Looking At Him

Some style exploration for MOONLIT BAMBOO FOREST made at Passion Pictures with Director David Pagaille for GENSHIN IMPACT. The mission was to figure out a painting style that would include a influence of traditionnal Chinese ink paintings. I tried different approaches, to very derivative of that to a more realisitic version. The final style was quite in between, Im really happy with all those little researches

finished a couple of Scara pics I had around my folder! c:

eyeshadow

happy new year!! 🎉🎉

To the imperfect tomorrow

Catching up with “The Summer Hikaru Died” and something from the first chapter caught my eye:

We are not coming in at the beginning of the story. It’s been six months since Yoshiki found Hikaru’s body and began to live with the guilt and uncertainty. We are seeing his mental health in an already deteriorated state. This is not a case of a character being introduced and then going downhill; it’s a character being introduced while actively declining. Just like we’ve never met the original Hikaru, I’d argue we’ve never met the original Yoshiki either.

when I tell you I screamed and took a walk

A rambling analysis of Ivan's "Nowhere" (spoilers for up to round 7)

I'll start with my thoughts on the song itself, then break down some of the lyrics.

So, "Nowhere" is quite a bit different from Ivan's other songs, mostly in regards to the melody and his singing. His voice is a lot more... flat, and the pitch and length of the notes vary a lot less. In "Cure" and "Black Sorrow," there's a lot more variance: Ivan's voice goes from soft and low, singing shorter notes, to louder and higher, holding long notes, et cetera.

In Nowhere, the notes are typically shorter, and tend to stay in the same general area on the scale. Ivan's tone stays very consistent; in his other songs, it goes from calm and collected to full of emotion and feelings. He sounds a lot more monotone in Nowhere, and not just because he's singing quietly. He's not entirely apathetic; there's still a lot of emotion in his voice. But it's muted. Numb.

The only line that lacks this somewhat monotone, apathetic tone is "In love with you, when you were mine." This line is EVERYWHERE, and plays in the background of the ENTIRE TRACK.

And all of this kind of makes sense. "Black Sorrow" and "Cure" were both declarations of Ivan's love, and his feelings for Till. They were meant to be heard; they were meant to have an audience in Till. Ivan was projecting his emotions outwards.

"Nowhere" was not meant to be heard by anyone but Ivan himself—not even Till. It represented Ivan's internal thoughts, ones he would never say to anyone else—sort of how like someone might find certain things about a friend or significant other annoying, but choose not to say anything despite thinking it. Ivan is tired, and perhaps even a bit annoyed. He's wondering why Till doesn't return his feelings, and likely, wondering why he himself continues to love Till despite that.

Now, onto the lyrics (English translation b/c my Korean is awful):

That's just the kind of kid he is, so laugh Laugh, because he can't do anything No one cares about someone like him There's nowhere in the world for him to rest

It's been stated (see image below) that Ivan feels like he cannot be loved—that he's undeserving of it, or just doesn't have the qualifications. These lyrics are Ivan speaking about himself. Ivan is unable to get Till to return his feelings ("no one cares about someone like him"), and he is also, ultimately, unable to save Till ("Laugh, because he can't do anything"). To make this second thing worse, it happened not once, but TWICE: first when Ivan couldn't get Till to leave with him, and then when his actions in Round 6 ended up seemingly being for nothing in Round 7.

Another bit of the lyrics is as such:

Worse and worse this painful wound I become more and more numb

Ivan is slowly becoming more and more apathetic, and resigned to his fate, saying that "this always happens to me." Even the song's title is a reference to this: there's nowhere for Ivan to find solace, and all of "this" is going nowhere—"this" being Ivan's relationship with Till. Ivan is resigned to his fate of loving Till—almost certainly more than he loves himself—un"till" the end: until death.

Reminder for later I need to draw this XD

i want a picture of nahida being her warm and friendly self going “hi i’m nahida! and these are my three helpers!” and it’s alhaitham, cyno and wanderer standing behind her all looking intimidating and unapproachable as fuck

butterfly effect