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#like i get that youtubers for instance just don't have the resources to not be exposed to that stuff
Okay every time I read one of your celtophobia posts I am filled with immediate and incandescent rage, enough to propulse the responsible idiots into space but not to bring them back again. I'm really sorry about the """""lecturer"""""" you had to sit through this morning, and any other instances that happen. Hugs.
That said, I am very worried of doing the same thing and want to make my utmost sure I don't, so I thought it'd be okay to ask someone from a language that has to fight for space for politeness tricks. Apologies if this is not okay!
Context: I'm from continental Europe, which means English is my second language (I speak three languages and a half ish, the half is in process, because #languagenerd). I'm moving to Ireland come September, and I'm absolutely terrified of offending the good Irish people when I don't know how to pronounce their names, surnames, street names, or anything else; or, worse, try and end up butchering them in the manner of the British.
Dilemma: How can I ask for help when pronouncing things in a delicate way? I was thinking of signing up to Irish courses once I'm there, but for now I'm panicking about the actual move so I can't get a head start with that because my brain space is limited, and other than watching YouTube videos with the most common Irish names/words ahead of arriving, I honestly don't know. I want to be culturally sensitive and make sure they feel respected and not Colonised, Part Three Hundred, but also they shouldn't have to bear the weight of my lack of cultural knowledge and Teach Me? Idk. Just thoughts.
Good question! I suppose it's a two-part procedure:
Step 1: Learn a pronunciation guide. By that I just mean get to grips with the alphabet, common phonemes, etc and how those are said. With something like Welsh it's super easy (because phonetic), something like English it's super hard (because not phonetic); Irish is a bit more complex than Welsh, but still more phonetic than English. You might not be able to get to a "perfect every time" place, but you can get yourself to a "right most times" place.
Step 2: If you encounter a name you aren't 100% sure of, offer your best educated guess when asking. This shows that you have done the work, you are making a genuine attempt, but you still have the humility to ask to make sure.
When I say "best educated guess", I mean it's clear that you're guessing based on a working knowledge of the language rules in question. In Welsh, for example, if someone asks me how to pronounce "Cymru", there is a world of difference between someone saying "Sim-roo" (based on English pronunciation rules transposed onto Welsh) and "Kim-ree" (based on Welsh pronunciation rules, they just forgot which pronunciation of 'y' to use for the syllable it's in.) If someone says to me "How do you say that? Sim-roo?" then I know they haven't attempted any prior learning (though points for being interested enough to ask.) But if they say "Am I right in thinking it's Kim-ree?" then I know they've made the effort themselves, they've done the work, they just have a carry error that's skewed the answer.
Plus, you may well be right! And will be right more and more often the longer you're in Ireland.
If it helps, there's an Irish pronunciation guide here that's pretty good (or was back when I used it), and teanglann.ie is a pretty good resource for this, as it's a dictionary that lets you hear the words aloud and explains grammatical uses. (Irish people please feel free to add any other resources to the notes if you feel so inclined!)
As a final note, mind, given that you don't have time atm to dedicate brain space to this, speaking as a Welsh person I would be absolutely fine with someone saying to me "Sorry, I haven't had chance to learn yet, how do I say this?", or some variant thereof. Or, frankly, anything that's just... a polite request, and not laughing about it. I would take a thousand instances of "How do I say that? Sim-roo?" over even one "I don't know how to say that, haha" because the former is still caring enough to ask. So don't panic! A polite request will see you right.
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chilewithcarnage · 3 months
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I, a very white and somewhat privileged person, am absolutely terrified to draw colored people. Because I don’t know if I’d cross the thin line of tasteful and authentic or racist and stereotypical…
Lol for starters don't refer to us as coloured people. This ain't 1955. Secondly my best advice to you is to use references of actual people of color. I would highly recommend staying away from those white men art station youtuber type artists for tutorials because they get a majority of their techniques and style from main stream video games and comic books, which to put it nicely don't have the best reputation for representing women and poc. tangent over, so yeah references. real life photographs of brown and black people.
pinterest is a site that a lot of current, especially younger artists like to use, but in all honesty it's not a very good source for someone trying to learn the fundamentals. it'll mainly show you 20 something year old ig and twitter models which is okay if you wanna just draw pretty people; but not the best if you wanna like I said learn fundamentals + have a portfolio that's varied. also it's rife with ai shit and stolen art, so yeah would only recommend that as an initial starting point/using it to make your own personal board for your saved images.
stock photo sites are my go to for refs. getty images, istock, alamy, etc. a simple right click save image or screenshot will work to get the images you want for free. of course there will be the watermarks, but they're honestly a very small issue to bypass. as long as they're not opaque and nearly covering the entire subject; you're good. a nice thing about stock photo sites is they usually give you the option to filter the image search results. say for instance you want to draw an elderly asian woman cooking or a young black man painting a picture or an indigenous child playing with dolls. you can look up certain terms you want in the search bar & specify gender, age and ethnicity to narrow down your search to what you want.
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another awesome place for references i discovered during college is posespace.com
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like with getty images, it gives you the option to filter your searches. they also have their models in clothed or nude shoots in the event that you want to practice some bare bones anatomy.
also also, get your info from artists of color. there's a decent amount of tutorials ive found over the years on here and youtube on coloring skintones, drawing certain hair types, how to avoid caricatures and stereotyping, different facial features, cultural hairstyles. the list goes on. don't be afraid to depict people outside of your race. literally just go about drawing us the same way you would a white person. don't be scared, as long as you remain respectful and make an honest effort to learn; you'll do fine.
resource links by and from artists of color:
'how i draw south + southeast asian people'
an example of what to avoid when stylizing east asian characters
'drawing asian people, source: i'm asian'
'lessons from drawing I: what is asian anyways?'
