Wolf Pup

Just finished a Yeojin portrait.

Since my last post, I've done some more loona portraits. I'm now working on a Kim Lip portrait.

Here's the new Loona portrait I just finished. It's another JinSoul, so I still have to paint the members I haven't painted yet (I had painted HaSeul, Heejin, Go Won, Hyunjin, and JinSoul before). You can see my previous Loona portraits at my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lunatiquerob/ This time, I tried to get even more expressive and painterly, asserting a more distinct artistic fingerprint. I'm not quite there yet, but I'll slowly hit the mark as I paint more of these portraits.

Wow, it's back from the dead! The server must have suffered a really bad DDoS attack, since the provider has been scanning IPs to filter out further attacks. I wonder if the hacker was targeting OneHallyu or some other site also hosted on the server? Anyway, I just finished another Heejin portrait. It was also done as class demonstration (I teach art both online and offline):

It's been ages since I posted here. Just wanted to share a few Loona portraits I did recently: That's four down, and eight more to do. I'm working on HaSeul right now, and another Heejin (my bias).

Yay, she got the card we sent her! My message is on that card too!

Did you all know there's a Loona-dedicated podcast? I just found out about it--it's called "ODD EYE Podcast," it's currently on episode 4. I'm listening to episode 3 right now and these guys are deep into the theory aspect of Loona--most of the podcast is dedicated to it (but they also talk about Loona in general), and they don't miss a thing--I learned about a lot of stuff I never noticed before. I highly recommend you all check it out (just search for "ODD EYE Podcast" and you'll find it).

I think this album ended up being somewhat of a surprise for all the fans, since we were expecting an overall more edgy electronic sound with maybe one cuter song that would go well with Chuu and Go Won. dal segno - It's pretty good, but I wish the guitar riff had shift a bit in chord structure or even just modulate instead of just repeating. love4eva - For me this was a disappointment. Does the K-Pop world really need a "Gee 3.0"? ("Very x3" was basically "Gee 2.0, since that was JYP's intention when he wrote the song.) I prefer BBC to be forward facing and continue to be unique instead of retreading similar ground that others already did in K-Pop. Also, that intro by Grimes is just awkward and extremely unsatisfying. BBC should have been more patient and asked Grimes to compose/sing/produce a song for yyxy in their next release (for the repackage). I do love the choreo though, but that's a separate element from the song itself. frozen - This is pretty much a Lovelyz song. It's pretty good but a bit too familiar. Again, I prefer BBC to not retread where others already did, and Lovelyz already has a firm hold on that style, which at this point, is its own trope. one way - It's a pretty good ballad, but I'm not really a ballad fan--it would have to be absolutely amazing for me to put a ballad in any of my playlists. This ballad doesn't quite reach that level for me. rendezvous 18.6y - This is by far my favorite song on the album. I love jazz-influenced pop in general because they are almost always more adventurous melodically and harmonically, utilizing lots of chromaticism, more interesting harmonies, key changes, modulations, etc., and this song is melodically and harmonically the most interesting on the album. I also love the breezy vibe that makes it a perfect song to chill to. And someone mentioned that the average age of Loona members is now exactly 18.6 years old--that blew my mind. While this type of song is not unique in K-Pop, it is one of my favorite genres of music (some call it "jazz-pop cafe music," and it seems to only exist in Asia) so I'm partial to it.

