Doodling General discussion, lol

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Seraphic
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Doodling General discussion, lol

Been trying to figure out just how the hell to get more talk out of this place, and this is what I came up with: small talk. Seemed obvious enough. :roll:

So, we can use this thread for small things or side discussions. The artist threads seem to be more focused on the specific artwork, so I figured we can have this on the side. Ask questions, look for tips, discuss topics, whatever. I'll be providing whatever help I can, however unhelpful or convoluted I tend to get, haha.

I have two topics to start off:

1) What have you been studying or looking to improve in lately? I've been planning to start a small study thread of mecha musume. Hopefully I can make the thread somewhat interesting and intelligent rather than have it turn into some weird wankfest. I'm also a little disappointed that I haven't had the time to study folds in clothing yet. Haven't drawn people in a while. =/ Will do that as soon as I finish the current projects.

2) More of a general management question: If I have several large and time consuming projects I am keeping secret, is it better to present the WIPs to give everyone something to look at, or simply not update for months on end until I can present the completed thing?? More generally, how much activity do you like to see? Depending on how we answer this, I may post up one of the drawings I finished today. Hopefully it doesn't spoil the project too much. =p


Wcch! =o

edit: fixed dumb typo. If anyone ever wonders, I edit every single one of my posts like 7 times before I am satisfied and finally leave it alone.
Last edited by Seraphic on Mon Dec 07, 2009 2:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Turinu
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

1) Still trying to improve my 3D modeling, as well as getting back to sketching (I want to draw the pilots for said 3D models. xD).

2) It depends on the person, really. I've noted that putting up WIP's doesn't really garner too much attention (Putting up full works doesn't garner too much attention either, lol). I usually just put them up to show my progress; half of the WIP's I put up never even get done (Look at the Saber Knightmare Frame and Daeg Hagal X, XD).

On a side note, I think we need to get some contests rolling in here again in hopes of bolstering multimedia activity. :<
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Josh
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

Shori and I have been talking about it over AIM and I agree, you mods really should set up another contest.

Also is it just me or besides the general downturn in activity on this board also resulted in a even bigger downturn for those of us who don't draw our own work but just franken? I won't deny that frankening is more or less a stepping stone to other more advanced mediums should one want to take the step, but has it really gotten to the point where only a few of us left still do it?

Maybe I'm just forgetting that not many people in the first place were posting frankens, but there definitely were more in the past than right now.
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

Did you pick up anything useful from your modeling class, Shori? And I think I remember that you got a tablet. How is that working out for you?

Sorry if you or anyone else feels neglected. I've been meaning to comment everyone, but I haven't been on top of things on my end. I've been meaning to yell at you to keep sketching hands, for instance. =3 And is it just me, or do I always sound like a complete dick whenever I leave comments? I mean to be good-natured, but there's just something about my vocabulary or something that just makes me seem like an a**hole. I guess I'm just not used to sugar-coating what I have to say.

Heretic and I were talking some about that a while ago, but he must be busy also. I think some contests about now would be a good idea. We should have more time for it in the next few weeks, right? We also discussed joint projects, like perhaps a tribute picture for the Gundamn! podcast, but I sort of pre-empted him, lol. But yeah, I'm a big fan of doing joint or fan projects, but apparently I'm the only one who has done much of it, like the Marbles I made for the Andromeda System, my attempt to draw in Crash's style of mechs, and of course my old work with your Red Feng. And StrikeR drew a fan picture of my Celestial Gundam because he is awesome. =) edit: Forgot about the Psycho Phantom and its prototype.

I like the joint projects because it kinda shows how we understand everyone's unique style.

Ah, and just a dumb side note, I just learned how to make Actions in photoshop. Instead of fooling around with so many damn right clicks, I made an action that fills and deletes paths for the pen tool. I can color twice as fast now, lol. I mapped it to the F2 key. =3 I'm also panning and changing magnification using only the wheel on my mouse by holding the control and alt keys. I seriously need to get more efficient with Shop.

I'm not sure why we've seen a decline in franken activity. Perhaps it's because there are these two jerks named Crash and Seraph trying to get people to sketch by hand. :P I've seen a few newcomers try to get their feet wet here, but no one has really stuck with it. And the senior frankeners are working on more elaborate projects, so their updates are few and far in between. I've been wanting to get Chaser to come back to us, but he's busy with school.

I hope things pick up this winter.