'how to draw indians'
'how to draw arabs'
'How I draw skin Part 2: DON”T DRAW NATIVE PEOPLE WITH RED SKIN!!!! A tutorial' (the link to the first part of this tutorial is broken sorry)
How to Draw Native People: a Tutorial/Reference Guide
How to Draw Black People by peachdeluxe
tips for drawing black people by rosheruu
drawing east asian faces by chuwenjie
how to draw black people series by Artistik Freedom (youtube)
✏️How I draw black hairstyles (simple) 🌱 by Likelihood Art (youtube)
there's also a bunch of black and brown artists on twitter and tiktok, so checking those sites for tutorials would be a good additional resource
good luck on your illustrating melanin endeavors 👍🏾
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petricorah · 27 days
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i wanna start making comics but like. i dont really know how??? are there any tips that you could give me perhaps?
hi!
i've been working on trying to compile a list of resources for people (@aangsfrogs--i didn't forget!) who want to make comics for a long time. It would consist of some of my personal tips and a lot of links to other people's PDFs and youtubes. But that's...a hefty project, so if you had any specific questions for the meantime, my askbox is open!
But, for just beginning, here would be my tips:
Read comics. Read manga and webcomics and cartoons and medical comics. There is so much out there, and reading is such a big way to learn. If you see something you like, take a moment to think about why you like it. Are the expressions or colors appealing? Did it make you feel a certain emotion? Analyze what the artist may have done to get across what they did. (Is it the camera angle? the style they chose to draw in? the paneling? the pacing? the color? etc.) Doing this over time will help you recognize the tools available for telling stories through this medium, and you'll be able to put them in your own work.
Try to think about what you want to make comics about. What moves you? What topics interest you? What ideas or tropes do you love in media or think about often? What do you hate and wish was done better? What characters are you drawn to, or what characters do you want to create? (What about them compels you?) I find it's hard to create an idea out of thin air, but if you start writing down random ideas you have, you'll start thinking about them, and over time, you'll have a bank of things to pull from when you want to create.
Lastly, anatomical skill or knowledge of color does not a comic make! You don't have to know much to begin, and there aren't rules. Just start drawing what is meaningful to you!
This is just cursory and doesn't get into super specifics like paneling or scripts or plotting or colors or thumbnailing or....etc, but I'll try to expand my list of resources and get that out! And, hmu if you have any specific questions on topics!
happy drawing~
Book list under readmore:
Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and his Making Comics. These books are taught in like, every comic class ever. While not my complete favorite, they do a good job of showing some history and fundamentals, and how easy it is to make comics even if you don't have a lot of drawing experience.
99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style by Matt Madden: Really good if you don't know how to start analyzing comics. (Also it's just a fun visual exercise.) It shows the same short story done in 99 different styles with different emphasis on different moods and points of view.
The PreHistory of The Far Side: A 10th Anniversary Exhibit by Gary Larson and The Calvin and Hobbes: Tenth Anniversary Book by Bill Watterson: Two great books with work from my two favorite cartoonists. They both have writings from the author about getting ideas, developing stories, and being a comic artist.
Uncanny Bodies: Superhero Comics and Disability, edited by Scott T. Smith and José Alaniz and Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation, edited by Sheena C. Howard and Ronald L. Jackson II: These two aren't really about making comics, but they are great collections of analysis about old and new comics alike.
By no means a complete list, but some good ones that I can think of off the top of my head.
There's also the book Webtoon School: Everything you need to know about webtoon creation and story writing. To be honest, I didn't read this completely through because it was a bit more fundamental than I was expecting, but it gives a good cursory look of how to write comics if you're just starting out! It covers some history, how to write stories and arcs, etc.
Also, look to your favorite writers! A lot of webtoon/webcomic artists do tutorials or youtube videos. for instance, velnxi has this great tutorial up I really suggest looking at here.
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loupy-mongoose · 6 months
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I don't know how you shade things so perfectly! I'm excellent at blending colors but I can't shade even if my life depended on it!😅🤣
How do you do it so good? Could you lend me some tips?
First off, thank you very much, but I refuse to accept my shading as "perfect". I'm proud of how far I've come, but it ain't perfect!
Tips... Hmmmm...
I have a pretty good understanding of the characters' and objects three-dimensional shape in my mind, so when I shade I subconsciously keep in mind how the light will affect them and where shadows will form.
Don't be afraid to look at books, references, tutorials, and Youtube videos! Take advantage of the vast library of resources at your fingertips!
I've spent a lot of my teen years watching speedpaints--Twarda8's Pokemon paintings on Youtube are old favorites of mine. Ironically their playlist called "Junk'n'Old" played a MASSIVE part in my artistic upbringing. One man's trash is another man's treasure~ I've also looked at many many mannnyyyy tutorials over the years, some of them multiple times, taking in how different shapes affect the shadow outcome. For example, sharp cut-offs will result in solid lines of shadow, while rounder shapes will have softer transitions from dark to light.
Take, for instance, my latest masterpiece; The eyebrows are meant to somewhat sharply overhang the eyelid, so they cause a sharper shadow cut-off.
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While rounder parts of the body have smoother shading.
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Mix and match them depending on the shapes present! (Hopefully that's coherent enough. X3)
A few extra things;
-Different light sources and surroundings can influence shadows as well. For example, the sun will create sharp, defined shadows, but clouds will soften the shadows considerably.
-When shading colored artworks, try to avoid using pure black to shade. If possible with your tools, use a darker color set to the Multiply or another darkening blend mode. Experiment! (I have another post about my painting process here if you're interested, although the canvas size in that may be incorrect now.)
-Find brushes you're comfortable with! I don't want to advocate that an artist can't be good without certain brushes, but I do think it's important to love the tools you use. But also don't feel like you have to stick with them for eternity--Every once in a while I get dissatisfied with my brushes and tweak them a bit, or dump them for others.
