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ofravensandgenesis · 4 years

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IT IS FINISHED no seriously, this took ages. First couple of days were fine and motoring along with progress, then I was laid out for a week-ish with health problems. Then once I was well enough again I was back to being fixated on finishing this piece of my lad Joshua here for another handful of days, so I’m super glad this is done now. More talk about the painting, details and process under the cut:

Art Entry 01, Joshua Rook, Junior Deputy of Hope County. Regarding the painting’s execution, stylistic choices, practiced methods, and speculation on further experimentation for skill and stylization. _____________________________ Honestly I thought that the uniform’s large swatches of green fabric would be more difficult than it actually was. Turns out that was the easier part compared to the shoulder patch and metal badge. x’D The metal badge design is based off of and inspired by a custom-ordered cosplay badge design I found while looking for references, in this post here (link,) from v-i-d-e-n-o-i-r’s blog and Far Cry 5 cosplay. There are some differences in the painting’s rendition above, namely I flattened the middle section and made it all concentric polished metal instead of painted and the great seal rendition in the middle doesn’t have silver lineart either. Those choices are as much for aesthetic reasons of eliminating the blue ring so it was all a fairly simple mono-material-looking surface as it was for simplifying having to forego painting the foreshortening that a spherical dome might entail. Also just because the rest of the metal turned out looking good enough that an additional bit of shiny metal seemed like it’d fit right in for this. That being said, the badge design that inspired this one is rad and awesome looking—and I totally didn’t realize it wasn’t quite like the badges from in-game assets until after I’d painted it. x’D So, I decided to stick with this one since it’s simpler and has cleaner lines, and less engraving to pick out highlights on. Metal is very hit or miss for me to get right, so I’m very pleased with how this one came out! :D I think I did well on that one. The shoulder patch originally I was looking at real world references and ended up changing the shape once I actually looked at in-game references on Staci and Joey—who I discovered have slightly different details on their uniforms, like the font for their name tags—Staci’s has an old-timey-looking-font with serifs, Joey’s is a non-serif more modern-style font. Some pictures have them having different buttons on their uniforms either in color or shape (the former being exported assets, the latter being in-game gifs/screenies/etc.) This is also how I learned that the little landscape with the shovel, pickaxe and plough/plow are part of the great seal of Montana. I had no flipping idea that was what it was, looking at the patches in-game. The cosplay community does some great work for that, for which I’m grateful. I ended up looking up references of what the state seal’s design was so as to see the smaller details, and to find out what the motto meant ”Oro y Plata,” meant, leading to etymology googling adventures from there, as usual. All important details to paint though I think here, since Joshua’s deputy uniform is symbolically significant to him and will remain so throughout his story as part of his internal conflict for a couple of reasons. One thing I knew I should’ve done from the start, and reminded myself to do, was the fact that I should paint all skin sections at the same time, so as to ensure they all came out the same shades. I did not do this. x’D I’ll have to actually try to do that next time honestly. Same with the hair sections, while I like how they came out, I do feel the differences between the three major segments in terms of brushwork is not as coherent as I’d like, even if beard hair is not necessarily similar in how it lays to scalp hair, particularly with length and such taken into consideration. Still, not bad. Could’ve used more refs for the backlighting and figuring out how the highlights would fit best on the ponytail, but I think the hair curves turned out nice there in particular. Overall, Joshua’s hair ended up messier than I’d thought with how the locks all end up looping this way and that across his head, but it does actually fit him well as a character for his hairstyle to be messy and loosely held together, but functional. It