Cherchemonde

@cherchemonde.bsky.social

67 Followers 415 Following

- Boring video game-liking person - Does some drawing when no one is watching - Will sometimes quote half-remembered facts from an unwise French Litt degree - Hoping to stumble on 4 dromedaries to explore the world

Picture from an ad where Seal's head is put on top of a seal's body
Series of bad sketches of a martial artists very roughly reproducing the original’s gif hand movement. The style is reminiscent of bad kung-fu manuals
Grainy close up of Ed Zitron's face, with a very serious looking expression
Still from the movie Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam, showing Cüneyt Arkın on top of a hill holding a confusing foam sword who's blade is styled like a straight lightning bold. An humanoid orange furry creature is being thrown of a cliff. The production value is ... questionable, but it makes the picture - and the movie - that much more watching
Picture of Cloud from FF7 remake where he is wearing a dress
Picture from the original ff7 showing a blocky Cloud Strife in a wheelchair
An edited version of the photo initially shared where some shadows have been added to make it look more like Wolverine
A rather rotund boar with a blueish skin, glowing red eyes, and orange-red fur that gives him a distinctive Ganon looking face. The animated gif is going through a very simple walk cycle
doodle of a lady's face. She has a bob and is smiling mischievously
Map of Vvanderfell, the setting for Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind
Screenshot of a bluesky feed. The first post by Emily Gorcenski reads "Anyone remember the Democratic Party? Good Times, wonder what they're doing these days" The next post, by dannyodwyer, reads "Elf Bowling" as if it was answering Emily
Illustration d'un village d'irréductibles Gaulois vu souvent dans les bandes dessinées d'Astérix le Gaulois. L'illustration représente une carte d'une portion de la France, labellée Armorique. Au travers d'une loupe, on peut voir un village gaulois entouré d'une palissade circulaire en bois. 4 camps romains entourent le village, représentés par des tentes colorées de deux couleurs, devant lesquelles se tiennent des légionnaires romains. Aqvarvm, Babaorvum, Lavdanvm et Petibonvm, avec une typographie qui remplace les U par des V en une approximation de la graphie latine. La carte est stylisée dans un style bande dessinée, avec des tons de vert pour la terre et de bleu pour la mer.
Night time cityscape reflected in perfectly still river. The cold glow of the buildings along the right bank are perfectly reflected in the mirror of the river. Tall buildings further away are crowned by thin lines of red an yellow lighting, their reflections almost incongruously bright in the water. Vegetation can be seen on the shore through early morning streetlights. On the left bank, a structure squats low on the water, its black outline visible against the deep green of the night sky. On the horizon, small buildings, their light indistinct in the distance, while the foreground fades into inky obscurity.
Cover of 'Le Petit Prince' (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The cover features a delicate watercolor illustration showing a young boy with blonde hair wearing a light green outfit with a red bow tie, standing on a small grey planet or asteroid. The planet is sparsely decorated with a few small flowers. There's a tiny leafless tree which may very well be the very first sign of a baobab, which can be very dangerous for tiny planets. The planet also feature a tiny smoking mountain, which is probably a tiny volcano. The scene is set against a while background with yellow stars scattered throughout, and includes several celestial objects, moons or suns, and even a planet with a single thin ring. The title is written in an elegant cursive script, and a subtitle indicates that the book includes watercolors by the author ('Avec des aquarelles de l'auteur'). The book is published by Folio, as indicated by the publisher's logo at the bottom of the cover. It is hard to fathom that behind the gentle cover of this small book is enough beauty to change forever the way a kid will grow up and view the world
English ad from Copilot. It shows a young woman cutting her hair with the question "I just went through a breakup, should I get bangs". The implication is that you can use Copilot to ask what you should do after a breakup
Book cover for 'A Deadly Education' by Naomi Novik, subtitled 'Lesson One of The Scholomance.' The design features elegant gold artwork on a black background. An embossing with a art-deco style borders the cover. The central illustration shows a mystical symbol combining an all-seeing eye inside a circle, with moon phases in a circular arrangement around it. The eye stands on a stick that seems to spring from an open book. The serpentine from weaving its way around the stick and to the eye is reminiscent of an incomplete caduceus. Tiny stars can be seen around the main motifs. Above the illustration, in the same gold letters, the title reads "A Deadly Education" then, in smaller print, "A novel". The typography is ornate and sophisticated, matching the magical theme. Below the illustration, the subtitle "Lesson One of The Scholomance" is above the name of the author "Naomi Novik", followed by a mention that notes she is a New York Times bestselling author of 'Uprooted'. A gorgeous cover that hints at the dark theme of dangerous school for children that know magic. Maybe the blurb could mention something about this being the other, better book about children wizards
