#damn you limitations of traditional art

[dresshistorynerd]

Favorite Historical Architectural Styles

Since I've done my favorite historical fashions, I thought it would be fun to do historical architectural styles too. I want to write more about architecture too, but I've started thinking should I do a separate blog for architecture and architectural history or should I just do it all here? I think it would be better in a way that I wouldn't have to worry if anything I want to write is too far from the actual topic of the blog, but then again, there is a lot of overlap, especially when it comes to Arts and Crafts movement (which I'm currently writing my thesis about and which I definitely will talk a lot about), and also I would have to manage yet another blog.

Anyway, I'll again do this from oldest to newest. I will limit myself to western styles (except when we get to Modernism all styles are very international), even though there's a lot of non-western styles I enjoy, but it's what I know most about.

Perpendicular Gothic

I love Gothic architecture in general and the several first entries will be my favorite sub-styles of it. I love the the way Gothic Cathedrals try and so often succeed to feel like forests. I love how the structural elements are used to create the aesthetic. I love the organic visual elements. I love that it's such a unique style in Western architecture. And I love the amazing craftsmanship that went into it.

I'm particularly a fan of English Gothic because of it's insanely beautiful and complex ribbed vaults. From English Gothic my favorite though is the Perpendicular style, which was basically the English late Gothic. It's characteristics can be seen in the second pic. It has the stretched arch and the very flowing and organic traceries. I do include here the rest of English Gothic too, since even though the Perpendicular style is my favorite of them, all if it is still one of my Gothic favorites.

German Late Gothic

As it's becoming clear I love Late Gothic architecture in general the most, and in the geographical axis I also love German Gothic. Early and High Gothic were mainly divided into French and English styles and the French style dominated in the continent, just being altered a little to the local building traditions outside of France, but during late Gothic it diverged much more strongly into different styles.

German Gothic also has beautiful complex faulting (though less insane than English) and it also has that same pursuit of massive height French Gothic has. Those combined with that Late Gothic's more streamlined flowing and organic aesthetic, some of the German Late Gothic cathedrals really sell that feeling of standing in a forest.

Finnish "Gothic"

I have a soft spot for the Finnish Medieval stone churches, which are not nearly as sophisticated or detailed as the other European counterparts, but still made with beautiful craftsmanship and they have some cool own features. It's very far from the European Gothic traditions, as you can see, but that's still the influence, hence Gothic in scare quotes. I love the simple outward appearance with the exposed thick stone walls, the details of the gable that worked as the calling card for the building master and the very steep roof. Like everywhere at the time, the roof in these has wooden structure, which is frankly super cool. It was not a simple engineering problem to make a roof that steep and massive at the time, but the structure works so well there's 600 year old roofs with the original logs still working perfectly well. I also really love the original medieval murals in them, which were painted over during the Reformation (you can't have color in a Lutheran church damn it), but thankfully some of them have been restored from under the paint.

Finnish "Renaissance" Log Churches

Renaissance also didn't land in Finland similarly as it did rest of the Europe. When Renaissance was going on in Europe, they still were building those "Gothic" churches here. These log churches were based on Scandinavian version of the Renaissance church, but they didn't really look like Renaissance churches, and were kinda it's own thing continuing a lot of the aesthetics from those Gothic churches. This is a highly specific style, but I just think they are so cool and pretty? Like they really made a CUPOLA out of log.

Arts and Crafts Movement

Arts and Crafts Movement didn't have exactly a style, rather a design philosophy that was more important than specific style. There's of course a lot of stylistic similarities in the works of the different members of the Movement, because they had overlapping sources of inspiration and were influenced by each other, so we can think of it as a style. I could, have and will talk about them for hours, but briefly now: It was a moment in latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century and their goals were reviving craftsmanship skills and professions, socialism, opposing industrialism and abolishing the hierarchy between fine arts and applied arts. They were very much influenced by Medievalism and Gothic art and architecture, though unlike Gothic Revivalist, they took more from the guiding principles than the aesthetics. They basically started Modernism and lay ground to all the Modernist architecture's main principles, like form follows function.

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau was directly influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement and was the first mainstream Modernist style. I especially love the more toned down Finnish Art Nouveau, or Jugend as it's called here, but I do love the style more broadly too. I'm not that into those almost Baroque style versions of it though, with barely any straight lines. I love the round doors, the stylized floral patterns and the use of light.

Organic architecture

This has to be my favorite modernist/post-modernist (?) style. It's direct successor of Arts and Crafts movement and it's also more of a design principle than a unified style. There is some stylistic similarities, but it is stylistically very diverse philosophy. It was most prominent during the 20th century, but it always stayed in the sidelines, though there are still architects who might be considered practicing organic architecture. Organic architecture is all about living in harmony with nature, taking inspiration from it, designing the building to fit the building spot and the surroundings, extra care taken in to preserve the nature already there, and using local natural materials when possible. My favorite architects are Raili and Reima Pietilä, who were most prominent organic architects in Finland. (I almost moved into apartment designed by them, but it was in pretty bad condition, so it wouldn't have unfortunately been worth the price.)

Brutalism

I know it's not for everyone and it's not easy to make it work but when it works, it really does. It was born in 1950s during the reconstruction era. Brutalism is not just concrete though. The point is to show the raw materials and the structural elements. Technically a lot of Gothic and Arts and Crafts architecture is then brutalist. Timber frame architecture? Also brutalist. I'm only half joking, of course the style itself is also very bare and, well, brutal, but I love it for the same reasons. I really love bare textures of materials and exposing the materials of the structural elements. And I do actually really like the texture of concrete. Though I will say concrete is destroying our world and we should use it as little as possible. But we should also protect old buildings and keep using them rather than built new ones, so I feel fine admiring the old brutalist buildings. The best brutalist buildings combine materials very intentionally and make works of art with the light.

