wilds, which I highly highly recommend, and I was so delighted by its balance and structure that I wanted to see if I could make something built on the same bones. I drafted up my @sortinghatchats quiz to get used to the ink system, and then dove into Stay?. It was the most fast/obsessed I've ever put a story on paper (so to speak) and I admit I may still be chasing that high.

I built the basic structure first, and then added on the setting, characters, plot macguffins, details, etc. on top, trying to interweave and connect them. I like how it turned out. The plotline with the southern lands, to be vague for spoilers reasons, was actually a very late addition and I think it, in many ways, is what made the game work for me.

I hope you enjoyed MAHTAH! It's a very different game than Stay?, in some ways; and I'm proud of myself in different ways in terms of what I tried to build there.

#mahtah #ejadelomax

[mabelskins]

how to design: guidebooks

Okay, so I’ll just be straight forward, there will be little about coding here and way more about the look, mental models and navigation design tips to make your guidebook more effective. After navigating a few rp sites and making MANY mistakes with guidebooks, I decided to make my own guide to making effective guidebooks for your rp site with all that I’ve learned. 

First of all, let’s do some thinking here. The guidebook is the first place the players will be looking at on your website to decide whether or not they will be playing. Usually there is A LOT of information, about the settings, factions, powers, you name it. From a player's perspective, it's usually pretty overwhelming and exciting to go through this brand new universe they are emerging to. So it’s our job to make this experience as easy as possible. 

How do we do that? Well, it’s mostly about navigation. How will you decide to guide your users through the site? What visual cues will you be giving them? 

When it comes to online navigation, its very similar to navigating yourself through a physical place. You will usually use landmarks, visual cues, and signage. You will need to understand three things: where you were, where you are and where you want to be. Google maps is great at that, making it so easy that you can use the tiny dot to know which direction you are going (which is a life saver for someone like me who has no sense of direction).

What does that mean in a web scenario? Here are my five tips on making better designs:

Link states

Different states for left menu links (default, hover and active) will help the user understand where he is and where they can click next, making it look interactive and clickable. Something as simple as making active links bold or a different colour goes a long way.

Buttons & Spacing

Have you got buttons within the pages? Links that connect to the fc page or other pages within the website? Make them stand out! Sometimes, links get lost because they look too much like a simple text. So instead of blending it into the text, make that link stand out. You can do it by adding an underline (if you want to be subtle) or make the link look like an actual button. 

Also, don’t forget to give proper spacing. Sometimes when there’s a lot of content, we feel the need to cram it all up to make it fit - but that can be confusing to the user. Make sure you provide enough space around the links and buttons to make them distinguishable and easy to read. 

Other navigation Methods

Sometimes there is just a LOT of information. I mean a lot, and I’m always so impressed about how detailed some universes are - it's amazing. So, if that’s the case, perhaps consider other navigation methods, such as breadcrumbs, top navigation or a sub navigation bar. You may even go as far as drop-downs. Just remember to keep it consistent (more about that below) so the user always knows how to go around.

Location

Stick with familiar locations! This one I haven’t seen a lot, but thought I’d include. Don’t make the users relearn how to navigate! Stick to familiar locations - if you are trying to innovate, think of other ways that can help the user instead of confusing them. Top and left navigation are the most used for guidebooks.

Consistency and organisation

Last but not least. The way the information is organised is VERY important. I cannot emphasise this enough. The left navigation bar should always be the same, the items shouldn’t change and there should be clear indicators in the headings to show where the users are and how to go back. Headings should be the same all around. So, this one goes to both coders and site staff - organise your material. The hierarchy and grouping of the content will help to determine the structure of your guidebook.

That’s it! I hope you find this useful, and if you’d like more posts like this let me know - what kind of content would you like to see on how to design?

Any questions, ask box is always open! Would love to hear from other coders what their thoughts and tips are too <3

#how-to #tips #jcink code #jcink skin

[mamadoc]

1, 2, 30, 38, 46 🤗

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

My two long multi-chapters have taken most of my writing time (and I love them), but I actually really love the first series I ever wrote, *Sense* You Know Me So Well. The second chapter of this series and the second chapter of its sequel are the two that I am most proud of. They just feel very authentic and have deep feelings.

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

I'm not great at tagging apparently or my stories are all quite different. My only tag that I've used more than once was 'Alternate Universe,' which makes since given that 3 of my 6 are AUs.

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

I have a story that was my first ever idea for a story that I've started writing, but I still haven't felt confident enough in my writing to tackle. It's all outlined with some parts written out, but there's a lot of heartbreak and angst in the beginning of the story, and I haven't written much of that into my stories to date. Perhaps one day when I finish my long multi-chapter, I'll get back to that.

I'm emotionally very affected by what I read and write. So I think I'll have to be in a good place with a good chunk of time to dedicate to writing so that I can get through all the angst more quickly. Yikes... that means I'll have to do it before my kids get out of school in May. Sheesh. Maybe it'll have to wait until fall.... We'll see.

38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful?

Honestly, when I started I wasn't sure anyone would like any of my stories. I definitely lacked confidence in my ability to write creatively since I had never done it before. I have written academically quite a bit, so I wasn't worried about sentence structure or grammar. I just wasn't sure anyone would like what I had to say - that it would be up to snuff.

But the response I've gotten to Catch of a Lifetime has been so amazing. I wasn't sure how many baseball AU Chenford readers there would be out there. But it also just started with 3 outlined chapters, and now I have it outlined to chapter 19. I think it'll be done soon after that. That makes me feel like a lazy, inexperienced writer, but this story has just taken on a life of it's own. I post it at the end of baseball season because that seems appropriate, but somehow it's still going.

46. Do you prefer writing on your phone or on a computer (or something else)? Do you think where you write affects the way you write?

I make a lot of notes on my phone, but I always write out the stories on my computer.

Thanks for asking!

#fanfic #chenford #tim bradford #lucy chen #the rookie #tim bradford x lucy chen #chenford fanfic #fanfiction writer #fanfiction

[clambuoyance]

Hi! Sorry for all the notification spamming, I just really really adore your art & the way you draw characters. It's so cool how recognizable all the characters you draw are, like their features/proportions/style idk its amazing. Do you have any tips for how to make a character consistently recognizable in drawings? Also, methinks Tim as Stray would be so much fun in a TimKon relationship, would you maybe pretty please consider doodling a bit of what you think that would look like?

Your brain is galaxy sized, your art is fantastic, and I hope you have a wonderful day<3

Ty! I’m just going to answer your first question, even though you asked forever ago 😭 I’ve drawn stray Tim before but we’ll see if I’m up for drawing it again

Anyways, as for making characters consistently recognizable, I think it helps to make character sheets.

Using my ocs for example, when I redesigned Rolin in my new style, I knew I wanted to have a very Shapey look, so I’d write notes on things such as: how the cheek should curve, what the nose shape is like or how many Fronds in his hair he should have lol

As you can see, I even have arrows indicating the motion of the lines. If you’ve seen some of my posts of my redesigns for the dc characters, sometimes you can see notes in them too. Sometimes I write them, and sometimes I just catalogue the set of “rules” I create for a character in my head.

So yeah, for further example, I knew keiko had to have softer shapes to contrast her with rolin’s personality. I can’t find it, but I have a page in my sketchbook just working out the shape of her hair, which was initially supposed to resemble a butterfly 🦋 but then I made it have boxy angles. Whenever I draw them, I guess I go through their Individual checklists in my head.

