#tl;dr i like making my digital art look as little like digital art as possible LOL | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

crabsnpersimmons · 2 months

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Hey Crabs! I have a small question! 🦀

How do you make the pictures of your traditional art look so good!?

They are always bright and easy to see! But when I take a photo of my drawings, they always have a blue or yellow tint to them. So how do you make it look the way you do?

(Also, I want to gobble up your art it is so yummy and pretty! Sun and Moon are so precious in your style!) ❤️

Thanks! And I hope you’re having a good day! :D

no prob! there's actually a couple things i do, so here's the tl;dr:

Lighting: i use daylight or light from a neutral white lightbulb

Editing: i use my phone's built-in gallery app to lightly edit the colours so they're clear and as colour-accurate as i can get (from my screens at least)

and i'll go into a little more detail with some examples under the cut

1. Lighting

a habit of mine that i got from my IG days (ugh...) is using daylight whenever possible. daylight just lights up the whole area more evenly and relatively neutrally. this is my set up:

glamourous

basically, i put the artwork near a source of natural light and prop up a reflector (in this case, a blank page from another sketchbook) that helps distribute the light more evenly across the page, so that even the side that is furthest from the light gets some light that bounces off from the reflector. i don't always have a reflector tho, like if i'm only taking a picture of a small drawing and not an entire page, there's no need.

now, if it's dark, then i rely on my desk lamp, which uses a neutral white lightbulb. regular lightbulbs come in different temperatures, from warm to neutral to cool—so that might explain why your photos are coming out with a yellow or blue tint. warm lights are common in houses because they're cozy, while blue lights are common in working areas because, like daylight, they keep us more awake. neutral white is in between the two.

here's an example of my Moon doodle that i did recently under different lights: warm (from my bedside lamp), neutral white (from my work desk), and daylight (i don't have any cooler lights in the house, so i couldn't quite get the blue tint 😅)

now technically, NONE of these are colour accurate. so i always follow up with some light photo editing

2. Editing

now, i have 2 personal rules when it comes to editing my photos:

1) try to make it as close to the original as possible; and 2) don't spend too long on it

these are just my personal rules because... one) i'm lazy and i don't want to spend too long fixing every thing in my drawings, and two) i feel it is dishonest for me to make dramatic changes to my traditional art and still call it traditional art. whenever i do make digital enhancements (like colouring it digitally) i will tag it so no one would mistake it as purely traditional art. that's just me tho! there are no rules when you're having fun with your art and mixed media art is a thing! so do whatever you find fun and enjoyable.

also, i will try to make it as colour-accurate as possible, but i also recognize that not everyone's screens are calibrated the same way. my phone is set to a "Natural" colour setting, but on my new laptop (which i haven't figured out how to calibrate yet) is vibrant as all heck (like oh my gosh, maybe i need to start tagging everything with bright colours now, because what if someone else's laptop is this insanely vibrant and saturated??) but either way, i try not to spend too long on it because i know i won't be able to accommodate every screen.

anyways, for what i actually DO... i kinda just play around with different settings. if i took the picture under daylight, then there's not too much i adjust, usually it's the warm colours that are desaturated, so i try to make the reds pop more without effecting the blues too much.

or for my doodles, sometimes the doodle on the other side of the page is slightly visible, i'll tweak the lights and shadows and contrast levels until the background is clear enough (as long as it doesn't disturb the doodle i'm taking a photo of)

now, if your photos are coming out too yellow or blue because of your lighting, you can adjust that by tweaking the Temperature setting. here's an example of that warm Moon doodle:

already looking a little better, right? so don't worry if your photos aren't coming out accurate, there are work arounds!

here's the before and after of the Moon doodle by the way:

despite having daylight, i still needed to adjust the colours. specifically i needed to brighten up the reds and yellows, and bring back the page's natural yellowness. i also tweaked the Definition setting to make less hazy (sometimes i like the haziness tho, so i'll leave it as is sometimes).

and one other reminder: it doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be. a big reason why i keep coming back to traditional art is the fact that i can't control everything. i can't undo lines. i can't move things around. and i can't take the perfect picture. but it doesn't need to be perfect. drawing and sharing my art is supposed to be fun! and i don't want to put any barriers around that, or else it becomes unnecessarily stressful.

all that is to say, try out these tips if you want to, but don't treat them as hard rules and don't focus on trying to achieve perfection. just go have fun!

#ask the crab #sorry this took so long!#i wanted to make sure it was clear #cuz like #i totally understand the struggle of trying to take good pictures of your traditional art #like you worked so hard on a drawing #but then the photo ruins it 😅#so i wanted to share what i know so it might help #there are definitely more in-depth tutorials out there #this is just what i've gathered from some of them plus some advice from a food photographer friend of mine (her stuff is actually legit tho

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livingwithocd · 1 year

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Is it possible to have OCD without certain mental or physical rituals? With my intrusive thoughts, i feel like i should be punished for them, but I''m unsure if that counts. (I'm also a little bit unsure what the internet means by "mental and physical rituals?" what would be some examples, to make sure if i have any or not?)

The DSM-5 criteria for an OCD diagnosis “needs obsessions, compulsions, or both”. Meaning even if you have no compulsions at all, you can meet the DSM-5 OCD criteria if you fit all of the obsession criteria. The ICD-10 says similar, stating “The essential feature [of OCD] is recurrent obsessional thoughts or compulsive acts”.

Compulsions can look like almost anything, and I feel a lot of the typical examples used are outdated in today’s day and age with technology being important in most people’s lives.

To start with some more common examples, though.

Physical compulsions might look like:

Hand washing until one’s hands feel clean (and will typically take an atypical amount of time), or a specific number of times

Checking to make sure a car door is locked, over and over even though you have already checked it

Ordering all of one’s art supplies by color even when one does not have the energy or the want to do so

Repeating a word until it sounds right

Skin picking

Hoarding due to fear of losing the items / the memories attached to them

Seeking reassurance from others

Mental compulsions might look like:

Praying intrusive thoughts away or praying to keep loved ones out of harms way (if for example obsessions include those themes)

Counting to a specific number repeatedly

Repeating a word or phrase mentally until it sounds right

Mentally reassuring oneself

As for examples I don’t see commonly listed:

Physical compulsions might look like checking one’s phone repeatedly for a notification even though they just looked

Getting into endless debates (for example, in the comments section) or arguments over social justice topics even when it only stresses you out further (this one often tied into my Responsibility OCD)

Hoarding digital photos or files

Hoarding items that are not environmentally friendly (such as plastic bags) due to guilt about throwing them away

Not posting on social media / deleting social media posts because they’re not good enough, never perfect, or fear of criticism

Constantly checking social media to stay up-to-date or be informed, even when it is not healthy or safe mentally

TL;DR: Yes! It’s definitely possible to have OCD without specific mental or physical rituals/compulsions. However, many common examples of compulsions are often outdated for what people may be experiencing.

#ask #ocspec symptoms #ocd symptoms #symptoms #compulsions #intrusive thoughts #obsessive compulsive disorder #ocd question #mad pride #eric the bmo #hope this helps!!

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coruscqte · 6 months

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“I am Waale’jah of the Ener’jaka, and I will never back down!”

new league oc because i was like ‘mannnn amani’s just an arcane oc, what if we make a fun little overpowered top laner’ and then waale’jah was born during my walk back from class the other day lol.

this is is obviously just concept art, looking at it less than 10 hours later i’m not incredibly pleased by it now but it’s the first digital work i’ve done in a minute, so i’m ok with it.

other fun stuff below the cut but otherwise like + reblog if you like it <3

- waale’jah is possibly an aspect host? but it’s more likely she was chosen by her people’s light goddess — najeleh, and given celestial powers that way. no one knows if najeleh (pronounced nah’jay’lay’) is an aspect of light, while her opponent sha’jaka is an aspect of darkness.

- najeleh has not chosen a champion in some time though, since being defeated after her reign over the ener’jaka many centuries ago. tl;dr the ener’jaka empire needs both light and darkness, not only one. but najeleh and sha’jaka have been in constant turmoil, and when najeleh won, the ener’jaka were blessed with immortality and wanted for nothing — but they could never die, never reproduce, and never leave their land. when sha’jaka defeated her in a moment of weakness, he plunged their lands into darkness, a plague spreading among their people that reduced their immortality down to quick healing, but often killed off their young and left many to die when they left ener’jaka lands.

- waale’jah however was selected by najeleh at birth, like many of her chosen in the centuries since she was defeated. she can still influence life on runeterra, and her chosen are marked by golden irises and strong minds and bodies. this doesnt mean they stay her chosen however, because at 20 years of age they are tested in ritual for their spirits, minds and bodies. not everyone comes out alive, and waale’jah is the first in over a 100 years to both be chosen and pass her trial.

- she is imbued with najeleh’s latent abilities, making her stronger, faster and close to immortal in terms of healing. she is to represent her goddess in the fight against sha’jaka, and is sent out into runeterra to find allies against him in their celestial war. more chosen by their aspects to put the ener’jaka back into balance.

- and thats why she joins the rift. currently she’s looking for leona (the closest to najeleh’s power as an aspect of daylight/sun), and afterwards diana (closest to sha’jaka’s power as an aspect of the moon). likely this follows as she tries to find aurelion sol, anyone who’s willing to follow her into the spirit plane to push sha’jaka back into his rightful role.

- other notable ments:

- meets sett in navori during her travels, goes toe to toe with him. loses, but they become friends.

- meets taliyah, k’sante and nasus at one point. while the ener’jaka have long been hidden, they were never far from shurima.

- considering their spiritual connection, goes to ionia for help in her celestial war, finds theyre at war with noxus currently. meets karma though, and karma shares her wisdom with her.

- met pantheon during her travels. curious about his aspect connection.

- is a top/tank support champ. can build mostly ap in the latter, but preferably ad in the former. her abilities allow her to dive and keep people on her rather easily, chipping away health through leaps or throw her auto attacks that are imbued with the strength of najeleh.

- (the ap version of malphite because the more mr she stacks the more damage she does)

#game: league of legends #oc: waale’jah of the ener’jaka #league of legends oc #oc #original character #my art

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not-xpr-art · 3 years

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Art Advice #2 - How to beat art block!

Hi again everyone!

This is the second instalment to my Art Advice tag offering hints and tips for artists of any skill level!

This time I’ll be going into ways I’ve found that help me to combat art block or creative ruts. Of course, these may not work for you, and a big part of art is learning about what things do and do not work for you, but I hope it at least offers some advice to anyone who struggles with art blocks!

How to beat art block.

Getting into an art block can be one of the most frustrating things as an artist. Especially if you’ve tried to dedicate a window of time to drawing something, only for your brain to ‘nope’ out and give you no motivation. I’ve found it can often make you feel worthless as an artist, particularly when you see fellow artists continuing to produce countless amazing artworks, and this kind of self depreciation only adds to your inability to produce anything.

And I’m not about to suggest some magical cure of art block, since I don’t believe there is one, but I hope that my advice can at least help lead you towards getting out of these vicious circles of art block & self deprecation!

Tip #1 - Explore other mediums

I feel like as artists we get incredibly ‘comfortable’ in the mediums we’re familiar with. For me, that’s digital and pencil drawing. I’ve been doing pencil drawing for as long as I can remember, and digital for a little over 7 years, so I’ve become very comfortable in using them.

However, I think that a good way to not only help combat art block, but also to expand your art horizons, is to step out of that comfort zone into a new field of art.

Of course, I’m not saying that I expect every artist to go from pencil drawing for 10 years to suddenly picking up a paint brush and doing some oil painting. But instead that every so often maybe just try and dabble in mediums you’ve not used as much, or haven’t used before at all. A lot of shops sell pretty inexpensive paints, pens or pastels nowadays, not to mention a quick Google search will give you tips on how to use the particular medium if you’re not sure how to start.

A thing I want to mention here, too, is that I think it’s important to not to expect yourself to be automatically ‘great’ at a particular medium. For example, last year I did my first embroidery piece. I had wanted to do embroidery for a long time, and did actually enjoy it a lot (even if it was incredibly time consuming lol). But I found myself dissatisfied with the finale result.

And in a way this is because I expected myself to be perfect at embroidery after just one attempt, which is ridiculous of course, since any kind of art takes years and years to ‘master’. And when I look back, I can’t help but think ‘why does it have to be good in the first place’? Why did I put this pressure on myself to be a sudden Master of Embroidery, when surely the main goal of any kind of art is to some extent the enjoyment of the process?

This is still a mindset I think a lot of artists will relate to, and is something I’m trying to combat myself.

Recently I painted some fake plastic eggs inspired by the Polish folk art tradition ‘Pisanki’. They took a long time, and my neck hurt a lot from being hunched over and painting little dots, but honestly I really loved the whole process of them! Painting on 3D objects isn’t something I do a lot, and I also rarely do purely pattern-based work like this, so it was a real deviation from my comfort zone.

