♦FAVORITE MEDIA

media share / shrine thing in which i give my favorite art by others a spotlight. this is not a list of what i consider the "best" - but more of what currently inspires me at the moment.

click a nav link to begin, or take the grueling trek downwards

contents: [ albums | characters | long-form youtube | art inspos | webcomics ]

albums/eps on my mind rn

i am not immune to spacing tf out and imagining elaborate scenes in my head while listening to good songs. music is what drives a good chunk of my creative process nowadays and these albums here are the main culprits. as a pantser, here are my essentials, ordered by what is most relevant to me atm. additional links lead to their bandcamp pages, or the equivalent.

One Leg Mary - On the Quiet

[ indie rock ]

i found this album through the "skid vs larry" fight and ended up liking it a lot. like, became my #1, a lot. it's rock, it's kind of edgy, half of PTC's inspo comes from here and looking at the lyrics i think it's v obvious, haha

favorite tracks:

1. to old endings
2. the bipolar
3. on the quiet

Muse - Origin of Symmetry

[ alt rock ]

adjacent to 'on the quiet' in terms of personally highly-held rock albums which occupy my mindspace.

favorite tracks:

1. Space Dementia [im v predictable]
2. Futurism
3. Citizen Erased

Lady Gaga - Mayhem

[ sythn pop / "dark pop"]

the "mehh it's okay" to 1000th re-listen pipeline is real. it happened to me.

favorite tracks:

1. don't call tonight
2. vanish into you
3. zombieboy

Good Sad Happy Bad - Shades

[ alternative / experimental pop ]

love this album. soulful & groovy indie pop w some jazzy influences sprinkled in near the end. its atmosphere and lyrics rly encapsulated my mood this past spring 25' going into summer. it's me unfortunately

favorite tracks:

1. shades
2. do it
3. bubble

Pär Hagström - Ode to What Could Have Been

[ alternative / indie ]

one of those projects that i wouldn't bat an eye at were it not for the media it's associated with. i found it thru ish's recent 1000 player civ video and now whenever i listen to this EP i'm reminded of it and it makes me happy. i'm a selfish kind of person with a soul that just won't die~~

favorite tracks:

1. naked
2. ode to what could have been
3. we will never die

long-time influential tracks

The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time

[ ambient ]

means so much to me like you can't even describe. when the world from my childhood was becoming unrecognizable, this album was there and put to sound everything i was feeling. i'd been able to find peace with the degradation of memory and the rapid approach of the unfamiliar a lot quicker than i would have without it. EATEOT you will always be famous.

Glass Animals - How to be a Human Being

[ alternative ]

the story behind this album/how it was made is really awesome, the title really speaks for itself. it's about humans, it makes me feel very warm and happy to be human

clipping. - visions of bodies being burned

[ hip hop / noise ]

catchy horror-themed lyricism and a really seamless listening experience. made me feel rly strong at a time when i wasn't loll i hold a lot of sentimentality for it.

Tyler the Creator - Igor

[ hip hop / pop ]

Ada Rook - Void Fantasy

[ ambient electronic ]

Dreamcrusher - Panopticon!

[ noise ]

nero's day at disneyland - from rotting fantasylands

[ breakcore ]

this actually isn't my favorite lauren bousfield album but it holds such a high place in my mindscape because it changed my music taste forever and there was no going back

lolrust - .flow OST

[ ambient electronic ]

PM is inspired a lot from this can you believe it

Penelope Scott - Public Void

[ alt pop ]

EVERYONE HOP OFF MY GIRL PENELOPE SCOTT. GET AWAAAAYYY

Oliver Buckland - THIRTY三十

[ ambient electronic ]

i think about PM when i think about this album, it's simple but fun

Cristobal Tapia de Veer - Utopia s2 OST

[ ambient electronic ]

Miracle Musical - hawaii part ii

[ art pop ]

characters i really like

some parts relatability, most parts "idk they're just neat."

franziska von karma

ace attorney trilogy

chayanne

QSMP (i miss death family i miss them so much)