-For doodle shading like the above, I scribble in rough chunks where I want the shadow to be, then smudge and erase them as I see fit. All on a separate layer from the line-art, of course.
That may be more than you bargained for, but you can pick and choose what you want to take from this, if anything at all. I just felt like dumping. Happy shading! ^w^
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aearyn · 9 days
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i am about to go feral (derogatory).
So, my mom is elderly. She doesn't have dementia, but she does have cognitive and memory issues due to fibromyalgia and past head injuries.
It is hard for her to understand things now. Like, for instance I can't explain how her mortgage escrow works, because her brain just can't process complex things.
She is in general very liberal; because of her decreased reasoning/critical thinking abilities, she can get sucked into leftist conspiracy stuff. But that's not nearly as harmful as what I've just witnessed.
She got shown a (fake, far right propaganda) video on YouTube about how immigrants are getting free resources that citizens don't get, and we need to stop illegal immigrants from coming in. The video wasn't marketed as far-right, of course; it's one of those where they're wheedling into left spaces in general...until they're not.
And she just told me "this guy was saying blah blah blah about immigrants" and I just went, that's not true. And she's like "but this guy said--" and argued with me no matter what I said. Because "he's not a fascist, he's just telling things they don't say on the news". And no amount of reasoning with her made her understand how fucking stupid that is.
I hope people that do things like this get raped by rabid baboons
FUCK YOUTUBE AND FUCK FACEBOOK AND FUCK ALL THOSE SITES FOR PROPAGATING THIS TYPE OF SHIT
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im considering dming curse of strahd in the near future, got any tips or warnings? :-)
ABSOLUTELY
so first of all, disclaimer, this strahd campaign is my first ever attempt at dming. you'll hear a lot of people say it's not a good choice for a first time dm, but i disagree! maybe that's because all my players are newbies and don't catch when i mess up, or because i'm playing a very "the rules come second, the story comes first" kind of game, or because i've also done CoS as a player before so i was already familiar. either way, i'm having a blast, and the story is excellent
first tip: read the book. i recommend reading the chapters out of order, though - each chapter is a different location, and they're not in the order your players are likely to come across them (for instance, strahd's castle is chapter 4. literally why) so i looked at the map of barovia, looked at what locations my players were likely hit and when, and read in that order instead.
there are tons of online resources for curse of strahd. TONS. there's a huge community on the CoS subreddit, and it's chock full of tips, tricks, extras, new ideas, add-ons, fanart, you name it. look up maps for locations that aren't given maps in the book, and you'll find like five separate people have already done it and posted it online for anyone to use. speaking of which, i've recently made a powerpoint with a bunch of maps on it so i can hook up my laptop to my TV and project the maps up for my players to see while we're playing (complete with little animations to reveal secret rooms when/if they find them) and that's been working out great so far
there are also lots of videos on CoS, and i highly recommend lunch box heroes on youtube. i've watched every single video in this playlist and it has helped so, so much. i'm using a bunch of deviations from the book in my campaign that this guy specifically gave me the idea to use
my biggest tip: make sure your players all have a good reason to hate strahd. for a lot of them, this will come naturally (for instance, maybe one of your players will try romancing strahd's alter ego and unknowingly set themselves up for the heartbreak of the century 🙃) but for a lot of them, you may have to orchestrate a good reason. throw one of their spouses in the castle dungeon like my dm did to me! it helps so much in getting them invested in the plot if they want to kill that guy in the castle so fucking bad dude let me at him
but yeah, other than that... have fun! don't take what's in the book as gospel, just use it as a guideline for the story. ultimately your players are going to hugely affect how the story goes, so don't get too attached to certain plot hooks that may get turned on their head or may just never happen. roll with the punches, learn to improvise, and practice your best vaguely eastern european accent for the barovian npcs :)
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avaisnerdytoo · 1 month
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5YL Ep7 Motion Comic:
Some quick thoughts from the episode in which I found tons of affinity on. (Link to watch at the bottom of this thingy).
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This episode presents a dilemma which I personally have a bit of personal fascination on. If you have a character that is all powerful, should they, or should they not ascend to godhood?
There are 3 characters I love in this world, Flash, Iron-Man (with less direct comparison in this instance), and Ben, all 3 possess the means to shape the world as they like, to exert some kind of weight onto everything else which only they can lift.
Granted Ben, through Alien X far exceeds my other two examples, but the question remains similarly.
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If all 3 of these characters are heroes, shouldn't they take the reigns of the world?
Surely their judgment would spare us all, they have their hearts on the right place!
I hadn't typed this out publicly before, but dorky me actually likes to imagine many stories, including ones were my OC has some kind of access to significant power, as a fun wild card in my own stories.
Part of the fun of stories however, are challenges, and in my own, I try to maintain a sense of realism, although in such cases, I do often think to myself...
If I were in that situation, it would be seriously tempting to pull that kind of card, even if for something simple...
"Oh, character is stuck in the past with no way home except a tedious process of gathering all the resources to make a time machine to head back? Why not skip it and pull the Alien X card - or whatever OP thing for whatever example - and literally just go back home?
You were going to do it anyway... In this example the character has the knowledge to fix the problem, they simply made it easy on themselves, the faster they get back home the faster they get back to helping right? They don't have to use Alien X/OP Thing to solve the problem back home, they simply used him to return.
And as small excuses begin becoming bigger, slowly there are less reasons not to use him for everything."
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I like Ben calling out "Life" as a good reason not to go through with using Alien X. That level of responsibility exceeds anything anyone should ever carry, as humans I mean. Not to mention the complete loss of reality to everyone else, would things even be "happening" at that point?