In a way, exploring other mediums is like a creative respite. Giving yourself a break from what you’re familiar with not only helps you to be inspired by a wide range or arts, but when you return to the mediums you enjoy the most, I’ve actually found you appreciate them even more!

(Really, nothing makes me more appreciative for digital art than painting a wrong dot on the surface of an egg and not being able to rub it out...)

Tip #2 - Try different styles

Another tip, similar in many ways to the first one, is to try different styles of art every once and a while.

Like with materials, I think we as artists can get overly caught up in ‘our style’ of doing things. Whether this is a particular stylised or cartoonish way of drawing, or doing realistic art, or even sticking to a particular colour scheme. And I think especially in the world we live in, where artists have to make themselves as ‘consumer friendly’ as possible, which often means having a ‘recognisable brand’, it can feel like we have to do our art in a particular way, otherwise people will lose interest in it.

I think this is harmful for a lot of reasons. Partly, I feel it stifles artists creativity to force themselves to do one style and one style only. I also feel it assumes that non-artists are so single-track minded that if an artist were to post works of art that involve different styles, then they would immediately lose interest.

So my advice to any artist who has a particular style is to once in a while try out some different styles. It doesn’t have to be big pieces, and it also doesn’t have to be the polar opposite of what your style actually is. But instead if can be as simple as doing a ‘style challenge’ (something I’ve done in the past), or even just trying a different way of drawing or painting!

In a way, changing your medium and changing your style occasionally go hand in hand. I particularly find that how I draw people will change with the kinds of mediums I use, or even when I start using a new brush with digital art.

For example, I recently did this super quick sketch of Kiki Layne, because I really loved the reference image, and it came out a lot more stylised than my art usually is. And this is almost entirely down to the brush I used (which was an ‘ink’ style brush, in comparison to the ‘pencil’ or ‘pen’ brushes I usually use for sketching).

This isn’t a drastic change in style for me, but I do think even trying to do rougher or messier styles of art like this can allow you to see your art in a new light!

(A side note here, but I already pretty much change up my style with every piece because I have no interest in being ‘marketable’ lol... But I’m definitely not suggesting everyone should be like me, just every so often changing up your style I believe can be really beneficial!)

Tip #3 - Changing subject matters

This one is essentially the same as the other two, and I’m sorry if this comes across as repetitive, but I think another great way to help beat art block is by changing up the kinds of things you draw!

Being predominantly a portrait artist, I rarely go out of my way to draw things like trees or birds or cups or whatever. But I know that often when I feel myself entering a kind of creative rut or art block, it’s because I’ve been drawing too many people & my brain is sort of all people-d out lol...

(this is a tree I drew in oil paints midway through last year because I was feeling particular people-d out at that point)

So I think occasionally drawing other things, and going out of your art comfort zone, can help to improve your creativity. And hey, who knows, maybe you’ll end up incorporating something you drew randomly into a new artwork!

TL;DR (/conclusion)

So, remember that exploring other mediums, changing up your regular style and choosing other subject matters can all help in beating art block! Of course, you don’t have to do them all at the same time, but instead just dipping in and out of them as you produce your regular work can be highly beneficial!

I mainly wanted to make this post not to say that by doing all three of these things, you’ll magically be free of art block forever, because that’s just not true. (I’m someone who does a lot of these things pretty regularly, but still gets into art blocks every now and then). I instead wanted to inspire you to deviate from what you are usually drawn to as an artist.

The world is your creative oyster, so don’t be afraid to explore it!

I hope you enjoyed this post about ways to beat art block! I may make a part two if people are interested since there are a lot of other things that I think can help in improving creativity!

#art advice #art block #how to beat art block #creativity #art discussion #artists on tumblr #this is about 1300 words long btw #i honestly DID try not to ramble pffffft #anyway i hope someone found this at least slightly useful!

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rebeebit · 3 years

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So, your parents are getting old.

TL;DR

Stuff: start cleaning out stuff they don’t need now. You might read “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning” as a guide.

Where to live: research retirement and assisted living options in your parents’ area.

Medical considerations: HIPPA authorization, advanced directives, long term care insurance

Financial considerations: accounts, power of attorney and trusts

Dementia: what to remember when your parents forget.

So, your parents are getting old.

Most of us have parents. Many, if not most, of us will be supporting them somehow as they age. And I read somewhere that most people are not happy with how their parents have prepared for aging (I’d cite it, but I ran across that statistic a couple of months ago and ... you’ll have to take my word for it). I’ve been observing my parents as they age for a while, and in the past two years, my sister and I have become very active in the process of making sure they are safe and cared for. I decided to write a guide to help all of my friends who have parents so maybe you can avoid some of the mistakes my parents made. There are lots of resources out there, so this is by no means exhaustive, but I hope someone finds it useful!

STUFF

This is the easiest way to start, it doesn’t require uncomfortable conversations or lengthy phone calls, but could instead be an opportunity to reminisce and connect with your parents. If your parents have lived in their house for any length of time, they’ve probably amassed some STUFF. My folks lived in their house for 43 years, and they abhorred wastefulness. They also had loads of room for storage - you can imagine how much stuff they accumulated after 43 years! My mistake: I didn’t reclaim items I wanted over the years to the degree that I could have, and had to scramble to get the things I wanted when the time came to move my parents out of their house. So here are some ideas.

Your parents might feel strongly about passing on certain items - find out what these are if you don’t already know. Then you could suggest they give them to you for your birthday or another holiday. This way they get the satisfaction of knowing you have their special belongings while they’re still alive.

Did you leave your stuff at their house when you moved out, and you just never got around to getting it? That’s on YOU! Get it now, or get rid of it, if possible!

As you’re going through your stuff, you might “accidentally” run across items your parents don’t use anymore. Help them by donating these items or throwing them away.

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson is an excellent guide to this process, and a quick read. Read it, and if possible, suggest that your parents read it.

We were able to move our parents’ photo albums, but they had boxes and boxes of unsorted photos and even slides. Encourage them to go through these old memories now and put them in albums - or better yet, digitize them. They won’t have room for all those boxes when they downsize.

If you wind up having to get rid of everything at once, like we did, there will undoubtedly be heartbreak as valued heirlooms get sent to the thrift shop (or the dumpster) and even loss of some income because you won’t have time to drag it to consignment shops. The more you deal with now, the happier everyone will be with the outcome.

WHERE TO LIVE

Aging in place seems like the best option for many people, but it can be quite costly. There’s no deadline by which your parents should move out of their house, and perhaps they never will. This is where you might have a conversation about the future with your parents: what do they envision for themselves, what do they want? This is a great way to phrase it, as it sends the message that you want to know their desires for aging, so you can meet their wishes as best you can. Regardless of what they say, you can do a little homework into options in their geographic area. We didn’t make too many mistakes in this area, but my parents weren’t willing to move in advance of it being a necessity, and then when it WAS necessary in the summer of 2020 … well, who would move their parents into communal living during a pandemic?

Several friends told me how important it is to move earlier rather than later, as it makes it easier to add levels of care as your parents age. Keep this in mind! Find out what is available, and make sure options for living include assisted living, skilled nursing, AND memory care. The last two are not interchangeable: memory care is very specific for dementia patients. If you have time, take a tour of a few places to get an idea of what life might be like for your parents there.

The move to assisted living was very important for our mother. Our father was hospitalized 15 or more times in the past year, and two of those included multiweek stays in nursing rehab - in fact, he’s still there now, and it’s been over 11 weeks (as of 7.24.21). The time alone in the house was difficult for my mother, and she will benefit from routines, social interaction, and 3 meals a day that she doesn’t have to cook for herself ... among other benefits! Moving was so hard for them to contemplate because they didn’t want to leave their community - which is very understandable - but moving gets much more difficult as your parents age, and in my mom’s case, as her dementia has progressed.

MEDICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Helping your parents navigate the healthcare system is difficult. I won’t claim to be an expert in this at all, but will at least tell you what I’ve encountered.

RIGHT NOW: find out if your parents have long-term care insurance. If one or both of your parents has a lengthy stay in the hospital/nursing home, Medicare will eventually STOP covering them, even if they need skilled nursing or memory care. This will easily start costing $350/day, which is $100,000/year. Long-term care will kick in after 90 days in hospital/nursing/memory care, and will cover most, if not all, of the costs.

You will eventually need HIPAA authorization with your parents’ doctors. This allows the doctor to talk freely to you about your parents’ health. Without it, the doctor can listen to your concerns, but they cannot share information. My mother was reluctant to give this to us, but when she finally did, we were able to get her evaluated for dementia and take away her car keys.

If you live close enough to go to doctor appointments with your parents, find a way to do this. When my father returned from one of his earlier but more serious hospitalizations, I requested to join him at his follow-up appointment so I could hear what the doctor had to say and ask my own questions. My father is a reasonable guy and allowed this, and it was really helpful.

Advanced Directives are their medical wishes about resuscitation. It’s a morbid conversation, and you may not want to discuss the details with them, but you should make sure they have their wishes in place.

While you’re on morbid topics, make sure you know their wishes regarding funeral and memorial services and burial arrangements. Some people even want input into their own obituaries. We knew both my parents wanted to be cremated (and where they wanted us to scatter the ashes), but we were surprised to learn my dad did not want any services. Good thing we asked!

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS

For your peace of mind, you will want to know what the state of your parents’ finances is, and you will likely need to manage these finances at some point. Here is what I learned about this realm of the aging process:

Set up autopay for as many bills as you can for them, if they haven’t done so already. As my father’s health situation became more overwhelming, bills got overlooked and they started having to pay late fees. This is an easy step that you can do now and avoid the hassle later.

Suggest your parents simplify things. Do they have multiple credit cards, or multiple bank accounts? Suggest that they consolidate. Again, life gets more complicated with aging, and it becomes harder to manage. Trying to keep track of multiple accounts will be a headache for them, and they could make costly mistakes.

Make sure your parents have designated beneficiaries for all accounts. Apparently the probate process after a person dies is lengthy and annoying, and not something you’ll want to have to deal with on top of your grief when your parents pass away. On active accounts, like checking or savings accounts, try to get your name put on the account. This will help you with managing their finances when the time comes. Banks will literally not talk to you if you are not the account owner or don’t have POA.

Power of Attorney. This document WILL have to be signed, and you will want to discuss with your parents when, not if, they want to do this. The sooner the better. Sign it and scan it, and save it on your phone. This way you can email it to whoever needs it immediately so you can manage all of your parents’ affairs. I needed POA to cancel their phone service, sell their house, sell their car ... you name it.

Finally, if their finances are looking good, read on. Talk to your parents about putting their assets in a trust, especially if you have kids. If you’ve read this far, your parents probably want your kids (and you) to have something of their estate after they’re gone, but they can’t leave anything behind if they haven’t protected their assets. Medical care is expensive, and Medicaid will not kick in until you have only about $1,500 to your name, so protecting assets is important for some people. I don’t know much about this process, but if it is a concern for your parents, encourage them to reach out to their lawyer and financial advisor to take care of this.

DEMENTIA

My mother’s dementia has been the most challenging part for my sister and me over the past several years, but if you think this is in your future, it doesn’t have to be. As a society we’ve gotten better at talking about mental health, and that should also extend to dementia. As with any other health problem, early detection and intervention will lead to better outcomes. In my mother’s case, we attempted to intervene in 2017 but were unsuccessful. My mother was finally diagnosed in January 2021, but at this point she had progressed to mild dementia, and has been unable to process or accept the diagnosis. This has caused her to have worse anxiety because she’s upset about forgetting things, and fewer coping skills because she doesn’t recognize what is wrong with her. While early intervention may not prolong the life of your parent by much, it will lead to better quality of life - which is why you have read this far in the first place, you want your parents to be safe and cared for!

A primary care doctor will do a preliminary screening for dementia, so it is important for this screening to be on your parents’ radar as soon as possible. At this point, it is not automatically done at a certain age; you have to ask for it (which is idiotic, but that’s our health care system, so…). The screening will be important because it will hopefully give you peace of mind that any memory problems are age-related, and not a cause for concern. If not, it will allow the doctor to refer your parent to a specialist and get the appropriate interventions. While there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, there are some drugs that show promise, but also processing and accepting the diagnosis are important for implementing coping skills.

If your parents are diagnosed with dementia, there are loads of resources out there to help. It’s really hard for children to cope with this disease in their parents, as it’s the beginning of the role-reversal where YOU become the parent. Some tips that have resonated with me are that, in dementia, the brain still processes emotions normally, even if memories are starting to erode. So when you inevitably get impatient, frustrated, or even angry with your parent, keep this in mind: they won’t remember why you got angry, they will just remember how you made them feel. Depression and dementia go hand-in-hand because dementia patients get told so often “don’t you remember?” “I already told you that!” and so on. I am by no means perfect in how I handle my mother, but this tip has helped me find patience and calm.

