It Really Does Only Take One Basket Of Laundry You Procrastinate Putting Away Before Your Whole Life

10-19-18

[orig]

Clip Studio Paint is Moving to Subscription, so…

I think now is a good as time as ever to tell people about the best art program that you’ve never heard of.

Autodesk Sketchbook Pro 8 was the last of the Pro series before the sketchbook brand was sold to another company, that only gives out a free shitty version of the program. They no longer sell the Pro versions, which are actually incredibly good, which means they are abandonware. The only way to get them now is through free downloads online, which doesn’t hurt anyone because literally no one is selling them.

Lets start with this image:

Every single component can be moved around. The bar at the top, the layer menu, the toolbar, the color picker, EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON SCREEN CAN BE MOVED. And also closed.

The top bar has most major tools artists need, giant red and green undo buttons so that it’s actually faster to tap those than reach for Ctrl + Z on a keyboard.

Magnifying Glass

The magnifying glass is the BEST MOVEMENT TOOL I’VE RUN INTO WITH ANY ART PROGRAM. With other art programs you get the scroll wheels on the bottom and sides of the screen that you have to individually control and a magnifying glass where you need to specifically switch between zoom in and zoom out mode, and the options to tilt the canvas are either limited or not there. Here it’s just. press. Drag. Press. Drag.

Select Tool

The select tool is basic with most of the options an artist might need or expect, all the different shape tools, a bar for the magic want to increase how intense it is, the option to add more to your selection or remove parts, an invert button, and the deselect buttons.

Cropping

The cropping tool automatically fits around your selection, which can be useful if you’re trying to make things like emojis where you want as little free space as possible. All of the edges and corners can be dragged, there are options to type in your own numbers, and the link bar to make it so your cropping stays the same shape when you move it, and the cancel and accept buttons.

Move Tool

The move tool is very similar to the magnifying glass, with the same method of movement and zooming and tilting. The move tool has extra things though like easy stretching, and if you have something selected it automatically tries to move that.

Transform Tool

The transform tool has a lot of options you can see in the gif. The circle in the middle makes it so you can move stuff in the middle.

Lagoon

Every single one of the options here is drag and drop. There are a total of 50 things you can just drag and drop for, and they are all assignable. You can customize putting any function in those 50 drag and drop slots. I highly recommend putting the flip canvas/flip layer options in there (there are vertical options as well!)

Layer Menu

The layers are as excellently straightforward as everything else in the program. Multiple one or two tap ways to do everything you need.

New layer? tap the + button, or drag up on the layer you want a new one on top of.

Want to delete a layer? drag.

Want to hide a layer? tap or drag.

Want a lower opacity? drag in either two areas.

And the layer menu is large enough you can actually SEE what’s on the layer! It’s not microscopic in some hidden corner!

Toolbar

The tools are highly customizable, have large icons, there are LARGE downloadable libraries of custom ones (that you don’t even need to leave the program to some website to download), and it’s really simple to make anything you want in here.

I’ll make a seperate post of the tools I’ve made + a download. I’ll link that post here when I make it.

Color/Brush Pucks

There are two pucks, the color and brush puck. They are both drag and drop.

With the brush puck, drag left or right for a smaller or bigger brush, and up or down for a lower or higher opacity.

With the color puck, drag left or right for more saturated or more de saturated colors, or up and down for lighter or darker colors.

You can also tap the color puck for a more limited color menu! The eraser button makes your brush go invisible. Which. Is so helpful. You can erase with any tool.

You can access the same limited color menu from the layer menu’s background button.

Color Editor

Extensive color wheel

optional pallet for you to save colors to

the eraser and eyedropper tool

an option to put in numbers if you like

a randomize option which is VERY VERY CUSTOMIZABLE and I use it for so many drawings (particularly pictures of space)

Paint Bucket

The paint bucket will color what you tap it on, or fill a selection if you have one.

It has a flat fill, two different gradient options.

When you have a gradient, the color puck gets a new menu for saving gradients to

Every single color is editable and movable. You can drag it.

Option to reverse the direction the gradient is going

a strength meter

an option for it to see other layers or just the one it’s on

Text

The text option is admittedly pretty limited, but it does its job. All the fonts are just the ones you have installed in windows

RULER AND CIRCLE TOOLS

many movement options

I have no idea what the use of the french curve is but it’s also there and similar

Perspective Tools

There is a robust perspective system but I don’t know it well enough to explain it. someone who actually uses these tools can lol

Symmetry Tool

Can be moved easily

Has option for cutting the screen horizontally rather than vertically

option for both at the same time

option to be able to go over the lines or not

option to hide it

option to stop yourself from moving it

Struggle with smooth lineart???

Steady Stroke makes it so that you drag your cursor rather than just draw, so you can get smoother lines. Easily increase how large the drag is

Predictive Stroke corrects your line after you make it, and you can change how much it tries to correct it. REALLY USEFUL FOR CIRCLES.

