#it’s only a quick grey scale sketch

[arietomasart]

My changeling bard been through a lot of bad in her life, and it’s torture that I can’t share the sad art with the party about it just yet!!!

#Changeling #bard #dnd campaign #dnd art #dnd character #art #dnd #dnd ocs #oc #original character #D&D #d&d ocs #D&D art #d&d character #sketch #it’s only a quick grey scale sketch #because I didn’t want to spend too much time on something I couldn’t share with others #but none of the campaign party follows me here #so should be fine haha

[greyskyflowers]

I have all these half hearted soulmate AU ideas and I hate to just delete them, so I'm just going to post what I have and roll with it. Please enjoy some rough draft soulmate AU ideas that I'll never finish ~

💙

Visible soulmate marks

Strings - brook

All his strings are tangled in his rib cage.

Vivid red that's thickly woven and caught between several ribs, always moving and pulling Brook forward.

Dark green tangled up, knotted and fraying in some places but still one of the strongest looking strings he has.

Grey blue that's tied securely towards his inner ribs, usually tangled up with the dark green, and close to where his stomach would be if he had one. Yohohoho

Shimmering orange ribbon that shines on the edges and doesn't pull so much as guide with gentle tugs.

Brilliant yellow in twine, multiple smaller pieces braided into one larger stand and tried off on the bone is a messy knot.

Peaceful pink that's carefully tied with a bow and drapes in gentle loops to a lower height before fading.

Deep purple silk thread, it's thin and slides like water over bone, deceivingly sharp to the touch.

Neon blue wire that's bent on a few places but strong, wrapped over bone in multiple coils.

Flower tattoo - robin

Sunflowers cover her back in messy lines, sprouting into long leafy stems and then giant detailed blooms, a heavy and bright presence always at at her back.

Gladiolus grow up her left forearm in thick inked lines that intersect with fine perfect ones, and lush blooms, one of the larger blooms sits where her arms cross.

Blue stars cover her right forearm with elegant and surprisingly subtle line, the most stunning one parallel to the Gladiolus and they meet when her arms cross.

Dahlias grow around her ankles, beautiful and healthy with lines like a rough sketch, looking wind swept and rain drenched.

A mix of peonys grow on her collarbones, they're sweet and inked in childlike handwriting, the blooms hide playful behind each other in a bunch of petals

Clematis bloom on her chest, they're the largest bloom and are messily arranged, the lines are reminiscent of blueprints with scales and measurements.

Daffodil climb up her left side in elegant white ink and tangle together in all stanges of life: bud, bloom, and wilting with petals dropping.

Marigolds cover her right side in ink that mimics paint strokes, the blooms more detailed than any of the others and look like something from an old gardening book.

Color spots - luffy

Luffy is cover in color, everything from pale, watercolors to vivid metallic

Green covers his right hand and forearm, always visible and on the side that he throws the first punch with.

Pale blues mix on his left hand and forearm, intermixed like different depths of water.

Gold drips down the right side of his chest like spilled ink, a shine to it that catches the light and gleams.

Yellow shines like sunlight on his left knee, it's a burst of courageous color and quick to draw the eye.

Pale pink is whispy on his lower back like cotton candy, edges soft and happy.

Crisp, black is in sharp lines against his left ribs. They site between each rib like a shadow and curl like skeletal fingers.

Purple stains his fingers dark like fruit, it finds its way into his finger prints and trace the shape like it's memorizing it.

Solid grey wraps around his ankles like bands, gleaming like metal and strong looking against his skin.

Moving tattoos - zoro

Zoro is full of life, even when he's fast asleep

A sun, filled in with all the colors of a sunset and whispy, white clouds that roll lazily over the design before fading away and reforming again on the other side. The only mark he ever wants on his back

A part of a map wrapped around his upper, left arm. It flutters like it's catching the wind and the edges shine vivid gold and copper.

Flowers bloom on the back of his right hand, they drop petals that fade like they're sinking into water before the flower starts as a bud again.

Gears turn on his left side, little blue stars tumbling between them before flickering out and reappearing at the top.

The going merry circles his left ankle, it bobs happily under a half circle shape with 5 prongs on the inside.

There's a sheet of music wrapped around his upper, right thigh. Binks Sake, the notes jump like they're being played.

Smoke curls around his right forearm, spitting embers and flashing flames in dark smoke before settling back into a gentle grey.

Hoof prints walk in happy, steps around on his right ribcage. They're there and gone in quick black prints like soot in snow.

Names - nami

Luffy curls around her right wrist, vivid red ink that forms the letters in playful strokes.

Zoro is inked on her lower back in a strong, green.

Sanji rests in greyish blue under her left collarbone in clean, neat lines.

Chopper is a warm brown that wraps around her left ankles, the O replaced with a little hoofprint.

Usopp wraps around her right ankle in messy yellow like paint.

Robin is on her right ribs in dark purple, it's a beautiful cursive.

Franky is neon blue and sits on the back of her neck in block letters.

Brook is one her left ribs, black ink spelling his name in thin, curling strokes.

Usopp - constellations

Taurus in red like blood across his collarbone, a rough circle with proudly raised horns growing off to the sides.

Scorpio in black ink around his upper left arm, razor thin lines that raise high and curve before dropping back down and closing off in an arrow.

Cancer like copper coins behind his ear in tight, storming swirls and long tails.

Pisces in silver around his upper right thigh, two curves back to back and gleaming.

Aquarius in pearl around his fingers in waves that creast in points.

Capricorn in bronze on his right ribcage dripping down and up before curling into a circle and trailing off

Pisces in cobalt on his left shoulder blade, a second pair of curves sliced through but this pair is has thicker lines.

Aries in platinum down his spine, the curve starting by one side of the neck before dropping all the way down his back and back up to the other

Something from home - Sanji

A jungle tree cover his right arm, a small treehouse tucked in between all of the leaves and branches.

The outline of a small building rests on his lower back, the large doors are open and even though he hasn't seen it in person he knows it's a dojo.

A orange tree has roots on his right ankle and grows up his leg into a tree baring healthy, ripe oranges.

The outline of a snowy mountain covers his left ribs, the tops snow tipped and the shadows adding a depth.

A whale rests on his left hip, it's got a scar and a sprout of water above it

A trains follows it's tracks in loops around his left ankle and up to his kneecap

Another tree grows on his left leg, smaller around the base and larger around the middle with little dots like windows in the trunk.

The going merry sits between his shoulders, she's bittersweet but he's honored to have her on his skin.

Franky - bands

Red band that ties like an anchor hitch knot and the edges are wavy like the sea

Green band that's frayed and threadbare in some spots with 3 razor sharp lines carefully cut

Gold band with a little bow and faint maps designs almost light enough to overlook

Purple band with a design like lace, elegant flowers and hearts mixed in

Yellow band with textured like a rope and a little ship he knows but never met sailing on top

Brown band that looks like gauze and just barely covers a little hoof print behind it

Blue band that looks like fish scales and has smokey edges

Couldn't decide what to do for Chopper so let's just say his fur covers them 😀

💙

Soulmate AU ideas

Where you share parts of everything with your soulmate. Random thoughts, wounds, knowledge, etc will sneak through before disappearing

Luffy saying something he absolutely should not know and Robin grinning

Nami sharing in the heavy sleeping feeling from Zoro

Usopp showing off the brief wounds he gets from Sanji like they're his own before they disappear from his skin

Chopper being musical in a way someone with hooves shouldn't be

Franky having medical knowledge that a cyborg doesn't have much use for

They all know they could weld Zoro's swords if they needed. None of them trained in any type of swords style but they can feel the ache of the repetitive motions that come with training and way it feels to attack with the intention of killing. His swords are weary of them, aware of the power soulmates have. They all know what happened at Thriller Bark, felt the acceptance of death because it meant their captain wouldn't have to.

They all love Ace as their own immediately, memorizing everything about him in the way you do for a loved one. They have a fondness for Shanks and others that they've never met besides in stories. Their hands have been busted again and again, the skin splitting over broken bone. They've felt fire in their chest, a loss far deeper than skin.

They've all felt wind against exposed bone, even with there own safety wrapped in skin and muscle. They've felt strings under their fingers and hum melodies they've never heard. There's a loneliness in their heart that speaks of a lifetime lost, one they never lived.

They all felt the foreboding feeling of knowing a storm is coming while looking at clear skies. They wipe at their fingers like ink stains them and there's an itch that only comes from old scars that always sits on their shoulder. They trace maps in their heads and itch for a pen, calculations springing up in their minds for properly scaling.

They've all had situations where their hands knew what to do before they did, their eyes tracing over someone and seeing all the injuries like it was written on their skin. They've felt their noses itch with a influx of scents, knowing immediately what belonged to who. They've felt the zip down their spine of that animal instinct when in the presence of a predator.

They've all felt the feeling of being too big, metal where skin should be and a loss of nerves. They've felt the heavy satisfaction of building something new and impressive, constant bigger and better in their minds.

They've all spoke of books they've never read and place they've never been. They have felt multiple spines break and necks snap under their hands. There's knowledge in their heads that feels heavy and overwhelming, it wants to spill out from their mouths to make room. They miss a place and family that they never knew.

They've all had that vicious huger, the desperation only caused by starvation. They've felt the fleeting attraction to a stranger and also the beauty of genuine love. They have the itch for nicotine, lungs begging for something they've never had.

They've all had times where the day is clearer, a haze they didn't realize was there lifting off their eyes and letting them see further than they had before. They've felt the snap of a slingshot and the swelling urge of creation in their chest.

They never held Zoro's swords

They never mourn the loss of Ace the way Luffy has

They never taste a storm on the back of their tongue the way Nami has.

