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cartoonbabbles · 1 year

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Cartoon babbles about Little Witch Academia incoming.

In the absence of content from TOH, I’ve gotten back into anime. Specifically Studio Trigger stuff. I saw Kill la Kill thinking it wouldn’t have any lgbt stuff aside from the ending and then I realized the entire show is queer coded (and the animation on a technical level kicked ass). And while I ended up covering half the screen for most of it and mainly getting the story by listening, I thought it was pretty cool. But holy crap did I realize I completely slept on Little Witch Academia

Like. It’s if TOH was like. Lower stakes? Like they two shows read super similarly, outcast girl makes a group of misfit friends and changes things for the better yes yes we’ve all been there. I’d seen fanart of Diana and Akko and seen parallels drawn between them and Lumity and hell yes we love to see it.

And oh my god the animators and artists are so talented how did they make this show look so good and move so much like the colors designs the everything.

Also one thing about shipping in the fandom. I went in expecting a to see a lot more from Diana (and maybe I’ve been spoiled by Amity’s development) but honestly I wish we’d gotten to see more of her character development? Like she had her standard “we will put Akko and (x) in a boat and give them character development) but if I’m honest like. Come on. Diana’s motivations for going to Luna Nova are cool but could you be maybe a little less like. Idk. Gah it’s bugging me her entire family tradition, like one of her biggest factors in her character is kindness and for the entirety of the series leading up to that point she’s like. Just. Doesn’t really show that? Like I’m sorry maybe I’m reading into things too much but even among her own friends she seems isolated????????

Which brings me to the thing that surprised me the most about the show in that I really ended up liking the side characters. I wish Jasminka got more screen time and lines, but she makes a statement on her own and that’s really cool. Constanze is amazing, Sucy is my mood all the time and Lotte is really cool too. But like. I’m still not over Amanda because even between Diana and Akko, Amanda gets probably the most amount of time with Akko aside from her roommates. Like Akko and Amanda hang out together, and clearly Amanda trusts Akko enough to share her feelings about wanting to leave since Akko mentions this isn’t the first time Amanda had floated the idea. And their brains operate on the same frequency of chaos and crime (Akko steals food, Amanda tried stealing treasure. Apparently she’s from a well off family so I don’t get the motivation entirely but it was really freaking funny)

Like come on. Diana “I am going to actively put you down for most of the series and at most act aloof until we’re forced to interact” Cavendish and Amanda “well we got detention together that one time so I guess we’re besties and btw I’ll duel someone for you with a fucking sword” O’Neil just. Ackskdkwkdnsb

I’m really tired and not thinking straight (since when do I ever think straight hah) but man oh man

I haven’t even mentioned the mecha episode

My biggest complaint, if I had one, is that I wish the music matched the range of characters and emotions cuz a lot of the time they end up playing this one track. Like the music is super good but I wish there were more variety

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meruz · 3 years

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once again i am answering asks in a big compilation post. included is... gotham, patrick stump, tips about drawing backgrounds, tips about drawing in general, links to my faq, and infinity train

like.... the tv series? No... I’ve drawn dc comics fanart before, though. But it’s been years since I’ve been really into it. I like jumped ship like 10 years ago when the New 52 happened LOL.

AFJHDSLKGH I’m sorry I (probably) won’t do it again??

Actually full disclosure I have a truly cringe amount of p stump drawings/photo studies in my sketchbook right now LOL. He’s just fun to draw... hats, glasses, guitar, a good shape... but I don’t think I’ll rly post those until I can hide them in another big sketchbook pdf.. probably Jan 2022. Stay tuned........ (ominous)

(ominous preview)

These are all sort of related to backgrounds/painting so I grouped them together even though they’re pretty much entirely separate questions.... ANYWAYS

a) How is it working as a BG artist? Is it hard? What show are you drawing for?

I think you’re the first person to ever ask me about my job! Being a background artist is great. It’s definitely labor intensive but I think that could describe pretty much any art job (If something were rote or easy to automate, you wouldn’t hire an artist to do it) and I hesitate to say whether its harder or easier than any other role in the animation pipeline. Plus, so much of what truly makes a job difficult varies from one production to the next, schedule, working environment, co-workers etc. But I will say that I think while BGs are generally a lot of work on the upfront, I think they’re subject to less scrutiny/revisions than something like character/props/effects design and you don’t have to pitch them to a room like boards. So I guess it’s good if you don’t like to talk to people? LOL

A lot of my previous projects + the show I’ve worked on the longest aren’t public yet so I can’t talk about em (but I assure you if/when the news does break I won’t shut up about it). But I’m currently working on Archer Season 12 LOL. I’m like 90% sure I’m allowed to say that.

b) ~~~THANK YOU!! ~~~

c) What exactly do you like to draw most [in a background]?

@kaitomiury Lots of stuff! I really like to draw clutter! Because it’s a great opportunity for environmental storytelling and also you can be kind of messy with it because the sheer mass will supersede any details LOL.

I like to draw clouds... I like to draw grass but not trees lol,,, I like to draw anything that sells perspective really easily like tiled floors and ceilings, shelves, lamp posts on a street etc.

d) Do you have any tips on how to paint (observational)?

god there’s so much to say. painting is really a whole ass discipline like someone can paint their whole life and still discover new things about it. I guess if you’re really just starting out my best advice is that habit is more important than product. especially with traditional plein air painting, I find that the procedure of going outside and setting up your paints is almost harder than the actual painting. There’s a lot of artists who say “I want to do plein air sometime!!” and then never actually get around to doing it. A lot of people just end up working from google streetview or photos on their computer.

But going outside to paint is a really good challenge because it forces you to make and commit to lighting and composition decisions really quickly. And to work through your mistakes instead of against them via undo button.

My last tip is to check out James Gurney’s youtube channel because hes probably the best and most consistent resource on observational painting out there rn. There’s lots other artists doing the same thing (off the top of my head I know a lot of the Warrior Painters group has people regularly posting plein air stuff and lightbox expo had a Jesse Schmidt lecture abt it last year) but Gurney’s probably the most prolific poster and one of the best at explaining the more technical stuff - his books are great too.

e) Do you have tips for drawing cleanly on heavypaint?

@marigoldfool UMM LOL I LIKE ONLY USE THE FILL TOOL so maybe use the fill tool? Fill and rectangle are good for edge control as opposed to the rest of the heavy paint tools which can get sort of muddles. And also I use a stylus so maybe if you’re using your finger, find a stylus that works with your device instead. That’s all I’ve got, frankly I don’t think my drawings are particularly clean lol.

f) Tips on improving backgrounds/scenes making them more dynamic practicing etc?

