There’s going to be more Marina fanart this week while this is the final little blog post of the year ;D Also I ramble about Advent Children spoilers and instagram’s recent engagement requirements.

Tea time & Happy Holidays with Sephiroth and Kirbys!

Featuring Kirbyroth & the sword unit measurement Kirbys from the Sephiroth demonstration video Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Mr. Sakurai Presents “Sephiroth”! Super hype and iconic One-Winged Angel (Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children) – Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Soundtrack too!

Please note that I’ve been attempting & learning how to draw Sephiroth and I’m not even a Final Fantasy/FFVII fan; it’s my first time drawing him and this is one of the results! It’s a different, cool challenge since I’m pushing my comfort zone and I’ve been watching videos learning about Sephiroth anyway thanks to my curiosity ;P

I don’t fully understand some parts of his character design with all the 7 belts for his overcoat and even more belts on his body and boots. What are those metal wrist cuffs? Does he do anything beyond being menacing, edgy and murderous? Realising again that he’s simple in terms of character arcs and is an effectively scary, cold, anime Angel of Death villain.

What kind of tea would Sephiroth have? 🍵✨ I figured he’s the type to drink black tea; I could be wrong! Open to better ideas!

Hm I could nitpick this fanart piece more and there’s things I want to do differently for next time. Still I’m happy how this piece turned out (:

Watched Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete (2005/2009) to understand the Smash trailer’s references to this movie

I was completely confused, lost, bored and emotionally detached.

Spoiler ramble ahead!

I guess one of the cool parts are the fights shown in this video of the final confrontation: Final Fantasy VII Advent Children COMPLETE Cloud vs Sephiroth?

The story itself was incoherent and confusing for a newbie like me. Why did Cloud’s character development from FF7 disappear in this movie? I do understand what they were trying to go for; this is essentially a movie situated 2 years later, focused on Cloud’s recovery from his depression and guilt for not being able to save Zack and Aerith while he pushes Tifa, Marlene and kids emotionally away. But I thought he went through that character arc and development during FF7!

What is Barrett wearing?! How does this world still function without Mako energy?! How did they get all of these equipment and technology going and how did Cloud’s multiple swords come to be?! Why did we need 3 Sephiroth clones when you probably only need one? What was the point of brainwashing and controlling kids? How are their lives still the same-ish since the end of FF7?

There’s so much silly, cheesy plot holes and/or unexplained points from the expanded universe of the books(?) so it felt like I don’t have the full picture and the storytelling wasn’t well executed. I feel like I wasted my time watching this since I struggled to understand and care about what’s happening on screen. I appreciated the art and animation of the time though!

Sidenote: I got recommended Smooth McGroove’s Final Fantasy VII – One Winged Angel Acapella again! Explaining the Equations in Sephiroth’s Final Smash is also a thing; quantum mechanics! :0

Social media & instagram hamster wheel

For those who use instagram to post art and/or do business, please read this about why engagement is terrible lately and this artist focused insight twitter thread by Jen Bartel. I’ve read other threads and had some conversations with some artists too about our concerns and frustrations with this. I hope this gets shared a lot and helps someone to not burn themselves out on any given a platform; I didn’t know it was this bad! 🙁

Gosh I didn’t even know what reels and fleets were and I don’t want to use them :<

Many artists get most work by directly contacting clients and building genuine relationships and I don’t really do that because I’m not sure who and if I want to fit myself into a pigeonhole yet as I’m still figuring myself out (and I’m not brave enough to do because I expect rejection :’) ) Newsletters can work but they’re hard to build and not for me; I’d rather do weekly digest newsletters with my blog updates :’)

People generally don’t have much more time to check beyond the mainstream social media platforms but these huge platforms only reward people who use social media as a full/part time job and utilise every feature! Using basic features leaves you disadvantaged and it’s rigged against you because they want people to be stuck using and viewing and using *their* platform :< This is why we feel stuck while any new social media platform struggles to take off or break out of their niche of artist-only audiences.

Personally I don’t really worry too much about the always changing algorithm and platforms because that’s too stressful, unrealistic, draining and unsustainable though it is great and insightful to see what’s really in your control with awareness and to not wholly depend on instagram (let alone any other platform)!

Since it’s so hard to even sustainably reach your own followers, it’s better to post where your niche and audience is, directly contact potential clients and build genuine connections with people, spread yourself across many platforms with consistency and patience and make sure you have your own web space too and/or email newsletter. It needs to work for you as part of your process, values and your lifestyle because what’s most important is to have fun with creating and sharing!

Perhaps after my upcoming long break, my instagram content will be punished and sent to the shadow realm when I get back and nobody will see my posts as much anymore. Goodbye instagram peeps :< That’s what all of this implies at least! Even twitter doesn’t show all of my tweets so all I can say is make sure you’re keeping tabs on this blog directly :’)

I’ll test more restrictions on social media usage again when I get back so I’m not always distracted being on all these platforms :’) I might try the 1 hour limit on an art posting day :0

I’ll listen, read and think about all this in my own time now that I am more aware how instagram works (ie it’s not for human beings) and how it shouldn’t be a huge priority for me since I’m juggling and posting across platforms anyway. Plus I have this little blog home of mine ;D

#HappyHolidays! I don't celebrate it xmas but Toy Day is so wholesome & lovely! :')
Who still plays #AnimalCrossing?#ACNH #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/OQe2GQNiM2

— Leonie Yue ❦ (@leonieyue) December 24, 2020

Anyhoo, phew! Please take care and thanks for reading my little and last post of this year! Happy Holidays again (:

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