Not as long, but a great sequel - which is arguably better. The audience loves the first movie, just give them more of what they want. I love addressing the specific ways each group does contortion. It's like an arms race and certain techniques would be tantamount to national secrets, or even WMDs, in some cases.
Bad writers just tell you a thing exists, a good writer makes you care about how it fits in the story and what it can be used for, and in a way that allows the reader to drop themselves into someone else's shoes and really, satisfyingly, answers "what if...". It's so effing good! Not just explaining a thing, but being able to pick a reader up and put them into someone else, with different needs and drives, and be able to be someone else for even a paragraph of description. Or worse, they'll create a character with a bunch of back story and affectations that have fuck all to do with living, literarily, into a new world.
I don't really like reading fiction - I'm way more happy reading manuals and stuff. I look forward to each and every story you put out. I love getting to live in Yunia, even in small bursts.
Thank you so much for reading! Very glad you enjoyed the different styles of contortion! :3 It took me years of development and discarding a lot of ideas that led nowhere but I think the final concept is finally starting to take shape. Better late than never, I guess.
The problem with arms race is that waist-cinching and contortion are not "really" weapons as they are useless against fellow humans (other than entertaining them). You can't save yourself from a blow by tugging the belt tighter and if your own attack involves flexibility that would probably only make it weaker. But in battles against evil spirits it's different. Who knows, maybe human bodies were actually designed to perform contortion as a weapon against some ancient evil forces. And then they lost their ways and the superpowers turned into mere entertainment or fetishes like it happened in our world ;D
Actually I took the idea of tight-belting to protect against evil spirits from some real world folklore, like, in some countries in the past people actually believed that if you go unbelted then you make yourself open to the devil and might even get possessed, except their belts weren't that tight :P
I'm very glad you enjoy these small stories about Yunia, in fact all my stories are standalone so I believe you can read any of them without reading the rest.
Of all your world building, I love your dialogue the most. Seriously. You always do such brilliant dialogue.
I love that they look like shitty, bickering, kids. It's such a great look at what happens when nobody's looking, kind of thing... But the dialogue is still the stand out. It's that good.
Oh wow, thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed the dialogue and the characters' banter. I had a lot of fun writing their interactions, and it's great to know that it comes across well. I appreciate your kind words! 😊💬
To me, it's that he's clearly not dressed or in any way prepared to be in such a harsh environment, and there's nowhere apparent that he's heading, but he's so confident that he has to be doing something with great purpose.
I also love that the path looks like it's a dry riverbed that's normally used as a road. Like, maybe it floods once in a blue moon? Maybe that's his purpose? He's going to bring the water somehow?
You do enigma super well, and I really appreciate that you seldom explain it. We don't always need mysteries to be solved. One of the biggest letdowns ever was when I learned how Teflon sticks to the pan, but is a non-stick surface. It was way more exciting to not know.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment on my work. I appreciate your insight into the enigma aspect of it and agree with you that leaving some things unknown can be exciting. Your analysis of the figure in the painting and the path is spot on. It would be interesting to see the students of magic revive the riverbed one day and use it for travel by boat and swimming. Thank you again for your comment, it means a lot to me!
There's so much going on in this pic that it almost feels like a Where's Waldo.
I was just explaining to someone a bit of hidden story in the Zelda games about the Gerudo. They're clearly Arabic inspired but their first song, "Gerudo Valley", is Flamenco. It makes sense if you know that the Moors were persecuted and forced to Andalusia, along with Jews, Gypsies, and Gitanos. Flamenco is a blending of all those styles. It could explain why the Gerudo are exiled to such a harsh desert where nobody else wants to be, why they have been referred to as "thieves"... It points to a dark history in Hyrule that's only referenced in passing by a musical style of one song.
That's what a lot of your stuff is like when you go crazy with the detail. :)
Wow, that's some really interesting insight into the Gerudo and their connection to Flamenco music! I had no idea about the historical background behind it, but it definitely adds another layer of depth to the Zelda universe. It's always fun to discover new connections and meanings 😊📚🎵
I'm glad it looks good already! But to be honest I should do it again sometime, the technology is a dozen times better now and I have a hundred more tricks up the sleeve! :D
Damn it, that's just beautiful. This is one of the rare ones where the story is better than the picture, but only because the story is so good.
