Toresky

[niladhevan]

That meme! Time to honor nine of my friends and their beautiful, delicious, delectable original or fan characters! 

@seii-rei | @keytamine | @baubun @toresky | @leukaraii | @ladyfrany @buruburuburu | @mizunohoshi | @reversealchemistrpcrap

You all know how much I cherish what you do and who you are! Keep on being awesome 💖

[toresky]

[alwaysbewoke]

[whiskeysierra]

Freud was wrong about a lot of things but he had a point when he said that humor is a form of socially acceptable aggression

[minima--moralia]

Franz Kafka, the story goes, encountered a little girl in the park where he went walking daily. She was crying. She had lost her doll and was desolate. Kafka offered to help her look for the doll and arranged to meet her the next day at the same spot. Unable to find the doll he composed a letter from the doll and read it to her when they met. “Please do not mourn me, I have gone on a trip to see the world. I will write you of my adventures.” This was the beginning of many letters. When he and the little girl met he read her from these carefully composed letters the imagined adventures of the beloved doll. The little girl was comforted. When the meetings came to an end Kafka presented her with a doll. She obviously looked different from the original doll. An attached letter explained: “My travels have changed me…” Many years later, the now grown girl found a letter stuffed into an unnoticed crevice in the cherished replacement doll. In summary it said: “Every thing that you love, you will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form.”

Kafka and the Doll: The Pervasiveness of Loss.

[themoonphase]

I LOVE KAFKA

[creative-type]

Let’s Talk Character Design

So I’ve been super late to the party and only just recently found out that the excellent manga Vinland Saga is getting the anime it so richly deserves (assuming it’s actually good and doesn’t go the way of the Berserk remake…) and I figured that was as good an excuse as any to talk about one of my favorite character designs of all time. Meet Hild, killer of bears and all-around bad ass. 

Note: While Vinland Saga is an amazing viking-style epic with a great story and some wonderful characters, it is very bloody. This is especially true in the beginning with the main protagonist is basically an angry murder-child with little personality outside of his desire for revenge. He gets better. It’s also a monthly that’s been running since 2005 with no signs of stopping (it took about 50 chapters to get through the prologue alone) and it can be a painful wait once you get caught up. I’d say its best read in chunks, but once you get into the story it’s hard to pace yourself.

If awesome art and awesome vikings are in your wheelhouse go give it a read. Forewarning, Hild is a relative newcomer to the manga, so there will be spoilers under the cut.

Keep reading

[the-writers-society-deactivated]

5 Moral Dilemmas That Make Characters and Stories Even Better

Readers can’t resist turning pages when characters are facing tough choices. Use these 5 keys to weave moral dilemmas into your stories–and watch your fiction climb to new heights.

#1: Give Your Character Dueling Desires

Before our characters can face difficult moral decisions, we need to give them beliefs that matter: The assassin has his own moral code not to harm women or children, the missionary would rather die than renounce his faith, the father would sacrifice everything to pay the ransom to save his daughter.

A character without an attitude, without a spine, without convictions, is one who will be hard for readers to cheer for and easy for them to forget.

So, to create an intriguing character facing meaningful and difficult choices, give her two equally strong convictions that can be placed in opposition to each other.

For example: A woman wants (1) peace in her home and (2) openness between her and her husband. So, when she begins to suspect that he’s cheating on her, she’ll struggle with trying to decide whether or not to confront him about it. If she only wanted peace she could ignore the problem; if she only wanted openness she would bring it up regardless of the results. But her dueling desires won’t allow her such a simple solution.

That creates tension.

And tension drives a story forward.

So, find two things that your character is dedicated to and then make him choose between them. Look for ways to use his two desires to force him into doing something he doesn’t want to do.

For instance, a Mennonite pastor’s daughter is killed by a drunk driver. When the man is released on a technicality, does the minister forgive him (and what would that even look like?) or does he take justice into his own hands? In this case, his (1) pacifist beliefs are in conflict with his (2) desire for justice. What does he do?

Good question.

Good tension.

Good drama.

