\18+\ I watch too much youtube, am obsessed with Star Wars, a slut for cheetos, and anything horror is my forte. Enjoy? (header art by LEMMiNO on deviantart)
The three primary uses of masks in film are entertainment, disguise and protection.
From ancient Greek plays through Japanese Noh theater, masks are deeply intertwined in the universal language of entertainment and ritual, and its power as a transformative tool is so ritualized and timeworn that it is the unofficial logo for an entire artform. Since theater was an influence on early motion pictures (consider the framing and gestural acting of silent film), it figures that masks would be smuggled into movies, and some of the most enduring images from film history are now associated with masks. —Alex Vlahov
V for Vendetta (2005), The Mask (1961), The Mummy Returns (2001), Emerald City s01e06 (2016), Black Orpheus (1959), Judex (1963), The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Eyes Without A face (1960), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Squid Game s01e07 (2021), Knights of the Zodiac (2023), Onibaba (1964), Scream (1996)
Yesterday, I spent the whole day reading The Last Will and Testament of Cazador Szarr by AbigailMoment. This was absolutely not what I was supposed to be doing, but the story just completely consumed me! Sooo today I (again) ignored the things I have to do and sketched a few small illustrations
@abigailmoment, if you see this—thank you so much for this work, I’m obsessed now and can’t wait for the next chapter!!
Oh! Look at this beauty. Thank you @heheheku -- I've been enjoying your art for months. You have such a talent for evoking feelings and expressing touch and making things seem soft. Seeing this is very joyful.
A list of particular things I love:
In general
How you express Astarion's emotions through his ears.
How you do Gale's gray hairs. SWIRLY.
Picture 1
The fact we can't see Gale's expression, which makes him feel like an ominous inscrutable figure, which is what he is to Astarion at this point in the story.
That fact juxtaposed over the fact that he's kneeling, like you would at an altar, and that the position of his hands is somewhat anxious, picking at his sleeve.
How much and how often Gale kneels in the story is low-key important. I deliberately associate the verb with him. Astarion tends to crouch or sit or stoop. Gale almost always kneels.
The amount of fear you manage to express in Astarion's expression even though we can only see half his face.
In general the fact that everyone's expressions are partially concealed is such a neat parallel to how little they understand each other in this scene.
How the cobbles are gently implied and then fade, letting us know where we are but not drawing attention away from the figures.
Picture 2
Going to fucking stab someone with the fire poker.
Expression that expresses dread, alarm, but also: GOING TO FUCKING STAB SOMEONE WITH THE FIRE POKER.
The fire poker itself. That's a sharp and deadly looking thing.
Picture 3
How the Dimension Door Gale is drawing escapes the confines of the background! It breaks the rules of composition just as the magic spell it represents breaks the rules of physics! What a NEAT way of expressing magic!
The fact that Gale is standing in front of Astarion, as if to physically block him from harm, which is something he's doing in this scene and also constantly in the story and is also not what a wizard should be doing in combat. But also it's not what a rogue should be doing. These guys suffer greatly from lack of a frontline tank.
THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS.
Picture 4
Darling.
Poor purple wizard.
Yes, you are, but so are we all.
And the systemic violence and exploitation inherent to the world you just stepped into is much more to blame than you are personally.
shassie as a dynamic works so well imo because shawn is dialectically a genius and an idiot while lassie is dialectically badass and pathetic. thus, in the most ideal scenario, they're a scarily effective power duo of whip-smart deduction and ruthless tactical intimidation, but when you flip them to the other sides of their spectrums they become Two Losers Making Asses Of Themselves, both of whom constantly try to hoist themselves back to the other end by using the other as a counterweight.
I'm a hard pillow hard mattress man. I need reliability. I don't want something to change into a completely different shape when I touch it, that's lying and I don't like liars.
gummygunk
origamiaround
romaincrisis
areudirty
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snowghoul
ellievsbear
pixelskylines
discoholicmusic
