Downtown Khazan: Ice Cold Utopia

[grampagen]

All my comics work and like 70% of the art I do is all digital so I'm already in Photoshop.

Doesn't make lettering any less tedious or frustrating. It's just not a fun part of the job.

Yep, I'd have to agree. Even if you're working with vectorized letters...you're still dealing with hundreds of letters, blocks of which need to be stylized consistently, spaced correctly, and placed just so.

I often found that the pages and panels I'd thought I'd worked out, suddenly, I'd have no space for the dialogue and SFX. Amazing how such a small thing can make or break a page; the old standby 'less is more' definitely applied there.

The meticulous timesink of it all really made me appreciate manga translators - and scanslators >_> - and understand why this is often its own separate department in some organizations.

But carry on! In some cases you might find experimenting with the letters might lead to working it as a part of the page composition itself!

[Nik Hasta]

But carry on! In some cases you might find experimenting with the letters might lead to working it as a part of the page composition itself!

I'm carrying on, though I'm hardly trying to reinvent with the wheel with it. I just want this comic done so I can say I've done the thing.

Currently due to work on page 18 out of 33, with two pages of the 18 needing some form of redraw or overhaul. It's gonna be a rough, somewhat ugly little thing but it'll be done and that's what's important.

Also I'm pleased with how some of the colouring has gone so far, even though I clearly have no plan and am largely winging it.

The process of doing this has been very instructional and I have picked up a lot of skills about planning and sequencing that will be invaluable for the next comic I try to make but I had to trip over a lot of mistakes to get to that point. Making comics is fun but it's also very hard ;_;

[Postmania]

Came across this in my feed, gotta love a throwback

[bruceleegreyhulk]

[Postmania]

Sonantic, a leader in developing fully expressive AI-generated voice software for film and gaming studios, has produced a video in collaboration with a Hollywood client entitled "What's Her Secret?" The video surprises viewers when it's revealed that, while the woman on screen is a real person, the main character speaking is an AI. Launched on Valentine's Day, the video aims to demonstrate how entertainment studios can leverage AI to create hyper-realistic romantic encounters.

[Sharpandpointies]

Huh. Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act in response to the convoy disruptions to national and cross-border supply chains.

This effectively gives the Federal government capacity to do things like freeze bank accounts to stop cash flow and supplement police powers. The latter I'm a little more wary of, given the lack of police action over the last few weeks when they could have done something at the start instead of shrugging and shaking hands as this whole rabble built up.

...of course being a rube who checks news on Twitter, I saw #Chinada is trending, and my sides left orbit. The brazen gall, really; if that were the case, there wouldn't be a tent city - sponsored by a mix of various companies, foreign interests, and grassroots donators, by the way - right now, nor would there have been nearly three weeks of unsanctioned assembly and noisy block parties broadcasted internationally.

How does one make 'FREEDOM' their maxim, yet be at a loss of how much they've squandered and taken for granted?

They have a right to protest, sure, but blocking common people off from supply chains and trade while yelling about how this is being done for them makes the gesture hollow, as if using their interests as a shield. There was a lot of tough talk about 'revolution' with this display, and...well, here's consequences.

Overall I feel this whole thing has been little more than performative and incoherent, but now things are probably going to get unnecessarily chaotic. But they finally got Trudeau to acknowledge them, I guess.

Agreed with all of the above.

Trudeau is about one to two weeks too late with this, but I can't complain about it going into action. It's extremely targeted, limited to specific areas only (not 'martial law across Canada', we're talking about specific infrastructure), and I'm cool with actual penalties being levied against insurrectionists who are fine with hate groups and use their children as shields.

The Ottawa cops have been useless, and have on at least three occasions been filmed allowing protestors to use them for photo-ops or clearly stating to a group of protestors 'I support your perspective and agree with it'. So yeah, huge sympathies in the police force - unsurprising given their unions' stance on vaccine mandates and the right-wing element - which is likely the majority of the reason for the hand-wringing and 'but we don't know what to dooooo'. I hope Sloly gets the boot after this, but they'll just replace him with a carbon copy. This forces their hand, somewhat.

And the whining...jeez. Freedom is what it means to them; doesn't matter what it does to other people, or who they hurt, or with whom they ally. Or consequences. Yeah, you're right - a lot of them talked about the government needing to be overthrown, that the GG should step in and kick out Trudeau (do they even understand that's now how the government works?), etc. Suddenly we have consequences, and the wailing starts. Regardless, they have the choice of GTFO before those consequences hit hard, so...that's also on them. Nobody is forcing them to stay in this occupation that is harming the residents of the area.

I'm desperately hoping there's no escalation to violence. Many of these idiots brought their kids with them.

And if the real hardcore, radicalized ones actually lose jobs/livelihoods due to this (their own damn fault, really, so I'm not crying about that part though I'm sorry for their kids...on many levels...), I'm worried about what they might do next (with nothing else to lose).

[Dark Soul # 7]

They have made some... interesting choices for this Rescue Rangers movie.

[Nik Hasta]

They have made some... interesting choices for this Rescue Rangers movie.

---snip---

...

I see Disney is leaning harder into its ongoing trend of being meta, deconstructionist and self-referential in its output.

This film specifically kind of feels like the logical endpoint of them becoming, like, the only media IP giant in town. Not unlike Space Jam 2 or even Ready Player One both were to some degree.