Another example: Your protagonist believes (1) that cultures should be allowed to define their own subjective moralities, but also (2) that women should be treated with the same dignity and respect as men. She can’t stand the thought of women being oppressed by the cultures of certain countries, but she also feels it’s wrong to impose her values on someone else. When she is transplanted to one of those countries, then, what does she do?

Construct situations in which your character’s equally strong convictions are in opposition to each other, and you will create occasions for thorny moral choices.

#2: Put Your Character’s Convictions to the Test

We don’t usually think of it this way, but in a very real sense, to bribe someone is to pay him to go against his beliefs; to extort someone is to threaten him unless he goes against them.

For example:

How much would you have to pay the vegan animal rights activist to eat a steak (bribery)? Or, how would you need to threaten her in order to coerce her into doing it (extortion)?

What would it cost to get the loving, dedicated couple to agree never to see each other again (bribery)? Or, how would you need to threaten them to get them to do so (extortion)?

What would you need to pay the pregnant teenage Catholic girl to convince her to have an abortion (bribery)? What threat could you use to get her to do it (extortion)?

Look for ways to bribe and extort your characters. Don’t be easy on them. As writers we sometimes care about our characters so much that we don’t want them to suffer. As a result we might shy away from putting them into difficult situations.

Guess what?

That’s the exact opposite of what needs to happen in order for our fiction to be compelling.

What’s the worst thing you can think of happening to your character, contextually, within this story? Now, challenge yourself—try to think of something else just as bad, and force your character to decide between the two.

Plumb the depths of your character’s convictions by asking, “How far will s/he go to … ?” and “What would it take for … ?”

(1) How far will Frank go to protect the one he loves?

(2) What would it take for him to stand by and watch the one he loves die when he has the power to save her?

(1) How far will Angie go to find freedom?

(2) What would it take for her to choose to be buried alive?

(1) How far will Detective Rodriguez go to pursue justice?

(2) What would it take for him to commit perjury and send an innocent person to death row?

Ask yourself: What does my character believe in? What priorities does she have? What prejudices does she need to overcome? Then, put her convictions to the ultimate test to make her truest desires and priorities come to the surface.

#3: Force Your Character into a Corner

Don’t give him an easy out. Don’t give him any wiggle room. Force him to make a choice, to act. He cannot abstain. Take him through the process of dilemma, choice, action and consequence:

(1) Something that matters must be at stake.

(2) There’s no easy solution, no easy way out.

(3) Your character must make a choice. He must act.

(4) That choice deepens the tension and propels the story forward.

(5) The character must live with the consequences of his decisions and actions.

If there’s an easy solution there’s no true moral dilemma. Don’t make one of the choices “the lesser of two evils”; after all, if one is lesser, it makes the decision easier.

For example, say you’ve taken the suggestion in the first key above and forced your character to choose between honoring equal obligations. He could be caught between loyalty to two parties, or perhaps be torn between his family obligations and his job responsibilities. Now, raise the stakes—his marriage is at risk and so is his job, but he can’t save them both. What does he do?

The more imminent you make the choice and the higher the stakes that decision carries, the sharper the dramatic tension and the greater your readers’ emotional engagement. To achieve this, ask “What if?” and the questions that naturally follow:

What if she knows that being with the man she loves will cause him to lose his career? How much of her lover’s happiness would she be willing to sacrifice to be with him?

What if an attorney finds herself defending someone she knows is guilty? What does she do? What if that person is her best friend?

What if your character has to choose between killing himself or being forced to watch a friend die?

Again, make your character reevaluate his beliefs, question his assumptions and justify his choices. Ask yourself: How is he going to get out of this? What will he have to give up (something precious) or take upon himself (something painful) in the process?

Explore those slippery slopes. Delve into those gray areas. Avoid questions that elicit a yes or no answer, such as: “Is killing the innocent ever justified?” Instead, frame the question in a way that forces you to take things deeper: “When is killing the innocent justified?” Rather than, “Does the end justify the means?” ask, “When does the end justify the means?”

#4: Let the Dilemmas Grow From the Genre

Examine your genre and allow it to influence the choices your character must face. For instance, crime stories naturally lend themselves to exploring issues of justice and injustice: At what point do revenge and justice converge? What does that require of this character? When is preemptive justice really injustice?