They've never aimed with the knowledge that people will get hurt if they miss like Usopp has

They never felt hunger as fiercely as Sanji has

They never saved someone's life with enough confidence the way Chopper has

They've never ran their fingers over the last of something the way Robin has

They've never traded skin for metal the way Franky has

They've never met death quite like Brook has

💙

Soulmate String of Fate AU?

Strings tangled in or around:

Zoro's swords

Luffy's hat

Brook's ribs

Robin's fingers

Sanji's wrists

Chopper's antlers

Franky's arms

Nami's bracelet

Usopp's hair

#straight from the drafts so please ignore any mistakes #one piece #op #luffy #zoro #sanji #nami #usopp #tony tony chopper #robin nico #franky one piece #brook one piece #mugiwara pirates #straw hat crew #hints of different pairings but im always hinting at poly/qp crew too 😘 #soulmate au #soulmarks au #setting sail with greyskyflowers

[valhethella]

I got quite a few DMs over the weekend on twitter asking about my brushes, and as with anything, your mileage may vary, and digital art isn’t made or broken by brushes, but having them never hurt! Talking about how you use your tools is just as important as talking about what tools you use, so consider this a small breakdown of my process for digital sketching.

First thing’s first, I avoid sketching on an untextured canvas. If you like to have a flat, solid canvas, I recommend working at 50% grey, or adjusting your canvas to be slightly off-white. The harshness of black on pure-white can be a hang-up for many people, including myself.

I sketch on paper textures sourced from my own old sketchbooks and papers. The one I use most frequently is available in my Sketchbook Paper Pack, and named Off White.

While a true-to-life pencil look is not what I’m actively going for with my sketches, these papers certainly help achieve it.

I do almost all of my work in Procreate, but learned digital art first in Photoshop. Anything I share here in regards to how I use brushes can be applied to any brush, I’m certain!

For my sketches, you’re seeing the work of one brush and one eraser.

For my brush, I use an altered version of Procreate’s native HB Pencil brush that I’ve named HB Pencil Beefy. It’s available in my 2021 Brush Pack.

For my eraser, I use Alexa Sharpe’s Soft Eraser. It’s available in their Eraser Brush Pack.

I use my brush at pretty consistently set sizes that are based on my standard canvas size, which is 6″ x 9″ 400 dpi or I use a double spread of 12″ x 9″ 400 dpi.

(If you work in pixels that’s 2400x3600 at 400 dpi and 4800x3600 at 400 dpi)

HB Pencil Beefy I use at 4%, 15%, and 50% size, with the brush’s opacity set to either 60% or 15%.

I set the brush to 15% opacity when I want to go in very softly with lots of that pencil texture. I use this when I need to scale back and really rough something out, or if I’m trying to get a sense of volume with some shadows or contours.

With Alexa Sharpe’s Soft Eraser, I use the eraser set at 2%, 10%, and 25% size. I only scale back the opacity on the eraser if I want to take something back to nearly gone, but still want those lines, faint, there as a guideline.

Jumping back to my file setup really quick, I like to work in a digital sketchbook! It’s just a procreate canvas with a paper texture that’s creased down its center, and all the added layers are my pages. This helps me feel less pressured to create something perfect or finished; It gives me the illusion of just noodling in any old sketchbook.

Okay. Back to the pencil. Below, I have a small idea of my process in sketching and drawing. This is not a how-to-draw demo, and it’s definitely not an anatomy demo – it’s just how I approach drawing using this brush. The page below, and the one above, were both done on a 9″x 6″ canvas at 400 dpi.

01.

Loose and light

using brush at 50% size

this brush does have a tilt dynamic, but I’ve never used it

02.

Nastiest phase

building up a little opacity

still only using brush at 50% size

use eraser at 25% size, if at all

03.

start refining

come in with 15% sized brush

at no point do I abandon larger brushwork, it just becomes about more careful and purposeful use

use eraser to hatch and cut back roughs

04.

hello 4% brush my beautiful little boy ♡

hatching in detail

build up opacity, using eraser to bring it back and to carve volume

jump back to larger sizes for larger forms and volumes

fiddle until “finished” 

P.S. the liquify tool is my best friend

#blog #Brushes #procreate brushes #Procreate #Digital #old art reposting saga

[cariykon]

Do you mind explaining your process for choosing grey scale colors? Do you choose a palette beforehand, if you do how many shades? Thanks and I love your art :)

hiya! honestly with simpler drawings i just go with grayscale because i'm lazy, and don't want to take it to colors. i'll use this akalynn piece as an example.

so i start off with a sketch, usually like drawing on a gray background so i don't burn my eyes out

then i just throw in some greys. i don't want to pick too many shades because it'll be confusing and hard to read. ideally when you squint the overall picture is still readable... i don't pick a palette before hand, i just go with how complicated the drawing is. here i only did 3- light for bg + skin, slightly darker for couch + hair with some variations, and slightly darker still for eve's hair + clothes

then over the grayscale, i throw a quick gradient map on top. basically it's this super cool thing where you can tell it to put certain colors over your drawing based on the shades present. i made it subtle just to add a teeny bit of color but still mostly grayscale

then some details and cleaning, and done! hopefully that helped :D

#ask #cariykon's stuff

[abovebelowhalimekaraca]

Progress (Promotion Comic)

The second part of my project is creating a comic to promote my game.

These are the first sketches. I never created a comic before so I am quite sceptical with how this will turned out, which is why it is only one page and a half long with a limited amount oh panels.

I have used layers to make my job easier and make sure that the characters didn't look to off scale from the backgrounds. I also made everything in grey scale so I wouldn't get distracted by the colours.

The idea for this came from the fact that I will also create a game case and sometimes in the case you get papers or leaflets for vouchers and information which I thought was a good way of giving the ''player'' a first look of what the characters and the story will be like.

I don't own any PS games so I had to look at a lot of images and analyse the kind of information a case would have.

I decided that the second ''page'' would also contain some quick info such as the title, warnings and a quick story synopsis. I really think this saves me a lot of time and it also make the comic look a lot more professional.

[valhethella-moved]

I got quite a few DMs over the weekend on twitter asking about my brushes, and as with anything, your mileage may vary, and digital art isn’t made or broken by brushes, but having them never hurt! Talking about how you use your tools is just as important as talking about what tools you use, so consider this a small breakdown of my process for digital sketching.

First thing’s first, I avoid sketching on an untextured canvas. If you like to have a flat, solid canvas, I recommend working at 50% grey, or adjusting your canvas to be slightly off-white. The harshness of black on pure-white can be a hang-up for many people, including myself.

I sketch on paper textures sourced from my own old sketchbooks and papers. The one I use most frequently is available in my Sketchbook Paper Pack, and named Off White.

While a true-to-life pencil look is not what I’m actively going for with my sketches, these papers certainly help achieve it.

I do almost all of my work in Procreate, but learned digital art first in Photoshop. Anything I share here in regards to how I use brushes can be applied to any brush, I’m certain!

For my sketches, you’re seeing the work of one brush and one eraser.

For my brush, I use an altered version of Procreate’s native HB Pencil brush that I’ve named HB Pencil Beefy. It’s available in my 2021 Brush Pack.

For my eraser, I use Alexa Sharpe’s Soft Eraser. It’s available in their Eraser Brush Pack.

I use my brush at pretty consistently set sizes that are based on my standard canvas size, which is 6″ x 9″ 400 dpi or I use a double spread of 12″ x 9″ 400 dpi.

(If you work in pixels that’s 2400x3600 at 400 dpi and 4800x3600 at 400 dpi)

HB Pencil Beefy I use at 4%, 15%, and 50% size, with the brush’s opacity set to either 60% or 15%.

I set the brush to 15% opacity when I want to go in very softly with lots of that pencil texture. I use this when I need to scale back and really rough something out, or if I’m trying to get a sense of volume with some shadows or contours.

With Alexa Sharpe’s Soft Eraser, I use the eraser set at 2%, 10%, and 25% size. I only scale back the opacity on the eraser if I want to take something back to nearly gone, but still want those lines, faint, there as a guideline.

Jumping back to my file setup really quick, I like to work in a digital sketchbook! It’s just a procreate canvas with a paper texture that’s creased down its center, and all the added layers are my pages. This helps me feel less pressured to create something perfect or finished; It gives me the illusion of just noodling in any old sketchbook.

Okay. Back to the pencil. Below, I have a small idea of my process in sketching and drawing. This is not a how-to-draw demo, and it’s definitely not an anatomy demo – it’s just how I approach drawing using this brush. The page below, and the one above, were both done on a 9″x 6″ canvas at 400 dpi.

01.

Loose and light

using brush at 50% size

this brush does have a tilt dynamic, but I’ve never used it

02.

Nastiest phase

building up a little opacity

still only using brush at 50% size

use eraser at 25% size, if at all

03.

start refining

come in with 15% sized brush

at no point do I abandon larger brushwork, it just becomes about more careful and purposeful use

use eraser to hatch and cut back roughs

04.

hello 4% brush my beautiful little boy ♡

hatching in detail

build up opacity, using eraser to bring it back and to carve volume

jump back to larger sizes for larger forms and volumes

fiddle until “finished” 

P.S. the liquify tool is my best friend

#Brushes #Procreate Brushes #Procreate #Art #Digital Art #Process

[liketheinferno2]

here sending this in an ask because . i'm still not good w/ tumblr all i know is you can add Images in Asks. So before i go play polly pocket monsters i hold up Yargui to you. . . my dancer lass. . .

she looks like this in game but i should also note- she's canonically 6'7 and very much like . she's got muscle . transfem yolo, even. I need to find a way to make her that tall in game bc the moment I can I will be unstoppable . and be able to finally take pics of her and y'shtola without having to worry abt the heights being off.

also quick tidbit between images . i can't stop calling fantasia "fantasy HRT" and i'm pretty sure i picked up the habit from you . i'm not mad it's just amusing to me

anyways here's some cropped and p messy art (that's also filtered quite a bit) that shows her a little more accurately . and a peek of tsumugi but . it's not much but it's my only piece done w/ her golden scales and it's just a colored sketch but anyways .

i like to think she's that Really Cool Aunt Figure - the one who'll spoil you and make sure you know you're well loved and do her best to give advice . rotates her in my brain. somebody please teach her how to talk about her negative emotions though bottling is not healthy ma'am.

anyways i'm getting embarrassed so skitters off i'm really Not good at explaining her in a way that gives her justice i hope you like auntie Urumet

NO NEED TO BE EMBARRASSED anyone with a trans au ra is huge brained. Love the gilded scales and general pearl/gold thing going on. I'm sure I've said "fantasy HRT" on here but I would not have been referring to fantasia, that's what I call Patchi's special potions he taught himself to make by gathering in the shroud. DIY transition. The hard way lol.