Conclusion

I barely even use buttons with my tablet because of how accessible this art program is. Why press undo with the button on my tablet when I can move my cursor a few inches? Why go through two different submenus to create a new layer when I can just drag upwards? Why create a mirror canvus button when I can just drag???

This art program is really obscure but I struggle to even imagine using something else. PLEASE give it a try if you’re struggling with your program and want to experiment with something else

<<FREE DOWNLOAD HERE>> 

<<20 DOLLAR PURCHASE HERE>>

REBLOG TO SAVE AN ARTIST

ALL* content warnings for trigun and trimax

my boyfriend and i have been compiling a warning list for trigun and trimax for anyone interested in starting the series, especially those finding the series through the trigun bookclub (over @trigunbookclub ) . it's taken quite a bit of work and im proud to turn it loose :]

i've tried to keep these as spoiler-free as possible for any new readers. while i read both the official dark horse translation as well as the @trigun-manga-overhaul translation, ill be using the overhaul translation by and large for clarity (and because im biased, and prefer the overhaul, and please go support their work). if you're using a different translation, please note that chapter titles and the language used will be different.

general warnings for TRIGUN are: frequent abuse of alcohol; frequent loss of autonomy, ie people being forced to do things against their will; passive suicidality; body horror; gun violence and corrupt authorities typical of the wild west genre; assume lots of blood and heaps of shooting. more specific warnings will be under the cut.

[Vol 1, Ch 01, "The $$60 Billion Double Dollar Man"] misogyny, sexual harassment towards women. [Vol 1, Ch 03, "Hard Puncher"] nondescript facial injury. [Vol 1, Ch 04, "Bang! Bang!"] heavy drinking. a child lies about their aunt being abusive and their uncle being a pedophile. [Vol 1, Ch 05, "Assault"] character is drugged. [Vol 1, Ch 06,"Die Hards"] character chokes a child, tosses child across room, and then rams a gun against their teeth. character almost pulls the trigger. [Vol 1, Ch 07, "Rem"] harm to a child. [Vol 1, Ch 08, "Duelists"] harm to a child. [Vol 1, Ch 09, "Between Wasteland and Sky"] harm to a child. organs are rendered. child is burned. [Vol 1, Ch 10, "Little Arcadia"] the arcadia arc centers around a conflict between a parent and their child. [Vol 1, Ch 11, "Son"] implied death of a child.

[Vol 2, Ch 01, "Blood and Thunder"] implied intent to harm a child. implied decapitation. [Vol 2, Ch 02, "Diablo"] someone is grabbed by the neck. [Vol 2, Ch 03, "Fragile"] character's arm is shot off. nondescript eye trauma. [Vol 2, Ch 04, "Scars"] character is heavily scarred. impaling. character is shown crucified with missing limbs. [Vol 2, Ch 05, "Murder Cafe"] loss of autonomy. women are enslaved. rape implied in text. misogynistic language. character is made to rip their heart out. organs rendered. copious amounts of blood. [Vol 2, Ch 06, "A Gathering of Demons"] copious amounts of blood. [Vol 2, Ch 07, "Demon's Eye"] copious amounts of blood. instance of vash misogyny where he jokes about groping someone. [Vol 2, Ch 08, "Fifth Moon"] character is shown to commit suicide, though their death isn't visualized. birthing scene. character is shown being mangled in a bloodless manner. loss of autonomy. character shoots themself to escape someone. [Vol 2, Extra, "Day In, Day Out"] narrowly avoided vehicular accident. misogynistic language. [Vol 2, Extra, "TRIGUN Pilot"] instance of vash misogyny where he upskirts a girl. facial gore.

A WooWoo to match Vash, everyone say thank you Nightow

Vash and Femininity: Trigun Stampede and its Themes of Bodily Autonomy, Exploitation, and Vague Gender Fuckery

alright sit the fuck down. we're gonna talk about THEMES

I was on Twitter- terrible idea usually, but a couple people I follow made some tweets that got me thinking about Trigun's overall themes, and here we are. So let's talk about some themes in Tristamp! And I'll take a couple looks at Trimax as well, just for fun :3

Let's look at how the showrunners utilize gender roles and exploitation of feminine characters to show how unhealthy Knives' obsession with his ideal of Vash is, and how horrific his exploitation of Vash and the Plants is.

Vash, from the beginning of Tristamp, is someone who cares about people's choices. When people kill others in front of him, he reiterates that whether someone lives or dies is not another person's choice to make. This is something he learned from Rem (a prominent female figure in his life). He refuses to kill people because that is not his choice to make. To kill someone is the ultimate removal of their bodily autonomy. They can no longer make any choices at all; they're dead.

Vash is also someone who has almost no choice in what path his life takes. He's constantly dragged around by outside forces, namely situations that are caused by Knives (which we'll get into later). Vash doesn't make things happen, things happen to Vash. The majority of events that occur are not his fault. He's pushed and pulled in a thousand different directions. His entire life is completely out of his control.