Love, romance and relationship stories often deal with themes of faithfulness and betrayal: When is it better to hide the truth than to share it? How far can you shade the truth before it becomes a lie? When do you tell someone a secret that would hurt him? For example, your protagonist, a young bride-to-be, has a one-night stand. She feels terrible because she loves her fiancé, but should she tell him what happened and shatter him—and perhaps lose him—or keep the truth hidden?

Fantasy, myth and science fiction are good venues for exploring issues of consciousness, humanity and morality: How self-aware does something need to be (an animal, a computer, an unborn baby) before it should be afforded the same rights as fully developed humans? At what point does destroying an AI computer become murder? Do we really have free will or are our choices determined by our genetic makeup and environmental cues?

#5: Look the Third Way

You want your readers to be thinking, I have no idea how this is going to play out. And then, when they see where things go, you want them to be satisfied.

There’s a story in the Bible about a time religious leaders caught a woman committing adultery and brought her to Jesus. In those days, in that culture, adultery was an offense that was punishable by death. The men asked Jesus what they should do with this woman. Now, if Jesus had told them to simply let her go free he would have been contravening the law; if, however, he told them to put her to death, he would have undermined his message of “forgiveness and mercy.”

It seemed like a pretty good trap, until he said, “Whoever is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.”

Nicely done.

I call this finding the Third Way. It’s a solution that’s consistent with the character’s attitude, beliefs and priorities, while also being logical and surprising.

We want the solutions that our heroes come up with to be unexpected and inevitable.

Present yours with a seemingly impossible conundrum.

And then help him find the Third Way out.

I hope this helped! I’ve been really busy today, seeing how my mom had surgery and I’ve been trying to continue writing my novel today as well. I thought I’d squeeze in some more stuff for you guys!

If you have any questions or just want to talk, feel free to visit my ask box!

[niladhevan]

‘Sup, it’s commissions time.

So huh some of you may know i was off to a pretty bad start this month and bad luck has kept striking me ever since! I had to pay for a new car and medical bills while my insurance has been delaying my repayment, my electricity supplier essentially robbed me of more than 4K euros I absolutely do not owe them and taxes are around the corner as well. I’m essentially broke right now.

So, uh. I hate to do that while feeling this miserable and demotivated and with a tendinitis BUT WHO WANTS COMMISSIONS ?? 

Simple sketched bust : 7€ (8.45 USD) Simple colored sketched bust : 13€ (15.69 USD) Detailed colored bust : 20€ (24.14 USD) Full body colored and shaded: 40€ (48.28 USD) A single character per commission this time pls I can’t draw mechs, anthros, animals or scenery to save my life I might refuse if what’s asked is too complex or makes me uncomfortable, sorry! I’m usually fast ! but pls understand if i’m a lil slow because tendinitis I’ll start with 5 slots ! be swift!

Mail me with your offer and a bunch of references at divin.kabar@gmail dot com

Thank you

[toresky]

Nil!

[toresky]

Jacqueline: So if they make a sound i get to kill them, right?

Musen “Radio”: Yup. if they make a sound they’re dead.

[toresky]

Turama’s daughter: Xiety. Turama marries a Mehi named Terroh. Xiety is not a typical Human / Mehi hybrid. She is actually an albino Mehi.

[toresky]

Naira’s new hair #4

I can’t decide on something. I lost my brushes in SAI, so i am experimenting with new ones until i can figure out what the settings for my old ones were

[toresky]

Random character design. Trying something spooky for October. This girl is haunted by a ghost that can poses articles of clothing. This is the battle regalia. Might be a character for my story Scary Farm.

[toresky]

Girls just want to have fun

[toresky]

Mother is dead.

Katrina who is possessed bu “La Katrina” (lady death) had a mother with the same power. 

[toresky]

Zarilil - Demonology Warlock

Never really used ink, so i hope that i get better this month

[toresky]

snakes and demons

[toresky]

oc from a story called scary farm where kids are possessed by monsters. this girl is possessed by a mummy in order to save her from life threatening injuries. her main power is summoning scarabs that aid her.

[toresky]

drawing some OCs. I never got to draw the oc based on Psy. I did one for each member of the old RC crew i used to rp with. 

[toresky]

Practice...you want to talk about practice?