Y'know, there's something really weirdly uncanny about losing your voice...it's almost like having your legs paralyzed. The muscle memory is practically innate, you move to get up and walk and then nothing happens and you're like "oh...yeah..."
I caught a really bad cold during my trip last month, to the point where I could barely talk for a few days. And by now, my normal vocal range is pretty much restored, but there's still an *entire octave* of my singing voice that I can't access yet. Like, the notes aren't even hoarse, they're just nonexistent. Silence and air hissing.
And so far the way it works is like, every day I wake up and I've gotten a few more semitones back. And it's nice that I can count on this process to (hopefully) give me back my entire voice eventually, but on the other hand I'm like "what the hell is this, a video game?? And if so, isn't there any way I can earn these skill points a little faster; run some boss raids or something???"
do you have any tips for character design, especially outfit design? i admire everything you come up with for your ocs and gijinkas. the outfits feel so compact and natural for each character. how do you even come up with them?
I apologize for taking so long to get to this ask, but you see, character design is my whole entire life, so I needed some time to distill my thoughts. I could answer this question with a full series of textbooks and probably still have more left to say. XD
My first piece of general advice, if youād like to learn from me through character design critique, would be to check out the Doki Draws channel. š My Xenoblade series (and that one video I did on Pokemonā¦and the Pikmin oneā¦basically, any time Iām talking about a video game besides Splatoon) probably features the most discussion about design principlesā what certain choices mean, and how they affect the viewer, and how to adjust them to get the effects you want. And the angrier I get, the more I go in-depth. ^^ I still feel that my Lanz and Sena video, despite having the highest dislike-to-like ratio Iāve ever gotten on anything, is the crown jewel of my design commentary so far; I spent half the video tearing into a single design and it was really fun.Ā
(I chalk the dislikes up to the fact that Xenoblade fans donāt really seem to like criticism or engage with it very often within the fandomā¦and since that was a pretty negative video, it was inevitable. ^^; But I donāt mind; it was worth it)
Now for some more specific adviceā like, letās pretend Iām trying to make any given design; whatās my thought process??
First, I start with artstyle and animationā an optional step, only for those who happen to share my particular brain problems. ^^; I like to invent new artstyles along with designs, and visualizing the character as a vague blob moving around helps me to decide what they should look like. Are they a big hulking figure stomping through the setting; are they a thin wispy figure flipping and jumping over rooftops? Are their limbs visible; are there any capes or skirts or big hairstyles moving with themā¦? Do I want to adjust the artstyle to emphasize any of those thingsā¦?
After Iāve narrowed down a vague silhouette, I start on the colors. Sometimes this happens automatically during the animation step, but other times it takes some extra effort. Should this character feel modern and grounded (emphasis on calm neutrals, dark colors on the legs)? Or should they feel ethereal and fantastical (emphasis on dramatic colors, less predictable color blocking)? Or do they have a specific vibe with a specific color scheme, or maybe even an outside inspiration with a specific color scheme (in the case of gijinkas and redesigns) that I need to work with?
After I have an idea of the colors I want, I pick a main color for the outfit (or their āformā, if Iām still not sure about the outfit) and try to arrange the other colors around it until I get something I like. Sometimes this takes a lot of trial and error. ^^;
While Iām working on this, Iām usually simultaneously working on the constructionā figuring out what goes on the āformā, the specific pieces of clothing or armor or anything the character should wear. Sometimes this is aided by the colors: if I envision a big blue blob in the middle of their torso, it could become a corset or a vest or a pattern/logo in construction. The artstyle I chose also feeds into this by determining the complexity of the design, i.e. how much detail and greebling I need to add. A character who belongs in Fire Emblem needs more than a character who belongs in The Powerpuff Girls; and certain clothing items/accessories may not feel appropriate for one or the other. This is where style study and fashion study are really important: itās a lot easier to craft a design in a way that feels ācorrectā to the viewer when you know which items tend to belong together, and how certain styles tend to depict them.
Anyway, from there I usually bounce back and forth between color and construction until the design is done. There are a lot more specifics that go into my process: the proportions of the form, the shape language of the construction, the relationships between the colors, the socio-cultural context of the pieces of clothing; lots of stuff you learn to consider as you gain experience with design. I like to think of each character like a puzzleā¦and the more puzzles you solve, the easier it becomes to keep solving them. š
...Isn't there supposed to be a limit on how many times Splatoon will give you the same stage without alternating? Bc I swear I just got Undertow Spillway 15 times in a row
Psst...so I've been working on this secret project...