If you’re like me, and you’ve seen both of your grandmothers and your mother decline due to dementia, you have more than a little concern about what the future holds for you. I recommend reading Remember by Lisa Genova (author of Still Alice). The book eased my anxiety about memory lapses I’ve noticed in myself, as lately I regard any lapse as a harbinger of dementia. She also has tips for improving your memory and for preventing Alzheimer’s - which my mother and likely my grandmother had. The number one tip? Sleep.

REACH OUT!!

I was fortunate to have many good friends lend their ears to me while I’ve been in the process with my parents, and several who have been through this and offered their advice and support as well. It was invaluable to have this support system, so I offer that to you. Please reach out if you have questions, want advice, or just want to vent about what you’re going through. If you like, add comments about your own experience below.

#aging parents #aging #dementia #assisted living #long term care

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softspots · 3 years

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Update (all is well!)

hello all, and my sincerest apologies for not making this post much sooner; considering the last time I posted here I was announcing that I and my family had contracted Covid-19, doubtless the long and unexplained silence from me caused some worries. better late than never, though, so here I am to tell you all that I and my family are all okay! Covid-19 was hard on us (particularly on me and one of my parents, as we experienced the most intense and longest-lasting symptoms), but thankfully none of us required a hospital visit and we came out of it alright.

now that I've explained that, you're probably wondering why I've taken so long to come back, or even just make an update post like I'm doing now. and, well... after we all got over Covid-19, several other things happened. to list it briefly:

a conflict between me and my parents occurred (this happens with some regularity, unfortunately)

due to the above, an agreement was reached that it would be best for me to move out (don't worry, I wasn't kicked out, this was a decision I fully agreed with and participated in willingly)

over the course of a few weeks I went through the process of apartment hunting, found a spot close to my campus, and packed up and moved

I began my spring semester, taking the largest number of classes I've ever taken at one time before (which I've been having a difficult time dealing with, for various reasons)

I started seeing a chiropractor semi-regularly to hopefully help fix the neck pain I've had since high school

and most recently, I've begun looking into possibly getting a diagnosis for something I've suspected myself of having for a few years now

throughout all of this, I've also been struggling with the same things that I've struggled with for some time, which I've mentioned once or twice here before: consistently low energy levels (both mental and physical energy) and various mental health issues.

real talk for a second: I haven't been able to make myself write anything (besides what I need to write for classes) in months. and I know the main selling point of this blog, and the content most people come here for, is my writing. so since I can't get myself to write anything, and since I don't even have the energy to consistently answer asks on top of that, I've felt like there's no point in even posting anything at all. that feeling has played just as big a part in my inactivity as my busy life has, and I honestly don't know how to fix it.

I could go into further detail, but I'm a rather private person (and I've now revealed more about my personal mental health than I even planned to on this blog) so I'll leave it at that. all of this to say: I've had a lot going on recently, which is why I've taken yet another unexplained and unannounced hiatus.

my midterms have passed now, and I've been in my apartment for over two months, so with my life the most settled it's been since before the holidays last year I finally sat down and wrote out this post to let you all know that I'm okay, still alive, just busy and stressed as always. I hope you're all okay as well, and didn't miss me too terribly while I was away; and if you did, I hope you'll accept some art as an apology gift? I got a new laptop for Christmas and now I'm able to use the drawing software I first learned how to draw digitally on! autodesk sketchbook pro has served me well, but opening up paint tool sai again after all these years felt like coming home :)

(strangely, despite not having any will or motivation to write, I haven't felt the same about art; I'm not drawing every day or anything, but pulling out my tablet and sketching stuff doesn’t feel like a difficult, joyless chore the way writing has recently. if you asked me why that is, I honestly couldn't tell you)

so, yeah! I've got a little bit of art to share, which will be available for my Patreon subscribers' viewing pleasure tomorrow and which will be made public and posted here on April 3rd. I hope you all enjoy them, and I hope we can start brushing the dust of this blog and make it all shiny and new to celebrate it's birthday!

yes, you read that right: today, March 30th, this blog turns two years old! I'm sorry I wasn't able to throw a big party or anything, but I've made a rather special drawing in honor of the occasion, which will also be available on my Patreon tomorrow and posted publicly on April 3rd! it's something that made me particularly happy to make, so I'm excited to let you all see it :)

TL;DR, I've been sort of going through it but I'm back, I'm well, and I missed this blog and you guys while I was gone!

#spot talks #txt

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weaselbeaselpants · 4 years

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That Krispy Cat: A Warning, part 3

The last of the images cause I don’t want this bitch on my computer anymore.

Knowing tumblr I kept the images hidden JUUUUST in case no one reads the fine print and can’t tell I’m being critical of this and gets me in trouble.

VVV ((Just in case you thought the JewishGriffon piece assured everyone that Crispy couldn’t POSSIBLY hate people of color, some of her earliest Nazi art had her character Klaus beating up Amigo Bear. She also made Amigo into a liberal strawman. )) VVV

((Dialogue to one of her TROLLARIOUS pictures that featured Amigo:

Amigo Bear: *muttering* "Your leader was a !@#$% little #@%^!@$^*!, you fascist feather duster..." General Klaus: "Fräulein, Ich vant you to cover your ears und shut your eyes as tight as you can." Crispy: "How come, General?" General Klaus: "Klaus ist about to say und do very bad sings zhat he does not vant his little Edelweiß to see or hear." Crispy: "Alrighty!" General Klaus: "WHO SAID ZHAT ABOUT DER FÜHRER? WER DIE FICK GESAGT? WHO'S ZUH SCHLEIMIG LITTLE COMMUNIST-SCHEISS SCHWANZLUTSCHER DOWN ZHERE, WHO JUST SIGNED HIS OWN DEATH VARRANT? NIEMAND?! GOTTVERDAMMT STALIN SAID IT! HERVORRAGEND! VHICH VUN OF YOU VANTS TO BE ZUH FIRST TO FIND OUT ZUH HARD VAY VHY MEIN FEINDE CALLED MIR DER BUTCHER BIRD?" ))

^^^ ((BUTOPHERARTISGOODSOYOUCAN’TCOMPLAIN

also the disc. for this pic before it was deleted had a ‘joke’ about cooking Jews in ovens. Oh and yes, that IS Hitler she’s giving that ugly ass cupcake too.))

^^^ (( - Thanks dA I never would have known I had a notifications unless eclipse blah -

This is one of her rants about how #Triggered she is that Starlight be compared to the Nazis when she runs a communist cult. Because A) that’s the real problem here and B) I too get upset when people say my OC is based on Jeffrey Dahmer when he’s so CLEARLY based on Ed Gein, Bwwwaaaah D> D> D> !)) ^^^

VVV ((Ugly art of her friend’s awful OCs.)) ^^^

VVV ((Crispy showing off why no one wants to be a patriot in our country.)) VVV

((FYI, Crisp, that attitude will make the Hamilton fans stronger so just keep that SJW-flinging coming you little SJW.

WHAT?! Social Justice is a broad term and as Crispy’s plainly demonstrated, you can circle it around and make a majority-class sound like the real underprivledged if you have enough fancy frou frou know-how and furries. Also, if a Social Justice Warrior constitutes someone who takes their cause soooo seriously that they’re annoying/petting/cruel/stupid about it....idk I think Crispy qualified.))

^^^ ((Crispy and her friend muse about what other races occupy the world of MLP in her headcanon. This, more than any other dA disc. and picture shows you her brand of “Segregationist-Nationalism is OKAY” thinking, cuz the art of these different races isn’t super offensive or cruel and neither are the characters. BUT if you scratch under the surface you’ll find that Crispy really likes these different people staying in their place and not in “someone else’s” country.

THEN, this same kind of thinking is used to convince you any mix of cultures is just cultural appropriation, again acting like she and her Nazi-stans are the only ones standing up to actual bigotry.)) VVV

^^^ ((Crispy makes the world a worse place by bringing up actual decent points; like how Americans dress Thanksgiving up as progressive and for the natives when we all know that’s not true...all to better her worldview.

fyi, GET OUT whenever you see a selfproclaimed Nazi fawn over Native Americans, because: Nazi Germany had a deep fascination with American Indians and used their struggles about their land being taken away from them to justify their eugenic genocide.)) ^^^

^^^ (( Crispy laughing it up on Furaffinity how she couldn’t be banned from her Furaffinity and then mysteriously never using her site there wowie.)) ^^^

^^^ (( Crispy complaining about SOPA cause her freedom of speech and blahblahblah.

Freedom of Speech is important. Unfortunately what people like Crispy don’t understand or care for is there’s no freedom of consequence. )) vvv

VVV ((LOL Joseph Mengele was such a stinkah let’s tell blithe jokes about him. At least WE AREN’T LIKE HIM!!!)) VVVV

VVV ((Early onset eugenic BS from her Spyro stuff that would be easy to miss if you didn’t know what this woman was talking about)) VVV

((Crispy admitting she thinks gays are pointless cuz they don’t reproduce but apparently loves them anyway. Also big shock Crispy’s seen Hetalia.)) VVV

VVV ((Crispy probably wanting Weeaboos to attack her cuz aren’t Japan’s animations so laaaaaaazy?!!?!? GUUdd think’ I’m a naziaboo! Germany’s never made any shitty animation evah. You know what, I lied. She doesn’t deserve Hetalia. She just doesn’t.)) VVVV

VVV ((Crispy dragging Brazil down with her as the apparent “Best South American Country”. Yikes.)) VVV

VVV ((More “it’s trolling ergo it’s not harmful” shit. Bulgarians probably do deserve their own Care Bears, but they certainly don’t want yours Crispy.)) VVV

VVV ((Disc. for her Richard Spencer bear art)) VVV

------

I know, I know...this isn’t what you wanted to read today, guys. I know it’s offensive and I’m sorry if it made you ill. I also know I’m putting my own blog under fire by showing these images here but I think that should say something about dA’s bad policies that this art gets a filter slapped on it and nothing more when the artist is blatantly pro-fascist.

Crispy resonates with me so much - and no it’s not cause I DARED to be “triggered”.

It’s because, for one, she was talented. I MEAN I HAVE EYES! That’s some nicely drawn digital stuff I’m not gonna deny. She had some cool rewrites and sequel ideas that, had it come from someone else I would have eaten up and faved to hell and back onceupona2012. But I didn’t, where a ton of MLP and furry fans did because they undervalued their own talents and would say “well it’s pretty who cares about the message?”

Unlike so many commercial+published artists, it’s REALLY hard to separate the art from the artist here because the artist is so connected and a part of her art and storytelling. If you fav her art, even if you didn’t like her, that was telling Crispy she’d won. It’s so defeating to have other artists say their gonna ignore their gut for the sake of prettypretty-Don-Bluth style art. And yes, that stigma DOES affect my view on 2D purists btw.

Crispy was so holier than thou’, and that attitude also was appealing to dA folks, not to mention her knowledge of art history by the time she dropped off the radar. Crispy was the kind of person who’d make long, detailed, justified rants against the design and color choices in Hazbin Hotel and then a bunch of antis would eat her redesigns up only to learn the awful truth later and embarrass themselves cuz they were so taken up by the craft they didn’t know they were reblogging a fucking Nazi.

Not to underplay Viv’s wrongdoings of course, but I’m sorry; the two aren’t comparable on the problematic artist meter. THAT’S HOW BAD CRISPY WAS.

If this somehow was just a faze and she’s come to her senses or doesn’t really think this shite she preaches...I don’t care. She said some vile shit and fuck no I’m not forgiving her. It’s like KenDraw or Shadman. You’ve changed your life around and realized you’ve done/drawn nasty shit that’s done real harm? Cool....I’m still not talking or ever promoting you, ya dingbat. You ain’t no Roman Polanski or Doug Tennaple. You’re a singular internet artist and any support of the project has to go to you - and you suck!

ThisCrispyKat was a wakeup call that showed me these people not only still exist but will be allowed to get away with it. I was very touchy bout this kind of thing back in the day. Fuck, I STILL AM TOUCHY. The rabbit holes I found thanks to Crispy opened up to reveal communities where people think my hair color’s going extinct. People would detail how much they wanted to rape me - a natural blonde - and kill my friends and family for not looking like me. That they want to jerk off in my naturally curly hair and see me in glowy German princess gowns preparing them dinner.

Crispy and other Nazistans would look at me; a blond-haired blue eyed Polish/German American woman and think I need to be “fixed” because I DARE to repeat propaganda that the Nazis were bad. They’d call me a traitor for thinking that celebrating the Nazi party ISN’T German pride.

HOW DARE YOU TELL ME THAT’S GERMAN PRIDE! I’LL SHOW YOU GERMAN PRIDE YOU EGOSTROKING-LIMPDICKED ATTENTION WHORES.

People like Crispy make it 1000x harder to actually show interest in German things. Because I AM interested in German shit btw.

Like for real: it’s a country I’d love to visit one day (at least the black forest, which is where my mom’s fam comes from). I love German art and German fairytales slap. I really do want to explore my heritage through art and stuff.