Kuro once said that he likes Ben not using him even without any deadlocks as it shows a massive sign of mental fortitude, every time he uses another transformation, he is choosing to be better.
And as contextualized in the comic, as a sign of respect for the symbol of the watch.
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One head canon I like to play with is the idea that, "if Ben has full control of Alien X, perhaps as time went on he also acquires all the omnipresence that comes with it, as Belicus and Serena practically aren't involved at all, he could, like Dr. Manhattan, see it all, the whole universe as a static picture, only he doesn't retain the knowledge because it would be too much to handle".
To be honest, I always wondered how other characters would react to Ben having to full control of Alien X, true free control. Previously, they all understood the hassle that would be the arguments needed to make him work, but now?
The Hero of Heroes has always shown excellent judgment, he clearly can be trusted, why not get ahead?
Rook logically supporting the suggestion, or Kevin not understanding why freeing others of pain wouldn't be the instant choice feels right in character for me. And if I were not Ben, but alongside him, I would also feel some degree of pressure to wanting him to spare us all of anything further.
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It should be evident by now that I haven't read the rest of the comic, I was actually doing so, and then I kinda dropped it haha, not out of distaste though, far from it hahaha.
I'll definitely get back into reading though, this is absolutely amazing.
Watch 5YL EP7 : The Ink Tank on YouTube
Read 5YL : The Ink Tank Website with multiple reading options.
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crimefighter-bae-b · 1 month
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Why the Humans Are to Blame for All the Problems in the Matrix | The Matrix Lore
I watched a youtube video called 'Why the Humans Are to Blame for All the Problems in the Matrix' that I fundamentally disagreed with.
LINK HERE.
And I left a comment that I know no one will ever see, but that I am interested in exploring with other people. So hopefully, by putting my comment here I can generate a conversation. Also, it's good to have it handy for my own reference because I am writing fic currently and having my ideas typed out helps me.
What do you guys think? Who should shoulder the blame?
My comment is below the cut.
I think looking at the bare facts of who did what is kind of missing the point.
A constant theme in the Matrix universe is looking at systems of control. When you say 'the humans didn't accept the machines' who are you really talking about?
Governments, corporations, and the people in power calling the shots. And to put a broad label on these people you can say capitalists.
At the Million Machine March you specifically see humans marching alongside machines in their journey towards freedom, and the reporter says the streets were filled by 'machines and their human sympathizers'. Is it hard to believe that some humans and some machines were friends? That there were communities and groups who cared for each other and looked out for one another?
The genocide of the machines was likely instigated by business interests and government scare tactics. If a machine is a person, can you sell them? How does this affect ownership and manufacturing? And of course the boogeyman of 'if AI gets smart enough what will they do to us?' propaganda. It wouldn't be in the interest of tech companies to 'liberate' their products and it isn't in the interest of governments which are likely using machines already for military activities.
Turning everyday people against the machines is likely an ongoing goal for the government.
When 01 is created and begins competing in the global market the people who are going to be angry about that are capitalists. It would also be an oversight not to recognize economic control as a form of warfare. Yes, machines were making products for human consumption, but controlling an economy is a real imperialist tactic.
I also 100% think that 'humans' did not darken the sky. Again, this would have been fueled by tech companies and military interests.
'Humans' didn't choose this, it was chosen for us by a very few but powerful people who happened to be human.
I also think that taking what Agent Smith said about the first Matrix at face value is kind of silly. Agent Smith kind of shows his hand while talking to Morpheus in how little he actually understands and knows human nature. He compares us to a virus that 'spreads to an area and multiplies and multiplies, until every natural resource is consumed' but he's not describing humans, he's describing capitalism. Human beings have been great at adapting to different climates all over the world, but the overconsumption of materials and the destruction of the natural environment is not a natural component of human occupation of land.
Agent Smith also doesn't know much about the Matrix itself, he doesn't know it's imperfect or how long it's been around for. Dude actually thinks he will get to leave once he gets Zion's codes. What Agent Smith doesn't know could fill a warehouse. He is being manipulated by the machines in power just the way humans were originally manipulated by other humans in power.
And, lastly, I don't think that the current version of the Matrix is devoid of a desire to punish humans. It's enforced by machines who hold humans in contempt (the agents saying things like 'only human' for instance and using cruel force to keep people enslaved). It replicates a point in our history where the old systems of control that lead to the war are being wielded now by the machines to the same affect. There is a deliberate cruelty built into the Matrix which, I think, the machines fool themselves into believing is cold, calculated, and impersonal.
We also never see any evidence that the machines are working towards a solution to the environmental crisis of the real world. As it is presented in the movies, the machines seem content with this state of things going on indefinitely.
The moral of the story, I think, is that humans and machines made the Matrix together. Specifically, the groups that were in power. And unless we can come together and break away from the systems controlling us, we will be trapped in it's clutches and it's never ending cycles forever.
Agent Smith wasn't wrong to rebel, but he could never see who was really keeping him down, you know?
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kleefkruid · 9 months
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polyam ask anon here. Thank you sm for that extensive explanation! I was trying to look on my own but didn't know where to start. I don't have any questions rn (mostly because I need to let the information settle first) but I just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to type all that out. I'm a little hesitant to try polyamory even with toe dipping because I'm very inexperienced relationship-wise in general (haven't been in one before) and I'm a little afraid of what my family would think (I love them dearly, but they don't understand polyam at all and think you "don't love that 1 person enough if you need more")
I'm definitely interested in learning more, though. Are there any resources I could use? Books or anything, like you mentioned?
No rush in starting relationships, I had my first one at 24 and that happened by sheer chance as well. And I'd say experience is overrated because every relationship is so wildly different to the previous. You get better at filtering out some types of people but you will always be bumbling trough each and everyone of them and that's fine, really.