It's an incredibly long script for a....I guess it would be a comic, but there is no way I could draw all this, not even in 10 lifetimes. ^^; I just wanted to write it; que sera sera.
Anyway, I promised myself that before I left on my trip I'd post something of it, even if it's just this unfinished draft. Might delete this post later...but for now: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fxZ-4YJ0EY_TpdfzHeuSD_bQciydGPO_RUHzdTxwk8o/edit?usp=sharing
I just want to say your Blade Princess AU is the coolest thing ever, I love it so much (āĀ“ā”`ā)
Thank you! ^^
BTW, it might interest you to know that I was recently planning on reviving the project...
I drafted the entire first arc of the "game", and I was gonna test it out and start running it with the audience polls and everything-- unfortunately, I started my preparations a bit too late. ^^; I'm gonna be leaving on a trip next week; I don't have time to do a manga-TTRPG with y'all right now...but hopefully when I return, I'll get back to it, and we'll get to see how Blade's story plays out~
ā¦Iād like to take a little of the credit for this win. ^^ Because I was on FIRE last weekend; between the spirit of Mr. Grizz burning in my veins and finally having a decent internet connection; this was the most engaging Splatfest Iāve played in a while. Shoutout to āSaphira><>ā who accompanied me on a 5-game Tricolor win streakā wherever you are, I hope you know it was an honor to fight beside you. š«”
It wasnāt all wins, though; I also had a pretty long losing streak going at one point. ^^; But I think most of the matches were pretty balanced, enough for me to get some good training in. I feel like Iām really starting to get the hang of hunting people down and āpushingā with the N-ZAP (as opposed to my usual support style)...maybe someday I *will* be that crazy-good player who can carry a whole team alone. Weāll see~
So I was watching this random YouTube video talking about unrealistic beauty/diet/behavioral standards for K-Pop idols, and it mentioned these industry pressures culminating in the creation of a digital idol to star in a certain groupā¦
...The video was from 3 years ago; I dunno if theyāre still active or anything (Iām not a K-Pop fan, clearly; Iām just passing by the discourse). But the situation struck me as darkly comical, considering the context. ^^;
Like, if I were your average K-Pop idol, who probably spent my entire childhood slaving away in idol bootcamp, signed contracts that allow my agent to shoot me in the leg if I even imagine eating a cheeseburger, gave up my right to a love life or even basic privacy for the next 15 yearsā¦and not only did my company saddle me with an AI coworker that I have to pretend to be friends with (and will never be able to compete withā¦) but they have the audacity to give that mfer the center spot and make me a backup dancer for a CGI modelā¦?!
My soul would become a boiling tar pit from the depths of hell. I would be ready to burn the next concert venue to the ground; my rage would be limitless.
Basically, I would turn into my favorite kind of protagonist~
...Jazzed up a bit, of course. ^^; I don't have any President Haltmann-themed Pringles in my room right now, unfortunately...
Anyway, this is a weird moment for me...I don't often post about my IRL personal life, but I feel like the time is right for a little story. I usually do something Magolor-related on Easter anyway~
So once upon a time, when I was a young college student working myself to death trying to pass exams (and keep my scholarship...), I turned to my Mago plush hanging in my closet, and promised him that I would try my best to get my degree, make some decent money, and give him a good home someday.
I don't remember what I was thinking at the time...this was like a decade ago at this point; bear with me. XD I think it may have been my attempt to snap myself out of a depressive episode-- I was living away from home for the first time, had no close friends, felt my family was glad to be rid of me, if they were thinking about me at all...just generally stressed and scared and aimless constantly. And I think it just hit me all at once when I came back to my dorm after a long day...like "what is all this even for??"
I mean, I like my life; even back then I usually did. ^^; But I do lead a very solitary existence, and every time I have a major depressive episode the prevailing emotion is a sort of 'shame' over it. Like, in a nutshell: I don't get depressed because I want to kill myself; I get depressed because I DON'T. I will puzzle that out at a later date.