EDIT: By the way, is there any sort of rule that says only mods can make contests? I'm sure we're more than capable of running one if we don't have a mod waltz by. The only thing would be that we wouldn't really have a means of awarding the winner, since we don't have the mod powers to sticky a thread or whatever. Personally, I think the activity and the votes are reward enough.
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

Did you pick up anything useful from your modeling class, Shori? And I think I remember that you got a tablet. How is that working out for you?
Lol. Nothing at all. I managed to grasp the basic concepts of Maya, but the rest of it was beyond me. I think the real problem was I only had class once a week and it was a four hour class; if I had been eased into it over a period of a few days per week, a couple hours per day, it'd have been easier... But having to tackle one to two projects per week while not getting a weeks worth of information put into you really did take it's toll; I withdrew from the class before I got any bad grades in it, :x. Fortunately my first few projects were graded decently. xD

Sorry if you or anyone else feels neglected. I've been meaning to comment everyone, but I haven't been on top of things on my end. I've been meaning to yell at you to keep sketching hands, for instance. =3 And is it just me, or do I always sound like a complete dick whenever I leave comments? I mean to be good-natured, but there's just something about my vocabulary or something that just makes me seem like an a**hole. I guess I'm just not used to sugar-coating what I have to say.
As for the whole lack of activity, I don't feel like I've been neglected. Sure I feel sad that my ego cannot be stroked or bashed heartlessly with an iron mallet, but that's just something that happens with the times. Interests in frankening seem to have died off considerably, and none of the other art topics are garnering as much attention as they used to in the past. That's one of the reasons why I've gone to Deviant Art as an alternative; hell, my recent Moe Moe Kyun deviation has garnered me a mass of favorites and views for all of my other works, on top of the occasional comment, XD.
Heretic and I were talking some about that a while ago, but he must be busy also. I think some contests about now would be a good idea. We should have more time for it in the next few weeks, right? We also discussed joint projects, like perhaps a tribute picture for the Gundamn! podcast, but I sort of pre-empted him, lol. But yeah, I'm a big fan of doing joint or fan projects, but apparently I'm the only one who has done much of it, like the Marbles I made for the Andromeda System, my attempt to draw in Crash's style of mechs, and of course my old work with your Red Feng. And StrikeR drew a fan picture of my Celestial Gundam because he is awesome. =) edit: Forgot about the Psycho Phantom and its prototype.
When it comes to joint projects, I wouldn't mind trying to model someone's design... I'll just warn you ahead of time that when it comes to designing gundam heads in Sketchup though, I fail miserably; I usually opt for visors or completely hiding the face from view, like with my Sin models. But I think they would be a nice idea; a big collaborative project for Gundamn, if it could be kept together long enough to be completed, would be a fun thing to do. If you guys ever get around to deciding what to do, feel free to assign me a task to do; I don't know if I can do much, but I'll try~
I'm not sure why we've seen a decline in franken activity. Perhaps it's because there are these two jerks named Crash and Seraph trying to get people to sketch by hand. :P I've seen a few newcomers try to get their feet wet here, but no one has really stuck with it. And the senior frankeners are working on more elaborate projects, so their updates are few and far in between. I've been wanting to get Chaser to come back to us, but he's busy with school.
My decline in franken activity is proportional to my increasing interest in making sketchup models, though on occasion I'll bring together a few pieces of art and throw something together. I think I have about three franken projects slowly creeping along in the works right now, including my Saber Knightmare Frame (I think I've even given it legs, they just need to be considerably adjusted to work right with the frame... expect it by christmas or new years!). As for all those newcomers, I really wish they'd stick with it and advance. I don't want to be one of the last generation of frankeners... I must have people carry on my legacy! On that note, I should probably try updating my franken guide... even though I suck at explaining how I do things. As for CHASER, I'm really doubtful he'll ever come back to frankening; he's thoroughly moved on with his life as it seems. He's broken through the window that many of us don't want to break... the "growing up" window. ;o;
EDIT: By the way, is there any sort of rule that says only mods can make contests? I'm sure we're more than capable of running one if we don't have a mod waltz by. The only thing would be that we wouldn't really have a means of awarding the winner, since we don't have the mod powers to sticky a thread or whatever. Personally, I think the activity and the votes are reward enough.
I don't see a problem there, but as you said we can't really give any form of reward. Sticky threads and custom member titles were all that it was about back in the day; if I remember correctly lalahsghost even offered a physical, material award for winning a contest, lol. But if it helps bolster activity once again, maybe we should hold individual contests on a monthly basis; one person starts a contest and offers a reward; like a custom franken or drawing by the contest organizer. Then a month later, another artist to the forum is selected to run a contest, putting up a similar reward. This would also aid in bolstering the whole "joint projects" thing by having the contest organizers make something in their own style that the contest winner did. We just repeat this process monthly or bi-monthly, and pray it brings life back to the boards. :P
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