Bonus - Favorite contemporary architecture: Traditional methods

As we're living in the post-modern times, there's not really unified and specifiable styles or architectural ideologies anymore. They all kinda flow into each other and architects don't organize themselves into clear groups based on style and design philosophy. So it's hard to put into words the style I like in contemporary architecture. There's been growing interest in studying traditional structures and methods, learn from their sustainability and incorporate them into contemporary architecture. They are techniques that have been developed through trial and error on the span of centuries, so we really don't have to reinvent the wheel here. Traditional methods of a given area have also been developed for that area and it's climate, from the materials available there, so they also push us to use local materials. Typically these traditional structures are very simple, often made from solid material, which makes them easier to built without construction error (a huge problem in modern structures), and easier to fix and maintain, when inevitably there is issues. Also they are beautiful, definitely more so that steel and glass. I love solid brick structures, log structures, timber frames, natural stone, rammed earth and all of them, especially when these beautiful materials are left bare.

#architecture #architectural history #historical architecture #history #art history #modern architecture #gothic architecture #brutalism #arts and crafts movement #art nouveau

[joy-haver]

It’s so hard to find good information about fans in history.

I think hand fans and other cooling devices are very important for us to learn about and make. We have a warming climate. That warming climate is partially caused by our attempts to keep cool. We need to reduce our reliance on electric and fossil fuel cooling systems. Our infrastructure is not going to stay as stable as it is. Having alternative and effective ways of cooling is a survival necessity for us and for the planet. I remember weeks without power after Katrina and other hurricanes and it being so damn hot you couldn’t think.

But fans aren’t something you find a lot of research about, or a lot of practical guides to. There’s a few reasons for this.

1. Fan” is a word with two meanings, and the one we are using it for is vastly less popular.

2. There’s not a lot of additional words you can add to a search that will clarify what you are looking for (plus, search engines are getting worse)

3. Many fans didn’t survive well in the archeological record. Many of the materials rot fast and break apart easily. Additionally, broken fans may have been used for secondary purposes in food production, arrow making, etc, that leaves little evidence of even broken fans around.

4. Fans that are preserved in museums and private collections are rarely the very practical, every day fans people actually used. Preserved fans are typically status symbols or art pieces that would have seen less use and less wear and tear.

5. A lot of people who don’t think very deeply about this kinda assume that fans didn’t really exist before or outside of the East Asian folding fan…which is just,… not true. Regardless, most of the focus of writing about fans is on this one specific category of fans. Which, the information can be helpful, but is limited in scope.

Anyway, if you have any information, articles, books, or museum pieces to direct me to please let me know.

Alternatively, please feel free to reblog this with examples of your cultures traditional cooling systems, whether they are fans, construction styles, clothing, etc.

#text post #historical clothing #fan #fans #rose baker #climate change #archeology #museum #anthropology #prepping #preparedness

[boycow69]

my friend asked me what instruments the travellers would play and i thought i’d share here too

ophilia - bells/harp. anything you’d find in a church barring the piano. she does not have the coordination for that

cyrus - he can read sheet music and in theory could teach himself to play probably anything, but that theory has never been put into practice (i think there was official art of him playing the piano? so theres that tho)

tressa - pan flute/piccolo. something small but loud. maybe a travelling troupe of entertainers went through rippletide and she liked the little flute so much that the player taught her how

olberic - drums, maybe horn. war instruments (hah). he can sing. it’s not, like, show-stopping and he only knows marching songs but he can sing

primrose - she probably started to learn the violin but didn’t get very far in that. maybe she learns later with the help of cyrus

alfyn - he’s poor as shit and probably never had the chance to learn to read music or play anything BUT he can play the harmonica and, shockingly, he can make music from it instead of just noise. he can tap out a nice beat with river stones and a stick too

therion - same as alfyn but he might know how to play guitar. he’s not spectacular but he likes it

h’aanit - ocarina/something similar. those little clay bitches that make pretty sounds. she uses them to mimic bird noises but knows a few traditional songs too

osvald - similar to cyrus, he can theoretically play anything but he definitely can play the violin. he thought rita would like it (courting skills: 0. but this was a w on his part)

castti - if she could she forgot. she has a nice voice for singing though

throné - nothing. she never learned nor does she want to, but she hums to herself when shes alone

ochette - she can whistle but like she can whistle. she mimics various animal noises and can copy something she’s heard pretty damn accurately

partitio - you thought i’d say guitar (he can play that too) but NO. fiddle.

agnea - she can play various things but she really likes ukulele and those little hand clickers

temenos - as musical as wet cardboard. he can play the tambourine though

hikari - he can play the flute, but thats limited to traditional songs and he’s not otherwise that interested in learning more

#octopath traveler 2 #octopath traveler ii #octopath traveler #temenos mistral #ophilia clement #osvald v vanstein #partitio yellowil #cyrus albright #octopath olberic #tressa colzione #therion octopath #alfyn greengrass #primrose azelhart #haanit #agnea bristarni #castti florenz #octopath throné #hikari ku #octopath ochette

[strawberryamanita]

That Milt Khal appreciation post reminded me of [this article] I read, years and years ago(peep the upload date), that serves as a guide of sorts to how to point out which animator was at the helm for a storyboard for "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack". "Flapjack" was one of my favorite shows at the time, primarily because of the art style, and coming across this article helped me fall that much deeper in love with it.