Anyway, anyway-- I wasn't about to let ND self-hatred get in the way of my homework, so I guess I was like "Y'know what? Fine. If it's not worth it to endure all this misery for me, then I'll endure it for Magolor. Are you satisfied now? Or are you gonna tell me Magolor isn't worth it??"
And my brain was like "oh no, of course not; Do It For Him" and that pretty much settled it. XD For the rest of my time in school, and for the years afterward as I started seeking full-time employment...any time I felt overworked and alone and started losing hope, I would give Mago a little smooch and try to remember what I promised him.
And now...well, I've finally fulfilled that promise, because I just became a homeowner! (ļ¾āć®ā)ļ¾*:ļ½„ļ¾ā§
It still doesn't feel real...not just because of *gestures at the world around me* but also...I mean, I can't believe I actually did that. I half-jokingly swore on a character plush that I would make something of myself, and in the end it came to fruition. āāæā; I really did manage to give Mago a good home...his own room, even, once I get my office set up. ^^ For the moment, he's chilling in my room with me, so we can bask in our success together.
So, that's the end of the story. And the end of an entire chapter of my life, I guess...I don't know what's in store for me now. Finally get back to work on *gestures at all my projects*? Try to live and be happy? Finally accept that I'm an adult and deserve to be viewed as one...? (highly unlikely...I think I'll remain a kid until I'm at least 78 years old ^^; )
Anyway, to my fellow Gen Z-ers out there: I know things suck right now. I'm not gonna tell you to just 'tough it out, and someday you'll end up like me!' because I have no right to promise you that. What I WILL tell you is that it's never a mistake to have hope, and if you can't find the strength to fight for yourself, fight for Magolor. ^^ Or whoever can inspire you to pick yourself up and keep going.
this one would use the hydra as a base, but with IV bags instead of the usual pill bottles
pros:
+slightly more damage than a regular hydra
+shots fire at full force and range regardless of how far it was wound up [even tap shots are brutal enough to one shot chum]
+armor penetration
cons:
-slightly longer windup than the basic hydra
-cannot move while firing
-swim cancelling does not refund unspent ink [unless you swim before firing]
-100% more ink-thirst [in which a full windup consumes your entire tank]
So two whole years ago, someone sent me this ask detailing a fan-made Grizzco Splatling concept. I donāt remember why; maybe they just caught on to my Mr. Grizz simping and figured Iād be interestedā¦in which case, theyāre not wrong ĀÆ\_(ć)_/ĀÆ
Anyway, someone find Anon and tell them I always liked their idea; I just never got around to illustrating it until now! >_< As in, now that BOOTSTRAPS has gotten me used to drawing Grizzco weapons, and I think Van was born to wield a splatling~
Anyway, as a player, I thought this was an interesting conceptā splatlings are highly underrated in Salmon Run, and I would definitely be interested in this if it actually existed.
I like the longer windup/full force shots tradeoff; I think thatās fair. ^^ A splatling that could hit hard with tap shots would be a bit broken in the main game, but awesome in Salmon Run, and I think thatās the kind of craziness that makes for a good Grizzco weapon.
āCannot move while firingā might be a bit controversial, but Iād be willing to accept that too. >:] One of the challenges of Salmon Run is learning to fight when your movement is highly restricted; I think it would be interesting to force the player to plan around having to stand still.
Oddly enough, ā100% more ink thirstā is the one con that I find iffyā¦I could see that getting annoying quickly, especially in the EVP ranks. ^^; You say āa full windup consumes your entire tankā, but what I hear is ānever do a full windupā, and if youāve ever been fired at by two Stingers at once with a Scrapper on your heels and a Flipper Flopper about to jump youā¦you know why. If attacking already forces you to stand still; letting it ALSO rob you of mobility afterwards is just suicideā¦
And it doesnāt feel quite right to design a weapon in a way that discourages the player from using it to its fullest potentialā¦so I think what Iād do is swap the ā100% more ink thirstā con with a shorter firing time, ala Mini Splatling~. So you have to wait longer to charge this weapon, and it only shoots for like 2 seconds, but those 2 seconds are just straight fireworks; everything in your path gets obliterated (especially if you keep the Hydraās characteristic long range). I think that way, the player would be able to get into a rhythm that feels 'splatling-y' while fitting the frenetic pace of Salmon Run.