But guess what? Much as Crispy would argue to the contrary I DO know my WWII history and beyond and FUCK YOU if you honestly think jerking it to cuddly Nazi-furs is empowering or just “showing your interest in history”. Take your own advice and read a god-damn book.

TL;DR: I DO NOT have to be proud of Nazis to enjoy German culture and if you think otherwise, FUCK YOU. It’s a slap in the face to everyone even if you are ‘just trolling’ and it in no way values actual German’s feeling on the matter. It’s annoying how people undervalue real people just for the sake of fan art.

The Nazis were evil. They were racist, eugenic-genocidal idiots who killed over six million Jewish people, Romani, Slavs, Jehovahs Witnesses, disabled people, Poles, homosexuals and prisoners of war. They would have killed my dad’s side of the family if they were in Poland at the time. They made bullshit tanks that killed the people making them and didn’t work on the battlefield. Their leader was a fat, farting one-testicaled bastard who preferred animals to people.

They ruined everything for everyone and then took the easy way out, leaving the Germans that were left in the hands of the also-genocidal Soviets and Americans. Germany is still paying their war debts and now, 70-80 years later everyone else wants to laugh off this dark period of history with memes and forget what they did, and as such, are forgetting the victims of the genocide.

I have 0 tolerance for Nazi things for the sake of HUMANITY, let alone the individual groups they target. I don’t have to have German ancestry or know a single Jewish person to tell you any of this. It’s fucking history.

Eat shit.

#tw: nazi #tw: neonazi #tw: swastika #tw: antisemitism #cultural appropriation #kimba the white lion #thiscrispykat #altright #classic spyro #My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #balto #animals of farthing wood

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hartsgold · 4 years

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𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨. 𝐕𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐨. 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫.

𝚖𝚢 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚞𝚍𝚎 𝚟𝚘𝚗 𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚗. 𝚒 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚒𝚛𝚘𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚝𝚎, 𝚏𝚘𝚍𝚕𝚊𝚗, 𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚣𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚍𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚌𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚌 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚑 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚜𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚌 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚕. 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚝𝚎, 𝚛𝚑𝚎𝚊, 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚘𝚢𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚝, 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢.

i’ve been working as a researcher at the institute for four years now, and am familiar with most of our significant contracts and projects. most reach dead ends, predictably enough, as incidents of the supernatural, such as they are - and i always emphasize there are very few genuine cases - tend to resist easy conclusions. when an investigation has gone as far as it can, it is transferred to the archives.

now, the institute was founded in 1818, which means that the archive contains almost 200 years of case files at this point. combine that with the fact that most of the institute prefers the ivory tower of pure academia to the complicated work of dealing with statements or recent experiences and you have the recipe for an impeccably organized library and an absolute mess of an archive. this isn’t necessarily a problem - modern filing and indexing systems are a real wonder, and all it would need is a half-decent archivist to keep it in order. my predecessor was apparently not that archivist.

from where I am sitting, i can see thousands of files. many spread loosely around the place, others crushed into unmarked boxes. a few have dates on them or helpful labels such as 86-91 G/H. not only that, but most of these appear to be handwritten or produced on a typewriter with no accompanying digital or audio versions of any sort. in fact, i believe the first computer to ever enter this room is the laptop that i brought in today. more importantly, it seems as though little of the actual investigations have been stored in the archives, so the only thing in most of the files are the statements themselves.

it is going to take me a long, long time to organize this mess. i’ve managed to secure the services of several researchers to assist me. I plan to digitize the files as much as possible and record audio versions, though some will have to be on tape recorder, as my attempts to get them on my laptop have met with… significant audio distortions.

that’s probably enough time spent making my excuses for the state of this place, and i suppose we have to begin somewhere.

𝚊𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚢 𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚞𝚍𝚎 𝚟𝚘𝚗 𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚗, 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚒𝚛𝚘𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚝𝚎, 𝚏𝚘𝚍𝚕𝚊𝚗.

𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙨: photography / texture art / tma s01e01 blurb & transcription.

Hello! If you’re reading this, welcome to the hell that is The Seiros Archives. I’m hoping to make this as comprehensive a series translation as possible without integrating too many spoilers/telling the stories of characters that aren’t mine (save Sothis and Rhea, who seemed lore-mandatory additions). For example, I don’t have a character to fulfill [Gertrude/the past Archivist’s] position, simply because I can’t think of one and would prefer not to kill anyone off that might want to use this as an AU base. (Feel free to, btw! Just let me know/tag me in your verse thoughts, I’m so excited to read ‘em!)

Spoilers below. Additionally: please peruse the Wiki pages with caution. There’s a trigger list for TMA episodes/general content warnings located here.

Essentially:

The Seiros Archives is an institution that’s existed for two centuries, currently under the jurisdiction of one Rhea, who claims to have come into control of it within the last decade or so. Obviously, this is not true. Rhea’s been alive since the founding of this institute, as she had it built order to resurrect Sothis/The Beginning/The Beholding, [her mother].

Sothis is both a God and not. In TMA, Gods are also known as ‘The Entities’, or The Fears. They are described, on the wiki, as such:

The Entities are various aspects of an amorphous force of fear that exists next to reality. Their influence upon reality manifests as supernatural happenings - all supernatural phenomena in the world are simply extensions of them. These phenomena can take various forms such as people, animals, monsters, books, objects, or places.These entities do not simply feed off of our fear, rather they are our fears made manifest. “These things... these forces, they are our fear. Deep fears. Primordial. Always looking for ways to grow and spread.” Not all their actions inspire fear, they are simply a part of the process, a means to an end. (cont. This link includes a list of the Fears and should be read with caution, as there is some horror imagery, etc.)

In this verse, I’m going to conflate Sothis with The Eye, or The Ceaseless Watcher. She is an Entity of Fear manifested specifically as “being watched, exposed, followed, of having secrets known, but also the drive to know and understand, even if your discoveries might destroy you. Fear that you’re suffering for the sake of something watching.” I think her relationship with being able to control the flow of time and know results of the past and future translate well here. It’s terrifying to consider someone who Knows what might happen in the far future can directly alter it as well.

Let’s say that Sothis’ “death” in this verse was a failed “Ritual” of The Eye. Centuries ago, Rhea attempted to bring her mother’s Entity to full power above all the others.

Rituals are ceremonies held in order to empower The Entities. “Most entities have their own ‘ritual’, a symbolic act that, if completed, will allow the entity to merge with reality, changing the fabric of the world as it exert its will and nature upon reality. These rituals have the potential to bring other closely-tied entities along with it. It requires centuries for each Entity to build up the power needed for its ritual, and if it is stopped, it cannot try again until it rebuilds that power base. No ritual has ever succeeded” (x).

When Rhea’s Ritual for The Eye was thwarted, the Entity lost a great sum of its garnered power. I imagine she was an Avatar of the fear, and her connection with her mother was severed to an extent. As a result, she began to construct the Seiros Institute as a means of rebuilding power for the sake of The Eye.

Avatars are essentially vessels for spreading the influence of The Entities. “Some humans can become attached to an Entity and become empowered by it, gaining supernatural abilities related to their patron, but losing some or all of their humanity in the process. Most people fall to the powers through love or fear, though it can happen for other reasons such as debt. Avatars and agents of a power retain their agency but can become physically dependent on it, suffering withdrawal effects, including death, if they go too long without feeding the entity that empowers them” (x).

People influenced by, or who encounter Avatars are often Marked by them, and other Entities alongside their Avatars can sense this fact.

In building The Seiros Institute, Rhea hopes to give Sothis enough power through a ritual to “merge with reality”/live again/to be able to communicate with her once more.

The former hired Archivist stopped countless Rituals of The Entities, and was eventually killed as a result of attempting to quell Rhea’s efforts.

There are tunnels underneath the institute in canon, which I’m going to say is the equivalent of the Holy Tomb.

Characters, once employed by The Institute, are unable to quit/be fired. Literally. This is a canon mechanic, where they can’t even say the words.

TL;DR: This is set in a modern Fódlan. I imagine it as something of a large city interconnected with several other neighboring states, such as Almyra, Brigid, Dagda, etc.

Are there tense relations between these places? Of course! Is The Empire probably allied with a different Entity and is aggravated that Rhea is doing what she’s doing? Very likely! Are Those Who Slither In The Dark likely allied with one as well, or are experimenting on people in the attempt to complete a Ritual? Why Not!

The Entities create very viciously real manifestations of their respective fears, so people have supernatural encounters of all kinds. Vampires––weird lore, but yes. People being replaced by doppelgängers––Oh, Yeah. Circus people who steal voice boxes and dance around with mannequin limbs? Uh huh. Worms? Don’t forget the worms. As weird as you can think of it!

So this modern Fódlan is rife with the eccentric and the supernatural. At the moment, The Seiros Institute is simply an academic place set on recording and understanding those supernatural occurrences!

I’m setting Khalid as the current archivist because he seems the appropriate “linchpin” figure that Jon is in the main series, having been marked by several Entities. As the most knowledge and balance-hungry of the Three Lords, he fits the part. Obviously there’s something to be said of Byleth’s potential role as an Archivist, but the Archivist does a lot of talking, much like Khalid. He also interacts with everyone giving statements to the Archive, and I think Khalid’s canonical tendency to disarm others in exchange for secrets and stories is par for this course.

Nonetheless, if you do want to use this AU as a base for your Byleth or any other character, please don’t feel restricted by anything!

Whether your characters are employed by the Archive, is an Avatar for a Fear, or is simply terrified by whatever the fuck is going on here, please feel free to get in on this! Write it with me! Ask me any questions you might have and I’ll do my best to spoil myself on this wonderful podcast further so I can answer you to the best of my ability! [I’m about 75 episodes in right now, but am content to spoil myself, truly...] So please hit me up anytime. I’m really excited about this and would love to plot things out with you!

#❛ ・ﾟ the watcher’s crown and king — tma. ✧#feel free to reblog!#what have i done.

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chibinoyume · 4 years

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Feb 15th - International fanworks day

So today I found out via this post that today is international fanworks day. As such, I thought I’d reminisce about how fandom & fanworks have changed my life, little by little. While I’ve been a fan of many things, to me, a level of love/obsession (and most likely, a ship) must be present in order for me to engage more in a fandom, read fic, make fanart, try to write, etc. Still, I’ll only mention the 4 most significant here, with drawings to match.

The oldest - Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X)

My first fandom, Rurouni Kenshin, made me interested in trying to draw (by copying what I saw), especially as it was an anime/manga, I had (and still have) the comics and so the source material was right there. Here is my favorite character from that series, and possibly one of the oldest scans I have from any fanart. Fandom was hard to navigate because I was limited by the glitchy websites that were the norm back then and I was barely starting to learn really basic english at age 12 (my first language is spanish).

The one that kept me sane - InuYasha

As I fell more and more in love with a different show, InuYasha, I still felt most comfortable copying what I saw (above is one of my favorites from that time, copied from a page of the manga), and sometimes, with a ton of detail. It was a hard time in my life because personal things, family problems, depression, school problems... focusing on something I loved deeply at 13 -and weirdly for a fantasy story, identified with- was really helpful. I felt limited because the difference in results when I copied an image vs when I made it up was staggering, but I still tried.

I joined a forum, made friends online (some of which I’m still very close to today -some of them I’d definitely credit with helping me not... take drastic measures back then), ventured to write fic in spanish and, something I’ll always thank my obsessive brain for, I forced myself to learn english so I could keep up with the new releases (it was either english or japanese, easy choice which one was easier).

It was literally trying to figure out via context what the english subtitles meant, sometimes pausing every 5-10 seconds in a 20 minute episode because sometimes I didn’t understand a single word and had to look it up on the dictionary (google translate was kinda trash back then). My english wasn’t great but I tried. I couldn’t read fic in english yet, though.

This era lasted for a long while, I don’t know how many years. While I never stopped being more comfortable copying stuff, I did venture into doing my own little drawings and comics from my own head, based mostly on things I liked, stuff that happened in real life and my love for chibis has never stopped.

The “taking a leap of faith” fandom - The Mentalist

There were quite a few years where I went fandom-less (at least to a significant degree), I don’t know why. I found The Mentalist relatively early on, but since it clearly involves real people and actors, I couldn’t quite copy anything since realistic portraits have never been a huge interest or my strong suit. I started using pictures as references instead. I joined a forum once again, they had a lot of activities and I got to interact with people I admired, especially fic writers (by this point, I could read if in english, which was great because the ratio between spanish fics and english fics is... like 1:100. Also the source material in this case is in english, so...).

I didn’t know if my very anime-y style would be well received in the fandom, especially as I was probably one of the youngest people there and one of the only ones that came from the anime world. I tried regardless, I felt accepted, and eventually ventured into making my mostly pencil-only drawings snazzier with some digital editing.

I dipped my toe in writing fic, in spanish and (gasp) in english, even if I was slightly terrified even with a beta reader. I also became very active in my deviantart profile (an art sharing website) since I hada lot of material to show and the fandom was also active there and probably joined Tumblr around this time.

