little ducks all in a row

lost and scared of being nowhere (𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕗𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝔸𝕆𝟛 𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕣 𝕕𝕦𝕔𝕜𝕪𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕤!)

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I have an embroidery machine and I am learning how to use it. I still need to clean up the end result by hand, but it’s already better than the slowly spreading holes in the fabric of the shirt, so.

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Second version of the rose: now bigger, and with a slightly more successful satin fill for an outline. (But… slightly offset. Oops?)

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A different rose

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I have an embroidery machine and I am learning how to use it. I still need to clean up the end result by hand, but it’s already better than the slowly spreading holes in the fabric of the shirt, so.

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Second version of the rose: now bigger, and with a slightly more successful satin fill for an outline. (But… slightly offset. Oops?)

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I have an embroidery machine and I am learning how to use it. I still need to clean up the end result by hand, but it’s already better than the slowly spreading holes in the fabric of the shirt, so.

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the fun thing about Ye Olde OpenCanvas1.1 is that its heyday coincided with oekaki boards, so it has the cool function where I can ask it to 'replay' my process because that kind of thing was en vogue or whatever

(now you can all see that I understand color 0% lol)

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My ‘phone-call doodles’ on post-its (and the back of old envelopes and receipts) has evolved. Now, for long Discord conversations, I can hook up my tablet, dig up a copy of openCanvas1.1 from the Internet Archive, and scribble terrible renditions of the beloved characters of my youth.

I’m living in the future.

(But. Like. With 90s characters.)

I don’t actually know how to transform -> scale in openCanvas1.1, and I made my starter sketch too big. You’ll just have to trust me when I tell you that this was supposed to be Sailor Moon, because the image cuts off before it reaches her iconic hairstyle.

This is objectively not a great rendition, but it made me happy to do it, so I’m sharing the result because I don’t know how to share the whimsy I felt while making it.

PS: I forgot the eyebrows until the end. Couldn’t figure out why it looked extra, extra weird for a bit.

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i’m starting an attempt at repainting a screencap with slightly different colors to try and at least practice. It’s still at the fuzzy/wonky stage but I’m happy with how the colors are turning out, and I’m kinda afraid I’m gonna screw them up as I keep going, so I’m saving this version out lol

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‘It’s crime-of-passion o’clock,’ I whisper into the last of the leftovers as I devour them in the wee hours of the morning

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So I'm trying to get an image to work. And it turns out my ability to compose an image and pose two humans is Impossible. I keep redrawing even the roughest of sketches, and I've chosen the most boring of possible angles, and I don't even have a plan for the backdrop.

If anyone has any advice, I would appreciate it. This makes me wish I were still in school, and could at least ask one of the teachers to poke me in the right direction.

HOW DO I ART (send help?)

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This probably looks a little weirder than most of my combos, because one of the components is a bearded fellow and the other isn't.

I just wanted to combine the images of Eddie Munson and Wayne Munson to approximate what an older Eddie Munson might look like.

There is no reason for me to do this. I just. Do.

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Identifying Characteristics

I struggle a lot to make characters look like themselves. I'll end up with huge reference folders of photos, but I still can't make things come out correctly unless I'm directly sketching something with the exact same angle/expression as a reference image.

It makes me fiercely jealous of artists who not only can draw angles/expressions that they don't have, but who can draw the characters in a stylized way and still have them be wholly recognizable.

I decided to see if I could force a character to look 'correct' while starting with something that I knew looked wrong. In this case, I asked an AI to draw Steve Harrington from Stranger Things in his Scoops Ahoy outfit.

It made a cute image, but not really 'correct'. This was stylized, which meant I couldn't copy an expression/angle directly from a reference photo without looking absurd, which was exactly what I wanted for my test. I grabbed some references and set to work trying to see what I needed to change to get things right.

rotate eyes/approximate eyeshape (outer corner tilt downward)

fix eyebrow shape (copied from primary ref)

move mouth/nose further down face

fix mouth shape (copied poorly from primary ref)

fix nose shape (still isn't right, but looks less cute-tiny-pointy?)

added moles/freckles according to reference

changed outfit per other references

flipped image horizontally at some point and forgot about it lol

I'm including the images and facial references I used. The end result looked closer to correct, but still wrong. (I also got pretty lazy with the outfit).

If anyone is good at this kind of thing, could I get some advice on things I should change/how I should change them to make the face closer to Steve Harrington? And, more generally: when drawing, how do you make characters look distinctly Themselves?

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This is a weird one, but it's about Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler being shaped and pushed apart by their shared ghost. (Growing as human beings. But growing apart?)

