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Jon Kent and Damian Wayne in the Young Justice Animated Series

It’s been a good long while since Young Justice: Outsiders came out, so I feel like I can finally write about this without worrying about tagging spoilers and ruining lives or something. This is something I thought about the second this episode aired, and I’ve been waiting to write it. So here it goes!

Young Justice: Outsiders was obviously exciting for many reasons, but some of the most excitement came from introductions of well beloved characters, such as Jason Todd and Damian Wayne (seen in Episode 6) and Jon Kent (seen in Episode 9). Anyone who follows Super Sons already knows that this is a massive deal, because it establishes that Damian and Jon both exist in the same animated timeline for the very first time, as well as it being Jon’s animated debut.

While I’m obviously extremely excited for the possibility of a Super Sons animated moment, it got me thinking. The screen shots above show that Damian and Jon are both infants, likely somewhere around one (1) year old. This is completely different from the three (3) year age difference we’re used to, and while this difference might not seem like that big of a deal to some people, it has the capacity to completely change their character dynamics.

Let’s start by looking at Damian:

We all know Damian’s backstory by now; raised in the League of Assassins by Ra’s and Talia Al Ghul, until he was ten (10) years old, when he moved to Gotham to live with Bruce Wayne. It was at this point that he became Robin. This is a pretty concrete point in Damian’s character, and is very unlikely to change. At some point in the YJ series, he needs to become Robin. But lets take a minute to think about what kind of person he was at that age: arrogant, violent, stubborn, and desperately trying to prove his worth to a father he just met. At this point, he was a killer, and regularly fought with just about every member of the Batfam, Bruce and Dick in particular, as he tried to break the habits he’d been brought up with. 

In the context of YJ, we can assume that Dick would at some point bring Damian along to join the Team, but the question is, at what age? Damian joining almost immediately fits pretty well with how quickly he was introduced to the Teen Titans. But, at that age, he was hardly a team player. It wasn’t until he was about thirteen (13) that he really started developing actual friendships. However, the age Damian joins the Team - in my opinion at least - would depend very heavily on when the other “Next Generation” heroes join. 

This brings us to Jon:

Jon is known for being the complete antithesis to Damian. Rather than being raised to be a loyal machine, he was raised to be a loyal friend. Jon is a character who puts family first, and thinks of his friends as family. He’s truly a breath of childish fresh air in an industry that loves feeding us doom and gloom. While he is beloved by the majority of the fanbase, other characters were very apprehensive about him when he first got into the hero business at ten (10) years old; not-so-coincidentally, the same age as Damian. 

However, Jon is also the character in DC comics with the most amount of pressure on him. You imagine being the son of Superman for a moment, and growing up knowing that every single person you meet expects you to one day take over that title. Do you think you’d be able to handle that? Let alone at ten years old? I certainly can’t. Yet it seems like Jon doesn’t actually realize just how heavy that weight on his shoulders is.

While Supers are known for being power houses, and every team seems to want one, Jon was a kid, and very new to his abilities. He was unpolished; constantly making mistakes, misjudging his own strength, overshooting his speed and flight, and who could possibly forget when he lost control Manchester Black, or when he went full Super Nova and nearly killed the Teen Titans? It became very clear at the end of the first Super Sons run that Damian was actually the only other young hero that trusted Jon, which is why they continued to function as the newest take on a dynamic duo. 

How does this all come back to Young Justice: Outsiders? Well it’s actually very simple. All of that mistrust that characters were going to have in Jon was immediately erased the second the series did this:

Right here is the next generation of the Team. We all know it, and unlike previous heroes, this is the first generation that’s growing up together. Unlike every other iteration of the Justice League, Teen Titans, Young Justice, and literally every other team you can think of, these kids are all going to grow up watching each other’s powers come in. They’re going to know each other’s weaknesses and flaws, from weekly play dates, birthday parties, and any other hero-family get-together; some of them might even end up going to the same schools in this universe. Yes, Jon is the youngest out of them, but that just means that every single one of these kiddos is going to watch him grow up, knowing that S on his chest will always be there.

Let’s think about what we know about Jon again. He’s charismatic, funny, loyal and true, and has this uncanny ability to be able to talk to literally anyone, regardless of who the are, where they’re from, or what circumstance he’s in. You know what those traits line up perfectly with? A natural born leader. 

Growing up in this environment, where all these super kids play all the time, it’s so easy to imagine Jon growing up and being this larger than life personality that everyone just naturally seems to listen to. Jon would be the kid coming up with new games to play, and teaching them to everyone else. He would be one of the team captains when they play kickball, soccer, or any other sport. He would be genuinely interested in everyone’s hobbies and skills. He would be the one everyone turns to when they need someone to talk to. If someone’s unsure about him, chances are they’ll just do what everyone does; take one look at that S on his chest and just start listening. 

