sheep
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Chapter 10, "Stories of Surgeons", WoK I imagined them as simple looking vertical sundial-like clocks. A round dial set on a box designed to hold a bit of infused Smokestone either in a cage in the front (like Navani's ruby heating fabrials) or a little latch at the back where you can take out the stone to recharge it during a highstorm. The box is weighted to prevent the clock from accidentally being tipped over when set on your desk, because these aren't modern Earth wall clocks.
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Chapter 8, "Nearer the Flame", WoK It was kind of obvious that Shallan was being taken to the cleaners at the bookshop before Yalb stepped in. The books she wanted were expensive, yes, but for obscure historical texts in low demand, 3 broams for the set is much fairer...though how close it is to cost price is up for debate, as Yalb says they probably could have haggled lower if Shallan wasn't in such a hurry. The books she wanted are rare enough to have only one copy or none in stock - that probably means there are less than 10 copies for sale in the whole city. When you consider that on Earth, you can buy pocket romances at the supermarket for $6 a pop, but a technical handbook or scientific textbook for a specific and rare discipline costs $250, the idea of books priced in broams doesn't seem too ridiculous. Any Rosharan textbook on fabrial science would need multiple custom diagram illustrations. You must remember that Kaladin's poor surgeon farmer didn't start being poor until Roshone became the citylord. Up until then, the Stormblessed family ( ) were comfortably middle class relative to farmers that made up the rest of the village. Chapter 10, "Stories of Surgeons", WoK Lirin had glasses and a fabrial clock. Since Lirin didn't get paid in cash/spheres, it's possible that he got paid in gifts and luxury gadgets. It's ambiguous whether Wistiow meant to hand over the jar of diamonds that got Lirin into so much trouble, but if he did, perhaps the possibility of other expensive but useful gifts is not out of the question. And since Hearthstone doesn't have a bookshop, the medical manuals may have been bought during Lirin and Hesina's mysterious youth, or given as graduation gifts after finishing an apprenticeship. And side note - Lirin doesn't go outdoors with his glasses while Renarin jumps off roofs with them. Interesting. I agree that illustration-heavy pamphlets or manuals for men would be more suited to woodblock or engraved plate printing. The glyphpairs we've seen are so stylised that the shape in context gives the meaning. Seriously, they look completely different. And stylising glyphs produces "homophones" as well, since Sadeas' glyphpair is drawn as Tower + Hammer. This would be such an esoteric text that it would be unrealistic to have all the glyphs in movable-type form. How frequently would you even need to write "Ironstance" when setting pages? Woodcuts are fragile enough that after 30 or so impressions, the edges start to deteriorate and your fine details go fuzzy. It's fine for small runs or big glyphs, like highstorm notices. For anything you want to keep crisp for a long time, if you make re-prints or second editions, it would have to be engraved on metal or Soulcast wood. Movable type is only realistic for the women's script. I consider the presence of printing presses as a marker for entering a "new age" if its use in context is for the free spread of information. If it exists in-universe to make books cheap enough for servants to read for leisure, then that is definitely non-medieval.
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Chapter 8, "Nearer the Flame", WoK Chapter 52, "Into the Sky", WoR Chapter 86, "Patterns of Light", WoR I think one of the things we should be considering when we decide how much Alethkar and Roshar are stuck in medieval stasis is whether or not they have invented the printing press. This obviously leads to a big discussion on Vorin cultural attitudes towards gender role expectations, but I shall ignore that for now. From the quotes above these are things we know and can infer about how widespread reading and owning books is: Not only does Kharbranth's Palanaeum have tens of thousands of books, but there is enough demand and stock available for the presence of multiple bookshops in the city Reading for leisure is a common hobby Shallan, rural Veden country girl, knows about the hyped bestsellers Amaram's cook (are Herdazians all darkeyed?) can afford books on a servant's salary. Is paper soulcast? Sebarial's mistress (also Herdazian) has books and doesn't mind bringing them to a place where they might get wet, lost or destroyed None of this would make much sense if books were copied by hand, unless they have fabrial technology that makes one writing hand holding a spanreed pen copy onto multiple sheets of paper simultaneously. But this would leave massive quality control issues when one pen runs dry, and you'd still need people to proofread and change pages as necessary. It would still make books too expensive for servants, since you'd only be producing something like 2-8 books for 12 hours of copying. They have the Soulcaster technology to make printing presses. You can carve the type out of wood and soulcast them to lead, and copy the type using wax or clay impressions to make another set, and another. Soulcasters are very expensive, but you'd have to do it once. Engravings and illustrations in books can be soulcast from carved wooden panels as well, if they don't have the chemistry technology for acid etching. This could perhaps explain the existence of Adolin's fashion folios. It's incredibly time consuming to make drawings by hand for each folio, especially if you want the drawings to stay on model from book to book. But if the picture pages were made from engraved plates, or multiple plates per page for shading/colour, it would be feasible. Having printing technology, I would say, moves Alethkar out of medieval level and into early modern. Though cultural taboos prevent the whole population from being literate, the presence of books seems common enough not to be remarkable. Whereas in a truly medieval setting, books would have been hand-copied and illuminated on animal skin parchments, meant to last for 200 years at least due to their massive expense. Romantic novels for girls' leisure reading show that books can be disposable. Chapter 47, "Feminine Wiles", WoR And something I've wondered from the first quote, "spoke her native Veden". Does this mean Alethi and Veden are different languages? Are they branches from a common root, like Danish is to Dutch, or dialects of the same language that may or may not be mutually intelligible, like Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese?