Like for rolin:

-more sharp eyes, in an almond like shape. Check

-cheek is curved but “steeper” and leads to a somewhat sharper chin. check

- I usually have to redo the nose a lot but once it’s in the right spot for me I check that off ig

Or for keiko:

- rounder, bigger, more oval like eyes. Check

- hair bangs should start a little to the left of the middle of her forehead line, then to the edge of her ear. Check

- her cheeks should be squishy and round, and she should have a smaller face with her features more closer together. Check

And so on and so on, and the character sheets help because then you get into the practice of doing those same lines over and over, and at different angles or expressions. So even though I want to stretch their face as they contort their facial expressions, I still follow the same structure and adjust accordingly to keep their form, if that makes sense, I’m not perfect at it but I like to think my designs are at least distinct from one another and consistently recognizable

And this is a recent example, which I haven’t posted on tumblr yet bc I have yet to color it, but this is me trying to explore barts design and making sure I could still make it look On Model despite the different facial expressions.

So in summary my strategy would be to

1. Sketch and explore the character design, write notes and study what lines or elements work or don’t work

2. Create a list or repository of the essential elements or a set of steps to recreate the same design

3. Practice and make a sheet where all you do is actually recreate that design over and over again, until your hand can just do it without your brain having to recall the steps one by one , if that makes sense

Of course, I like to redesign all the time as well but I try to at least capture the character’s essence 😗

#clam answers #clam draws #art tip #art tips #character sheet

[too-many-tildes]

Too Many Tildes' Amazing Isekai Adventure, Chapter 1

(I'm going to regret this.)

My name is Too Many Tildes. I have dark, navy blue plating with white eyes and light blue tildes underneath them (hence my name~) My gamer headset is shaped like cat ears and I wear a fluffy pink feather boa with a very fashionable cyan tank top and night-sky themed pants. My nail extensions are painted red just like my :3 face and my feet are shaped like high heels. This is the start of my story.

It was a cycle like any other. I was admiring my collection of Catboy Pebbles images (A.N. if u dont know who that is get da rubicon outta here!!!!) Suddenly my homosexual overseer alerted me to something funny happening outside. I looked through the feed and saw... A METEOR!!!?????? And it was SHAPED LIKE A TRAIN?!?!??!!? And it was headed STRAIT FOR MY CAN!!!!!1!1!1!111!!1!11! I gasped right before the train struck me, exploding me into one billion pieces!!!11!! The world was going dark around me as my chamber shattered and I fell down. The last thing I remember seeing was flames surrounding my structure and the bright, beautiful sky.

~ ~ ~

"Hey! Listen!"

I groaned and opened my eyes. Omg!!!! I'm alive?!!?!?? I glanced next to me and saw... my overseer????

"Get up, catboi," it said, turning all different colors of the rainbow. I decided to just lay there instead until its feelers tickled my face.

"Hey~ Stop that~" I said, shooing the overseer away with my hand, but it just teleported to the other side of me.

"You can't sleep on the dirt in the middle of the forest," it said firmly. Forest? I sat up and looked around. Sure enough, I was surrounded by trees!!! But I also noticed... MY CLOTHES WERE GONE!!!!!1!!!!1111! I wasnt naked tho, just wearing horrible peasant clothes. BUT I DIDN'T HAVE P[ATNS!! All I had on wad a plain white cloak. 

"Where da rubicon am I, oveseer~?" I asked. The overseer rolled its eye at me.

"Rude. I'm Ounce the Overseer. We're in the Iakesi forest," it explained. Iakesi forest? Id literally never heard of such a place. Though the name kinda sounded familiar...

My thoughts were interrupted by the rustling of the bishes. I stood up quicjkly, which was weird considering Id never stood on my legs before. It came so naturally to me for some reason. Three orange lizards emerged from the bushes, grinning at me. I hadnt realized until now how big they actually were.

"Oh shit, yellow lizards!" Ounce shouted and darted onto my shoulder. I thought they were ornage but whetever. They were wiggling their antennae s they approached me, and openned their mouths. Lizards weren't supposed to be this active, were they?

"Tildes you have to run the other way NOW!!!!!" Ounce yelled in my ear. I didn't know what tghe lizards would do to me but I wasn't going to stick around to find out. I turned tail and ran in the other direction. The leaves crunched underfoot and the trees blurred past me as I ran.

"This is just like that hit game PSMD!" Ounce said as I sprinted. I didn't know what the heck it was talkin about.

Suddenly I tripped and went tumbling down a slope I didn't even see. The foliage scraped against me as I flailed around. Then I collided with something metal with a loud BONK followed by an "oof!"

I locked up from my faceplant and saw purple?!??

"Ouch..." said the purple. I scrambled away and saw the purple was ANOTHER ITERATOR!!1!!!!111! I must have crashed into him and knocked him to the ground.

"Omigosh~! I'm sorry~!!! R u ok~???" I said quickly. The other iterator sat up and looked at me. He had funny asymetrical antennae and soft pastel eyes so beautiful I could get lost in them~

"I'm alright, I think..." He brushed some leaves off his rumpled dress. It was a really cute dress, tan with red rose patterning all over it and frills at the end of the sleeves. He was wearing an apron over it, with a cute little bow tied at the back.

"Stop staring," Ounce hissed in my ear. But where else would I look?

"What about you?" He asked. "You crashed right into me. Are you alright?" His voice sounded so soft and concerned.

"Um~! Ya~!! Just fell off a cliff running away from lizards haha~" I stuttered. The iterator gasped.

"Oh! Are you sure you aren't injured or anything?" He stood up and helped me stand as well. I blushed when he took my hand.

"I'm fine~ Just as fine as you~" I said smoothly, winking. One of Ounce's feelers slapped its eyeball. He seemed to freeze for a moment, eyes wide as he stared at me. No doubt flustered by my charming pick-up line.

"O-kay..." he said slowly, letting go of my hand quickly. He bent down and I noticed a woven basket tipped over on the ground. He must have dropped it when I crashed into him. Scattered all around it are... SHROOMS????? Omgosh, had I just bumped into a DRUG DEALER?!?1/!?!?

"Why do u have shrooms~!?" I blurted out. He flinched at my words, but looked up at me with confusion.

"W-what? Oh, I was gathering wild mushrooms. They grow around this time of year," he said, gingerly picking one up and placing it in the basket.

"They aren't drugs, Tildes, they're just mushrooms," Ounce whisper-yelled in my ear. I batted it away from my shoulder because it was being seriously annoying rn.

"Oh no~! I'm sorry I caused u to spill them~ Do u need help~?" I crouched down to help pick up the mushrooms but he quickly shook his head.

"No no, it's fine! It's okay!" He said. "It was an accident. I can get these by myself." Okay, well now I'm left feeling kinda awkward. I tried to think of something to break the tension as he placed the last of the mushrooms back in his basket.

"Hey~ I never got ur name~ I'm Too Many Tildes~" I said. He looked at me a little funny, but I couldn't figure out what he was feeling.

"I'm Nothing Well-Made," he said. "It's... nice to meet you... Too Many Tildes."

"U can just call me Tildes~" I responded.

"And I'm Ounce." the rainbow overseer appeared between us. Nothing startled backwards.

"Gah! A talking overseer?" he exclaimed.

"Uh~ ya~ dont ur overseers ever talk to u~?"

"No!"

"Please calm down," Ounce said gently. Nothing took a moment to compose himself, but he still looked totally freaked out by my talking overseer. "Nothing Well-Made, would you be willing to let Tildes spend the night at your shelter? She's lost, and has nowhere to go."

"Um..." Nothing glanced at me nervously. I was also reminded that UH HOW DID I GET HERE??!?!??? I THOUGHT I DIED TO A METEOR!!!!!!!!1!

"S-sure," he said, distracting me from my thoughts. Nothing beckoned for me to follow. "My cottage is this way."