Ive given some tips about backgrounds/scenes before so I’m not gonna re-tread those but here’s another thing that might be helpful...

I think a good way to approach backgrounds is to think of the specific story or even mood you want to convey with the background first. Thinking “I just need to put something behind this character” is going to lead you to drawing like... a green screen tourist photo backdrop. But if you think “I need this bg to make the characters feel small” or “I need this bg to make the world feel colorful” then it gives you requirements and cues to work off of.

If I know a character needs to feel overwhelmed and small, then I know I need to create environment elements that will cage them in and corner them. If a character needs to feel triumphant/on top of the world then I know I need to let the environment open up around them. etc. If I know my focal point/ where I want to draw attention, I can build the background around that.

Also, backgrounds like figure compositions will have focal points of their own and you can draw attention to it/ the relationship the characters have with the bg element via scale or directionality or color, any number of cues. I think of it almost as a second/third character in a scene.

Not every composition is gonna have something so obvious like this but it helps me to think about these because then the characters feel connected and integrated with the environment.

Some more general art questions

a) Do you have any process/tips to start drawing character/bodies/heads?

I tried to kind of draw something to answer this but honestly this is difficult for me to answer because I don’t think I’m that great at drawing characters LOL. Ok, I think I have two tips.

1) flip your canvas often. A lot about what makes human bodies look correct and believable is symmetry and balance. Even if someone has asymmetrical features, the body will often pull and push in a way to counterbalance it. we often have inherent biases to one side or another like dominant hands dominant eyes etc. you know how right-handed artists will often favor drawing characters facing 45 degrees facing (the artist’s) left? that’s part of it. so viewing your drawing flipped even just to evaluate it helps compensate for that bias and makes you more aware of balance.

2) draw the whole figure often. I feel like a lot of beginner artists (myself included for a long time) defer to just drawing headshots or busts because it’s easier, you dont have to think about posing limbs etc. But drawing a full body allows you to better gauge proportion, perspective, body language, everything that makes a character look believable and grounded.

Like if you (me) have that issue where you draw the head too big and then have to resize it to fit the proportions of the rest of the body, it’s probably because you (I) drew the head first and are treating the body as an afterthought/attachment. Sketching out the whole figure first or even just quick drawing guides for it will help you think of it more holistically. I learned this figure drawing in charcoal at art school LOL.

oh. third mini tip - try to draw people from life often! its the best study. if you can get into a figure drawing/nude drawing class EVEN BETTER and if you have a local college/art space/museum that hosts those for free TREASURE IT AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT, that’s a huge boon that a lot of artists (me again) wish they had. though if youre not so lucky and youre sitting in a park trying to creeper draw people and they keep moving.. don’t let that stop you! that’s good practice because it’s forcing you to work fast to get the important stuff down LOL. its a challenge!

b) I’ve been pretty out of energy and have had no inspiration to draw but I have the desire to. Any advice?

Dude, take a walk or something.... Or a nap? Low energy is going to effect everything else so you gotta hit that problem at its source.

If you’re looking for inspiration though, I’d recommend stuff like watching a movie, reading a book, playing video games etc. Fill up your idea bank with content and then give yourself time/space to gestate it into new concepts. Sometimes looking at other art works but sometimes it can work against you because it’s too close.

Also something that helps me is remembering that art doesn’t always have to be groundbreaking... like it’s okay to make something shitty and stupid that you don’t post online and only show to your friend. That’s all part of the process imo. If you want to hit a home run you gotta warm up first, right? Sports.

I should probably compile everytime i give tips on stuff like this but that’s getting dangerously close to being a social media artist who makes stupid boiled down art tutorials for clout which is the last thing i want to be... the thing I want to stress is that art is a whole visual language and there are widely agreed upon rules and customs but they exist in large part to be broken. Like there's an infinite number of ways to reach an infinite number of solutions and that’s actually what makes it really cool and personal for both the artist and the viewer. So when you make work you like or you find someone else’s work you like, take a step back and ask yourself what about it speaks for you, what about it works for you, what makes it effective, how to recreate that effect and how to break that effect completely, etc. And have a good time with it or else what’s the point.

for the first 2, I direct you to my FAQ

For the last one, I don’t actually believe I’ve ever addressed artwork as insp for stories/rp but I’ll say here and now yeah go ahead! As long as you’re not making profit or taking credit for my work then I’m normally ok with it. Especially anything thats private and purely recreational, that’s generally 100% green light go. I only ask that if you post it anywhere public that you please credit me.

(and I reserve the right to ask you to take it down if I see it and don’t approve of it’s use but I think that case is pretty rare.)

a) @lemuelzero101 Thank you!!! I haven’t played Life is Strange but actually that series’ vis dev artist Edouard Caplain is one of my bigger art inspirations lately so that’s a really high compliment lol. And yeah I hope we get 5-8 too...!

b) Thank you for sticking around! I’ve been thinking about Digimon and Infinity Train in tandem lately, actually. They’re a little similar? Enter a dangerous alternate world and have wacky adventures with monsters/inanimate objects that have weird powers... there’s like weird engineers and mechanisms behind the scenes... also frontier literally starts with them getting on a train. Anyways if anyone else followed me for digimon... maybe you’d like Infinity Train? LOL

c) @king-wens-king I’M GLAD MY ART JUST HAS PINOY VIBES LOL I hope you are having a good day too :^)

a, b, c, d) yessss my Watch Infinity Train agenda is working....

e) aw thank you!! i think you should watch infinity train :)

#ask #trying this new thing where i tag people in the body of the post instead

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autisticcassandracain · 3 years

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I have many thoughts on the weird phenomena in the DC fandom and the Batfam fandom specifically where probably the majority of people just straight up. haven’t interacted with the source material. and almost all of those thoughts can be summarized as ‘lmao that’s weird and mildly concerning’.

and because I’m annoying I will list them all here right now <3

1. To preface this post, I mean, obviously, comics are inaccessible as all hell, both in the disability kind of way and the ‘you need to understand the concept of hypertime to fully comprehend the DC timeline’ kind of way. Because of this, even if you don’t have a disability that prevents you from reading comics, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to look at the amount of comics you need to read to have even a base understanding of a character and go ‘no thanks <3′ and just enjoy fanart and fanfic in a vacuum. Ultimately, this is fandom, this is supposed to be fun, it doesn’t really matter.