(Aside: these are screenshots of the article because the link leads you to Pop-Up Hell lol)

But it's distinguishments like these that 1. inspire me to continue craving collaborative art and 2. are a great example of why the best animation cannot be made with an algorithm. I know that puppet-rigs like ToonBoom are cost-effective and good at simplifying the "task" of animating(the first mistake was treating art like a task, but that's a rant for another day), but it's so damn limiting. The potential for showing personality and life in your characters is shrunk considerably, and what's even worse, your artistic eye and hand are robbed of their personality. Fifty people working on the same program, picking from the same set of frames for mouths and eyes and hand positions to just flicker between, is (at least to me) not nearly as aesthetically-pleasing as what's going on in those pics up top.

Look at these wiggly-ass proportions! I love it!

This isn't to shame any individual artist who does use ToonBoom, btw. I'm directing this complaint more towards animation companies who have all the money in the world to spend on more traditional animation and actively decide to throw all that art into a machine instead. And also, this is just entirely the opinion of one schmuck: I would rather any proportional errors be born of a manual drawing oversight than a mistake in plugging in the right code any day of the week, but for all I know I could be the odd one out. I just like seeing people's personal flourishes being visible in their work, and not completely homogenized into the Animation Singularity to the point where certain parodies can be made aesthetically indistinguishable from the original work.

idk, dude. I just wanna see some more head-swaggles.

#animation #the marvelous misadventures of flapjack #tmmof #flapjack #pendleton ward #pen ward #kent osborne #alex hirsch #patrick mchale #john infantino #milt khal #i also recognize the irony of the progenitors of the dreaded Bean Mouth came from one of the most off-model shows of its time #that is not lost on me

[neopronouns]

saw we were talkin about punk stuff and as a punk i wanted to chip in a bit!!!

everyone please remember that punk is not just about dressing punk, "acting" punk, the music, or whatever. punk is a belief, a lifestyle, about protecting minorities, treating others with kindness and fighting for a better world.

you're a punk regardless of how you dress. you could wear pastel lolita dresses and doll makeup and you're still punk. the only thing that stops you from being punk is your mind.

self expression is a huge part of punk. if you be yourself, dress how you want to, unapologetically, that's pretty damn punk of you. be YOU. protect others.

i hope all my baby punks find a way to express themselves that make them feel like them. unapologetically, completely, them.

yes yes!! it’s the beliefs and activism that matter most, and whatever your worldview compels you to dress as or listen to or create, that’s part of how you personally are participating in counterculture.

mrri’m [i’m] a big proponent of considering things like lolita and kidcore and other fashion that isn’t traditionally punk, but is in opposition to how society thinks we should dress, punk. if you’re fighting for a better world and doing what makes you happy while doing it, your frilly dresses and neon makeup are punk as hell!

it’s like what mrri [i] said a couple asks back about punk not being rigid - forcing yourself to look like a traditional punk when that’s not how you want to dress is limiting your self-expression, and punk is all about self-expression. the fact that many of us end up wearing the same stuff doesn’t mean everyone has to, and mrri [i] think it’s wonderful to see punks contributing art and wearing clothes that look completely different from others’!

#punk stuff #could say more but mrri [i] have to go drive bleh

[animehouse-moe]

English-First Manga Re:Anima Begins Publication

Yeah, you read that right. Kodansha has been trying very hard to tap into the North American/English language market as a JP publisher. Some things have flopped like K-Manga, but surprisingly, their English-first series have been seeing impressive success. Blood Blade wowed fans, and now Re:Anima from Yoshinori Matsuoka is aiming to double down on that result.

So, who is Yoshirori Matsuoka? I think a lot of North American-slash-English-language readers don't really recognize the name, and it's not fault of their own. Matsuoka only has one real original manga to their name prior to this entrant. Out of the total 5 that they've worked on, they've only written for 2, and one of them is an RPG adaptation of Hiro Mashima's 'Gate of Nightmares'.

And that leaves just Kessen No Kuon, a two volume manga series from 2017. Even back then, however, Matsuoka had potential.

The environment art was incredibly full and detailed, the character designs packing an intense degree of punch and personality. It's art that could take an artist very far- which is why I'm surprised that it took up until now for Matsuoka to be given potential to make something of their name.

Though, Kessen No Kuon's quality is sorely outdated against Matsuoka's work on Re:Anima. Character models retain their sense of personality but bring a greater degree of refinement, the line art has gotten much more confident, and Matsuoka's layouts have improved a considerable amount.

Probably one of the best improvements is their willingness to break panels for effect and flow. It's something that in my flip through of Kessen No Kuon was sorely missing. That feeling of restriction really did limit Matsuoka's strong art, and I'm glad to see it differ here with Anima.

Similarly, I think their character designs remain strong, but have grown even more expressive. They don't need silly or simplified faces to express intent or emotion to the viewer, but Matsuoka keeps them in for comedic effect, which I can appreciate.

But that's enough about the art- it's strong and is certainly not the weakest link here. Story is more the concern as it's Matsuoka's 3rd (I'd argue 2nd) pass at writing the accompaniment to their art, so how does it fair?

Honestly, pretty damn good. It manages to make the most of Matsuoka's character designs and visual style, and presents itself as an incredibly strong science fiction story. Walking confidently into global warming territory to set the stage, it's tackling a lot of typical fare for a good sci-fi story- namely in the forms of the concept of freedom, and the idea of human connection.

Off the bat it establishes that everyone's basically just piloting a synthetic version of themselves so that they can "live" above ground, but that idea immediately gets picked apart by tradition, history, and the freedom that it affords people.

I think the easiest examples appear with the chapter's antagonist, as well as a young boy's questions of the world.