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It wasn't supposed to be an open wound, but a tear in the back of Tyn's duster coat. Shardblades don't cut living flesh, but can cut fabric, like Szeth's Honorblade on Kaladin's uniform sleeve during the assassination attempt. It looks red because I messed with the lighting levels to make the Patternblade look glowy and it oversaturated the surrounding colours - but I didn't actually draw any blood. I am happy to see that someone looked at the details though. -
So there's no incentive to develop gunpowder weapons - and I can see a lot of problems with storage of gunpowder on continent where you have massive storms every 2-5 days Chapter 33, "Cymatics, WoK Since this is what they use to keep their library from rotting into mildew. And obviously, you can't aim early muskets and they take minutes to reload with black powder. Winning comes from lining up the most men in a row and getting the most volleys in before they get charged at melee range. The variability in size and shape of plateaus prevents making good formations. It's too bad that most of Roshar is all rock and no soil, because that rules out trenches for cover, or planting rows of spears angled outwards to deflect a charge from your ranged units. Chapter 26, "Stillness" WoK So the question is, if Alethi carpenters and blacksmiths can build a mechanical folding siege portable bridge, can they build a crossbow? Of course there are many social issues to do with arming darkeyes when archery is traditionally considered a lighteyed sport. But could a formation of crossbows crack Shardplate? A Shardbearer has enough force to crack Plate with a hammer or a fabrial grandbow. A fall of 30-50 feet will send Stormlight puffing out of Plate. Normally the only way you could kill a Shardbearer with archery is with a lucky eye hit while they're distracted by spearmen or another Shardbearer. If you could concentrate enough force accurately enough to crack a Shardbearer's sabatons and greaves (foot and shin plates) or hit the loadbearing sections at breast and back at range, that would change a lot of battles. Most would have to drop sections that become too heavy, in order to keep moving. If you have enough Plate fragments and Stormlight infused large gems, you could regrow the Plate before the actual Bearer could.
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Chapter 85, "Swallowed by the Sky", WoR Dalinar is stricter with Adolin because he holds him to a higher standard than everyone else. Elhokar is a man, but he's not good: he's a spoiled manchild. Renarin is good, but he's not a man: he's a little boy who needs to be sheltered from the world. Is it negative bias that Dalinar sees only Adolin as a worthy successor while his other male relatives have been relegated to varying levels of useless?
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One thing I don't understand is why Dalinar is so ashamed of being the Blackthorn. Even if he is above that behaviour these days, there's still no reason to feel shame for the things he did when he was young, and he's not that person anymore. He should view it in context - 20 years ago, when they were uniting Alethkar, Gavilar and Sadeas did the same things he did, and so did the other Highprinces. If you put it in context of Alethkar's militaristic culture, what he did would be praised. It's like the Shin not walking on rocks - breaking with tradition would be horrifying and not something normal people would even consider. Chapter 67, "Spit and Bile", WoR. Oh Dalinar. He is unredeemably stubborn and perpetually blind. If he and Gavilar had tried to take Alethkar any other way but by force, it would have failed. Because that is Alethi culture, and Highprinces are inherently selfish children. He is thinking this by the last third of WoR but in WoK he should have been taught his lesson about leading by honour and nobility of purpose. Did he learn nothing from The Tower? Wit sees the big picture and Dalinar doesn't. I seriously hope that part of his development in Oathbringer addresses this because otherwise I will throw something at the wall. The letter of the law can easily be twisted if you have the right law scholars and the right contracts. What does "ALL of his Shards" mean? If the Shards Adolin won were formally bestowed to the Kholin family, and the use of the Shards were contractually signed over to the Kholin Army generals, then the letter of the law would have to accept that they Shards are not Adolin's. It really depends on how Alethi law defines "owning Shards" as there seems to be many ways for individuals and families to own them - like Helaran and the Skybreaker Shards, Jakamav and the family Plate. And how willing the letter of the law is to screw with Adolin, using Nalan-style loopholing. I would personally say that the owner of a Shard is the first priority user. Most of the time it will be the Shardbearer, but occasionally it will be a Highprince. If two people called for the use of one set of Plate at the same time, who would it go to? Elhokar sets the letter of the law, and can grant pardon if he feels like it - though giving Adolin a wristslap might make the other Highprinces consider why they even bother with a king. He still wouldn't go unreasonably harsh on Adolin. Dalinar said that he would make an enemy of Elhokar if he executed Kaladin for insulting Amaram in the arena; what would Dalinar do if it was son and heir? Elhokar knows he's weaker than his uncle and now Dalinar is a Bondsmith. Elhokar is capable of perceiving things, when he's drunk at least. He's nearsighted as the rest but now and then he can see the big picture, like what a terrible ruler he is and that he needs Dalinar's help if he wants to hold the kingdom together in a Desolation. Even if he does lose control and gives a harsh sentence (though we will all be tired of him learning nothing over two books), he may settle for a lesser sentence, as he has done before. It would be a cop-out but the Highprinces might accept delayed punishment until after the immediate catastrophe is done with, using Sadeas and the duel in one year's time as precedent. I counted it up and out of the ten Highprincely houses, Roion and Sadeas are dead, Aladar and Sebarial support House Kholin. If it comes to a tied vote, Elhokar would back the Kholins. When was the last time Shardbearer fought Shardbearer on the battlefield, with the exception of fighting Eshonai? Was it killing off the handful of Parshendi Shardbearers one by one in the Vengeance Pact war? Was it before the War, when the Highprinces had constant border skirmishes? Since most depictions of Shards in battle in the books are of Shardbearers one-shotting Parshendi and cutting open chrysalises, and not doing anything putting them in danger of dying, I think most of us have got the impression that Shardplate is almost invincible in terms of damage resistance. It's not a bad thing, but it makes it hard to judge how severely the person inside the Plate is affected when they get thrown around. Chapter 53, "Perfection" If Plate absorbed all blows perfectly, why would padding be worn underneath? Does it rattle around when it gets hit? Adolin comes out of the fight with Eshonai at the end of WoR bruised and bloody, but is that from the impact of being hit by her Blade, or from a blow that cracked the Plate? I doubt that Brandon will give exact parameters for the strength of Shardplate, because from what we've read, it's as strong as The Plot needs it to be. And that is why Renarin doesn't get brain damaged jumping off the roof headfirst, since doing that with a high-tech impact absorbent foam core motorcycle helmet IRL would save your skull but snap your neck. Wow, you picked up on all the times Adolin is nervous. I searched for "nervous" on my eReader edition of WoR and found 7 pages of results. I wasn't expecting that. What is it supposed to show? Is it to contrast against how Dalinar and Renarin are proper and controlled in public, while Adolin is the nervous one, but behind closed doors, they go crazy during highstorms? Is it to show that Adolin is an emotional person and foreshadow that he had a lot of little worries building up that will make him do something extreme? I suppose it's something every reader should interpret as they will. Maybe it's just Brandon trying to make his characters more relatable by picking out some minor flaws and