Shori wrote: 2) It depends on the person, really. I've noted that putting up WIP's doesn't really garner too much attention (Putting up full works doesn't garner too much attention either, lol). I usually just put them up to show my progress; half of the WIP's I put up never even get done (Look at the Saber Knightmare Frame and Daeg Hagal X, XD).
Perhaps we should try some sort of unified WIP thread, open to anyone's participation, discussion & critical input. Asides from being a 'neutral ground,' there is more avenue for interaction between artists; a participant can freely interject his own WIP if he feels that it has relevance to another participant's WIP. It could possibly lead to a freer exchange of ideas, since everyone's ideas & suggestions would be concentrated in a single location, instead of scattered around on half-a-dozen individual artists' threads. An artist's work may benefit from more exposure to people who don't normally visit his personal thread. It could also give rise to more joint projects, as artists discover they have common ground. Newcomers & beginners might even be encouraged to participate more--after all, WIPs are works-in-progress: they're expected to look ugly, unpresentable & unfinished!

Of course, there'll have to be some moderation & ground rules if we don't want people at each other's throats somewhere down the line...
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Shori wrote:he's thoroughly moved on with his life as it seems. He's broken through the window that many of us don't want to break... the "growing up" window. ;o;
I'm rather certain you don't know me well enough to say that. Having said that, this isn't the place for my sociological issues to be looked at. I still come here every day, though I've long lost interest in anything Gundam. Even my small collection of models serves no purpose other than clogging up the vacuum cleaner. That aside, to the topic at hand;

1) In general I've been keeping with working in 3D Studio Max, having to teach myself most of everything since my computer graphics major has a shortage of courses that are actually relevant. All I have to use is 3D, since I would sooner cut off my fingers than work with Flash. Made some money video editing along the way. Filmed a couple of documentaries. Continued with my various writing projects. Made a lot of headway into the workings of orbital space stations and lift vehicles, but not as much as I would have liked on other fronts. Most recently I've began work the exploration of the concepts of Wernher Von Braun in 3D.

Basically doing all the work for next year right now.

2) Milestones in the progress are generally good points to show things, if you want to show any progress. They can be good points for feedback on important parts of whatever you're doing to get direction. That's assuming you have people to give feedback. I usually can't be bothered to show progress even when I have it ready to put up.
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

I'm rather certain you don't know me well enough to say that.
That's probably true, but I've known you long enough to see the you of the past become the you of the present. Suffice to say, I see your rapid changes as growing up, and I don't mean that in a bad way so don't take it negatively, :<.
Perhaps we should try some sort of unified WIP thread, open to anyone's participation, discussion & critical input...

... It could also give rise to more joint projects, as artists discover they have common ground. Newcomers & beginners might even be encouraged to participate more
Having a thread where we could all toss out our current projects and get ideas or inspirations would be a good idea. In fact, just turn this thread into something like that instead of making an entirely new thread. I'd love to get fresh new ideas for making new models or even sketching character portraits. I'd also love to model other peoples works (I've been tempted to try and model one of crash's designs in 3D), and maybe get them to do a bit of sketching or designing for me in return. If there's one thing I love doing, it's exploiting the services of others to do things for me. One of the perks of being lazy, :3~
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

CHASER wrote:1) In general I've been keeping with working in 3D Studio Max, having to teach myself most of everything since my computer graphics major has a shortage of courses that are actually relevant. All I have to use is 3D, since I would sooner cut off my fingers than work with Flash. Made some money video editing along the way. Filmed a couple of documentaries. Continued with my various writing projects. Made a lot of headway into the workings of orbital space stations and lift vehicles, but not as much as I would have liked on other fronts. Most recently I've began work the exploration of the concepts of Wernher Von Braun in 3D.
If you could be bothered, could we see or hear more about this work, Chaser? It sounds very interesting, and we could always use more variety. And you should at least finish that last franken you had half-done on dA. For old time's sake. =o

As for a WIP thread, I agree that we should just use this one for now, since we probably don't quite know what we're doing yet. I think the artists shouldn't be forced to use a different thread asides from their own, though. They just have the option. I mean, VR does a lot of WIP for us, and Crash's entire thread is almost all WIP. As for me, I don't really like showing people unfinished things, so my WIP doesn't really show up until I finish. (Because I am stubborn/dumb.) I guess that if I divide the finished products and the WIP to two threads, then my posts won't end up being 2-3 pages long everytime. >_>

But yeah, displaying the WIP publicly is good because it demonstrates that artwork is not "instantly awesome". It's developed slowly and is constantly tweaked and fixed along the way. Showing it that way should make the environment less intimidating for new artists, I hope.
Shori wrote:(I've been tempted to try and model one of crash's designs in 3D)
He is going to soil his pants when he reads that. I think you should model Elendor. =)
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

Well, seeing as this magical thread came out of nowhere, I'd like to inform anyone at all that my laptop has finally decided to die. And believe me, it was like forcing a paper raft across the Atlantic Ocean. So, henceforth and lolwut I am not going to be able to post any of my new art for a while. I am very disappointed because this entire month till today I have been on artists steroids and churning out crap like no tomorrow. :P
Seraphic wrote:"instantly awesome"
Whatever this is, I want some. NOW.