The series progresses. There’s another time skip, and Damian and Jon are now both ten years old, taking on their respective superhero mantels for the first time. As all young heroes in this series eventually do, they join the Team. Perhaps around the same time, perhaps Damian joins a few months before hand, or vice versa. But that doesn’t matter, because the effect will be exactly the same.

Damian is harsh. He’s vindictive, and unemphatic; the exact opposite of what everyone expects a Robin to be. He refuses to take orders, and is very clearly trying to fight his was to the top of the food chain. Plus, he comes right in and kicks Tim Drake out of the Robin title, someone who could very likely be the current leader. Chances are, everyone would hate Damian from the get-go. Meanwhile, everyone would be looking forward to the day Jon joins. They all knew he would. It was just a matter of time. 

Rather than being introduced to each other with a clear difference in experience like in the comics, Jon and Damian are now on relatively even playing fields because they’re the same age. Damian would have more combat skills, but Jon’s already an integral part of the group, and he’s a fast learner. Obviously they would but heads, likely even more than they did in Supers Sons. 

One of the biggest debates we see in every single season of YJ is “Ok, but who’s in charge?” This would undoubtedly come up as Damian flat out refuses that listen to any leadership if he doesn’t deem them worthy. Even at ten (10) years old, he would likely be fighting for that position of head honcho, because at this point in his life, Damian’s driving forces are his ego and his ambition. Unfortunately for him, at ten (10) years old, with that personality, and after having just left the League of Assassins, he’s completely untrustworthy. 

Jon on the other hand is a perfect candidate for eventual leader. Everyone would have followed Kon, the Superboy before him, to the ends of the Earth. Superman led the Justice League at one point, plus he’s, you know, Superman. Here we’ve got that legend’s kid, with all the makings to eventually take over the whole operation. He’s young, and pretty green, but chances are every single person on the team would have it in the back of their minds that this kid was born to lead. 

The biggest problem? Jon has a tendency to crack under pressure, and second guess himself. There is a chance that Damian rushing to be in charge would force Jon to be pushed forward far too quickly, long before he’s ready. Meanwhile, Damian’s smart as sin. No one on the Team would be able to deny that Damian’s a perfect strategist, who analyses and memorizes every skill set and strength of the people he has to work with. He can come up with a flawless plan at the drop of a hat. Meanwhile, Jon would be the kind of person to lead with his heart, and build morale on a foundation of morals and trust.

That’s going to be the conflict between Damian and Jon in Young Justice because of how they were introduced in the series, and with their lack of age gap. Damian doesn’t have the time to grow and gain everyone’s trust before Jon becomes Superboy, where as Jon wouldn’t have the chance to learn before getting pushed into leadership positions he isn’t ready for. They’re likely going to but heads even more than before, and right now, there’s no way to tell if they will ever be able to achieve the friendship they have in the comics, or if they’ll be stuck as rivals.

Is it too early to make assumptions? Yeah. Probably. Who knows what the writers have planned. But I don’t think there’s any way to doubt the conflict they just created for themselves.

HH Theory: Angel and Valentino

So, those who’ve seen the prequel comic on the Hazbin Hotel website know that Angel was/is working for a powerful Pimp named Valentino

ad Valentino, as you can see from above, is an @$$hole.

Now, I know the #1 theory we have regarding him is “maybe Angel’s at the hotel looking for a way out of Val’s clutches,” BUT….then the next day, the pilot came out…and in the opening, we see THIS:

Viv, is VERY CLEVER in her story plot-hook delivery. She DELIBERATELY included this after releasing those first seven prequel pages knowing the fans would NOTICE and put 2 and 2 together that Angel IS still working for Val, and that Val’s just as much of a controlling, dominating abusive boss as presented in the only two pages of him we’ve seen so far…and not ONLY has it got us hooked on how that can effect Angel’s character development, but also, let’s keep in mind ONE OTHER DETAIL OR TWO:

Valentino does NOT like it when Angel is outside the Pron studio. As far as he’s concerned, Angel’s a PORN ACTOR….HIS porn actor, and NOTHING MORE, probably to keep him from getting hurt and “damaging the goods” so to speak. However, we DOn”T KNOW is Valentino knows that Angel’s at the hotel…AND we all KNOW that Angel’s little turf battle with Cherri and Pentious was broadcast ALL OVER HELL

Sooooo….

-What deal did Angel make to get out of the studio? Or did he make a deal at all?

-How will Valentino react to Angel’s “turf war” shenanigans and Angel being at the hotel?

-How will Valentino’s involvement in Angel’s life while at the hotel effect Angel’s story arc?

SO MANY QUESTIONS!! O3O

Angel Dust, Valentino and Hazbin Hotel belong to @vivziepop​

So judging by the cinematic Zero Hour, apparently Rein/Brig/Echo and of course Genji and Mercy already "met" before joining Winston in Paris, or was it complete coincidence ? How did it go ?