I stayed in that fandom for years, through universities, made a lot of fandom friends over the years (from my late teens to my early twenties), mostly from the forum and ffnet, and because of tl;dr reasons, I had the opportunity to travel eventually and I had the good fortune of meeting a bunch of them in person. A couple of them we’ve met irl more than once even if we’re from different countries, and we talk online very often ♥

Also I started experimenting with watercolor, just a little bit, encouraged also by university. I did a ton of fanart comics, mostly humor. All the constant interactions with my fellow fangirls helped me improve my english a great deal, especially when it came to slang, and ever since then, most of my online life is in english now.

There was this blog that did episode recaps of the show, I was somewhat popular in this fandom by then because I did a lot of fanart, and the person in charge of the blog commissioned me to make a drawing or comic per episode. I had deadlines and this was the first time I considered making drawings to supplement income, the opportunity meant a lot to me because I had free reign to let my fanart ideas run wild. I mostly used colored pencils. I think it was the most creative period of my life, I had so many ideas I never did, some because I didn’t feel good enough, lack of time/energy, etc. Still, some of them I’m still pretty fond of.

The current one - Blindspot

Again, it was a few years between fandom/a show I deeply connected with/a ship I fell in love with. But I stumbled into Blindspot (and Jeller) around July 2019, and you all know I love it here ♥ I wish I had found it earlier on, but eh, I’ll take what I can get!

I now run my own tiny business where I make stationery and apparel goods with my own original illustrations (and making commissions sometimes), mostly working in watercolor, and while it’s not yet at the point where I can fully support myself with just my income, it’s been a very long ride to get here. Of course it took a lot more than just fandom love, but I can’t say it wasn’t a big part of it.

Blindspot will end in 2020 but I still hope I can keep it and the friendships I’ve already made from it close to my heart, and that the fandom lives on. I certainly have lots of ideas pending, and as opposed to my previous fandom, I don’t want to leave any just as a scribbled down idea on a notebook.

#international fanworks day #fandom #get to know me #fangirl life #personal #fanart #about me #long post

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ibelieveinahappilyeverafter · 5 years

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Hi, I have some questions of advice, because I too want to be a commission writer. First, I have a PayPal account, I have not used it because I plan on using it for tumblr, how do I easily link it with my Tumblr account so I can get paid? And how do you get noticed as a commission writer on tumbr? For the longest time I have been writing for free but now I need to make the extra money, so how do I get noticed on tumblr as a commission account?

Hello! I wasn’t at all expecting a question like this, but will be all too happy to answer! I will be putting a Read More under this answer since it’s quite long, but essentially I will be going over the basics of PayPal, Growing Your Audience, Marketing Yourself, Pricing and Terms, and Commission Alternatives.

First, a little backstory for those who don’t already know why I find myself qualified to discuss this. I’m a freelance commission writer, which means I take monetary commissions for writing very much like an artist would take commissions for art. In my case, I specialize in fanfiction and certain fandoms, but I do offer original work if anyone wishes for it.

(tl;dr - I write people what they want to read for money.)

Keep in mind this ‘guide’ is only so comprehensive where I’m still learning about all of this myself, but for further reading there are dozens of commissions artists who have put their own wisdom online and many of the same practices can be used (and you might be able to use this guide even if you’re an artist). So, let’s start with PayPal!

PayPal

First, to answer your original question, you cannot ‘link’ your PayPal to your Tumblr account, but there are a few other things you can do.

What most people do is that they have a ‘button’ on their Tumblr pages that allow for PayPal donations. This is where you’ll be able to click the button, which acts much like a subscribe button would on other websites, and you’ll be taken to a PayPal page where you’ll be able to donate however much you please. A guide on how to add a PayPal donation button to your Tumblr page can be found here: https://www.jessicamullen.com/2011/02/17/how-to-put-a-donate-button-on-your-tumblr-blog-or-website/

If you still find yourself confused, doing a Google search on ‘how to put paypal donate button on website’ or ‘on tumblr’ yields many more results.

Another thing you can do, that I personally do myself, is linking your accounts. What this means can apply to many different things, but let me take you over a few of the quick basics.

With PayPal, please keep in mind that it is not a bank but a money lending service. What this means is that you should not keep large amounts of money in your PayPal account at any one time as it is dangerously easy to lose that money. A good way to solve this is to link your bank account to your PayPal account.

Linking your bank account allows you to transfer your funds in PayPal to your bank account, the timing usually being 1-3 business days, but being completely free. If you send $54.21 to your bank, then $54.21 will appear in your bank. Here is a WikiHow article on how to link your bank account to your PayPal, but please keep in mind that a Google Search will turn up even more results: https://www.wikihow.com/Link-Your-Bank-Account-to-Your-PayPal-Account

Another link you could do, in a sense, is to use the same email for your Tumblr and your PayPal. While this does not need to be done, I personally do it to allow for easier correspondence between everything I do. No matter what, though, make sure the email you give to any potential customers or clients is the same email you use for your PayPal, as this helps make things easier in the long run.

The reason for this is due to PayPal Invoices.When doing commission work, you should always, if possible, use a PayPalInvoice to accept payments on what you do. This allows not only for a papertrail, but it’s a safer way to handle money and not unexpectedly lose it ifyou’re working with a rotten client (of which there can be many in today’sworld).

As this is a more complicated process, here is a YouTube video on how to create and send PayPal Invoices: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNr1_4vPY5c : but what you’re essentially doing is laying a paper trail andgetting a receipt, which allows you to keep track of any and all funds you makethrough your commission work (which proves useful for taxes if you make enough or fall within a certain bracket).

At the basics you will create an invoice, write down the price of what you are getting paid, leave any thank you notes or Terms of Service notes (such as giving refund information and so on), and then send it to the mail your client gives you. Please keep in mind that once the invoice is paid and the money appears in your account, you will need to do further steps.

When the money appears after a paid invoice it will have a blue notice on it that says NEEDS ATTENTION, although sometimes it doesn’t and this is where you will need to be vigilant, and this means you will click it and it will take you to a page asking for shipping information. If you are doing digital goods such as writing in this case, you will need to click a dropdown menu that will talk about your shipping options. You will need to click Order Processed and then accept the change which will allow PayPal to know that there will be no physical shipping done. Take a look at the picture below for an example.

This is very important as, if you do not do this, PayPal will think you are scamming your client and refund the money to them, so always be sure to do this step. If you’re uncertain, there are many PayPal help guides through a Google Search, or just on Tumblr. I have a few articles tagged on my own blog that have proven helpful: https://ibelieveinahappilyeverafter.tumblr.com/tagged/paypal

While PayPal can be difficult to work with, it helps in leaving an official and legal trail that allow you to track your funds, which is an excellent thing in today’s world. Hopefully, this section helped you get through at least the basics.

Growing Your Audience

Commissions are a wonderful way to interact with the community you’re a part of and make money at the same time, but it won’t prove as helpful if you don’t know how to grow the audience that will be after your work.

First, and most obvious I believe, is finding your audience. What this means is that if you plan to write fanfiction for commissions, then be active in the fandoms you hope to gain clients from. Post your writing of stories, headcanons, ideas, and get people’s attention on your work. It’s also a great idea to interact with people on your posts, get personal, and make a name for yourself.

For me, personally, I’ve been actively writing in fandoms for well over a decade of my life, primarily with Danny Phantom, Gravity Falls, and, these days, My Hero Academia. I have been attempting to do writing commissions since sometime in 2015, but it was not until this year that I began to see clients because of my involvement within My Hero Academia, which is a large, popular, and ongoing fandom.

If you don’t currently have any ties to the larger or higher traffic fandoms, then there are times where you will have to remove your feelings from the equation and get into fandoms that you didn’t think you would like. A large part of this is that you are now doing a job and this is a business, and that means you need to notice trends and follow the crowds.

What I mean by that is that if you see social media fixating around a new fandom, hop into it, start writing, and gather people’s attention. A new fandom, especially, is great because this means fanart and fanfiction is limited, and people will be searching for good stories for the characters they love.

A big reason I use Tumblr is because of the follower count. If I start posting for new fandoms, then I can watch my follower count to see if I’m gaining or losing an audience and whether the gain vs loss is worth it. Personally I’ve moved on from Danny Phantom in many ways because there is no one willing to pay to consume work there these days, but that’s not so in other fandoms.

If you think this advice is harsh or not something you’ll be able to do, then try to focus on growing an audience in what you do like, but keep in mind it might not be as profitable as you’re expecting.

Growing your audience is a long, involved, and on-going process. It won’t happen overnight, but just starting and noticing the trends of what is happening is a great place to begin.

Marketing Yourself

As I mentioned in the last section, you are now running a business that is you, yourself, and I, essentially, and that means you now need to think as a business owner. In today’s world that starts with social media.

Social media isn’t just a way to keep up on memes, but it’s a way to let people know what you do, what you can do, and what you’re willing to do. Tumblr is a great place for writers as it’s a blogging platform that allows for the sharing and expansion of ideas (even with all the flaws it has today), but there are other social media sites that will allow you to market yourself and what it is you can do.

Tumblr allows you to post large portions of your writing and entire stories in a way that’s easy to read and easy to share. It also allows you to monitor your following count and have an archive of past work you’ve done, one that’s easily taggable so people can see examples of your work whenever they wish. It’s also an easy way to always have your commissions information (such as prices) available by making it a page on your blog. For now, I’ve found this is the best place to have the core of your business and commissions (especially if you’re involved in fandom).

Twitter allows for quick thoughts, quick links, and quick information. This is a good site to use for updates on your commissions, links that will bring in traffic to your tumblr, and growing a user base that’s more personable with you. This has as many drawbacks as it does advantages, but remember that while you don’t want to share your life story, customer service is a big part of commissions. Put on your retail smile and speak softly.

Instagram is typically a better site for artists, but writers can use it either to showsnippets of stories as captions under relevant pictures, to network withartists who will be able to help you in the future, and even just posting inprogress shots of some of your stories if you wish.

Facebook is not a website I have much experience in, but you can use it to start a page and have your clients comment and talk about the stories you’ve done for them. It’s a good place for testimonials and local based work, but not as good for digital goods such as writing and art.

The goal of all of this is to brand yourself. What do you write? What do you want to be known for writing? Are you a writer whose easy to work and get along with? Have your clients been happy with the work you produce for them? Are you worth whatever prices you set?

A brand isn’t just a catchy logo that people remember, it’s what you’re known for best, like Payless being known for affordable footwear. What sort of writing do you want to be known for is the question you will be trying to answer when doing your commissions work, although this doesn’t mean you have to work alone.

Earlier I mentioned networking with artists who can help you in the future, and this is because artists and writers can work together. If you’re having a hard time pushing your commissions, consider approaching an artist you know, one who is doing their own commissions, and suggest a 50-50 split to team up together, writing for a client and then drawing an accompanying picture.

While this may not be as profitable as commissioning on your own, it will allow you to grow your audience and client base as you will be showing your work to the artists’ audience, which means they can become yours, too. It’s a great way to spread your audience, work with other artists, and be a bigger part of whatever community you become a part of.

Overall, remember to always have sample work and examples posted where your clients can find them easily, be personable and friendly when dealing with those who buy from you, and keep in mind what exactly it is you’re trying to sell.

Pricing and Terms

There is no one good way to price your art. Every writer and artist is different and every writer and artist will continue to be different. While you and your skills are worth money, it is good to keep in mind that this is now a business and your prices, while reflective of your skill, must also be affordable to the audience you cater to. If you tend to write for an audience that is mostly teeangers and young adults, it might do to start with lower prices and work your way up to higher prices as you gain experience and clients.

This section is short as, truly, there really is no clear and cut pricing guide for your work, but below is a sample of my commission prices that I have settled on for the time being if you wish for an example.

*500-999 words = $5

*1,000-1,999 words = $10

*2,000-2,999 words = $18

*3,000-3,999 words = $24

*4,000-4,999 words = $28

*5,000-5,999 words = $30

*6,000,6,999 words = $36

*7,000-7,999 words = $42

*8,000-8,999 words = $48

*9,000-9,999 words = $54

*10,000-10,999 words = $60

*Complete Story: 30,000 - 40,000 words = flat rate of $250

*Editing: flat rate of $10

When it comes to your ‘terms,’ this means that you need to decide what you will not write. A lot of writers who take commissions for subjects they’re not comfortable writing means they don’t write their best and, many times, say they regretted taking the commission at all. You don’t need to explicitly state what you will not write when you post your commission information, but be sure to have a list in mind so you can decline clients when they contact you. For an example of a commission page, here’s mine: https://ibelieveinahappilyeverafter.tumblr.com/commissions

Commission Alternatives

Now that we’ve gone through all of that, there is still the chance you will fail the first time you open your commissions. I have had commissions open for many years but, as I said, I did not start gaining business until this year. So, in case that happens to you, here are a few alternatives you can use; ones that I personally use myself.