Very much the "look at these things that you know and see how they have changed over time as you have also changed," *winks and looks to camera* school of filmmaking.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Cool.

And would you look at that, looks like some audiobook versions of Zelazny went up on the 8th of this month.

Still gonna scour for hardcopies because I love physical books, but audiobooks are great for a 10-12 hour shift.

It's tricky, and it's introduced and explained SLOWLY through the series. But one of the points that is made early in the series to the main character is that if she messes with a dragon's stuff, the dragon will kill her. And not really give shits. Why? As important as she is right now, she'll live maybe...what? 60 more years? Then die anyway.

She's literally nothing to them other than a curiosity in the CURRENT time (which is a tiny slice of their endlessly long lives). Their 'stuff' is more important than her. Their PRIDE is more important than her (because that'll be important long after she is dust). So while she may be important to the current situation, in the grand scheme of things she. Is. Nothing.

In one book, there's also an enormously long discussion of 'why etiquette IS important, not something you can just shrug off and say "But that's all just BS"' which I feel all player characters should read (and also has to do with 'we can't bring you in front of the Dragon Emperor now, he'll literally be forced to kill you.').

See this sounds like exactly what I'm looking for.

More...Sons of Fëanor at their shittiest level of nasty bastards. I mean, they're all grossly superior to a human (the main character is careful to point out that as good a fighter as she is, her against a Barrani armed with a stick probably means she loses anyway, unless she REALLY lucky). They're all immortal. They're perfect, appallingly so, and know it, regarding nothing but dragons as peers. Many of them are mages. And, like dragons, if they feel a human is a problem, well.

There's more to the immortality than that - some REALLY interesting ideas - but the whole 'you're just a sliver of time, don't expect me to be broken up if you die and don't expect me to spare you if you honk me off enough' is surprisingly well-done.

Edit: First book is a little rough, but decent. There's some stuff in the series I'm not entirely fond of, but it's generally solid for me. Also, the dark, brooding romantic interest is a prick, and I don’t think we’re SUPPOSED to like him.

All sounding good, especially if the romantic interest is a bag of jerks. Means I can tune it out and focus on the fun bits.

If you like odd, well-done writing, his short story collections are normally worthwhile as well.

Bit more miss than hit, admittedly, but fitting I think.

I am Cthulhu, weird stuff is my jam.

Yeah, I read that. Nice ego on them, eh?

Seems more likely they should have said 'The book Tolkien would not have written.'

Yea...

At the least, I'll still watch the first episode when it airs. I use Amazon Prime because frankly, without it I'd be spending more on shipping for things I need, than the things I need themselves, and that comes with their video for free. Is how I watched Invincible at any rate.

[Sharpandpointies]

And would you look at that, looks like some audiobook versions of Zelazny went up on the 8th of this month.

Still gonna scour for hardcopies because I love physical books, but audiobooks are great for a 10-12 hour shift.

10-12 hour shift. Ouch.

especially if the romantic interest is a bag of jerks. Means I can tune it out and focus on the fun bits.

Sadly, he's difficult to ignore. And is one of two, the other one being vastly preferable but often oddly forgotten by the author. Fortunately, the entire series doesn't balance on romance - it's just kind of there - so you can just keep hating the dark, brooding one.

At the least, I'll still watch the first episode when it airs. I use Amazon Prime because frankly, without it I'd be spending more on shipping for things I need, than the things I need themselves, and that comes with their video for free. Is how I watched Invincible at any rate.

Let me know how it goes. ^_^

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

10-12 hour shift. Ouch.

Well, it's not a five-day week, just 4-10s (if I'm not dealing with overtime), so is great 'me' wise. Quite like the three days off, two light days, two 'heavy' days. In a way, it's five days off (because my first two days, are very very light work), in exchange for two days of guaranteed overtime.

Better than what I was doing previously, too.

Sadly, he's difficult to ignore. And is one of two, the other one being vastly preferable but often oddly forgotten by the author. Fortunately, the entire series doesn't balance on romance - it's just kind of there - so you can just keep hating the dark, brooding one.

You doubt the power of my attention deficit disorder.

Let me know how it goes. ^_^

Painfully I assure you, but as with all recent media I've tasked myself with watching to appraise. It's not gone well.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

They have made some... interesting choices for this Rescue Rangers movie.

Hmm I wonder how much Disney paid Harsbo to have My Little Pony in this.

[The MunchKING]

Before I saw the trailer I thought it would be a spin off of their new Duck Tales origin story, not another "Cartoons in live action" movie.

[grampagen]

I'm carrying on, though I'm hardly trying to reinvent with the wheel with it. I just want this comic done so I can say I've done the thing.

Currently due to work on page 18 out of 33, with two pages of the 18 needing some form of redraw or overhaul. It's gonna be a rough, somewhat ugly little thing but it'll be done and that's what's important.

Also I'm pleased with how some of the colouring has gone so far, even though I clearly have no plan and am largely winging it.

The process of doing this has been very instructional and I have picked up a lot of skills about planning and sequencing that will be invaluable for the next comic I try to make but I had to trip over a lot of mistakes to get to that point. Making comics is fun but it's also very hard ;_;

Preaching to the choir, here.

Learning by failure is a necessity, makes you aware of your limitations...but man, it involves failure, and that's always gonna be thing to come to grips with. Still, glad to hear you're making progress.

[bruceleegreyhulk]