Both do incredibly well to frame the suffocating nature of existence in a world that's effectively uninhabitable, and express the natural desire to challenge or deny the system that has stripped the people of freedom and human connection.

Overall, I might even say that this is "quintessentially styled" manga. It presents a strong core with an intense desire to pose a question to viewers through its world and characters, but it's not afraid to joke around with itself. It's a delicate balance to strike, but Matsuoka shows a very confident degree of refinement within this first chapter, so more than anything I'm excited to see where it chooses to go.

#anime and manga #manga #manga reccs #manga recommendation #manga review #science fiction manga #scifi manga #kodansha #original manga

[numptypylon]

I thought I’d do an early-stage wip wednesday today, because I haven’t in ages, and I do have stuff in the works. Currently doing what I can to prep for the planned follow-up to my S1-3 between-episodes fics Downtime in Wartime and Upside Downtime, working titled Downtime’s Up, because I’m drawn to cheesy titles and puns and am steering into the skid. It’ll add in downtime scenes within and between episodes, mainly focused on banter, romance, humor and character drama. I just really enjoy writing between-scenes stuff, so I’m so damn hype to have a whole new crop of episodes soon!

Of course, I can’t really do any writing before the season drops, but I’m trying to nail down a chapter header style that’ll work for at least the upcoming season but potentially this entire arc of seasons, so I’ve been experimenting.

The headers for Downtime in Wartime was the first digital art I’d ever done, so my repertoire was really limited and I was basically copying what I knew from traditional art, and for Upside Downtime, it was the first lineless art I’d ever done, so I was figuring out that style, and what I could do with it. I’m trying to be bolder this time, more high-contrast and saturated, and using more colors rather than sticking to the monochrome. I’m using the ‘fragments’ motif from the s4 concept art and build-up to the season, but with scraps of paper to mimic the older sets of headers.

Here’s some header examples I’ve done, although bear in mind they’re more style experiments/practice, testing to see if the range of motifs I’ll be dealing with over potentially 3 seasons’ worth of headers, are something I can pull off in the style. I might use the first though, since we have a pretty good idea about the contents of the first episode, and you know it’ll very probably be some sad Callum pov for that one, I just can’t resist the allure of that sweet sweet angsty pining.

You can see my terrible title brainstorming below, if you’re curious. I usually don’t HAVE a title until the ao3 title field is staring at me all judgy on posting day, maybe I’ve grown 😄

#rayllum #the dragon prince #tdp #callum #wip wednesday #numpty art tag #numpty fic tag #downtime’s up #downtime in wartime #upside downtime

[madaraservingcunt]

Hi.

I'm sorry if my rant is annoying and you don't have to reply if you don't want to.

I just don't seem to dare to draw. I just can't get started I'm too scared of failing even if when I sometimes do, the things don't turn out thaaaat bad but still 😞😓

I'm gonna write something for you under the readmore, it's pretty long so I don't expect a solid response.

My biggest struggle was comparing myself to other artists. It took some soul searching to overcome this. I have some questions for you:

When you think about making art, do you want to make it for other people?

Is this why you worry about failing?

As in, your art is so bad you don't get any recognition, or even worse, possibly mocked for it?

I can relate to all of those questions I just asked you because I worried about them constantly. I mean, a huge part of me getting my iPad was specifically to draw Madara xD

This was the first pic I was happy with.

It took me a while to adapt from traditional art to digital. I spent an entire night just practicing lines. When I got it down, I was SO happy. I drew Madara!!!

Everyone being so excited to have their asks answered encouraged me a lot.

Then I got nervous cause what if I drew something and it sucked and they didn't like it? What if it got zero notes?

It stopped me for a while. I also had some trouble with being reported by anonymous users for silly stuff, and my posts kept getting flagged, so my pictures and memes wouldn't even post. It really bummed me out, so I like the queue take over and stopped paying attention to this blog...

Then, during my artistic slump, I watched Chommang again:

I know it's annoying to be recommended videos to watch, especially if you have a short attention span like I do. But this really changed my perspective. I'll clip the specific parts that resonate with me below:

His basic message is to change the attitude you have about creation. If you see it as a contest, it will be hard to enjoy, especially as a beginner.

The people who post their art here have fine-tuned it for hours. I mean HOURS. Some of the colored digital art on here probably took 6+hrs and a lot of frustration on the artist's end, I'm sure. There are some colored pieces that took me 6hrs. Example:

When I posted stuff like this I got embarrassed cause I have some artists I really admire who follow me and I was like damn...it took me so long to make this and it's NOTHING compared to what they have drawn. But it's not fair to myself or to them to do that...they didn't challenge me. If anything, they encouraged me to get better.

I talked to a couple of artists I admire and every single one of them was so supportive and cool.

ALSO WHY IS IT SO SCARY TO TALK TO THEM.

It feels like talking to a celebrity.

But they're people just like you and me. The only difference is that they are at a different level of experience than you and I are. But I mean, they had to start somewhere, too. Why do you make yourself feel shame for that? It's something you have to overcome if you want to share your art. Is that why you are afraid of trying?

You don't have to post it. I have so many scrapped pics and WIP on ProCreate, yall don't even know lmao.

Try to do one dynamic pose a day. Try to watch ONE Chommang video a week and follow along, if you have a busy schedule. Or if you're depressed and slumped like I was, my best advice is LIMIT YOUR SCREEN TIME. Being online with all your free time is not ideal for someone depressed.

Idk what is going on in your life but if you're too scared to start something cause you're worried you'll fail, that is a journey I cannot walk you through. Sorry this got really long and kinda preachy at the end...

Anyways, I hope this anon reads this and feels a little bit of encouragement!

