Blog Titles Are Hard

Eg. drawing a sofa- my mental image of a sofa is something like this:

Like. Its a sofa. It works. But it's not very convincing, the pillows are kinda wrong at the back, and it's not really giving any information about the owner. Even if you want a basic sofa... What kind of basic.

comfy and cheap?

kinda rigid?

inherited? ------

who does this comfy cheap ikea sofa belong to anyway?

guy living alone?

teenage girl?

Grandma?

Like in one project I'm working on (set in early 1800s England) most sofas had a similar shape, but I tried to learn a bit extra so they still felt distinct!

It's also pre-mass production when most people couldn't actually AFFORD much clutter or variety, but I think there are still ways to show differences!

And not to be an insufferable nerd, but I do now sometimes notice BEAUTIFUL detailed fantasy art of eg. a rough, battered medieval tavern that also has the most luxuriously polished mahogany Victorian furniture of all time...

I too love a button-backed sofa, but is it always the MOMENT for one?

Is exact accuracy a huge deal or more important than storytelling? NO!!!! But usually you don't need to know anything about furniture to see the vibe is a little off, and a little visual research can add a lot to a drawing, and just be INTERESTING.

No, suitcases weren't a thing in 1800, yes I put them in anyway to give a VIBE

IMO in fantasy, being more specific and conscious of what realworld things you might be drawing from can help avoid 2nd-hand-fantasy orientalist, generic 'Eastern' settings, and gives you a chance to go look up cool craft and fabric art from around the world.

And honestly, looking up real historical settings taught me just how much European fashion, architecture and design has been deeply, inseparably intertwined with trade and colonialism in other parts of the world for thousands of years. (Persian rugs, mahogany furniture, so much wallpaper and almost all block and textile printing, dyes, colours, silk dresses, cotton anything. Anyone who tries to tell you traditional british culture means white culture is lying to you on more levels than you think.)

I just feel these are valuable things to be more conscious of in general, and made me more thoughtful about how everyday stuff gets designed and made.

afterimage of cat

twitter/ insta/bluesky/ store

I will be at Bamtori Markets tomorrow!

Thank you to everyone who has been sending such kind messages, I promise I really do read them all, even if I can't reply, but while these messages are wonderful (and really. I mean it. just the nicest and most heartfelt things I've ever seen) the sad fact is they don't change my situation. But you can change it. You can help me.

If you know my situation, if you want to help me, please write to Glitch Productions. They are the only people who can, and I believe, might, be able and willing to save me. SMG4 has ignored me, even through a legal letter. I have no hope that they will do otherwise, but Glitch are a different case and I think they just genuinely don't know I exist. I have sent them a message, to no reply, but more messages means more of a chance they will notice. IF you are on twitter please message that way, I closed my account there years ago, and please be polite: I am not asking for hate, even if I've received it.

1) TIMELINE RGB was created long before, over a decade before Mr. Puzzles first debuted. (*RGB's first appearance may have been 2011, was a little iffy on that)

2) UNDENIABLY UNCANNY RESEMBLANCE The number of traits, some uniquely specific to and representative of RGB's design, that are copied in Mr. Puzzles design are too many to be chalked up to 'just a coincidence'

Especially when you look at the designs of all of the other TV head characters out there - I collected as many as I could find (though I'm sure there's more) and none of them come even close to sharing the number of similarities that these two do.

3) TV MODEL AND DESIGN CHOICES While looking up references for older TVs, I found that for the exact TV they're based on (small retro box TV with knobs in the upper right of the TV and an antenna) most of the references didn't have a vent on the side of them like RGB and Mr. Puzzles do.

I looked up 4 different reference terms, and still had to scroll a while before I found one that matched exactly (above collection just a general sample/example of types of TVs I found). Unless my browsers are wigging out, either the pictures that would come up for these kinds of TVs were different in 2023, or this exact combination of features are just not very common for this style of TV. If that's the case, it may be a bit strange to design a character with those features together.

Here's where that distinction is important: Mr. Puzzles as a character doesn't have much of a reason to go with this design over other styles of similar TVs. But RGB does. The vents on the sides of RGB's head aren't just an aesthetic choice - they're included as a legitimately integral part of the story-line (Negative RGB). The same can be said for a number of other choices Modmad has made, down to individual items of clothing, that show just how much thought and intention and consideration went into every aspect of RGB's design.

Which makes it that much more frustrating to see him get plagiarized in such a careless manner by people who don't even seem to put much care into their own character (common criticism I've read that SMG4 fans have had about Mr. Puzzles and his 'arc').

4) OTHER PEOPLE, EVEN THOSE WHO HADN'T HEARD ABOUT THE SITUATION FROM MOD, NOTICED This has been noted by fans of both series since Mr. Puzzles first came out.