Hmm, book wise I just own Opening Up by Tristan Taormino, which was a gift by a more eperienced polyam person when I was starting out. It's not a light read, it's more of a resource guide to all kind of open relationships and it has chapters on for instance starter things like "turning your mono relationship into a polyam one" all the way to chapters on things to consider when buying property, planning a family. It's one of those books you open when you have a specific hurdle to cross. It's a pretty good guide book in my opinion, for the parts I have read. Not to much 'you must do this' and a lot of 'but consider this'
@ BoldlyGrow is a youtube channel that's now inactive but the videos on there have some explanations of polyam terminology and also go into the benefits but also the harder things about polyamory and questions to ask yourself before getting into it. That might be a useful tool for you, I'd recommend looking into that first and maybe you go "yikes, not for me" without having spend money on a book.
I have seen 'the ethical slut' also be recommended as a resource a lot but I haven't had a chance to read it so I can speak for it personally but I'm adding it bc other people seem to like it?
Another great resource is of course always just making polyam friends, on feeld there's a lot of people who are also (or exclusively) looking for friends bc it's nice to have likeminded friends who understand your lifestyle (I don't have to tell the queer website that). If you have polyam friends they can give you advice thats personal to you or you can just see what they're up to. Lot's of people I hang out with are much less mystified by polyamory after a while bc it will be just as boring as anyones elses relationship haha
You can also look for other poly people in the tags over here but good luck bc you have to block about 500 fanfiction writers (half of them from the bts community, fun fact) before you can see any personal posts (we really need a different dedicated tag it's a mess)
The polyamory subreddits I'd avoid because I mean it's reddit, their relationship advice is bad universally
when it comes to parents, ah, you know, my parents don't understand it fully either but they see I'm happy and they like my partner a lot so that helps. It's generally easier when they can put a face to it. there are a lot of polyam people who aren't 'out' to their families but my family is very much of the 'as long as you're happy' variety so I can't give much advice if that's not the case with you :)
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awarriorqueen · 10 months
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I am begging writers, of fanfic and original fiction, if you feel it is necessary to write dialogue in a foreign language--especially, a language that you are not a fluent speaker of--DO NOT RELY ON GOOGLE TRANSLATE to translate what you want your characters to say in their native language. As someone who grew up bilingual and now speaks 4 languages with varying levels of fluency, going back and forth between English and another language is something I'm accustomed to doing in speech and in writing--and sometimes I even have to look things up to make sure I'm using the right words, and I use google translate for really simple things--but google translate is often wrong, and it often doesn't take into account masculine/feminine, formal/informal, and all other unique linguistic rules and colloquial versions of words/phrases when giving you a result. also there is sometimes no literal word-for-word translation for some things, but google translate will give you word-for-word translations--which are wrong.
So when someone only relies on Google Translate to write something in a language they have zero fluency in, it is VERY obvious! When I'm reading something and I see someone insert a foreign word that is used incorrectly, at best, it seems that the writer didn't put enough care into actually researching the language to make sure they were using it correctly for a character--and at worst, it shows that they don't actually understand/respect their character's background/culture and the incorrect words/phrases could make the character look like a stereotypical caricature to just [insert word/phrase in a foreign language] because they are [insert culture]. it would be preferable to just read something in English (and I'm using English as the example because that's the writing I usually see this happen with) with an added explanation that the phrase was spoken in another language.
But if it is absolutely necessary for your character to speak a foreign language, here are a few basic tips of what to do if you're not sure about the translation:
-consult with a real person who speaks the language fluently and check with them if you're using the language correctly
-as a web-based alternative to Google Translate, I highly recommend wordreference.com, which not only gives you translations, but also gives you examples and context for phrases you want to translate--and was recommended to me by my own french professors in college
-do the actual research. watch youtube videos of people specifically explaining languages/accents, listen to foreign music, watch foreign shows or movies, read fiction/lyrics/poems in other languages--get actual examples of the language being used by native speakers! it's not hard!
Google Translate is not a be-all, end-all of translation resources 😤 and I cannot stress how offensive it is--when it is so easy to get a translation correct by doing those 3 things I listed--to see that a writer was too lazy to even make sure what they wrote actual words/phrases people say in the language they're trying to use! it completely takes me out of a fic, and I don't see it happen often in traditionally published literature, but if I do ever see a spanish or french word I KNOW is being used wrong/no person who speaks those languages would ever say something the way the writer put it-i might put down that book and never pick it back up again.
I myself have written works including a few instances of dialogue in languages I don't speak, and yes, it is a little time-consuming to triple-check if you're using a word/phrase right, but because I don't want to offend anyone who speaks the languages I'm writing in and I don't want to embarrass myself, I put in the time and research to get it right. and then it's cool, because by doing this, I'm actually learning how to write/read/speak in another language that will be useful irl 👍
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kaddyssammlung · 1 month
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Dark Signs – Analysis
Video:
youtube
Same thing as text:
TW : SH
“Where I was raised, there was no streetlights”
You can either see this in a literal way or not. Either the village was so small or the house was just standing there with no other housed around it and there really were no street-lights or well...he grew up in metaphorical darkness.
I can relate to the latter one so this is how I have this connected.
“just pitch black and passing headlights”
This just underlines the first sentence. To me it really feels like there maybe was not much joy growing up and there were just a few instances where things seemed nicer.
“and where we met, there must have dark signs”
I'm someone who strongly believes in signs. I just use the word synchronicity for it. I take things like video suggestions on YouTube for example quite seriously. I often have strange questions that I seem to have no answer for and then something shows up, like a video, and I watch it and then I get pushed into a new direction.
Thanks to such synchronicities I found great online resources about childhood trauma for example. Stuff that did not cost much money or was free but that helped me a lot in my healing process.