#asks

[krastbannert]

Started replaying Horizon: Zero Dawn for...whatever reason (it's an awesome game, I don't need a reason), and I had a few thoughts.

I wish there was more of Rost - both before and after his death. He single-handedly raised her, was the only real adult figure (hell, the only person, really) in her life for her first nineteen years of existence, and he only gets a few training scenes, and a few mentions later on in both HZD and HFW. I feel like he deserves a lot more time than that - Aloy starts the game out angry, and then it just sort of fades out and doesn't really get brought up again. Feels weird.

Teersa is awesome. Makes Aloy's lantern, gets her into everything she needs to be in, and in the end goes, "You know, I have no idea what you're talking about, Aloy, but fuck it, let's do it." She's cool. She confuses though when she says that the Nora tribe is near extinction, then a few minutes later says half the War Party was able to come back, and then minutes later, you're able to walk around Mother's Crown, which is still thriving and barely looks like anything has happened to it. Just weird to me.

On the subject of confusion, Rost says when he takes Aloy outside the Embrace that first time that because they're outside the walls, they need to be silent - and then he proceeds to spend the entire time talking to Aloy. Just something funny I noticed.

Bast should have lived. I hated him and his attitude when I first played the game, and I still do, but you know what? His first - and, sadly, last - act as a Nora Brave is to put aside everything he knows and believes to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with someone he hates on principle, outnumbered and outgunned, against an attacker they don't know. That, I think, says a lot about him. You can make the argument he's standing with Vala, not Aloy, but it's pretty evident that the Nora are a very communal society, so to my mind, he's standing with everyone up on that mountaintop. And now all I can think about is what he could have become, if he had lived. I think it could have been a very good story about letting go of hatreds and toxic traditions, about growing to see the world as not all black and white, about learning to see past titles and labels, and about becoming more than what you thought you were. All in all, now, 6 years after playing the game, I think I really believe that Bast deserved a chance to prove himself.

What fucking witchcraft did Guerilla practice while making this game that it still looks this fucking good? Seriously - it looks a little dated, sure, compared to newer games, but it still looks and plays really damn good. It's either a testament to Guerilla's employees and their dedication or to their craft that HZD still holds up as well as it does, or someone over there in Amsterdam is delving into the black arts. (Possibly both.)

The climbing really doesn't feel that different from HFW. Much more limited, yeah, sure, but otherwise it feels about the same.

Not having the Shieldwing from HFW is so, so confusing. I keep forgetting it's not a thing in HZD. So many times I've found myself about to jump from insane heights and having to stop myself from doing so.

Fighting Corruptors is frustrating - and fun. They're batshit insane robots, especially in the early game, and I love it. That said there have been a few times where arrows seems to just sort of...fly through them, and that's actually genuinely frustrating.

There's this interesting sense that the world as the Carja, Oseram, and Nora know seems to be falling apart at the seams, with bandits moving in everywhere, Meridian having so many conflicting viewpoints that it almost seems to be a pot about to boil over, with the cold war between the Carja and Shadow Carja, with wounds still fresh from the Red Raids and the Carja Civil War, and not everyone accepting the end - I think it's really well done.

#rost #teersa #bast #hzd

[infiltracion]

INTEL 🞂 FILE 003 🞂 HOBBIES & SKILLS.

starting off with the most obvious hobby of her’s: tech. since she was a child, sombra has always been interested by tech. her fascination began at very young age when she was given an old, dingy laptop for school assignments. she definitely snuck it out of the school and kept it for herself to use in the orphanage. this was where she began to learn her most valuable skills - programming (aka hacking) and social engineering. you can learn so much on the internet! (derogatory)

her strong suit has always been in software- she learned the inner workings of a computer and how to troubleshoot any problem, get into places she wasn’t meant to go without getting caught, hide her location, etc.. if you give her a program and tell her to figure it out, she can tell you everything about it within the hour.

that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know about hardware, though. the intricacies of hardware was something she picked up soon after her interest in hacking was sparked. she began by dismantling and reassembling electronic devices like phones, tablets, cameras, computers. much of her late childhood was spent learning as much as she possibly could on her own about how these things worked the way they did. it was during this very experimental phase where she created the first prototype of what would eventually become the cybernetics she has today.

she is also canonically skilled enough with hardware to use the schematics of lena's chronal accelerator to create her own version of it that essentially teleports her which means not only did she had to understand the complex tech that went behind the workings of the accelerator, but she knew enough to modify it for her own purposes. also, pretty sure she's one of the only people who's figured out teleporter tech for her own use besides satya unless i'm forgetting somebody.

related to the above, she can type absurdly fast. like god DAMN everybody is lucky she tends to use touchscreen keys because if you get her on a mechanical keyboard it sounds like a constant keysmash. basing this off of myself because everybody constantly says i sound like this and im at a 130wpm speed so. she's probably around there or faster.

she knows so many coding languages she literally learned these for fun as a kid. javascript? she’s probably developed her own coding language for her personal systems too.

next hobby… so i know this is a punch to the face but just. i think she likes classic literature. shakespeare shit. is this because there's a potential reference to her in havana on one specific screen where they quoted twelfth night, specifically a scene with the character olivia? absolutely! i don't need to justify this! she also likes sci-fi and the like, which is a given, and she has so many opinions on it. don't get her started

anyways, i think that sombra’s favorite subjects in school were spanish, art, science and math. in spanish class they read and wrote plenty of literature and she found herself really enjoying the older stuff. something about period pieces hit considering how futuristic the world was + she was in a war torn region that hardly had limited, generator powered electricity for most of her upbringing. weird sense of familiarity + escapism. she enjoys similar historical themes in other media like television and movies, but she likes it best in books. she was very well read in her younger years, but nowadays most of her reading tends to be news articles and restricted files. still fun for her, but it’s not the fiction she grew up loving.