I'm trying to think of how you could make her huge with anam. There's a scaling feature for general bigness and then just careful positioning for photos, maybe? I did the reverse with Na'amar here who is still taller than a min height miqo but not THAT much. Moderate success.

I love that fem au ra hairstyle with the extra horns, I wish more of them had stuff like that because it opens up some POSSIBILITIES yknow? Also rarely see those grey-green au ra but I love it, love grey au ra, keepers, viera, duskwight, grey is gud.

The alternative is make her a model on the m body and just dress her in a way that's as fem as you require, also maybe with bone scaling? You can also get darker lippy in anam than you can in the game. I'd be down to help. Obligated to also show my attempts at that with Dominique:

Be not fooled, she is 6'3, Vicky's just GARLEAN. But yeah gender wizardry in this game is my passion so if you need help with that hmu

#asks #transcredwaters

[bitchfitch]

in thinking about doing some adopts to pay for those hashtag medical bills since i wont be able to do coms this time around. but i haven't done adopts in Years. so i dont know what prices are good or what makes something a good deal, or even what people Like in adopts

the main image will be fully lined and rendered, the front, back, and side references would be lined and done in flats, and then the gestures and expression parts would be lined and grey scale shaded. obviously on the actual sale post only the main image would be shown and then the rest of the files would be for the buyers eyes only.

these are all obviously just Very quick sketches to get the vibe of the final product accross since this fellow will be one of the adoptables. but what would something like this be worth?

also, would it be better to have alternative outfits instead of the expression/gesture zone? like 3 or 4 b&w drawings of the alt fits in fun personality poses?

do yall have any other insights on this sorta thing or just things youd like to see? im hashtag floundering el oh el.

#im going back on steroids to deal with the information #but i have 13$ in my bank account rn and roids fuckin #destroy my ability to do shit bc they just make my blood hurt

[ask19thcentury-doctorgilbert]

Ahhhh first of all thank you so much for the compliment!! I’ve attached sort of a mini tutorial under the cut for anyone who was curious about my process! (Keep in mind that this will be specific to Procreate and Ipad + Apple pencil users because those are my tools of choice!)

First tip is to use references. I know that posing is something I tend to overthink and struggle with, so finding an image that’s sort of close to the scene I see in my head helps to solve that problem, which means I can draw panels faster! I’ll usually grab a stock image from google or use one from AdorkaStock’s endless amount of pose references to choose from. They’re a great resource if you’re looking for ideas / references. I’ve definitely used their stock as reference for my life drawing assignments back when in-person classes first got cancelled because of the ‘Rona so pls check them out!!

I start by very roughly sketching out the pose based on the image I’m referencing from (that’s the faint orange lines you see there). This sketch doesn’t have to be perfect. Just use shapes --- Circle for the head, blocks or ovals for arms, and circles for joints. What matters when doing that first sketch is getting the general feel of the pose right. Worry about details later!

Once you have that rough sketch you can lower its opacity and start a new layer above it. This is when you can start roughing out more details. I prefer to do this step quick and messy too, focusing on getting the general look right as opposed to small details and making corrections as I go. Black lineart goes on a new layer on top of that.

Now, this has to be the thing that’s sped up my process the most. I used to color all panels by hand, as in taking the brush and carefully coloring inside the lines which takes... Forever and a day. This little trick saved my entire life xsjjjsa.

When you finish your lineart, click on your lineart layer and select ‘Reference’. Then you can create a new layer under that where your colors will go. This will make it so you can just drag and drop your colors to your art and they’ll stay within the lines! It’s very important to make sure that your lines are closed and there’s no gap between sections that are different colors, otherwise your color fill will bleed into those sections!

I do all my colors on one layer since I do flats only for this blog. That’s the other thing that makes my process faster: I’ve learned to keep things (relatively) simple! You might have noticed that for regular panels (so anything without mood lighting or isn’t flashback coded) I only do enough shading to give a rough idea of where light is coming from and I don’t bother shading areas that are already filled with color. The color palette I have also tends to be almost grey-scale so I don’t have to figure out colors (because color matching is a beast djjksd. speaking of, you should absolutely create a custom palette and save all the colors you use often. it’ll save you a ton of time). I find that it works better and I don’t have to stress as much over details if I keep it this simple!

I hope these tips were useful in some way! I’m sure you’re a great artist yourself~! And on those days when drawing is tough and nothing seems to look right or go right, remember that it’s 100% okay to put down your pen / pencil and take a break from it. Do something else and come back to it with fresh eyes. As one of my profs once told me: There’s no getting worse at art. You can be out of practice but you can’t get worse, you can only get better!

#ooc #positivity #y'all are too kind tbh 8')

[ladynightmare913]

Ink Bloom

Greetings and welcome to the prologue of Ink Bloom!

This is an original story inspired by Asian folklore and Jellyfish! Since this month is Mermay, I wanted to write something about mermaids, but I just didn’t have a clue as to what to do until it hit me like a tidal wave and I knew I had to bring this to life in writing! As always, I would like to say a special thank you to my best friend Olivia (@asunshinepuff ) for joining me in writing this spectacular world onto paper!

For the readers who enjoy Red Rose, Blood Moon, don’t worry I will still be writing chapters and I hope you will enjoy this story as well!

This story only has original characters created by Olivia and myself. For those who want to be tagged, feel free to send an ask to me or Olivia on her blog. If you have any questions, theories, or curiosities about any of our characters or how the story will progress, send them to the ask box!

Now without further adieu, let's dive into this new adventure!

Prologue: For Elodie

The rough waves crashed against the shoreline, the wind howled through the trees, and deep beneath the waves, the fish swam for shelter in the coral and anemones. The sea picked up stranded fish and drifting debris in their massive wake.

One wave managed to pull the largest creature in the reef. A creature with a long serpentine body covered in shimmering deep indigo scales, four long powerful limbs with sharp talons at the end, a mane of bright pink frills, like a jellyfish, joined to a long pink snout with a mouth full of sharp pearl white fangs, a pair of glowing indigo eyes and a crown of deep indigo horns that looked like branches of coral. It tried to escape the pull, but even a creature as strong as them could not overcome the powerful pull of the whirlpool-like waves.

The waves rolled the large creature, and crashed against the rocky shore, knocking it unconscious.

The ocean storm took its course, and the people who weathered through it all rushed to the beach to collect the fish and seaweed left behind. The tide pools with many stranded creatures.

A man with medium-length brown hair, light brown eyes, and light skin were among the people who adjourned at the poolside. He was dressed in a seafoam blue t-shirt, with a black long sleeve shirt beneath it, simple jeans, and black tennis shoes.

The man walked back and forth between the pools of water and the shoreline, carefully returning those stranded creatures that were still living back to their homes. The fact that his shoes were now soaked through hardly was a concern for him. As he walked back up the rocky shores, much further than expected from the rest, he spotted something shiny in the corner of his eye.

There inside a large tidepool, was a tiny very frilly snake with tiny horns. The man had never seen a species of coral snakes like this before, as most were banded with colorful stripes or spots, and never containing frills. Slowly crouching down as he reaches the small animal, he tilts his head in observation, he sees a long gash along the left side of its body, and it is unconscious.

How strange, the man muses to himself, he has never seen a creature quite like this before. It must be a species native to the island. He reaches out both hands and scoops his hands underneath to not startle the creature back to consciousness. Lifting the snake in his arms, he stands once more and walks along the shoreline- avoiding the rest of the crowd to avoid confrontation of questions and took it back to his hotel room. There he can safely treat the creature’s wounds, and return them to the sea. Even if he was curious about it and wanted to study it further.

It’s what Elodie would have wanted him to do.

It didn’t take the man long to treat the wound, and placed the little creature in a decent-sized saltwater fish tank, that he had cleared out the fish earlier, and left it to sleep and rest. He watched the creature for a long while, before returning to his desk, drawing a quick sketch of the little creature as it slept.

It was hours later, nearing midnight when the creature finally awoke, very startled by its small tank and in a strange place. The man noticed the creature was awake when it started splashing against the walls of the tank to escape.

“Hey, hey easy!”

He rose from his desk and reached the tank, the creature backed up against the walls and hissed. The man chuckled with a curious tilt of his head.

“It’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

The creature didn’t seem assured but stopped hissing. The man hummed.

“Maybe you are a snake.”

It seemed like it was glaring at him.

“A very pretty and intelligent snake.”

The man reached for a cooler left by the tank, opening it, he used a tong to pick a large sardine from a Tupperware, then opened the lid of the creature’s tank.

“You must be hungry.”

The frilly snake didn’t move, instead opting to hiss at the offered food.

“It’s not poison, it’s food.” The man huffed.

The creature blinked skeptically. The man stared at it in amazement.

“A snake that can blink?” He watched it for a long while, but the creature did nothing further. With a sigh, he looked at the sardine. “Do you not eat fish?”

