Xaious, Master of Time

Yeah..And to make this more interesting.... I didn't actually read the lyrics until earlier today....(while listening to the song, coincidentally)....Yeah.....Almost kinda scared me how reading the lyrics didn't change my idea on how it should've looked...... (this came from a pm...I felt like informing the masses?) Ok, I'll see what I can do for this..... Mostly, I doddle something down on some paper, whatever I've been inspired to create, how it might look, in a very sketchy form. Usually, there's just a bit of gazing at the sketch, knowing that I love the idea forming in my head, which will, in the end, be much different from my initial idea. Once I get an idea of how it might look (for this, think: Machine, work a slight of religion into it [originally, there was no cathedral, and it was much more a staff-like object]). I follow this by setting the sketch aside, mostly forgetting about it, and from time to time looking at things that catch my attention, some of which remind reinspire and small alterations on the original idea. (This is where it became altered from a staff with pipes of machinery to a cathedral on a power-source). This is around the time where I start looking at how I want it to look, so this is about the time I ignore any and every sketch from beforehand and start working in Photoshop. The photoshopping is done in short spurts of excessively flowing creative juices (lasting a few hours at a time, rarely more than once every two weeks). As I'm working on it in photoshop, (ie, the period from beginning to end) I browse around the web (either stock image websites or google) looking for necessary components, as well as more inspiring images. For the most part, once I decide I want something in it, I decide where it goes, and how it should look (color, size, etc.), and work to get it as such. This is the part that takes the longest, and once I know where everything goes, how it's to look, I manipulate the pieces to how they need to be, so that I love the way it looks. And then, after I've got everything where I want it, (for this thing, it took about a month and a half or two to get here..no..wait...I've been working on this for 3 months...wow, holy carp....[no, not a spelling error]), then..um...*reminds myself where I am* That puts me right at the time where I start with the shadows and stuff, the minor things of greatest importance to the image (such as the shading on the lower blade-arms, around where the higher ones cross them, if that wasn't shaded, it wouldn't look good..). Now, this will help some: I do the shading all in one sitting, and this is always the sitting where I finish the image. I use the airbrush, set at opacity 8%, black. Typically use a smaller brush, or larger, depending (the top parts of the cathedral and smokestacks, larger, the arms, smaller). This is done with many short strokes, rapidly, generally right on top of each other. Now, to get things to look like they're all one thing (let us look at the bladed arms, the lower ones), this involves the eraser at a low opacity, everything being combined to be on different layers, and some cutting and pasting. For this, I used the Terminator arm. I cut the finger off of the hand at the knuckles, having each finger on a different layer. I also used a scythe blade. I moved the scythe blade (on a higher level than the arm) to the hand, to where it met the hand at the knuckles. I erased from the part where the blade hit the knuckles with the eraser at a low opacity slowly until they faded into each other. I then moved the fingers into positions to where they were all joined with the arm and the blade in a way to make it so that it seemed that if the fingers moved, the blade would. More erasings to make the fingers meld with the blade, a little blurring the fingers into the knuckles, and Ithen all I had to do was make it all a similar color. I don't recall the exacts on that step, but it involved some desaturation, some lighting effects, and a little bit of color alterations other than saturation. Then, well, I moved it to it's proper location on the image. But mostly, it's finding the right images and combing them as best as I can, finding the place that looks the best for them to me. Which happens to take a while... (What I've left out are the parts where we work on this for a couple of hours and get pissed off at the way it's looking, so we quit without saving it, so that when we start on it again, we only have to redo what we like, we don't have to undo what we hated.)

Well, the inspiration came from more than just the lyrics. The music itself did a bit of inspiring. Really heavy energetic and fast moving music, with slower parts that seem filled with concetrated directed anger and hatred. Thanks for all the reviews. And Ven, I'm now interested...What might you have called it without the music? What might you have seen without the picture? (really, for the full effect, you have to listen to the song...)

Yeah, Acid Bath had a lot of dark and evil soundingness to their music. It's the kidn of stuff that really gets my creative juices flowing. Which leads to things like this at times....