And to contribute to the discussion: I would usually put WIPs if I could, but I'm the type of person to finish whatever I'm doing all in one go... at least until I mess up :roll: But I do think that there actually are really good for seeing how different artists think and it could possibly be a help to many of those who are just starting to draw or franken or w/e.
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

Well this is a handy little thread. being a lurker by nature makes it hard for me to post.

1.) personally I've been playing with Paint.net and trying to get some exp in it. I nowhere have the shop skillz like some of the guys here but its enough to clean my workup a bit now. I've been meaning to but I haven't been able to get to human drawings as of late but there's one up in my thread now. Need to redraw my pilots, and post them up, and I need to draw some of them in general.

2.)posting up WIPs in a common thread would be a cool idea. I curious to where everyone starts, frets over, etc. For myself I start with the left side and work my way over. (because I'm left handed and if I don't I tend to drag my hand through my lines.) I'm like Strike though in that when I do a drawing I usually do it all in one go unless I lose interest in it so I don't usually have that many WIPs, just 'I don't like it' sketches.
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

Oh god, I hate that so much, *Is left handed, too.* I always work my way from the top down, though, so almost all my works smear due to my hand if I'm not careful. One of the reasons I'm loving this tablet... since it appears on the computer screen, it doesn't smear~!
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

since I'm supper sleepy I'll keep this short and come back latter for a more through post:
(there where 6 spelling errors in that last line XD )

Seraphic wrote:
Shori wrote:(I've been tempted to try and model one of crash's designs in 3D)
He is going to soil his pants when he reads that. I think you should model Elendor. =)
I did not.

It's always been an intention of mine to learn 3d modeling ... and of course with me that means jumping into the deep end a making something stupidly complex *glances at his mecha designs* I just never got around to it.

I'd of course be delighted to see any of my designs make it into 3D. even if it's only a gun XD.
Shori wrote:Oh god, I hate that so much, *Is left handed, too.* I always work my way from the top down, though, so almost all my works smear due to my hand if I'm not careful. One of the reasons I'm loving this tablet... since it appears on the computer screen, it doesn't smear~!
bah. there's a reason why I love wearing stupid long sleeves that come well over the majority of my hand. hell, I wish I could find such shirts with thumb holes in the sleeves.

and finally, throw my name in that jar of people who'd participate in those joint things and stuffs. I just said er typed "stuffs" .... I'm so going to bed.
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

Scratch what I said before, I found a way to get scans on a more regular basis. I also have access to a tablet twice a week, so I've been practicing with that as well.

Also; I would LOVE to do joint works with people.
(because I'm left handed and if I don't I tend to drag my hand through my lines.)


I also have this problem and I've been learning to use pens to draw nowadays so it makes life much easier. Woot for lefties!

And a little new question from me: What is your tool of trade? I've been wondering cause I recently got a pack of really small mm pens that do wonders for drawing "Gundam/Mecha" style line art. And if you don't use pens or pencils on paper, what caused you to grow out of it? As I said before, I'm just starting to use the tablet and so far I've been getting accustomed to it more and more with each time I use it.. but I still like using on paper drawing as opposed to the tablet.

something I did as I waited to get on to this comp.
I'll be updating my thread soon.. I forgot my sketch book so I couldn't scan anything D:
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

I generally use mechanical pencils when it comes to drawing; I've used that along with pens in the past though. If I go through my folder, I'll even find one or two drawings from several years back done in blue pen, lol.

Recently I've begun trying to get used to my newly purchased large and delicious intuos4 tablet. Photoshop is also a tool of the trade, primarily ImageReady, as well as MS Paint (For Frankening). And of course, my most current tool of the trade is Sketchup, which I'm slowly but surely learning through trial and error; screw tutorials, it's more fun to go in not knowing wtf you're doing! :D
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

Not dead, just in college

With classes done for now and most of a month to myself, I’ll be trying to do some new works, mostly finishing some character drawings, maybe a new mecha design.

