Above Ground Pool Youtube Tutorial - Part 1/3 ♂️ The Sims 2
It’s finally here! Part 1/3 in my new Sims 2 Tutorial series “Above Ground Pools” has been uploaded to YouTube! Let me know what you think and THANK YOU SO MUCH for the continued support of my content both here and on YouTube. No more hiatuses for me… I enjoyed making this video way too much!
➡️ In Part 1 of this tutorial (what you’re watching now), you will 2 . -Uploaded
➡️ In Part 2, you will 1, , . -TBA
➡️ In Part 3, which will be the final video in this series, I will share with you ( ) / . -TBA
Thinking about how my mom tried to “seduce” my dad when they were in college together by sneaking oranges into his backpack, because she grew up food insecure and feeding someone/sharing food was a big deal with her upbringing with a lot of emotional meaning–
and meanwhile my poor dad is just convinced that he’s been haunted by some citrus poltergeist because why the fuck are there always oranges in his bag he swears he did not put there???
obviously every artist has different expectations for how much/what info people give for commissions, but i thought i’d make a list of some things that i find helpful, both from a practical standpoint and from a “making it more fun for me” standpoint
as many visual refs as you have of your character. someone gave me almost 500 screencaps of their character once and it felt like christmas
a written description of your character’s appearance, even if you have a lot of visual refs. things to include would be skin tone, hair color and style, eye color, number of piercings, etc.
a written description of your character—this could be anything from a few sentences about what their personality is like to eight paragraphs of lore. the second part is a “for funsies” thing, because i enjoy making art so much more when i feel invested in the character i’m drawing. i want to know about them! it also helps me make sure i get the tone of the piece right
the general mood/expression you want
references of clothing, either just things that are your character’s style, or a specific outfit. once again, the more of these the better
links to pinterest boards or moodboards for your character
this is also 100% for funsies and i don’t know if anyone else enjoys this but. give me your oc playlists. i listen to them while i’m working on your commission.
My personal habit when commissioning people is giving them a link to a drive folder that contains:
a google doc with a written description of the character, what i want, and links at the bottom to their pinterest board and playlist
screencaps of the character
art that i’ve done of them or had commissioned
Having something like this will save you a lot of time and effort if you’re commissioning multiple people to draw the same character.
feel free to add onto this if you have other things!
also for real. if any worldbuilding at all bores you to tears you are probably either 1) writing in the wrong genre, or 2) doing it in the terrible way that terrible writing advice bloggers were telling you to do in 2012 instead of the cool way
ok the cats are fed and i can now tell you about the cool way!
so, first. what’s the terrible way? Well, the terrible way of worldbuilding is doing it because you Need To, with no thought of how it will actually impact characters or plot. if you just treat worldbuilding like a pain in the ass instead of an active part of the story, you’re going to have a lot more trouble letting it mesh together with all the other elements.
as for the COOL FUN AWESOME WAY:
let your worldbuilding influence and be influenced by the other story elements around it.
Like, if you’re writing a story about a revolution, it makes sense to set it in an aristocracy, plutocracy, oligarchy, monarchy, or otherwise easily-authoritarian world–you don’t want to set that in a true utopia or a happy, well-adjusted community. (For convenience’s sake, I’ll call it a plutocracy–the rich are in charge.) So, logically, your world will be full of injustices that strike the need for your charactersto start/plan a revolution, therefore moving the plotforward and cementing the themesof direct action and fighting to have your voice heard. See? It’s all connected.
Now, let’s say you want some dragonsinvolved in this revolution story. It doesn’t make sense for them to just exist and have no bearing on anything; it’s a revolution! it’s an unjust world! so perhaps some of your characters are involved with dragons; perhaps the antagonists use them as guard dogs of sorts. They’re about that size, too, plus sleek, carnivorous, easily hidden, and fast. Now, at some point, your protagonists may have to come across these dragons in order to get the staff of the great wizard Mr. Macguffin, which they will use in their revolution. The dragons, a part of the world,now contribute to part of the plotas they present an obstacle to said plot moving forward.
And perhaps Mr. Macguffin himself is part of the worldbuilding, too. Maybe he was a kind, powerful wizard–wizards are quite uncommon, you know–who was killed by the corrupt antagonists’ ancestors. They then took his staff out of spite. Now, let’s say wizard staffs hold a wizard’s essence when they die, so the charactersare attempting to steal back his staff so they can use his advice in their revolution that will eventually result in the climax of the plot.
That’s not a super long ramble up there, and it’s mostlyfocusing on a general idea of plot. And yet, we now have worldbuilding including:
this world is intensely authoritarian and unfair, with a hard life involved for all who are not the most elite
it’s a plutocracy, which feeds into potential themes of class and classism
there are dragons that function much like attack and guard animals. they eat meat, they’re relatively small (for what dragons are usually considered outside of this story), and they’re viscous creatures
there are wizards. they’re quite powerful and rare
wizards have staffs that affect their magic and its use, and when they die, their souls/essence wind up in those staffs
there was an old wizard named Mr. Macguffin who was particularly powerful and fought against the authoritarian world before
All of this worldbuilding is specifically involved in the plot. Some more than others; Mr. Macguffin’s staff and the subsequent knowledge of wizards and wizard magic is much bigger and more relevant than dragons, but they are both there and effect the lives of the main characters (and the plot they’re in). You can keep doing this to make more worldbuilding.