How We Love BlockBerry Creative: Let's Count the Ways I've been into K-Pop since 2001 and I have never seen any company getting the amount of intense love from fans like BBC does. It is so unusual, but then again, BBC/Loona is not your average K-Pop company/group. So I thought I'd make a thread about all the things we love about BBC and also constructively discuss what exactly they're doing that's better than all the other companies. 1.The entire creative vision behind Loona is unprecedented and unimaginably ambitious. Before BBC announced the project, no other company would have ever dared to try something so risky--even the big 3--and no other company to date has tried. BBC is completely unique in this. 2.Loonatics all agree that in terms of the entire project's creative vision, the crowning jewel is the solo releases of each individual member. Just about all the groups out there suffer from "who are these people" syndrome, because other than a few teaser photos and videos, we know nothing about the members before the group debuts. And without time to get familiarized with them, we have a hard time identifying with them (or simply visually identifying them in the group). There's also no emotional attachment whatsoever--they're just another trainee debuting like hundreds of others every year in S. Korea. With Loona's solo releases, we have a much stronger impression of each member. 3.Loona TV is the other crowning jewel of BBC's creative vision. It might not do much to entice those who are strangers to Loona, but it plays a huge part in deepening the love fans have once they have stepped into the Loonaverse. The bite-sized episodes keep us fed daily (and boosts our metabolism so we're constantly hungry for more). It becomes a part of our daily routine, and this is critical--when it becomes a part of your everyday life, you get so used to it that you feel like when it's gone, something is missing from your life (we've all been suffering from withdraws since EP 335). Other companies create reality shows too, but you don't get attached the same way because the planning and the structure isn't as engaging. BBC curates these precious short clips so we are always watching something iconic unfolding in front of our eyes, without much boring filler. We get a potent, distilled version of our girls that has such clarity and verity. (And we can see how when the girls do V-Live, it's sometimes not as engaging because there isn't that careful curating by BBC staff--the girls just ramble on and there's a lot more filler moments, unless it's really extra members like Chuu--there's never a dull moment with someone like her.) 4.The Loonaverse theories. I'm not one of those theory nuts, so although I can appreciate the creative vision behind it, I'm not as engaged with it as some fans. I kind of see it as icing on the cake, but I know for many fans, they absolutely love the theory aspect of Loona. For me, it's when the storytelling of the theory takes on profound and emotional meaning that I get really into it, such as when Olivia Hye met Heejin at the end of "Egoist" MV. 5.Importance placed on international fans. I have NEVER seen any company place as much importance on international fans as Loona. I don't know what BBC's strategy/vision is but they must have their reasons for caring so much about international fans (probably to pave the road for Loona's world domination). We are so incredibly spoiled with all the official English subtitles for every single MV and Loona TV episode. Even the elaborate descriptions for their YT videos are only in English. I'm guessing it was around the time of Sonatine that BBC noticed how much attention Loona was getting internationally (likely a lot more so than local S. Korean fans), and they decided to cater to and engage with international fans more. We even got an English version of "Loonatic" just for us! 6.Unique and intriguing fan events. I have never seen anything like Cinematic Theory and Premiere Greeting. I mean, BBC even produced special teaser videos just for those events. This also ties in to BBC's masterful storytelling, weaving these events and their contents into the fabric of the Loonaverse. The bootleg videos showing how Loonatics responded dramatically to the revealing of every little detail of how the Loonaverse is connected was nothing like anything I've ever seen in K-Pop. 7.BBC really takes care of our girls. They feed them well, fly them to exotic locations, buy them clothes and shoes just to make them more comfortable. They lavished attention on every single member and gave them the chance to shine individually, not just in their solo releases, but also their own arc during Loona TV. 8.BBC's creative vision is distinctly more artistic than most other companies. Not only are some of the Loona songs unique musical masterpieces, BBC also went after more indie/alternative artistic icons like Grimes and got her to collaborate. But at the same time, BBC also can tap into the pulse of the mainstream and produce songs and concepts that can compete with other mainstream K-Pop acts. It's going to be very interesting to observe how BBC walks that line between artistic vision and commercial mainstream trends. 9.BBC doesn't skimp on quality. Everything we get from BBC is high quality--photos, videos, promos. Yes, we know it's because they have the funding that many other companies don't, but it's still a huge risk to sink in so much money without any guarantee of success. At this point they probably have sunken in close to 10 million by now. 10.BBC listens to the fans and engages with us. Our discussions and memes and nicknames gets used by BBC all the time. This two-way street makes it feel like a relationship instead of just a company who makes products and the people who consume the products. 11.BBC staff is adorable. The way they interact with the girls and the fans through social media and Loona TV always makes me smile. The cute and humorous English subtitles of Loona TV in particular is something Loonatics love. These are all the things I thought of off the top of my head, so I might be missing some stuff. Share with us what you love about BBC.