Crowned Loser

[Chorus] The parents are always gone The pool is still haunted by the girl they lost Big house and all alone And his hair's kept perfect so you'll never know To look past to fear in his eyes

[Verse 1] The photos caused the first fight Hit so hard he saw the light And if he bled and failed At least he changed his ways The next fight lost a friend Growth came from blood again He might be lonelier, better that than stuck the same

[Pre-Chorus 1] And so he tries to keep up, but his girl's so much faster And she drinks to their ghost, because she can't get past her, Not here

[Chorus] The parents are always gone The pool is still haunted by the girl they lost Big house and all alone And his hair's kept perfect so you'll never know To look past to fear in his eyes

[Verse 2] Drunk mouths speak sober thoughts and He learns their love's pretend And all they went through meant he lost her in the end They search for better anchors He herds a pack of kids Finds heart in stamping out all the danger in their midst

[Pre-Chorus 1] And when he tried to keep up, his girl just drank faster, And she drank to their ghost, and she couldn't get past her, Not near [Pre-Chorus 2] And she's chosen a new boy now she hopes might keep her grounded She's learnt how to shoot if they get surrounded No fears

[Chorus] The parents are always gone The pool is still haunted by the girl they lost Big house and all alone And his hair's kept perfect so you'll never know To look past to fear in his eyes

[Pre-Chorus 1] And when he tried to keep up, his girl just drank faster, And she drank to their ghost, and she couldn't get past her, Not near [Pre-Chorus 2] And she's chosen a new boy now she hopes might keep her grounded She's learnt how to shoot if they get surrounded No fears

[Outro] He's at bat for children now Taking on monsters, some in human form Hopes that they'll win somehow Teach them hair care secrets and will drive them home To parents he wishes he'd had

╚═.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.═╝

Here the rhythm/meter/rhyme scheme is stolen from Goo Goo Doll's "Broadway is Dark Tonight", which had a lot of very short syllables and lines.

One of these was made with Suno, and the other with Udio.

The ghost is Barb. and Steve's relationship with his parents

Steve's gonna grow beyond 'the hair' to being 'the babysitter', but he'll pass his haircare on to Dustin so that the old ways are not lost

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I feel like Billy Hargrove was a pretty tragic character, so here's a tragically terrible set of lyrics for him in particular

Billy

[Verse 1] He brings the anger his father has taught Voice raised in hatred, fists raised in fury He’s been told it’s ‘respect’ that he’s brought To seek someone weaker, directing all they do

[Pre-Chorus] Strike them all down, knows that he’s earning the crown With a mouth full of booze, he can swallow the fear he’ll lose Strike them all down, knows that he’s earning the crown

[Chorus] Smiles with all those teeth, but won’t meet their eyes Shows a little skin, hopes they miss his lies Everything he’s built, all the things they see Is a dimpled mask, lest the fear break free

[Verse 2] It’s easiest when there’s records to break A mark to surpass, appeal to the masses Dethrones old kings leaves the rest in his wake Assembles a court, adoring a fake

[Pre-Chorus] Strike them all down, knows that he’s earning the crown With a mouth full of booze, he can swallow the fear he’ll lose Strike them all down, knows that he’s earning the crown

[Chorus] Smiles with all those teeth, but won’t meet their eyes Shows a little skin, hopes they miss his lies Everything he’s built, all the things they see Is a dimpled mask, lest the fear break free

[Bridge] And in time When the darkness comes to roost Void divine Swallowing those around him in all the bleakness he’s loosed

[Chorus] Smiles with all those teeth, but won’t meet their eyes Shows a little skin, hopes they miss his lies Everything he’s built, all the things they see Is a dimpled mask, lest the fear break free

[Outro] Void to void calls out, weakened in the light A monster awoken to devour this Nothing left to give, or with which to fight The boy lies broken unsaved by his fists

╚═.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.═╝

I can't always get rhythm/meter down organically, so I just counted out syllables etc from Linkin Park's 'Numb' like a lazy person.

This song suffers a little from a common issue with Suno.ai, which is that the vocals devolve into a chorus of fuzzy robots as the song goes on (and the lyrics sometimes 'trip' and get repeated where they theoretically weren't supposed to) but I'm still fascinated by the variety of outputs managed.

Also: I realize that these posts are pretty much only interesting to me. I'm having fun, though.

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More Kas!Theory blorbo music from my terrible lyrical creations

Bright Teeth Under Dark

[Verse] All that he knows is just the hungry clench of teeth The tacky stretch of red that coats him underneath Unbeating heart and fingers inky black to tips Piercing the membrane stretched across the gate and rips

[Chorus] He’s crawling to the sun Hopes he’s not the only one Crawling to the sun Right-side up for once No regrets

[Verse 2] The light is choked with red too thick to truly shine And now the ground is thick with swells of creeping vines The earth stills shivers with the remnants of the quakes The villain underground has truly come awake

[Chorus] He’s crawling to the sun Hopes he’s not the only one Crawling to the sun Right-side up for once No regrets

[Guitar Solo]

╚═*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═╝

As with the first of these, this is theoretically about amnesiac Kas!Eddie waking up in the Upside Down, but it’s probably just as incomprehensible with context. Suno.ai is responsible for everything but the terrible lyrical content.

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Blorbo is Eddie. Different generation engine then before. Lyrical nonsense is still me, though.