Patreon is “a crowdfunding membership platform based in the United States that provides business tools for creators to run a subscription content service, with ways for artists to build relationships and provide exclusive experiences to their subscribers, or “patrons.”” What this means is that it allows you to provide exclusive content to those who pay you on a monthly basis.

In the case of writing this means you could post exclusive content behind a paywall, typically $3 to $5 per month, and those who enjoy your writing will pay to see it. Keep in mind that it takes hard work and some luck to do well on Patreon and I, personally, still only have a few Patrons to my name.

A good way to boost and advertise your patreon, however, is to place it on each story or long post you personally make and post, as this will give people an idea of what you write and allow them to check out your Patreon for good information. My typical tagline is:

⍣ I have a Patreon! Support me!⍣

Ko-Fi “allows creators like you to receive money from fans of your content. Create your page and button and share it anywhere on the web. Anyone who clicks your link can support you with a ‘Ko-fi’ (a small payment that is roughly equal to the price of a coffee).” What this means is that when you make a Ko-Fi anyone who ‘buys you a coffee’ is giving you $3, and they can stack the coffees so if they buy you 5 coffees then that’s $15.

A good thing I like about Ko-Fi is that they are automatically linked with PayPal, so when you sign up all the money you make goes directly into your account there. A thing to keep in mind, however, is that you must check order processed on all Ko-Fi payments on your PayPal like you would with an invoice. Each Ko-Fi you get must be individually attended to, but it’s a good, safe way to get one-time donations. You can also tag it on all your writing posts like so:

☪ I have a tip jar! Buy me a coffee!☪

There are a few other alternatives to Writing Commissions, but those are the two I use, trust, and know best, but if you see some other avenue don’t be afraid to explore it!

Last Advice

Let me begin by saying all the information in this guide is by no means comprehensive, but can apply to art and original work just as well as it can writing commission fanfictions. The point is to market yourself, find an audience who will buy your work, and keep churning out work as much as you can.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this will not be easy. For every writer I’ve seen offering commissions, there are a hundred more artists with their own commissions drowning it out (which is why I recommend teaming up with artists when and where possible).

I have been writing in online spaces since roughly 2009-2010, but I didn’t have the idea to start writing commissions until 2015. It’s only been this year that I have been contacted to write and have successfully made money off of my work.

A large part of this is finding the right following, but don’t be afraid to interact and be a part of a community. Writing is an expression of art and an amazing experience, especially in fandom circles where communities are forming everyday, but writing for money turns it into a business, and that means you need to learn how to market yourself and prove that your skills are worth the amount you ask for.

I hope you’re successful in whatever you choose to do and I further hope that this guide proved helpful. Write well and happy days!

#writing commissions #writing #commissions #how to #guide #my writing #everafterasks #Anonymous #original

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creativerogues · 5 years

Text

Making Your Long Death Monk Even Scarier...

Note: This Post may just be a fluke, but if enough people are interested I may go into other Monastic Traditions for the D&D Monk...

Long Death Monks don't actually have any definite Fighting Style that I can find in real life. But we can definitely assume that Long Death monks, being obsessed with death, have fighting styles and martial arts based on intimidation, and most of all, defeating or even killing your opponent as quickly, or as slowly and painfully, as possible.

So based purely off of this, I can suggest a few fighting styles to take a look at in your own time, because I'm going to be discussing some of my favorites later on in this post:

Krav Maga: There is no spiritual journey, no harmony to be achieved in Krav Maga. This fighting form was designed with one thing in mind: disarming, disabling and destroying your enemies.

Kenjutsu: A Japanese fighting style of swordsmanship that is all about how to kill an opponent as fast as possible. For you to research in your own time if your Long Death Monk wields a sword or really any Monk Weapon...

Now assuming your Monk is fighting Unarmed, because 99% of D&D Monks usually do, I’m focusing on a few martial arts that I think sounds really cool, but most of all seem like they would make sense for a Long Death Monk specifically, so sorry to anyone out there that didn’t see a specific piece pop up in this post, but if you have your own ideas and tidbits of lore to share, do so!

'Tiger Style' from Shaolin Kung Fu

The Tiger is a ferocious meat eater with strong bones and muscles, the tiger is physically gifted for combat.

The tiger’s speed comes from relaxed muscles; the more relaxed they are, the more quickly and silently it can move.

Filled with pure power, its thunderous roar induces shock and fear in its enemies.

The Chinese regard it as the king of all beasts.

Since the tiger is representative of the external, training in tiger kung fu involves lots of push-ups, sit-ups, calisthenics and sparring.

The tiger claw is the primary weapon. Forming your hands into claws involves spreading your digits and bending them slightly.

“Strong stances that create stable, grounded positioning contribute to the effectiveness of tiger strikes.

Circular arm motions with the tiger claws executed while changing from one stance to another result in maximum torque and power for deflecting an incoming blow — or for taking someone to the ground. It’s effective at tearing up muscles in the arms, legs and body of your opponent, or it can be used to press, push and drive them away.”

When you attack, you may want to adopt the roar of the tiger. Your opponent will react with fear, and their hesitation might give you the opening you need to deliver a decisive strike to a sensitive spot.

“The roar is also used to develop your internal energy, when the tiger roars, it breathes out a huge amount of carbon dioxide, then replaces it with fresh energy, giving it more stamina and spirit.”

'Crane Style' from Shaolin Kung Fu

The crane epitomizes yin and yang, life and death, as it passively stands on one leg for hours yet maintains its ability to kill in a heartbeat.

When it springs into action, it’s the embodiment of subtlety and grace. The movements of its wings allow it to move with seeming effortlessness.

It can adapt to harsh weather and fly through the severest of storms.

In a battle on the ground, it uses its wings to deflect attacks and propel its body along a circular path. That, augmented by the animal’s long legs, enables it to use evasion techniques to create distance between itself and its adversary.

When an enemy is within range, the crane will slap with its wings and stomp with its feet, thereby creating openings for impeccably timed beak strikes. Its long, flexible neck enhances its attacks.

Crane training boosts your concentration and balance:

“The crane style teaches you to lift one leg and use it for blocking or deflection. Then you can execute a fast snap kick out and back with the same leg.”

You form the crane beak by extending your thumb, index finger and middle finger and hitting with their tips.

It’s perfect for short to medium-range strikes to pressure points and other vital areas, which let's you explain your Touch of Death and your Stunning Strike features pretty well...

A variation of the fighting method uses dual crane beaks. After striking with one, it becomes a hook that pulls your opponent close. Then you attack with your other hand.

"One beak lies while the other tells the truth. Your enemy never knows which hand you’ll use for offense and which for defense."

The crane style also teaches an esoteric vibrating technique. It’s effected by first attacking with a crane beak, then turning the beak like a corkscrew with a sudden release of inward energy before backing it out with a reversed twist, releasing the energy again as you withdraw.

A lot of Chinese stylists joke about the technique, but done right, it can be extremely effective.

This esoteric vibrating technique could also be flavored for your Touch of Death feature, making it feel unique and dramatic, while also allowing you to roleplay your own style of fighting...

Hung Gar (or Hung Gar Kuen, AKA 'Southern Kung Fu')

Now after reading all that, you probably already have enough information, but to summarize, the Long Death Monk probably uses a system of fighting known as Hung Gar.

(Which if you like to butcher cool sounding fighting styles, could be roleplayed like saying 'Hunger' because Long Death Monks...)

The Hung Gar system is a mix of the Tiger and Crane animal styles. Hung Gar uses deep, low stances and strong hand techniques.

Hung Gar is one of the more external styles, but also practices some internal movement. Emphasis is put on having firm, solid stances. The more connected to the Earth one is, the more power they will have.

Also, cool fact, the Chinese character "Hung" is a family name which means "to stand firm and tall with integrity."

Adding Even More Flavor to your Long Death Monk...

Now for roleplay, my group has a 'Thing' that some of our Monk Players do that we call 'Mugon de tatakau', which means 'To fight speechless' or 'To fight silently'.

This is where our Long Death Monks, and sometimes even Way of the Shadow Monks in our group, fight completely silently, not speaking, while also removing any headgear or face coverings before the battle so their opponent can look them straight in the eye...

It's mostly a roleplay thing that's played up for intimidation, because you know that Monk is about to get real when they go all silent and remove their mask...

Maybe even add some ghostly imagery into their fighting. Such as their body having a strange translucent and ethereal glow to it when they use large amounts of Ki, or perhaps have specific hand gestures or movements that relate to ghosts: Crying Shadow and Weeping Spirit are just two examples I came up with on the spot...

Long Death Monks in the Forgotten Realms...

Monks of the long death belonged to the Order of the Long Death monastic order.

The monks of the Long Death intensely study the effect of the process of death on living tissue.

The ultimate objective of a Long Death Monk is to discover the 'perfect death' - an objective that no member of the group really seems to understand, let alone be able to achieve.

In one of their monasteries, they would spend the majority of their time sparring with one another and the rest in quiet contemplation.

Outside of the monasteries, they wander relatively aimlessly, often disguised as beggars, attacking humanoids that they came across in an effort to inflict as painful a death as they could using only their bare hands.

Symbol: A skull with a black diamond on the forehead.

Membership and What it means to be a Long Death Monk: Becoming a member of the order requires first finding a monastery. But very few applicants are actually accepted - perhaps a dozen a year - and each one has to pass several tests of strength, agility and endurance before being inducted into the order fully.

Becoming the ‘Master of the House’ for a Monastery: Each monastery is independent of the others and led by a single individual. This individual often had to prove themselves the best warrior of the monks in the monastery through trials by combat every year on the Feast of the Moon.

A Long Death Monk in the Forgotten Realms: The Monks of the Long Death were easily recognized by their pale skin and gaunt features. They ate little, and they spent most of their time inside their monasteries, in crypts and graveyards, and other dark places where there was little natural light.

They affected the trappings of death in their garb, wearing long, dark robes and shroud-like hooded cloaks to hide their features.

TL;DR: Long Death Monks probably use Hung Gar and parts of Shaolin Kung Fu as their Fighting Style, and in appearance most likely gaunt and pale, but have long and thick leg muscles, large hands, and have long arms.

They don't talk (apart from the occasional fear-inducing roar during combat) and they don't wear any kind of face protection when they fight as a way to intimidate their opponent.

#Monk #way of the long death #d&d #dnd #dnd 5e

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dedalvs · 6 years

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Does it bother you that your work (or at least the work you’re best known for) is to supplement other people’s creations and not your own?

I guess this question would be more appropriate for an actor, since nothing they ever do is their own. Of course everyone working in Hollywood knows this and doesn’t care. There are hundreds of people that work on every single television show and movie. There may be only a handful of people that get the praise or blame for any given project, but nothing that anyone sees is free of influence from someone other than the creator. The very notion is kind of up in the air. Look at Defiance, for example. The original “creator”—the one who came up with the names “Stahma” and “Datak”, for example—never wrote an episode of the show (this is Rockne O’Bannon). He gets credit for co-writing the pilot episode, but what happened was he wrote the pilot then left the show—and then a new showrunner (Kevin Murphy) came on and rewrote the pilot. And the whole thing was an adaptation, anyway, of a property developed by a video game company, Trion. I guess no one who worked on the show really created anything, if I’m following the logic of the ask correctly, since it was all done to supplement Trion’s game. I don’t think anyone working on the show cared much about that fact.

This is one of the main differences between Hollywood and, say, fiction writing. Everyone working in Hollywood looks at each endeavor as a team project, whereas writers write a book that others help them with (i.e. this publisher is publishing my book; this artist is doing the cover art for my book; this publicist is working to advertise my book, etc.). You can see the difference in attitude when it comes to language creation. A producer/director hears about language creation and says, “Ooh, cool! We’ll have to hire someone to do that!” A fiction writer hears about language creation and says, “Ooh, cool! I should do that! I’m probably great at it!” (Or alternately, “Oh, brother… I guess now I have to do that too so my readers don’t complain…”)

Anyway, there are lots of different aspects to this question, so let me try to address all of them.

First, in case it’s ever seemed like I’ve indicated otherwise, I really love what I do. I may not like deadlines, and translation is not my favorite aspect of language creation (and translation constitutes 90% of my job), but there’s really very little difference between what I’m doing now and what I was doing ten years ago, vis-à-vis conlanging. Really, the major differences are that there are deadlines, I get paid, and some people outside the conlanging community care about what I do. It’s still language creation. It’s always fun to come up with a new project, and I’m certainly doing that more now than I would have been otherwise. So the simplest answer is no.