john ward

faith: the unholy trinity

simon hendrikson

cry of fear

natsuki

doki doki literature club

damian wayne

DC

kasane teto

UTAU & synthv :3

long-form youtube

longer in-depth videos or series on youtube that i've enjoyed a lot

• Fixing Harry Potter – Traveler of Places – I never even had that strong of a connection to Harry Potter but the ending of this little rewrite series almost made me cry wtfffff………it's a very clever and well-thought reimagining of the original books, taking into account JK Rowling's misgivings while also showing what the series meant to its audience. I very much enjoyed it. I love watching thru rewrites of series idgaf about, it's so interesting to see a fan or ex-fans walk though their mixed thoughts on something they once held dear and improve on its objective blind spots. the love is always so so potent and bleeds thru the narrative they tell. I FUCKING LOVE FANFICTION YEAAGHHGG. [link]
• Hartwell the Watcher's (FKA localscriptman's) Enneagram Series – these 11 videos did more for me than any creative writing course i've ever taken. it uses the enneagram as a template to explain story structure and character arcs, and does it well. [link]
• The Battle of May Island – Fredrik Knudsen – fredrik is able to craft such heart-sinking, stomach-dropping levels of dread, atmosphere, and horror with only black and white 2D shapes. my favorite piece of nonfiction on this platform. [link]
• Gildedguy Stories – Gildedguy – literally the most charming and earnest animated series on youtube right now. the author's own relationship with art is combined with stickfight lore to create this neat little world called stellapent cier, wherin our signature character gildedguy goes on little adventures of self-discovery. and also beats tf out of a bunch of people :] [link]
• The Crack! – Element Animation – my whole entire childhood in a singular series, if you must know [link]
• 1000 Players Simulate Civilization: Rich & Poor – ish – 1000 minecraft players are placed onto a map with 2 islands, and are let free to do whatever they want. what follows is shakespearian levels of drama, narrative twists, and geopolitical intrigue. the fact that it's ALL roleplay is the most impressive thing to me. while ish and his team's fantastic editing brings the story together, the PLAYERS were the ones who crafted it to begin with, completely unprompted btw. watching this video brought me back to the MMORPGs i played in my younger years, where me and others like me just sort of… gravitated to playing characters, gathering in families/factions, and improvising lore together.. that shit can be SO memorable, and seeing ish's video felt so reminiscent of that. i feel like people often underestimate the power of roleplay and the means in which videogames can be used as a vessel for genuine immersive storytelling. ish's video is a testament to that in every single way and is additionally paced and edited SO masterfully. i hope it inspires more youtubers to try cinematic approaches to their craft. [link]
• We Spent 100 Days in a Hardcore Minecraft Apocalypse – Slimecicle – this video changed lives. the best of classic slimesicle imho. [link]
• The Gmod Paranormal – Charborg & BedBananas – it's just a couple of friends fucking around in gmod LOL. these videos shaped my sense of humor in my younger years, also bucklington's voice acting as garfield is genuinely impressive lol. [The Pilot] [Part 1] [Part 2]
• Dungeon Dynamite – Crazy Boris Productions – a charming DnD-inspired animated series and another bunch of videos which shaped my sense of humor when i was younger [link]
• Setting boundaries: Why grown men love girls (TW) – Monica Hernandez – came to me at the exact time i needed [link]
• That One YA Dystopia About Human Pets – Crow Caller – reviews about bad books are my guilty pleasure, this one is my favorite of all time. much to chew on [link]
• Tomodachi Rapper house – dogweb – gave me a good laugh [link]

art inspirations

in which i link artists i rlly like and what abt them i get inspired by

• mx.iwa - shapely figures, sharp & impressive linework, and powerful women, what more can u want
• bixelswixels - character art
• jesterpepita - character art / colors / i love how they stylize faces
• qae0 - a really loose yet elegant coloring style, much of it looks so freehand and effortless yet cohesive. literally so much of my artstyle inspo comes from him
• cardo-de-comer - abstract character art & striking colors, i really adore the rectangular shape language in their humanoid characters
• warmgun342634 - artstyle / storytelling
• ggdg - colors / character art / storytelling
• kid-sid - character art / storytelling
• patsux - gorgeoussss character art
• par0llel - character art / storytelling concepts - i linked her spam acc bc i enjoy how much more unfiltered she is there & how she also shows her process more. here is the link to her main acc for her more polished work
• vincent1vintage - he has a 'great gatsby' retelling in the works whose concepts i love to death
• plasmometer - rendering style / character art
• filthyguys - PUNK ASFUCKKKKK
• girlpanthera - compelling visual storytelling pieces
• sinnykitt - abstract dreamlike environments and cute characters

will add visuals eventually--!

but for now, here is my pure, unfiltered, riddled in grammatical error, and raw, webcomic faves list

Webcomics

1. Marionetta – if you too love stories about strange deals to cheat death and the consequence of it all, you will like marionetta. i like marionetta. [link]
2. Gloomverse – been following the author since her aftertale days, she only makes bangers. GV is a comedy drama about a magicless girl coming into her own under the mentorship of world-famous magician wallis gloom. a simple story that is jam packed with such fun worldbuilding and characters that are just. so dynamic, funny, and easy to root for. [link]
3. Serendipity – Teenaged perils told through a magical girl lens. sigh wistfully. This one's for the girls. [link]
4. Scoob and Shag – an elaborate cartoon crossover which starts as a series of dumb shitposts and then evolves into. horror. and then action? sci-fi????? i've reread it who knows how many times, i couldnt recommend this insane ride more. [link]
5. Castle Swimmer – forbidden romance between a prince and the holy being that he's prophesied to kill in order to save his people. gets incredibly heavy as it goes on, tackling themes of destiny, agency, survivor's guilt... a masterfully paced story that is warm as it is painful. [link]
6. Mritunjoy's tragicomedy – About a team of necromancers who are recruited to "take care of" a family's web of lies. Gorgeous artwork and eye-catching page layouts with such a fascinating story that I can't seem to wrap my head around but am enamored by all the same. [link]
7. Electric Bones – You kinda love to hate everyone in this story. It's a toxic dynamic set in space, revolving around a dude and the robot who looks an awful lot like the asshole who got him fired. [link]
8. Lovebot – A cute and tender, yet somewhat existential and frankly really angsty sci-fi love story with themes of identity and purpose, told through the eyes of a robot designed for sex. [link]
9. Ghost Eyes – No heroes here, just a bunch of fucked up kids trying to make it through the world and keep the supernatural horrors at bay. told through the eyes of a 15-year-old religious recluse, tobias schneien. while the opening quarter of the comic's dialogue is rather amateur, the character writing evolves into the best I have ever read, especially from a comic which uneshamedlessly portrays messy aspects of mental anguish. such complex and gray characters i love to observe. [link]
10. I'm the Grim Reaper – Who are you to judge what is a sin? When the nature of humanity is so fluctuating and complex? This is what Scarlet, the newest grim reaper, is forced to grapple with when assigned her new job-- to kill one sinner a day. Unashamdlessly edgy, I adore it and what it stands for. [link]

Honorable Mentions !

shorter or more straight-to-the-point stories.

• how to escape the end of the world - zombie apocalypse/meta horror - a short from the "brain anthology." [warning for gore and death lol.]
• toaster dude - slice of life/superhero comic about a guy whose life purpose since childhood is to simply buy a toaster.