The forest around us grew darker as we walked, probably from a combination of the oncoming rain clouds and night falling. Ounce stayed perched on my shoulder as Nothing led me through uneven terrain. He glanced behind every so often to make sure I was following. I liked that.

We finally came to a small copse in the woods. In it stood an run-down cottage shelter. It looked dirty, and it was covered in ivy and moss. A small, fenced-in garden was planted next to it, but I couldn't see anything planted in it at the moment. The cottage must have been very old to be in such a haphazard shape. Or maybe, it simply wasn't well-made. (A.N. see what I did there~? :3)

"You live here?" Ounce asked, zipping down next to Nothing. "How does this thing withstand the rain?"

"We put a magic seal on it that prevents the rain from damaging it," Nothing explained. "My boyfriend did most of the work though. He knows more about magic than I do."

I felt my heart sink down into the void sea. Nothing was already taken? Of course he is~ I thought. A cute boykisser like him would have trouble staying single~

Completely oblivious to my heartbreak, Nothing opened the cottage door wide and gestured for me to step inside. I entered with a lot less enthusiasm than I started with when I first met him. The inside of the shelter was small, but cozy. Everything was bathed in warm colors, and potted plants seemed to decorate every surface. A small love seat was positioned in front of an inactive fireplace, and the kitchen was so small that it would struggle to fit two people inside. I didn't see a bedroom anywhere, so I could only assume it was upstairs, seeing as there was a small staircase leading to a second story.

"Woah~ Ur place is so cute~" I said as Nothing followed inside and closed the door.

"Thank you," he responded nervously. "F-feel free to make yourself at home on the sofa. Is there anything I can get for you?"

"You got any water~?" I asked. I was getting pretty thirsty by that point.

"Of course! Ice or no ice?"

"No ice pls~"

Nothing walked into the kitchen to prepare the water as I went to have a seat on the sofa. It was a nice, soft sofa. I wondered how often Nothing and his boyfriend got to cuddle in front of a roaring fire. Must be nice~ I thought.

As I sat, I could hear Nothing and Ounce talking quietly in the kitchen. I couldn't make out anything they were saying though. I wondered if Ounce knew how strange it was for me to suddenly appear here, off my string. Nothing was also off the string, assuming he had one. Odd.

Nothing walked into the living room with two glasses of water and handed one to me. "It's filtered water," he said. He unplugged something from behind his head - some kind of long tube - and put the end of it in his glass. I suddenly realize I had no clue how to drink water.

"It's a water intake tube. You have one too," Ounce whispered to me. I put my hand behind my head and felt around until I brushed over something thicker than a wire. I pulled at it, and the end of the tube came loose. I put it in my glass of water and automatically started drinking, cooling me off.

"So~ Where's ur boyfriend, Nothing~?" I ask innocently. Nothing stiffens, and Ounce glares at me.

"Um," he stutters. "Well, he's not been home for a while. He's-"

Nothing is cut off by a knock on the door!!! OMG IS IT HIS BOYFRIEND!?!?!??!??! Find out next chapter!!1!!111!!1!1!

---

Nothing Well-Made belongs to @meatcatt

#long post #fanfiction #satire #parody #oc:tmt #this is so stupid

[sinosauropteryx--prima]

Sailed Animals

(Sailed animals and their relationships. Art by: Platyhystrix - Gabriel Uguento, Dimetrodon - Rob Soto, Edaphosaurus - Sean Closson, Arizonasaurus, Lotosaurus - Nobo Tamura, Spinosaurus - Liam Elward, Ouranosaurus - Scott Reid, Amargasaurus - Sergey Krasovskiy)

Okay, what I actually wanted to do, was write something about the Permian, and I will be doing that at some point - however, I got side tracked by Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus and their sails, so here we are.

You see, I‘m a big fan of convergent evolution and especially when the evolution converges to some very specific and bizarre feature that we don‘t fully understand, like big sails on the backs of animals.

As you can see in the picture above, sails have evolved independently from each other many times. Some of the earliest instances come from the late Carboniferous and early Permian and include the amphibian Platyhystrix (I had no idea that there were sailed amphibians, that‘s so cool) and of course the famous carnivorous Dimetrodon and its plant-eating cousin Edaphosaurus. Edaphosaurus and Dimetrodon are often mistaken for reptiles or even dinosaurs. They were neither, but instead they were synapsids, the same group that includes us mammals.

The next time we see sails is during the Triassic in the crocodile-related Pseudosuchians, like the carnivorous Arizonasaurus or herbivorous Lotosaurus. I‘m not entirely sure, if the sails evolved only once in this group, or multiple times, because it is hard to find information on that (I really wish those croc-cousins would get the same attention as dinosaurs).

But speaking of dinosaurs: They of course also had sails. Most famous for it is Spinosaurus and its relatives, but other groups of dinosaurs also evolved sails. Those included the sauropods (the long-necked giant herbivores) like Amargasaurus (well, maybe?), as well as the Ornithopods (duck-billed dinosaurs and their relatives) like Ouranosaurus.

Now you might think that we have a clear lack of sailed animals at the moment, but don’t worry: there are still animals with sails! And somehow I was completely unaware of this until I started looking into it. We still have the Crested Chameleon, some species of basilisks, sail-fin dragons and the sailfish (although from what I understand its sail works differently then the ones of the lizards).

The sails of all these animals are made up from long extensions of the vertebrae. It is assumed that those bones were covered in tissue, spanning open a sail. We can be pretty certain of this, because there have been fossils found, where the bones had broken and then healed back together while the animal was still alive, clearly showing that they must have been held in place by something (Rega et al, 2012).

(skeletons of Dimetrodon, Ouranosaurus and a bison, Bailey 1997)

For different animals these bones can look very different though: For the synapsids like Dimetrodon they were very thin, while they were thicker and flatter in dinosaurs. In that way, they looked a lot more similar to the vertebrae of modern humped animals like bisons. This is why in the 90s there were some suggestions that those dinosaurs didn‘t have sails, but instead had big humps on their back for energy storage or maybe for insulation to keep a constant body temperature (Bailey, 1997).

The idea never really caught on, but we did this amazing illustration of a humped spinosaurus out of it. I know, we‘ve probably all seen our fair share of Spinosaurus reconstructions, but I have never seen a chonky one, and I don‘t know how to feel about it.

(humped Spinosaurus, Bailey 1997)

The big questions that remains is of course: why sails? what were they good for? The most common answer you get is either display or thermoregulation.

The sails being a display structure is a very intuitive answer. If you‘re carrying around a giant billboard-like structure on your back, it would only make sense to advertise something on it. You could use it to impress the opposite sex with fancy colors, intimidate rivals because it makes yourself look a lot bigger or signal to other animals that you are the same/a different species.

One thing that I always think about, but never see mentioned, especially in the case of the herbivorous sailed animals, is mimicry. Edaphosaurus and Dimetrodon lived at the same time, so could it not be, that Edaphosaurus had sails to make themselves look like big scary Dimetrodons to keep other predators away? Similar to how we have many harmless insects pretending to be wasps today? It would of course not explain why Dimetrodon had a sail, but it could give the herbivores a reason to have one.

The other big reason for sails is thermoregulation. Especially cold-blooded animals could have used their sails like solar panels, pointing them towards the sun and collecting heat (Bramwell & Fellgett, 1973). Alternatively, the sails could have been used to cool the animal down by positioning them in the direction of winds (Bennett, 1996).

The only problem with thermoregulation is, that its viability depends on whether the animals in question were endothermic or ectothermic (warm- or cold-blooded). And for pretty much all the sailed animals this is a heated (pun intended) debate.