Where are all these photos from? I checked all the official BBC social media accounts, including Naver blog and official site, Twitter, instagram, FB, etc., but didn't see any of these.

Same here. I was expecting a more adventurous sound, especially considering Grimes beong involved. But it sounds like Lovelyz/Loona 1/3/"Gee"/"Very Very Very." But Like I once said, if a more mainstream sound guarantees success, I'll grudgingly accept as long as their B-sides and album tracks are still adventurous. But ideally I'd want no compromise in artistic vision and they remain unique. If they end up sounding like other gg, then we lose half the appeal Loona had.

The thing with Loona is you really can't think of it as any typical K-Pop group. You have to think of it as a long-term project that starts off with solo releases from each member and also sub-unit releases, and once all members and sub-units have had releases, the group will be complete and finally debut as OT12. The key is to embrace the journey and all the solo and sub-unit releases instead of only caring about the final OT12 debut. Try thinking of it like Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. You enjoy all the solo superhero's movies, and then when they come together as the Avengers, you enjoy those movies too. If you only wait for the Avengers movies you'd miss out on so much.

Thanks! I might make more "fake Loona member teaser" featuring her in the future since it was so fun. And yeah, whoever did that RV styled fan art put in a lot of time and it looks great. I love instrumental intros tracks in K-Pop--I have a playlist filled with just those. For me, it's: 1. Add 2. Into the New Heart 3. Love & Evil 4. Odd (Very, very few fans know that the synth arpeggio and riff aren't original. I first heard them on DJ Soda's track "22 Cities," so they're probably from a commercial sample pack. It's disappointing since I prefer when important elements of the music wasn't a pre-made loop that's not original, but then again, there are entire genres of music based on using various samples. Also, "Girl Front" itself even without those samples is still a great song.) The thick eye makeup always bugged me, because it looks too much like heavy stage makeup and doesn't match her personality. They don't need to do it because even though she has monolids her eyes aren't small. Just do a bit of smoky eye-shadow and she'll look great. Welcome! I share your struggle. Heekkie is my ultimate, but for a while Jingolas was wrecking me hard during "Girl Front" promotions. Then Chuu came along and it was like, "who's this adorable dork? Why is she so precious?!" Then Go Won showed up and at first I was like, "oh, she's cute and shy." Then it was like, "WTH why is she such a weirdo but so cute at the same time?!" Other members like Hyunjin, Vivi, and Yves all have had their moments where I was getting wrecked.

I just recently started subscribing to that channel. Some great stuff.

OMG that would have made it so much easier! Thanks!

Thanks! I googled "Loona logo" and "blockberry creative logo." Then also googled for "what fonts did Loona promo images use?" to find the font--except I got the one for the album instead of the member teasers. Thanks to jinsooks for pointing me the right way.

I just replaced the font--it should show up up as the correct font in the original post now.

Oh man, I wish I had known that. Thanks!

I just made a couple of Heekkie captures: It's from Loona TV #30, when she said she was missing Hyunjin. Thanks!

I keep seeing Loona fans making "me as a Loona member" images on Loona Amino, and I thought I'd give it a shot--except it's of my wife. It was fun trying to match all the fonts and design and also choose a photo that would match Loona. Although she's way too old to be in Loona (she was 45 in that photo, taken in 2016), she's aged pretty well so she can still fool some people. :D The font for the member's name was really hard. I found the font that's suggested by other Loona fans (called "ting tong), but it wasn't a match at all and I tried to modify it to match. Didn't want to spend too long on it so it looks kind of close but not exactly. Anyway, it was fun making the image, and I thought fellow Loonatics might enjoy it.

Best Loona unboxing video ever made:

.

Although that might be a good boost in mainstream attention, artistically it would be a real disappointment for me. I'd much rather Loona work with more indie and cutting-edge/experimental artists like Grimes instead of typical/vanilla/conventional mainstream pop-stars.

BTW, in French, "lunatique" means whimsical. So "Loonatique" would have no negative connotations.