Well my working theory was that Rein, Brig, Echo, and Genji were already moving to converge on Gibraltar, since presumably that’s where Winston’s Recall was coming from. 

Mercy is a bit more complicated because we know Baptiste called her to warn her that Talon would probably be targeting her, but we don’t know if she would go rushing back to the arms of recalled Overwatch–after all, she has the voiceline on Gibraltar of “Overwatch was shut down for a reason, maybe it’s best it stay that way.” So if Mercy was also heading to Gibraltar from where she was doing relief work in the middle east, it might not necessarily be to join Overwatch, but to compile information on Talon with Winston and make sure other former Overwath members are safe. But we do know she rushes off to wherever there’s trouble, so if she heard Null Sector was attacking innocent civilians in Paris, she’d come swooping in to the rescue. And I do think she would still value her former teammates (She was definitely still close with Genji, as hinted at with their letter-writing) and she would want to help and protect them if they were also protecting the civilians of Paris, as well.

 I wouldn’t say it was a ‘coincidence’ so much as “There is a huge robot invasion and everyone’s stepping up to fight because that’s what heroes do.”

This week: Form follows function! You can tell a lot about a bird by its wings.

Some Photoshop Tips

I’ve been getting quite a few asks about the process for the patterns in my stylized artworks, so I decided to put together a couple of tips regarding them. 

Firstly, what you need are

—  CUSTOM BRUSHES  —

Most of the patterns I use are custom brushes I made, such as those:

For the longest time I was convinced making brushes must be super extra complicated. I was super extra wrong. All you need to start is a transparent canvas (2500px x 2500px max):

This will be your brush tip. When you’re satisfied how it looks, click Ctrl+A to select the whole canvas and go to ‘define brush preset’ under the edit menu

You will be asked to name your new glorious creation. Choose something that describes it well, so you can easily find it between all the ‘asfsfgdgd’ brushes you’ve created to be only used once

This is it. Look at it, you have just created a photoshop brush. First time i did I felt like I was cheated my whole life. IT’S SO EASY WHY HASN’T ANYONE TOLD ME 

Time to edit the Good Boi to be more random, so it can be used as a Cool Fancy Pattern. Go into brush settings and change whatever you’d like. Here’s a list of what I do for patterns:

- under Shape Dynamics, I increase Size Jitter and Angle jitter by 5%-15% 

- under Brush Tip Shape, I increase spacing by a shitload. Sometimes it’s like 150%, the point is to get the initial brush tip we painted to be visible.

- If I want it to look random and noisy, I enable the Dual Brush option, which acts like another brush was put on top of the one we’ve created. You can adjust all of the Dual Brush options (Size, Spacing, Scatter, Count) as you wish to get a very nice random brush to smear on your  backgrounds

The result is as above. You can follow the same steps to create whatever brush you need: evenly spaced dots that look like you painted them by hand, geometric pattern to fill the background, a line of perfectly drawn XDs and so on. 

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE

—  PATHS  —

But what if you want to get lots of circles made of tiny dots? Or you need rows of triangles for your cool background? Photoshop can do all of that for you, thanks to the magic of paths.

Typically, paths window can be found right next to Layers:

Draw whatever path you want, the Shape Tool has quite a bit of options. Remember, paths are completely different from brush strokes and they won’t show up in the navigator. To move a path around, click A to enable path selection tool. You can use Ctrl+T to transform it, and if you move a path while pressing Alt it will be duplicated.

Now, pick a brush you wish really was in place of that path you’ve drawn and go to layers, then choose the layer you want it to be drawn on. Then, click this tiny circle under the Paths window:

Then witness the magic of photoshop doing the drawing for you while you wonder how tf have you managed to forget about this option for the past 2 years 

You can combine special brushes and paths for all sorts of cool effects. I mostly use them in backgrounds for my cards, but you can do whatever you want with them.

I hope that answers the questions for all of the people who were sending me inquires about the patterns. If you have any questions regarding this or any other Photoshop matter feel free to message me, I’m always up for complaining about how great and terrible Photoshop is C’:

Some notes I put together for my CDA Class. Just stuff that I use. Take with grain of salt.

what brushes did you use for the baby twinyards

for those drawings i used SAI, here are the brush settings, the line art was done with my ink pen, and the spots on aaron were done with idgaf (it’s a pencil) while most of the coloring was done with the first brush except for the eyes which i did with the bottom left fill pen.

“This paper introduces a novel workflow to generate snow imprints, and model the interaction of snow with dynamic objects.”

Some advice for drawing people who have both hair… and horns!! :O

Also, you may feel more comfortable drawing the whole horn first, and that’s fine too! Mostly the point is just to try to draw the hair growing around the horn, rather than under it.

Hope this helps!