1) Risus Monkey Fantasy Language Cypher

it's come to my attention that a lot of people don't know about bluemaxima's flashpoint and genuinely think they'll never be able to play their favorite 00s internet games ever again so i just want to remind everyone that flashpoint is a huge internet flash game preservation project that allows you to play just about any internet flash game/animation despite the death of flash. if they've got it in their database (and they probably do) you can play it. go forth and drink in the 00s nostalgia

even if you think there's no way they'll have the game u want. they probably do anyway. when i first downloaded flashpoint i thought for sure theres no way they will have the obscure flash game i played for hours as a kid that was only even available on the internet for like 2 months in 2006. but you know what. they had it. seriously, download flashpoint

magic system where “dark magic” and “light magic” are literal terms - dark magic consumes photons, making an area around the spell visibly darker, sometimes to an Extreme extent, and light magic releases photons.

because of this most dark mages tend to work in very brightly-lit areas (either artificial light or outside in the daytime) to fuel their spells and wear and use lightly coloured clothes and tools so that they’re easier to see in the dimness their spells create, whereas light mages wear heavy, sometimes leaden robes (depending on the work being done) and the magical equivalent of welding masks to protect themselves from what can be an extreme amount of light, and sometimes other kinds of electromagnet radiation!

needless to say this is incredibly confusing for anyone unfamiliar with the culture

lahore pigeons are some of the most visually appealing birds out there. like in terms of visual design. very minimalist, good contrast.

I’ve been a animals nerd for over three decades and sometimes I’m still just stunned speechless by the existence of an animal I didn’t know about

THIS IS GENUS PHYLLIROE.

IT EVOLVED JUST LIKE A FISH.

IT’S A GENUS OF SLUG.

For all my writers struggling with weaponry of the sword variety. 

reintroducing endangered manticore cubs to the wild

(rearing costume necessary to avoid imprinting)

What are some resources for people who want to better get into and analyze character design? I’ve been seeing posts in relation to a franchise I enjoys character design, and unlike a lot of people, I’d like to have my opinion be a bit more informed.

I always struggle to answer this kind of thing because my answer is "read a lot of criticism and maybe get a humanities degree in something."

This is art, so it's not really... there isn't really a handbook for this stuff. Everything in character design is utterly contextual, basically every rule that's true in one place is reversed in another.

I wish there were some books I could recommend, but the trouble is every time I've tried a book claiming to be "about character design" they tend to devolve into art tutorial books, or only speak to one very specific genre, or are more like personal treaties from specific artists outlining their specific approach.

All of these can be useful, to be clear! I'm not saying they're not worthwhile books. But I've yet to find something that addresses what people usually seem to be asking for, which is something like a learner's guide, or a kind of "introduction to character design."

ngl about five minutes away from deciding to write a book on character design myself, at least the very, very basics, it bothers me that somebody smarter than me hasn't done it yet

Most of what you need in order to understand and critique character design, though, you will find in art and literary history and in media studies of various forms. Learning a bit about semiotics is useful, learning a bit about media criticism and critical scholarship is useful.

Character design is a big complicated soup of things, so there's a big complicated list of ingredients that go into it. Read broadly, study broadly, the more things you understand and are familiar with, the more complex your thinking about design can become.

friendly reminder to pirate everything as often as possible and (above all) to do it safely.

FreeMediaHeckYeah is possibly one of the best resources I have seen collecting what is essentially every viable pirating site for all types of media, and I felt it needed to be shared!

fmhy.net

Welcome

The largest collection of free stuff on the internet!

(also make sure to check out their Beginners Guide for general information and safety tips!)

A master post of Thomas Romain’s art tutorials.

There’s not enough space to post all of them, SO here’s links to everything he has posted (on twitter) so far : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. 

Now that new semesters have started, I thought people might need these. Enjoy your lessons!

so I’m stuck being unable to draw and decided to have a go at mapping out Gladstone’s house, when it occurred to me that some of you don’t know about floorplanner.com which is basically the best thing ever for planning interiors/quick and easy reference for when you need to Draw That

it’s free (for one project), it’s really good, and it’s super duper easy to use- enjoy!