Alright, I want to know anything and everything you could possibly think to tell me on this. Be brutally honest on the critique, as you desire. Inspired by Acid Bath's song God Machine. (Song Lyrics)God Machine The God machine is hungry For individualism and ripe brains The skull farmers do their rain dance And pray the machine falls to sleep She holds me close And whispers wet "there are cannibals among us." Mad in love with dry dead boys In the backs of Abandoned cars Smoking the bones of children Plotting the murder of love Strapped into the chair The needle now descends As they lick their cracking lips Their twitching never ends Blood beneath their finger nails, Swallow all my pain Dirty needles break the skin Suck hard as I drain Drain me Drain me Sunken eyes, a twisted spine A whiter shade of pale Rockabilly man come to pound the coffin nails Inject my stomach full of Cockroach eggs Their machine is coming carried on a million legs Waking in the sleep of reason Winter is the forever season Lick thy mother's bleeding lips From this glass of hate we sip Fuck the glass we pump the keg Kill conception at the egg Her chin is wet with someone's hate Love, disfigure, amputate Amputate Amputate Can you remember how it felt to be alive? Your god machine is cold And dead your eyes they cannot cry Fuck your deities of dying love We have shot them down from the skies above Screaming convulsing My eyes are bleeding Be silent now and take your beating I wonder how long you would live With a bullet in your gut I wonder how much shit you'd talk If your throat was cut I wonder what you'd sound like begging me To let you breathe I wonder how much pain it would take To make you all believe Believe, believe, believe, believe In me I'm your god machine Fuck your god (Wow...honestly, that's the first time I look at the lyrics to this song....heh...yet still inspiring) Now, for the image this inspired: Commentato!

..I heard the word...food.... Then I saw that there was something that had to be done for it........ But, anywho...... Congrats, you Saliciously Silly Salacious Salinye! Congrats yooo! (Now you'll have to tell us when it's born [don't mind my optimism, I've been up for 32 hours again.....odd how that makes me optimistic......]...and stuff...). WOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *runs off on a natural high the likes of which he's never had before, and for more reasons....(hint....it's in the poem place..if you can understand whatever it is I said in there....)

(A little more to add to this..) Simple bliss in time well spent, counter-agent for double failings. Black and leopard large smashing block of soft and force. Forgotten colors on an elder belle, Attention we exceed. Pure cane never so sweet, never starts yet doth continue. Have manifestations of sleeping stories been? Hath a source made itself from the mists of the fog? Has the fire of the sky's night been shown up? Are the stars truly that lovely which they proclaim?

The fake plastic plant growing the forbidden fruit we want not to eat. Dreamed in dreams we do not have, denying a cracked polystyrene love. Daring not for this betrayal, stepping through the many traps. Sealed within the seeming prison, bound of an oath word given almost in blood. If I could be who you wanted, would you water this fake plastic tree? Could you for me pluck the fruit, eat thereof? Would any then question the betrayal passed on for others enactments? Must I be trapped in this tomb of promises? Then the dream the other vision seen, misfortunes in no sooner occurrences. Never ceasing of dreamings in day, surprised noisings for the benefitial emotions. Finding more yet withholding something, we cannot cease the smile upon the faces. We see that we have progresses, longer no more what once we were. Have we achieved what had once been hoped? Will the dream of day be also the dream of night? Who can question the joy that we feel at decreasing light into the night? Must all time be spent wondering, waiting, to learn of things to come?