on a similar line of thought, i think sombra really likes art. she did a lot of sketching and painting when she was younger, dabbling in various types of art. her favorite mediums have always been traditional pen & paper and graffiti. she can do stylized people and animals, but her favorite things to do are landscapes, objects, and letters. a common theme with these hobbies is that she hardly gets to indulge in them anymore. it’s been longer than she can remember since she was able to sit down and draw, write, read, etc.

she did a lot of writing in her youth, mostly for school but she also indulged in personal writing that she would never show anybody. it was basically fanfic of shit she read or watched because yeah. mood. now any writing she does is in the non fiction territory like articles, e-mails, essays, etc. etc.

whatever time isn’t spent working typically gets spent watching tv or movies. she keeps up with the newest stuff, but she has a soft spot for “older” media (aka… shit we watch now). she canonically likes star wars (she named her stuffed bear artuito which is … R2-D2) which would be really old by their standards. she loves older scifi the cheesy effects and all that are just … chefs kiss. she also likes more historical period works too, you’d be surprised at what she’ll pay attention to. she has a lot to say about the things she watches and could go on for hours with analysis but she doesn't cuz that's some nerd shit and she is NOT a nerd.

this wasn't exactly a huge hobby for her but she did dance pretty often with the people around her, especially in her teen years when she started going to parties n all that. she wouldn't consider that hobby territory though even tho she does like it.

#HEADCANON. #i took the hc from my old blog and rewrote like half of it to elaborate n shit so ba BOOM

[foxymoxynoona]

hi there!! i have a question for you. first of all, i want to say that your writing is phenomenal, like some of the best writing i’ve seen. you’re very artful and clever and amazing at developing characters! i’m reading amended right now and i really love isabella and how strongly written she is.

my question has more to do with where the story is going, though. i’m at the part where isabella loses her job and jungkook tells her not to worry about getting a new one, and now she’s taking care of the home/kids/cooking, etc. you absolutely do not have to answer this and please do not take it as an indictment on anything, but… this is a very personal thing but i find it uncomfortable to read about “traditional families” i.e a SAHM with a provider dad, and i just wanted to see if that’s where the story is headed for isabella? for her to be a full time mom? if that is the case, you’re such a good writer that i trust that it’s good for her development, but it’s just a personal thing (i grew up in the deep american south and was practically groomed to be a SAHM and my family cut ties with me when i left to get a degree & pursue a career, so nowadays i try to avoid consuming any content that has that lifestyle). again, nothing against SAHMs or your writing, i just got really invested in the story without knowing that’s where it’s possibly going so i just wanted to check before i continue reading the next 500k?

thank you for sharing your stories with us. even if amended doesn’t end up being for me, i really REALLY love tell me what changed, to kill a king & sasha/jk’s story. 💗💗

Hello! I am also from the South and fled for college long ago <3 so I do understand where you're coming from. There are plenty of things I can't find myself able to write or enjoy in media yet --not SAHM life specifically, but other aspects of traditional gender roles/religion/purity culture that I just haven't reached a point yet of being able to consume in media without it poking at old pains.

No, Isabella does not remain a SAHM is the short answer to your question --her navigating the confusion of being "able" to be a SAHM but wanting something else for herself even though she doesn't *have* to work is a big piece of her identity story --mainly couched in the limits of poverty and generalized expectations of "what does it mean to be a good mom, would a good mom choose to be away from her kids??"

I'lll also just add on a personal note: SAHM is the toughest fucking gig in the world, I do not know how so many women do it. Being a working mom has its own struggles but I was stunned as an adult to realize I am not cut out for that after being raised to believe it would just be natural and easy for me 🤣 I adore my children but damn. Not for me. I actually think it would genuienly be a writing challenge for me to write a happily SAHM... have I ever written one??? Mikayla in Amended is a SAHM, but I think she's sort of a side-hustler and has some love-hate relationship with her SAHM-ness lol. The few times I've done stints as a SAHM with my kids was too much, I'm not strong enough to enjoy writing about it 🤣🤣

#asks #amended #anonymous

[widdlediddle2]

Howdy; hope your day's (or night's) been peachy. I saw you were giving art advice, so I was hoping you can answer my own question: can you learn to be as good as, say, yourself at art when you're broke? I'm talking "can't pay for a soda at a from a vending machine broke even if you're really damn thirsty because you've spent all your money on rent" broke. Art supplies, both digital and traditional, look so damn expensive. Can you learn to draw while broke, and do you have any budget art tips?

Ofc you can draw on a low budget!

Your Art or craft isn’t about having expensive art supplies it’s about how you use it

I come from a very humble family so I was never able to get a lot of nice art supplies growing up but that didn’t stop me!

Simply drawing on a notebook is enough to make good art!

I recommend going to a local dollar store to get a sketch book and most of your art supplies

From my experience purchasing from bigger companies like Michaels was a waste of money

While you can get awesome pens and stuff from Michaels when I used the sketchbooks from there I was never able to draw in it because I didn’t wanna ruin expensive paper so I got dollar store sketchbooks!

Cheaper and I don’t feel limited to what I draw!

As for digital art it can be really simple! If you have a phone you can draw on there!

Fun fact if you look back at old drawings from before June 2021 all those drawings were made on my phone!!

I never had a laptop and a drawing tablet until last year for my bday

IbisPaint, FlipaClip (for animating), and sketchbook were all my apps I used!! Sketchbook was for just basic sketching/doodling and ibis paint was my main art app! All free apps too!