I guess, though, you might think I was just putting on a positive face publicly…? I mean, no. In creating a language, there always has to be some pretext—some reason for the language to exist. If you’re creating a language you want to use in your own life, the pretext is very simple: I want to use this language in my life, therefore I’m creating it. The pretext is less simple when creating a naturalistic language. After all, if I’m creating a language for my daily personal use, why would I bother with a fictional history and sound changes, etc.? I’d just create something simple whose sound I like and whose grammar corresponds to what I find easiest to use. For those of us who find naturalistic conlanging interesting, though, the pretext is a necessity. I never liked conworlding or conhistories (or fantasy, to be honest), so in the early days when I would conlang, I’d basically pretend like I had a conworld/conculture, when in fact I didn’t. Really, though, what that amounted to was that I had a lazy conculture: One I didn’t think too much about and didn’t write down. It’s funny. The same attitude a lot of writers have about conlanging (that it’s a timesink that takes away from their story) is the attitude I had about conculturing. Once I realized what a huge role that plays in the lexicon, though, I came to think of it as a necessary evil. And if I had a language project I was really excited about, I would frankly find it very daunting to have to come up with an entire world and people and systems of government and clothing, etc. Seemed like a drag, to be honest.

Creating languages for other stuff is great because I can cut out all that nonsense and let someone else do it. The resultant culture may not be very good (”Oh, sure, that social model is totally sustainable! I’m 100% sure that patriarchal fantasy is super realistic!”), but (and this is the important part) I didn’t have to do it—and I don’t have to take credit for it. Instead, I can just play around with the language. It’s just delightful!

Like right now, for example, I’m running this D&D campaign, and it is so exhausting to have to come up with every single little detail! It’s fun to act out the characters, and there are other parts I like (like coming up with flags and names), but figuring out exactly how many towns and of what size there should be in a given area is just too much! My hat is off to all DMs out there. It’s a lot of work!

Anyway, as for what I’m known for (the parenthetical part of the ask, which may be the main part of it), I might have had a different answer ten years ago, but now, I honestly do not care. I figure if someone cares about anything else I’ve done ever they’ll find it. Those that don’t, why would I care what they think? About anything? I don’t know them. I’ll probably never meet them. And honestly, have you seen some of the stuff that people talk about wrt conlanging? “What’s a better ConLang: Gallifreyan or Tengwar?” The ones who only know me for what I’m best known for are probably not very discerning. But if they don’t care, why should I?

It took suffering through the George W. Bush economy for me to really figure out what I want in life, but I did, and it’s fairly simple. I want to spend as much of my life as possible financially stable and with my friends and family—while pursuing my interests. Previously I thought I also wanted my friends and family to also care about my interests, but I’ve come to learn that that actually isn’t important to me either. No one else needs to care about what I do so long as I think it’s worth my time and effort. Honestly, with the internet and digital file storage, if there’s someone out there who desperately wants to know every little thing I’ve ever done in my life, that will likely be possible. It’s not like last century: That stuff will probably be available indefinitely (barring societal collapse).

Even if you filter all this out and just focus on language creation, I care much more about the status of conlanging in general than I do what I’m known for or not. It bothers me that it’s been almost ten years and neither Hollywood nor the general public really gets conlanging. It’s gotten better, but since conlanging has gotten a lot of widespread attention, it’s also amplified the ignorance. I feel like I get the same questions over and over again and give the same answers over and over again but there’s still the basic assumption that the quality of a conlang is equivalent to the fame of the conlang. I guess language itself is always going to be something that’s fairly opaque, but it just bugs me that very few people have any idea what they should be looking for in a conlang. It’s like watching someone pick up one of Picasso’s really abstract pieces and also a drawing by a four year old and trying to judge which one is more realistic by comparing the colors in each one to the colors of the shirts worn by their family members in the pictures in their iPhone photo album. Like you can try to say, “Hey, maybe realism isn’t the best thing to look for in either of these,” but there’s just so much nonsense in here that why would you even bother?

The only thing that gives me hope (and not just about this, but in general) is that the younger generation seems really amazing. I’ve said that before about the generation before the youngest generation (I think there’ve been two since me…? I honestly don’t even know how you count these things), but honestly, it gives me hope every day seeing the amazing things that even teenagers are doing. It’s an awesome thing to witness. If you’re a part of the 25 and younger crowd, you should feel really good about what you’ve done and the lives you’ve led thus far. (And that’s an in general type thing. If you’re 26, you didn’t miss the cutoff, or anything.) From someone who went to school in the 80s and 90s, do you know how cool it is just to see teenagers be cool about friends and classmates that are LGBT+? Because that so didn’t happen when I was in school. That’s what you did by just living your lives the way you’re living them. That’s awesome. Really makes me believe that we can actually fix the things we (my generation) were told had already been fixed in the 90s.

Not sure how I got there, but I hope that answers your question. Again, the tl;dr answer is no—no matter which way you meant it.

#conlang #language #Defiance #Anonymous

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51wheezes · 6 years

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1k+ milestone!!

I recently hit over 1,000 followers on this account and I’m… honestly blown away. Like, that’s fucking insane. I seriously can’t thank y’all enough, but I’M GONNA DO MY BEST. (long post below the cut but tl;dr i’m a big sappy grateful baby and i love all of you xoxo)

I made this account around mid-August of this year, because I’d rapidly fallen down the Buzzfeed Unsolved hole, and wanted to become a part of the fandom. Joining fandoms/online communities in general is… pretty hard for me, for a lot of reasons. I’ve had to really wiggle in and out of fandoms to find what I was most comfortable with, and where I fit in the most. When I joined this fandom, I felt like I was nobody. I wasn’t really sure where to start or who to talk to, let alone how to talk to them. I didn’t know how to gain a following if ever it was possible, I didn’t know how to make friends, I was just sort of… there. But within the first month or so, I became more comfortable with my spot in the fandom and really melded myself into the community by actually communicating with others and creating content.

I’ve found that I ACTUALLY FIT IN HERE!!! WOW THAT’S SOMETHING BECAUSE I LITERALLY NEVER FIT IN ANYWHERE. But everyone here is so kind and warm and so fucking funny, like, it’s impossible for me to scroll through my dash without cracking a smile or bursting out laughing. This fandom is just so great and it’s all around such a chill community of people and?? i’m love??? wow

But, of course, it’s not just about me; I wanted to give a few kind words to some people who have made me feel welcome, became my friends within the past few months, and/or inspire me in so many ways (and in no order of course)!!

@ghostwheeze (ah, mari. the wheeziest ghost of them all. my first follower, an incredibly supportive, talented, and amazing friend, never fails to make me smile/laugh, is there for me when I’m down. You know I love your writing, I’ll never stop shouting it from the rooftops. I can spend literal hours talking to you and I’d love every minute of it. I love u to absolute death boo, and one day I swear I’ll get my ass to Cali so we can hang out and search for the The Bois at Disneyland. deal??? deal. ily)

@spookyboybergara (KAIT UR SO FUCKING FUNNY AND ILYSM!! THANK U FOR BEING SUPPORTIVE AND MAKING ME SMILE AND LAUGH. Honestly I was surprised when you first messaged me because I was like ‘an amazing person with an amazing blog? Talking to ME? Never thought that was likely but I guess it is oof’. Bottom line you’re great thank u for being so great)

@shanebergaras (such a kind, warm, adorable, and funny person!! your blog will never fail to give me this warm feeling, both you and your blog are so nice. Also, you’re incredibly talented. like wow. also I’m soso happy for you!! I have no doubt in my mind that you’re going places, kid. Keep being amazing my dear)

@acacia-writes (u are LITERALLY such a sweet and bubbly person?? your positivity is so heartwarming and I love love LOVE talking to you, you’re such a fucking doll. you have this charm about you and I thought you were just the sweetest as soon as you first messaged me. thank you for deeming me worthy of your friendship??? smooch ily)

@northeasting (EAST? I LOVE YA???? like fuck I love your writing so so SO GODDAMN MUCH AND YOU ARE JUST SUCH A GOOD PERSON WTF. When you say you like my writing my heart stops because like? wow that’s crazy and means a lot? I think you’re fantastic and you know I’ll always love your work and just YOU AS A PERSON!! thank you for your kind words, I’ll always have plenty for you as well)

@boys-and-ghouls (KEANNA!!!! You are an absolute DELIGHT, DO YOU KNOW THAT?? you exude intelligence and wisdom and you’re so goddamn hilarious and just soso kind and your psa’s? so fucking well-worded. honestly i really respect how well you state your opinions and i wish i could word things as well as you do. you’re just such a strong person and i look up to you a lot? yes? you’re such a good friend ily)

@alcxandermadej (your traditional art has me FUCKING SOARING. I’ve got an entire artist’s kit full of traditional art materials that I still haven’t used because I’m a digital artist and traditional artistry intimidates the living fuck out of me, but your art makes me wanna give it a try??? Maybe one day!! For now I’ll keep ogling your art and telling everyone how amazing it is and how much I idolize your talent)

@cctinsley (another one of those first blogs I came across and was immediately like wow!!! this person is so cool wtf. your blog is fantastic and your art?? IS SO CUTE AND FLUFFY I LOVE IT KEEP THAT SHIT UP I LIVE FOR IT. GOOD SHIT)

@crimsxnflxwerz (beautiful art that literally brings me to tears and inspires me improve my own art. beautiful writing. fellow lover of Greek mythology, and writes it so goddamn well, too. beautiful person all around. share some of that beauty, will ya? Just kidding keep it because I love all of the BEAUTIFUL WORK YOU PUT OUT UGH)

@halfwheeze (mer. oh my god okay. your writing makes my soul ascend to heaven. you do it so well and so fast and that’s so fucking inspirational?? I wish I could write such beautiful things on a whim like that rip. You’re also a sweetheart and one of the first few blogs I followed on here. I love all of the content you put out and all of your kind words, you’re just an absolute treat okay)

@wimpydemons (you only recently joined this fandom and you’ve already been so warm to me and others like……you’re so lovely. I love getting messages from you and talking to you!! You always have the nicest things to say and it makes my heart so full. I can’t describe how amazing you are like ily alright)

@ccaffe (your art??? never fails to make me jealous but like, in a proud way. I love your art. Never stop drawing. Also you’re adorable. And I love your blog and your general aesthetics. You’re just so generally wholesome Claude like thank you for blessing me)

@buzzfeedunsoived (ALEX!!!! I love you and your blog!! one of the first unsolved blogs that I came across, and I seriously thought I followed you way sooner than I had but I guess not??? shame on me. I think you are an absolutely fantastic person who so clearly shows how much they care about their friends and that’s just so admirable. your blog makes me giggle and just. ugh. thank you for being such a sweetheart)

@trippy-sunshine96 (such a beautiful person and kind soul who deserves beautiful and good things and warm hugs!! I would so give you warm hugs if I could okay. I love having deep conversations with you and being able to relate with you and honestly? I’m always hoping you’re doing okay because you deserve it!! I care about you so much)

@weirdo-ing (okay one, your writing is SO GOOD. Two, your blog is amazing?? Your fucking tags have me HOWLING. You’re so funny, I scroll through your blog when I need a pick-me-up!! Thank you so much for being so kind and hilarious!!!)

@buzzwheeze (hey wow yeah I’m gonna fucking fight you because your writing makes me cry and you do it so eloquently. c’mon post up greer. no but really you inspire me a hell of a lot and you deserve every ounce of praise you get. never stop being the talented individual you are)

@smallwheeze (tiny??? you’re so adorable and nice what the shit?? your art is the CUTEST, I wish you uploaded more of it!! I love seeing it! and you’re just a very delightful person your blog is great and oof you’re wonderful)

@brentbennett (FUCK I LOVE U AND UR WRITING. I literally can’t describe how much of an inspiration you are to me, your writing absolutely blows me away each and every fucking time, and YOU’RE SUCH A KIND AND FUNNY PERSON!! UR GREAT!! ILYSM I KNOW YOU’VE BEEN A LIL INACTIVE LATELY I HOPE UR DOING OKAY)

@faequill (your fics were some of the first that I read for this fandom, and let me tell ya; it’s fuckin god tier. A+. amazing. Every fic of yours gets a standing ovation from me. You’re crazy talented and just an all around lovely person!! Also you deserve the world and I’m here for you alright. Stay strong lovely)

@pekuliar (GIRL YOU ARE A M A Z I N G like listen. When you started talking to me I had to make sure you were messaging the right person because you are just so talented and your blog is incredibly aesthetically pleasing and you’re such a delight to talk to!! You’re just so great and I genuinely appreciate you so so much okay)

Hey okay I’m fucking long-winded I’M SORRY. But I wanted to say that my love is absolutely not exclusive to anyone listed here. This fandom is full of great, talented blogs that make this community fantastic to be a part of! Plus, I am so grateful for each and every one of my followers and I want y’all to understand that I am open and willing to talk to any and everyone!! Never be afraid to send me something. I’ll always respond, even if it takes me a little bit (I get a little anxious/intimidated, but I will never turn a single person down). I’m very happy that you all enjoy my trash blog and trash writing and trash shitposts, and found me worthy of a follow. Again, thank you. More trash content to come. ♡ ♡

#1k milestone #sorry this was so dumb and long agsvjhgn i'm stupid #y'all can literally just say 'shut up nia' whenever because once I start writing/talking I literally never stop #i just wanted to share my gratitude and give others some praise!!!#again thank you

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orbyssarchives · 6 years

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A Brief tl;dr

This is probably a lot to say for 20 unfinished webcomic pages and I know I can be fairly long-winded so if you just wanna skip ahead and click through the pictures I’ve put up, I understand.