2. That said, it’s VERY weird to me that the majority of this fandom just straight up hasn’t interacted with the source material, and moreover, that it’s considered rude to tell people that they should do so. It’s especially weird considering the amount of fanon-only fans I’ve seen who straight up have a superiority complex over canon. The idea that it’s gatekeeping to tell fans of something to actually interact with canon is just. so weird, and a fundamental misunderstanding of what ‘gatekeeping’ actually entails.

3. But honestly I’m less interested in discussing the ways in which canon and fanon fans should interact with each other (personally, I think it would be helpful to create separate tags of some kind, but that’d require quite a big overhaul of the current fandom state) than in figuring out how this actually happened in the first place. On the one hand, it’s obvious; long-running superhero comics the way DC writes them have made themselves so thoroughly inaccessible that most people are simply too daunted to even try. Most media has a cohesive beginning and end (or at least, a planned end somewhere). Comics just... don’t.

But I do think it says something that, even among people who are clearly interested in the characters (since they have, you know, entire blogs about them), the effort to get into comics just seems to be too much to even bother. This really doesn’t bode well for the future of DC Comics. Obviously, I am no expert on anything at all ever, but I’d personally be surprised if DC survives beyond the few decades, at least in its current form/without a big overhaul.

4. But on the other hand, I don’t think the confusing state of DC Comics is the only thing to blame here. Fandom has a well-known problem with reducing any character down to archetypes to more easily ship and write fic/make content with. This problem is particularly prominent in fanfic, which, if you read enough of it, you’ll eventually start seeing not just the same tropes and trends, but essentially the same fics over and over again. And not just within the same fandom; everywhere, or every large fandom, at least.

Fanon Batfam is entirely built on a bunch of those tropes; insecure/depressed sadboy Tim, team mom with optional hidden trauma/emotional problems Dick, bad boy with a heart of gold + sadboy combo Jason, abused sadboy Damian/angry easily-villified-for-fic-reasons monster Damian, good dad Bruce for found family fic and bad dad Bruce for angst fic, etc. This all culminates in a found family dynamic that’s generic and malleable to whatever fic the writer wants to write.

(This isn’t getting into the ship fic, which I avoid like the plague because the vast majority of it is incest, but I’d bet real actual money that the tropes in those fics fall under what is often preferred by the Migratory Slash Fandom.)

By having a decent excuse not to get into canon (the inaccessibility of comics) and a, by now, well-established fanon fandom, many fans feel free to use the batfam fandom as essentially an excuse to write whatever fic with reduced archetypes and tropes they personally feel the itch to write, without having to bother with even consuming a canon. This is compounded by the fact that canon itself is often contradictory and frankly bad, meaning that whatever interpretation of a character you want/need to go for your fic is at least theoretically backed up by canon (for example, you can just as easily cast Bruce as an abusive shithole dad who his kids need to get away from as a loving father figure who cares deeply for his children), which you can always use as a defense if people question your characterization.

5. This focus on fandom trends and tropes over actual creativity or care for the characters is also visible in the way bigotry manifests in this fandom; namely, in literally the exact way you’d expect. The female characters and characters of colour are shuffled to the side, non-existent, vilified, and/or reduced to harmful stereotypes.

Barbara is probably the one I saw the most often in fanfic, but usually just as ‘Dick’s girlfriend’, and even then, she was often vilified for Dick angst (especially in fics about examining Dick’s trauma from his canon sexual assault; Kori also often gets the short end of the stick in those). After that, probably Stephanie, who fanon fans don’t really seem to know what to do with, so she’s basically just there as comic relief waffle girl, most of the time, though sometimes she can be used to either further Tim angst or further vilify Tim, whatever the fic calls for. Cass has gotten included more in batfam fics as of late, likely in response to critiques of fandom racism for leaving her out, but again, it’s clear people don’t actually know what to do with her. She’s often reduced to a racist stereotype of a quite, stoic therapist for whatever guy du jour needs it. That, or she’s in Hong Kong and just not there. Duke especially gets left in the dust in fandom, usually just being non-existent, but when he’s there, he’s almost always nothing more than the straight man for the actual fun characters to play off of. Talia probably has it the worst, though, and almost universally gets vilified by fanon stans in order to write sadboy Damian.

All of this is extremely predictable behaviour and falls entirely in line with general fandom misogyny and racism; ignoring or vilifying women and characters of colour, or using them as very minor characters at best. The only two characters of colour who aren’t regularly left out of fic are Dick and Damian, who are both also conveniently the two characters most often drawn and written in a whitewashed manner. In addition, there’s a real trend of demonizing Damian in fanon fics where he isn’t written as an abused sadboy, which I’d argue is in no small part due to fandom racism, considering Damian’s behaviour is in no way as bad as Jason’s, who doesn’t get anywhere close to the same demonization and gets woobiefied instead. I also find it convenient that Damian is probably the batboy who receives the most vilification in fic, when he’s the most obviously non-white of the batboys they’re willing to acknowledge.

Fandom often cries for more diversity in canon, only to ignore the diversity already there and focus on the same generic white guys. The batfam fandom is a brilliant example of this.

Which is not to say that fandom racism and misogyny isn’t present in the canon parts of the fandom (and canon itself); it absolutely 100% is. But I’ve found that canon fans are also more likely to like and care about at least one of the characters I’ve listed as ignored/vilified, and are willing to create and consume content for them, whereas fanon fans... aren’t, really. I’ve never seen a fan of fanon Cass the way I’ve seen fans of fanon Dick, for example. Obviously, this could just be by coincidence, or I’ve just surrounded myself with people like that, but it’s been a trend I noticed. Racism and misogyny is present in every part of this fandom and should be addressed as such, but I feel like it manifests the most blatantly in the fanon parts of this fandom.

(I’d also recommend the articles Migratory Slash Fandom’s Focus and Beige Blank Slates, which expand more on the type of fandom racism I think is especially prominent in the batfam fandom, as well as literally every article in the What Fandom Racism Looks Like series.)

6. All this leads me to conclude that the majority of fanon fans don’t actually like the characters all that much; they’re convenient excuses for them to participate in fandom. Which I also think is, in no small part, a reason why so many of them react so negatively to being told to pick up a comic; they came to this fandom specifically to consume it as a fandom, because they wanted the fandom experience without having to consume a canon.

