This breaks it down a bit more toward the level I need
good tutorials are few and far between ( a lot of artists seem to get caught up in the superficial trappings of portraiture rather than the nitty gritty fundamentals), but these breakdowns by Bryan Lee are just fantastic. Super applicable tips and tricks, no matter your personal technique/approach.
OKAY, so I was wondering whether I could find some place that posted Sailor Moon screencaps or turnaround sheets so I could write about how it handles fashion, and it turns out there’s a website for exactly that. Tagged by character and everything. Perfect.
So let’s continue our discussion about fashion as character design! Here’s a narrative that has to balance a large, female-heavy cast and make sure they are identifiable at all times, especially since they aren’t in their trademark color-coded uniforms most of the time. How does Sailor Moon tackle fashion and make it work in service of their characters?
What’s particularly impressive is that the superheroes’ civilian clothes aren’t limited to a single color, the way you might see in, say, Power Rangers. (Could you imagine wearing yellow outfits every day for the rest of your life just because you’re the Yellow Ranger? Blugh.) Instead, Sailor Scouts are recognizable in their civilian clothes because each one has a distinct silhouette, style, and palette.
Sailor Moon’s civilian wear, for example, is overly childish and girly. She wears ribbons, bows, and overalls. Her clothes have cartoon mascots on them, particularly bunnies (a pun on her Japanese name, Usagi, which means “rabbit.”)They match her ditzy, immature personality.
Mercury’s modest skirts and pastel cardigans match her quiet, straight-laced character, while Mars wears shorter, sleeker, more ladylike outfits that reflects her more sassy (and bossy) personality. Venus is all about bright colors and loose, sporty dresses ‘cause she’s got such a peppy, can-do attitude.
Jupiter is easy to distinguish from the others just by being taller and more physically imposing. I love the way they handle Jupiter’s style because she’s portrayed as a gentle, feminine girl who is still undeniably “the muscle” of the group. Her clothes are girly (frills! pencil skirts!) but they’re cut to accentuate her fuller figure and keep her looking large and powerful. I love that.
A lot of the characters’ fashions work well in pairs to contrast and work off of each other. Mini-Moon’s pink, blue, and candy-stripe-red palette doesn’t pop quite so much until she’s juxtaposed with her friend Hotaru, who dresses in black and dull monochromes. What’s more, as their friendship grows, you can see Hotaru start accenting her dark outfits with a single bright color.
And, of course, Uranus and Neptune’s amazing butch/femme combo.
Look at those classy broads.
More deconstruction of Sailor Moon’s character designs.
written by @zolarmoon on 10/28/2015
Y'all wanna hear a story about why me and this bitch here fell out???????? It’s kind of long but full of suspense 😂😭
Just a heads up, the deadline for the second WeLoveFine T-shirt contest is this Friday! It’s being judged by our very own wonderful and talented cast and the winner gets their design made into a real shirt! So hurry and finish your designs and vote for your favorites!
This is something that's been weighing on me and I don't have an acceptable answer so I'm hoping that someone with a producer's point of view can provide a bit of insight. How can or how should comic book consumers consume comics with the knowledge that companies are hiding people who are known "bad actors" being if not actively hidden then passively ignored. I stopped buying comics from one, then another, now Dark Horse has issues. What, if anything, can or should be done?
Hmm…the short version is “there is no such thing as an unproblematic fave and never has been” (even Jesus had a temper) I guess but the long version will let me organize some thoughts I’ve had percolating about Life in 2015 from the top down:
I’m a free black man living in the United States of America in 2015. My tax money is used to support for-profit wars and drone strikes at funerals when it isn’t actively funneled away from the communities I grew up in and the schools that I and people like myself went to. I have a medical marijuana card that lets me do a thing that other people I know or resemble have done an unforgivable and unreasonable amount of time in prison for. And I mean, Ronald Reagan was certainly a dude who screwed up black people, and a lot of other people, through both negligence and malice, and we’re still feeling those effects today.
I work in an industry rife with issues, many of which have very, very easy solutions that are consistently utterly defeated by the systemic, structural, and personal forces at work. (Couldn’t fit “craven” in that sentence but I should’ve tried harder.) There are people in comics I know for a fact have been telling other people in the industry racist stuff about me, but I can’t address it because I know how popularity contests work and I’m not trying to end up in some gossip rag. I’d rather scrap in the streets than that.
