Squish Squash, Pumpkin Sauce~

Squish Squash, Pumpkin Sauce~

An experimental piece from 2017, almost entirely accidental. Always check if your pen is actually waterproof... or don’t, and paint with ink!

(this was probably the beginning of our spiral with traditional media, actually.)

Daily Diary Doodle - #002 - Of Forgetting

People talk about forgetting the sadness, but never the sadness of forgetting. We struggle to live for the future, because we know that the moment it's the past, it'll likely be forgotten within a day. It's dissociated into oblivion, lost to time, never to be remembered- and with the relatively high levels of aphantasia, we can't even picture it if we could.⠀ ⠀ We have to track everything we do every day, we track which Alters front, who did what, just to know that it ever even happened. We remember the plot of the big things, but so few details-- and even then, we can't trust if they were real.⠀ ⠀ It's been a sore subject lately. I record all our roleplay footage, because the moment it ends we've forgotten the majority; and this day it didn't save. I cried. I know it was a wonderful scene- a big moment for Phineas- but I'll never remember, fully, what I even did. Others get that memory, but I don't?⠀ ⠀ Photos, Videos, Physical Memories, are so important to us,⠀ because maybe then, we exist in some form of solidity.⠀

We're 28. We shouldn't have to live like this.⠀

Alistar

Lady Margaret Cromwell - Concepts

Quick sketches for an old ‘Elite Encounters’ character. I don’t remember too much about her, apart from a bitter attitude about losing out on a Baroness title to her sister. The easiest way to her heart was wine and useful information.~

Do you think that Charlie and the chocolate factory is the most underrated musical? I think it’s pretty good and pays nods to the original book.

Of the ones we've seen? Absolutely.

I think a lot of people dismiss the source material as they grow up- 'it's a horror story for children'- forgetting that it's as much wary warning to adults as it is kids. And I think this lead to a lot of people seeing a Musical version of this as nothing more than 'a kid's play'.

But oh god, anyone who's seen the musical... [insert nervous laughter] knows that's not the case.

--

For context, since versions differ: We saw the original West-End run in its final year, with Jonathan Slinger as Wonka. Which... whereas Hodge went more book-Wonka, and Jennings had this almost uncaring selfishness, Slinger's Wonka was unhinged. He was the perfect mix of 'I am genuinely terrified for my own safety, but if I don't follow this man, I will be all-consumingly curious for the rest of my life'.

He had the same vibe as creatures of myth that would lure people to their demise. You could tell me Slinger's Wonka was a fae, and I could easily believe it. You would have to have the willpower of the gods to not follow him into the dark.

I say all this, because I think a lot of adaptations ignore the cruelty of Willy Wonka. There's a cognitive bias in the story, as it's told from a star-struck child's view of a man who can do no wrong; and let's be honest, Charlie shrugs off trauma after trauma in that factory because of it. But the musical's Wonka makes choices and comments that just feel more true to the character?

The musical felt more adult, like it understood the assignment in a way no other adaptation did. It understood how- mind the language- utterly fucked up the whole tour is, it understood that Wonka is Ambiguously Evil, it understood that it is essentially a horror story mixed with a Wonderlandian Tale. And it didn't shy away from that.

And as someone who, as a child, was utterly confused on how no-one else saw these things of the story... it came out as, easily, our favourite version of the story altogether.

Perhaps it's because we've since grown up, perhaps it's due to our *ahem* personal biases within the system (see: our introject of Wonka was our primary persecutor during childhood), but the take not sugarcoating the whole story as 'look at the wonderful Willy Wonka!' and seeing it for what it is, was so utterly refreshing.

I wish more people had seen it. I wish Jonathan Slinger's run was recorded.

--

It wasn't perfect though. The first act is slow, but we do like that it took more time to explore Charlie as a character (we also still prefer that Wonka turns up at the end of act 1; something we know BW!CatCF changed).

The kids also felt incredibly flat. I think Charlie was a strong character, but all of the children in that version felt quite bland and too generalised? There was no subtlety to them, and they were incredibly in-your-face- which I guess is closer to the book, but if you grew up with the 71! & 05! versions, it's just a bit of non-taste.

Also 'Vidiots' is a boomer song about 'Technology Bad', and I know Mike Teavee is essentially that whole concept (even though that boy is obviously just undiagnosed ADHD, and hoo boy we have thoughts about that) but that song is very out of touch and could do with being removed or potentially taken from a more sympathetic angle. The only good thing that came out of it was Doris Teavee Jam Session lessss goooo baybee. hi we love west-end mrs. teavee if you could not tell, she's adorable and relatable when you're hitting 30 and stressed all the time.

That's all we can think of off the top of our head, but tl;dr: absolutely.

- Vi & Atticus

Daily Diary Doodle - #001 - Oh Joy

One square book, 366 blank pages, and the life of many in one: the Doodle Diary! Last year we did around 200 drawings in all different mediums, expressions, and efforts, pushing ourselves to experiment more over anything. Yes, we didn't do all 366, but I'm damn proud that we got as far as that. ⠀ New Year, New Book; and this year it’s an exercise in restraint-- to understand that quick and scribbly is fine even in comparison to neat and perfect. Ultimately, we're trying to keep it more on the simple side: one or two mediums per, more typography, etc. Hopefully our social media will reflect that too; we’re trying to not be so specific on what we post, to lessen the grip of the algorithm mentally.

Alistar

Commission for the wonderful Dicedopart (on twitch) of her magician Dolores.

Dolores is one of our favourite GTARP designs, so getting to draw her was- no pun intended- charming. FiveM can be awkward to make good designs with, so seeing a really unique one makes our heart aflutter.