This is not a phenomena unique to the batfam fandom (again, see the Migratory Slash Fandom), but it does fascinate me. While fandom is often said to be an experience focusing on transformative art, I think it’s also safe to say that, especially as fandom has become more mainstream, an increasing amount of people are looking to it less as a way to engage with their favourite pieces of media, and more as a type of media in and of itself. I think the reasons for this are similar to the reasons mass media entertainment like the MCU are so popular; you gain a lot of enjoyment out of it with very little risk involved.

By consuming the same fics of the same characters (or the same archetypes) over and over again, you are rarely at risk of being challenged or even disappointed. It’s often very clear right from the start whether or not a fic will appeal to you, and if it isn’t, it’s easy to just look for another one. It requires less emotional investment than most other types of media, even ‘popcorn media’ like the MCU - or, yes, DC Comics. It’s safe, it’s enjoyable, it’s comforting, like McDonalds, but just like McDonalds, it’s ultimately bland and unsubstantial.

7, TL;DR. Ultimately, I don’t think it’s like, wrong to enjoy the fanon version of the batfam without wanting to engage with canon, and I certainly don’t think it’s okay to harrass people over it. But I do think it’s in large part based on a desire to interact with fandom rather than other pieces of media because people are scared of being let down by those pieces of media (or worse, just uninterested in actually thinking), which is mildly concerning.

#long post #my posts #infodumping #btw i say this as someone who also has trouble consuming much more than popcorn media/fanfic due to emotional exhaustion #but it's not a healthy habit and it's something people can and should try to break out of #also obviously this isn't about EVERY fanon fan specifically so if this doesn't apply to you specifically great then move on

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ladyyatexel · 3 years

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I Went On A Manga Binge

So you don't have to

For those of you who have wisely avoided the shreds of it I've left around the blog thus-far, I had some weird notion to go re-experience Yu-Gi-Oh uuuuuh a week ago? We'll go with that. Time is meaningless.

I'd been able to read a good portion of the early manga at the end of highschool, and somewhere in my stacks and stacks of paper is fanart from this dark time, so you know I cared. I also still own a Dark Magician action figure somehow, so. I'd also watched a large portion of the anime with my brother because it had been laced with some kind of crack and we couldn't look away? I remember when we both were just like shit, wait, don't change the channel, I can't stop looking at it. And the next thing we knew we were waiting for new episodes and I was doing research on the Japanese original because I was that kid.

Anyway, unnecessary backstory out of the way, here are some... let's call them Observations and Consequences of having read somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 chapters (and growing) of a manga primarily hinged on card games from a spectrum of sources ranging from boringly lawful to sketchy as fuck.

Surprise actual character that develops in typical shounen fashion being Jounouchi. My limited experiences with the 4Kids dub and only early manga had not painted him in a particularly good light. I don't know if episodes were being aired out of order or if I had just missed the ones that established that he was making shit up as he was going along, but Wow I liked him a lot more going through the manga than I ever did watching the (dubbed, heavily edited and censored and thrown into a slurry machine) anime. I'd managed to come out with the impression that he was just as reasonably experienced with the game as Yugi back in the day. Wild.

I'm now reading every single comic-style post on Tumblr backwards.

Striking inverse to first point, wow, I don't like Seto Kaiba. Though he gets points for his general philosophy of the future, and the line I read in my sketchy online combo of scans and scanlations in which he said, "If God is in your way, you run him down," was Metal As Fuck. I somewhat shame-facedly admit to enjoying him a lot more as an Abridged Series character. (I watched Abridged as it came out back in the day! The experience of watching the anime with my brother had been so fresh that I got all the in jokes about the way things were edited and dubbed, it was great. Series remains influential part of my life to this day, which is hella weird.)

I almost understand how Duel Monsters works now. I don't want this.

That said, wow a lot of the decisions made in the anime made everything a lot more ridiculous than the admittedly already ridiculous original. I got the distinct feeling in the manga that the Duelist Kingdom stuff we were seeing was designed to be used and exploited in ways that don't make sense in an actual cardgame just played on a table like a normal person and this was part of testing everyone to think higher, differently. Maybe this is obvious to everyone already, I don't know. I had always liked that it was very, 'Not so fast, I'm going to blow up the moon to change the tides,' but I'm not really sure the anime gave enough explanation that this was an extra layer added to things for that event? You can see people actively getting used to it in the books, and people who aren't considering the real or 3D nature of it getting owned, but my memory of anime version is everyone just like, 'oh, shucks, fuck me, I forgot to consider the phase of the moon before i played this card, can't believe I forgot.' No one calls Yugi on any of this stuff because it's valid play in that situation. Plus Yami Yugi had mad trickster energy in the beginning and it suited him to think of ways to do things inside these little simulation boxes the way it suited him to set perverts on fire. I imagine the real card game trying to emulate this element as something that would be to its detriment, but I neither know nor particular care haha

Ryou Bakura.

Really, though. I think he became kind of casualty of 'wow, we have a lot of characters who really aren't able to do anything in this story anymore,' despite the fact that his whole inner life could have been as interesting as Yugi's. I always like thinking about the possibilities of stories in which main character falls into magical world and is given magical item and told they're the hero and then they find out they've been the bad guy the whole time. The first several volumes of manga were about the quiet weirdo kid that no one talked to who was always blacking out and turning into a fucked up version of himsef because he was so attached to his ancient Egyptian jewelry, so like, Bakura could have much the same shit going on. I want to know what's happening with him so much. He clearly doesn't love being possessed, but he's also so drawn to the ring. Despite it having stabbed him at least twice and him knowing it's a danger to him and his friends, he keeps being pulled back into it. You see so much more of him being like, 'Oooh, a creepy thing, I love that! :D' in the manga than ever in the anime, which I'm all about. Also more blood. I'm very about that as well. Though my memory of the anime also made it look very much like normal regular daily Bakura was just a weird facade in places before he ever would have been. I think that was it trying to compensate for what people didn't see from the Toei anime, but okay whatever, that I love everything about this guy is not news, I don't need to talk about Bakura excessively here, I'm pretty sure that's gonna show up on my blog by itself

On a related note though, damn, more of these people need to talk to each other. Can we have some existential crisis support clubs or something. Can we get like some apologies or something? "I respect you as a duelist." "Cool, but you literally built a tower designed to specifically assassinate me and my friends? You were supposed to get Better after I retaliated by putting you in a coma, but you kinda didn't." "Why would the coma have made it better" "I just told you it didn't" ---- "Sorry I went along with the plan of your evil parasite stabbing you, misled you, and then also jumped in and took up some real estate in your head too." "I understand, I also have an evil thing inside me that does things while I'm blacked out." "...no, I was conscious for all of that." "Oh." "..." "..." "..." "Do you like Ouija Boards?" "sure okay" ETC. Like damn we are reading shounen manga because no one is talking extensively about their feelings here and I'm tapping my foot angrily.