Think fast chucklenuts, new Kirby Air Riders lore dropped.
(From an Interview with Sakurai about Kirby Air Riders development)
So in the end it was a secret third thing.
Actually, I think in the japanese narration of Road Trip there is some sort of implication that something messed with Zorah's wish to Nova in one of the memories. Guess it was maybe just bad translation like Star allies then.
Yeah...I've been hearing about this, here and there...
...And I kinda hoped that it would turn out to be untrue, because the fact that this had to be cleared up in an *outside interview* is an utter failure of direction. Like, embarrassingly so. :[
I would almost (almost!) prefer it if Nova had been retconned into an antagonist, because that was actually what the story showed us. But instead, we're supposed to accept that there was a mysterious third party pulling the strings the entire time, despite there being so little indication of this that a simple mistranslation could essentially delete it from the plot.
Like, if this was truly supposed to be setup for someone/something we should look forward to in future Kirby games-- SHOW US, maybe?? Actually set it up by actually putting it on screen??? Would that not be interesting and fun and cool???? What is the point of skipping and hiding and glossing over all the interesting and fun and cool stuff; literally what are these story modes for if the information that actually matters is ALWAYS somewhere else???????
...Yes, I'm actually mad now. But I'm honestly mad at myself for even being mad at this point, because I saw this coming years ago. I just didn't want to be right; I thought I was being too mean; I hung onto the idea that the Kirby series was just a cute cartoony thing that would never take itself seriously enough for any anger to be justified.
But that's just not true anymore. I dunno if it's another case of fandom ideas infecting canon, but it's becoming clear to me that Kirby wants to be the unexpectedly-dark-eldritch-demon-lore series wrapped up in a pink puffy bow. And we're in the middle of that transition now, and that's probably why we're getting secrets instead of story, and why the story we do have...is honestly suffering, maybe because the devs aren't used to doing this kind of stuff with this franchise and don't know how to deliver it.
I genuinely think it's time (for me, at least) to accept that Kirby has no internal logic anymore. The only way to know where its overarching plotline is going is to just accept whatever you're told. Thinking about what might fit its energetic childlike vibe, or what might lend depth to an endearing character...it's a useless exercise, because those things are no longer important beyond a surface level.
It's also time for me to commit to taking the gloves off. ^^; I'm sorry, but when you start pulling the "we'll just explain it in interviews!" card, you forfeit your right to mercy from me. I do not defend writing from people who believe it can be substituted with Q&A sessions that 90% of your audience will never see. It disgusts me; I already went through this nonsense with Rooster Teeth and RWBY. And if you've seen how I talk about that show...well, get ready for that here. Because if things continue the way they've been going, it's only a matter of time.
To end this off on a less bitter note, I'm going to suggest some actual implications that the devs could have used if they wanted us to anticipate a reveal, rather than being confused. Contrary to popular belief, there is a difference, and you can accentuate that difference through actual writing/direction.
Show the Nova in distress: this would have been the simplest and easiest way to imply that a third party was messing with things, because from what I could tell no one blamed Zorah; EVERYONE blamed Nova. The question was always "what would cause the Nova to interpret the wish this way??" so putting an obvious indication of sabotage on the clockwork space-neko would immediately point the audience in the right direction.
Show some kind of dark energy corrupting it; model it to look damaged or different from the Nova we know. Have it grant Zorah's wish normally, then suddenly "change its mind" and rip it apart. Like, literally anything.
(BTW, the part where the Fountain of Dreams just passed Zorah's wish to Nova still breaks the established worldbuilding; this 'new lore' doesn't account for that. If anything, it implies that this part of the story was false, and the mysterious third party made a wish in Zorah's stead.)
Give us a suspect: Y'know how, back when Forgotten Land was announced, all Elfilin did was breathe and we immediately accused him of being the next backstabbing traitor character? If Sakurai really is trying to appeal to fanon interpretations of canon, THIS is one he could have used to his benefit here. Because everyone in the Kirby fandom knows this is a thing, and no matter how many times we are proven wrong, we will probably continue to do it. ^^; It's tradition at this point.
So if they just showed a mere silhouette of a new character, like in an after-credits cutscene, again, it would point the audience in the right direction. We would immediately dump all our suspicions onto Mysterious New Guy instead of wondering why the Galactic Nova suddenly became evil.
