For any curious followers, THIS is how my little storyboards go. Very IMPORTANT key moments here. :3
I always like sketching Bill. He's so expressive that way.
I draw my thumbnails super small and then blow them up to the size of the page and then lower the opacity. I can see how it ends up looking intentionally blurred.
This is my thumbnail file. Every layer is for a different series. When I fill a layer I erase it. I draw my thumbnails with as much detail as possible while they're tiny af and then copy-paste the thumbnail to the actual canvas I plan to use and resize it to fit. If I make a decent enough thumbnail I can skip the sketching phase, but I typically need a sketch layer to at least make sure the faces are just right.
Thumbnailing is the most important and agonizing part of my process. I can't even listen to music while working on thumbnails bc it requires too much concentration. I envy peers who can knock out multiple thumbnails in a day like it's nothing bc I will struggle for a week to do a single one that I hate but don't know how to fix until I go binge an anime or something and come back to redraw it from scratch with fresh eyes.
"Greetings. Please, do enjoy your read, with the official Masterpost of..."
The Marvelous Mechanical Harlequin AU!
Looking for this AU's game counterpart? You can go to The Souls-like AU Masterpost for that!
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INTRO ANIMATIC:
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The long-awaited official masterpost of the Harlequin AU is now here! You'll find everything there is to know about the AU, all in here.
Please note that all of it is still a WIP! And this is NOT an RP blog!
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CHARACTER ROSTERS & DESC.!
Main Cast:
Supporting Cast:
"The names have the link to the full character biography attached to them. Please note that some aspects of it are still incomplete, (or may even be outdated) for story purposes."
Pomni, The Last Harlequin |•| Caine, The Puppetmaster
Ragatha, The Artifact Collector |•| Jax, The Mischievous Trickster
Lady Gangle, The Bashful Slithery Chronicler |•| Z, The No-nonsense Housesmith
Kingr, The Helpful King:
BOSS ROSTERS, OFFICIAL STORY/LORE SNIPPETS, NON-CANON TIDBITS and FAQs BELOW THE CUT!
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BOSS ROSTERS:
The Lady of Forgotten Memories |•| The Skirmish General |•| The Last Formidable, Imposing Structure |•| The Mischievous Trickster Automaton |•| The Maddened Princess of the Theater |•| Bladed Beast of Steel and Shadows |•| The Pierrot of the Carnival Funhouse |•| The Celestial Twin Entertainers |•| Bandits of the Confectionary Highlands |•| Former Warden of the Labyrinth |•| Overlooker of the Confectionary Highlands |•| The Abstraction |•| Duchess of the Mildenhall Cliff's edge House |•| Proud Queen of the Gatherers |•| ??? |•| The Patriarch of Puppets |•|
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OFFICIAL STORY:
The Marvelous Mechanical Harlequin - Official Story (AO3)
"Thrilling Order Of The Hunt" comic |•| Stalemate (fic) |•| Touch-Starved (Post-boss!Ragatha) |•| Morning routines
OFFICIAL LORE SNIPPETS:
The Charmer, The Catalyst and The Inventor |•| Memory#1 |•|
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OFFICIAL ARTWORKS:
Coming soon!
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LORE-RELATED ASKS:
You can go here for that!
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NON-CANON:
"Come Back To Me." (showtime, ao3) |•| Cade, The Miracle star (Showtime fankid) |•| Anya, The Little sensitive Poppet (Jesterdoll fankid) |•| The Lady of Forgotten Memories' defeat |•| Who Broke It (Harlequin AU edition) |•| The Hole (Harlequin AU edition) |•| "Chandelier" fanart (fanfic, suggestive ⚠️) |•| ⚠️The Puppetmaster's Trophy Harlequin (dark themes, nihilistic/no happy ending)⚠️ |•|
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FAQs!
"Now, what exactly is 'The Marvelous Mechanical Harlequin' AU?"
Well I'm glad you asked! The Marvelous Mechanical Harlequin, or "Harlequin AU" for short, is a grimdark sci-fantasy story about "Puppets", whom are soul-infused robots, trying to regain their lost humanity in a broken world.
It follows Pomni, a short-tempered Combat Harlequin, as she explores the city of Circuits with the aid of Caine, The Puppetmaster.
However, as the story progresses, Pomni not only realizes that there's more to the grand scheme of things as she explores more and more, she also uncovers The Puppetmaster's story, and what secrets he may be hiding.
