Not Headcanons - Blog Posts
Bard Hunter
What kind of instrument do you guys think Hunter would play?
I think about all the types of magic we never saw Hunter use in the show. Besides seeing some non specific staff magic like teleportation , creation and blast we only see him use magic that could be considered construction and have interest in potions but that’s it really.
This actually low key disappoints me because I know a boy like Hunter with such a interest in magic would know how to do so much and we didn’t get to see it. I can imagine all the original and bizarre ways he would use magic since I doubt many people has interest in teaching anything but the basics. Like yeah, he had an artificial staff but he still needs to know the spells like how we see him having to use flapjack for the first time in eclipse lake.
Oh well, that’s what we have fanfiction for
Anyways, while I don’t think Belos would care to much for Hunter to learn Bard magic as it would probably need to another artificial tool and there are other skills Hunter could learn instead.
I just think it’s fun to think about the Golden Guard or just Hunter whipping out an instrument and jamming out mid fight or for funsies.
I think Belos would have him learn some sort of church kind of instrument. Like one you could hear at a church or something in the 1600s.
Like a viol, lute, fiddle or recorder. Since these instruments are pretty old in origin and used in religious spaces which I think suits Belos.
I think Hunter would be good at this and would be commonly used in combat, I can imagine.
Now as for post-canon I can see Hunter learning a instrument as something new to learn. Even better if he can get waffles to turn into one.
I think he would be interested in some sort of string instruments.
I can imagine him vividly with a violin or lyre. Violin because I think they are very powerful intruments that can convey all sorts of tone and emotion and lyre due to the association with birds.
But yeah I love the idea of bard Hunter.
Oh my god I’ll keep an eye out for fundraisers but my hometown is in flames.. they think it might all be gone.
^They're currently taking donations for Maui mutual aid
Follow the bouncing flames
With the release of the Jungle Inferno update, Valve left many test attributes in the game code. Some of these were designed to make the Pyro’s flames reflect off of surfaces. A few years later, two very humble geniuses named Gamemaster and Gray found the attributes and implemented them in a plugin called Alternative Fortress, giving the Backburner the ability to bounce flames off walls.
For the record, I actually had nothing to do with this. It’s solely GM’s work, and he deserves full credit. (This does nothing to reduce my genius and/or humility.)
Anyway, this is what I’ll be talking about today: reflecting flames.
Keep reading
...that your audience won't hate.
This is a method I started using when NFTs were on the rise - thieves would have to put actual work into getting rid of the mark - and one that I am now grateful for with the arrival of AI. Why? Because anyone who tries to train an AI on my work will end up with random, disruptive color blobs.
I can't say for sure it'll stop theft entirely, but it WILL make your images annoying for databases to incorporate, and add an extra layer of inconvenience for thieves. So as far as I'm concerned, that's a win/win.
I'll be showing the steps in CSP, but it should all be pretty easy to replicate in Photoshop.
Now: let's use the above image as our new signature file. I set mine to be 2500 x 1000 pixels when I'm just starting out.
Note that your text should not have a lot of anti-aliasing, so using a paint brush to start isn't going to work well with this method. Just use the standard G-Pen if you're doing this by hand, or, just use the text tool and whichever font you prefer.
Once that's done, take your magic wand tool, and select all the black. Here are the magic wand settings I'm using to make the selections:
All selected?
Good.
Now, find a brush with a scattering/tone scraping effect. I use one like this.
You can theoretically use any colors you want for this next part, but I'd recommend pastels as they tend to blend better.
Either way, let's add some color to the text.
Once that's finished,
You're going to want to go to Layer Property, and Border Effect
You'll be given an option of choosing color and thickness. Choose black, and go for at least a 5 in thickness. Adjust per your own preferences.
Now create a layer beneath your sig layer, and merge the sig down onto the blank layer.
This effectively 'locks in' the border effect, which is exactly what we want.
Hooray, you've finished your watermark!
Now let's place that bad boy into your finished piece.
You'll get the best mileage out of a mark if you can place it over a spot that isn't black of white, since you'll get better blending options that way. My preference is for Overlay.
From here, I'll adjust the opacity to around 20-25, depending on the image.
If you don't have a spot to use overlay, however, there's a couple other options. For white, there's Linear Burn, which imho doesn't look as good, but it still works in a pinch.
And for lots of black, you have Linear Light
Either way, you're in business!
EDIT since this has escaped my usual circles, and folks aren't as familiar with my personal usage:
An example of one of my own finished pieces, with watermark, so you can see what I mean about 'relatively unobtrusive'-- I try to at least use them as framing devices, or let them work with the image somehow (or, at the very least, not actively against it).
I know it's a bummer for some people to "ruin" their work with watermarks, which is part of the reason I developed this mark in particular. Its disruption is about as minimal as I can make it while still letting it serve its intended purpose.
There's other methods, too, of course! But this is the one I use, and the one I can speak on. Hope it helps some of you!
Alright, I'm doing it.
Today at 3PM EST on this freshly made Discord server I'll be going through Heavy's voicelines, reading them with my thickest Russian accent, talking about Russian phonetics, and answering any questions you guys might have.
DON'T MISS IT! Here's the DIscord server link again! Join, chat, tell your friends! If a decent number of people shows up, I might make it a regular thing.