When the man looked away, the creature then lunged for the fish, ripping from the tongs and swallowing it whole.

The man stared in awe and mild horror. “Alright, you do eat fish.”

The creature, curled tightly around itself, its eyes gleaming. The man deemed, at least to him, the creature to be smug. The man shook his head in amusement.

“Once you're fully recovered, I’ll return you back to the ocean.” The man vowed, and the creature seemed to believe him.

The man kept the creature for three days, changed the dressing on its wound, and kept it well fed. One of his colleagues visited his room and was shocked at the sight of the strange animal.

“What is it?” His colleague asked.

The man simply shrugged, “I don’t know, it might be a species of sea snake.”

His colleague was a tall man with blonde hair and grey eyes looked to the man. “You haven’t taken samples?”

“It’s injured.”

“True, I guess you can take a sample once you take it back to your lab.”

The man shook his head as the creature looked at both men, cocking its head adorably. In their short time together, the man had learned that the creature can breathe both in and out of the water, it can escape its tank, it has four tiny limbs, and it lets out a light chirp that sounds almost like a cat purring when it’s content with its meal.

“I’m not taking it back to California, I’m returning it back to the sea.”

His colleague frowned. “Are you serious? This could be a new species! You could become famous.”

“I don’t care about that, and besides I already promised.”

“To who?” His friend sighed in exasperation.

“Elodie.” Was the man's response.

“You could name the species Elodie.”

The man glared at his colleague who stayed silent for the rest of his stay, which wasn’t long. The following day, the man deemed the creature healthy and strong enough to be returned back into the wild.

The man returned to the same beach where he had found the creature. Opening the lid of the large cooler, he lays it on its side and backs away. The creature hesitantly walked out, and at the sight of the blue waves, it ran towards it but abruptly stopped, turning to look back at the human.

The man smiled as the creature cocked its head to the side, giving him a tentative chirp.

“Go.”

And that was all the creature needed before it continued on its path back home. And the man followed the strange creature’s example and returned to his home back in California.

Two years later, on the shores of California, the full moon reflected across the blue ocean, tourists and visitors had long returned home to sleep, when a tall Asian woman walked out from the ocean to the sandy shoreline. The woman was dressed in a long traditional Chinese-styled pink dress, with a dark indigo outer robe and matching flats. She had pale skin, long silky ink blue hair, bright pink lips, and glowing indigo eyes.

Indigo eyes caught the sight of an aquarium resting upon the rocky cliffside. She smiled.

#Original Story #Original Characters #Our story #Our ocs #Ladynightmare ocs #asunshinepuff ocs #Cw brief mention of wounds #Magic #Asian Folklore #Jellyfish #Elodie #Mystery Man #Mystery Woman #Frilly four legged snake? #Large Serpentine Creature

[grifhinx]

Zekrom Yamamoto (Pokémon gijinka concept)

A tweet from the previous month wanted to picture members of Pokemon's Tao Trio, Zekrom and Reshiram, as two stocky men in dress shirts. Gijinka, pretty much, in its most minimalist form.

I had a bit of a run-in with the... art form, a few years ago. A renewed interest in Pokemon brought me to ideas of cosplay of such ideas, but in human form (potentially the opposite of a furry, but I am here to neither propose nor decline that statement).

Project Umbreon:

Crew cut hair

Red tinted glasses

Black leather jacket with gold accents

Grey inner top

Dark blue denim jeans (with yellow front pocket seams)

Predominantly black half-cabs with yellow/gold accents

Black mechanic's rag with yellow corners 

- me, February 24, 2015

I got curious with the Zekrom character in particular. I like black more as a color option, especially with clothes. As the great Yohji Yamamoto (of course we're gonna quote him; * points to post title *) once said:

“Black is modest and arrogant at the same time. Black is lazy and easy - but mysterious. But above all black says this: "I don’t bother you - don’t bother me".”

- Yohji Yamamoto

This wouldn't be the first attempt at this exact Pokemon in making a Gijinka, I was sure. Any quick Google Image check is gonna bring you loads of interpretations to the same Pokemon, spanning page numbers of search results.

Image by Shadowfollowed

I, meanwhile, had next to zero intention or vision into what I was gonna do with it. Ironic, given the almost detailed "night rider" biker vibe I went for in the Umbreon idea. But somehow, I just wanted to try.

Having gone thru the core four classes of D&D (twenty or so subclasses therein; thanks, Wizard and Cleric) to design modern takes, I came out having a really strong interest in outerwear. So it's no surprise that this would be my target here.

Image from pokemondb.net

There was an interesting challenge of interpreting the look at the back portion of the Pokemon itself, with that... Electro-Goth Jollibee realness going on over there. Majority of the gijinka interpretations seemed to have done away with it, and I can't blame them for it (kinda wanna call them cheating, even if it isn't lol), because not only does it possibly pose a three-dimensional concern for the final design, but it also creates issues color-wise for being pretty much the only part of the Pokemon to have a color of light electric blue, suggestive of this Pokemon's type.

First sketch

Rough sketches may have presented a solution to the first concern - a kind of double split tail at the back of the coat to visually represent and reference the insect abdomen-like feature.

Second sketch, front

Looking back at the reference image, there was a kind of effect (perhaps lighting) that caused strips of electric blue to appear on edges and corners of specific parts of the look, distributed namely on the black "scales" of the Pokemon. I followed suit and wondered if this wa of distributing the color would do the trick in making things more cohesive.

Second sketch, back; please ignore the coloring mistake at the one sleeve

I wasn't entirely convinced that this would be the look I was searching for. But then again, I wasn't really aiming for anything. What I might think tho is that there could be a darker gray better suited for this design, something much closer to the Pokemon's gray.

Second sketch, side

I felt like the expanded heightened back was perhaps necessary for visual effect and maybe even support in case this idea is brought to construction. I felt insistent and eventually happy with the chest are and even the double split at the back, which I would be excited to see a sample of someday.

#sewing #sewist #sewn #sew #clothes #clothing #fashion #fashion design #fashion sketches #pokémon #pokemon #gijinka

[short-stories-club]

Don't look down.

  I exhaled deeply and looked up. The tall rocks and trees on either side of us loomed with grandeur and complacency. They’d been here long before us, and would be here long after us, watching whoever explored this valley. Ben paused and looked back at me. “Wanna take a breather before we leave the trail?” I gave a thumb up and continued to catch up with him. 

I met Ben earlier that year through a mutual friend. I was looking for someone to go on longer backpacking trips with, and Ben had recently discovered Forrest Fens memoir. Forrest Fen is an eclectic art collector who, inspired by a recent terminal diagnosis, hid several million dollars worth of artifacts somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. He put clues in his memoir which hadn’t really gotten much publicity until recently. Ben explained some of his research on the book, potential locations, and about some of the dangers. A few recent explorers had gone missing looking for the treasure, with their bodies discovered weeks or months later. I wasn’t convinced the treasure was actually out there, or that it was possible to find, but this was just the sort of romantic mystery and danger to get me interested.  

Ben had explained that he had planned several routes to possible treasure hunting locations, but didn’t have much experience in the back country. I told him I could help with that, so we spent that summer exploring and becoming friends, but never finding treasure. On several of those trips, we would also practice some survival skills – fishing, trapping, or foraging what we could on or off the trail. While many of our excursions started on well-traveled routes, we would often venture of the path when needed for our search. At first these were small excursions, a mile or so, but eventually we were confident enough to find routes several days in or out of a particular area. Two summers later we were back to one of our initial locations to explore further past where we had stopped the year before. 

We sipped some water and replenished our psyche with some chocolate almonds. We examined the landscape ahead of us. The trail we were on continued through a clearing around a small lake which was fed by a creek. On either side of us were tall cliffs behind a canopy of trees. The cliffs continued either side except to the front, where a thin water fall was all that remained of the glacier that carved this cirque. To the right of the water fall the cliff had broken up into a piling of different size rocks. We could pass the trail and scramble this piling to get to the top of the water fall. At the top of the fall, there’s another valley echoing this one, but smaller. At the end of the upper valley is a ridge with pilings of rocks that form small peaks around the valley. That upper valley would be base camp, where we could explore around some of the surrounding peaks. The trail we just left was the easy part of the hike. Scrambling the rocks ahead would be the difficult part of our journey with the steepest elevation gain. 

We paused to mentally sketch our route up the back of the valley next to the water fall. We would climb back and forth along the rock pile to make our own switchbacks, taking short breaks on either side. Maintaining a consistent pace without pushing to hard is key to avoiding fatigue, and avoiding fatigue was critical here. This wasn’t far from where a previous treasure hunter had gone missing. Scaling the rocks safely meant paying attention to foot placement, and good communication with those around. A carelessly dislodged rock can be fatal for a hiker below, as would tripping on steeper parts of the pile. As long as Ben and I were aware of each other’s location we would be ok – there are very few hikers on this trail to began with, and even fewer who would venture off the trail. 

When we got to the base of the rock piling Ben chuckled – “Remember the last time we were here?” Two years ago, we had made it up about half way up the pile, when we heard an echoy grunt and a soft crack. We were both startled at the time, but laughed it off and figured it was just someone letting out aggression on their firewood in the valley below. That year we didn’t have enough supplies to stay in the upper valley for more than a day, so we could only get a few hours of searching in. 

This year we were more prepared, and in better shape. We scaled the rock pile much faster and precisely than prior, and setup our base camp. We had enough food to last two and a half days this time. Typically we would stretch our exploration time further by foraging or trapping small game, but after a quick search through the valley, there were no obvious game trails or signs of small game. I placed snares anyway, perhaps we would get lucky. 