Picture of the Poly Voyager 5200 by Plantronics. it's wireless headset with its charging base/dock. The headset features a sleek black design with a single over-ear style earpiece and an small extended boom microphone. The charging base has a ribbed or wave-like pattern on its top surface and is made of dark gray/black plastic. The base is rectangular with rounded edges and serves as both a dock and charging station for the headset. This looks like a professional-grade communication device
Book cover for 'Ship of Magic' by Robin Hobb, Book One of The Liveship Traders series. The cover's background picture seems to take inspiration with Age of Exploration navigational maps, with a compass rose at the top, and straight lines in faded brown ink reminiscent of longitudes and lattitudes, and other complex information those parchment maps would have. On the top left of the cover, a red maritime standard is unfurled, a black raven displayed stooping, its black wings spread from the side of the flag tied to a thin rope to the ragged edge on its other side. The title is written in a gothic-style black lettering, with the author's name in bold red text below. Above the title is a quote from The Times reading 'As addictive as morphine' - which kinda breaks the whole dramatic sails and maps and "to adventure!" vibe of the whole cover. "As addictive as opium" would at least be tad more thematically relevant on a cover which otherwise makes it abundantly clear a lot of seafaring is about to happen.
Book cover of 'Quicksilver' by Neal Stephenson, Volume One of the Baroque Cycle. The cover features metallic silver lettering on a dark gray, silvery background. The author is noted as being the writer of the New York Times Bestseller 'Cryptonomicon.' The background incorporates detailed technical or scientific diagrams with letters marking points and figures. The design includes geometric circles and intersecting lines that evoke both astronomical charts and navigational diagrams, but one's mind also can't help to draw the connection to pentagrams and other arcane markings. On the center right, two overlapping circular designs could equally represent mechanical gears within an abstracted clock mechanism, or celestial bodies tracing their orbits. A handwritten notation reading "Fig 1," with an elaborately calligraphied 'F', appears at the top right - anchoring the drawing firmly in the era before industrial printing of scientific texts. The overall design suggests themes of scientific revolution and mathematics through its historical technical drawings. Yet there's a subtle suggestion that the creator of these diagrams might have been exposed to drawing of a more mystical tradition.
The manga cover depicts a dynamic action scene set against a decaying metropolis. The background shows a post-apocalyptic cityscape where brutalist skyscrapers loom precariously, their concrete facades crumbling to expose rusted rebar beneath. A cloudless sky casts a harsh, dusty light on the dying landscape. In the foreground, an imposing cyborg carrying his human companion in his arms have just landed atop a building, their impact sending cracks splintering through the concrete beneath them. The cyborg looks like a impossibly bulky human in armor, but his faceplate features a large central optical sensor surrounded by four smaller lenses, giving it an unsettling, insect-like appearance. Two antenna-like protrusions extend from its head like mechanical rabbit ears. The cyborg bristles with an arsenal that includes a massive handgun, a rocket launcher almost casually slung over his shoulders with bandoliers of ammunition. The companion, a woman with blonde hair, wears a military police uniform with combat boots. Though a sharp contrast to the cyborg's mechanical bulk and being held in his arms, her posture suggests a trained combatant. She holds a compact submachine gun and seem ready to jump into whatever fight they are engaged in. The art style showcases the meticulous detail characteristic of 1980s manga, particularly in the lovingly rendered mechanical elements and architectural destruction. Every piece of equipment, every crack in the concrete, every fragment of debris is carefully delineated. The title "APPLESEED" appears in striking yellow metallic text above the scene, with Japanese characters and the subtitle "THE PROMETHEAN CHALLENGE" framing it. A big red 1 in the corner suggests this is the first issue.
The book cover shows "Mythologies" by Roland Barthes, published by Points in their "Essais" (Essays) collection. The author's name and title appear in black text at the top of the minimalist book cover, while a picture of a car is placed in the lower portion of the cover, on a white background. The book appears to be sitting on a wooden surface with visible grain. The car on the cover is a vintage Citroën DS19 car from 1956 in a sea-green color photographed from a three-quarter front angle. At the time of publication in 1957, there was nothing vintage about this car. As Barthes makes a huge point in the book, It was a symbol of French technological achievement. Like the Minitel, or the Concorde. France has had better luck with philosophers and great writers than with technology.