did end up longer than I’d intended, so we have him likely ending up with a nerdy Jesus hairstyle when it’s down. x’D (Thanks to @undead-gearhead for that mental imagery, I shall take great amusement in that should I get around to drawing Joshua with his hair down.) Aside from that, I think I’m slowly improving on figuring out how to paint glasses, though I’m thinking in the future I should test more layered reflective light on them or something where the frames are in contact or close to skin, particularly around the glasses’ bridge across the nose and such. Then there are the other deviation details added—like using dark green instead of the black for the uniform accents. The faded black looks great in-game, but I do think the buttons pop more against dark green instead for this painting. I’m a little bit surprised how well the button-placket section came out, Clip Studio Paint crashed when I painted the first rendition of it, sadly losing all that work. I thought it’d be okay but turns out it didn’t quite get to auto-save that recently enough, but the second go around turned out quite well I think, possibly better. I was originally planning to try to put more textured brushwork across the flat sections of the uniform material, but decided to skip it for speed—I’ll test that elsewhere perhaps, though I think it came out well with the watercolor brushes layered on top of one another like that as is. Among the other smaller details, there’s some tweaks and such for how Joshua’s eye shape, eyebrows, nose shape, hairline etc came out compared to references of Greg Bryk in his role as Joseph Seed. I think Joshua did come out looking like he’s obviously related to the Seeds as I was hoping for, but I’m kind of on the fence that people would look at him and automatically assume it’s Joseph specifically that he’s descended from. I hope so, but either way, that’s how he’s written in-fic. x’D Overall, I would consider this painting a success, though as usual I do wish it’d been faster to finish. I do think this was good practice for detail work, and metal shading, also: buttons. Still haven’t figured out how to paint lips with more pink or red tones, I don’t like the way they look when painted sadly, unless it’s lipstick. That may end up being a stylistic element perhaps, along with how I paint the lines for fingernails and other such details. Fun fact: I have to leave the shading on the eyes for last, or else my brain goes “The eyes are done! We’re done! Call it a day.” I’m not sure why, but so far, leaving them as flats until the end seems to work a treat for keeping me focused on finishing the rest of the work with less mental dissonance. Now if only I could figure out why despite knowing I should do all the exposed skin portions at the same time, I don’t follow through on that naturally as far as inclinations go. Maybe it’s a layer organization thing and perception of wanting, say, the cloth to be done first before working “down” to the hands and such in the sense of working from the head down? I’ll have to think on that some more and test things in the next painting. Perhaps color coding the order of layers to paint will help? CSP does have a nice layer-icon-color function that I’ve dabbled with here and there. There are so many brushes, I really do need to test out more of them, I use, what, four or five total, but primarily somewhere around two or three. Hm, but what to do with texture, and how to utilize it so? Hmmm, as far as personal appeal for methodology goes, I might prefer to use textures in select pieces for more emotional emphasis? If I can figure out how to do that in a messier speed-paint style of things. Rougher textures for conflict, for example. That sounds like an interesting idea to explore, I’ll have to remember that for a later piece. Maybe more heavily textured brushes will also help with the mental itch to refine things to a cleaner-level of refining instead of leaving it in a more organically rough state. Hm, maybe it’s a “mental texture” aversion or something, as far as an interplay between the brush’s texture and the flow of the linework/brushstroke. Perhaps more uneven brushes echo that in a complimentary fashion to better allow less mental discomfort for me personally when trying to paint in a faster, looser fashion? Honestly, very tempting to go try that out sooner rather than later on some art ideas I have, but I’ve been missing my writing very much of late with two time-demanding paintings back to back. So, ideas for a later time to experiment with.