“omens in your skies”
I like this because it brings another perspective to the table. Not just dark signs for him but for this other human or this other being (=Sleep), too.
Vessel does a lot of “perspective switches” likes these.
To me this has something to do with the so-called hermetic principles. “As above so below, as within so without”. This means that everything that we see in the outside world is just a reflection of our inside world or what going on in our body and in our mind.
“most days you reach for safety”
This makes me think about the “cracking bones” from Levitate and also kind of devastated. Who was in danger and why? Or is Vessel a safe space for someone? Did Sleep reach out for safety?
“remain calm, forget that you know me”
Seems like he really was sick and tired of someone reaching out to him.
This line makes think about my ex. He said this all the time but my BPD self always responded stuff like “don't say that! I love you sooooo much!”. This line brings back weird memories.
“and when we met I could see dark signs alarm bells in your eyes”
Now it gets interesting.
Whoever it was was also aware of them not being a good match of some sort?
“and I miss the man I was the moment we left off”
This reminds me of “how much did they break you?” from the way that you were. Seems like there was a version of him where he was more happy?
Now we reach one of those mis-heard-lyrics-situations.
“I won't break and bend to my basic need to be loved and close to somebody”
or
“I might break and bend to my basic need to be loved and close to somebody”
This is a problematic one because it changes the meaning.
When I think about the rest of the discography both versions make sense. I feel like maybe he did break and bend until he was so fractioned and bled out that there was nothing left to give and he put an end to it?
From my experience: I stayed in an abusive relationship much too long. So I can understand if something like this happened. I was not really aware of what was going on but I was also terrified of being alone.
“and I hate who I have become every time I wake up”
This one needs no explanation. But he does say every time I wake up which makes me think again about “meeting Sleep”.
“and if you saw the marks on my dashboard the new scars that I didn't ask for”
This is a weird one and also a highly debated one. I am aware of that.
I already talked about my car accidents and what I learned from them. Maybe he does mean a car accident because dashboard makes you think about cars but maybe he does mean his arms and did not want to say arms twice because he mentions them later.
“would you call asking for answers?”
I feel like that is a sad one. So, if someone saw the marks on his dashboard would they then call him? Does he have to take extreme measures to make someone call him?
My ex-girlfriend used to text me stuff like “if you don't call within the next then minutes I'm going to hurt myself”. It makes me think about stuff like that. Pressuring someone to do something they are not willing to.
I'm not an angel btw. I have done similar things.
“tear my arms off”
Well...do I have to say something about this?! Not really right. You know what I wrote his scars or maybe not. I see them and I have them, too but so do many of you. It's sad but the truth.
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tenvi-kiravir · 1 month
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I will no longer be focusing efforts on building a tumblr blog up.
Find me here
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Or here
https://bsky.app/profile/tenvi.bsky.social
Or on Cohost @TenviKiravir!!
@staff You cannot shit on the queer community and expect is to stay and grow your user base for you. You want a self led monetized user base?
WHY SHOULD WE PAY YOU FOR A DAMN THING??
I have been mostly lurking here the last few years. And I have seen time and again how you ignore the MASSIVE influx of death threats against ppl for simply interacting with *fiction* in a way they don't approve.
You most certainly DO NOT take death threats "seriously". But a trans woman getting pissed after being ignored for how long?? Says she WISHES you would blow up in a car covered in hammers?? That is now a threat? What action did she say she was gonna take?. Hmm??
Truth is I can wish all of you dead AS MUCH as I want. It does not mean you are being threatened!
There r ppl who SING OFF ON ALL THEIR POSTS
With things along the veins of "If you are a prostitutes I personally wanna hunt you down and blast your fucking brains out with a shotgun"
A but more visceral and actually POSSIBLE
And these are everywhere
So miss us with the lies of taking that shit seriously bcuz the fuck you do!!
I have absolutely seen many queer artists whose work is being removed for being explicit
Except it never is!! Surprise surprise!!
The only time I see smutty art, it is locked with creator warnings!
But you know how much fucking straight sex, full cumshots and vagina and penis everywhere I get to see from the porn bots you cannot control?? Never tagged? In all the tags now???
Yet her face is explicit
Try and tell me you don't fetishize trans ppl
Just bcuz YOU only see us as sexual?? That is a you problem. Do better.
Ya know, like the settlement you agreed to demanded??
I honestly hope beyond anything. That tumblr gets its shit rocked so hard from a second discrimination lawsuit that you burn. That tumblr is gone for good
Becauase to hell with a place that claims to proudly bear the title the the queerest place in the internet! While it is actively trying to erase our existence.
You deem a face more sexual than the full eyeball of pov rough fucking I got to see from a bot that followed during this.
You deem a Looney Toons level wish more threatening than the people you allow to sign off with actual wishes of harm. From ppl who have ALREADY driven others to suicide
Oh AND you decided the nazis and terfs could stay, despite stalking and harassing her for how long??
In the end, you STILL left them here to continue campaigns against whoever they please
Our lives are not games. Not toys for you. And we aren't gonna pay shit to keep it running, nor give it materials to keep circulating.
May this site die and something new and better rise from its ashes
You don't get to play rainbow capitalism with us forever
And I hope more ppl wake up and fucking leave
I get that some ppl feel it is giving up
But dog
This is more the equivalent of determinedly staying in your abusive parents house while they ask for money to boot and hoping they die or eventually stop being abusive pricks
You do not have to settle
You do not have to accept staff ignoring us, removing our art, our photos, pur EXISTENCE
Together, this community has tools. Has resources
Plz stop assuming business based sites like this are all you can have
We can make better
Most of the big sites all started as small things and eventually got consumed by shit like corporate greed
I miss old youtube for instance.(before it was a demand on how much and what type of content you put out and filled with ads and premium. Thought vlare.tv showed promise. Think it got too big too quick. But that just kinda proves there is an audience imo. It is wanted)
In the meantime, places like mastodon, artfol, bluesky
Just saying. Don't gotta take the bs here. They depend on us
Build your own communities online. And unionize irl. Take. Back. Our. Voices!!