This can be seen as early on in his life as the Fall, something he had no control over and had no idea he even had a part in. Even later, in the ship with Luida and Brad, after he's been rescued from the desert, he's kept in handcuffs right up until he's shown to be of use to them and the Plant on their ship. After that, he could theoretically say "no, I don't want to go to other ships and heal their plants," but he doesn't. He's Vash. He's helpful and nurturing at his core, and these people have done so much for him just by letting him stay, so he'll do whatever they ask, no question.

This carries over into his adulthood. At Jeneora Rock, he goes to look at their Plant at one simple request, doesn't protest when he's dragged into a duel-- he doesn't take initiative unless someone's life is immediately at stake. He lets people tell him what to do and lets himself get dragged around by the wrist. He doesn't even pretend to have control over his life like Trimax Vash does, which I mean. Fair. Why pretend to have a grip on your existence when it's impossible to do anything without a gun pointed at your head?

Vash is a very passive character. He's nurturing, kind, gentle- he's a guy that fits a lot of very typical feminine character stereotypes. If you wrote this same story but made him a woman, I wouldn't bat an eye (but I would definitely be looking at it a lot more critically, what with the amount of stereotypically nurturing/motherly female characters in media already.)

This contrasts directly with Knives. He makes a decision and carries through no matter what stands in his way. He takes initiative. If Vash is a passive character, Knives is an active character. Wherever he goes, he leaves a lasting imprint. He makes shit happen! If outside forces make things happen to him, he'll go out of his way to make sure that particular force doesn't affect him again.

These two tweets I saw are what got me thinking about this originally. I just feel like here's a good place to put them as a segue into talking about episode 11.

Episode 11 is where a lot of this feminine imagery really just. Explodes in your face. IT'S RIGHT THERE. You can't dance around it if you try. And it kind of reaches a peak when the connection reaches 100%, the gate opens, and. well. THIS happens to the Plants.

Plants, in both Trimax and Tristamp, are almost always typically feminine-looking. Knives and Vash are the only two who are male or even masculine at all. Knives, as the most masculine out of all of them, is the one trying to take charge, and mould the world as he sees fit, to a degree that is detrimental to both him and everyone else. And Vash-- passive, feminine, kind and nurturing, whose Angel Arm in the manga always sprouts decidedly feminine-looking Plant parts-- is the one being exploited for Knives' plans. It's no mistake that they made the giant plant formation at the end of ep 11 look like a giant woman that almost resembles Rem.

Vash wants people to make their own choices and keep their autonomy when it comes to their bodies and lives. Knives is the exact opposite. He wants all Plants to become independent and he uses Vash to achieve that goal, without asking what Vash wants or even knowing what the Plants themselves would prefer. He exploits Vash for the soul purpose of trying to make these Plants have Independent Plant babies. He's completely incapable of seeing that his choices are not for the greater good! He thinks he's saving them, but none of his actions are for the good of anyone but himself. He’s just violating them for his own gain.

They're really leaning into gender roles for these guys, but in a way that screams "HEY, LOOK AT THIS! ISN'T IT FUCKED UP? LOOK AT HOW FUCKED UP THAT IS. LOOK AT THIS, AND BE UNCOMFORTABLE, AND KNOW THAT IT IS FUCKED UP."

Because it is! It's so extremely fucked up. They're using this imagery and these roles, something that makes most of us intrinsically uncomfortable, to drive home how unhealthy Knives relationship with his ideal of Vash is. That's the point. We're supposed to be uncomfortable with this.

Now of course there's some nuance to it. Like, you could see Knives as somewhat of a feminine and/or queer-coded figure as well, ESPECIALLY if you look at some of his panels in the manga, which could in turn lead to themes about infighting and control within marginalized communities, but that might be something for another post. :3

And there's definitely different ways you could take this! Vash, with all this feminine imagery, could be either transfem or transmasc coded, depending on what way you'd rather see it, which could lead into themes of how people outside the norm constantly face a lack of bodily autonomy and are exploited for purposes outside their boundaries. We could also look at Wolfwood and his lack of choice over joining the Eye of Michael and becoming the Punisher, and how masculine men (particularly men of colour) are often forced into violent roles against their will. If we look at Trimax, the exact same could be said for Livio/Razlo and people with disorders such as DID/OSDD.

There are many different ways you could spin these themes, some of which I don't feel personally qualified to discuss. If anyone who is qualified to talk about Wolfwood or Livio/Razlo or even other characters related to these themes, then god PLEASE add onto this post or make a post and tag me or something. I would love to read it!

Anyway, in conclusion: Vash is a feminine figure constantly taken advantage of and exploited and and he's so incredibly trans/nonbinary-coded that it drives me insane. Thank you

some Saigenos related drawings

Here are the first sets of recipe cards I did for the Yugioh Cookbook Zine!

served my duty as an autistic artist and made a bunch of autism creature reaction images

of my many favorite vw confirming trimax moments, this one is undeniable

protector