#Far Cry 5 #FC 5 #Far Cry 5 AU #FC 5 AU #deputy joshua rook #my art #ofravensandgenesis's art #art talk #chatter #writing about art #writing about fanart #queue

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amwritingmeta · 5 years

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14x15: It’s So Pretty and Pink

So in S13 I was mildly obsessed with this pattern, because I started seeing it everywhere, especially around Dean and Cas not just in S13, but throughout the series, where pink or hot pink or red and a shade of blue accompanies some of their more illuminating, turning point type of exchanges.

Of course, it’s not all the time, not in every single scene (though technically Cas is tied to blue quite literally since he wears the color around his neck and Dean is tied to red even through dialogue when he, in 13x16, stated that red is his color) but there was enough for it to peak my interest, especially when I was informed of the poncho moment and the ripple effect it sent through fandom when 10x05 first aired. *readying our ponchos for the purple*

Here’s the thing: pink for feminine and blue for masculine and purple for the moment when they finally come together in harmony is just as viable an interpretation and one I couldn’t help but make, aside from the lovely Destiel-related possibilities here, because the feminine/masculine thread has always been so strong throughout the series.

(to me Dean and Cas can’t be together before they’ve reached a point of internal balance) (so these two interpretations of the red/blue balancing act creating a gorgeous purple, to my mind, pretty much go hand in hand)

Look it, a band of pink and a band of blue with a band of purple in the middle is what?

The bisexual flag. *so pretty*

To me, when I first noticed the pattern, the color purple in the visual narrative began to signify balance between the pink and the blue. Or, as it also sometimes occurs, the red and the blue.

Purple in the visual narrative became, to me, a signifier for something meant to bring about balance or, at the very least, something that would challenge the status quo.

Purple is often linked to expositional characters, most starkly it has been linked to Amara, who arrives in a cloud of smoke with purple lightning, and who’s underlings often wear something purple.

Purple is also tied to Charlie and to Rowena, who have always been extreme mirrors of different sides to Dean, and used as fantastic exposition of his internal struggles, to varying extent and degree, of course.

There’s nothing in the show to actually confirm that this interpretation is right in any way, it’s simply a pattern I picked up on and ran with, and it’s interesting to me how often it occurs in moments related to truth or a character revealing their true nature or a monologue high-lighting a character’s inner truth (an inner truth that’s often hidden) (and these previous moments in the series have more often than not related themselves directly to Dean)

There’s a lot of pink in 14x15.

Like, a lot, right? A lot a lot.

And I just wanted to post a bit of wholesome appreciation for it, as well as touch on what I see as the possible significance of it, because in this episode I would say that all of it is tied to Cas, as if the narrative is trying to hit him over the head with what actually might save him from the Empty, rather than condemn him to an eternity of dreamless sleep, and his salvation is: happiness.

He’s keeping up the status quo because if he tries for more or dares to want more for himself, the possibility of happiness means that his Shadow aka the Empty will appear and snatch him away.

I wrote a while back about how I believe that if Cas becomes human this could (and, way I see it, should) constitute the happiest moment for his individual arc, even if he’s not even aware of it himself, and it would mean that his Shadow comes up empty handed *oh pun* because only angels belong in the Empty. (meaning that symbolically only Cas’ identity confusion can trap him in this proverbial eternal sleep mode)

Let’s dig -->

1. I Love You

Sunny, our narrative representative of kick-ass femininity, appears in pink, surrounded by the colour of warning, as green has a tendency to underline something amiss like a soft visual foreshadowing.

In this scene we also get a distraught couple saying goodbye, Sunny wanting Conrad to save himself and not live his life trapped within a world of her father’s making, while Conrad doesn’t want to leave without her, but she asks him to, and so he goes. Unfortunately, trying to leave causes his head to explode.

I mean, the interpretation closest at hand here, when looking at the bookend moment, where Conrad’s death brings Sunny to finally confront her father (who’s a chip off the old toxic masculinity block, to say the least), is that Sunny, bound by her sense of duty to her father, sets love free, but loses it anyway, because the only way for her to save Conrad isn’t to send him away and bereave herself of love, but to confront and stand up to her father’s control, freeing herself.

Interestingly, if Conrad hadn’t listened to Sunny and instead chosen to stay, rather than run away at her insistence, he wouldn’t have died. *tut*

2. Caution: Wet Floor

Cas is framed by pink and blue in this shot, while the floor is covered with yellow cautionary signs since the floor is wet where Conrad’s blood has been mopped up. Telling us what? That unless Cas gets his act together soon, he may very well be headed down a slippery slope and end up like Conrad, who took someone else’s instructions, no matter that they came from the person he loved, above following his own heart and got his brain splattered all over the ceiling because of it. *ho hum*

3. Treat Yourself

A very gorgeous, red coat, blue gloves, purple cupcakes, pink cupcakes. I mean, I’m not saying it’s exactly all that, but it is what it is, right? :)

The clear correlations between Cas and Felix the Snake also start very early, where Cas is continuously shown or offered food to eat and declines it. I’ll talk a bit more about this in another meta because I have thoughts, but Cas isn’t eating the food he’s offered in the episode, or drinking anything on offer, for that matter, because he’s not human, and Felix isn’t eating because he’s sad, which in and of itself is an interesting tie, given an episode so concerned with what will make our characters happy.