I returned to camp and we started roasting dinner. Ben asked “if you had to eat any part of a human to survive, what would it be?” Typicall hypothetical backpacking question. There’s something entertaining about imagining the worse possible survival situations and imagining what we would do in those situations. “Obviously thighs” I replied “the most bang for the buck.. also, it might be easier to imagine its not human” I remarked as my stomach turned a bit. “The liver’s more nutrient dense” he replied “that might be a better choice in the long run” I pulled out a map to change subjects. We had a few different locations to explore the next day. We’d climb over the ridge on the far side of the upper valley, and from their each of us could take two different paths around the peak and meet at the back. Each of us had a gps system, back up map, and a survival kit. 

The next morning we woke up just before sunrise to maximize the day. Ate a quick roasted rabbit and oatmeal breakfast, and started towards the ridge. The hike through the upper valley felt more peaceful, but eerie. The main difference was the lack of any other campers in the valley that would break the silence with a distant conversation or laugh. Once we reached the top of the ridge, we marked our location and started around the peak. Aside from a topographical map, we didn’t know what the landscape behind the peak would look like, so we agreed that if we hadn’t found each other at the back side of the peak by 1 o’clock, we would retrace our steps and meet back at the front of the peak. This would give us each about 5 hours to make it around the peak – plenty of time to explore as we were hiking. 

I started counter clockwise around the at the top of the ridge. Large rocks dotted the landscape surrounded by brush, making trekking slow and difficult until I had found a good route. As I continued for about a mile, the brush thinned, and the rocks became larger and more scattered with small indentations and crevices carved on the tops and sides of them by rain. Up to this point I had been focused on pushing forward, so I stopped and held my breath for a second. The only sound that could be heard were gentle gusts of wind flowing around the surrounding hills and rocks and through the brush and grass. Normally the total stillness and solitude is peaceful, but something about this particular location made me feel uneasy. I let out a sigh, and for a second thought I heard a muffled scream in the distance. I stopped breathing again for a second and looked around. I only heard silence. My mind must be playing tricks on me I thought, so I kept moving. 

After trekking for about two hours, I noticed a small crevice at the bottom of one of the large rocks. It looked like the brush around the hole had been deliberately cleared away-- the only artificial looking disturbance I had seen up to this point. I paused for a moment looking around for any tracks or signs of wild animals. Perhaps this was an old hibernation spot for a bear from the last winter. I crouched and peered into the cave to see how far it extended. The opening was about two or three feet tall at the highest point, and extended in either direction forming a shelf. I leaned under the shelf, and noticed a smaller opening funneling further in a few feet. I poked my head in to get a closer look and almost missed a small piece of wood partially buried near the back of the opening. Could this be the treasure? Or at least a clue? My heart started to beat faster, but I was skeptical. I quickly brushed the dirt of the surface of what looked like a rotted cigar box. My skepticism was confirmed, this was too small to be the treasure. I extracted it from the cave to get a closer look. As I was standing up I froze. About fifteen feet in front of me there was a small man with worn clothes. He had long grey hair and a wirey beard. He didn’t move, he just stared through me with a flat but not unpleasant expression on his face. I stammered – “hi … is th- do you—is this your box?” He looked at me blankly and didn’t say a word. I noticed his hands were worn and callused, and he had dirt deep in his fingernails. Around is wrist was a small beaded bracelet made out of bones. I stuffed the box into my day pack and started to back away. He kept staring but didn’t say anything or seem to acknowledge I was there. Perhaps he didn’t understand me?  “have a nice one” I muttered reflexively, and started walking away slowly while periodically looking over my shoulder.

 I started moving faster to catch up with Ben on the other side of the peak. I was starting to feel a little insane and wanted to relay everything that I had seen so far. I reached the far side of the peak just before one, and scanned for a lookout point so that I wouldn’t miss when Ben arrived. The back of the peak had similar scattered boulders to the ones I had been navigating for the last few hours, but towards the west they were stacked to form several ledges. I chose one of the taller rocks and took a seat on the ledge. 

I pictured the man I had saw just earlier. What could he possibly be doing up here? I remembered an article I read of a homeless man that lived in national forest for ten years before being discovered. Could this be similar? If so what would he survive on? There were very few edible plants or small game, and the lake below had no fish. Perhaps it was just another hiker that didn’t care to talk. I hypothesized while  scanning the horizon for Ben. An hour passed. I started to worry and looked around for Ben, and began thinking about continuing around the ridge. If he was stuck somewhere along the path, or simply hadn’t made it I would run into him on my way continuing around the peak. As I looked up one more time to see if I had missed anything on the horizon, I heard it again – a muffled scream followed by a crack. This time I was sure it couldn’t have been a hallucination. The memory of that exact sound from two years prior amplified my anxiety. I could feel my heart rate increasing while I tried to remain calm. Then I spotted the same man again just a few hundred yards further looking over the edge of the boulder he was standing on. I quickly started scrambling towards his position. 

As I got closer he turned towards me ant pointed over the edge of the boulder and uttered a deep laugh. This time I saw his bracelet more closely. It wasn’t bone it was human teeth! I felt faint at the thought of what could be over the edge. My mind raced with all the worst explanations I could imagine. I opened my mouth and after a few tries it cracked: “What??!” As soon as the word left my mouth I realized he hadn’t known I was right behind him. He jerked quickly around, startled, and lost his balance. His feet slipped over the edge, but he managed to grab hold of the rock. I slowly walked towards the edge with my legs shaking. As soon as I peered over I saw the corner of Ben’s orange jacket. My stomach sank and my limbs went numb. I didn’t want to see anymore. I stumbled away from the edge and saw the man’s hands still clinging to the edge. The tips of his fingers were pale from digging into the rock. My fear turned into anger as I thought of his face looking over the edge. I looked at his hands, his grip tightened as he tried to pull himself back up. I wanted to pry them off. Finally, they slipped, followed by a sharp crack that seemed to echo for a half a minute. I sat near the edge, still frozen. I couldn’t bear to look or leave. A few moments later I heard a shout. “Hey man! I’ve been looking all over for you! What’s going on?” I turned around to see Ben’s puzzled face, and my stomach sank. All that I had seen at the bottom was Ben’s jacket. 

[raendown]

The next chapter of my Amends to the Dead series, commissioned by the wonderful @birkastan2018 who has been amazingly supporting of my works and provided so much inspiration. 

Pairing: None Word count: 4239 Chapter: 1/4 Rated: T+ Summary: Months after the village is built Izuna is near his breaking point. Peace is nice, don't get him wrong, but he could do without the pale shadow that follows behind him everywhere he goes. All he wants is to understand. What the hell is Tobirama's obsession with watching him?

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

KO-FI and commission info in the header! 

Chapter 1

Grey clouds and a dreary sky greet him when Izuna leaves the administration tower this afternoon, a dour forecast for the evening’s weather. Determined to keep a positive attitude, he tells himself that at least it is holding off for now, will hopefully keep itself in check until after he finishes his inspection. That massive dream-headed idiot of a Senju wants a wall around their settlement but as much as Izuna freely agrees with the tactical benefits of such a barrier he is glad Madara has managed to talk the man in to waiting rather than just springing something up out of the ground willy-nilly. Although several clans and minor villages have already emigrated to join them there are still others they hope to bring in to the fold as well. If Hashirama grows a wall around them at their current size it will ostracize any new districts built in the future – not to mention that such a short-sighted buffoon will almost definitely forget to leave room for population growth as the years go on.

Hence why Izuna has saddled himself with the boring task of trudging his way around the outskirts to scope out where they can expand, how far, whether some portions of the surrounding terrain should be left available to grow crops, that sort of thing. Trying to keep his thoughts grand scale, the first thing he does is make the long climb up the mountain face overlooking them all. From there he is granted a wonderful view of all they have built so far and all the space they have to build upon in the future. Izuna does his best to sketch what he sees on several different pieces of paper and includes the surrounding terrain as little symbols. Later he can use these sketches to create different proposals for wall construction.

Considering how often he changes his mind he intends to make at least five copies. He only gets halfway through the fourth before his hand freezes in place and his eyes slowly roll to one side, looking around without actually turning his head. It’s a useless endeavor anyway. Even if he turns all the way around and carefully inspects every inch of the space behind him Izuna knows he will see absolutely nothing.

Tobirama is better than that.

Weirder than the fact that his counterpart has been following him around like a lagging shadow for weeks now is the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a reason for it. The man hasn’t even gone to the trouble of suppressing his chakra. Izuna might not be a sensor type like his brother is but he isn’t so chakra-blind that he can’t tell when someone he’s spent years on the other side of a war from is nearby. He might be tempted to think the other man is mocking him somehow if not for the fact that Tobirama never once alludes to his little stalker habit when they are forced to interact in the tower. If anything his habit worsens during work hours. Very few days go by when Izuna does not turn around to find Tobirama hovering over him or staring intently from across the room.

Knowing that his old rival has been up to the same idiocies all day – just as every other day – is not very comforting but it makes his movements a little less awkward as he decides that he’s taken up enough time loitering here at the top of the cliff. It’s odd, the things one can get used to after being exposed for long enough. Having someone follow him around isn’t exactly comfortable but it’s something he learned to live with as soon as he concluded that it isn’t a statement of the Senju’s lack of trust. Not the clan as a whole, at least.

If there were anyone they don’t trust it would be Madara and no one follows him around. Izuna cannot imagine them wasting their best on him while assigning someone lesser to tailing his more dangerous older brother. The Senju have never been a stupid enemy.

Almost worse than the strangeness of knowing that he is being followed is trying to decide how to act. Izuna packs his sketches away and does everything he can to resist the urge to turn around and search for the face he knows is watching, reflecting that he isn’t actually sure what Tobirama will do if he confronts the man. When this first started Izuna hadn’t really known what to think of it, held off on reacting in any way in case he was misinterpreting something, and now that he knows for sure that the other is following him he realizes he’s let it go on for so long that bringing it up now will only be more awkward. They need to talk about it at some point, obviously. Just maybe not right this second.