(Airflow around an Edaphosaurus, Benett 1996; Can I just point out that this graph, as well as the chonky Spinosaurus were part of actual peer reviewed publications? I do chemistry irl and I‘m a bit jealous that in the papers I write I never get the chance to draw dorky looking synapsids)

Now that we‘ve discussed the reasonable well accepted explanations for sails, let‘s get into some more outlandish ones. Maybe Dimetrodon used its sail to „camouflage among reeds while [it] waited for prey, or as an actual boat-like sail to catch the wind while the animal was in the water“, as stated in multiple papers. I tried to hunt down the original source for this, but the idea comes from a Book by Romer and Price from 1940, and unfortunately I don‘t have access to it. Honestly, I would love to know if they had any actual reasoning for it or if they were just throwing ideas around, because the image of a Dimetrodon floating around on the surface of the water and getting pushed around by winds sounds ridiculous. Similarly, having a giant structure on your back, just so you can camouflage it to look like the background seems like a lot of unnecessary effort. Surely you could just not have the giant structure and it would have the same effect.

For Spinosaurus, there is the idea that they might have used their sails to shade the water while hunting, like a heron bird. I had never heard that before, but I find it a bit strange. Wouldn‘t that mean, that they had to catch fish at a weird angle towards their side? Seems uncomfortable. Of course there are also many ideas that the sails might have helped with swimming or whatever, but I don‘t want to get into the Is-Spinosaurus-aquatic-debate. I‘m pretty sure most of the papers about it would be outdated anyways and the ones that aren‘t will be in approximately 20 minutes.

For the sauropods, the “long-necks“, like Amargasaurus, even less is clear: It is even debated whether the spines on their necks formed sails or horns. If they had horns those might have been a defense structure or just for display. If they had sails - well, then it‘s the same questions as for all the other weirdos.

So yeah, overall, sailed animals were pretty weird, and there is still a lot to learn.

Also “sail“ doesn‘t sound like a word anymore.

#paleontology #infodump #spinosaurus #dimetrodon

[wasyago]

sorry to bother but i have a few questions! curious if you ever used other art programs besides sai and more about art things

- have you ever used sai 2? i think its still being refined

- whats your art program “progression” if you ever used a program before sai exactly, like ex: ibispaint -> fire alpaca -> sai

- are you a many layers artist with a seperate lineart layer and color each individual spots like skin, hair, eyes and etc in different layers? or do you combine the lineart and colors and just paint over it? or maybe you have multiple ways?

- do you use references a lot? or do you “wing” how stuff looks like? (which could honestly show te growth when it looks so right which you do always! your art is amazing?)

i still have so many questions but i dont want to bother by making this ask too long, sorry about that!

ooh this is interesting

i have sai2 downloaded, but i think i got the wrong version (the one that has a time trial thing and stops you from saving the files after a certain period of time). and i kinda just never bothered switching to it amd looking for a normal version? i know sai2 has a lot more options and textures and what not, but i like my old sai1 more for some reason.

for the art program progression, hmmmm. it's pretty much all sai1 i think! i have fire alpaca installed and still use it to make gifs and animations or to import text to sai / manage files / edit minecraft textures / etc, but it was never my main program. i drew some stuff in ibispaint as a kid before i had my computer, but i think back then i also mainly drew on paper, ibis wasn't my "main". never got into photoshop, never used any other programs.

for the layers. i do use them a lot, but like, for testing mostly? for example, when i want to change something in the sketch, i copy the layer and then compare the old and the new versions, deleting the one i don't like. i color and shade on one layer, but when i want to check how it'll look with different colors, i make a new layer and then compare them. when i want to fix something, like redraw the eye or clean up the sketch a bit or see how the character will look in a coat intstead of a vest, i make the new layer on top and just paint over everything. and eventually merge all the layers together and keep adding on top. so, i make a lot of layers, but then i also delete/merge a lot of them.

i used to use a lot of references and put all of them in the backgrounds of my drawings with low opacity to create this effect of busyness but also so i didn't haveto switch tabs constantly. but i stopped doing it for some reason. i do still use references, mostly for things that i don't have much experience drawing or want to be accurate. like armor, muscle structures, certain clothing elements, instruments, background elements, etc. and i wing things like poses, anatomy, expressions, clothing, lighting, composition, whatever else. i also recently find myself looking at a lot of art of other artists for inspiration, but not necessarily as references? like, the specific way that one artist drew hair poking out of the bandana, or the specific way that other artist drew a shadow on the glasses, or the specific way that other other artist drew a tail, its inspiring and i go "huh, i never thought of that" and i try to implement it in my art. well, i guess kind of like references.

i feel like you've answered all your questions in your ask, so this wasn't very helpful, but uhhhh...... yeah! thank you for this ask and thank you for the kind words, it was a lot of fun! and feel free to ask anything else

#yagotalk

[devsgames]

The Art of Feedback

(This post cross-posted from my Patreon. Please consider supporting for access to my unreleased game prototypes, devlogs and blog posts just like this one. It helps me pay rent and supports the work I do!)

The biggest, most important ability anyone working (or hoping to work) collaboratively in gamedev should have is giving targeted feedback.

I'm not saying "you should be able to honestly tell people that their work sucks", but rather you should be able to elegantly and politely express in what specific ways their work could use improvement and, most importantly, why you believe the feedback to be valid.

In my opinion this is a lifeline skill anyone working in games needs to have.

Not being able to give polite and targeted feedback is something that sets apart an amazing dev from a competent one, and generally will make your critiques feel less like an opinion and more like a fair and specific analysis of a feature. It's what separates A Random Gamer Online complaining about a video game apart from an actual dev identifying pain points on a piece of work.

So how do you do it?

Consent

By far, the biggest thing to remember about feedback in my opinion is that feedback is all about consent.

When giving feedback you need to be positive that all parties are aware and on the same page about the feedback and its role in the conversation, and that the party receiving the feedback even wants it in the first place.

There's been countless times I've had conversations in the industry where it was obvious someone was receiving feedback that was not wanted and didn't consent to it - whether it was way too premature, focusing on the wrong part of the feature, not wanted in the first place or coming from someone who may not have been desirable to hear feedback from.

How do you navigate this? Simply ask for consent first.

A simple "Are you interested in feedback on [x] feature?", or "Is there anything you want me to focus my feedback on?" should usually suffice. If yes, give feedback. If no, don't bother!

Not only does this establish a clear line of consent, it also ensures your feedback is useful and you're not giving feedback that will fall on ears that don't want to hear it.

Empathy

Receiving feedback for many people can be intimately personal. Everyone has things about their work that aren't satisfactory, and entering into territory where you're pointing out these flaws can be devastating if not done correctly. There's an assumption that "honest" feedback is the way to go, but "honesty" can be a double edged sword and there's a lot of devs who deal real damage to others under the guide of "just being honest about feedback". Good feedback should be presented in a way that the recipient can take it to heart without feeling hurt. These are not mutually exclusive ideas.

To avoid this situation, the "compliment sandwich" is a time-tested method. Soften the blow of critical feedback by pairing it with compliments before and after, which allows you to deliver the feedback without it feeling like a direct attack. It's rather soulless to say "you should always talk like this", so of course this is not the end-all-be-all, but it's a good starting point for understanding how to deliver feedback in a way that doesn't harm.

In fact, I've found the structure of compliments doesn't matter as long as you're keeping the mindset of being constructive and in a 'building up" mindset about your feedback, and not a tearing down one. Usually I aim to incorporate one point of critical feedback with one compliment is often enough to soften the blow in many cases.

As an example, saying "I think your placement of the car needs work" feels colder and tonally more harmful than "I love how your use of trees to direct the player through the space, but I think the placement of the car needs work". See how those could read differently?