4. Have You Had Your Milkshake Today?

*reds and pinks and blues and cherries!*

Now, let’s take note. Sam gets a very white milkshake, while Cas gets the pink one, handed to him by our narrative representative of exactly what Cas needs to connect to within himself - his emotions - and then we get the rather mind-blowing, head-exploding line from Sunny when she states Everyone loves milkshakes.

And her eyes land on Cas -->

Who understands he’s meant to love milkshakes, but has this tiny, major problem of just not craving food. At all. And he looks at the pink, cherried milkshake like so -->

--> as though he barely knows what to do with it. *you suck the straw Cas*

And then, of course, he grabs it and smiles awkwardly and says Delicious, all the while not tasting it, because he doesn’t feel any inclination to, and what’s so remarkable about it is the scene which follows close on the heels of this one, strengthening the echo that resounded the moment Sunny claimed that everyone loves milkshakes.

Oh yes.

Everybody loves bacon.

Because what do we get with Jack and the non-eating Felix and the attempting to be helpful Dean?

We get -->

Kudos for the reaction-frown on Jack’s face that brings to mind a certain trench coated someone who does not eat anything.

Come on, Cas. You know you want to open yourself up and feel more, feel everything.

Stop. Suppressing. What. You. Want. For. Yourself.

Find some way to enjoy the damn milkshake! :P

(the cherry makes this milkshake feel wholly related to sex and popping the cherry and Dean’s classic Cherry Pie Dream Sequence and could be seen as an underlining for how Cas is suppressing anything even resembling desire at the moment) (but that’s if you wanna go there) (moving on)

4. Undercover Romance

*amazing house* Reminder: this is where Conrad stayed.

If we look at Conrad as representative of Cas’ suppression and Cas’ compliance with his Shadow’s threats, Cas avoiding happiness out of fear for the looming consequences, which is reflected in how Conrad runs away from the situation rather than sticking it out and staying by Sunny’s side, then this house should scream pink.

If Cas can’t a way to stop suppressing his inner kick-ass femininity and dare to be happy, he will die, even if it’s only figuratively. What’s life when it’s completely lacking happiness? He’s walking around like a damn zombie atm.

It’s like the narrative wants him to open his eyes already.

Aw Cas.

Ah, yes, here comes the hat-wearer in a tan coat with his lady-love in pink, and red, and tan. This as foreshadowing for how Fitzmartin and Yockey really went all in with highlighting the idea of Cas in the visual narrative fitting seamlessly into this era, with his suit and trench coat, but more on that in another post.

The steamy love letter is written on pink paper, which Cas reads while holding another letter that’s hot pink and yet another one that’s purple while his blue tie adds the blue. Kinda neat! Also, that steamy love letter deserves a round of applause, because anything that puts words like that in Cas’ mouth should be lauded.

The fact that Cas reads it perfunctorily is also extremely telling. He’s not responding to it, he’s not embarrassed by it, it’s words on a piece of paper that he doesn’t relate himself to whatsoever.

Aw. Cas.

6. Are You Hungry?

Pink earbuds and pink little flowers and a blue dress.

Is Cas hungry for johnnycakes? (btw johnnycakes have a history dating back to the first settlers) (its food entirely to do with learning to survive in a new land) (if you wanna take it to extreme detail land) (and who doesn’t?)

Well, Cas really isn’t hungry for anything, is he? Because? He doesn’t eat. Because? He’s not human.

Sam gets to spend a moment in his happy place because he’s human. It’s all a lie, of course, but the truth of it is that only when Sam stops running away from himself can he actually find the internal balance that will grant him real happiness, and peace of mind.