handing them out. I think Adolin would still love Dalinar even if Dalinar was Blackthorn-mode or highstorm-deluded crazy. Adolin just has few people in his life that he is actually close to, people that can actually be relied on. And if Dalinar leaves for retirement, he leaves a power vacuum that he expects Adolin to fill. And because Adolin is more like his mother than his father, he doesn't want to be the Kholin Highprince. He doesn't want power. His mother could have gotten a more powerful match - if she had one out of three Shards in Iri, likely she could have become an Iri princess (if she wasn't already) instead of married to foreigner younger son. That's why I thought it was important for Dalinar to stay sane - Adolin has responsibility, but he lacks confidence. Maybe he doubts his ability to lead and protect everyone. It's a shame that Adolin never got a PoV scene in WoR after the folding bridge was sabotaged, when he jumped to rescue Dalinar and let Shallan fall into the chasm. It would have shed a lot of light on the matter. Physical abuse like Kaladin's, or being surrounded by physical abuse like Shallan isn't necessary to crack a soul and start the Nahel bond. Shallan described it in the chasm of seeing people hurt, and wanting to take the pain from them. I don't know if wanting to protect people, or their gratitude is enough to attract a spren, but who would Renarin need to help or defend if this was the case? I know the orders and their roles are different, but none of them are selfish and there's always some aspect of doing a greater good in their Oaths. For Shallan it was keeping her brothers from going off the deep end. What does Renarin do? This is why Renarin being silent about his abilities for a thousand pages and then suddenly stepping out from behind a pillar to drop a line at a dramatically convenient moment was a major This post has been reported for attempting to skirt the rules point for readers. Yes, you could add the clues in about the the writing on the wall, and the glasses, but to me it was like adding 1 + 1 while Brandon keeps saying the answer is 3. Adolin has a reputation as a flirt - how does he do it without blushing? Does he just look at girls and their sisters until they notice him looking, and either slap him or ask him on a date? Someone who is afraid to appear vulnerable is someone who wouldn't go around asking girls on dates non-stop, because there is nothing more embarrassing than being rejected in public and dumped by 20 different girls. Maybe he divorces his feelings from courting and just does it mechanically and out of obligation, as is normal for noble arranged marriages in any universe, and that is why he appears so callous with them. I mean, who investigates an assassination attempt while you've got a girl on your arm? It's like the Alethi equivalent of being on your phone during a dinner date. You have to wonder what Kaladin's experience level is. Maybe lighteyes and nobles are held to a different standard of outward morality than darkeyes. A darkeye's "honour" on his or her wedding day wouldn't matter as much as a lighteyes', when people must be sure for the sake of succession. Adolin has asked Kaladin for girl advice in the past - would he ask again for more detailed answers? Adolin has already confessed that he's a noob when it comes to the ways of love, so Kal knows that Adolin's outward personality is just a shell. I would have a lot of laughs if Adolin asked Kaladin to write down a glyph poem for Shallan, because the Ardents have gotten into the habit of dodging around the next corner when they see him coming. -
That was not unexpected. I won't be surprised if it turns out to be wanting Adolin to be what he could have been if he hadn't turned Blackthorn. Too bad Dalinar isn't a Gold Misting; that would have been more useful than pushing his son into the life of a social reject. He has a flaw with Renarin too, for that matter. And now the thread is derailed.
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Adolin and Dalinar having a nickname is just weird. Probably because they only ever do work related things onscreen, and most of the time their relationship is more like a soldier and superior officer. It's hard to think of cute things when most Rosharan wildlife are decidedly non-cute. Since Shshshsh is outside the chain-of-command, maybe Dalinar called her "Sunshine".
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Because all these one syllable nicknames are pretty much the given names of darkeyed peasants. Why would a lighteyes who is named after a Herald, ancient king, or princely grandfather, want a peasant name, even as a nickname? In universe, I expect petnames are something cute and endearing, along the lines of "Pudding" or "Chicken". Just imagine Sadeas and his wife calling each other that.
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That's the name of Shallan's dad. The only people familiar enough with Adolin to use a nickname are Kaladin, Shallan and possibly Renarin. Kaladin would rather use "Princeling" and Renarin doesn't talk much. Dalinar and Navani don't do pet names, because Adolin isn't a little kid to them anymore. Which leaves Shallan. Siri managed to get "Seb" from Susebron. Maybe it will be something unexpected.
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Radiant's Color of Eyes,Shardplate and Blade
sheep replied to StormWrath's topic in Stormlight Archive
It has always bothered me that Shallan's eye colour change hasn't been mentioned, even though she is supposed to be the focus character of WoR, and she is one Oath level ahead of Kaladin for most of the book. You could say that when she killed her mother, the witnesses to her using Pattern as a Blade with no Stormlight were dead or went off the deep end (including Shallan herself). But the number of times where she is using Pattern without actively making Illuminations add up to the point where you'd think someone would have noticed by now. Chapter 34, WoR. Tyn is dead, but Vathah and Gaz and the other soldiers were there. And I doubt they are the type to be in shock after killing Tyn's soldiers. More times when Shallan summons her blade without using illusions: Chapter 72. You could reasonably guess that Kaladin didn't see anything because she was pressed behind him in the chasm and her eye level would be at the same height as the back of his neck. Who knows. Chapter 84. Chapter 87. Since that is the scene we are all hung up about when talking about eye colour changes (along with that Oathbringer excerpt scene), it's interesting to note that Teft says that Kaladin's eyes have gone light, but he doesn't mention that they're glowing, like the Knights from Dalinar's visions. And Teft isn't the type to let it go if he does notice glowing. Shallan's eyes would have been noticed if they were glowing, especially since she was drawing her Patternsword in the dark in most instances (Tyn's tent, the chasm crevice, theOathgate after the Stormlight lamps are sucked dry). So if her eyes do change colour, she obviously can't see it in her PoV chapters, and everyone - that's tens of people by now - is thinking that it's just a trick of the light. It's the only way I can think of to explain it without opening the Realmatic can of worms. Because if Shallan identifies as a lighteyes, like Kaladin with his slavery, why would she have trouble with light pink eyes? It's probably lighter than her natural blue eyes. Kaladin's eyes are pale pale blue, so pale pale pink would be different from Voidbringer red. In fact, a pre-Recreance Lightweaver Radiant with glowing eyes would look white from a distance. For dramatic purposes, I make Patternsword and Shallan's eyes glow pink-red. If you can't decide, go with the coolest option. -
Words of Radiance, chapter 34. One of those scenes so vivid that it stays in your head after reading it, and you find yourself drawing it instead of sleeping on some late weeknights. I always wondered what Pattern would look like as a proper Shardblade, so I drew him as a short sword with fancy Pattern quillions that glow pink-red in the dark. It's better in full resolution: Options > View all sizes > LARGE But if you don't want to bother, here are the detailed pics: Shallan's eyes glow pink-red when she has her Blade. The moneyshot: Original doodle: In progress: And bonus pic for all you weirdos out there: I call it "Mornings". Click for full size.