cover for an artbook titled 'Morris vous apprend à dessiner Lucky Luke' (Morris teaches you to draw Lucky Luke), published by Dargaud. The cover shows a photo of a work in progress sketch of the Lucky Luke character being drawn on white paper. Lucky Luke is standing in the saddle, his back half-turned but his face toward the viewer. A blade of grass in his mouth, he his tipping his hat while winking. Jolly Jumper's expression comically mirrors that of his rider, same wink, a flower at his own lips. A faint outline in pencil has already been drawn on the paper, and the hand of the artist, holding a blue pen, is inking and adding beautiful shadows and definition to the piece. Drawing tools can be seen laid down on the side of the sheet, a blue pencil, a bicolored eraser, a paintbrush, and an inkpot - just waiting to be tipped over by a careless gesture of the disembodied hand. The drawing and tools are resting on a wooden table. The title, styled in yellow Western-style lettering, is a the top of the book. This would be a fine first drawing book - a fine first gift - from an awkward dad just starting to know his young son
Book cover design for 'Madame Bovary' by Gustave Flaubert. Against a vibrant yellow backdrop, the cover layout presents the author's name in red capital letters at the top, followed by the title 'MADAME BOVARY' in a larger, bolder typeface. Both elements are aligned to the left, creating a strong visual hierarchy. The cover itself shows an artistic illustration of a woman in a 19th century dress. The figure is shown in profile, facing left, wearing an elaborate gown with a fitted bodice and full skirt. She holds a letter in her lowered hand, and look in front of her with an indecipherable expression that could equally be anger or sadness. There isn't, however, a likeliness of joy for Madame Bovary. From the red shadow she casts against the wall, two paler figure emerge, a man and a woman kissing each other, maybe a dream, a memory, or a regret evoked by the letter. The illustration is rendered in a sketch-like style in reddish tones against the yellow background. The overall design has a dramatic, romantic quality typical of classic literature covers.
Book cover of 'Radix' by A.A. Attanasio, published by Corgi. At the very top of the cover, there's text reading 'Not since Tolkien's Middle Earth has a complete world of the imagination been so brilliantly realised...'. The title 'RADIX' appears in large pink letters underneath this bold claim, against a landscape backdrop. Below the title is the name of the author, A.A. Attanasio. The illustration shows a dramatic landscape with a solitary figure standing naked on a rocky outcrop, his hands on his hips, facing away from from the reader and seemingly contemplating the vast expanse of nature below him. Dense green forest or vegetation fills the valley at his feet, a green hill rising to occupy the all the left side of the cover. The background shows distant and dusty mountains and mesas standing under a yellow-tinted sky. The artist obviously tried to go for a Wanderer above the Sea of Fog but didn't fully manage to capture de feeling of awe and mystery the Caspar David Friedrich piece's evokes. The cover also says little of the harsh dystopian world, of the mutants and gods, and of the struggles the protagonist will experience through the page of the book.
Book cover of 'Le Pendule de Foucault' (Foucault's Pendulum) by Umberto Eco, published by Le Livre de Poche. A subtitle indicates this is a 'Nouvelle édition revue par l'auteur' (New edition revised by the author). The publisher's red circular logo appears at the bottom of the cover. The cover features a dark background with white text for the title, subtitle, and author name at its top. The main image is a cropped detail from Johannes Vermeer's 1668 painting 'The Astronomer,' showing a right hand - The Astromer's of the original painting - reaching toward an antique celestial globe and gently touching it. The publisher has removed the painting's original background, and added various mystical and astrological symbols overlaid on the globe's weathered, golden-brown surface, which are not present in Vermeer's original painting. In French, the title of this painting translates to 'The Astromer, or rather, the Astrologist'. The "defacing" of the original painting with mystical symbol, the removal of its context via cropping, the fact that the painting is in the Louvres in Paris and Foucault's Pendulum rests in the Musée des Arts et Metiers in Paris where some of the book's action is happening, and the choice of the painting itself, is a an incredible choice to illustrate the layered themes of this book. Or maybe I'm just over interpreting this.
Atari 2600 game cover for 'Ms. Pac-Man'. The title appears in bold, geometric letters in yellow with blue outlines. The Atari logo at the top is in bright red against a silver-grey background. The main illustration shows Ms. Pac-Man, portrayed as a yellow circular character with long eyelashes, a red bow holding a small tuft of hair, and a playful smile. She's wearing "classy sexy woman" make up (red lipstick, blue eye shadow, red/ping blush) She's surrounded by two ghost characters - one pink (Pinky), one light blue (Inky). They're positioned above a stylized maze layout typical of the game, rendered in perspective with orange lines against a black background. A blue circular sticker in the bottom left corner promotes "SUPER ARCADE-LIKE GRAPHICS". The cover art is credited to Gus Allen. The overall design uses the bold, primary colours characteristic of 1980s video game packaging, with a horizontal rainbow stripe dividing the title area from the main illustration.