The TL;DR is

Hello and welcome to Mage Punk Archives! My name is Tables and this is some of the work that I’ve done over the last few years and what I’ve been up to in my little corner of the world. This is the third and last of a series of posts, outlining a number of updates that I completed on the site.

Included are some of my inspirations and a little of what I’ve learned so far about myself as an ever growing artist up to this point.

After this, I want to keep the content more focused on the actual art and story.

I’ll post to this site as often as I am able.

Thanks for reading!

***

Long Ago, Before the miracle of handheld internet searches and Instagram

When I was but a young, internet webling, I was heavily into shitty online flash games and looking for anything even remotely related to my interests at the time. From Mario and Sonic to various comics, videos games, anime and things never to be said aloud (pornpornporn). My love of the likes of Super Mario Bros and Sonic the Hedgehog (big fandoms for me at the time) would later lead me to sprite comics. Today, my feelings for the little hodge podge collage strips of old video game sprite sheets and backgrounds are a little mixed.

(They were beautiful and I’m gonna make one someday)

Then, in Highschool, I took a basic Web Design class. It was a VVoid World Web of Notepad and Internet Explorer where a kindly old crone passed on to those of us there, some knowledge of the ancient runic language which forms the foundations of the World Wide Web: HTML. Tables, frames, css, oh my! This knowledge would eventually prove invaluable.

Throughout our studies we were occasionally allowed to venture out into the Wider World Web. It was during these little adventures and travels across the Web that I happened upon the magical land of Webcomics. It was also during this time that I began break free of the enchantment of sprites. Even though I would probably never return to them, they would always hold a special place in my heart.

The Internet is for [Comics]

Webcomics – Synonymous with “Masochism”

At first, I had no idea just how grueling webcomics could be. Most webcomic artists pump out pages one to three times a week. At the time I got into them, MegaTokyo, then still partially a video game webcomic, was just releasing its third printed book; 2-3 updates a week with a loosely set schedule. Evan Dahm was wrapping up his surreal fantasy epic, Rice Boy; with updates consistently going up Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The various sprite and drawn webcomics that I was following at the time were updating all the time. Seeing all the great work going up, I felt encouraged to try it myself.

I drew these closer to the end of my junior year of high school.

Desu

Taking major inspiration from a lot of the manga and anime that I was enjoying then, I used pen and ink to make my comic pages. I liked working in black and white because it felt direct and skipping on color made it easier to finish faster. I figured I could work faster if I didn’t have to worry about the extra step. When I did want to use color, as is typical for the early pages of a new manga, I used markers.

At the time, I had no idea that mangakas used assistants. That’s messed up.

Not to say that it was completely unrealistic, but back in the real world I could only average one black and white page a week. If even. The spider webs I was drawing all over were so that I wouldn’t have to use a ruler to draw my panel proper borders. I thought it gave the comic an “old archive”. In the end, I concluded that the spider webs should have their place and not be all over.

This time, I decided to work a little more carefully and deliberately.

Moving Forward

It was going pretty well but by the time page 7 rolled around, it was time for midterms and I had become too self-conscious and uncomfortable with the way I was drawing my comic pages then. Then, it was time to take finishing high school seriously and before I knew it, I was a freshman at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. I did a lot of growing in the next four years that I attended there. Unfortunately, I never revisited those pages. Instead, near the end of my sophomore year, I took a Sequential Art class where the Final was a full-color, 5-page comic.

These are the ink-wash versions of the 7-page Final that I submitted. I’d originally colored them digitally to meet project requirements but I don’t want to post those just yet..

In the End

I wasn’t satisfied. The truth was that I waited until the last minute, rushed it, and over-reached on a re-draw that wasn’t much fun for me to work on. During the course of that Sequential Art class my professor turned my attention to artists like Moebius and Mike Mignola. I also came across Katsuya Terada’s stuff around this time.

And school went on…

I worked on Mage Punk when I could between assignments.

Between thinking I could possibly work on a for-print comic…

…and a webcomic at the same time.

The End was Near

Most of these were actually made towards the end of my four years at Ai. Those of us graduating were tasked with compiling our work from the years past in accordance with the requirements for obtaining our degrees. I believe that we were given two semesters to gather our pieces and do any revisions to previous works to get them up to date with the rest of the portfolio piece. Illustration Graduates at AiFL were typically required to gather a required selection of their work into an on-demand printed book. The year that I graduated, my department decided to change things around a little. Specifically, we were given the option to collect the requirement work into a plain black binder portfolio and make the printed book more geared towards our pursuits. I opted to make a Mage Punk/Orbyss Archives “Zine” as my main portfolio piece.

And Then College was Over

I drew a few more pages of the comic until I became employed full-time. These days, there aren’t enough free hours in my days for me to keep up with any typical webcomic’s update schedule so for a long while I stopped working on the comic altogether. I’m squeezing as much work out of every second that I’m not there; with whatever energy I can muster. This includes planning, writing, sketching and drawing. Before I got back to work on the site, I was posting fairly regularly to my Twitter and Instagram; those posts took time to do as well.

Most of this post was written in separate sessions on my commutes to work.

“Shortcuts”

Even though I always wanted to present Mage Punk as a webcomic, I always worked on it like it would go to print eventually. This created a confusing mindset for me when working on the comic, where I had to work on a whole book, but I have to rush to finish every page. If I wanted to put out pages more frequently I took shortcuts at any point I could to be done with them. Even if I created a good buffer of finished pages, I’d still run into that same pitfall eventually. I wasn’t enjoying my project because of a pressure I applied on myself to finish it in a way I wasn’t necessarily comfortable with. I didn’t even get that much done in the end.

It’s important that I work on it at a pace that lets me show the best of my ability. I would love it if I could be properly finished with the pages before I post them but if I wait before it’s all good and done I’ll just never get around to posting anything, forever floating, aimlessly, throughout creative internet limbo.

Instead, if I have to work on my comic in piecemeal, I’ll just post it up in piecemeal. Mage Punk will still be presented as a webcomic but, until the end of the book is done, certain changes are still a possibility. Editing is an important part of producing any book and I’m going to make its presentation reflect that.

Cue Rhidiculous shouting “I told you so!” from some nearby bushes.

A Webcomic in Presentation Only?

Those Two Images are the Same Page

Instead of trying to finish things at breakneck speeds, I’m going to work on the comics at a more reasonable pace. I’ll try to work on it mainly Chapter to chapter instead of page to page like how a webcomic normally is done (buffers aside) This gives me the opportunity to take a step back and get a broader look at the story while still putting out content in enjoyable chunks.

It’s difficult for me to wrap my head around drawing a comic on a start-to-finish, page-by-page basis. While I was working on the later pages in the chapter I kept finding myself jumping around and making changes to previous pages to make some things more consistent with later parts of the story. Instead of working page-by-page, I was editing the chapter as a whole to try to strengthen the narrative I’m trying to tell.

To that end, I still want to present it on this site as a webcomic; if only in name and archive.

The Process

At the VERY longtime behest of my editor, I’ll be presenting the comic as a work in progress at various points in the following production stages.

Writing

I’ll post dialog excerpts here and there. Nothing that can spoil the story too much.

This step will be kept largely behind the scenes.

Thumbnails

I do these on index cards in ballpoint pen to figure out the sequence of events that I most prefer.

This is the step where I’m prone to overloading a page with information.

First Drafts

Full size roughs of the earlier thumbnails. This step helps me get a better sense of how crowded or unbalanced a page might be early on.

This step also helps to prune out any strenuous scenes or dialog that could otherwise have their own pages.

If it isn’t working visually at this point, it’s not going to work in the next step.

Pencils

This is where the real drawing happens. Drawings in this step are made by either digital or traditional means depending on when or where I’m working.

Inking

This step is exactly like the drawing step but in pen and ink. Despite my affinity for real pen and ink, I’ll mainly be working this step digitally.

Color

This step is wrought with indecision but it also one of the faster, more fun steps to do.

Lettering

I’ve removed the dialog from all the pages currently up, opting to keep that out until a chapter is completed; it’s the thing I’m likeliest to change the most frequently until the end.

All lettering is currently done digitally but I’m considering the possibility of hand lettering.

Drawing dialog can be quite fulfilling but it takes a lot of practice.

Editing

This part will be happening all throughout. Page re-orders, panel redraws, changes in dialog.

Until the book is done.

Here We Are

I’ve already made some revisions to a handful of the pages that are already up; if you browse through the comics you can see the revisions noted in the comic descriptions. I’ll make blog posts for any major revisions or series of revisions that I do. I have a few ideas for some smaller projects that I can work on while I work on Mage Punk. Whether they be illustrations, stories, or even mini-comics like this silly thing down here.

Moving on

I might have also mentioned before that I have a few other drawings that I wanted to make for the site. In particular I have a neat idea for some social media icon illustrations. I wanna make something that takes advantage of what I’ve learned with using CSS. It’s nothing too fancy.

All that said, future posts will be a bit more brief than these last three were. I’d much rather write and post about the work itself, but I feel like I’ve hit a personal milestone and felt the need to ramble on about it a little.

Until next time,

Thanks for reading!

The Big Site Update (Part 3) A Brief tl;dr This is probably a lot to say for 20 unfinished webcomic pages and

#Comics #Process #Social Media #Website #WIP

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lilycove-department-store · 4 years

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Creature in the Well: Review

I learned about Creature in the Well from Twitter. I first saw it in a few gifs and snippets of concept art from indie developers that I follow and was immediately attracted to the art style and gameplay. When the game finally released on Switch earlier this year, I knew I had to give it a try, and luckily, it paid off immensely.

The developer, Flight School Studio, describes Creature in the Well’s genre as “pinbrawl,” or a mix between top-down brawler and classic digital pinball. I couldn’t agree more. This game takes a relatively simple idea -- hit a ball back and forth -- to every logical and illogical conclusion, making for a fast-paced and rewarding gaming experience.

In essence, all of the gameplay revolves around knocking balls of energy into pinball-like bumpers in order to “charge” them with energy. Through this mechanic alone, most of the game can be played, carefully angling one’s bat to smack each ball through small windows or to bounce them off of walls so that a distant bumper gets charged.

The real innovation of the game, however, comes from the charging mechanic. In addition to the simple hit-and-bounce method of traditional pinball, one can also hold down a button to “catch” an energy ball and strike it repeatedly in a sort of freeze-frame, increasing its power and drawing in more stray energy balls from the surrounding area. Because balls will naturally lose energy and disperse as they bounce around a given chamber, this mechanic lets a player pause for a moment, take a breath, and recharge to make a more focused strike at a given target. It’s always an option, of course, to just smack as many balls as you can into a room full of bumpers to hope that they all land, but it’s usually more effective to take one’s time and charge up a few well-aimed shots.

And I haven’t even gotten to the story and world yet. This game uses a stripped-down 3D art style that looks more like concept art in motion than anything else. Drawing inspiration from games like Journey, Creature in the Well is set in something of a post-apocalyptic desert settlement, surrounded by an unending and unnavigable sandstorm. The player is a maintenance robot, awoken after centuries with the sole purpose of repairing a giant weather machine that is meant to end the great sandstorm. The only problem, of course, is the titular creature in the well, a terrifying, unseen beast that only ever shows its great, ragged hands as it throws balls of uncontrollable, red energy at you.

Despite the relatively simple premise, Creature in the Well deftly weaves together individual story threads to create a meaningful narrative. The environmental storytelling is on-point and by the end of the game I felt invested in the world and the little settlement that I was working towards saving. The art was excellent and the little changes in level design with each new zone were refreshing.

Overall, the game’s progression was satisfying, if a bit cut and dry. As the player progresses through different branches of the machine to return power to data farms or life-support systems, they travel through a mazelike series of rooms where they learn a new way of maneuvering energy balls. This new method then comes into play during the boss battle. By the end of the game, the player must leverage everything that they’ve learned to solve increasingly complex puzzles. Though the game is certainly difficult by the end, it never feels impossible.

More satisfying for me was the promise of discovering new loot in secret offshoot chambers. Each new item had special effects that enhanced gameplay, like a laser sight that showed me where my ball would fly when struck, or one that charged energy twice as fast. The possibility of improvement was genuinely enjoyable, and I found it surprisingly easy to 100% this game where I’ve lost steam in similar titles.

Though short and a touch repetitive, Creature in the Well innovates in enough ways and is so well-made that I find it difficult to not recommend it. As an indie title, it goes for relatively cheap and is often on sale, though I wouldn’t feel ashamed of buying it at full price. Give this game a try, but don’t be too surpised when the creature in the well fights back.

TL;DR: a brawly, pinball-based dungeon crawler. Fun, gorgeous, and compelling, it gets a bit repetitive near the end. Buy it? Yes, on sale or not!

#creature in the well #pinbrawl #flight school studios #top down #switch #recommend #full price

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