Holy shit there are so many mythologies happening at once. The ancient family guarding the Egyptian Pharaoh has a surname that's a Mesopotamian goddess. None of the god cards make any Egyptian sense except Ra, and just like. Baaarrrrely. Somewhere either Evil Ring Bakura or Mar/lik makes a reference to cremation and spirits being taken to heaven with smoke which several things, but definitely not Ancient Egyptian. Marik/Malik meanwhile is clearly trying to head Arabic, along with Rishid, but then, hey, our sister is just Isis. Goddess McGoddess. Sometimes they're the same goddess! Her name could be Isis Isis or Ishtar Ishtar. Meanwhile, all the obviously 'occult because Christians think it is freaky' stuff. ~ancient egyptian pentagrams~~~This isn't a complaint, I guess so much as a 'Wow, I can kind of see the cultural spot the author was coming from and where he was aiming' kind of thing.

Wonder where things would have gone if the card games had not been latched onto the way they were.

Managed to forget how gross the pre-cardgames stuff was on the sexual harassment front. I'm glad there was a sort of explanation of everyone drifting away from being dick heads and that that decision was made. It got way more comfortable to read after no one was bringing Yugi p*rn on VHS.

Yugi looks better with a nose, glad we got that upgrade.

Interesting to watch the series style shift as it goes away from being horror to being over the top cardgames and friendship (with blood!). The first picture of Mokuba is fucking Jarring. Also noticed that the nicer a character is, the less their teeth are defined.

Glad manga did not go as completely off the fucking the rails about Marik's face. I never got as far as seeing him back in the day because college occurred, but I remember seeing pictures and stuff and being like, "what in the Fuck happened to that dude, I think the house style has collapsed in on itself"

Things the author Really Likes: motorcycles, belts, SHOES, holy shit the shoes. These are some of the most lovingly rendered sneakers I've ever seen. All the detail on his characters goes straight to their feet and then it's stretched upward until it forms stiff peaks. Gently fold in 3000 years of trauma and bake face down in a crumb coat of scattered mythology. Remove when you roll two zeros.

Where the fuck am I going to put the extremely large omnibus volumes of this comic I purchased in order to balance out how much I would be reading for free on the internet. I should have grasped that a three in one edition would be Thick and yet somehow I was still :O when it arrived. Have I strategically purchased volumes that contain my favorite parts, maybe, what's it to you will i eventually get the whole thing because incomplete book series gnaw on my soul? yes

Wish the transition from "I've murdered several people in delightfully karmic ways" to "all you need is friendship in your heart and cards in your hand" Yami Yugi/Pharaoh had been discussed more/transitioned better. Buddy, where did you get this approved for television high horse? Please go back to strangling people with yo-yos or at least tell me why you stopped.

I still can't tell anything that looks like a big robotic monster apart from any other big robotic monster. My dude, I can't tell cars apart, all these monsters look the same.

Yami Yugi fascinated me way more in highschool? Maybe because it was still super early and the anime was like 'we need to torture you about his origins WeEkLy. Now I'm just like 'wait hold on, can we go back to Bakura and Marik for a minute, there's some extreme unpacking to do here?' Those two are paying so much more in baggage fees here my guy wow

Violently uninterested in any of the spinoff media

#yugioh #yu gi oh #ygo #there you go i can't imagine any other way you would decide was necessary to tag this #perhaps now that i have thrown this up i can #something #i don't know how i was going to finish that sentence #shut up lady

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zkfanworkweek · 4 years

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ZFAW Fan Content Creator Interviews: HayleyNFoster

Hey everyone! We hope you’re all excited for ZFAW, and to honor (ha!) ZFAW’s commitment to supporting and celebrating fan content creators in the Zutara fandom, we’re going to be rolling out a series of interviews with well-known and widely-beloved content creators over the next few weeks. We’ve got artists and fanfiction authors, some names you recognize as well as a few phenomenal up-and-coming talents, and we can’t wait for you to meet them all!

For the second interview in this cycle, we have our best propaganda creator and this fandom’s hottest new artist/undisputed queen of the animatic, @hayleynfoster!

1. Tell us about how you came to ship Zutara. What does this ship mean to you?

When I was around 14 or 15 and caught Avatar: The Last Airbender on television, I was drawn in by the art style, the humor, and the wonderful characters. I caught the episodes out of order, and the first one I saw and wasn’t prepared to be sucked in by was The Waterbending Scroll. It intrigued me at that age, and the line “I’ll save you from the pirates” combined with the tension between Katara and Zuko in that whole scene was electrifying. I remember my teenage self thinking these two have so much chemistry! And when I saw a commercial on Nickelodeon that featured fanart submitted by fellow Avatar fans, I realized that I could do that to! So I set about making Zutara fanart for myself. I stumbled onto Youtube, practically in its infancy, and discovered that people set clips of Zuko and Katara set to music (And this was still in season 1 days… so people who made these amvs were the real mvps because they were able to make compelling narratives in their amvs with like practically nothing to work with!). The AMVs really spurred my interest in this couple, I remember distinctly one Zutara AMV using the Dido song White Flag utterly capturing my imagination. I found fandom shortly after, getting into deviantart and forums. But the ship really began to mean something to me when, as I was working on my drawings in the computer lab at school, a buoyant presence hovered over my shoulder noticing my Zutara art on the computer screen. The girl was someone I had never really talked to and had only seen from afar but she immediately started excitedly saying she shipped Zuko and Katara too! In this simple shared obsession, I made one of the best friends I’ve ever had and we’re still friends to this day. We would theorize and fangirl over Avatar like it was nobody’s business; we poured over bootleg San Diego Comic Con footage that showed spoilers for season 2 before it aired; we lost our freaking minds when we finally saw The Crossroads of Destiny. We had watch parties every week as Season 3 of A:TLA aired, and comforted each other when the show ended as it did (much ranting was shared). Those are some of my happiest memories from high school… all because this one pairing from this wonderful show. Even though Zutara didn’t happen, we still chat every now and then about it. Zutara will probably be a lifelong obsession, always bubbling under the surface. And without it, I would have never realized that animation was a viable career path. It really did inspire everything including the work I’m doing to this day in the animation industry. I owe a lot to this ship and to Avatar: the Last Airbender.