Book cover for 'Dracula's Castle' by J H Brennan. The cover features a dramatic illustration with a banner at the top stating 'DRACULA or VAMPIRE-HUNTER... the choice is yours in this spine-chilling gamebook.' The banner is yellow with a red shadow/highlight, and its edges are shaped in a way reminiscent of bat wings. The book is published by Armada, indicated by a small ship logo at the bottom of the cover. The main image shows a close-up portrait of a vampire with pale skin and bloody red eyes, wearing a high-collared black cape. A bat-shaped pendant adorns his stark white collar. A mad rictus twists his face, revealing fangs dripping with blood. Behind the vampire sprawls a gothic graveyard scene with silhouetted tombstones fading into the misty distance. A full moon casts an eerie glow, and frames a bat spreading its wings in the night skey. The cover uses a dark, brooding color palette dominated by blacks and midnight blues, with the moon and vampire's pale skin providing stark contrast. One cannot see this picture and not be reminded how much influence Christopher Lee's talent and intensity had on our representation of vampires
Book cover of 'Lorenzaccio' by Musset, published in the GF (Garnier Flammarion) 'Edition avec dossier' series. The title layout presents 'Musset' in large text at the top, with 'Lorenzaccio' beneath it. The edition is edited by Florence Naugrette. The cover artwork features a striking portrait against a deep blue background, with the subject's face split between light and shadow. The illuminated half shows a young Renaissance nobleman with smooth features, wearing a black hat and crisp white ruffled collar, while the shadowed half is a 19th-century Romantic figure, with untamed hair, sideburns, and a small mustache. This portrayal hints at the play's essence: set in 1537 Florence, it serves as a commentary on the political climate of 1830s France and its failed revolutionary movements. The split imagery also mirrors the play's protagonist - a young idealist who masks himself as a dissolute companion to a tyrannical ruler while plotting assassination, driven by a doomed hope for political reformation.
Book cover for 'Enchiridion of Epictetus". The cover features a classical engraving or a woodcut embedded in a deep red background with a damask pattern. The illustration, set in a black square frame, shows a bearded figure in flowing robes, seated and leaning forward while holding with a crutch as its side - a nod to the story that Epictetus had his leg broken by a his master. The figure is studying or writing in an open book. The title 'ENCHIRIDION' appears at the top and 'EPICTETUS' at the bottom in bold white lettering with a style that seems to be an Art Deco interpretation of the Greek alphabet. This cover is a little bit of a mess stylistically, but it is attention grabbing.
Cover of Marvel Comics' X-Men issue #101, illustrated by Dave Cockrum and Danny Crespi. The cover features Phoenix as its central figure, dramatically emerging from the ocean in her green and gold costume. Her arms are spread wide with fists clenched, her red hair flowing wildly around her, and her face tilted upward in a cry of power. Her emergence creates massive waves around her, where three fellow X-Men - Storm with her white hair, Cyclops with his yellow visor, and Nightcrawler with his distinctive blue features - appear to be struggling against the chaotic waters. The title 'THE ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT X-MEN' appears at the top in yellow block letters against a blue energy effect background. At the bottom, red text proclaims 'IN THE MUTANT HEROES' HOUR OF MAXIMUM PERIL... ENTER: THE PHOENIX!' Small head shots of various X-Men characters appear in the top left corner. The price of 30¢ is shown above, while the Marvel Comics Group banner appears in red at the very top of the cover
Book cover for "Chokepoint Capitalism" by Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow. The design cleverly illustrates the concept of a chokepoint through its layout: two large yellow sections mirror each other across the cover, separated by a mint green vertical gap in the middle. The title dominates the center, with "CHOKE POINT" in bold black letters strategically split across the mint green gap, visually creating a chokepoint itself. Below it, "CAPITALISM" appears in bold red-orange letters, with a subtle gradient towards the yellow. The authors' names appear above in the same orange color. The subtitle, in black text, reads "how big tech and big content captured creative labour markets, and how we'll win them back." At the top, there's an endorsement quote: "'An absolute must-read.' - David Sirota, writer of Don't Look Up". The publisher's name, "SCRIBE", appears vertically in the upper right corner.