I don't want to be dismissive of the picture, and I won't be. You did something a lot of people can't manage — do short fur around, say, the torso to show off definition, and don't make it look like skin out of laziness.
God damn Basil makes want to do nasty things to him.
This kind of reminds me of the old Rumplemintz from back in the day. They were always in Playboy, I remember. Just google "rumplemintz valkyrie" and it'll come right up. I always wanted to have a van to put that on side of.
I hope you have more to keep going with this. Seriously...
Last... You couldn't move Basil forward just a little bit toward Archie's deliciously furry thighs and made that pose functional? I think that's what it is... Your pictures are always so sensual and have a weird virtual tactile sense, and fur over muscle is such a great feeling. I just want to spend all day running my fingers through his fur!
Wow, thank you so much for your kind words! It means a lot coming from someone with your expertise in the field.
I'm glad you enjoyed the story as well. I try to make my pictures do more - like telling a story, evoking emotions or even as you said, virtual tactile sense... But of course the main goal is being eye candy anyway :D
Thank you again for your feedback! I hope to continue creating pictures that excite and inspire you!
Shut down all the garbage smashers on the detention level!?
This is so cute and it makes me very happy. Thank you! It's weird, super bendy, whatever, it's just fun and I love it.
Aw, I'm so glad to hear that! It makes me happy too. And hey, being bendy can be pretty cool sometimes, right? As long as you're having fun with it, that's all that matters :D
I've re-read the story a couple times, and I can't tell if he's supposed to be like Nuv or Jack. He doesn't look right if you were going to make him limbless... Then I saw your above comment. It's a credit to your work that my brain jumps to "limbless" before "basically a bust portrait". Hahahahaha... You've got me thinking zebras when I hear hooves now.
No, I was just trying to make a portrait/composition of sorts, using his arm as a picture frame :D
Is there a contortionist-related saying for jumping the shark? Like, "they triple back bended it," or something? Whatever it is, you finally found a way to do it. I'm genuinely impressed, with your portfolio, that it's even possible.
I don't know why this makes me so happy, but it does. I love seeing how you cheat anatomy to put so much realism in your pieces. I also really love when you get weird.
Sometimes the best ideas just come out of nowhere. Like, I was trying to take a break and work less, but then this idea popped into my head - "a human knot", they say, but what if I turned an actual knot into a human? And I just couldn't shake it off. It's pretty much 100% of my art that's made like that - I mean, I'm just trying to relax and do nothing, but then these ideas come along and I can't help but drop everything and go for it.
It's kinda crazy. Like, I was sitting there wondering how Wolfy would push Helmut's stomach against the back of a chair like a tube of toothpaste, and then Helmut would have this blissful grimace on his face. And I just couldn't resist. But not every idea is worth pursuing - like, drawing a person in the shape of a cone? Nah, that one didn't really grab me. But pushing a cone into a person? Oh yeah, that's gold. Sometimes you just gotta play around with ideas until they hit you just right.
That's my art journey in a nutshell - always on the lookout! :D
This one highlights another thing you do well — gravity. I don't know if it's from studying contortion and stuff that gives you an advantage with anatomy, but you've got such a good grasp on how gravity affects a body. His feet are so planted, and I can feel the strain in his tendons. This is going to sound dumb, but it's so cool that you can do that.
I'm so glad it shows the tension well, it's something I'm trying to work on, because I've seen many cases, including many of my own works, where the limbs are simply rotated in some 3D software and they tag it "contortion" even though it's not anatomically correct. The body should respond to these deformations, but that's of course a whole different level of art 😅 I'm glad at least in some pics I manage to get there...
Wait... I don't want to sound dumb, but is the stranger at the end supposed to be Dariush? Is that why he's Ken Dolled, or am I going to find out when I catch up and sound dumb? Haha
It was meant to be someone else but who knows for sure ^^
This was a suggestion under the new Yasha pic... And I forgot how good this one is. God, I've always loved this picture. This is your "Patrick Nagel Pose" style and I adore it. I also super love how you do lower bellies.