And this narrative message goes for all of them in this episode, including Dean and Jack. Saying you’re good or you’re fine means nothing if you’re lying to yourself as much as everyone else.

What intrigues me most about the threading of pink here, though, is how it ties itself to Sunny, because the ending is so definitive in how it states what’s been stated over and over on this show, especially since the beginning of S13:

Toxic masculinity has to be defeated and, way I see it, it can only be defeated by the characters opening up to and embracing their internal femininity so that it can step up to the plate and finally kick imbalance in the ass.

And as the external narrative is a reflection of the internal journeys, it follows that once the toxic masculinity/shadow-self has been integrated and the masculine/feminine has found internal balance, the external narrative will begin to take on that tone as well. (but, to my mind, not before)

We shall see. I loved this episode. It’s deeply rich in detail and coming off the back of 14x14 and the enormous turning point that episode gave us, I feel my head is mildly spinning with impressions. Kudos to these formidable writers and welcome to Meghan Fitzmartin. What an entrance!

#spn meta #spn 14x15 #my reading #cas #sunny and conrad #suppression/repression #toxic masculinity #facing your fears #pink+blue=purple #balance #happiness #carl jung #shadow work #spn symbology

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hottesome · 5 years

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One year later…

Hey all,

Happy June aka Pride Month (for all, but especially for the lgbtqiap+ community)! BE

FREE… BE YOU… whatever that means… because life is a journey and finding and living

your truth is a constant. My truth as a queer vegan wine lush/ foodie and blogger is

getting back into sharing the good word with you… that word being Eat, Drink, Watch…

in the past month(s) I’ve made an effort to see more movies, shows and try out lots of

spots in LA County, but don’t fret… I will be venturing to other places and states this year

for life events such as my best friend’s (one of dos) wedding in Washington (State) later

this year and to Nevada this weekend for the Bachelor party… but don’t worry it’s not

going to be a Julia Roberts situation… well maybe hair wise… thank you pre-summer heat

& humidity.

One way to stay refreshed to beat the heat is with some choice beverages and my

choice beverage in months to come is HARD KOMBUCHA (and that rosé all day even

more so now that there’s rosé EVERYTHING)…. according to wikipedia:

Kombucha is a fermented, slightly alcoholic, lightly effervescent, sweetened black or green tea drink commonly intended as a functional beverage for its “supposed health benefits.”

HARD Kombucha to be more on the nose is very alcoholic, ranging from 4% and up

(much like hard cider) and is a popular alternative for adult beverage partakers who

aren’t big on beer, wine, whiskey, and all that other fun treat yoself stuff.

While finally catching the last season of Broad City season cinco (5)

*insert tears for days*

We (mi and mi amor) had the pleasure of indulging in two quality H.K. brands

among other things… while binging the magic, merriment and mishaps of Abbi &

Ilana… those beautiful “Jew-ess” (Jewish Goddess – call back to the final season and Miss

Wexler finally getting some ethnically appropriate hoops) KWANES of the NY do their

thing we call life.

Abbi goes on a journey of creativity, realizing she’s kind of just jumping from one job

to the next, but not really living out her full dreams (as an artist) since she’s a floor sales

associate at Antropologie (that discount though O.O).

She finally takes life by the metaphorical balls and “Makes the Space” in an episode

of the same name only to get fired for overstepping in Broad City spirit (probably one of

my top three ep picks for this season and not just because of the Guillermo Diaz guest

spot/character arc as Jaime’s boyfriend from Jersey. Love me some Guillermo…who you

may know from Scandal (w/ Kerry Washington), Oil Can Harry’s in Studio City (one of

my bar/dance/karaoke hangs… he’s a regular), Weeds (con en español/with Mary Louise

Parker who I think is somehow related to Parker Posey or should play her sister in some

one off project and have mixed up recently… though I definitely know as well as love me

some P. Posey in The Sweetest Thing, Josie & the Pussycats, Adam & Steve, etc…. so

why I did that is beyond me… but hey I’m 33 and it’s just “spilt milk” and I’m non-dairy so

I’m over it… sorry not sorry mostly…), Half Baked (also starring Dave Chappelle) or I

Wanna Go music video via Britney Spears… it’s Britney… Betch!!!!)

youtube

As Ilana finds her own bliss cashing out her bitcoin capital to start a business and

live out her pansexual freedom… solo… so much freedom that she at some point drunkly

kissed Bevers #bearcub at some point off season.