Using that excuse only gets less and less valid with every day.

With a grand overview of the village fresh in his mind Izuna refocuses himself on the task at hand and begins drafting a few tentative blueprints in his mind while he scales his way back down the cliff. Halfway down he makes a mental note to suggest they install an easier way to get up here somehow. It doesn’t take a genius to guess that any tourists or visitors will be very interested in the view of a village so important to the history of the five great nations, the first of its kind. Then he pushes the thought away in to the corner of his mind for ‘things to deal with later’; he has much more important business at hand. Before they can welcome any tourism they need to be more solid in their defense of the people already here.

Senju Touka stands in the center of the road leading in to their settlement from the north when he arrives. Izuna is quick to hide the grimace that appears as soon as he catches sight of her. Enemies they might not be any longer but Touka is not likely to ever be his favorite person. Too brash, too hard, and too focused on being a warrior without ever allowing herself to still be a woman. Izuna enjoys a tough skin as much as the next shinobi but he needs friends and lovers who allow themselves to unclench at least once in a while. The woman before him carries a look on her face even when making no expression which tells him she probably hasn’t unclenched since the first time she learned to wield her body as a weapon.

“Nothing to report,” Touka’s voice rings out sharp even when she speaks quietly. He nods once to show that he understands.

“Border inspection,” he grunts back.

“Already? With all the paperwork that goes through the Tower I had guessed it would take at least another week for anyone to even think about doing something useful about their own ideas.” She snorts and this time Izuna allows the grimace that slides back over his face.

With a rueful sigh he shakes his head. “I gave myself the job for just that reason. This needs to get done.”

“Lots of things need to get done,” Touka mumbles dryly. Her eyes flick back down the path and her chin dips to signal someone else. “The others can walk the road; if I’m going to guard the wall when it goes up I’d like to hear your thoughts on where it’s to be built.”

Since there is really no polite way to refuse her Izuna shrugs and turns away without waiting to see if she follows. If she can’t keep up that’s her own problem. He isn’t the one who invited her along. Just as he finishes the thought her footsteps come from behind and her severe face returns to his peripherals with the blank expression of someone waiting to form an opinion.

That gives him an idea, actually, speaking of opinions. As the two of them travel in silence he lets his eyes roam around the terrain on all sides, mentally comparing it to the visual he remembers from above even as another part of his mind races trying to find the wording for how to broach a subject that many still consider sensitive.

“If I may, I’d like to ask about the climate in your clan,” he says eventually. Touka gives no physical reaction, betrayed only by the caution in her tone as she replies.

“You may ask your questions.” He notices that she has promised him no answers.

“Tensions were high for a while after we first merged our territories. Obviously it’s going to take a number of years before our people can coexist with true ease but – for my own clan at least – I’ve noticed massive improvements. What I mean to ask is: what of your own clan?”

“What of them?” Touka grunts.

Careful not to show his temper, Izuna keeps his voice low so it will not carry to other ears following along behind them. “Have the tensions eased in your people? Or do they still fear mine like enemies?”

“Fear isn’t exactly how I would describe it,” his unwanted companion muses. “Caution would be more accurate.”

“Do they distrust us so much?” he presses.

To his utter lack of surprise Touka turns to give him a sharp warning look. “Don’t go looking for trouble where there is none, Uchiha. Our people distrust yours no less than yours return in kind. Like you said yourself, it’s going to take years to erase the effects leftover from generations of war. Those of us who lived through it may never recover entirely. But”-from the corner of one eye he watches her move both hands away from her weapons in a deliberate motion-“we recognize and accept that the Uchiha want this peace to work. “

“Ah. Thank you for your input, Touka-san. I had thought that was how things stand but at this stage assumptions aren’t safe to be relied upon. Let’s change the subject. We’re thinking of building out from the current settlement to allow for growth but I don’t think this particular area would be good for that. Doesn’t the ground here turn in to swamp a few miles out?”

While she does allow him to change topics without comment Izuna notes the lingering gaze from the corner of her eyes to the corners of his own. He lets her stare. If they truly are allies then he has nothing to fear from a couple of eyes that don’t even have the advantage of a Sharingan. Rumor says this woman is nearly as good with genjutsu as any Uchiha but it would need to be some kind of skill indeed to trap him in an illusion he can’t escape – and besides that there is really no reason for her to do any such thing unless she wants to start another war.

Instead the two of them trade mild opinions on the surrounding land and discuss construction plans all while pretending they don’t notice the acid undertones or the barbs hidden in their words. Much as he is loathe to admit it, by the time they make a half circuit around the village and Touka declares it time for her to turn back he almost finds himself reluctant to see her go. Almost. Sometimes it’s nice to find someone who can withstand the worst of his vitriol. He is still firm on his belief that Touka will never be one of his favorite people but perhaps they can stand each other a little better than he first imagined.

The rest of his patrol around the perimeter is done in silence with no one to talk to but the thoughts inside his own mind, probably the most intelligent conversation he is likely to have all day. Rather than give that Senju woman any reason to look at him funny again Izuna ends his inspection by ducking in between some of the housing built on the fringes like afterthoughts.

He could have done without some of the man’s habits and opinions but if there is one thing Izuna wishes their brothers had actually listened to Tobirama about it’s the road planning. Caught up in their dream as they had been, Madara hadn’t so much held Hashirama back as he had egged the man on to raise frames and rooves without a single thought for the carefully drawn street maps Tobirama had been trying to present them with. Now everyone else pays the price for it as they wind their way through crisscrossing streets that often follow no logical direction whatsoever, haring off towards wherever Hashirama had raised the next home. Surely it can only be the mercy of the kami that made him finally stop and listen to his sibling before he made a similar mess of the village center.

Finding his way through the busy foot traffic is infinitely easier once he reaching the districts where the streets are wider than his own wingspan, leaving plenty of room for Izuna to duck and weave around the gaggle of children chasing each other, wild laughter ringing over the crowds with no regard for the different clans they each belong to.

This, he has come to understand, is the peace that Madara has been dreaming of since they were young boys clinging to each other with all their strength, the last of their siblings and so desperate not to lose any more. In some ways he wishes he had understood earlier. He also hopes that the idiot following along behind him on a nearby rooftop understands the same.

When he reaches the tower Izuna heads straight for his office and rather pointedly shuts the door behind him, relieved to note Tobirama’s distinctive chakra moving off to hopefully be productive somewhere else. How the man gets anything done when he’s following other people around all day is a mystery but Izuna is just as glad to finally be alone. It’s much easier to concentrate on drawing up a few difference proposals for wall construction when he doesn’t have some part of his concentration occupied with the ever-watching eyes over his shoulder.

Unfortunately for all that he’s always been fast at coming up with plans he is also, given the time, a perfectionist. What should only take him a mere twenty minutes to sketch some rough blueprints turns in to nearly two hours of meticulous lines and painstaking notes along the edges of every paper to list the benefits of each different proposal. Izuna is already rolling his eyes at himself by the time he finally drags his body up out of the chair with a firm mental declaration that any further additions will be a waste of time. Only one of these proposals can be chosen as the final plan and the entire council will be looking over it to add their suggestions. No one expects him to think of everything himself.

Seeing Madara roll his eyes as well when he lets himself in to his brother’s office makes him stick out his tongue, a gesture the man returns without pause. Dignity isn’t exactly a concern when they are alone.

“Took you long enough,” is his greeting. “Didn’t you leave to do that just after noon? It shouldn’t have taken you that long just to walk in a big circle and doodle a couple outlines. What did you do, take a nap in a tree somewhere?” Madara tuts and shakes the handle of a brush at him, then he frowns and looks down at the parchment he’s just splattered with ink.

“Pardon me for doing my job well,” Izuna grumbles.

“Well give them here then. Looks like you have several ideas. That’s good, actually. I know it sounds counterintuitive but the bloody elders actually decide faster if we give them more options.”

The two of them share a tired look and Izuna nods understandingly as he tosses his papers on the desk. “Fewer options always means one person picks a favorite right away and another person takes exception to that. Best to let them talk it all out first, I get it.”

Madara spreads the sketches out and fiddles with the end of one, lifting it only to turn his eyes to another.

“Do you have any you’re particularly attached to before I look them over?” he asks.

“No.”

He should know to watch his tone. It’s only a single word but the moment it leaves his mouth Izuna winces, pinned in place under the sudden scrutiny of dark eyes that know him just a little too well.

“You sound upset by something,” Madara notes. “What’s wrong?”

“Ah, I wouldn’t say wrong, precisely. I’m being followed around again and I still don’t like it.” It’s gratifying to see the other man scrunch his face up with distaste. At least he isn’t the only one who finds this situation endlessly odd.

“Still not talking to you about it, I suppose?”

“Not a damn word. Any time I bring it up he just stares at me with these…empty eyes. Honestly sometimes I’m tempted to worry that he’s been possessed by some demon with a grudge against me. Somehow that would make more sense!” Izuna shakes his head, stepping around to slump his body in to the single visitor chair available. Then he squirms uncomfortably as a floral scent wafts up his nose. It’s easy to tell who usually sits in this chair.

Fingers twiddling absently at the edges of the papers spread out on his desk, Madara rolls his eyes at such dramatics but makes no comment on them, which Izuna takes to mean that his sibling agrees in his own way. He wishes he could say he is only being silly and dramatic but deep down he truly believes that Tobirama being possessed by a vengeful spirit would make more sense than for the man to follow him around as though suspicious of his intentions. Still ridiculous, of course, but somehow more plausible.