Right now, I’m typing a response to you on a Mac, watching Top Gun on an iPad, and texting a couple friends on an iPhone. When I get home this evening, I’m going to play either MGS V or NBA 2k16 on my PlayStation 4. One thing all of those devices have in common is that it often takes inhumane levels of crunch time to create software for them, and coltan, which must be mined. It’s generally mined in places like certain areas of Africa, China, and South America. It batters the environment, and the production/mining process is often closely tied to militia groups and criminals.
My favorite genre of music, the only one I connect to on a “this makes me wanna weep” level, is rap, which is often hateful toward women and occasionally toward gay folks.
I like lemonade a lot, and a friend pointed out that 69% of the lemonade produced worldwide is courtesy of child labor.
Nah, but for real: I don’t have an answer for you. I can’t. Assuming you live in America in 2015 and you have any type of internet, you’re already drowning in compromise. Drowning is probably too small a word for it, honestly. Life under capitalism means that somebody’s getting the shaft, or falling down a mine shaft, or whatever, pretty much every single time, to varying degrees. Sometimes it’s just getting paid a little bit less than you are worth. Sometimes it’s going to work and knowing good and well that you might lose a limb because your boss doesn’t think you’re a human being like they are. We’re complicit by default, and maybe actively, too.
It sucks and I don’t know what to do about it. What you’re asking is intensely personal. I can’t tell you boycott this or that, even if I’m personally doing it, because I came to that decision based on my conscience and personal morality. I think the only way to be “right” in this world is to retreat from it, to exist apart from it, and that’s true of comics, too, I feel.
But here’s what I do: when my conscience flares up, I think about it. I figure out where I stand and why. I think about what I can do to help the harm, and whether or not my help actually helps or just makes me feel better. There’s rappers I grew up loving I don’t give a second thought to now, except to mourn the wasted potential. I try to figure out whether the harm it does is worth the benefits it brings me. (That sounds cruel, but every single person alive does that math every day. See also: cigarettes) And then I feel bad a lot, because I have never found a good answer to anything and have to go with my gut, which means compromising what I believe on some level.
Ted Cruz got a lot of flack for liking Watchmen’s Rorschach from the peanut gallery but…you know that part where he’s like, “Not even in the face of Armageddon. Never compromise”? He’s a lunatic and a dirtbag, but that stuck with me, because I’m not there yet and dunno how to get there, short of moving to the mountains with my old lady and our dogs, but even then I’d have to pay somebody who paid somebody who paid somebody who paid somebody to steal that land from somebody else.
Here’s what should be done: people should stop doing stupid, hurtful, or hateful things. (We should probably also reconfigure capitalism and the way we live our lives, but that’s kinda the same thing, I reckon.) Easy! Here’s what can actually be done: living with the mess we’ve made as best we can and hoping that our actions can cause change.
So I dunno yo. I don’t think there are acceptable answers. If you feel led to abstain, abstain. If you feel led to partake, partake, but do it with real eyes. Don’t justify it. Admit it. If you feel led to partake, critique, and abstain with no readily apparent rhyme or reason, do that, too. But that’s something you’ve gotta figure out, because I can’t tell you what’s right for you. Use your weight for good if you can, but don’t pretend like you are when you’re not.
“I download music to stick it to the record companies.” Nah son, you’re out here downloading music because it’s free.
Once you start looking, you’ll think about this stuff a lot, though. The rabbit hole is deep, dark, and depressing. Find a balance that fits whoever you are, something you can live (or be relatively okay) with.
Lemonade was a popular drink and still is, though.
I was wondering how many webcomics there were out there with black protagonists (for my own reference). Then I figured plenty of other folks would love to see a list. So heeeeere we go! (Please reblog and add more!)
Last Updated 9/16/2015 at 8:21 am! Make it grow!
wow
I never tire of answering questions, but most of them are basic and un involved. Everyone wants to know what clay I use and what paint I buy, but not how I carve eyes. So I make a post that might be easier to read for the simple stuff:
Basic questions answered:
Clay used: Super Sculpey / Firm Sculpey mix. If you want to do this, invest in a pasta machine. Trust me. Clay texture is extremely important. Soft clay is good for organic forms and firmer clay is good for large smooth shapes and details. I prefer a firmer clay myself, but not so firm I have to carve. Sculpey likes Vaseline. I’m not a kink. Trust me. For oil clay I think Chavant Beau Touche has the most sculpey like texture, but I don’t use oil clay.
Steel wire: varies depending on the sculpture - 16Gauge steel floral wire is the standard for 3-4" figures, but I can use up to 10 Gauge for heavier figures. The wire should fit inside the sculpture and be strong, but not hamper the exterior forms. Sometimes aluminium armature wire, if it can’t be avoided, but I prefer not to.