Additionally, you can change up your method depending on the person you're speaking to and your relationship to them.

For example, first impressions based around feedback are important. If you're giving feedback to say, a peer or student you've never talked to before, leading with complements is key. If you've been in a feedback session for a while the conversation might naturally veer into being more or less critical at certain stages, and you may find striking a constant balance of compliments may not be necessary. If someone seems defensive or upset, it might be wise to pile on some more compliments to make them feel more at ease. If you're giving feedback to someone you've know for a long time and given feedback to before it's possible you may be comfortable enough together that you may not even need to compliment at all!

TARGET

I really want to emphasize this point because this is how you make giving feedback an efficient task. If you don't know what specifically the person receiving feedback wants to receive feedback on there's a good chance you'll end up giving feedback on absolutely everything about the game, and ignore the elements that need feedback the most by doing so.

I've been in this situation plenty of times: a feature in your game is only half-implemented compared to the rest of the game, and instead of focusing on giving feedback about [x] new feature your playtester instead spends 15 minutes talking about the feature that is lacking despite the fact you already know it's missing. The feedback isn't about the thing that you as a developer need feedback on the most, and instead covers territory you're already well aware of.

As someone giving feedback, consent comes back into this. Ask "Do you need feedback on [x]?", or "What do you need feedback on the most?". This puts the ball in their court to identify what you should look out for, as opposed to you playing through and simply pointing out flaws in everything regardless of context. It also means the feedback session is going to be more effective at targeting what they need help with the most, and will be most beneficial to them in the end. In context like meetings and student feedback sessions where time is limited, this is vital to ensuring you're not wasting anyone's time.

Another way to improve the targeting of your feedback is to ensure you understand your subject's goals, and tie your feedback into that. Without this your feedback can be wildly off-base.

For example, if your subject is making a project to learn new implementation techniques, it's not going to be useful to provide feedback about their game's polish that would be more applicable to someone, say, trying to ship a game. Asking what your feedback subject's goal is with their project - or even just ensuring you address that and have a surface-level understanding about what those goals may be - is going to put you in a position of understanding what kind of feedback to give.

With this knowledge in your pocket you can now give feedback through a narrower filter that will more effectively improve their work.

"Why?"

"Why?" is the single most important question you need to attempt to answer when giving feedback. Answering "why" is how important changes get made.

Anyone can say "I think [x] feature needs to change", but not anyone can identify why it needs to change, or in what capacity. There's nothing worse than receiving feedback where a director says "I didn't like this feature" and they fail to address why they think that way. Especially as a designer, "why" is a fundamental idea needed to back up any approach you might have to changing or implementing designs - and it's why designers are often in a better position to identify changes than the average player.

Before you give a piece of feedback, ask yourself "Why do I think this?", and be prepared to include that with your feedback.

"I don't like the way the movement feels because it makes it hard to keep the enemies in my sights" is vastly more useful than "I don't like the way the movement feels". It gives what you at least believe is an actionable, and the person receiving the feedback now has a problem they may need to consider going forward.

There's truly nothing more aggravating than hearing - "I don't like this thing" without a reason why. That why needs to exist because if it didn't people would simply be making changes for no reason except "the vibes are off", and a vibes-based approach isn't exactly a sustainable one from a development angle.

Conclusion

The best feedback is when it addresses specific targeted points that are relevant to the recipient's context in a way that isn't going to be harmful to them! It's not a matter of simply saying anything that comes to mind however you want, but addressing relevant pain points that will best help them improve their work. ✌️

#gamedev #game development #indie games #game dev #indie game #gamedevelopment #indiegames #game design #thoughts #blog #feedback #indie dev #indiedev #level design

[thewhizzyhead]

before I sleep, here is my definitive ranking on all the NPMD songs and some rambles on why I placed them there - also the ranking is based on how much I vibe with them (music production and lyricism have different rankings)

1. Hatchet Town (aka the hatchetfield trilogy theme song like this tune perfectly encapsulates the chaos Hatchetfield has to go through with every Starkid project pos-2018 and I love it - kinda wish it was a number that is more integrated with the plot with the kids tho BUT I REALLY DID LIKE that this melody was quite prominent in the other songs too)

2. High School is Killing Me (I've watched many teen centered musicals and believe me when I say that this song is one of, if not, the best introduction numbers out there for this genre - also it's a really great opening hook for a show)

3. Nerdy Prudes Must Die (FUCKING AMAZING HONESTLY - amazing way to REALLY re-establish a villain back from the dead and to establish the main theme for the nerds here: "I'm Not A Loser" (tho i fucking wish that motif was used a bit more))

4. Just For Once (everyone cheer for Lauren Lopez flexing not just her high tier soprano skills, but also how amazing of a fucking actor she can be like the concept of this song is quite layered and to pull it off both comedically and emphatically takes great lyrical and acting prowess)

5. The Summoning (a well-anticipated onstage introduction to all 5 of the LiB that balances out befuddling neon-entertainment with genuine fucking menace)

7. Cool As I Think I Am Reprise (A FUCKING GENIUS REPRISE I CAN'T STRESS ENOUGH HOW COOL I FIND THEM RECONTEXTUALIZING THE OG SONG AND IF I LOVED YOU TO FIT THE SITUATION AND BOTH OF THE CHARACTERS GROWTH. LIKE IN TERMS OF THEMATIC IMPLICATIONS WITH CHARQCTER DEVELOPMENT, THIS SONG AND ITS SCENE WOULD BE THE TOP)

6. If I Loved You (I think this song could be a bit more honestly like I know how much Starkid has explored Steph and Pete's relationship in their other projects and I was really hoping that they would have it more portrayed here - however the song is a bop nonetheless and it matches neatly with their themes and the harmonies are top tier. I placed this higher than the next just due to my personal bias like I really do like the song)

8. Dirty Dudes Must Die (A GREAT TWIST THAT MAKES ME WANT ANOTHER MUSICAL ABOUT GRACE CHASITY'S DERANGED SELF - also the new context of the song Grace is reprising here makes her a villain even scarier than MAX of all people but that's just me)

9. Literal Monster (A very catchy beat and well structured song that provides a good introduction to a jock-bully with the god complex. also kinda foreshadowing to nerdy prudes must die)

10. Cool As I Think I Am (the instrumentation reminded me of Dear Evan Hansen ngl fjsjd but it really does sound like an I-Want song from a teen-musical which is of course what they are going for - it sounds very nice and earnest though and I loved how it was utilised in the reprise. However I still fucking wish that the I'm Not A Loser motif was used more)

11. Dirty Girl (look I'm sorry for ranking this quite low on the list but like there is no fucking way I'm using this as bait to lure other people in like they'd be scared away I'm sorry fjdjs BUT I love how Will and Angela perform this though like top tier starkid performances ever - its not just what I would listen to on repeat personally jgjdjs)

12. Go Go Nighthawks! (This one gets plus points because of FUCK YOU CLIVESDALE GO GET FUCKED. otherwise its nice and cheery and perfectly shows how happy everyone is without Max but um I kinda wish it could be a bit more especially in terms of showing how happy the other nerds are now that Max is gone but that's just me)

13. Bully The Bully + Bury The Bully (Look I couldn't decide which was better like they both are the same melodies so like gjxjs these two are cute though and I liked seeing the 5 kids bonding in Bully The Bully since we don't get that many scenes with them)

14. The Best Of You (the pop-punk happy number is a staple of teen-centered musicals and it does really sound nice - just isn't that much of a standout compared to the others.)