*Xaious flys into the room and straight into Ayshela witha rabid tacklehug the likes of which have never been seen before, and will never be seen again....(he's made sure of this one...) and gives her a key to an endless cellar of alcohol (for dealing with...life? sure...)..and stuff..* HAPPY BIRFDAY AYSHELA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *Xaious gives Ayshela a pair of gold and daimond steel-toed boots, and hires himself to her as a bodyguard (against the likes of..er..ones such as Wyvern)...and yeah....And then the party REALLY begins!*

Dyslexics of the world, UNTIE! A dyslexic man walked into a bra. And of course: A Elf, a human, and a half-orc walk into a bar. The dwarf walks under it. =P

Even more clues you could be a Redneck... You can entertain yourself for more than an hour with a fly swatter. Done that before.. Your TV gets 512 channels, but you go outside to use the bathroom. Sometimes... You've ever stood outside a bathroom and heckled someone inside. All the time... Turning on your lights involves pulling a string. Yeah..... You come back from the dump with more than you took. *tries to whistle innocently* You think the Styrofoam cooler is the greatest invention of all time. It's not the best, but it's up there... You take your dog for a walk and you both use the same tree to relieve yourselves. No, but only becaue I don't have a dog... The most common phrase heard in your house is, "Somebody go jiggle the handle." ...*vanishes for a second*.. Thanks for reminding me... Also: What does OK actually mean? 0 Killed. Why is the abbreviation for pound lb. when l or b isn't in the word pound? I don't recall exactly, but it has to do with like the old latin word for it or something....something about the original word..

...Hmmm... I think I've confronted that beast once.... Stu...dy....hmm....But that was like seven years ago....... *looks around with an obviously fake look of innocence on...*

The Divine Insurrection of Cat Kind Actually DOES Exist! Once the esteemed DNA ayalyst Dr. Schwineherdtz Determined that Katz was in all truths an alien, and the rumors of a veritable Cat Army came in, we sent our number one reporter, Charles Herdtzenschwine, to investigate. You would not believe what he discovered. Herdtzenschwine started his search in Katz's residence, finding cleverly hidden connections to what could only be described as 'a truckload of felines.' Over the course of a week, Charles Herdtzenschwine uncovered more information, eventually leading him to a certain well-known member of the Pen--a group concidered by most to be nothing more than a simple internet cult, who denied all accusations. He claimed that 'I am not asssssociated with thessssse...catsssssss.... ' However, he did not deny any cult activities. Yet though he claims no connection to the Insurrection, a closer look revealed that much of this scaly villains clothing was in fact covered in cat hair. Herdtzenschwine also discovered a calling card for a shady figure going by the name of 'B.' After much searching, Herdtzenschwine located a hideout of the persona called 'B'. What he found was unbelievable: Fliers and pamphlets for the Divine Insurrection of Cat Kind and the untimely residue of a few specific magics. Although we are currently having the magical residue analyzed, we are certain as to the existence of this Cat Army. Be cautious, as the Divine Insurrection of Cat Kind is a ruthless order: many rat and mouse skeletons were found alongside the fliers.

It had taken a few days to perfect, but Xaious finally had everything ready for his costume. Four days it took: three to fix up the bottle so that it would always be near empty (though never fully)--the contents;Vodka--, and one day to get into his costume. Xaious walked up to the door dressed in his normal casual attire or black and baggy, plus a royal purple cape and a bottle of Vodka, though near empty the bottle. Then someone inquired of his what he was supposed to be. Five minutes pass "Oh, my costume? I'm late, five minutes behind...and stuff...." Xaious grinned, and walked past, sipping on the liquor. OOC: Yeah. Delayed reaction time of at least five minutes. For everything. If I get hit in the head by anything, it won't affect for five minutes...=P Have fun with this one!

And He of Temporal Displacement is 19.

It had been quite some time, and there had been no announcement of who had been chosen for employment. Wondering if something was truly amiss, the Master of Time decided to make an inquiry. *a few time manips later* Plopping himself onto his bed--in some hidden closet at the Pen--Xaious sleepily wondered aloud. *yawns* "Maybe...sticky..note on forehead....will...seeen... *yawns*now...sleeep....". A note, with clear directions to him who left it.

FRIDAY! ...curses... That means I have to go all week-end unable to feed my growing addiction to that infernal dancing machine! CURSE YOU PUMP IT UP! *Xaious hugs everyone in the room whose name is Ayshela, then leaves, his feet following the general pattern of the steps in Beethoven Virus.*

Absolutely wonderful craftsmanship. Not quite clear on exactly what happens at the end, but I feel I can appreciate the vagueness of it. Definitely worth the read. I suppose I can best describe it's affect to me as 'addictively descriptive'. I love it, good one.