He hadn’t been stupid enough to believe Hashirama's vague words about recovery during the first few meetings of peace between their people. The longer time went on without the Senju second heir appearing the less anyone had been willing to believe such nonsense but it was the look in Hashirama's eyes which stilled their tongues as the months stretched out in to a full year. Not anger or exasperation, no nervousness that they might be taking offense. What earned their silence both then and now had been the worry in his eyes, the fear for another which he tried so desperately not to let them see, the flash of uncertain terror that shadowed his eyes with every mention of his brother. Izuna has seen that look in the eyes of those who worry for their loved ones even when there is no wound to worry over.

“And he’s not…aggressive?” Madara asks.

“No!” Izuna throws his hands in the air and slumps further in his seat. “At least if he was angry or something I would understand that but this silence and following me around, it’s just weird! I don’t know how I’m supposed to react to it.”

“You could, oh I don’t know, ask him to stop?”

With the bitchiest look he can summon Izuna nods exaggeratedly. “Oh of course, why didn’t I think of that? Ah right. Because I did. And all that accomplished was a big fat load of nothing.”

“There’s no need to be so sarcastic,” his brother grumbles. When Madara turns away to pout Izuna rubs at the space between his brows.

“Do you have any idea what his problem is? Serious question, any idea at all? Has your best friend for life not said anything or dropped any hints? I’m at my wits end here.” What small hope he has is dashed by the shaking of the other man’s head.

Madara shrugs as he says, “Not a clue. It’s weird but Hashirama doesn’t actually talk about his brother very much.”

“You mean they don’t like each other?”

“No, not like that. But every time Tobirama comes up in conversation, if it’s not work related Hashirama will get this really weird look on his face and change the subject. Usually in such a way that I don’t think about it till later. You know how he is, all loud and distracting.”

“He’s certainly not as dumb as he pretends to be,” Izuna agrees.

The two of them sit in silence for a minute or two, thinking of the all the unexpected similarities between the Senju siblings and all the ways they’re still so different. For all that they are both unexpectedly intelligent it seems to be only in their own respective fields. Where Tobirama’s intelligence is nearly unparalleled when it comes to science and political machinations he seems to be quite useless when it comes to human interactions and yet that is where Hashirama shines – earnest Hashirama who can only stare with a blank smile whenever his beloved sibling goes off on some in-depth explanation of a new tax code proposal.

Shaking his head to clear it, Izuna takes a deep breath and decides that sitting around moaning about his own confusion isn’t getting much done. There are still other things he needs to do that day and he can’t do anything of them while staring across the desk at Madara.

Leaving the man to his work is as easy as reminding him that he has a lot of it and suddenly Izuna finds there is no more attention on him, the perfect time to slip out the door and wander slowly back to his own office. It is only his perfectionist nature which leads him to hearing what he does then. Were he anyone else he might shrug it off when he notices the wrappings around his left ankle coming loose, something that can certainly wait until he sits down to be fixed, but he stops instead and leans against the wall just before a turn in the corridor to bend down and fiddle with his ankle. Not until he is already busy unwrapping and retucking does he realize he is in the perfect spot to overhear two people just around the corner.

“Tetsuo thinks maybe they’re having an affair of some kind,” the first voice says, full of scorn for their own words.

“Ridiculous. That icicle and Izuna-sama? Not a chance. They were rivals for years, they’re not going to fall in to bed only a few months after peace was made!” The second voice sounds vaguely familiar, probably a member of his own clan though he can’t quite identify them.

“I never said I believed it!” the first objects. “But it’s weird, right? The way Tobirama-sama just…hovers around him. If they weren’t enemies for years I would say he’s acting like a nervous parent or something with how he watches Izuna-sama’s every move and how he glares at anyone who says something bad about the man.”

To Izuna’s annoyance his possible clan member feels the need to waste time defending his honor with a sharp, “Who’s saying bad things about him?”

“Oh for kami’s sake, that’s not the point.”

“Hmph.”

“But you get what I’m saying, yeah? I know Tetsuo think they’re rolling around together but my theory is a blood oath or something. Maybe Hashirama-sama set him this duty as penance. I heard one of them almost died in the final battle between your clans and everyone knows Tobirama-sama is too fast to go down easy.”

Much as it hurts Izuna’s pride a little to have someone believe him the weaker in any battle, he forces himself to remain still and continue listening. It takes a moment for his prideful clansman to get past the spluttering and rage over the same issue but eventually it fades in to senseless grumbling and a solid declaration that Tobirama was in fact been the one injured during their final clash. Clearly this person hadn’t been present or else they might not so casually reference that moment.

Very few had known how to process the sight of an elder version of his rival appearing only to turn and slaughter his own younger self.

As the two strangers continue to speculate Izuna swallows thickly and turns away to take another route back to his office, finding suddenly that listening in on a conversation he isn’t supposed to hear has lost its appeal. More than ever his curiosity has been peaked, however. He needs to figure this situation out.

Why does Tobirama follow him?

That will have to be dealt with on his own time, however. Later he will pass on what he heard to his brother and they can speculate to their hearts’ content over dinner. For now he has work to do. Work that, so long as he remains shut away within his own office, he can trust that he will be able to do in the silence of solitary.

Only when the work is done will he turn his mind to the problems that he has already let go too far. Surely one more day of ignoring it all cannot hurt anything. He’ll deal with it eventually, of course, but until then Izuna supposes he can hope that ignoring his problems might, by some miracle, simply make them go away.

#rae writes #commission #izuna #tobirama #madara #touka #fanfiction

[2dtcnjspring]

Final Project

The final project consists of designing and producing an accordion book that utilizes at least 8 of the lessons covered over the course of the semester. In order to reinforce the lesson learned in the midterm project the final project will also concentrate on the narrative quality of images through the retelling of a story.

Telling the story For this project you will need to re-tell a published story. Allowable source material includes: novels, movie scripts, graphic novels, songs, plays, white papers, scientific and academic papers. In the case of an animated movie script or graphic novel you must reinvent any characters that appear in these types of works. Create your own!

Content and Application of 2D design devices The layout of your story will be typical of visual story telling, each page in your book could represent a specific scene or event in the narrative. How do you clearly convey your story through only using images (no narrative text)? For each page of your narrative you must apply/reiterate your understanding of the concepts covered in class - primarily focusing on the formal elements and principles. For example, the opening scene in your story must also utilize the concepts learned in one of the lessons covered in class (shape for example) and the work you create for this page must tell the specifics your story and also utilize the concepts learned in the shape lesson. How will you let the viewer know that this page is about shape, but also convey the story clearly at the same time?

Each page of your story must utilize a different lesson covered in class. Therefore each page in your book must take on specific visual criteria while also progressing your narrative. The arrangement of lessons applied to each page does not have to follow the order of the class (it does not need to be chronological from our syllabus), for example, you do not need to depict the line lesson on the first page of your book. You can determine for yourself and base it on what you think is best for re-telling your story which 2D lesson to apply to each page. In addition, the imagery of each page should slightly bleed into the next page thereby allowing the book to be seen in a page-by-page format or allow for all the pages to be seen all at once. (see example below)

Final Project Requirements

Each page must represent a scene in your story and one concept covered in each class

The concept on each page must slightly bleed into the next page

Your book must be, at least 8 pages.

Your book must have a front or back/transition cover

You must use both sides of each page.

This project must be digital and hands on.

Assignments covered over the semester (book pages must reflect these assignments)

Line Balance Unity Shape Space Rhythm or Repetition or Pattern Text  Value - Grey scale Texture Optical mixing or Designing with color wheel or Color Scale Proportion Emphasis/Focal Point

_______________________________________________________________________

Step1: Planning the book

A sketch or design of the book layout – a rough sketch of what is going to happen on each page can be helpful for planning ahead and can help guide you before you begin working digitally or by hand.

You might have to make several detailed drawings of you 8 page thumbnails (small/quick sketches - they do not need to be in color) as you plan and change aspects of your book.

Your minimum dimensions for your book are 4x4 inches. Your book can certainly be bigger and it is not restricted to a square or rectangular format. Think about the content of your story, if it make more sense to have round pages, triangular pages, or star shaped pages, go for it! If changing the shape/dimensions of the pages doesn’t make sense, you can always make a larger front and back cover that reflects a shape or form. You are not required to change shape of your book - this is just another option. 

If you decide to complete the digital book option, you will maintain the rectangular/square format of the art boards.

Getting ready and questions to ask your self for planning (THINKING): Design is essentially the opposite of chance. As artists and designers we plan the arrangement of elements to form visual pattern. No matter how and in what order the result is always visual organization. What we have discovered is that art, like other careers and occupations, is concerned with seeking answers to problems. Art, however, seeks visual solutions in what we explored as the design process. This book is a way for us to put together everything we’ve been learning over the course of this semester in an intentional manner to reinforce our content.

First ask yourself, what is my story? What are the stylistic components that I need to plan for? How will my story unfold visually? Then, what class concepts can I link with a particular part of my story?

How does adding a class concept alter my story, or a character? Do I need to account for that in some way? Will a character require a redesign? How much redesigning will a character require? Can I make this character my own? Do I become the character? What is happening in the background of each image; should it be a solid color, pattern, or full color image with a graphic foreground? How will this help tie my story together? What role will the front and back cover play in my book? What part of my book is digital and what part is hands on?

Step 2: Gathering materials and images (LOOKING) Gather all the materials you need in one central file or one central place if you are working hands on so all your materials are easily accessed. Stay organized. Seeing all your materials together will help you see what you have and be able to edit and move things around much easier.

Create a specific file folder for all jpg. images and illustrator vectors you are using in your book. 

Step 3: Making the accordion book (DOING) This is an important step, make sure you take your time and not rush through this part of the process. The cleaner the hand made part of the book is the better it will look in the end. Below are some suggested tools (though not required).