"How do the boss fights go down in the story?"
Action-packed, fast paced, involves a lot of dying on Pomni's part.
Even though this is inspired by a Souls-like, the boss fights go down more so like a mixture between Cuphead, Shadow of the Colossus, and God of War (2018/Raganarok). Mostly God of War.
"Are there going to be canon ships in this AU?"
Yes! The AU is very Showtime (Caine x Pomni) centric, and some of the story aspects of the AU are heavily surrounded on that. There is a bit of Jesterdoll (Pomni x Ragatha) in it, too.
Aside from these canon ships, all is fair game. The Puppets don't have ages seeing as to how they are robots (and were already adults prior to their conversion), so the possibilities are endless.
"Can I make fanarts/fanfics/make original content for your AU?"
Why, of course you can! In fact, I would REALLY love to see it, as long as it complies with my personal boundaries below. So don't be afraid to tag this blog, or @iamespecter in your posts if you want me to see it!
"What are the boundaries of the AU?"
Go wild! The AU's rating is pretty mature, if it wasn't obvious already for it's grimdark genre.
However... I would like to ask that if you would like to make something dark even for my standards for this AU (i.e non-con or dark kinks), all I ask is that you don't show it to me. I personally do not like it, and do not vibe with it.
"What are your thoughts about NSFW surrounding the AU?"
Suggestive content and NSFW is allowed! I am an adult, and I personally enjoy them. (I think I'll make a blog for the more... spicy things.)
Even I make suggestive content for this AU.
HOWEVER! Please tag it properly with "cw suggestive", "tw suggestive", "tw nsft" and various other tags for people who do not wish to see them, or are minors. I can't keep track of everything try as I might, so it'll be up to you to be a decent person, which I know you will be.
"I don't like showtime, but I find your AU interesting. Will that be a problem?"
For you, it might be. The story leans heavily around Pomni and Caine's relationship as a whole, and I'm sorry. I'm just really soft about them.
"Will this be anything like the original TADC?"
Yesss...? And no...? It takes a lot of creative liberty and inspirations from various medias.
⚠️ This masterpost is still under construction! Please excuse the technical difficulties. ⚠️
In the meantime, I hope you had a fun read nonetheless! Things will get updated overtime.
- Ziku/IAmESpecter
When an artist shares their work for free online, it can be easy to assume the art is free for everyone else to use too. So you grab it and include it in your own project, and all of a sudden an artist is mad at you, their fans are calling you out, you’re getting threatened with legal action—or even scarier, the artist’s publisher is threatening you with legal action.
One-shot comics and minicomics are especially susceptible to this misunderstanding because often they are seen as viral memes instead of art, or treated as public property. But is this really the case?
This guide will help you navigate using art you’ve found online. We’ll start with three basic questions:
1. Do I need to ask permission from the artist?
2. Do I need to give credit to the artist?
3. Do I need to pay the artist?
After that, we’ll offer some tips on how to approach the artist.
I wrote an article for Cartoonists United! CU has a great collection of resources to help the art community, and I was really excited to contribute.
If you don't know whether it's safe to use a piece of art you found online, if you don't know how to ask permission to use art, and if you are unsure of how to approach artists, read the article!
And if you're an artist who frequently finds your work being used without permission, spread this around so more people know the etiquette around using art online!
Can I Use That Art? A Guide to Approaching Artists and Cartoonists Online
Pathologizing: Hey sorry I yelled at you. I have this ADHD symptom called RSD that makes me really sensitive.
Humanizing: Hey, I’m sorry that I blew up like that earlier. In the moment I felt really attacked and overwhelmed and I reacted badly, but I know you didn’t mean to offend me with what you said, so that behavior is on me.
Because I just saw a post bitching about this one, I want to add: this post is saying that you need to take accountability for the way you hurt other people, even if it happens because of a symptom of your disability/illness. It's also saying that using terms (especially acronyms) that aren't common knowledge isn't a helpful way to explain yourself. It is NOT saying that you need to let people walk all over you because "your disability isn't an excuse."
If you're diabetic, you don't have to eat the honey glazed ham that will send you into a coma (their example). But you also can't yell at the person offering it and accuse them of trying to kill you. You can just say "thanks, but my body can't handle that kind of sugar intake, so I'll pass"