#also for the best of you i have like a bone to pick with that one as much as i find it a fun song #but that is once again a rambly critique on how steph was utilized in the show sO WE'LL SAVE THAT BONE FOR ANOTHER DAY #but yea that's my NPMD ranking #the music prod here is on another level honestly #like they stepped up their game here #as for lyricism hmm given the genre it's more or less as I expected - i like it but there are some parts where i expected more #but they did a good job in having nuance in some of their songs like Nerdy Prudes Must Die and Just For Once like those r GOOD DEEP DIVES #hmmm maybe i'll do a full review soon of NPMD to just consolidate all my critiquey rambles #rn it's sittiing at a score of 8.5/10 #and is probably my top 3 fav starkid musical of all time - tgwdlm and twisted are top 2 and 1 #(i cant say much about black friday yet cause i havent watched it but um i have a feeling it could technically be a tie with npmd) #nerdy prudes must die #npmd #npmd spoilers #starkid

[whumpinthepot]

@whumpmasinjuly 2023

19. List your fave whump blogs

OK, I wrote as many people as I could find and if I missed anyone I’ll add them in as i come across them ^_^

@gritpyre - long time mutual/friend who does amazing amazing artwork. Its so nice seeing her oc’s change and grow over the years. We stan buff ladies <3

@for-the-love-of-angst - Longtime good friend of mine who I love so much. Their writing is so full of flavour I just want to eat it, its so descriptive and the characters feel so raw with emotion.

@whither-wander-whump - Pucks historical whump is so impressive, I don’t know how she does it. The dialogue and everything is on point. I also just love hearing about her day and what she’s been up to because its always something really cool.

@whumpshaped - Excellent writing and concepts, its always so different and just seem to hit right. Especially the gore and how unapologetically brutal it gets! I always have fun reading its work.

@figuwhump - This is just a really fun art blog that popped up in the last month or so, ive been having a lot of fun with the event and seeing what other people create. Its run by two of my fave people as well so thats just a bonus.

@whump-in-the-closet - Troy has a really fun blog and he does a CYOA story that I really enjoy reading a LOT. Very good descriptions that have a lasting effect on me, theres always something noteworthy when ever I read a chapter. Also, we have similar usernames so his blog always stands out to me haha.

@just-horrible-things - long time friend/mutual with amazing writing and characters. Everything I’ve read from him has been engraved into my brain, and stuck there.

@burntcoffeewhump - Amazing artist and friend!! Seriously, go commission him when they’re open again he’s selling them for very affordable prices and they are professional level work. Its just gorgeous they way he paints.

@demondamage - Good friend/mutual who has such amazing talent for art and writing I am always in awe, and love seeing it every time he posts. The lab whump has me swooning. Period.

@whumpsday - Mill is such a nice mutual to have, and a really great member of the community. I think about his characters all the time, and he somehow manages to organize all of his writing which is something I really admire. He wrote whumper to whumpee trope is such a way that it makes you feel BAD for the poor guy…

@i-can-even-burn-salad - Elli is really funny and writes like a BEAST. I don’t know how she does it but I am so envious!! She has some books finished, and available as Ebooks! Go check them out its seriously impressive, and something to look up to.

@sunshiline-writes - We have a lot in common which is like finding a chest during a treasure hunt. Very good characters, poc whump, lady whumper, and writing that I really enjoy a LOT. I really like her characters they vibe perfectly with me.

@verkja - I love Verkja so much, he’s always a pleasure to talk to and a very good friend. He does adventure fantasy -esque writing with a lot of detail to the world the characters are in. He’s talented in so many artistic ways, I love seeing anything he’s working on any given day.

@ilasknives - LAB WHUMP MOOT, Ila does amazing lab whump with a load of psychological torment stuffed into it. As well as a lot of pet whump concepts that are really fun and different. I love hearing about their oc’s, they feel so real to me.

@redd956 - Redd has the biggest galaxy brain when it comes to world building, prompts, and writing. Its so fun to see all of her posts on my dash, I don’t know how she does it but its a TALENT.

@leyswhumpdump - Leys is really good at plot building with a sprinkle of whump twined into it, which makes those scenes all the more exciting. Leys understands writing structure very well and it makes their writing flow verrrryyyyy nicely.

@blackrosesandwhump - Amazing writer, does circus whump which I LOVE and don’t see enough of, as well as a handful of other stories with different tropes! Lovely mutual and very helpful with writing advice which I am so so so thankful for all the time.

@hollowgast1 - Very good moot to have, we trade drabbles to edit often and its really fun. She writes a lot of supervillain, pet, and lab whump its really heavy on the psychological end of it, which I enjoy immensely. Its always a pleasure to read her works!

@distinctlywhumpthing - Excellent writer, with some completed stories. Their writing is often tragic, and really pull the reader in emotionally. Highly recommend reading, they’re some of my favourite works!

@whump-blog - Red is such a sweet friend, and so good with ideas, I always get so excited hearing about them! He has wonderful artwork and its all linked on his page for easy access. Im so intrigued by his writing I can’t wait for more to be posted!

@alittlewhump - Shy is incredibly helpful I can’t express my gratitude enough she’s so amazing at strengthening writing and I would have never posted my works if it wasn’t for her. She knows how to bring a story to life through words which is such a huge talent that so many people strive to have.

#wij23day19 #fave whump blogs #whump #whump blogs #whumpmasinjuly #whumpmasinjuly2023 #breezy’s post #shout out #long post

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Gaia unravels the ancient threads of the Milky Way

ESA’s Gaia space telescope has further disentangled the history of our galaxy, discovering two surprising streams of stars that formed and wove together over 12 billion years ago.

The two streams, named Shakti and Shiva, helped form the infant Milky Way. Both are so ancient they likely formed before even the oldest parts of our present-day galaxy’s spiral arms and disc.

“What’s truly amazing is that we can detect these ancient structures at all,” says Khyati Malhan of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg, Germany, who led the research. “The Milky Way has changed so significantly since these stars were born that we wouldn’t expect to recognise them so clearly as a group – but the unprecedented data we’re getting from Gaia made it possible.”

Using Gaia observations, the researchers were able to determine the orbits of individual stars in the Milky Way, along with their content and composition. “When we visualised the orbits of all these stars, two new structures stood out from the rest among stars of a certain chemical composition,” adds Khyati. “We named them Shakti and Shiva.”

Truly ancient fragments

Each stream contains the mass of about 10 million Suns, with stars of 12 to 13 billion years in age all moving in very similar orbits with similar compositions. The way they’re distributed suggests that they may have formed as distinct fragments that merged with the Milky Way early in its life.

Both streams lie towards the Milky Way’s heart. Gaia explored this part of the Milky Way in 2022 using a kind of ‘galactic archaeology’; this showed the region to be filled with the oldest stars in the entire galaxy, all born before the disc of the Milky Way had even properly formed.

“The stars there are so ancient that they lack many of the heavier metal elements created later in the Universe’s lifetime. These heavy metals are those forged within stars and scattered through space when they die. The stars in our galaxy’s heart are metal-poor, so we dubbed this region the Milky Way’s ‘poor old heart’,” says co-author Hans-Walter Rix, also of MPIA and the lead ‘galactic archaeologist’ from the 2022 work.

“Until now, we had only recognised these very early fragments that came together to form the Milky Way’s ancient heart. With Shakti and Shiva, we now see the first pieces that seem comparably old but located further out. These signify the first steps of our galaxy's growth towards its present size.”

A complex family tree

While very similar, the two streams are not identical. Shakti stars orbit a little further from the Milky Way’s centre and in more circular orbits than Shiva stars. Fittingly, the streams are named after a divine couple from Hindu philosophy who unite to create the Universe (or macrocosm).

Some 12 billion years ago, the Milky Way looked very different to the orderly spiral we see today. We think that our galaxy formed as multiple long, irregular filaments of gas and dust coalesced, all forming stars and wrapping together to spark the birth of our galaxy as we know it. It seems that Shaki and Shiva are two of these components – and future Gaia data releases may reveal more.