Yeah bellies are super hot but tight belts take it on some new otherworldly level... Thank you so much, I must confess I also love when this pic pops up here and there and can't help but take a look at it every time XD If I didn't make it myself, I'd say Yasha is a genius for putting so much highlight on all these parts like his belly, hands and hair, eyes etc.. No matter how you look at it, always steals the breath for a second :D
The only change I'd make is lower the light behind him, and make the pants way more sheer. Not enough to see anything with detail, but a whole bunch of hinting and half-showing.
As for Yasha himself, I love this pose for him. It's a perfect little Yasha scene. It's his confidence, stoicism, but also maybe sadness and vulnerability.
Yeah, the pic turned out kinda... blue XD Even though the original intention was to make some cool wasped-ballet scene... But I guess ended up with too much empty space around him as wanted to show more of that landscape behind the window but ended up making the foreground more empty because of that :/
The Monkey Island Zombies were exactly what was in my head, but I was worried you wouldn't get it. Hahaha...
Wait... Is this what happened to Melee Island after Le Chuck left? Pirate bars with human taffy for entertainment? I just picture Deon doing this on the table of those three pirates. That's the third game I want.
"Pirate bars with human taffy for entertainment" 🤣🤣🤣 I'll take two...
I hope you understand the reference, but you do side character dialogue as well as they did in the old LucasArts games. It's so over the top and ridiculous, but comes off as totally natural in a weird way.
That having been said, fuuuuu... This picture is intense. The flex of the muscles, his beautiful face with that expression of someone doing something incredibly hard and aware of how well they're doing it. It's concentration, pride, ecstasy, satisfaction.... all rolled into one that you've depicted perfectly. The shading, the camera angle... Everything about this picture is powerful and beautiful, and it's one of my favourites you've ever done. God damn. Thank you.
Haha! Now I can't stop imagining that whole dialog spoken by the Monkey Island cannibals XD
Must be good to have a crash course in contortion so his excitement from his own abilities is fresh. I imagine someone who trained since childhood would be a bit struggling to keep it fresh. Not to say you necessarily must lose the interest over the years but I imagine it must be way more exciting to do something when you're into it only for a few months and making this much progress :D
I'm excited that you enjoyed this work so much! :D
I shouldn't tell you this, but there is a special kind of tow strap that's made with bunjee cords. If you hook a rope from one car to another to pull it, you have to be careful. The bunjee strap allows you to be less careful and more protective and safe... You have a bunch of bendy bois all hopped up on Painproofen who want to be on pit crews....
🌵 The Wasped World
Bad writers just tell you a thing exists, a good writer makes you care about how it fits in the story and what it can be used for, and in a way that allows the reader to drop themselves into someone else's shoes and really, satisfyingly, answers "what if...". It's so effing good! Not just explaining a thing, but being able to pick a reader up and put them into someone else, with different needs and drives, and be able to be someone else for even a paragraph of description. Or worse, they'll create a character with a bunch of back story and affectations that have fuck all to do with living, literarily, into a new world.
I don't really like reading fiction - I'm way more happy reading manuals and stuff. I look forward to each and every story you put out. I love getting to live in Yunia, even in small bursts.
The problem with arms race is that waist-cinching and contortion are not "really" weapons as they are useless against fellow humans (other than entertaining them). You can't save yourself from a blow by tugging the belt tighter and if your own attack involves flexibility that would probably only make it weaker. But in battles against evil spirits it's different. Who knows, maybe human bodies were actually designed to perform contortion as a weapon against some ancient evil forces. And then they lost their ways and the superpowers turned into mere entertainment or fetishes like it happened in our world ;D
Actually I took the idea of tight-belting to protect against evil spirits from some real world folklore, like, in some countries in the past people actually believed that if you go unbelted then you make yourself open to the devil and might even get possessed, except their belts weren't that tight :P
I'm very glad you enjoy these small stories about Yunia, in fact all my stories are standalone so I believe you can read any of them without reading the rest.
🌵 Al-Hedsit detail 2
I love that they look like shitty, bickering, kids. It's such a great look at what happens when nobody's looking, kind of thing... But the dialogue is still the stand out. It's that good.
🌵 Al-Hedsit detail 1
I also love that the path looks like it's a dry riverbed that's normally used as a road. Like, maybe it floods once in a blue moon? Maybe that's his purpose? He's going to bring the water somehow?