Follow the link below on a tutorial for a HOW-TO on accordion book making:

http://www.designsponge.com/2013/03/bookbinding-101-accordion-book.html

Step 4: Inserting the printed component into the accordion book and adding any hands on elements. Again, if you decide to go the more hands-on route with your final project, try to fill and activate the entire page with visual information. The easiest/most straight forward way to do this is to create an environment for your story to play across.

___________________________________________________________________

Student Examples:

#finalproject #final #book

[empressofmankind]

A Wind of Change - Part I: Departure - 02. Loren I

O   O   O  

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#Imperial Fiction #Imperial Shenanigans #a saga of bears & lions #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #a song of ice and FEELS #game of thrones #house lannister #loren lannister #kevan lannister #tywin lannister #cersei lannister #jaime lannister #lannisters #the most bullshit fam of westeros is what I am saying #asoiaf fanfiction #agot fanfiction

[markteare]

Fallout 4: Nuka-World DLC

Nuka-World trailer featuring DLC cover art by John Gravato.

It has been a while since I have had the time to post and I wanted to get something up about Nuka-World. Rather than hit all of the details in a bunch of smaller Nuka-World posts I decided I would cover as much as I could in one overview post. While re-watching the trailer recently, I was reminded of just how many different aspects of that DLC I got to work on as the art lead. Highlighting my work from the trailer felt like a good way to run through my efforts, so take a look at the trailer linked above and then read on below.

Nuka-World screenshot I created for marketing.

My general responsibilities began with creating the pitch for the DLC. The two design leads, Justin Schram and Alan Nanes, and I started developing a series of ideas for the DLC. After one false start, we came in with a stack of new ideas as one-sheets and started the pitch meeting with what was then called “Raiders and Rides” as a working title. Todd accepted it before even hearing the other ones. I was very happy about this as it was my favorite pitch of the group.

Nuka-World screenshot I created for marketing.

As the art lead for the project I was responsible for overseeing all things art-related; art direction, pipeline, etc. Since this was a DLC for Fallout 4, much of the core art direction was established by Istvan Pele, the art director on the base game. My job for the DLC was to create a reason for players to want to come back to the game for more. I also wanted to test some of my ideas for improvements to the pipelines and the smaller scale of a DLC was a great place for that. More than anything I wanted to use my additional influence on the DLC to give the players loads of memorable fun and value for their money.

My Nuka-World key art based on the original Fallout 4 key art.

One of the first things I did once the plan was greenlit was to create the key art. I used it in all of my slides for internal and external presentations and to set the initial tone and pillars of the DLC for the team. More detailed post on the key art here.

My original Bottle & Cappy slide art turned into Nuka-World coffee mug art.

A key contrast built into the DLC from the start was the mix of horrible, violent, raider gangs with the fun, lighthearted, theme park. To add that contrast into my slides I created a closing slide featuring who I imagined the park mascots to be. Bottle & Cappy were born as a way to incorporate a fun note as my closing slide. As the DLC progressed it became clear we needed to use them in the park and then in the marketing. Post DLC they have joined the permanent Fallout lore in other titles and in merchandising.

Nuka-World screenshot I created for marketing.

As the first artist on the project, I started by sketching key broad strokes of the DLC into the engine to guide the art team toward my vision. I added in the first-pass landscape and weather to get the environment feeling like I wanted. Then I started blocking in key landmarks of the park in grey boxed art to get the layout started. I added sub leads for the park environment art (Jason Muck) and the landscape (Andrew Barron). To help build enough new geometry to fill the park, I prototyped some park assets using the color remapping I developed for the base game. This workflow would allow faster park asset creation allowing us to build a larger environment with a smaller team.

Nuka-World screenshot I created for marketing. 

Once the environment team was going I shifted focus to characters, creatures, and weapons. I knew they going to take much more hands-on work from me duse to the small team size. We had one character artist (Charles Kim) and one weapon artist (Dane Olds) in house. Concept art and the bulk of the non-environment art was planned to be outsourced. Raiders were the main focus for the DLC and I knew they would take up the majority of the resources. Inspite of that limitation I also wanted to get the players as many new creatures as I could. I came up with a list of easy but dramatic creature ideas to test to maximize reuse but feel new to the player. I did fast "proof of concept" tests for each idea to determine which ideas would work in-game. I repeated this same pattern to fill out the weapon list with cheap and fun additions at a minimal cost.

Nuka-World screenshot I created for marketing.

The raider gangs were the main feature of the DLC but due to the volume of work they required, and our lack of staff in those departments, the decision was made to outsource all of the raider concepts and the models. I knew outsourcing the concepts was going to be tricky since the outsourcing group was in China but I had no other option. I supplied lots of ref and photo bashed some quick collages to get something for them to start with besides a written description. This method yielded a few good designs but nothing good enough to move forward with alone. Luckily for me, John Gravato (concept artist) stepped up and took on wrangling some of the design revisions and additions in his spare time. Ray Leder (concept artist) also knocked out a few additional helmet designs. Leveraging their stellar support and iterating with the team in China I was able to arrive at the armor sets that defined the three raider gangs and could combine for massive variety for the player.

My trailer directorial debut: the Nuka-World E3 teaser.

For this DLC, in particular, Todd's plan for us was to market it like a full game. This meant we would work with marketing on screens, a teaser, a trailer, a theme song, a Bottle & Cappy trailer (similar to the SPECIAL videos for the base game), and a physical park map. The Bottle & Cappy trailer was handled by an outside vendor which took most of the load off of us except for lite direction and feedback. The rest was up to myself and a handful of people on the team. Animator Neal Thibodeaux did a lot of the heavy lifting on both the teaser and the trailer which were both made in the engine. Artist Natalia Smirnova created the logos and artwork for the map and we worked very hard to make it accurate to the park and have that authentic theme park map feel. Not only were we going to use it to guide people around the park in-game, we were also putting a physical version in Game Stop as a preorder bonus.

Bottle & Cappy trailer.

Nuka-World park map pre-order bonus.

One of the things that got me the leadership role on the DLC was my history of adding all kinds of content to the game in addition to my role as a VFX artist. I don't like it when a good idea dies from a lack of resource time. Over the years I have learned all of the workflows in our engine to find clever ways to make my ideas come to life without additional help. This often includes sourcing existing art for kitbashing new work from in order to save time. Unfortunately, this is the kind of work that has often proven hard to teach and or delegate. Having the lead role allowed me to incorporate it more than ever before into our pipelines, but throughout the DLC I still had to do a lot of the work myself.

Below is a breakdown of all of my work in the trailer which turns out to be a good cross-section of all of the additional things I did on the DLC.

00:02 Direction and feedback for outsourced Bottle & Cappy video.

00:15 Unique models and editor setup for Nukatron. Flipbook port of B&C video for in-game Nukatron and Nuka-Cola machines.

00:20 Water VFX for the landscape. Art direction for the five themed areas of the park.

00:23 Ported mannequin models to animatronics and animated them. Created all Nuka-World mannequin outfits as texture swaps or new meshes.

00:24 Set dressed and captured trailer footage in-game.

00:26 Developed efficient color remapping pipeline (CRP) for the fast creation of park assets. I built fake western mountain rocks for themed park area.

00:28 Created a quantum variant for all 6 Mirelurk creature types. Created the water and VFX for the Quantum river.

00:30 Concepted and built the armor for Porter Gage the main companion for the DLC. Modeled and posed Bottle& Cappy park sculptures (using CRP). Built the Fizztop Mountain asset for the main landmark for the park (using CRP).

00:40 Technical assistance on execution of the intro train ride.

00:42 Created park color guide and prototype weathers for DLC color direction.

00:43 Concepted and built Nuka bottle Protectron (using CRP). 

00:45 Art direction for park map and then execution of in-game navigation via map kiosks.

00:48 Created all of the painted feral ghoul DLC variants.

00:51 Created the Gatorclaw death claw variant model. Created a Nuka-World specific lunch box player prize system from my lunch box system in the base game.

00:52 Created the Brhamaliff models. Planned a high-level melee tree with art assets to supplement a limitation of the base game.

00:56 Created the unique robot meshes for Nuka Spray Mr. Handy

00:57 Designed the damage structure for weaponized Nuka-Cola flavors.

00:58 Created all of the western clothing meshes.

01:00 Prototyped the original sandworm concept in-game to test viability. Created the Sandworm VFX. Trained the character artist in kitbash modeling to add Acid Soaker. Created all of the VFX for the acid soaker.

01:03 Art directed the raider factions. Designed all clothing as armor/under armor for maximum mix and match. Cleaned up all outsourced outfit meshes for maximum compatibility within the armor system.

01:04 Created all texture variants for raider underclothes. Brought the slave collar from Fallout 3 and rebuilt for Nuka-World with power on/off functionality.

01:07 Added motion to some Bottle & Cappy statues.

01:09 Designed trash pile loot system to add the feel of overflowing trash at a theme park and add a new loot system to the park.

01:13 Concept and design for paddleball weapons and mods. (see other post)

01:18 Art direction for raider gangs.

01:19 Ported alien mesh to animatronic enemy for the park. Revised the Fallout 3 alien blaster as playable weapon (not shipped).

01:20 Built the Overboss bumper car power armor. Worked with design to create the plan for the opening boss fight with squirt gun mechanic (see other post). Built all of the electric VFX for the boss fight.

01:21 Original concept for spider cricket hopper enemy.

01:17 Tuxedo mesh for Kiddie Kingdom boss ghoul.

01:23 Flying swarm as a single enemy proof of concept. All ant variant meshes.

01:28 Shot this shot setup and set dressing for the teaser.

01:33 Original Bottle & Cappy idea and concept painting.

#fallout 4 #fallout4 #nuka cola #nukaworld #nuka world #nuka #BethesdaGameStudios #artdirection #concept art #proof of concept #dlc #Skyrim #fallout