Guilden_Stern🔞

This is my 97th piece published on my Substack! 98 and 99 will be a two-part column about me leaving academia. 100 will be a brief retrospective and where I’ll officially announce a book of collected essays on Japan I hope to get out later this year. Stay tuned!

@LateImperium @HMBohemond It might sound weird, but normies adore dubs.

@HMBohemond People subject themselves to dubs?

This is a stellar recommendation for the subtitled version of the new Ghost in the Shell anime.

Can't believe this even needs to be said, but these video game companies all just want your money. That's literally the only goal of being a business. Some companies just do more or less shitty things than others in certain contexts. Regardless, none of them are your friends.

24 years ago today

Lady Maria #Bloodborne #FromSoftware

The amount of times I see my short film reposted here without credit was insane. So I’m reclaiming my baby. I made this during my first year of animation school :) #animation

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False Face Fox First of my glass animal mask series! This was so fun to paint, what other animals should I try? So far I'm thinking owl and deer for a woodland theme🦊🦉🦌 This painting and more have just been added as a print to my webshop :) #fox #fantasy #painting

Frank Frazetta on his Lord of the Rings ‘Éowyn vs. the Nazgûl Lord’ illustration: “It’s one of my favorites. I got the weight and the forward movement at just the right moment. Perfect balance, perfect motion. That really turned out well. No effort. I remember being excited to see how it would turn out. It just flowed onto the paper like I wasn’t even holding the brush. I guess I was in a zone of some sort. That happens when I really get excited about an image.” — Frank Frazetta, in conversation with Doc Dave Winiewicz, c.1990s Frank rarely talked about technique in a formal way. He usually spoke in terms of feeling. Here, he’s not describing anatomy, composition, or brushwork. He’s talking about momentum, excitement, and that elusive state artists spend their entire lives chasing…the moment when an image seems to create itself.

Ada Wong (dress) #ResidentEvil

嬉しくて泣いてしまった　僕も自分の読切作品どれも好きです。

Everyone has been so impressed by Japanese fans cleaning up after themselves but most probably missed this beautiful moment at the post-game (🇳🇱2 - 2🇯🇵) press conference. Toward the end after reporters were done asking questions, 🇯🇵head coach, Hajime Moriyasu, asked to speak one more time. 🗣️ “May I speak?” He turned to the Dutch reporters in the room. 🗣️ “I think there are many Dutch reporters here as well, so I’d like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the people of the Netherlands once again.” Moriyasu explained that when he became part of the Japan national team, Japanese football still had no professional league. 🗣️ “I was trained by a Dutch coach named Hans Ooft. It wasn’t just me. Japanese coaches in general were greatly influenced by him, which has led to the development of Japanese soccer today.” He also mentioned another Dutch figure who shaped his career. 🗣️ “The legendary Dutch coach Wim Jansen served as the manager for J.League’s Sanfrecce Hiroshima and also as a coach for Urawa Reds, contributing to Japanese soccer.” 🗣️ “It’s not just those two. Many other coaches and players have contributed to raising the level of Japanese soccer, so I want to express my thanks. Thank you very much.” What a masterclass in graciousness and gratitude. Imagine after a high-stakes match, instead of basking in glory and bravado (well-deserved in my opinion), the coach took to the microphone to... thank his opponents publicly and sincerely. Japan's cultural operating system prizes harmony (wa), respect for precedent, and gratitude as a form of strength, not weakness. Japanese sports culture reflects its broader society where you'll see athletes bow to their opponents, thanking referees, and even crediting rivals or mentors. Think of sumo wrestlers, Olympic athletes, or even bullet-train staff apologizing for a 30-second delay. The Japanese have this concept of On (恩) - it is the sense of indebtedness to those who came before or helped you. It's what you'd expect from a culture that truly prizes continuity. Moriyasu was acknowledging a real debt to Dutch coaches like Hans Ooft (who coached Japan in the early 90s and helped professionalize the game) and Wim Jansen. Japanese football openly credits foreign influences - Dutch "Total Football" philosophy, German organization, Brazilian flair - while building something distinctly their own. Few nations do this with such little ego. Japan is pure class

Stellar Blade Blood rain looked super reminiscent of Alita Battle angel, so here's Evie as Alita. I also tried a different coloring method because fuck it. Result isn't very good but that's what tests are for. #stellarblade

Shadowheart with glasses you know where

portrait practice

Palace of the insane. 🏛️😵‍💫 #Veronica #pixelart 🔉

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