Khyati and Hans-Walter also built a dynamical map of other known components that have played a role in our galaxy’s formation and were discovered using Gaia data. These include Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus, LMS1/Wukong, Arjuna/Sequoia/I’itoi, and Pontus. These star groups all form part of the Milky Way’s complex family tree, something that Gaia has worked to build over the past decade.

“Revealing more about our galaxy’s infancy is one of Gaia’s goals, and it’s certainly achieving it,” says Timo Prusti, Project Scientist for Gaia at ESA. “We need to pinpoint the subtle yet crucial differences between stars in the Milky Way to understand how our galaxy formed and evolved. This requires incredibly precise data – and now, thanks to Gaia, we have that data. As we discover surprise parts of our galaxy like the Shiva and Shakti streams, we’re filling the gaps and painting a fuller picture of not only our current home, but our earliest cosmic history.”

TOP IMAGE....An artist’s impression of our Milky Way galaxy, a roughly 13 billon-year-old ‘barred spiral galaxy’ that is home to a few hundred billion stars. On the left, a face-on view shows the spiral structure of the Galactic Disc, where the majority of stars are located, interspersed with a diffuse mixture of gas and cosmic dust. The disc measures about 100 000 light-years across, and the Sun sits about half way between its centre and periphery. On the right, an edge-on view reveals the flattened shape of the disc. Observations point to a substructure: a thin disc some 700 light-years high embedded in a thick disc, about 3000 light-years high and populated with older stars. The edge on view also shows the Galactic Bulge, located in the central portion of the Milky Way and hosting about 10 billion stars, which are mainly old and red. The bulge, also visible in the face-on view on the left, has an overall elongated shape that resembles that of a peanut-shaped bar, with a half-length of about 10 000 light-years, making the Milky Way a barred spiral galaxy. Beyond the disc and bulge is the stellar halo, a roughly spherical structure with a radius of about 100 000 light-years, containing isolated stars as well as many globular clusters – large, compact conglomerations of some of the most ancient stars in the Galaxy. On a grander scale, the Milky Way is embedded in an even larger halo of invisible dark matter. CREDIT Left: NASA/JPL-Caltech; right: ESA; layout: ESA/ATG medialab

CENTRE IMAGE....ESA’s Gaia space telescope has further disentangled the history of our galaxy, discovering two streams of stars that formed and wove together over 12 billion years ago. The two streams, named Shakti and Shiva, helped form the infant Milky Way. Both are so ancient that they likely formed before even the oldest parts of our present-day galaxy’s spiral arms and disc. This image shows the location and distribution of Shakti (yellow) and Shiva (blue) stars throughout the Milky Way. The streams were discovered using ESA’s billion-star surveyor, Gaia. Gaia observations enabled the researchers to determine the content and composition of the individual stars, which in turn revealed more of their properties and showed their movements through space. [Image description: Illustration showing a real view of the Milky Way band across the sky. Yellow dots show the location of the stars from the Shakti stream. Blue dots show the location of the stars from the Shiva stream.]  CREDIT ESA/Gaia/DPAC/K. Malhan

LOWER IMAGE....The Milky Way has a complicated past. Our galaxy is filled with stars that arrived at different times in cosmic history, delivered as another galaxy or object collided with the Milky Way and was subsequently consumed. This image shows a few of these different starry populations, with each colour representing stars that joined the Milky Way via a different collision event. Two of these streams are newly discovered thanks to ESA’s billion-star surveyor, Gaia. Data from Gaia enabled researchers to determine the content and composition of the individual stars making up the Shakti (pink) and Shiva (pale blue) streams, which in turn revealed more of their properties and movements through space. In fact, Gaia has helped to reveal several of these past collisions. The two frames show different kinds of information about the stars plotted against one another – information related to their energy and motions as they orbit and move through space – to create the fan-like and diamond shapes shown here. The rectangular box labelled ‘R’ represents a ‘ridge-like structure’. [Image description: Two graphs show a distribution of stars on a white background. Small groups of stars that belong together can be recognised, they were given the same colour and a population name.] CREDIT ESA/Gaia/DPAC/K. Malhan et al. (2024)

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #astrophysics

[djservo]

january lasted 100 days and nights and now february has practically flown by BUT i returned to hallowed ground (tumblr) to get your reading recap! did you make room for any romance reads what happened i’m all ears

surprisingly not really any romance specific reads though I think love was sort of the implicit/explicit thread stringing these all together so in a way it was still kinda fitting!! I did watch Touch of Pink (2004) on Valentine's Day which was a silly + sweet (if not slightly troubling) time!!

Since I Laid My Burden Down by Brontez Purnell

if I disembody my adoration for Brontez as a person and try to see this as just any other work of fiction, I could see the kinda jumpy/non-linear structure and casualty not working for me, but because it's Brontez and because I've adore him for years, it's impossible for me not to read this in his voice and demeanor specifically + thus get such a kick out of this!! in fact I'd say the casualty and rough edges are such a big component to its charm + narrative voice. reflective in such a real + funny way without pretension, and I think really indicative of his roots in zines and peak early internet blogging era (at least from my first introduction to him)

Punks by John Keene

poetry! really great when it was good but kinda cliche when it was weak which was disappointing. I'm not a big fan of repetition poetry (? not sure if there's a specific term for it) and there was just one too many in this collection for me to take seriously. could've cut down on a few poems which I feel like I've never thought about any poetry collection before so maybe that's actually a testament to Keene's generosity on not skimping on page count lolol. still I appreciate the good parts for what they are - love letters and testaments to simply existing as a gay man during a time of so much death and strife, proof of life as impossible as it seems to confront sometimes

I Love Myself When I Am Laughing... And Then Again When I Am Looking Mean And Impressive: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader edited by Alice Walker

admittedly added to my tbr way back mostly bc of the name alone (which may just be the greatest book title ever) and somehow didn't realize this was a reader/anthology? I knew it included her famous 'What White Publishers Won't Print' essay so I just assumed it was just a collection of essays ANYWAY. I wondered if I would've appreciated this more had I already read the entirety of the works featured (aside from Their Eyes Were Watching God, the only one I've read) or if this was actually an ideal way to get a better sense of Hurston's variety of writing. I'm leaning towards the latter since I really enjoyed just about every piece and genre - folklore and memoir and fiction - and getting to witness the similarities in how she writes each form and also the background context of her life/controversies added so much to the experience. simply love a woman with capital "A" Audacity and it's so clear from the intro alone (amazingly done by Mary Helen Washington) that there was no end to it!! inspiring!!! I also adored the afterword of Alice Walker's journey in trying to weave together Hurston's legacy with varying accounts + recollections of her life while trying to find Hurston's unmarked grave, which honestly could've been its own book bc it was that engrossing. loved this

Sula by Toni Morrison

buddy read this with one of my best gal friends which I think is the best way to read this ugh so damn good I barely have the words. The Bluest Eye floored me and set such a high expectation that Sula somehow surpassed and now I'm finishing up Song of Solomon which has been soooo ??#$?!!? IDK how Toni does it each time, not even just consistently amazing but somehow sharper than before. and with a vengeance!! I love stories about how friendships shift overtime with differing life outlooks n values to the point where you're wondering how you were even friends in the first place, and to create such a rich and complex net of characters and histories in less than 200 pages? just unbelievable. highly highly recommend this one

#idk what im doing with the book cover pics but whatevz #asks #reads #devitalise

[1007xf]

With the 4th of August just around the corner, I was thinking about a little something The Tapestry does that I really like and that is its portrayal of how it is to be a weird lonely little nerd.