2. What inspires you to create zutara fanworks?

The resurgence of Avatar: The Last Airbender this year really helped sort of spark that dormant love I had for Zutara. The show’s ending still disappointed me on the rewatch, but Zuko and Katara’s relationship arc was as captivating as ever, so I turned to some fanfiction and looking at people’s pretty Zutara art and AMVs to just revel in fanon instead of getting to hung up on the actual ending of the show. But then I realized, with quarantine and my work load being pretty light, I had time to actually make all new Zutara art for myself, art I was never fully capable of making as a kid, but now could do with my 7 years of industry experience and just… life experience. And I was inspired to do some corrective animatics to satisfy my own desire for a different ending. I just really like exploring these two characters, doing different and interesting things with them, and frankly I’m inspired to make cute, fluffy, romantic art simply by virtue of living in a really sad and depressing world. Things are so crazy right now, creating art about two characters I love being in love, is comforting. And it helps to have inspiring music and amazing Zutara amvs to just sort of stir up my emotions and imagery in my head to make into animatics and art.

3. Be selfish - if you could request one fanwork based on your own art/fanfic, what would it be? What would you absolutely love to see someone create?

Ohhhh… Well, It’s always nice to have people write fanfiction that puts words to my animatics. I am not that great at coming up with dialog myself, so I’ve just chosen to indulge in visuals and emotions for my boards. But when I read things like RideBoldlyRide’s take on my Reunion Animatic, it makes me pretty giddy. (They finally have voices!) :) And this is the MOST selfish thing I could request, but I’m not shy about saying how much I love well done amvs, so I will literally kill for someone to make Zutara AMVs to songs I like… Like, most of AURORA’s songs but especially Exist for Love, Sunseeker by The Naked and Famous, Promises or Take Me by Aly & AJ, Adore You by Harry Styles, Human Enough by ONR, Never Let Me Go by Florence + The Machine, and/or Almost (Sweet Music) by Hozier just… I can see the AMVs so clearly to any of these songs in my head, but I don’t have the tools or skill set at my disposal to make a compelling fan video. When I was in high school, I originally thought I wanted to go into video editing simply because I loved making very crappy AMVs (they were so bad you guys), but I figured out being a storyboard artist was more in my wheelhouse. haha

4. Any words for people who are new to the fandom and/or nervous about sharing their work for the first time?

If you’re new to the Zutara fandom, just have a good time! Don’t waste too much time arguing with people over your shipping preferences. I wasted so much of my teen years having pointless shipping wars with people on DeviantArt, and I’m just so much happier nowadays because I’m just making Zutara art in my little corner of the internet, and honestly, in the politest of ways, I don’t give a shit if people don’t like my art or Zutara. haha I think that’s sort of a key thing for people thinking of posting creative works here in the fandom, just make art for yourself, satisfy your own desires for the pairing, get your creative sparks flying, and create just for the joy of creating. It’s always nice to get comments and such, but simply making the art should be what spurs you on, not the external validation. And have a good time, don’t worry too much - I say as someone who worries about EVERYTHING. But honestly, making art for A:TLA is some of the most relaxed I’ve been because I make it just for me. I’m lucky others seem to like it too!

5. What’s an idea for a fanwork that you have but haven't gotten around to making?

I have an idea for a second generation storyline with my Zutara kids that involves Kya (the eldest firebending daughter) falling in love with an airbender boy (tentatively named Gora in my headcanon who’s a bit of a rabble rouser and one of Aang’s kids he had with a Kyoshi Warrior), and then they start a socialist revolution in the Fire Nation in order to dismantle all of the hierarchical societies across the Avatar world… Together Kya and Gora Fan the Flames of revolution… ehhhhh... Get it?? Oh! Oh, and then Katara, who had put in legit liberal reforms in her time as Fire Lady listens to her daughter after resisting in the first part of the story, but then realizes she can actually play a part in the dissolution of the royalty and is also active in the revolution realizing that moderate liberal reforms are no substitute for a society free of serving royalty (which she had always been uncomfortable with but had rationalized with herself that she was doing good in her capacity as Fire Lady.) I just feel like there’s a lot of cool potential for discussing these ideas and also having some aspirational change in the Avatar world. lol For aesthetics and just happy fluffy times, I can indulge in Fire Lady and Fire Lord Zuko stuff, but really at the end of the day, I take issue with the structures in a society that have to exist for monarchies to exist. Soooo, I kind of want to do my own corrective story for that… if I ever have the time or guts. On a less ambitious note, I would love to do a Zutara sparring animatic to practice doing action, but I need a good story; I am not good at doing fights just for fighting’s sake. Those are just some things I have rattling around in my head.

6. Are you participating in ZFAW? If so want to give us a hint as to your plans?

Yes! The most I can say is I have one animatic almost finished and one that’s still being thumbnailed. The rest are probably going to be comics or emotive single pieces based on the fanfics I really like right now. :)

#interviews #zutara fanworks appreciation week #zfaw #hayleynfoster #zutara

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twin-azure-dragon-wave · 2 years

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I posted 577 times in 2021

217 posts created (38%)

360 posts reblogged (62%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 1.7 posts.

I added 975 tags in 2021

#sessrin - 174 posts

#yashahime - 129 posts

#hanyo no yashahime - 127 posts

#sesshomaru - 120 posts

#rin - 103 posts

#sesshoumaru - 69 posts

#setsuna - 68 posts

#sesshomaru and rin - 65 posts

#sessrin fanart - 63 posts

#yashahime season 2 - 57 posts

Longest Tag: 120 characters

#sesshomaru made rin wait around so much while he went off on side quests and now she's getting 14 years worth of revenge

My Top Posts in 2021

One of the things I like about Sesshomaru and Rin’s relationship is that Rin doesn’t just show up and turn Sesshomaru’s entire worldview completely upside down, but that she does this without even intending to.

Like, she isn’t trying to change his opinions about humans, she doesn’t appoint herself his ″here’s why humanity is worth caring about” teacher, she isn’t subjecting him to speeches extoling human virtues or explaining why compassion is important, actually.

She’s just herself. And being around her affects him deeply enough that it fundamentally alters his way of thinking. Rin’s influence on Sesshomaru is remarkable because it comes about in such a pure, organic way.

It’s also fitting because Sesshomaru’s initial, positive influence on Rin is also completely unintentional. When he asks about her bruises, he’s not trying to commiserate or offer himself up as a sympathetic figure—He’s just genuinely curious.