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I pick the Sumsion Defense. It's been ages since I read Rithmatist, but here are my Chalklings: Attack: Mistborn Reason - Fast moving, pretty hard hitting and good at dodging punches. Anyone trying to whack her would just get a fistful of Mistcloak. Defense: Anubis, Dinosaur Reason - Slow but sturdy and strong when enraged. Anubis looks like an attack Chalkling, but he is guardian of Underworld and that's why I made him a defender. Backup for any position: Undead Eldritch Abomination, Billy Goat Reason - In case attack or defense need help or a distraction. Both are medium speed. Undead Abomination moves erratically and is hard to hit. The Goat can kick and headbutt and can lure enemies close to the warding lines and is good at dodging and jumping.
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This is why feeling sad isn't the right response when looking at other people's art. Because everyone starts out as a noob, and some people don't have the bonus of +1 fine motor skills that others are born with. Everything else, like an eye for understanding shape and shade comes from training your eyes to be more analytical. In this universe, perfect pitch doesn't come as a gift. I wish I still had some of my old charcoal practice books from when I was 13 years old, it would be a great way to show my progress. I didn't start to properly learn art "the old fashioned way" with fruit bowls until I was 13, with a scary teacher who yelled a lot because "tough love" was how he rolled. Seriously, his exercises were drop and give me fifty "draw 50 circles" to learn to freehand without hesitation. I still have my old charcoal pencils in the back of a drawer somewhere, probably smashed to bits now. Here's a tip for you - when you draw perspective for a background, you have to choose a "vanishing point", or a place where everything disappears into the horizon. Even if it's off page, you still have to figure out where it is, because it's where all the horizontal lines intersect. Everything follows it, like the top of the tables and the shelves. The vertical lines should be parallel and at the same angle. It's pretty good otherwise, though. I remember hating to do backgrounds when I was younger, because I sucked at it majorly. I still don't like doing them much, but at least I'm not afraid of them any more. Your art's not horrible! Please don't think that! And do I spy another Australian Sharder???? I see you using VAD's to post your sketches. I wouldn't be surprised if we used the same type lol. They are super handy, even though they all look the same so I have to go digging in my stack of them if I want to find older work. Fluff makes good decompression reading between heavier novels! I've read some reviews for Aeronaut, but I was never much into Butcher's other Harry Dresden series, so I've been ambivalent about picking it up. Maybe I'll pick it up when sequels are out. Bled for it is only the beginning. I've stabbed myself with needles and burned myself as well, heating up a knife to cut better when the box cutter wasn't working. It's the sacrifice to the cosplay gods.
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I can imagine that days where sunlight can be measured in minutes gets depressing after a while. Even though I am not too fond of heatwaves and high humidity where it feels like you're breathing lukewarm soup for weeks at a time, at least I have my daily 14 hours of sunlight. YA is only a relatively recent literary label, and for a lot of books it's ambiguously applied. Like Mistborn for example. It's still good to be able to easily find books when you don't feel like reading grimdark where major characters are killed off regularly, and there are brutal scenes of violence and warfare. They are probably the last thing you'd want to pick up in middle of a blegh week. Political, or court fantasy, is about intrigue and espionage and social protocol. I like worldbuilding in narrow focus, like the daily lives of castle people or the social classes in a fantasy city state. Large scale military fantasy grinds on me after a while, which is why I never liked the Powder Mage series as much as other people. Imo, nothing builds a believable and well-developed world in my eyes than an author exploring the world's culture and economy. Yes, it's interesting that Lord Albert can field an army of 10 000 men with 2 000 horses. I want to know - are they conscripts or standing army? How are they paid and fed? How fast can they travel with supply train? If you can answer the questions after finishing a book, then it's decently fleshed out. I'd rather read a fantasy about insurance or war bond salesmen than soldiers. Though it's kind of sad that political and economic themed fantasy are rather rare. If you like it, there are some books about it that are non-YA. Note: standard basic plotline has inexperienced young person being thrust into intricate corrupt court. The Goblin Emperor (standalone, endearing character with development) Daughter of the Empire (trilogy in an extended universe like Cosmere, but you don't have to read the others)
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Maybe it's just how time works in Canada, just a unique quirk like toilets flushing the other way in Australia. There are plenty of other series out there, finished series and standalones that are worth reading in between wait times. And honestly, you pick up more from a re-read of Brandon books the more time in between. Brandon is an author you can trust for quality, but he's not the only author out there. Discworld is a humourous parody-fantasy (at least in the first books) that gets meta. If you read A Series of Unfortunate Events and the writing style annoyed you, you might not like it. And Pern is "classic" in the way that fantasy as a genre has progressed and evolved over time so that it seems really weird and outdated. Pern was one of the first fantasies with a female protag, but reading it now makes it seems weird, with shades of domestic abuse that wouldn't have made anyone blink in 1970. I skim-read one of the books a few weeks ago and the "scenes of intimacy" were cringeworthy and ambiguously consensual. If that stuff bothers you, that's the trigger warning. If you want easy, relatively short reading with endearing characters that develop, I'd suggest "The Thief" series by Megan Whalen Turner. They're intended for YA but with written skillfully enough that you'd never guess the twist, no matter your age. The sequels "The Queen of Attolia" and "The King of Attolia" get better and show more character development, in a genre shift from action-adventure to political fantasy. The author is one with 8 year gaps between novels but they conclude without cliff-hangers, thankfully. Political fantasy is probably my favourite subgenre.
