Messages

1

MR Pub / Re: Chit Chat 2023

« on: Today at 02:24:04 PM »

khahahaha well I work at a school so thankfully I'm not taking the exams...phew XD
you going to Japan? for real? I really want to go I haven't been yet!!!!

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Music / Re: The Manimal's Music

« on: Today at 10:21:56 AM »

you're welcome :P

also another couple of things I forgot to mention that I thought while listening to your songs are:
-overall a lot of the songs sound very similar. obviously your chosen style and genre will cause that to a degree but I think even within your genre you can vary it up a bit more. I can't quite pin it down but possibly more variance in the instruments maybe, as well as varying volume and pace. obviously your better songs do this and this makes them distinct and different from all the other ones so they are more memorable.
-in line with the above point, I notice that the vocal melody is quite similar in a lot of the songs, and so not many songs had a particular bit where it stands out as different or memorable. having a distinct/unique melody for the vocals, especially if it's got catchy bits means the song can be whistled or hummed and you can still recognize the piece, even from such a few notes sometimes (e.g. the opening of Blue Bird from Naruto). Again some of your songs have done this, such as Tsunko and Through the Door, although not always through the whole song. I think working on this would make a massive difference to your songs, especially if it was all the way through the song with a distinct melody.

I don't know if that's easy or difficult to do, or even if it makes sense, but hopefully it helps if only a bit :P

By the way have you tried recording your own anime covers? I might have asked that before...
I think you were vaguely aiming at an anime/Jpop style?
The reason I think that might be a good thing to try is, you can compare your version to the original after you've copied it and see how it compares. If it sounds quite close then you've got the skills in execution but composition needs work, but if it doesn't sound too much like the original then the core skills need work. Just like copying a picture in art and analysing how well you did.
You can do the same with the karaoke version of the original to specifically check your singing ability separately.

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MR Pub / Re: Chit Chat 2023

« on: Today at 10:03:06 AM »

thanks :)
indeed, work's been pretty stressful with exam season, but that's over now so I'm glad for the rest now.

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Members Workshops / Re: SKETCH SURVIVAL!!!!!!!!

« on: Today at 10:01:58 AM »

Day 53: on Easter break from school now hoping to rev myself up to peak performance again.

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Members Workshops / Re: SKETCH SURVIVAL!!!!!!!!

« on: March 27, 2023, 05:31:47 PM »

@slam an awesome idea! glad to have the company, and that's a great day 1, comfort zone or not :P
tbh almost all my sketches are in my comfort zone, there's no shame in that XD

Day 52: ran out of time today due to working overtime. so just a quick one today.

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MR Pub / Re: Chit Chat 2023

« on: March 27, 2023, 05:04:09 PM »

@midsummer good to see you round!
as far as goings go, I'm, uh, going :P

just started my easter break so I've got 3+ weeks off to do extra art. I'm hoping to finish planning my manga stories, finish off my throwaway co-op manga with Jrspesh and start my new mega project in full force.

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MR Pub / Re: KagePen

« on: March 27, 2023, 05:01:05 PM »

oh darn, I totally missed this, must've been inactive when this was posted. feeling bad about that.
we didn't speak too much as I wasn't very active in the earlier years but I always knew the name. What a real shame.
rest in peace Kage, we won't forget you.
we'll carry the torch onwards.

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MR Pub / Re: Chit Chat 2023

« on: March 27, 2023, 02:57:58 AM »

epic, that's great news
hopefully you'll be at 100% within a couple of days

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Members Workshops / Re: SKETCH SURVIVAL!!!!!!!!

« on: March 26, 2023, 12:48:02 PM »

nice one.

hmmm this is probably my absolute best one in terms of rendering:


in terms of composition maybe this one? I've got many at this level so it's hard to pick just one. some are more beautiful, whereas others are more active and engaging or interesting. I pretty much picked this one at random :P


I don't have any manga pages at my best rendering yet as my manga page style is constantly in a state of flux.

as for getting better at composition, I'm sure with practice you'll be able to expand the range of ideas you can produce, originally I just drew girls standing in t-shirts and jeans over and over again, and over time as I got more comfortable with drawing my ideas I started to branch out into more interesting ideas. If you go through my entire art thread you can see my progress from pretty much zero.
for instantly coming up with a better idea, make sure you have a specific action your character is performing. Don't make them just pose for the camera, have them interacting with an object or another person. That will instantly make your pieces wayyyy better :P
adding a background/setting is another instant win.

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Members Workshops / Re: SKETCH SURVIVAL!!!!!!!!

« on: March 26, 2023, 04:00:23 AM »

@operative many thanks!!
partly the speed is thanks to working in my comfort zone and not aiming at too high a quality, it's just a sketch level. But I'm trying to put a fair amount of detail into them all the same.

Day 51: suddenly, action.
pretty happy with this one.
I love breaking the ground up it's so easy to draw but looks so cool ahahaha

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Members Workshops / Re: SKETCH SURVIVAL!!!!!!!!

« on: March 25, 2023, 04:45:09 AM »

thanks
ah that's too bad, hope you can sort it out ok!