Sesshomaru’s original voice actor, Ken Narita said Sesshomaru and Rin were like kindred spirits and that comes across in the easy, natural, uncomplicated way their characters suit each others needs and affect positive change in the other.

138 notes • Posted 2021-09-15 11:51:16 GMT

Rin and her agency as a character

One of the most nonsensical criticisms of SessRin I’ve come across is that Rin marrying Sesshomaru somehow keeps her from developing her own agency. First, because I really don’t understand how she would lack agency if she married Sesshomaru but not if she married like, literally anyone else, and secondly, because Rin already does and always has had agency in her relationship with Sesshomaru.

Hell, the entire reason Rin gets left in Kaede’s village at the end of the series is specifically so she’ll have the tools necessary to know how she should wield that agency. And during the series, the only times Sesshomaru ever makes decisions for her or tries to tell her what to do, it’s because her life is in mortal danger.

Rin always having agency in her relationship with Sesshomaru goes right back to the very beginning. From her very first appearance.

Rin is the one who finds and approaches Sesshomaru when he’s injured in the forest.

Rin is the one who shows him compassion and offers him food.

Rin is the one who persist in trying to help him even after he demands that she leave.

Rin is the one who runs in his direction when she’s being chased by wolves.

Rin is the one whose smile makes him to decide to save her life.

And Rin is the one who chooses to become a part of his life when she follows him after being revived.

The fact that Rin and Sesshomaru relationship already gives so much agency to Rin would be obvious if the “fans” actually treated her like a character in her own right and gave her the credit she deserved for the true impact she had on his character development. Rin is someone who affected and influenced Sesshomaru with her specific actions and her unique personality. And NOT because he’s some bullshit “Protector of Children.”

That’s why they need to deny that she has, or ever could, have agency when it comes to Sesshomaru. It’s the only way to justify their feelings that Rin has no business at Sesshomaru’s side, that she should be perpetually behind him, a forever child they don’t have to worry about coming between them and their ship.

141 notes • Posted 2021-10-14 10:55:32 GMT

Cover designs from the official Hanyo no Yashahime manga drawn by Shiina Takashi.

(Credit: https://twitter.com/AlphaBT__inyshM)

201 notes • Posted 2021-09-24 06:00:25 GMT

They released the second chapter of Takashi Shiina’s Yashahime manga today. No translation yet, BUT LOOK AT THE SESSRIN. LOOK AT IT!!!!!

207 notes • Posted 2021-10-24 17:31:43 GMT

568 notes • Posted 2021-10-16 12:09:49 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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randowwriter · 2 years

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I’m stupid tired of all the nonsense. If you are a fan of pairing, be the type of shipper that makes someone go, wow, that’s an interesting ship, maybe I should look into it more. Don’t be the kind of shipper, that makes other shippers of that pairing feel guilty for shipping it. Be respectful, both of canon pairings and rarer pairings, whether there are canon hints for that pairing or not. You can be hopeful that a pairing becomes canon or you can just enjoy the pairing as is, even though it isn’t canon.

Becoming canon is not the height of a pairing’s success, the type of fancontent created for it and the love and joy of the shippers is. I find myself curious about different pairings not merely because canon upholds them or even merely because of whatever. I find myself drawn to the ship, because of how they interact, compassion on a character with unrequited feelings for another, or even how they might interact with each other, if they ever were to meet. But what cinches the deal for me is either my own attempts at writing the pairing or even what fancontent I find.

So, sometimes (or a lot of the times rather), I will write for pairings that I do not ship. (Not every pairing will get this luxury, because some pairings I have ruled off my list of potential pairings to write for very personal reasons.) But let’s focus on a recent example, a couple months or so ago, I gave writing a rare pair a try to see if I shipped it. I’d tried reading fanfics for it (of which there were maybe five I could read, if even that many), and I wasn’t convinced from the fanfics; they didn’t draw me in, but I’d been wanting to run the test course of writing this rare pair to see if I shipped it. It’s pretty much fool proof. So, I wrote the rare pair, when I saw absolutely amazing fanart (on here of all places), where there was an almost kiss, and I was caught up in the one character’s expression. His expression was so serious and so attentive, that I was intrigued. I could basically see his intent there, and the lady before him could too. She was looking at him as if she just couldn’t look away. So, I did what an inspired writer does, I guess you could say. I wrote a kiss fic for them, experimented, because I hadn’t written a kiss fic quite like that before. Realized afterward that I didn’t hate writing for the pairing, but didn’t ship it either. It’s a neutral ship for me. I don’t ship it, but I still am willing to write for that pairing, just won’t be sitting around fangirling over it regularly or what have you. I’d support and encourage what little fancontent it gets, but not go around requesting fics for it or actively seeking it out. But there’s more to the story, I posted that kiss fic, and I got the sweetest review ever. (Or one of the sweetest ones ever.) The reviewer thanked me for writing for the pairing, because there is not much out there for it (especially new stuff), and was very grateful to read a new fic for it.

A lot of people gravitate towards one pairing and one pairing only. A lot of those pairings that are gravitated towards are the popular ones. Popular either because it is the pairing of the series, or just because overtime it became a very popular fanon pairing. Think HakYona levels of popular for canon, or Zutara levels of popular for fanon. (I’m using popular examples here that won’t get yelled about.) So, a lot of people don’t understand the struggle of loving an unpopular ship.

I am a multishipper which is probably apparent by all of the above. I ship really unpopular ships either because they are just ignored or even sometimes outright hated. I’ve been the person to bring a new ship to attention in a series that never would have considered it before. (And therefore, am often the only one making content for said ship.) And I’ve supported ships that have next to no stuff out there for them. I am even sympathetic towards shippers of ships that I won’t write for, that little feeling of I know what you’re going through; I’ve been there for ships in large fandoms and small fandoms.

But when I got that little review for that experimental, oh, wow, I don’t ship this pairing, I felt happy enough that I could go on writing for that pairing. Be that kind of fan, the one that draws people in by either your absolute support of content for a pairing or your excited rambling or through your creative genius. It does draw a fanbase, a once unpopular pairing sometimes becomes popular.

And even if your pairing is popular, don’t go around bashing either equally as popular pairings or less popular pairings. Because when you do that, you alienate people who don’t ship what you do, but you also alienate the people that ship what you do. I’m not arguing here that a pairing has to become canon or be canon already to be worth shipping. Honestly, shipping sometimes moves far enough away from the universe that it’s unreal.

