#i also tried really hard to make the faces a focal point by rendering that area more than the rest. i originally had more detail on the rest | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

elvhendis · 7 months

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Hiya, I’m in love with your painterly pieces, genuinely gorgeous. If you don’t mind me asking, what kinds of brushes do you use?

For context, I’ve been making an effort to get my transitions between values less abrasive (since I got into the habit of leaving them at the roughest stage possible and making up for it with “tactical” overlays) but my end results tend to end up muddy, and when they don’t I can never pinpoint what I did differently. I have a suspicion it’s because I almost exclusively use a very hard oil brush — I do like a coarse look but there’s a line of how much of it is personal style and how much of it is plain poor judgement. Would I be better off using a softer edged brush for that in between stage, or is it just something I need to push through without “blaming the tools”, so to speak?

Hi!! First of all I'm flattered, I'm so glad you like my art 🥺

Keep in mind that I'm using Photoshop, so the brushes only apply to that. For rendering I mostly use Istebrak's skin and blending brushes! She used to sell them in separate packs, now she sells them all in a bundle . I mostly use her angled skin brush and wispy skin brush, those give me the smoothest results. For blocking I use her dry oil brush, though lately I've actually started using a brush that a dear fellow artist was kind enough to send to me! I love to use it for hair especially. For blending and smoothing everything out I use Istebrak's smudging brushes. I've been using her brushes for years and never really switched since they work really well for me, but I'm sure there are tons of other brushes out there that do the same trick!

I'm probably not the best person to ask about this kind of stuff though, because I LOVE when paintings actually look painterly and textured, with visible brush strokes etc, and I've tried to move away from overly rendering and smoothing everything out, but it's difficult for me because as soon as I see a brush stroke my brain yells "smooth it!!!" so yeah, I don't quite know how to balance everything myself yet. Generally I try to preserve the most detail and keep everything smooth around the focal point (so, since I mostly do portraits, that means the face/eyes) and allow myself to keep stuff messier in other areas (the hair, etc). I hope that makes sense?

Basically my process looks like this: I start by blocking in the values with hard brushes (like the dry oil brush) and as I get further into the process I start using the skin brushes on lower opacity in combination with the eye dropper method to slowly blend everything together, and as I'm doing that I also use the smudge brush to blend unwanted edges and creases and make everything look smooth. (for me, smudging is really the key sometimes)

I feel like this is a terrible explanation but I hope it at least helps you a little? Like I said, I feel like I'm still in the process of figuring all of it out myself, it takes some experimentation to learn what works and what doesn't, but I'm sure in the end we'll all get there 💚

#anon #ask

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lost-eternity · 4 years

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Matchup Requests: CLOSED

Match up request for: @ imightsecretlybeadragon

Okie dokie. I match you with...

I love your tag name, hun

I had to ship you with Sherlock himself

I was originally considering Mycroft but he honestly can't handle spontaneity

That's more Sherlock's thing

Although the number of hobbies you have tried your hand at, only to drop most of them, tells me that you grow bored easily and hence need things to occupy your time

So does Sherlock. Except his methods of quelling boredom are not nearly as tame as candle making.

He'll keep you on your toes

I also considered Mary as a potential match but finding information on her online is incredibly scarce, for some reason. RIP

I believe that your ambition, drive, and willingly to throw reason to the wind and embark on thoughtless adventures is the perfect reason why you would mesh so well with Sherlock Holmes. You would totally be willing to jump out of windows or attempt crazy experiments with him instead of judgmentally staring as most would

As much as Sherlock enjoys John's company, he cannot handle people asking him questions all of the time

Either they need to be on the same level as him- or shut up and do as he says until he reveals his thought process in some theatrical way

While you may not be able to under exactly where that man's mind is at, you are definitely smart enough to understand the general gist and decide for yourself whether or not you want to follow through

Because sometimes Sherlock really needs someone to look him in the eye and say "no". Instead of passively being yanked around like a dog on a leash.