Warning comically huge rant. I wasn't planning for it to be this long. I do not know what possessed me. It's 2:30 in the morning.

In Homestuck proper, the beta kids are also lonely kids who only really have eachother, however Homestuck's setting kind of obscures this fact because Beta Earth, really, truly, feels empty. Unless there is something I'm forgetting (I haven't read actual Homestuck in a while, oops. I should really re-read.) Beta Earth is just normal 2009 Earth. And you can see that if you look at all of the cultural references in it. Earth Beta isn't empty because all of John's shitty movies had to have been produced by someone, because someone had to have been frequenting Bro's weird puppet porn website, because we literally see other human beings talk trough the Internet on Dad's PDA and such (I wonder whatever happened to fedoraFreak haha). Beta Earth isn't objectively empty, of course. Yet it feels like so, because its main cast seems to only superficially exist in it. You could probably assume John, Rose and Dave all went to school (funnily enough I looked it up and April 13th 2009 was a Monday. Damn brats, skipping middle school so they can contribute to the creation of a new Universe.) because that's what kids their age do (Jade doesn't count for obvious reasons). Yet we never really seem to see or hear about all that. These kids only interact with eachother and their guardians (well, the living ones anyway), and so it's hard to see Beta Earth as a planet with a living breathing ~6880 billion humans on it. It's really more of a cardboard cutout of Earth, where the idea of culture and people is there, but none of the moving parts are present.

And so, it really feels like, even though Jade is the only one who is actually secluded, all 4 kids live in isolation, their only window to social interaction being their computers and the Pester Chum client. It feels like John, Rose, Dave and Jade are the only real individuals on Earth, because even their guardians don't feel like much more than placeholders or just vessels for one joke or stereotype. And this makes it seem like the kids are placed in this impossible full yet empty world, which is not something any of us are living in (I hope so!).

Most lonely people aren't alone . You can't say Homestuck's portrayal of loneliness, especially at that young pre-teen to teen age is accurate because it literally feels like the cast is alone (sans Jade bla bla I said this already) and so of course they'd be lonely. In any case, it portrays being lonely (take a shot everytime I write this word. Or don't! It depends on how suicidal you're feeling at this particular moment) all the same, just in a different (and less likely) way.

And with that bigger than I expected speil about Homestuck out of the way, let's get to the actual post. It has been said already the The Tapestry is an amazing MSPFA on so many fronts, but I'll say it again, just because it deserves it. The Tapestry is great, go read it if you haven't.

The main cast of the comic (sadly not counting Sedranovel, Limeweld and Expanaiver. I know they're technically also protagonists but they just.... don't really fit the idea I'm trying to portray here. Sorry!) is also 4 youths who play a God Damn Game. They're aliens too, but they're "like a human but..." type of alien, so their world is not all that different form ours. And a thing you'll notice right away as you start reading the comic is the emphasis that is placed on the worldbuilding, from the grand aspects like the the Solar System on the alien world and its geographical and political structure to the minute aspects like a mecha anime or the educational system of just one of many nations. Right of the bat, unlike Beta Earth, Siltsphere is bustling with life, culture, conflict. It helps that we also get to literally see other setyrs, lots of them in fact. It's nice eye candy, since they're usually part of the huge sweeping landscape scenery porn pages, but it's also a stark reminder of what is at stake. All of the supernatural fuckery afoot now affects not only the protagonists but also a planets entire civilization.

And yet, the main cast seems to gravitate towards eachother only. And unlike in Homestuck, we know that they have acquaintances and that they talk to others. Sosav mentions her neighbors, Handa makes friends with the pagan kids at his school, Deime tries (and fails) to connect with his countrymen. They have a form of social lives, each different, but they exist and they acknowledge the existence of a complex world with lots of real individuals. But they're all best friends with eachother. Oenia mentions that she doesn't really have friends outside of the other 3 and I think this is true for all of them.

Each off the 4 main characters is a bit weird and they're all definitely huge nerds. That is to say, they're all very passionate about their interests. And, sadly, intense passion, especially when directed at something not viewed as necessary to society, can sometimes be very alienating. Because most of the time it's hard to find someone who shares the same spark of love for that thing. I think Handa illustrates this problem the best, what with his... I want to say inferiority complex but that sounds kind of mean haha. He definitely loves history and art, and he is good at them too. Excellent, really. And yet, we hardly see him proud of his achievements. Because he thinks that his talents are a waste of time and energy, because they're not "necessary". Because those passions don't prepare you for a "real job". Because the world goes round thanks to the work of scientists, not artists. This is all really relatable to me personally, to a scarily accurate degree. And this sort of thinking is sisyphean, really. Because you'll reach a high where you think you did good, where you look at your art and say "wow, I've gotten better, this genuinely looks good!", but then the little shitty voice at the back of your mind will remind you that drawing won't help you solve cancer or launch rockets or whatever and therefore you're useless to society. And if this thinking sounds dramatic that's because that's how it is. Sosav literally calls Handa out on this, which shines a light on the fact that, since Handa lives in an almost-utopia society, he really shouldn't have to worry about stuff like that. And he shouldn't, but he does, because this line of thinking doesn't make sense anyway!

I wrote all that just for one of the characters! Imagine if sat down to dissect the others too. I could write 3 different posts just about Deime. But I won't because then I'll probably forget what the point of the post actually is. Yeah, there's a point. Remember the point? Jesus.

The point about being a lonely stupid nerdy kid. Like I said before, being super into something can sort of isolate you from your peers, because it's just hard to connect with those you don't have a lot in common with. But that doesn't mean you won't talk. You'll greet eachother, have meaningless conversations about whatever during recess, maybe you'll even hang out outside of school. But, really, there will never be anything there. Because it just feels like your brains are wired differently. Of course, I feel like the parallel to neurodiversity is starting to become obvious here. I'd say more, but I'm not an expert and while I do suspect that I am neurodivergent myself, I was never and probably will never be diagnosed by a professional, so I can't really say I'm in a position to write about this.

That's how you become lonely without being alone. And it's worse, because you'll see the people (or setyrs, I guess) in front of you and they're your age, and they're just like you, and they're going trough the same life experiences, but there just isn't any spark there. The thread to connect to them just isn't long enough.

That's why you need other weirdo nerds in your life. And thank fuck for the Internet. Because otherwise, where would I be ranting into the void about some fancomic to probably one or two people, or maybe just myself? Hah.

The main characters are all into very different things and they're from pretty different environments, yet they seem to click together anyway. And it's because I think when you're a passionate nerd, seeing someone just like you makes you admire them. And they don't have to be way better or more skilled than you, they could be just at your level, yet you feel enamoured by their passion nonetheless and they feel the same for you and that's friendship! Handa admires Sosav for her physics knowledge and Oenia for her art improvement, Deime, despite his bickering with Handa, definitely recognizes his (comically potent) art skills and Oenia is amazed by Deime's "search engine skills". It's all really cute. I love it when in bigger groups of friends you can tell that everyone is friends with everyone and they all have unique relationships with eachother.

That being said, I believe that, miraculously, I may be reaching the end of my... whatever this is. This thought vomit. This is mainly just me writing down whatever came to mind with only a rough idea of what I wanted to say. Is more or less a clusterfuck but I did manage to say some things I had on the brain. High chance there's grammar or spelling mistakes in here I didn't catch on my proofread, so sorry for that. Good night 👋 and read da damn comic.

#I'm almost embarrassed to tag this self indulgent word soup #almost #the tapestry mspfa #homestuck #I promise my brain is huge and full of great ideas it's just so hard to get them organized #there was a sturgeon moon tonight I think that's what influenced me to write this lmaooo