Posting WIPs is about all I do these days, having them in the same place as everyone else’s might be a good idea since my thread keeps slipping into the dark recesses of the old pages.

As Seraphic said, I talked with him about doing collaborative/joint projects, I just got too busy with college to follow up. I’m still in for joint projects. I haven’t got the knack of making mecha in sketchup yet so I’m mostly limited to starship/airship designs.

My tools of the trade, mechanical pencils, paper, scanner, photoshop and I even have a Wacom tablet that I recently got the right drivers for, so I really should start practicing with that.
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

my tools of the trade is a mechanical pencil in 5mm, printer paper. on the computer side of the equation is a mouse and photoshop CS4. I wish I had a tablet. when I draw I usually listen to random metal through headphones and bash out an entire sketch within the 3-5 minute length of a single song.

that kinda brings me to an idea. back wen I was in collage (few years ago) I would warm up by asking people for the first two words that came to their mind -excluding of course the usual sex related things. these would inevitably be things like "Big Gun," "Emo Cutter," and "Sunrise." I would then use this as the start of an image. perhapse we could do things like that sometime. one of us proposes a set of words or single idea and we see what everyone produces.
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

Hm. I'm used to drawing on 8.5x11" paper, so would I need to find a tablet that's more or less that big? 'cuz they all seem pretty expensive and that makes me shake my fist at the sky in helpless rage.
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

Not necessarily, but that's pretty much what I did. I bought the largest I could afford (Which was the large intuos 4.... the extra large was a bit too big).

But you shouldn't get a large tablet just because you're used to drawing on a certain size of paper. Medium works justs as well, it'd just take a little time getting used to. Hell, I know people that use Bamboos and push out decent art on them.

It's all up to your preference, I suppose.
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Re: Doodling General discussion, lol

ShadowCell wrote:Hm. I'm used to drawing on 8.5x11" paper, so would I need to find a tablet that's more or less that big? 'cuz they all seem pretty expensive and that makes me shake my fist at the sky in helpless rage.
I haven't used a tablet before, so this bit of intuition might be useless, but I figured it may not be important to get a tablet the same size as your usual paper canvas because you're often just drawing on a small portion of that paper. I mean, how often are you making pencil strokes that span the entire paper? It may depend on how large/small you are used to drawing.

To avoid rubbing away the graphite on my drawings, I either rotate the paper or cover the previous work with a second sheet of paper, which works surprisingly well. Of course, I try to plan out ways to draw in certain order, too, but it never works out because I always go over my lines again anyway. I think I'm one of the few right-handed persons here.

My tools: mechanical pencil (5mm, 3mm), bristol paper (vellum, smooth), Shop CS4, camera (for WIP record), and a few woodworking (surform rasp) or gemcutting tools (grinding/polishing laps found on campus).

Probably not what you guys were imagining, but here is some of the first WIP I have available. You should probably skim this beforehand to avoid need for too much explanation.

Cabochons:
rough material (two sodalite on the left, then aventurine in the middle, and angelite on right)
blue lace agate rough
rhodonite rough
completed cabs: blue lace agate and rhodonite
twin amethyst rough
completed cabs: amethyst twin

I have a handful of more cabochons, but I haven't taken any pictures of them. It's hard to get the lighting right...because I'm obviously a very bad photographer. =/ You'll notice some of them are mounted on dopsticks. All the cabs have a flat side; you attach a dopstick there so it's easier to shape. Try holding a rock to a polishing wheel with your bare hands and you'll see why.

I also cut a gem out of synthetic blue quartz. The original raw material was a cube.
rough part 2 (triangular prism)
rough part 3 (general gem shape)
????
profit

This cut is called a rainbow triangle. It's generally an equilateral triangle, but the thing actually doesn't have 3-way symmetry, which was what made this cut so hard. One side has a regular flat facet, the next has horizontal step facets, and the last has vertical step facets. I wish I could find a diagram online or something.

So that's just the WIP steps. I'll throw up some of the actual cruddy photos in my thread. =/
crashlegacy14 wrote:that kinda brings me to an idea. back wen I was in collage (few years ago) I would warm up by asking people for the first two words that came to their mind -excluding of course the usual sex related things. these would inevitably be things like "Big Gun," "Emo Cutter," and "Sunrise." I would then use this as the start of an image. perhapse we could do things like that sometime. one of us proposes a set of words or single idea and we see what everyone produces.
"Crab battle."
"Red particles are bad, they mutate you into... dead? But green/blue particles are good, apparently, for reasons and for purposes yet to be determined. Isn't science sometimes nicely color-coded?"
-Antares

GW: The Sword . Sera's Art . Gameplay . The Lost Citadel
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