Both of you have a habit of becoming so engrossed in your work that you forfeit biological functions like sleep. Sherlock really appreciates your understanding in regards to this because he knows that you will not disturb him.

But when he is going on three days without sleeping or eating, your more nurturing side will step in, force him to rest and give that man some damn sustenance.

Which is why I feel like you would work very well with him. You know when to back off and give him the space he needs, but you aren't complaining like him because you also know when the is challenging the limits of what his human body can handle and will step in to make sure he actually takes care of himself

Like, dude. Take a freaking shower, you both look and smell like a writhing sack of horseshit

Sherlock would probably find your tendency to be loud quite intrusive. He claims that "even your thoughts are loud. I can feel you thinking. Stop that." And promptly kick you out of the room

Try not to be too offended by him

He is like a toddler. He doesn't know any better

But feel free to give him a scalding tongue lashing afterwards

Sherlock would never admit it, but he does genuinely care for you. And it can sometimes be hard to tell. He constantly berates and criticizes you. But only because he is worrying over your well being and gets super mad if you do sometimes that puts your life in danger. Sherlock can't even bear the thought of losing you, and like everything else he doesn't like, he chooses to ignore or "delete" it. So when that fear becomes a reality, he flips out, masquerading his concern as anger. Because he does not want to appear weak

His criticism comes from a well meaning place. He genuinely wants you to improve and do the best you can in life to become successful, he is just piss poor and phrasing. Instead his critiques come off as purely negative. You may have to remind him of this and he would be quick albeit awkward to correct.

If you show him a painting:

"No, the lines are all wrong. The focal point should be here, but because you used 45° angles, the focal point ends up down here."

Cue an unamused look from you

"What? Oh... uh. Y-your use of colour palate is... adequate...."

He's trying

Knowing Sherlock, you did not really ever "meet"

At least not how most people would

The first time you met, Sherlock had you pinned beneath him on the ground, demanding that you take off your clothes.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's start from the beginning

You were near Hyde park, cloaked in a heavy woolen coat to combat the biting cold of the winter-scape around you

With your hands shoved deep in your pockets in an attempt to warm them, you continued at a brisk pace, wanting to get back to your flat before the scheduled snowfall

That was when a dude on a motorcycle nearly careened into you. You jumped back and glared over your shoulder, fully prepared to tell him off. Instead, what you saw rendered you speechless

The guy who almost hit you was wearing a... bunny head mask. What the hell?

So distracted by this weirdo on the motorcycle, you did not notice another man in a black trench charging down the way. He actually did hit you from a full sprint.

The force of the impact knocked the air from your lungs and caused you to fall over, he taking a tumble shorter thereafter

The man, now having you stretched out beneath him, seemed entirely preoccupied. If he recognised the implications of your situation, he gave no indication to it.

He spared you a single glance before looking back after the motorcycle bunny guy.

"I need your jacket, now!" He demanded, not once looking at You

"Excuse me?" You asked.

"Jacket!" He demanded again. "Take it off!"

Were you being robbed?

If you were, this was one weird ass mugger.

Another man came jogging up, his breath short and strained as she rested his hand on his knees. He looked horrified then apologetic "Sherlock! Get off her!"

The rude trench coat fella scrambled to his feet, as if just now realising he had been on top of you. He must be Sherlock.

The second man continued. "I'm sorry about him, we aren't mugging you. We would just like to borrow your jacket for a few minutes."

"Watson, he is getting away!" Sherlock complained

You removed your coat, and handed it over, completely confused. What else were you supposed to do?

The cold air bit your exposed skin, sending goose-flesh across your arms as you shivered from the chill

Sherlock and his big ass coat moved at a dead sprint towards an ice-crusted fountain

Watson sighed and extended a hand to help you up. He shrugged off his own jacket, offering it to you.

You immediately refused his gesture, despite the sheer cold causing you to shiver.