View from a Tabletop

[verse 1] he's got nothing to prove, he knows he's been through this before, it shows he sells contraband, and it's in demand and he knows better than to show his hand a mastermind with his battles planned

[pre-chorus] if there's a song that's in his head he drags it out and learns to play it if he's got a story and it must be told he finds it natural to say it

[chorus] he's been standing on tables and acting the fool keeps laughing at kings who believe that they rule and he's gathering sheep while he's stuck in this school

[verse 2] and because he knows what it's like to fear he draws others in and keeps them near mice and sheep alike who travel by bike keep those demons away when they strike for those seeking shelter he's hard to dislike

[chorus] he's been standing on tables and acting the fool keeps laughing at kings who believe that they rule and he's gathering sheep while he's stuck in this school

[verse 3] but now some things are beyond his fixing and now the shadows and his life are mixing he's unprepared for the upside down running through the town with a king un-crowned and he's wishing for a little less renown

╚═.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.═╝

This was generated with Udio rather than Suno, which seems to create things that sound less formulaic overall.

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Mad with power, taking my own terrible lyrics and getting songs. This time Blorbo is Bucky.

Iced Encasement

[intro] Lost him to the war, to the ice, from the train Erased the things he was and put new poison in his brain

[verse 1] The timeline of his lifeline Keeps unwinding into dust Nineteen-seventeen into forever, Face won't age, arm won't rust. Encased in the ice like a bug in amber, An empty husk from the chamber clambers

[chorus] The man on the bridge, don't I know him? And did he know me once before? Did I once tumble far below him were we both lost on distant shores Out of touch and out of time I'm with you till the end of the line

[verse 2] If he's longing for homecoming For a daybreak in this dark, Warmed by thoughts like from a furnace Melting frost with each remark Benign lines on museum placards saying Nothing of a nightmare spent obeying

[chorus] The man on the bridge, don't I know him? And did he know me once before? Did I once tumble far below him were we both lost on distant shores Out of touch and out of time I'm with you till the end of the line

[outro] Together to the end of the line A home there at the end of all time

╚═.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.═╝

And yes, most of his reset-code is in the lyrics, because I'm a terrible person.

ETA: Another version, where I tried to get the AI to sing the passphrase throughout the song, with mixed success; here's the lyrics as I attempted to have them sung:

[intro] Lost him to the war, to the ice, from the train (Товарный вагон) Erased the things he was and put new poison in his brain

[verse 1] The timeline of his lifeline Keeps unwinding into dust Nineteen-seventeen into forever, (Один. Девять. Семнадцать.) Face won't age, arm won't rust. (Ржавый) Encased in the ice like a bug in amber, An empty husk from the chamber clambers

[chorus] The man on the bridge, don't I know him? And did he know me once before? Did I once tumble far below him were we both lost on distant shores Out of touch and out of time I'm with you till the end of the line

[verse 2] If he's longing (Желание) For homecoming (Возвращение на родину) For a daybreak (Рассвет) In this dark, Warmed by thoughts like from a furnace (Печь) Melting frost with each remark Benign (Добросердечный) lines On museum placards saying Nothing of a nightmare spent obeying

[chorus] The man on the bridge, don't I know him? And did he know me once before? Did I once tumble far below him were we both lost on distant shores Out of touch and out of time I'm with you till the end of the line

[outro] Желание, Ржавый, Семнадцать, Рассвет, Печь, Девять, Добросердечный, Возвращение на родину, Один, Товарный вагон. Together to the end of the line A home there at the end of all time

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Flying cars who? The future is writing terrible poems in the bathtub and getting Hatsune Miku's OP cousin to turn an egregious inconsistency of syllables into a symphonic metal performance about Blorbo

Upside Down and Sharp of Teeth (Lyrics)

[verse] He might not remember his name But at least he’s got teeth He might not know who to blame But he’s been left underneath It’s too dark for a human And too cold for a home And all this has just proven Now he’s beast to the bone

[pre-chorus] His new name is ‘Kas’  and it’s chosen with care He’ll betray to the last Just to get out of there

[chorus] Gonna find home where it’s right-side up He remembers sunshine there Maybe he’ll fail and he’s out of luck But he just can’t care All he needs is a gate to show An exit from the dark below

[verse 2] Sunbeam yellow sweater warm The faces he can’t find Blurry memory wings and storms A spark yet undefined He’ll find the music here  and he’ll build a wall Keep all the voices out Smother out the call

[chorus] Gonna find home where it’s right-side up He remembers sunshine there Maybe he’ll fail and he’s out of luck But he just can’t care All he needs is a gate to show An exit from the dark below

[verse 3] He knows that they need him All the ones he’s lost If it seems he’s not bleeding Wonders at the cost Has to find the bright ones Knows they’ll love him still with teeth Though it seems they feared the night once He’s kept daylight underneath

╚═*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═╝

It's theoretically about amnesiac Kas!Eddie waking up in the Upside Down, but it's probably just as incomprehensible with context. Suno.ai is responsible for everything but the terrible lyrical content.

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WIP digital study (did I start this very low res? Yes, yes I did.)

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still working on it (self reblog with update)