You do enigma super well, and I really appreciate that you seldom explain it. We don't always need mysteries to be solved. One of the biggest letdowns ever was when I learned how Teflon sticks to the pan, but is a non-stick surface. It was way more exciting to not know.
🌵 Al-Hedsit
I was just explaining to someone a bit of hidden story in the Zelda games about the Gerudo. They're clearly Arabic inspired but their first song, "Gerudo Valley", is Flamenco. It makes sense if you know that the Moors were persecuted and forced to Andalusia, along with Jews, Gypsies, and Gitanos. Flamenco is a blending of all those styles. It could explain why the Gerudo are exiled to such a harsh desert where nobody else wants to be, why they have been referred to as "thieves"... It points to a dark history in Hyrule that's only referenced in passing by a musical style of one song.
That's what a lot of your stuff is like when you go crazy with the detail. :)
🗺️ Map of Yunia
Yeah. Totally worth it. This is awesome. :)
🤖 My AI Workflow - Potcast #1
🛡️ Basil and the Spineless Mount
I don't want to be dismissive of the picture, and I won't be. You did something a lot of people can't manage — do short fur around, say, the torso to show off definition, and don't make it look like skin out of laziness.
God damn Basil makes want to do nasty things to him.
This kind of reminds me of the old Rumplemintz from back in the day. They were always in Playboy, I remember. Just google "rumplemintz valkyrie" and it'll come right up. I always wanted to have a van to put that on side of.
I hope you have more to keep going with this. Seriously...
Last... You couldn't move Basil forward just a little bit toward Archie's deliciously furry thighs and made that pose functional? I think that's what it is... Your pictures are always so sensual and have a weird virtual tactile sense, and fur over muscle is such a great feeling. I just want to spend all day running my fingers through his fur!
I'm glad you enjoyed the story as well. I try to make my pictures do more - like telling a story, evoking emotions or even as you said, virtual tactile sense... But of course the main goal is being eye candy anyway :D
Thank you again for your feedback! I hope to continue creating pictures that excite and inspire you!
🤫 The Shortcut
This is so cute and it makes me very happy. Thank you! It's weird, super bendy, whatever, it's just fun and I love it.
🐓 Feathered Snake
🎀 The Moebius Boy
I don't know why this makes me so happy, but it does. I love seeing how you cheat anatomy to put so much realism in your pieces. I also really love when you get weird.
It's kinda crazy. Like, I was sitting there wondering how Wolfy would push Helmut's stomach against the back of a chair like a tube of toothpaste, and then Helmut would have this blissful grimace on his face. And I just couldn't resist. But not every idea is worth pursuing - like, drawing a person in the shape of a cone? Nah, that one didn't really grab me. But pushing a cone into a person? Oh yeah, that's gold. Sometimes you just gotta play around with ideas until they hit you just right.
That's my art journey in a nutshell - always on the lookout! :D
😇 Angel of Flexibility
🔔 Backfold Crash Course
Amtril's Pupil
Waist of Time
💫 Fasten Your Belts
❄️ Bound Across Miles
The only change I'd make is lower the light behind him, and make the pants way more sheer. Not enough to see anything with detail, but a whole bunch of hinting and half-showing.
As for Yasha himself, I love this pose for him. It's a perfect little Yasha scene. It's his confidence, stoicism, but also maybe sadness and vulnerability.
🥇 Bare Maximum
Wait... Is this what happened to Melee Island after Le Chuck left? Pirate bars with human taffy for entertainment? I just picture Deon doing this on the table of those three pirates. That's the third game I want.
🤣🤣🤣 I'll take two...
That having been said, fuuuuu... This picture is intense. The flex of the muscles, his beautiful face with that expression of someone doing something incredibly hard and aware of how well they're doing it. It's concentration, pride, ecstasy, satisfaction.... all rolled into one that you've depicted perfectly. The shading, the camera angle... Everything about this picture is powerful and beautiful, and it's one of my favourites you've ever done. God damn. Thank you.
Must be good to have a crash course in contortion so his excitement from his own abilities is fresh. I imagine someone who trained since childhood would be a bit struggling to keep it fresh. Not to say you necessarily must lose the interest over the years but I imagine it must be way more exciting to do something when you're into it only for a few months and making this much progress :D
I'm excited that you enjoyed this work so much! :D
🚕 Snail EXpress III