Day 50: standard stuff

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Music / Re: The Manimal's Music

« on: March 24, 2023, 05:50:00 PM »

wow so many albums now!!!
well done on a new release, here's my thoughts:

1. GNX
where the vocals changed deeper at 0:30 and 1:15 I thought that sounded really good. the instruments worked together well and there weren't any bland bits. lyrics were not as mad as some of yours that I've heard, actually passable as normal lyrics :P

2. Tsunko
I liked the intro but felt it went on a tad too long before the guitar started. lyrics were alright actually, I'm rather fond of quick rhyming pairs so that's always a plus in my books. nice guitar solo. some of the vocals were a bit off but some was also some of the best I've heard from you. The outro was nice but felt a tad too long, I think there could have been some fade out lyrics, like repeating a bit of the chorus or something.

3. First Kiss In Hell
lyrics were really nice and coherent, quite good actually. vocals were nice and strong through the entire range of highs and low, and were in tune more than previously. the overall song flow, ups and downs were good and worked well in each section.

4. Petit Bad Boy
vocals felt on the weaker side in the first half but around 1:20 to 2:00 got better, 3:20 it wasn't so great. melody was good, lyrics were alright. where the vocals dropped out of melody (i.e. you spoke), these fitted the lyrics and worked well, better than when you've done it before, possibly because the lyrics were better.

5. Messages In The Sand
lyrics were good. I've noticed regarding your vocals, specifically in this song I noticed it more, you seem to be jumping between singing in melody and shouting/speaking without melody in the same sentence. from 0:00 to 1:00 this is quite noticeable but I've heard it happen in other songs. I suspect it's not deliberate but seems that you can start on a note alright but you're struggling to move from note to note in the middle of phrases. At least that's how it seems to me. I liked the slow buildup in this song as the tempo and volume increased. nice guitar solo.

6. Our Mutual Dissatisfaction (Feat. Ashley Brewer)
lyrics were good but a couple of words seemed to be not suitable for song lyrics i.e. "dissatisfaction", they are just naturally jarring I think. As someone who loves overlapping lyrics I loved the duet from 2:20.

7. Through The Door (Feat. Cola)
while you both have quite different types of voices there were some nice harmony parts in the duet. the lyrics were nice. overall the song felt a tad too slow although that might just be my preference. the outro felt a little out of place for some reason, maybe because it was just guitar on its own.

8. (Do Fear) The Soccer Mothers
pretty mad lyrics lol. vocals were pretty good actually and were in tune especially during the chorus. overall a very fun song but not really my cup of tea. the outro felt quite long but wasn't bad. the very final part of the outro was a good ending.

9. The Sandwich Artist
again another crazy lyric song. but all the same lyrics were coherent to the theme/story so not all bad. the spoken parts were good and didn't feel out of place. quite a bit of the vocals weren't in tune.

10. Roast Beef Thief
another heist song :P lyrics were mad but coherent.
vocals were pretty strong in this one, especially around 0:40 to 1:30

11. Entangled Species
really liked the intro. vocals were really good from 0:30 to 0:45. didn't like the spoken mid part, was sort of unexpected. the ending spoken part was alright though.

12. No Perfect Sky   
lyrics were good and overall a good song. everything was good and strong for most of the song. the chorus was really good.

overall these are definitely some of your best songs I think. the mixing is definitely much better, there's nothing that sounds out of place or too quiet or loud, which was more common in the past. so definitely an improvement.
all the songs have strong instrumentals with the drums and guitar and there were no points where I felt that anything was missing or weak in that regard.
your lyrics are much better with a higher proportion of "sensible" songs, as well as the crazy songs having more coherent lyrics that are interesting and fun.
vocals are also a lot more in tune consistently.
whatever you're doing, keep doing it because these turned out super well, looking forward to the next album :P

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Members Workshops / Re: SKETCH SURVIVAL!!!!!!!!

« on: March 24, 2023, 04:58:46 PM »

@natsu ah ok fair enough, sounds like you've got a clear idea of how you work so no worries there

Day 49: I'm always amazed at how I can consistently come up with new sketch ideas but then again even within the very narrow genre of my comfort zone there's lots of minor variations that make a piece look different when it's fundamentally, the same.

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Manga Art Gallery / Re: Natsu Showdown

« on: March 24, 2023, 04:21:49 PM »

good to see you making adjustments where needed as you figure out the path you need to take!
all the best in getting down the fundamentals

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Members Workshops / Re: SKETCH SURVIVAL!!!!!!!!

« on: March 23, 2023, 01:59:53 AM »

@natsu an awesome start!
I'd focus on accuracy more than speed in the beginning, otherwise you don't spend enough time on the piece to actually learn new things, just quickly repeat old habits. But there's things to improve your speed even while being careful, such as not daydreaming or constantly erasing and redoing work.
And some things always take longer to draw than others so it's hard to compare with other people anyway as their style and composition affects their speed as well.

and thanks, my minutes taken is always written on my pieces, it's the underlined number. So half an hour for the last piece.

Day 48: tried some foreshortening, didn't go massively badly :P