♦FAVORITE MEDIA

media share / shrine thing in which i give my favorite art by others a spotlight.

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

contents: [ albums | characters | art inspos | stories | webcomics ]

Albums

this is not a list of what i consider the "best" - but more of what currently inspires me at the moment. same goes for all other media on this page

anyhow, 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.

characters that speak to me

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

art inspirations

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

BixelsWixels - character art
jesterpepita - character art / colors / i love how they stylize faces
sinnykitt - abstract dreamlike environments that make for really compelling visual storytelling pieces
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
owlygem - character art / storytelling
patsux - gorgeoussss character art
luming li - rly dreamlike luminescent colors and a glowy painterly style
kid-sid - character art / storytelling
xreamy/boisvert - this really abstract shapely monochromatic artwork i really adore
wasabiiilady - rendering style
vincent1vintage - they have a 'great gatsby' retelling in the works whose concepts i love to death
abusive clown stroking his shit
ggdg - colors / character art / storytelling
iVorare - i just really like their OC lol
plasmometer - rendering style / character art
GHOST - artstyle / storytelling / their music too, ofc
leslielevings - i don't do ceramics anymore but they were my #1 inspo back then and i still keep up w their work
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
yvoto - colors / artstyle / character art

stories

a bit of a vague category. this is a showcase for medias whose narratives have greatly effected me and the kinda stuff i wanna create.

lethargy hill

kitty horrorshow's writing is a joy, her descriptions are so vivid and gross and intruiging. i watched thru "lethargy hill" on youtube before i played the games that it was a part of. despite it being the least mechanically interesting and the most simplistic story out of all of them, this one utterly captivated me.

"there should be more here," huh. it's a story about a tormented and disillusioned creator, and i guess its dreariness is something that drew me in. this might just be me speaking out of my ass here, but this house feels so second-hand and it's so..... uncomfortable? idk if that makes sense, i hope u see my vision tho. 😴

Gildedguy vs Oxob

i think this fight cracked something in my brain and i was never the same since im not exaggerating

do you think i play around? i don't play around

GG and oxob are a part of dojo duels/the stickfighting community. so there's a lot of context and backstory to this but is still decipherable to the average viewer, so PLEASEE watch it yourself. there r comments that explain a lot of stuff after watching. but if you will allow me to vocalize my thoughts...

SPOILER THOUGHTS

but its just, something about two ppl who for some reason or another have had their wills stripped from them [oxob, a boxer who was injured to the point he needs prosthetics and feels disillusioned to the duels he used to love so much, and GG who struggles to even put on his armor again, and is practically haunted after his life was nearly ended at the hands of bog], finding their passion again after fighting each other.

their fight is driven by anger, a miscommunication thing. but it inevitably turns around to be one where they relinquish the pain they've carried with them all this time through each other. to confront and experience pain to alleviate it. and the way it's portrayed is one which has stuck with me creatively for years now.

at its core, its an anim about healing. finding the hole in someone else's brain and saying, "hey, me too. and we can overcome it together". because who else could have gone through this journey but these two specifically? these two who have had such similar yet differing journeys, oxob's more physical pain and gil's internal one, yet both coming from the roots of dueling

the way after it's all over, when oxob encounters jade again, and instead of hating or fearing her like he would have in the past, he kinda just... raises an eyebrow at her in this scene. as if to be like... "huh, things really aren't the same as they used to be." and the way in the end-credits scene, when bog tries to crawl back into gil's hand wound, and gil crushes him. WHILE STILL IN HIS SLEEP. LIKE WITHOUT A SECOND THOUGHT. THIS FIGHT.... HAS CHANGED THEM BOTH. THEY HAVE BEEN FOREVER CHANGED BY EACH OTHER, THEIR TRAUMAS ALEVIATED. EVEN IF THEY NEVER CROSS PATHS AGAIN, NEVER HEAR ANOTHER WORD FROM THE OTHER, THEY WILL STILL REMEMBER THAT WARRIOR THEY FOUGHT IN THE AGEIS FIELDS THAT ONE STORMY NIGHT. THATS FUCKING BEAUTIFUL MAN, WHAT? AND DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE MATERIAL OUTSIDE OF THE ANIM ITSELF.

like how in GG's v3-au speedpaint, oxob is seen implementing gold into one of his gauntlets in order to create a new long-range fighting style for himself. and how oxob's creator accepts it as canon and has even used it in small anims too (stuntmen collab omg). and how in story 8, when andre is striking lightning at gil, he catches and throws it back at andre with the same move he used at the end of the duel with oxob. MAN................... MAN. this narrative of traumatized people finding each other, fighting each other, and changing each other forever is such a neat type of story that has stuck with me for so so long because of this anim

and the fact that GG managed to portray ALL OF THIS without a single word of dialogue. insane. fucking insane nobody does it like him man NOBODYYYY

"aeuouuu... buut the music is cornyy the inciding incident is silly the" man i'll kill you

FAITH: the unholy trinity

WHOAHHH. just wow, you know? these 3 games are up there for one of my favorite SERIES of all time. FAITH is the story of a priest returning to the home where he failed an exorcism years ago, an exorcism which still wracks him with guilt and nightmares. he attempts to finish the job and becomes entangled in the workings of a cult attempting to bring about the end. (image links to steam page)

how unassuming its retro visuals are, yet how chilling and intense the entire experience manages to be nonetheless. the kind of storytelling that lets your brain fill in the blanks. i have been infatuated with this series since the first installation, and seeing it to completion was just so immensely satisfying and the payoff is so very "you deserve the rest" and. ohhhh my wary soul. pls play game. i wish i could say more, though i refrain from spoiling. if you allow me to yap, however...

the story to me, while it is a horror around the 80s satanic panic first, it is secondly an exploration about the battle with guilt, purpose and responsibility, trauma, and your own faith. the MC is SO wonderfully COMPELLING, quite literally just an ordinary guy with survivor guilt who tries to do the right thing despite the horrors and isn't that enough????? ~~my one and only "literally me" character btw. (sigh wistfully)~~

Entirely Beloved: _ Boisvert

this is a part of a series of videos, but i don't come back to those nearly as much as i do this particular video. real big fan of the rotoscoped visuals and accompanying poetry.

will add visuals eventually--!

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

Webcomics

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]
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 and easy to root for. [link]
Serendipity – Teenaged perils told through a magical girl lens. sigh wistfully. This one’s for the girls. [link]
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 couldn’t recommend this insane ride more. [link]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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.

♦FAVORITE MEDIA

Albums

One Leg Mary - On the Quiet

Crisis Sigil - God Cum Poltergeist

GHOST - I HAD TO DIE TO SURVIVE

Lorn - THE MAZE TO NOWHERE (all 3 parts)

clipping. - Visions of Bodies Being Burned

Muse - Origin of Symmetry

Glass Animals - How to be a Human Being

characters that speak to me

franziska von karma

chayanne

john ward

simon hendrikson

natsuki

damian wayne

nikei yomiyuri

kasane teto