Cover for the book "Hogfather" by Terry Pratchett. The cover is an illustration in the joyously messy and intricate style of Josh Kirby. It depicts a gentle and silent winter night, with five-pointed stars and a big crescent moon in a deep blue sky. Small bat-like creatures with blue wings flutter in the distance. The land below is covered in snow, and the white roofs of a small village can be seen in the distance. In the center of the picture, 4 huge, pinkish boars with red and yellow harnesses are taking flight, pulling a sleigh. On the sleigh is a gigantic bag presumably full of gifts, and a familiar character clad in red and white. A second, more careful look reveals the character's head is, in fact, a skull wearing a big fake beard. The name of the author "Terry Pratchett" is written in big silver letters at the top of the cover against the night sky. The title "A Discworld Novel, Hogfather" is written in blue letters at the bottom.
Cover of the book 'Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter' by James Gurney. The cover features a masterfully realistic painting of a small, dinosaur-like creature that blends avian and reptilian features. It has a feathered body in shades of white and warm brown, with a distinctly reptilian head, sharp talons, and wing-claws. The creature is captured in a peaceful sleeping pose, balanced on one pink-scaled leg, with its head elegantly curled back and tucked into its body feathers, reminiscent of a flamingo's sleeping posture. The creature stands on a bed of detailed river pebbles that catch and reflect the warm light. These pebbles gradually blur into a rich, deep red-brown background that creates a dramatic contrast with the creature's pale feathers. The scene is illuminated by masterful backlighting that creates a luminous effect, with a delicate golden rim light outlining each feather along the creature's silhouette. The title 'Color and Light' appears in yellow letters at the top right of the cover. In the middle, centered left, is the subtitle 'A Guide for the Realist Painter' in smaller text. The author credit reads 'James Gurney,' followed by 'Creator of DINOTOPIA' - where 'DINOTOPIA' is set in yellow text within a black rounded rectangle.
The picture if the cover for the book "The Lies of Lock Lamora" by Scott Lynch. The upper half of the cover is a painting of a water canal in a late medieval city. Houses and hotels rise on both sides, off-white, brownish and yellowish, high windows and balconies, ornamented fasciae and eaves half hidden in the shadows of the warm and dirty crepuscular light. High across the murky green water, an enclosed bridge reminiscent of the Bridge of Sights links two building. There's a vaporous, ethereal, indistinct quality to some areas of the painting, making it difficult to decide if the details are obscured by fog, the grime of the city or a trick of the fading light. In the foreground, a shadowy character sits atop one of the pile jutting out of the water. They seem to be wearing a bicorn or a tricorn, a long coat whose tails hang behind them, and the long narrow from on their side could be a stick or a sword. The bottom half of the cover is a dirty green, the water under the canal. It shows the title "The Lies of Locke Lamora" in clear orange. The titles is in thin capital script, but the letter The and Of looking like they have been hand-written with a quill. The name of the author "Scott Lynch" is in pale green, using the same font than the title. Above the title, an endorsement blurb reads "'A fresh, original, and engrossing tale by a bright new voice' George R. R. Martin" It's a good cover, well worth describing
Two books stacked on top of each other at an angle, allowing to see both covers. The book on the top is "Reads like a novel" by Daniel Pennac. The book on the bottom is the orginal in French "Comme un roman", by the same author.
The photo shows the cover for the book Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots. The cover is bright red, with the title "Hench" occupying the bottom half of the picture. The word Hench is in capital letter, pale blue with a bright orange outline, and displays small scruff marks like an old stencil on a wall. Above the title is the name of the author in yellow text. The upper half shows the stylised red silhouette of a figure with long hair in normal clothing, projecting a dark red shadow on the red wall. The shadow matches the figure's body and hair but it's wearing a gently billowing cape.
Screenshot of a passage in the paper. "The present study required substantial time and resources to simulate 25 agents for two days, costing thousands of dollars in token credits and taking multiple days to complete. To enhance real-ime interactivity, future work can explore parallelizing agents or developing language models specifically designed for building generative agents"
Screenshot from the show Archer showing Archer drinking from a bottle with his index finger raised in a "wait until I finish drinking" gesture
meme picture from The Elder Scrolls Oblivion showing a guard, with the text "Stop right there criminal scum"
Picture of a reddit post by u/sleepyghostmp3 with a gif of Luigi Mario wearing a hoodie and holding a gun / dressed like Luigi Mangione with the caption "we've forgotten the law of the jungle"
A still from the show Battlestar Galactica showing multiple number eight in the same picture
Dark Cloud 2 box art