CA Glue: Used with baking soda to instantly bond armature before applying Plumber’s Epoxy. In thick and thin formulas, they also fill cracks. I am chem sensitive to non odorless, if you get really intense flu like symptoms that don’t go away but get worse while using non odorless, get the odorless kind, either super gold or red baron brands. No one told me this when they gave me the glue and I suffered for 4 months not knowing why I was sick. Chem sensitivity can take months to develop so it’s not always an instantaneous, obvious reaction. They had treated it like using it was nothing and safe, all the while warning us about epoxy and spray paint.
Plumber’s Epoxy: Used for armature. Like Epoxy clay only it has steel in it. It can bear alot of weight and dries in minutes. MIX WITH GLOVES ON IF YOU ENJOY THE USE OF YOUR LIVER. (that means you, Dean)
Epoxy clay: which air dries. It’s textured so the sculpey holds on. Also used to hand bases, and flying hair and cloth as it is strong even when thin. Also mix with gloves on. Set it with a 60W lamp for faster set time, but not too hot or it will bubble.
Tooling Foil: Used as wing bases, and molds for cloth. Peels right off dried epoxy with no trouble. This shit is brilliant. Invest in some. It’s also sharp as fuck when cut. Invest in being careful or band-aids.
Cork: various sizes, round. They act as bases for the sculpt so it can be removed and sculpted from all angles. The sculpt is then remounted on a wood base when done and the cork re used. If you need them, try widgetco.com.
Tools: http://viistar.deviantart.com/art/TOOLS-374477978 Most of these are hand made from basic balsa wood tool sets. sanded to 600 grit wet or dry and then oiled with basic 3 in one. Some of my tools are named for the sculpts that spawned them, like Vaulker’s cloth fold tool, Cas’s face tool, and Kiki’s Pumpkin tool. There are some dental tools, though these days I just make smaller wood ones if the need arises. Color shapers aren’t used very often, but when you need them, you need them. Wire and ribbon tools and exacto knife are very useful. Smoothed: Smooth wood tools, 99% alcohol, sandpaper, white putty, thick primer, soft brushes to paint. Paint: Golden Acrylics, set of 12 basic with some accent colors. Get warms and cools and figure out how to properly mix paint. Use PS or SAI to ‘see’ the color isn’t what you think it is. Red is never red straight out of the bottle - there is white, green, or yellow in it. Use soft brushes and a good coat of primer. I use Krylon indoor outdoor flat white. Take your time.
Finished: with Matte poly so the paint isn’t glossy all over, which I think is hideous, regardless of how well the sculpt is made. No offense. Sculpts can be accented with glossy poly after this or embellished with crystals, props, etc. I’m testing out a new matte, which should work better than the spray! stay tuned! Edit: Replace threaded rods with tough plastic rods from http://www.tapplastics.com/. they look nicer when finished, if you can’t make a blind support.
Don’t hesitate to experiment and find your own techniques. There isn’t ONE way to do anything.
Examples are here: http://viistar.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=scraps Demo vids: http://www.livestream.com/the_ViiStar https://www.youtube.com/user/theVIIStar
Good luck
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
i know, i know..quit asking dumb ass questions to the internet and drop your album. haha
BLACK MEN ON TV, FALL 2014
Crispus Allen, Gotham (FOX) || Jackson Avery, Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) || J. Martin Bellamy, Resurrection (ABC) || Winston Bishop, New Girl (FOX) || Wallace Boden, Chicago Fire (NBC) || Coach, New Girl (FOX) || Harold Cooper, The Blacklist (NBC) || John Diggle, Arrow (CW) || Marcellus Gerard, The Originals (CW) || Wes Gibbins, How to Get Away with Murder (ABC) || Sam Hanna, NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS) || Raymond Holt, Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) || Frank Irving, Sleepy Hollow (FOX) || Dean Iverson, Gracepoint (FOX) || Terence Jeffords, Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) || Andre Johnson, Black-ish (ABC) || Pops Johnson, Black-ish (ABC) || Nate Lahey, How to Get Away with Murder (ABC) || Peter Mills, Chicago Fire (NBC) || Derek Morgan, Criminal Minds (CBS) || Tedward Mulray, Bad Judge (NBC) || Billy Soto, The Mysteries of Laura (NBC) || Odafin Tutuola, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC) || Leon Vance, NCIS (CBS) || Richard Webber, Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) || Joe West, The Flash (CW)
YAAASSSSS