...Like, this isn't hard. I honestly don't mind if the Kirby franchise changes genres; you could argue that it already did that before with KRtDL. But if they're going for what I think they're going for, they really need to learn that they can't get away with pause-menu-description storytelling anymore. That worked when the games were cute, fun adventures propelled by antagonists with detectable personalities; it does not work when each game is a barely-disguised lore vehicle with no narrative stakes because the antagonists are now various flavors of 'mysterious being that's probably mad or something'.
HAL or whoever works with this franchise next needs to figure out how they want to bridge the gap between surface-level kawaii and hollow worldbuilding for this new direction they're taking...either that, or just make more stuff like Dream Buffet where they don't have to worry about it. ĀÆ\_(ć)_/ĀÆ At least that game had a solid identity.
one-sided platonic feelings always hit me so hard. like. i want you to love me like a son, but to you iām not much more than a servant. i swore our oath of brotherhood out of real devotion, and you swore it out of convenience. i want to go to the ends of the earth and the depths of hell for you and follow you until the end of time, and in your mind thatās no more than what i owe you
Usually, (as in, for the past 15+ years of my life) I use my āhybridā process to create art: doing the sketch and lineart with paper and pencil, scanning it, and coloring digitally.
Then last summer, I finally bought a drawing tablet, which was initially just to replace my pen-mice in that hybrid process.
But recentlyā¦particularly with the BOOTSTRAPS pieces, Iāve actually started drawing things digitally, from start to finish.
But, uhā¦not by choice. ^^;
If you remember my first drawings of Van from way back when, those were definitely sketched on paper; you can probably tell. And it was love at first sight; I was so excited to start another edgy Splatoon project, but thenā¦I found myself weirdly unable to draw him doing anything. Every time I would start a piece, it would look wrong and bad, and nothing like what I saw in my head. Like, I could barely even make it past the ābasic shapesā stage of sketching before the drawings felt unsalvageable.
And yet, I knew it wasnāt art blockā¦I was still able to draw other things; I spent half of February revamping old OCs from my childhood; the juice was still there. It was like this one specific project was incompatible with my brain for some reason.
And then, a couple weeks ago, I remembered something similar happening with a much smaller projectā¦I posted a single drawing on BlueSky; you can check it out here. ^^; But yeah, with that one I also spent weeks beforehand trying to draw the characters unsuccessfully; like, even the initial concept sketches were awful. But one day I had some time to kill, and I really wanted to challenge myself to build dexterity with the tablet, so I sat myself down and figured Iād play with the undrawable characters for a while.
And it went shockingly well. O_O Not only did I create a piece good enough to post publicly, I was finally able to fully develop the character designs while I did it. So, when I realized I was facing the same struggle with BOOTSTRAPS, I figured Iād break out the pen tablet again and see if it fixed the problem.
AND IT DID.
I donāt think those pieces are perfect by any means; they definitely have that āflatā composition I usually fall into when working digitally, along with my usual dexterity struggles. But, likeā¦theyāre solid artworks. And they were fun to work on, AND they actually reached completion, which is more than I can say for the paper sketches.
ā¦Truth be told, this is driving me bananas.
Like, not ābadā bananas necessarily, but itās persistently itching my brain. >_< This isnāt the first time Iāve tried āall-digitalā art; I went through a whole pixel art phase back in my DeviantArt days. And Iāve made plenty of sucky pieces with the pen-tablet too; like I said, Iāve had it for almost a year now. If it just happened to be the magic cure for any case of bad art-brain, I wouldāve figured that out sooner than two months ago.
It feels more likeā¦thereās certain subject matter that my art brain can only express through the digital pen, and not the physical one. And vice-versa. Which is so weirdā¦Iāve never heard of an artist being medium-segregated in this way before; usually the reason I didnāt do certain things in certain media was because of convenience or differing dexterity, not because my brain would randomly say ānoā.
So, uhā¦if you are a fellow multi-media artist whoās gone through this, or you know someone who has, Iād love if you could explain this to me, maybe? In the meantime, Iām going to try one more experimentā if I can successfully draw robots/mecha on my pen tablet without wanting to die, something is DEFINITELY going onā¦