Watson frowned slightly at the rejection, his forehead creasing

You watched as this Sherlock character leapt onto the fountain, nearly losing his footing as she scrambled across. The motorcycle man had almost reached the road, if he got there, he would be lost.

Sherlock pursued him, jumping over gates and pushing past pedestrians to cut him off on the main trail.

You did not think he would make it, but remarkably, he did. He stood before the motorcycle your jacket extended in front of him

Bunny guy did not hesitate to charge at him, probably planning to run him down

Your breath hitched in your throat as you gazed at the scene. Like a matador facing off against a bull... except Sherlock had no sword. No back up. Just a jacket. How in the world was he going to stop a guy on a motorcycle with only a jacket???

You watched in anticipation, the cold you felt completely forgotten as the motorcycle drew nearer and nearer.

Sherlock did not once hesitate nor flinch. He remained rooted in spot, his eyes steely with determination

The bunny suit man got within a single metre of Sherlock.

You thought for sure that you were about to witness a collision.

You were wrong

Sherlock threw your coat then rolled out of the way.

The coat hit the back wheel as it spun, getting snagged in the shifting gears and mechanisms.

It wrapped itself around the back wheel, seizing it up and causing the motorcycle to skid out, slipping across the ice before colliding into a nearby tree.

Sherlock was quick to pounce, restraining the bunny suit guy.

You were absolutely amazed. Both you and Watson seemed to have the same idea as you rushed over. Watson scolding Sherlock for pulling the stunt and you out of concern for your poor coat.

It wasn't long before the police arrived. Apparently bunny guy was some sort of expert thief turned murderer known for his iconic bunny suit. The cops have been after him for months and Sherlock had been the one to flush him out and trap him

You were mostly distraught over the loss of your jacket. It was a good jacket, now completely lost to the motors and gears on the cycle

Watson promised that he would buy you a new one. He even invited you back to his flat for some tea because he was worried you would catch cold if you walked all the way back to yours

You were going to refuse and just take a cab, then you learnt that Watson and Sherlock were flatmates.

How could you say no?

You just met some of the most interesting people on the planet, how could anyone say no to tea with them?

Sherlock seemed adamantly against the idea, complaining loudly about Watson "taking home too many strays" because "they ruin my work."

"You should have thought of that before you ruined my favourite jacket." You retorted

They were both taken aback by your wit

Watson appeared rather smug. "Yeah. You could have just used your own."

Sherlock seemed positively offended that anyone would dare suggest such a thing. "Not my coat! The coat is iconic."

Watson just rolled his eyes

Despite getting off on the wrong foot, you and Sherlock hit it off rather nicely

You were amazed by his observational abilities, but shocked him by understanding how he came to his conclusions before he even explained.

This was when Sherlock began to like you

And Sherlock doesn't like anyone

It kinda baffles John, really

Sherlock, finding you rather entertaining, is fine with you popping in for tea every once in a while.

He even let you assist on cases

This is where he really began to fall for you

He admires your intellect and thought process, considering it formidable albeit slower than his own

Let's be real, it's Sherlock

But things kinda start out rough

At first, when Sherlock first realises that he has feelings for you, he "deletes" them

It's scary admitting when you fancy someone

And not just scary. Dangerous. Especially for Sherlock.

He can't allow himself to be focused on anything except for work

Of course, the more time he spends with you, the more his feelings keep coming back, regardless of how often he deletes them

So he pushes you away

He lashes out

Becomes cold and distant, trying to make you give up

But you won't. You're having the time of your life with him and always comes back. No matter how many times he yells for you to go away. Its infuriating, actually

There will come a point where Sherlock has to make peace with his own attractions but it will be very difficult for the both of you

You will have to work with him through this

Cause Sherlock is not going to be an easy catch. And an even harder one to keep

But I have faith in you.