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I think I read those too - weren't they the werewolf romance novels in Steampunk London? The series was a character driven romance in intention, and the steampunk-ness was just for prettiness and coolvalue and flavour rather than solid worldbuilding. Like icing when I wanted cake. I know I shouldn't judge it that harshly because it's meant to be a light read, but I felt a bit disappointed. Leviathan was a more thought-out steampunk world (even though biology does not work that way, and walking mechas are realistically impractical) which I felt was immersive, and not bad for a YA series. I like the Mistborn steampunk! Many authors find comfort in the medieval stasis for their fantasy worlds, but whenever an author has the confidence to put trains and railroads in their story, I am much more interested. Oh, that was you! I remember seeing that thread a while ago, and never put two and two together and realised that you were the one with the amazing props. They are really great, and makes me want to get better at crafting things. I am shockingly clumsy at things outside of 2D art - I worked on cosplay armour last year and I cut myself more than a few times with penknives and boxcutters. When you want to draw realistically from life, you have to start simple to get the basics down. That's understanding shade and light (value) and perspective, pretty much. The way I was taught was through charcoal drawings of fruitbowls on tablecloths in semi-darkness with an overhead lamp. It makes things easier when you have only one light source. You draw your fruit for 30 minutes, then move a metre to the left and start again, because the viewing angle changes everything. It's incredibly tedious, and in a karate movie it would be making the kid rake leaves for 2 weeks straight, but in the end you start to get a feel for how light and dark work with different textures and how it bounces and reflects off different shapes. Not my art, but an example. They tell you to start as light as you can and gently go darker, because learning pencil control is important, and using too much black takes away the contrast and sense of space. As for being a "professional realist", I don't think that's an actual job name. In most circumstances, it's good to have the skills to draw photorealistically, but you have to have developed your own style or "voice" in art because otherwise people would just use cameras. Michael Whelan's art (SA cover guy) doesn't draw ultra realistically. He understands how light and colour work for realistic subjects, and uses it to paint backgrounds and clothes and props, but his faces are still stylised enough that you wouldn't be able to identify the face model as a specific person or race. Would it give you some encouragement if I told you I think your skills are better than mine when I was your age? Especially in digital art. And even now, I find frustration in finishing digital paintings and often quit before they are finished, only to stumble upon them years later, buried in my file directory. Now I've gotten into the habit of leaving sketched concepts in a "time capsule" so I can return when I am more confident in my skills. Discouragement and despair is not unusual for artists struggling to improve...and sadly I can say that the feeling doesn't go away over time. The point where you begin to feel perfectly happy and satisfied and comfortable with your art is the point where you begin to stagnate. This is my art from 2008. Why did I keep drawing huge heads without noticing how huge they were??? This is "put on ice" work that I started in 2013, and then picked up in 2014, then abandoned, then picked up again in 2015. I'm still not totally happy with it, so I will probably re-work it in a few months. So yeah...it takes me years to finish something sometimes. I wish I could help you more, but when you are learning the basics, it's better to have someone in front of you to demonstrate and explain. There are probably YouTube vids out there though.
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I read Alethkar culture as reminiscent of Early Modern Europe (~1650s-1750) with random anachronistic bits from all the way up to the 1930's thrown in, due to the meddling of the Heralds and how much wisdom they managed to preserve. 1. Independent princedoms operating autonomously, giving lip service to the King. To me, it was like the duchies and principalities to the Holy Roman Emperor, but instead of electing their emperor, he was just a warlord. In non-English translations of WoK/WoR, "Highprince" is "Archduke" so that further drove it in for me. 2. Church was important in daily life, but not a governing power. In that time period, Protestantism's many sects grew farther from Rome, so many people believed and interpreted the Bible as they wanted to, with no real harm to their souls or their physical bodies. In medieval times, the Church owned lands, decided kings, and excommunicated heretics. Perhaps "medieval" would be more suitable for describing the Hierocracy period. Jasnah is an open atheist but no one is giving her a forced exorcism or sending her to the nunnery. 3. People still believed in social hierarchy and their place in it. If you were lighteyes or born noble, your place was given by God/the Almighty as a leader of men, and should be unquestioned in authority. If you were a darkeyes or a servant or peasant, you had to know your place and station in life, and if you questioned your place, it wasn't because you thought that being a servant was bad, but rather that someone else should be one rather than you. It wasn't until later that secular humanism and the individual value of human life, and the equality of all men (and women too) was a thing in Earth history. And I don't think it will happen to Alethkar as long as they're at war. 4. The dress codes, especially safesleeves/safegloves for the differently ranked women, and side swords being worn by lighteyed men, while the darkeyes had to make do with side knives put me in mind of sumptuary laws. Adolin was shocked when Navani wore a glove to give him a demonstration of the lifting platform fabrials. And in early modern city states, only nobles got to carry swords around town. Everyone else could carry knives if they were under a certain length (usually a hand length blade or smaller) and turned their swords over to the gate guards. Oh man, those uniforms. Before and after the description from WoR (which felt very Napoleonic to me), I had a lot of interpretations for how they were supposed to look. I am an enthusiast for historical costuming and had a lot of enjoyment trying to design the look of the uniform and Alethi dress in general. I went all over the place, but if Aladar can wear a takama (traditional warriors' manskirt) to a plateau battle underneath his uniform coat, then historical anachronism is practically canon.