You can also make a drawing on paper and scan it in on your phone! From your notes app or a scanning app on the AppStore!

Some more Art tips I have:

Budget wisely

If you have family members or friends that have paper or art supplies you can use ask them if u can borrow some

Reuse materials

Aaand

Collect art supplies over time!

If you have anymore questions send another ask or DM me :)

#hope this helped! #THANK YOU FOR THE ASK #sorry if I don’t sound clear #it’s 12 am and I’m tired but I wanted to answer this

[vexture]

Let's go 3, 7, 15, 20, 27 for ask game!

3. What ideas come from when you were little

If I'm taking the question correctly, that would be my affinity for drawing beings that look like a bunch of stuff piled together. I don't remember much of my childhood drawings, but my mama keeps most of them in her filing cabinet. From what I've seen, I've always liked shit like that. I had an oc named Broomy, he was a dog like creature who had a pumpkin for a head, the body of a broom, paws (same color as the broom) and the straw end for the tail, and candle pupils. I loved that guy with my whole heart man, I need to find a picture of him or something to redraw. Other than that, gore. Don't subject your children/siblings to horror movies and adult swim shows guys, seriously

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate

Physical/digital stim boards. I don't understand the digital appeal, but that might be because I've never had one that was like "oh damn that looks great" but I have touched a physical stim board, I hated every second because it had sequins on it (I Cannot Touch Those) but the enthusiastic explanation I got made me like it, even if I couldn't touch it. Digital ones look really cool too, I'm just very specific on what I like looking at, but I imagine that it takes forever to find the proper gifs that aren't too fucked up and do all the arrangements and border work, I would love to try one, but I'm genuinely at a loss on what to do ^^;; Tumblr stim girlies (gender neutral) I love y'all to bits

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth)

I draw largely at home, having chronic pain can extremely limit what I can do during a day. I love taking my traditional shit out to draw at the park, but I don't get ideas too often for it to be worth the bag space I could use for something else. Speaking as someone who has literal drawers full of art supplies, I wish I could go out with it all and be unbothered by The General Public, because I like drawing people out and about, but the distain overwhelms me and so does the arthritis

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy

Almost every time an artist friend comes to me while I work, it's "wow you're really good at eyes, that's the least favorite part for me" and I can see why. I learned how to do realism from Vogue and People magazines, the shots were clear, it had closeups of hands/eyes/clothes, and eyes were the first thing I learned how to draw properly, I love them sm, they are always in the margins of papers I'm stuck with, or color practice, or whatever I need the eye to be for. Very reliable part of the body artistically for me :>

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with

See number 15 for a short answer.

Long answer: I have a very small window to get a drawing done, if I can't get it within the day, or even 2 hours, I have a very hard time picking it up again due to depression, the chronic pain, and sometimes my headmates don't actually know how to use the computer to draw. I consider the amount of drawing I do something to be proud of most days, between the brain fog/deperson/derealization and aching joints, the amount of work I do can be great all things counted. Sure, others can get out more things with worse than me, or what have you, but my style is detail heavy with the line work and colors, and composition is hard for me.

Tangent here:

I would like to say that even if you get out only one drawing every once in a while due to shit getting in the way, at least it's something and you should be proud of yourself for being able to accomplish that within the parameters you have. The algorithm sucks, on every platform, even here on Tumblr with their abysmal search bar, so there's sometimes a pressure to put out a bunch to get a little recognition, but quality over quantity, y'know? No matter what, try not to stare down the cliff of having a shit ton of numbers attached to your hard work.

The incentives are great, and I completely understand that, but once you look at it as a chore, you'll never do shit for you again like you used to without giving up on the algorithm anyway. I avoid going down any tags unless I absolutely have to, because I get discouraged by the numbers, so I end up just looking at my art, and friend's art only. It's okay to stare at your own shit, I've never seen anyone say that anywhere as of recent, so for those who need it, it's okay to be in love and enamored by your own work enough to stare at it even days after posting it, I highly encourage looking at your own art like you do others, because that's a good source of encouragement, or at least for me, love what you do, give yourself a break from not being at the top of every tag/platform, because that's a double edged sword, and no one likes getting blood on their suits

#sunny's qna tag #goodwineandcheese #ask game

[miks-fantrolls]

1, 2, and 4!

heeee

1. Show your most recent wip

umm my most recent wip is a silly little meme animation for the lifehack trolls....obviously not done yet

2. 5 favourites of your own work?

damn.... good question

looking at what i have in my deviantart's featured section off the top of my head......

what does a pawn fear? (modeled & rendered in blender)

cradles (mixed media, traditional. i actually sold the original a while back!)

dreamscape (digital collage. this was just a half-assed assignment for my digital art class that i ended up really loving.)

vape some waves and then maybe youll feel better (a blender project that started out as a joke then turned out really good)

bubbles (au brusli. i dunno how this turned out so good. i dunno why this turned out so good.)

4. Favourite things to draw?

character busts facing left in a void shit i dunno. i really like making use of color palettes, i think. theres just a neat little brain puzzle that goes into limiting the colors you use. color theory is really fun for me, so i try to play with it when i can

#long post #mikart #thank u gabe <3<3<3 u3u muah muah

[maximuswolf]

As a black gamer I don't care about anything else I just want a robust character creation that let's me make a character who looks like me. I want multiple afro textured hairstyles. I'm tired of games only having cornrows afros and dreads.