I hope you enjoyed dear, let me know what you think :)

#sherlock #sherlock holmes #matchup #ships #sherlock x you #sherlock x reader #match up #matchups #match ups #ship #bbbc #bbc sherlock #john watson #request #sherlock request #sherlock matchup #sherlock ship #sherlock match up

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phantom-le6 · 3 years

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Film Review - The New Mutants

I’d originally been planning to go right into my backlog of TV series after my last film review, but instead I’ve opted to delay that slightly in favour of reviewing two further additions to my film collection. First up is the final film of Fox’s era of Marvel cinematic production, and to date the only cinematic adaptation of a spin-off group from my favourite Marvel heroes in terms of comics lore. This is my take on The New Mutants…

Plot (adapted from Wikipedia):

Danielle "Dani" Moonstar, a young Cheyenne Native American, escapes the destruction of her reservation during an apparent tornado. During the chaos, Dani's father, William, hides her before an unseen entity kills him, leaving her the only survivor. After being knocked unconscious, Dani awakens in a hospital run by Dr. Cecilia Reyes. Reyes comforts Dani, telling her she is a mutant, and advises her to remain in the hospital until she learns what her abilities are and controls them.

Dani is introduced to four other teenagers; Samuel "Sam" Guthrie, Illyana Rasputin, Roberto "Bobby" da Costa and Rahne Sinclair. Reyes has brought each of them to the hospital after they have all suffered tragedy; Sam brought down a whole mine on his father and coworkers, Roberto burned his girlfriend to death, Rahne escaped her religiously strict village after being branded as a witch, and Illyana was haunted by her past of child slavery and abuse, which manifests itself as otherworldly beings called the "Smiling Men". All of them possess mutant abilities; Roberto can manipulate solar energy, Sam can fly at jet speed, Illyana has inter-dimensional teleportation powers (as well as being a sorceress), and Rahne's lycanthropy allows her to turn into a wolf. Reyes herself is a powerful mutant who keeps her patients from leaving the facility by surrounding it with unbreakable force fields.

Collectively, the five of them believe that they are being trained to join the X-Men, hence the strict supervision, as well as Reyes reminding them that they are considered dangerous and should not leave until they have mastered their abilities. Dani immediately befriends Rahne, with the two eventually forming a romantic relationship, while Illyana continues to antagonize Dani. When Dani fights back, she discovers that Illyana's only friend is a hand puppet of a purple dragon who she calls Lockheed. Soon, the group all begin to have horrifying visions of their past tragedies, one of which results in Rahne getting branded in the neck. Illyana deduces that the visions are the result of Dani's powers manifesting; she has the ability to physically manifest illusions based on a person's psyche. Reyes consults her employers, the Essex Corporation, who instruct her to collect Dani's DNA and have her euthanized.

As Reyes takes her away, Dani's panic causes her power to spiral out of control. Illyana and Sam are attacked by manifestations of the Smiling Men while Roberto tries to break through the barrier, which has shrunken down. Dani uses her powers to learn of Reyes's true intentions before Rahne arrives in half-wolf form and mauls Reyes, forcing her to flee. The five regroup and realize that, in order to escape, they have to kill Reyes to deprive the force fields of their power source. They find her and Reyes traps them, revealing that she was training them to be killers for Essex. Before she can kill Dani, the Demon Bear, which is Dani's own fear manifested and the true cause of her reservation's destruction, arrives and kills Reyes.

Illyana summons her powers to jump between "limbo" and recruits a real-life version of Lockheed to take on the Demon Bear. Eventually, Sam and Roberto join the fight, overcoming their insecurities in the process. Rahne tries to reach through to an unconscious Dani until she is forced to fight the Demon Bear alone. Dani is visited by her father's spirit, who encourages her to face her fear. Dani awakens and confronts Demon Bear, calming and thus dissipating it. As day breaks, the group learns that the force fields are down and they leave the facility to find the nearest town.