If you have had enough, if you want change. Then you gotta work towards it. No matter how tired you are
Bcuz the point IS to exhaust you so you stop fighting back, stop demanding better.
Learned helplessness is the entire fucking point
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petricorah · 6 months
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Thanks for the ask, @strrwbrrryjam ! i'm flattered that you think I do a good job of that, because I'm still learning! (and I also struggle heavily with proportions. I have to resize my heads and arms so, so much...)
I'm afraid I don't have any secrets. I think the answer is to just practice, over and over again. But specifically, this is what I try to focus on as I'm learning:
references
quick practices - 30 second to 5 minute studies that help with getting a full scope of the shape and energy of the body, not meant to be perfect
studies - deep dives into certain anatomical structures (videos linked below)
Below the cut is how I use references go from this to this:
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References:
Use a bunch of references! Pictures you take, stock images, from shows--practice real people. Even if your style is heavily stylized, it all starts from an understanding of anatomy.
How I Use a Reference When I Struggle With Proportions:
The first step I take while looking at a reference is to just draw a very loose sketch with a line of action that goes then entire length of the piece, and I try to section it out. I find if I don't think about the body as a whole, and just start drawing a head, the head will be way bigger than the rest of the image. So my first step is just really boxy and basic, just to get all appendages on paper. My first pass could look like this:
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Okay, not bad. But the right arm is going way too far down--the forearm is really long. The head is too big for the style I want, and the left arm is at a 90 degree angle, unlike the picture. But, I have the general scope of everything on the page, so it's easier to adjust and look at the full picture!
Then, I try to focus on landmarks. I look at where certain body parts fall in the reference. For instance, Blackbeard's right elbow doesn't reach his belt, so his elbow shouldn't be near his waist. I can tell that his left arm is closer to being straight than at a right angle, and I can see that his head isn't as big on his shoulders as I have. I can also look at the negative space and see that the gaps between his right arm need to be smaller. So my next pass might look like this:
(I don't usually draw on the reference image, and I just "draw" the lines in my mind, but the for sake of things...)
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Now it's looking a bit closer!
The next is the harder part. It's making things shapes, and is closer to the lineart stage. I try to follow curves, separate the chest from the torso, get the angle of the shoulders and head, etc. I have some video links at the end that explain this step much more in def.
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You may notice that the head angle is a bit different than the image, and the shoulders are a bit lower. Sometimes, following a reference image completely either doesn't fit your style or, in some cases, the more accurate drawing following a reference can actually look "wrong" (anatomically) when drawn. Figure out what works best for you, and for the message you're trying to get across in the piece!
[sliiiight flashing in timelapse]
And here is the final timelapse, with a little refining and polishing of the anatomy. Not everything is completely accurate to the reference image, but I've created a believable image in the likeness.
I hope this helped! This was a quick and dirty post of something I'm still learning. Here are some youtube tutorial artists, resources, and books that I use to learn!
Youtube:
-ModerndayJames has lots of videos on creating shapes and understanding anatomy, and placing people in perspective. He has a lot of free videos, and then some cheap ones on gumroad that go more into it.
-Proko has lots of videos on anatomy!
Practice Resources:
-Pose Maniacs - figures in different poses. You can move the camera around to see different angles.
-QuickPoses has images for figure drawing and quick gesture drawing! You can even have different timers.
Books:
Morpho Series. There used to be the one on "Fat and Skin Folds" that was a free PDF download that was on tumblr for a while, but I don't believe the books are that expensive.
Taco's Books, published by Lezhin. This is heavily anime styled, but talks a lot about anatomy, and is a great resource!
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thewakingcloak · 6 months
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Thanks beyond thanks for the reply - you'll definitely get credit (or at least a big tip if i can ever finish this project and get it out there), because you're among those I've learned from, and coming from a position of zero education and no modern programming knowledge, I can assure you: it's been difficult to piece together an education in game design with an improvised curriculum, so every little bit helps. While most people who get into this come from a programming background end up needing assistance with the art and music ends, I'm coming at it from the opposite side of the spectrum: I've been composing, recording, and engineering music since the magnetic tape era and doing digital design/animation for just as long, so it's just the coding I have to really apply myself to and make myself learn. I won't lie: it's been frustrating, trying to figure it all out by reading manuals and various youtube videos, reddit threads, and yoyo forums because while I'm able to learn the functionality of the code easily enough and there are a lot of helpful resources out there in that respect, context is everything and it can be maddening, trying to figure out how to apply what I've learned in useful or practical ways. For example, I've figured out enough to know that data structure grids can probably help me overcome my current problem with collisions (like you, I began building my 2.5d environment from that exact Matharoo video and even managed to write a pretty decent place-meeting-3d script from the ground up... until, like you, I hit my current impasse of being unable to figure out how to handle multiple collisions at once... but, unlike you, every alteration i make to my code only creates more problems), but while I understand how ds grids work, I can't figure out the proper context in which to apply them as a solution to my collision problem. So, I'm giving up and resorting to reverse engineering - when it comes to a lot of things, I can usually figure stuff out if i can just see it working under the hood, so i hope that's true for ds_grid collision implementation. I'm telling you this because I downloaded your suite of 3d scripts and intend to try and figure out how to implement them, working backward. I honestly don't mean to steal all your work, as you've been more than generous in helping people like me by sharing it in the first place, but it's hard to resist using it as a basis for my education because the physics of your project and your design process and ideas (like self-skinning objects) are so similar to mine. I can assure you, though: I won't be simply copying and pasting your functions, because I have no idea how to use them or from where to run them... it'll be trial and error (already, in trying to structure a Shaun Spaulding-style collision code (might as well start with what i know and see what works!) using your version of place_meeting_3d, I immediately encountered a "variable not defined" error in the instance-place-3d script it calls... maybe because I'm substituting noone for null, which is a variable gm doesn't appear to recognize, or maybe not... this is gonna be fun). At any rate... thank you. Sooner or later, I'll get past the physics and into the familiar territory of writing, drawing, and composing... but without your scripts, who knows how long that would take me! Shoulda gone to college... oh well.