So much good in this season including the Instagram Stories birthday episode to kick

it all off… sipping Kyla was definitely a highlight. Kyla is a popular craft brew hard

kombucha priced around ten bucks per six pack (without tax) hitting you smoothly at

4.5% abv and comes in 4 different flavors Ginger Tangerine (OG), Pink Grapefruit

(Emmanuel’s aka my boyfriend’s favorite), Hibiscus Lime and Cold Brew… yes hard craft

cold brew kombucha… it’s hella strong and yes I just used the word hella in 2019. Kyla is

best served cold or at room temp, though it does fair well when warm compare to Booch

Craft my favorite craft kombucha brand and not just because I was the VERY lucky

winner of their Sun & Swell mashup IG contest (Lemon Coconut snack bites take the gold

medal, Clean Cookie gets the silver, my fav color). This made grabbing this quality drank

easier than applying some sunscreen

before going out the door for work in

the morning (*hint* pile that ish on…).

While I do believe all Booch Craft is

created equally we did discover that

the Ginger*Lime*Rosemary is more

enjoyable at room temp. Now as a lush I enjoy most beverages both non and completely

alcoholic… that didn’t come out right…, but some people don’t have a pallet for that malty,

yeast-ish, hay ale and beer savor… this would be the closest flavor to these two worlds

and is what I’d recommend for the beer guy or gal or just being who is looking to branch

out and expand their pallet then graduate into some of the more creative mouth-feel

styles such as Apple*Lime*Jasmine and Grapefruit*Hibiscus*Heather. ALJ is a

showstopper like everyone embrassing the sexual fluidity of Abbi in Broad City’s

final season when she starts dating Dr. Lesley Marnell also known as CLEA DUVALL (in

real life) or the explored sexuality of “Striking Vipers”/ Black Mirror season 5 episode 1,

which come BM we can’t have one straight forward representation of queer men… it’s

2019…

Tangents and rants aside… Black Mirror is great and the new season is worth it, go in

with an open mind… by best male friend Mr. Ryan Russell noted we often go into new

seasons, reboots and remakes with so much judgement we can’t appreciate all the

“notes”… the same applies to the world of beverages… maybe kombucha might be

farfetch’d if and when you try it in any form… but take a pause… smell it… take in the

color, texture and all the aspects on the surface… give it a swish and let it roll over your

taste buds then in a few seconds give it another go… you’d be surprised at what you get

and how much you enjoy the second go around… apply this process to your view habits

(less literally) and see where it takes you…. could even work in life… *mind blown*

Catch the last season of Broad City on

Hulu now (meaning asap) and the new

season of Black Mirror via Netflix.

Check out my other blog about holidays,

events, life, life hacks, national days and

everything in between at:

Hottesome

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ THANKS FOR READING ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

CHEERS!!!

Helpful Links:

Follow BOOCH CRAFT on the gram, visit their website and drink up responsibly:

See: https://www.instagram.com/boochcraft/

See: https://boochcraft.com/

Grab some Kyla at TJ, Whole Foods and/or Total Wine:

See: https://www.kylakombucha.com/

Sun & Swell Foods/Snacks

See: https://sunandswellfoods.com/collections/snack-bites/products/snack-bites

Check out OCH

Oil Can Harry’s

References:

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha

See: https://www.hulu.com/

DON’T FORGET TO FOLLOW ME ON THE MEDIA FOR

FRIENDSHIP, RECOMMENDS & REVIEWS:

FACEBOOK – INSTAGRAM – TWITTER – YELP – YOUTUBE

BOOCH City: Kombucha & Kwanes One year later... Hey all, Happy June aka Pride Month (for all, but especially for the lgbtqiap+ community)!

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