"The Day is mine!"-Xaious

Xaious rolls in, having ditched the steel-toed boots for rollerblades in preparation of hurricane season. He glides over to Ayshela and huggles her madly, whisking off again to the Magical Steel-Toed Boot Land. But today, he just clumsily flies into people on his rollerblades....

Have you ever had the first post on the fifth page of a topic? Have you ever had to cope with the fact that you don't belong. Anywhere. That you are just a burden, and this world has nothing for you anyways. That the only reason you keep going is because of the inertia. That you are not what you are. Have you ever been forced to let your one and only dream in life die.

Yes, well..um..er... In my defense, all wek, all i did was play one ..er...two games of Tetris. And..er...The computers have been off most of the time... Besides, nature has these things: !!!!!!!!!!

But htis year, an upgrade to our skating doomajig. Bedsheets. They catch a lot more wind than cardboard boxes. Granted, it was enough wind to push me just standing there on them, didn't really need a sheet or anything else to catch wind. With gusts of over 35 miles an hour, oh god that was fun!

Hmm...You may have a point, but I prefer the vast amounts of woods and trees and water....The Nature.

Yeah. For any who've been noting it on the news, there's a rather strong hurricane in the gulf. And it's headed towards the general vicinity of...um....me...and the rest of southern Louisiana. Yup. Bring it on! We can take it. On a much greater note, I hope it destroys New Orleans...Not to be mean, but (as I've heard) N.O. is a money pit, and the tourism only brings in enough money for it to break even, and then (once more as I've heard) that 'they' are talking about not rebuilding it for this reason. Granted, that's easily doubtable, and doubted, but you know, oh my, the loting! (really, I don't want for that city to be destroyed...just flooded a bit. You know, to show them people they really should live somewhere..better....that Louisiana is NOT that great a state.) So yeah. A good chunk of family's coming stay at my house. Live in the highest part of this parish of Terrebonne (for the hell of it [i love these little sidethoughts] that means good earth), a greatly unmazing three feet above sea level. And because of this, my grandparents are coming over from further south (let's say about 15 miles away from here), even one of my brothre's friends is coming stay. Let's say that we'll have about 10 people staying in my not too large (not large at all) house. On a plus note, all my classes today were cancelled. Heh. Teacher had to board his windows. Then noon classes were cancelled. You know, I LOVE hurricane season! The rain, the wind, the possible danger even! Heck, last hurricane we had, me, my brother, and a couple of the neighbors were 'riding the winds'. We put on rollerblades and stood in the street holding flattened out cardboard boxes, as such to catch wind. Have you ever travelled at 20 miles an hour on skates without putting forth any effort? I have. And it is fun. (This rant brought to you by Me.) Now, also, I have another character that I made, ready for use on here... Him a planeswalker...(yeah..er...Wait til I post his back story before telling me how not good an idea that is.)

He had been walking around, some bit woozy from the party he was just leaving from, when he tripped on nothing and fell face first on the ground, passing out, and then--eventually--waking, with an advertisement stuck to his forehead. An advertisement that appeared quite old. "Work Exchange! I need to buy the services of a traveler of time and/or parallel existences and/or accomplished naming mage. Inquire for details. Serious offers only, please. Offering in return the services of a middling-quality naming mage, non-cyberpunk technomancer, cult-maker, and chocolatier. Your method of contact will be taken as a show of suitability for the job." "A traveler of time, eh?" Xaious chuckled, then grabbed his horribly aching head. "It's a good thing that's me, otherwise..." Another painful chuckle. He took his time getting to actually applying, but this was Ok: He was the first to apply. And undoubtably, his would be the first that could be noticed. ------------------------------ As Tzimfemme set up the notice, she felt an odd poke to her back. The master of Time had applied, leaving a sticky note on her back.