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I readily admit that it is pretty cool. The problem that I had with steampunk, that led my interest to tail off, is that most of the time (at least in YA fiction and other trendhopping novels from around 2010) the steampunk is just for flavour and when you think about the fictional worlds deeply, it's not well explained, or explained at all. It would make sense if a steampunk Victorian London exists because it is an alternate history where electricity was discovered earlier, but backstory is rarely mentioned. And often they had mechanical Rube Goldberg machines to do housework, but somehow everyone still had valets and chimney sweeps and hallboys. It's like the goggles and the cogs on top hats. Why???? After a certain point I had trouble overlooking bad plots and wishy-washy worldbuilding, and that was when I knew I had outgrown the subgenre, and a lot of YA writing in general. I love costume designs too. If you prefer drawing clothes over drawing people, you could print out some figure outlines from fashion design courses and draw on those (WARNING: they do tend to have overexaggerated proportions and super long legs). Saves time if you struggle with anatomy and don't care to make a study of it - it's what clothes designers and cosplayers do. Wow, jealousy? That was really unexpected and now really weird. Because it was always me, for years and years, who felt bad about how much I sucked when looking at other artists. I stopped feeling salty a few years ago because, after a certain amount of self-indulgent self-pity, I changed my thinking from "Why do I suck so hard?" to "What is stopping me from getting good?". And these days, occasionally, I see art by my favourite deviantArt cartoonists reposted elsewhere, and I can pick out small errors that I never saw before, and I can say that I could do something just as good. It is a weird feeling. Your analytical and observational awareness increasing is just one sign that you know you're improving. That sudden role reversal, it means a lot to me. I willingly admit that there are things I really really suck at and I'm uncomfortable drawing, though. For example, I cannot draw anime/manga style. I tried to draw Saber from Fate/Stay Night looking at a sheep but what the heck. How do anime faces even work? I like my cartoons but I tend to keep realistic facial proportions. Trying to draw anime makes me feel like I'm restarting from level 1. Even worse if it's robot anime, like Gundam. And because I'm doing all this soul-searching and confession-making, why not share my personal sketchbooks with you guys. Before I draw things digitally, my first impressions after reading a book are done on paper. They're my instant impressions, without the thought and explanations that usually accompany my digital works. I do paper sketches when experimenting with things, like costume designs. That is why they're never as polished as I'd prefer. (And also, they were never intended for showing other people.) This is how my character designs were born. I originally pictured Shallan like an Earth art student, with crazy frizzy hair that she pinned up with random pencils. Since her calling was natural history, I thought of the teacher from Magic School Bus when I drew it Design #1. But then WoR came out and it said she wore her hair down...and this is how character designs evolve. I drew a design for a high collar cutaway tailcoat for the Kholin Army officer uniform, like a tailed tuxedo dinner jacket. It would leave room for grabbing a side knife or side sword easily. But then the coat wouldn't flap around Kaladin's knees when he flies, as described in WoR, so I changed it. It could still be a summer uniform coat, though. And here's something about my digital art style. I mainly draw in three levels of detail. 1. Hyperstylised - this is when expression, emotion and pose are more important than being precise, accurate or detailed. It's the fastest, and useful when I need to draw many versions of the same thing, like for a comic book strip or an animation. 2. Stylised/cartoon - honestly, I would say this is my comfort zone in terms of style, even though having a comfort zone is something that makes art teachers annoyed with you. I use realistic proportions that are stretched slightly to convey a character's personality. It shows my impression of a character, but cartoons are far enough away from reality that your mind can fill in the blanks. 3. Digital painting - time consuming omg. If you do it right, not only are you depicting the shape of your idea as you do with a cartoon, you also give it texture and weight. My words sound artsy fartsy but it's hard to describe. With a cartoon you're transferring your mental image into something physical, equivalent to a slap. When you've got the full works going on, digitally painted scene with characters and background and atmosphere, that's full impact, like body slam with a folding chair thrown in. That is the impression from the person who sees your art. But again, it's time consuming, and often you find yourself fiddling and frustrated with something that isn't working out. 4. would be photorealistic digital painting for highest level of detail. But I shy away from this for fictional characters' faces. Because you need photo references to do this right (unless you're going to use a mirror) and it's too easy to take too much from a stock model or famous actor rather than your mental imagery. Use your realism skills for background or prop art, ie, fabrials, Shardblades, spheres. When you go up levels of detail, you have to figure out how much of your own style you want to incorporate. Drawing from life, even though I do it regularly, is something I do for "exercise" and learning. You have to find a balance if you want to improve your skills but still keep what is you in your art.
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Do you guys want to see an in-depth artistic progression? I'm kinda ashamed my old art still exists on the internet, but also kind of glad that I can still find it because I've come a long, long way. A road littered with all those cringeworthy but mandatory embarrassing confessions along the way. Note: This will mostly be in chronological order but with some newer art scattered through for point of comparison. 2007 Confession #1: I liked to play flash dress up doll games and I still kinda do. My anatomy sucked because all I wanted was to draw *pretty dresses*. 2008 Confession #2: I first got a drawing tablet because I wanted to make Neopets fanart. Before that, I drew on MS Paint with a mouse and had no idea what image filetypes were for, so I saved everything as a .jpg and never knew why they turned out pixelly on the edges when I opened them later. I had gotten an expensive set of coloured pencils as a birthday gift a few years before that, so I drew my Neopets with a mouse or with pencil on paper. I still have those pencils 10 years later and use them occasionally. They're really good. I tried drawing Neopets fanart again. It's like riding a bicycle - once you figure out how drawing anthros works, you never really forget. In this case, it's a Neopets x Dune crossover because the little yellow squirrel Neopet is named after Paul's clan nickname, Usul. 2010 Confession #3: I used Dodge/Burn to shade because I thought doing it the proper way took too long and if you cut corners, no one would be able to tell the difference. (I was wrong.) I also unironically used the brushes in the default toolpack. You know what I'm talking about, the stars and the grass looking one. Confession #3.5: I liked those classic comic book and pulp fantasy covers that featured warrior maidens with boob armour and chainmail undies. And I never thought about how uncomfortable it would be to run in stiletto heels with a metal wedgie. 2011/2012 Confession #4: I thought Steampunk was cool. Just like everyone else. I read and enjoyed many terrible novels written where removing the steampunk setting and details would not have affected the plot (what there was of it) in any way. Confession #4.25: I also like Art Nouveau style art. You can obviously guess who was up to date with DeviantArt fads. Confession #4.5: I read many Regency Romances and liked them too. Though that one is not too embarrassing to admit as long as they're "literature" and not the ones with pulpy Fabio covers. 2014 Confession #5: Not really embarrassing, but I think WWII propaganda posters are pretty cool, especially the ones from Germany and the Soviet Union. They are very well made for a time when they had no computers for graphic design and mass media brainwashing was in its infancy. I appreciate the artistry behind them, but people will think you're a whackjob if you want to frame prints for your walls like vintage film posters. Paper and pencil sketch: Picked my colour palette. It was drawn on printer paper so the colours are all patchy and bleeding. I can't do more than basic colour blocking without tearing a hole through the thin paper. This was originally drawn to be the cover of an online magazine. But a few people showed interest in it afterwards, so now there is a physical version hanging in a friend's office. 2015 Confession #6: I like going to thrift stores because I'm a filthy hipster. I get excited when there are shoeboxes full of postcards at estate sales. I once went to a Postcrossing convention at a carboot sale, and there were 5 other people there. All of them except me were over the age of 45. I got annoyed that people were asking $25 for a water-damaged dog-eared card, even though it was 100 years old. So I made my own set of pre-WWI Colonial Australia cards. And people liked them better than the real thing when we were swapping, so that's a plus. Looking at my old art was a cringefest. Even things I drew last year or in 2014 make me go bleurgh. I have been drawing for a very long time but still I think I have much room to improve. When I sketch doodles on napkins or in the margins of pages, sometimes people look over my shoulder and say things like "Wow, you're good, I could never draw like that!". But you can, yes you can. Anyone can. All you have to do to level up is grind XP.