Review:

As people who have read my reviews and other articles back when Facebook notes were still around, last year in the run-up to this film’s intended release of April 2020, I posted a fun little run-down of how all the X-Men’s various spin-off groups were created in back in the 1980’s. First and foremost among these groups were the New Mutants, who I have read a lot about not only through the X-Men comics of this era, but also through the earliest issues of the New Mutants’ own series in the anthologies of the Marvel Epic collection. As such, I was really excited to finally get to see this film when it came out early this month on Blu-ray.

That being said, I was also a little wary; Fox’s treatment of the X-Men and their various associates has been frequently hit-and-miss, with Deadpool being the only film to date that I’ve given top marks to. In addition, the much-raved about Logan showed us that Fox had little respect for the characters, basing the plot-premise of mutants being eradicated via GM crops on the idea that a then-active Xavier or Magneto would do nothing, when X-Men: The Last Stand had shown they would be far less ignorant or inactive in the face of any anti-mutant bio-chemical shenanigans. Combine that with years of anglocised Xavier and Magneto alongside Americanised versions of non-US characters, and you have to admit, Fox just has a really, really lousy track record for adaptational quality or film-to-film consistency with their main Marvel earners as was.

How, then, does this film directed and co-written by Josh Boone, stack up? Well at first watch pretty well. The film is a revised origin film for the group that draws heavily on the Demon Bear Saga, a three-issue story arc that spanned issues 18-20 (August-October 1984) of the New Mutants comic in its original form. The original was written by Chris Claremont in the midst of his definitive writing run on the X-Men, and was drawn by artist Bill Sienkiewicz. The latter gives this film his blessing in behind-the-scenes materials on the Blu-ray, including an interview with Boone that forms the director’s commentary.

It’s not hard to see why Sienkiewicz is ok with the film, because having read the comics I can see this film as being a very faithful adaptation of the source material while still being its own story. The film is very much a horror film, though initially it has more of a thriller aspect that keeps it distinct from other superhero horror films like the Blade trilogy or Sony’s horror-comedy Venom. It’s also very much a coming-of-age story, which taps into what the New Mutants comics were about. Despite the team having X-Men trainee uniforms at times back in the comics, the team was meant to be just students learning to use their powers, leaving the world-saving and evil mutants-battling to the X-Men, a dynamic that has been reflected in most of Fox’s X-Men films to date.

In terms of characters, casting and performance, I’d say the film lands very well in most areas. As there are so relatively few characters to go at, I’ll tackle them here as bullet points;

Danielle “Dani” Moonstar (played by Blu Hunt). Dani is the focal character for this story, and actress Blu Hunt does very well to bring the character to life. The manifestation of her powers is handled quite differently from the comics, but it works well within the story and gives us a very unique take on the classic idea of a mutant discovering their power for the first time. Normally it’s either a very rapid progression or we just see the character with full awareness of what their power is, whereas here Dani isn’t aware and the film essentially shows her trying to work out what her power is, then how to control it.

Rahne Sinclair (played by Maisie Williams). After Moira MacTaggert was Americanised in the X-Men prequel films, becoming a CIA agent rather than a Scottish scientist, I was afraid that her ward Rahne (pronounced Rain) would follow a similar course. Instead, Maisie Williams pulls off a great modernised version of this young Scottish werewolf-like mutant, including the strict and abusive conservative Christian upbringing and subsequent abuse that is an integral part of her comic-verse incarnation. The film also translates the telepathic bond between Dani and Rahne from the comics, and its subsequent deep friendship, into a same-sex romance that is very much a natural extension of source material.

Samuel “Sam” Guthrie (played by Charlie Heaton). Much like Williams, Heaton is shifting his accent to play the role of Sam Guthrie, who in the comics hails from Kentucky coal country. The performance is brilliant, and while some fans may struggle to understand why Sam has one arm in a cast when his power of ‘blasting’ is supposed to render him invulnerable, the film works in an idea of guilt-based self-abuse which, much like the Dani-Rahne relationship, is an extension of a comic-based element. In the comics, Sam is very hard on himself and holds himself to an almost impossibly high standard in all areas, but often falls short in the area of his mutant powers. For someone like that, the kind of incident Sam is struggling to deal with in the film could have a very negative effect on his mental health.