As a black gamer, I don't care about anything else, I just want a robust character creation that let's me make a character who looks like me. I want multiple afro textured hairstyles. I'm tired of games only having cornrows, afros, and dreads. Only slightly hyperbole. Obviously I want a good game overall, but damn, can a brother get a nappy temp fade? Sometimes I wanna make my OC a black woman. Are bantu knots too much to ask for?It's disheartening and othering to see game developers often make our hair an afterthought. When our characters don't reflect the diversity of Black hairstyles, it feels like a part of our identity is being overlooked. It's not just about having more hairstyles; it's about acknowledging the rich variety and cultural significance of Black hair. We're more than afros, braids, and dreads. Our hairstyles have history, meaning, and style that deserve recognition and representation.In 2024, it's inexcusable to limit Black characters to just a handful of hairstyles while offering an extensive array for others. Our hair doesn't just grow in three styles. This lack of representation is not just a cosmetic oversight; it's a reflection of a broader issue of inclusivity in gaming. We want to see characters that look like us, that represent the diversity of Black hair - from twists and Bantu knots to fades and more.How are we supposed to immerse ourselves in fantastical worlds, slaying dragons or navigating cyberpunk cities, when our avatars can't even accurately reflect us? Just take a look at this rdcworld1 video – it's a humorous take, but it underscores a real frustration in the gaming community. It's time for game developers to step up and give Black gamers the representation they deserve.Bad Examples and Discussions for Context:How hard is it to make Spider-Man's hair?Black Representation in video games: HairstylesYou cannot make a convincing black person in Cyberpunk 2077Dear Video Game Character Creators: You Still Need WorkThe Natural: The Trouble Portraying Blackness in Video GamesWhy are black Hair options still so limited in Video GamesHow Character Customization be for Black People on Video GamesCreating Myself In Monster Hunter World RiseWe Need To Fix Black Hair in Video Games - The Blessing ShowBarber/Websites for References:ibeenafrican Instagramtrinaydidit InstagramTraditional African hairstyles52 Beautiful Traditional African Hairstyles 202336 Gorgeous Traditional African Hairstyles for the Trendy Black WomanTutorials:Cornrow/Braids - Realtime hair breakdown/tutorial by Hazel BrownHow To Create A Fade Hairstyle - Game Art by TriGonGood Examples:Image 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6Image 7Image 8Image 9Image 10Image 11Image 12Image 13Image 14Image 15Image 16Image 17Image 18Image 19Big shout out to Jeryce Dianingana for compiling the links! I just put them in reddit format. Submitted April 28, 2024 at 03:56PM by wisesonAC https://ift.tt/H7LNyTf via /r/gaming

#reddit

[crystal-in-nagasaki]

fall in nagasaki

Spring is right around the corner here in Nagasaki, and though my posts have now fallen several months behind, I wanted to share about my experiences with fall here in 2022 and 2023.

Fall is my favorite season, followed closely by spring. I love nature and I love experiencing the explosion of colors that happens in both of these seasons each year, which are particularly beautiful in Japan. Japan also has a strong culture of temporariness and transience, perhaps inspired by the cherry blossoms, which can be viewed for only a short time each year. Due to this ideology, they often sell limited edition products for short periods, which are then never seen again (rest in peace, my beautiful houjicha caramel latte at Starbucks.) 

Anyway, like the cherry blossoms are to spring, momiji, or maple leaves, are the symbol of fall in Japan. The changing of the leaves is called 紅葉, koyo. meaning red leaves. During this time, you can enjoy seeing beautiful fall colors.

During this season in 2022, I of course made another trip down to the scenic wonderland of the Shimabara peninsula to enjoy the changing leaves. My friends and I visited a park known for their leaves and had an impromptu photo shoot. 

I also visited another seaside park in Unzen and enjoyed climbing around on the rocky shore. 

The following year in 2023, I took some pictures of the fall colors while on various trips at the Beppu Hells and Suizenji park in Kumamoto city. I'll give more details about these trips in future posts, but for the sake of this post, I just want to show off some nice pictures of the fall scenery. I hope you enjoy!

The Japanese maple leaf is almost as symbolic as the cherry blossom, so you can find various traditional and modern goods with maple leaf motifs on them. During my study abroad in Japan in 2019, I visited a park where fried maple leaves were a specialty. And like the weirdo tourist I am, I ate them. They really got me to eat leaves. Damn, these tourist traps are good. Anyway, I also found this maple leaf-shaped wagashi at a sweets shop (thankfully it did not contain any actual leaves in it.) It’s such a beautiful and iconic image of fall.

In addition to the maple leaf, the ginkgo leaf is also a popular fall image. Here are some ginkgo trees in full color lining a street in Nagasaki city:

Lastly, similar to my spring post before, I would like to share a Japanese poem which represents the melancholy of the fall season in Japan. Japanese poems often incorporate nature and seasonal words to evoke a feeling in the reader. 

奥山に　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　deep in the mountains　

紅葉踏みわけ                                           a deer walking

鳴く鹿の                                                  through the fallen maple leaves

声聞くときぞ                                           his cry echoes

秋は悲しき                                               of fall loneliness 

Through the imagery of the fall leaves and the lone deer yelling out in search of a mate, we get a very lonely image. We too might think of our own loneliness in search of love or companionship, which is exacerbated by the fall days getting shorter and colder. Of course, we don’t love to feel sad and lonely. But it’s a universal part of the human experience, and seeing it invoked in nature and art can be satisfying and healing. 

Anyway, this was meant to be just a short post in which I mostly drone on pretentiously about the beauty of fall. I hope you enjoyed the pictures at least! My last fall in Nagasaki has come to an end, like all things must. I’ll miss the beautiful fall scenery here, but know there’s much more beautiful fall scenery to be seen waiting for me in other parts of the world, and I look forward to seeing it someday.

Thanks as always for reading <3