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I found something in my file directory that I thought was worth sharing. A timeline of my progress. 1. 2011 (I think) 2. 2013 3. 2015 Every time you draw something, you improve a small amount. The more you experiment and try new techniques, new media, new processes and drawing programs, and figure out what works for you, you get a tiny bit better. It feels disheartening, when you have a really cool concept or idea in your head, and no matter what you do, your mental image won't translate to paper or to the screen. It happens to everyone - and instead of rage quitting, you should annotate your sketches and attempts, and leave it for another day. One day when you've honed your skills, you can come back to it and you might find that your second attempt works. Yeah, it sucks when you look at DeviantArt or the portfolios of professionals and they are SO GOOD OMG and you suck in comparison. I feel it, you probably feel it, I bet everyone feels it, even the pros. Keep your old drawings and maybe when you need a bit of encouragement, you can go back and to see how much progress you've made. Now imagine your 2011 self looking at your 2016 skill level. Pretty strange, huh? If you can look at something you've drawn and point out this part or that line would be better if it was moved slightly to the left, or looks crooked, then you are on the right track. Knowing where you went wrong is part of the improvement process. Even if you are frustrated and don't want to rework it when you've been staring at the same piece for 3 hours, put it down, and if you ever decide to draw a variation of it in a week's time, incorporate your improvements. Keep drawing guys!!!
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As a semi-skilled artist with no chalk drawing background, I thought I'd give this a go since people are probably wondering how someone who can draw would fare with this sort of exercise. Here's what I drew. I spent 15 minutes on this, approximately 5 mins, 3 mins, 7 mins. 1. Shardbearer, with Adolin's Plate and Blade 2. Ram (I like sheep) 3. Winged demon In a battle, I'd draw the Shardbearer to defend and buy time, the sheep to attack and break up groups, and the demon to mop up and win. This was a harder exercise than I'd expected I'd admit. And I realised when doing this that it's not just being able to draw that matters, but being imaginative. When you are drawing chalklings, you have to do it quickly, neatly, and you have to draw within a defined purpose. The chalkling must be able to fight or defend, so it rules out a lot of shapes - sorry to all those artists in training who were forced to draw fruit bowls or study colour theory - that's all useless now! The chalkling must fit inside a circle - that's harder than it looks. For more complicated drawings, such as of humans/bipeds, to fit inside a circle but still manage to capture detail, you have to draw them either very small or hunched over. Now that I went back to the Coppermind wiki page on chalklings, that's exactly what the Rithmatist in-text artist had to do. Animal shapes are easier to fit inside a circle, and most large mammals have a similar structure that can be quickly drawn (lion, wolf, horse, bear) but I think they are less versatile than human shaped chalklings who can easily be purposed for fighting and defending. I was a bit disappointed at how slow I was. In-universe I'd probably lose against a younger kid who churns simpler chalklings much faster. My problem is that I'm unused to the limitations, like drawing with chalk. That means perfect precision the first time with no erasing or smudging. I think that drawing the same creatures over and over would help to figure out the most efficient way to draw, with the best posing and least amount of lines to still depict the same thing. But for my first time drawing chalklings, I have my crutches: I have to use sketched guidelines at first, to figure out proportions and pose to fit the circle. I expect any serious artist would keep sketchbooks full of their evolving experimental designs that they wouldn't share with anyone, and there'd be reference books full of standard designs and counters and step-by-steps of how to draw them. People would make their own annotated reference books that would be lovingly passed down to family members. I'd probably do much better if I had a Joel to draw the straight lines and memorise the tactical details, so I could concentrate on the creative bits.
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I think half decent is the best way to describe his poetry. Any scholar or real poet would be able to see that it's rough and unrefined, but with a naive sort of amateur charm to it. And it's written to court girls, so quality doesn't even matter, it's the gesture that counts. If Adolin is the kind of guy who likes art museums and theatre, then it's not hard to imagine that he's had fashionable poetry read to him. Once you've read or heard enough to understand the structure and style, it's not very hard to write something that sounds about right to those who haven't.