You're welcome, anytime! Gamedev is such a multidisciplinary thing that it's a LOT to try to do all at once, whether you're coming from a programmer position and aren't good at art, or an artist who doesn't know programming yet. College helps with foundational stuff, but what you're doing (researching and learning yourself and putting it into action) is a pretty powerful method and will carry you a long way
You're right, null is a macro I created to stand for noone. Hard to break my day job coding habits haha. It sounds like you're somewhat familiar with the debugger, but I highly, highly recommend learning it more (especially breakpoints and such) for figuring out stuff like "variable not defined". The GameMaker debugger can be a little misleading at times, but it's so much easier than all the guesswork. It's improving a lot in the latest updates too!
It's been a while since I've looked at my 3D collision stuff in depth (it kind of scares me now lol), but yeah, learning how the ds_list stuff works should help. It's basically just (if I remember correctly) grabbing a list of things the object is colliding with, and then checking whether or not they match up on the z axis. I don't want to necessarily say "collide" because it's not using the built-in GM functions for z-axis collisions, but it's checking the z position, height, and seeing if either intersect.
So basically: get a list of collisions on the normal x, y coordinates as a ds_list, then loop through the list and check for intersection on the z axis. If so, there's a 3D collision!
Gamedev is no joke, but you've got the right approach and you're making great strides, keep it up!
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cursed-and-haunted · 2 years
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hello!! im here from your post about the different art styles and i was wondering if u had any tips on learning more about art hsitory? did u take a class??? or do you have any good online resources? i find that a lot of it is pretentious and hard to understand
I read The Power of Art (3rd edition) by Richard and Susan Lewis. It's used in classes to introduce students to art history therefore it breaks things down in a way that's easier to understand. So I recommend starting there.
To first know art history you need to know about art. This book helps you understand the language used when discussing art like shape, form, color, design etc. It also talks about the different materials and tools used to make art and how those things affect the way art looks. Making art would be helpful too, doesn't matter if you do it on your own or take a class. It isn't a necessary but it does give a better understanding of what artist in the past did to make their art.
The second thing you need to know to understand art history is history. Understanding what was happening in the political/religious/scientific spheres when certain art was being made helps you understand that art better. It also helps you understand why art styles look different from each other. For instance, knowing about the Enlightenment and Marie Antoinette helps you understand the difference between rococo and baroque. I think this book gives good background information on the different art periods.
Art history is a lot to take in. As long as humans have existed there has been art. That is a lot of art. It can be very daunting and hard to get into. Take it a step at a time. Pick a style (or artist) you like the most and read about it, study it, take notes. Watch documentaries and youtube videos. Take notes. Then when you feel knowledgeable in that one particular area you can move on to the next. I'm more knowledgeable about Renaissance and Baroque then I am about others because those are the ones I've study the most. I don't know anything about Dadaism or impressionist and that's ok. Just take a little bit at a time.
Hope this helps!
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dzskarlet · 1 year
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i wanted to put together a post listing a handful of adblocking and general free and open source resources i use, so here's that (android specific but also compatible with pc for the most part)
blokada: device-wide ad blocker. if you take away anything from this post let it be this
- doesn't work alongside vpns since it itself acts like one
- some apps have built in, unblockable apps and/or generally don't play well with it and will require manual tinkering, one of which being tumblr
ublock origin: adblocker specifically for web browsing. fills in a lot of non-ad related gaps left by blokada and is easily installable on both the main and nightly builds of firefox browser app
newpipe: lightweight foss alternative to youtube
+ no ads
+ background play
+ inbuilt video, audio and thumbnail downloading
+ remembers resolution between videos
- no support for native google accounts, you'll have to either import or manually add all of your subscriptions yourself
? highly configurable, but also not exactly plug-and-play as a result
nitter: lightweight foss frontend for twitter (not as much of an adblocking tool, more just for anyone that wants to disconnect from twitter, i thought i'd include it anyway In Light Of Recent Events™)
+ no view counter or paid checkmarks
+ rss support
- once again no account support, so no tweeting or following etc, essentially read-only twitter
edit november 2023: many nitter instances are either getting less support or have stopped being hosted entirely due to changes to the api by twitter among other things, because of this i now recommend using the squawker app instead. it has effectively the same functionality as nitter but communicates directly with twitter instead of through a proxy (this also means accounts marked as adult aren't visible as you're considered a logged out user, if this affects you considerably i still recommend using nitter.privacydev.net as it's the only instance i know of that is still fully functional) (i also wasn't able to get notifications working but i think that might be because of android 13's notification permission policy more than a fault of the app itself)
aggregator (or any other rss client): among other things, can be used to get notifications from twitter feeds you want to continue to keep in touch with once again, if you use rss exclusively for more than a handful of nitter feeds, and unless you follow adult accounts, this recommendation is moot. however, rss is still useful for getting notified for certain things such as podcasts and any cohost feeds you may follow
libredirect: firefox addon that automatically redirects links from a handful of websites to private frontends, includes ping tool to quickly find the fastest host for each one
firefox nightly: necessary to use libredirect on android, guide can be found here
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