Illyana Rasputin (played by Anna Taylor-Joy). The kid sister of Colossus, Anna Taylor-Joy sadly doesn’t get to make any hints about her character knowing one of the X-Men by blood. Her backstory gets somewhat revised in order for it to work within a relatively self-contained film; in the comics, Illyana was drawn into the realm of Limbo at about six or seven years old, but due to a time-difference between there and Earth and a slip-up in the X-Men saving her, she ended up coming back to Earth at age 13, possessing powers of sorcery as well as a mutant teleporting power tied into the Limbo dimension. The film retains Illyana’s power set, however, and even borrows the dragon Lockheed who was originally the ‘pet’/friend of Kitty Pryde, Illyana’s best friend and room-mate in the comics. Thankfully, Taylor-Joy also uses a Russian accent in keeping with her character, so we’re not getting any repeats on the Daniel Cudmore Americanised performance here.

Roberto “Bobby” DaCosta (Played by Henry Zaga). Character-wise, Zaga does well as the New Mutant who was code-named Sunspot in the comics, and while the more pyrokinetic version of his powers seen in the Days of Future Past film incarnation of the character show up, so does his true comic power of solar-powered strength. The film also claims Bobby is from Brazil in keeping with the comics, but Zaga’s accent never sounds even remotely Latin American to me, despite him being a Brazilian actor, and even worse Zaga is a white-wash on the character. Readers of the comics will know Roberto is of mixed race, having a white mother and a black father, so Zaga is a very poor casting choice, especially given the diversity-driven nature of Marvel’s mutant character base.

Dr Cecilia Reyes (Played by Alice Braga). Of the two Brazilian cast members, Braga is the only one who sounds like she’s from a Latin American country, and that’s annoying because she shouldn’t. Dr Cecilia Reyes is American; more importantly, she was drawn in the comics as having dark skin to suggest a mixed-race background similar to Roberto’s (based on her initial appearance in Operation: Zero Tolerance, which I’ve also read), and her general attitude and depiction in source material would seem to suggest an upbringing somewhere in America. Also, Reyes’ force-field powers are centred around herself in the source material, presumably to avoid any suggestion of her being a diversity’s sake rip-off of Susan Richards of the Fantastic Four, and she is a frequent ally or member of the X-Men. This makes her position as an eventual antagonist in this film a poor misuse of her character, one akin to the infamous misuse of the Mandarin in the MCU’s Iron Man 3.

Given all of this, I’m inclined to see The New Mutants as yet another Fox-made Marvel film that falls short of greatness because key details were changed that didn’t need to be. Had I been the one to do this film, I’d have hired an actor that could look like Roberto from the comics, and would have hired an accent coach to help him if he couldn’t do a Brazilian accent. Next, I’d have kept Dr Cecilia Reyes out of the film and used Madelyn Pryor, a character from the comics who would have served that part of the story better on the basis of the source material, and would have cast a suitable actress for that role.

Finally, I’d have worked in at least a nod to the sibling relationship between Illyana and Colossus during the film, used newly shot footage for the part where stock footage from Logan was used, and I’d have done a very brief mid-credits or end credits scene where the X-Men (prequel Xavier, Storm and Nightcrawler with Deadpool-style Colossus and Jackman’s Wolverine) would have touched down in the path of the New Mutants in the Blackbird. Zero dialogue; just the touch down, the X-Men coming out and Illyana running to give her big bro a hug, done. Final score for what we did get, though, is 8 out of 10. Could well have been less, but the appearance of a comic-accurate Lockheed in the third act? That is a major plus all by itself.

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