Wizards are already part of this hypothetical plot, which means your logical next step is figuring out what magic can and can’t do; it’ll really help clear up what the protagonists hope to accomplish. It also makes sense to then figure out how magic is viewed in society and why. Then maybe othersocietal beliefs that the characters hold, challenge, or both. You’ll get a look at the state of the world, too; why are the characters fighting against it? Why do they want revolution? Maybe the antagonists only care about themselves and their own lives, so the buildings are all broken down and the temples to the gods haven’t been upkept in years. Oh, there’s gods? What do they do? Are they real or not? Do they affect the magic system and the wizards we mentioned earlier? Do the main characters practice some of those religions that are being disrespected through abandonment of sacred places?
… and so on and so forth. Worldbuilding by thinking about how it actually affects the story is much easier, more fun, and much more natural than just going “uhh dragons and wizards i guess”. It’s much, much easier to make worldbuilding decisions in tandem with plot/character/theme decisions than it is to make worldbuilding decisions then go “oh, shit, how does this fit here”.
I wish you all the best of luck with your worlds, your stories, and your kickass characters!! this has been Cool Worldbuilding With Nico :D
A fight scene should be fast-paced and intense. Unless it’s a final battle with numerous parties, a fight scene that’s too long tends to take away suspense. To speed up your pacing, use active voice to describe movement and don’t overdescribe your characters’ thoughts. Excessive inner monologue will be unrealistic, as people usually have no room to think during intense combats.
2. Character mannerisms
Here’s a point that people often overlook, but is actually super important. Through fight scenes, you should be able to reveal your characters’ contrasting mannerisms and personality. A cunning character would play dirty - fighting less and making use of their opponent’s weakness more. A violent character would aim to kill. A softer one would only target to disarm their enemies, using weakened attacks. A short-minded character would only rely on force and attack without thinking. This will help readers understand your characters more and decide who to root for.
3. Making use of surroundings
Not only the characters, you also need to consider the setting of your fight scene and use it to your advantage. Is it suitable for fighting, or are there dangerous slopes that make it risky? Are there scattered items that can help your characters fight (e.g. nails, shards of glass, ropes, wooden boards, or cutlery)? Is it a public place where people can easily spot the fight and call the authorities, or is it a private spot where they can fight to the death?
4. Description
The main things that you need to describe in a fight scene are :
• Characters involved in the fight
• How they initiate and dodge attacks
• Fighting styles and any weapons used
• The injuries caused
Be careful to not drag out the description for too long, because it slows down the pace.
5. Raise the stakes
By raising the stakes of the fight, your readers will be more invested in it. Just when they think it’s over, introduce another worse conflict that will keep the scene going. Think of your characters’ goals and motivations as well. Maybe if the MC didn’t win, the world would end! Or maybe, one person in the fight is going all-out, while the other is going easy because they used to be close :“D
6. Injuries
Fights are bound to be dirty and resulting in injuries, so don’t let your character walk away unscathed - show the effect of their injuries. For example, someone who had been punched in the jaw has a good chance of passing out, and someone who had been stabbed won’t just remove the knife and walk away without any problem. To portray realistic injuries, research well.
7. Drive the plot forward
You don’t write fight scenes only to make your characters look cool - every fight needs to have a purpose and drive the plot forward. Maybe they have to fight to improve their fighting skills or escape from somewhere alive. Maybe they need to defeat the enemy in order to obtain an object or retrieve someone who had been kidnapped. The point is, every single fight scene should bring the characters one step closer (or further :D) to the climax.
i initially only posted this on twitter but why not put it here too. i made an Enemies Meme template, for when you have two characters that just can’t stand each other
it’s heavily inspired by previous templates i have seen and filled out. i made a short list of my favourites here!
I wanted to play with AC’s designer, so these happened! Sadly with the limitations of the maker, I had to sacrifice some details, but I’m overall happy with these. <3 And now they are uploaded for anyone to have, enjoy!
Also, a huge thank you to @vigilantvirgil for kindly sending me photos of the sweaters’ backs for reference! <3
For each picrew in this list I will be including: A rating based on this post of mine, important inclusive features of each (like skintones, nose diversity, acne, etc.), and a link to each that will be attached to their titles.
Rating: 4/5 (Additional Bonus: 1) (Note: Difficult to rate due to stylization + few options overall)
diverse skintones
black hairstyles (limited)
acne options
(Note: This list is not comprehensive. I also do not know any of these creators and I do not know any of the values they hold. If you know of other good picrews for this list, feel free to add on! Please make sure that your additions include good skintones and black hairstyles)
i have a million prompts in my drafts I need to finish
so why do I want to write about a recovering whumpee adopting a tiny street puppy and using caring for it as a way to process and heal through their recovery
Gentle reminder that I constantly update this playlist (yeah, it’s almost 2022). It’s over 10 hours now. I can’t write fanfiction in English but I put lots of my love for this manga, anime and otp, so I just ask you to listen to this musical masterpiece.
If you have any music recommendations for them, pls let me know.
