Puts The Ach In Zach

Illustration Student | K Rool/Falco main | Fish Dad | Contact: [email protected] Twitter: @ZachAdvanced Instagram @zach_advanced

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Not all heroes wear capes.

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I know I'm like 15 minutes late but...

Happy 25th Pokemon!

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One overlooked thing that really sets the Lord of the Rings films apart from other franchises is how earnest they are-

Most movies are so afraid of being “cheesy” that whenever they say something like “friendship is the most powerful force in the world” they quickly undercut it with a joke to show We Don’t Really Believe That! ;)  Even Disney films nowadays have the characters mock their own movie’s tropes (”if you start singing, I’m gonna throw up!”) It’s like winking at the camera: “See, audience? We know this is ridiculous! We’re in on the joke!”

But Lord of the Rings is just 12.5 hours of friendship and love being the most powerful forces in the world, played straight. Characters have conversations about how much their home and family and friends mean to them, how hope is eternal, how there is so much in the world that’s worth living for…. and the film doesn’t apologize for that. There’s no winking at the audience about How Cheesy and Silly All This Is; it’s just. Completely in earnest.

And when Lord of the Rings does “lean on the fourth wall” to talk about storytelling within the film, it’s never to make jokes about How Ridiculous These Storytelling Tropes are (the way most films do)…. but instead to talk about how valuable these stories can be. Like Sam’s Speech at the end of the Two Towers: the greatest stories are ones that give you something to believe in, give you hope, that help you see there are things in a bleak violent world that are worth living for

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Which is why it’s easily one of the best none fiction stories cause it’s kne of the few that can have dark mkments be elevated by such pleasent and happy heart full times

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It’s because Tolkien is one of the few still famously recognized writers that knew how powerful stories actually are. They inspire, teach and motivate. Jesus taught using parables and stories because they are one of the most effective forms of teaching. So did Buddha, Mohammed and other great teachers.  Lord of the Rings is a modern day epic because it embodies the same principles as all the great stories do, and that’s why Tolkien was a genius. Nowadays corporations just see stories as money making opportunities and thus try to cater to the widest demographic. And thus, are more empty and leave less of an impact.

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Spiky haired RPG protagonist with funny animal friends? Sure

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final project for my visual literacy class. we had to draw an animal being played like an instrument. I like those tin pan drum things, and they look kinda like turtle shells, so here you go. they're just vibing.

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another school assignment. It was an anthromorphic animal playing a sport for a magazine cover. I tried to go for some zootopia vibes.

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Character design assignment for digital painting class. My original OCs do not steal pls. 

 (also hopefully you'll be seeing more of these lads in bigger projects in the future)

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Tried out gouache paints for the first time for one of my classes. I had to do an animal head so I figured why not paint my big boy. It's not perfect but gouache is super fun, so I'll definitely be doing more.

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Another school assignment, this time it was to design a fantasy tree house. So I made a pelican post office. And yeah, it's inspired by Mystery Dungeon, just with normal pelicans.

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Yeah I like FNAF. It’s Halloween, don’t judge me.

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.....friend?

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A commission I did for my friend Stephen. This is actually photoreal, he is this beautiful in real life.

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Another class assignment, this time for digital painting. Painted over a frame of animation I liked, and made it look a little more cool

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Character silhouette project for my illustration techniques class. The character was supposed to be based in the Far East, so I went full weeb. Cat ninja.

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Anti-honesty hour. Ask me anything and I will respond with blatant lies.

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huge ack man

First assignment for my digital painting class, and first actual digital painting in general. Definitely not perfect, but I had a lot of fun doing it and I'm excited to do more!