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If Zahel came to Roshar 15 years ago, Adolin would have started training with him from age 8. So that would be 8 years' worth of sword training with an immortal swordsman, enough time to be certain if someone is a polished turd or genuinely talented. If Dalinar never felt young, holding other people to his standards, no matter their age, sounds like something he would do. The young Blackthorn from the SA3 preview chapter was in the front line of a battle without Shardplate or Shardblade, and he got his Blade at age 20, so he must have been around 19 or so. If he could do that, then pre-Vengeance Dalinar would not worry about Adolin's safety too much in a stylised arena duel with judge-referees who stop the fight after 3 pieces of Shardplate are broken. It's pretty strange how different Adolin is from Dalinar, but then WoB says Adolin takes after his mother, whom Navani has described as not very smart but nice and charming. If Adolin needs a way to soothe his emotional issues, Renarin should lend him his little metal box. Forcing the return of Shards really depends on what kind of deal the "giving away" really was, like a conditional loan - you can use my weapons as long as you can fight for me. I would think that giving away Shards free and clear is very rare, just like winning them in duels, and only happens in inherited Shards. And if The Rules say that Adolin has to give up his Shards, then it would follow the letter of the law to rid Adolin of his and allow him to accept a returned set. When did Alethi care about following the spirit of the law as well as the letter? Even the Skybreakers don't care about that. In any case, the person doing the judgments would be Adolin's own cousin Elhokar, who wouldn't like weakening his own family but would be boxed into it by the Highprinces. Adolin's Shards, in any case, would then be forfeited to the crown, and Elhokar could easily add them to the training roster and swap out Gavilar's Plate and Blade to give to Adolin. Which bypasses all drama about pressuring current Kholin Army Shardbearers or winning more duels wagering Renarin's Shards. I think everyone is expecting Adolin's fall from grace to be a far fall, but he's a prince and an heir, and Alethkar, like most feudal societies, run on nepotism. Shardbearers in the warcamps are all related to their highprinces, and the Veden highprince Valam's bastard son is given an important position even though having a darkeyed mother should have made him a weird freak that village kids throw rocks at. Adolin betting Renarin's Shards makes me wonder if Dalinar knows about it. He wouldn't approve, since the Codes would say that if an officer should wear his uniform and shouldn't drink alcohol because he must be prepared for battle at any moment, he definitely shouldn't risk losing his weapons. But he's not in the gossip loop since he's a social pariah who thinks God is talking to him, and I don't think he thought while making plans about duelling that Adolin would be risking any Shards but his own. Adolin, when you think about it, does the kind of stupid things that people rail on Kaladin for. Since WoB said it wasn't Odium controlling him, and Wit is the only known allomancer who can Riot emotions so far, it's all him. There are ways to beat Shardbearers without having to face them in open combat, if you fight smart and don't bother with honourable tactics. If you are not a Shardbearer yourself, and find yourself facing one, it's probably better to have a smart plan where you don't have to be in sword's reach of one. Shardplate is one single piece with the eyeslits as the only opening, but Adolin says the weak points are the front and the back pieces, which make the rest of Plate too heavy to bear if they are smashed and the Stormlight is lost. An arrow to the eye would work, and so would dropping a Shardbearer off a ledge, like Eshonai or when Elhokar is climbing the rocksin the chasmfiend hunt - he drops 30 feet and Stormlight starts leaking. Dropping something heavy on them would also work, like Szeth lashing a balcony onto Gavilar. It would pin them down and give you enough time to stab them in the eye. So a Shardbearer is invincible in a flat open field, but inside a building, where there are lots of hiding places and the ceilings are too low to wave a Blade around, a normal person would have an advantage. Which is something that is completely new to Adolin when Szeth busts through the wall and he spends the rest of the evening buzzing on Rosharan caffeine because he's too afraid to sleep. I noticed that paragraph about Adolin how felt uneasy about highstorms and looked forward to the Weeping, but never read that much into it. You have to wonder why Brandon put that in, since he usually has a purpose or some sort of deeper significance for the things he writes (unless it's so cool it doesn't need a justification). Is it because highstorms are something you can't challenge and fight, let alone win against? Hm, I have no idea how much Renarin knows or has observed about romantic relationships. If Shshshsh died when he around 9 years old, he would have been too young to remember or understand much about it how Dalinar acted around his mother. But even if he has no experiences with courting or seeing it happen, he still notices that Adolin doesn't act the same with the girls he courts as he acts around his brother. Possibly because he doesn't really treat them like real people, but interchangeable arm candy who respond on cue to compliments about their prettiness. If Renarin doesn't see that Adolin is apathetic and distant with girls because he doesn't want to share his inner vulnerable side, Renarin can still see that he's not being as careful and caring with them as he is with his own family. I think one of the reasons why readers get annoyed with Renarin is that his family is completely supportive and loving, and yet he still turned out to be broken, which means it has to be internal and emotional with what we know of the material luxury princes get. If Elhokar is Dalinar's Tien, then Renarin is Adolin's. And Adolin does kiss free hands, and doesn't flinch away when girls touch or hold his arm, like Shallan when they were at their first highstorm viewing wine lounge date. Chapter 58, WoK. He has no problem with kissing Navani on the cheek, or her touching him with her gloved/sleeved safehand, which means he has no inherent fear of physical contact. It could be that he's allergic to PDA and years of being lectured on acting like a proper prince and following the Codes gave him insta-kneejerk blushing reflexes. Would you think he'd have the same reaction if Shallan kissed him on the cheek inside the carriage (with no Kaladin) while he was dropping her off after a date? If that situation wouldn't make him blush, then the prospect of beling alone at night with a woman would be something he'd look forward to rather than something that completely terrifies him. In my experience, people in the early twenties have rarely had serious long-term relationships, or are even looking for them. Society doesn't expect them to, but it's expected that you know how things work at that age, and have had the minimal amount of practice at it to be socially functional. Brandon writing characters who have experienced neither long-term relationships nor short-term intimacy but somehow manage to end up with both in the form of one person with the same qualities is a trademark of his. Did Dalinar ever explain why he wanted Adolin to choose a wife for love, or was it just assumed that he allowed it because his own wife was a love-match? Because in a feudal world where there is no divorce (otherwise Lin Davar's second wife would have left) letting a first son choose his own wife is very unusual and indulgent. If Adolin had been settled with a betrothed at age 19 or 20, he would have been spared the whole confidence destroying parade of revolving-door relationships, and might have even got close to the girl since they wouldn't be able to dump each other so easily. Anyone who is shy and inexperienced at 23 does not make it obvious that they are. if men are men, no matter what universe they're on, making suggestive jokes about it is normal, and you have to join in without showing your discomfort if you don't want to be teased about it. It just occured to me that if Adolin's "friends" tried to joke him about it, his response would be "I totally have a betrothed, she's from Jah Keved and she's on a boat here...which was supposed to be here a month ago but she's still coming, I swear!". The Veden betrothed very coincidentally mirrors what the ambiguously existent Canadian girlfriend is in American high school movies where people drink out of red plastic cups. And Shards would translate very well to varsity letter jackets.