Honestly, I ship really out there things that will never become canon. I ship things that have a potential of becoming canon. I ship things that are already canon. Honestly, I’ve stopped shipping pairings that I used to adore, and find myself shipping new pairings that I would have never expected for myself. So, it’s okay to ship what you ship, even if it’s not canon.

#fandom #shipping #HakYona mention #Zutara mention #shipper

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ghostspines · 3 years

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Introduction

After a year of promising and more promising, I’ve finally finished the next installment of this review-an-author series that no one asked for. I was honestly a bit surprised by the reception of my previous recommendation because hardly anyone pays attention to these things, and a part of me assumes that everyone has heard of these writers. Anyway, thanks if you’re still around and I’m sorry if you’ve been waiting long. Here we go.

previous | next

@onyx-and-elm

I took a break from this fandom sometime last year, probably when the lockdown hit, and only visited sporadically. It’s a habitual thing with me and my fandoms: I generally lose interest, then flit about on the next thing that captures my obsessive attention. This fandom, however, is always one I come back to. Maybe it’s because it never quite fizzles out, much to my delight, and also because without fail, it becomes an opportunity to discover someone new to me.

Turns out, this author isn’t quite so new; I just wasn’t paying attention. You may have seen the striking fanart drawn by @gildedshivers where it literally shows the name and author on the artwork (a scene straight out of Breath Mints / Battle Scars). I’ve absolutely reblogged this art piece before too because I love the artist, so I have no excuse other than I overlook things constantly. Go figure.

I suspect that Onyx is pretty well-known, at least if we’re going by fic stats alone on AO3. One might argue that this probably defeats my original purpose for this series, which was to highlight writers that don’t get the recognition that I thought they deserved, but if it’s a writer I enjoy, I can’t not talk about them.

I actually started reading Don’t Look Back last night in one sitting. I don’t read a lot of creature fic (whether physical shapeshifting occurs or not); I could probably count them on one hand. I love DLB for a number of reasons, primarily the added element of paramours. I don’t know whether this concept is unique, but I do know that there is a similar but distinct concept used in ABO tropes (i.e., physical/mental connections). DLB, though, is far and away my favorite approach to bonded mates, and if I were a better writer, I would love to incorporate her idea of paramours as some sort of pseudo-canon for all werewolf fics going forward because it’s very believable within the world it operates. The plot also moves rapidly, which I appreciate. I love slow burns as much as the next person, but when it comes to addressing the real meat of the story, sometimes I just want to go 0-100.

I also really liked the dynamics between Hermione and Draco, which appears to be less caustic than BMBS, which I read right after I finished DLB. Interestingly, I guess the author received a bit of backlash for the portrayal of Draco and Hermione’s relationship in BMBS. Without diving too much into the drama and general discourse surrounding Dramione as a whole, I think she’s one of the few voices that portray them with the kind of regard for each other I could expect them to have canonically, with BMBS being more volatile and what critics of the ship have argued is the reason why they could never work, but I’ve never got the impression that the author has ever wanted to sugarcoat their animosity and treatment towards one another (also, reading the tags is a great precursor to reading anything on AO3). BMBS can be an uncomfortable read depending on what your boundaries are, something I’ve yet to feel for DLB despite the tags on it, but it’s interesting to read both of these pieces one after the other.

DLB is probably more of my speed in terms of overall tone and relationship development, and I suppose while the nature of the fic is quite dark, it doesn’t hold a candle to how dark BMBS was by comparison. (Keeping in mind that DLB is still ongoing.)

I’m very much a “vanilla” writer in that I don’t stray too far from what makes me comfortable--a one-trick pony, if you will--so I enjoy the experience of finding someone who takes the time to explore the characters within the confines of their plot. On the surface, often where I like to stay, Draco and Hermione can be fun to read and ripe with snark and venomous or lighthearted banter, but other writers have the capability of going deeper, unearthing the unpleasant qualities and insecurities of both individuals and magnifying them.

Though two very different stories, between DLB and BMBS, Onyx has managed to nail all of the above and certifies herself for me as one of my favorite authors.

#dramione #ghostspines: fic recs #ghostspines: reviews #draco x hermione #draco/hermione #onyx-and-elm

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onedoodleaday · 3 years

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Review of 6 creative prompt books

Can't get enough prompts? I sure can't! I have a horrible urge to buy any and all books I see that have any sort of theme related to creative prompts, and I've amassed quite the collection over the years.

Today, I'm going to review some of them!

All of the following books are meant to be drawn in directly, which (at least ideally) makes them very satisfying to leaf through once you've worked in them for a while.

I will be making a separate post showcasing how I've personally used each book and link to it here, in case any if them pique your interest and you'd like to know more (coming soon!)

Books I am reviewing:

365 days of art by Lorna Scobie (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️ Four out of five stars)

642 things to draw by chronicle books (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ five out of five stars)

642 fashion things to draw by Chronicle Books (⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️▪️ Three out of five stars)

Doodle a day by Chris Riddell (⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️▪️ three out of five stars)

Hirameki: Draw what you see by Peng and Hu (⭐️⭐️▪️▪️▪️ two out of five stars)

Illistration by Jaime Zollars (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️ four out of five stars)

Warning: this is a very long post

365 days of art

By Lorna Scobie

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️ Four out of five stars

What I like about it:

There's a great variety of prompts in this one. The prompts are mostly simple and straightforward, with space for doing your own thing. Most of the exercises also happen to appeal to me personally.

The prompts are designed for being able to be completed quite quickly, which makes them very accessible for me, and of course, you can get more elaborate with them if you have the time and energy (I've spent the last five days adding details to fish, just because I wanted to).

The author uses the foreword to encourage you to use the book in whatever way you personally find the most fun, which I appreciate.

Most of the prompts feel like they're focusing on practice rather than results, which means it's open for all skill levels to enjoy.

Criticism:

While I do hold that this book can work for artists of all skill levels, it does have prompts that are meant to teach you something, and while I like some of them, there are some that feel targeted towards either less experienced artists, or artists who has, or strives towards, a similar art style to that of the author. A couple of times, I have felt that my art style did not match the exercise set up, and while I still managed to have fun with them, I did wish there were more space for (in my case) a more realistic art style.

On a similar note, there are sections geared towards calligraphy, and they start at the very basics. While I personally am a beginner, I can imagine that someone with experience would find these bits both boring and redundant.

I will also mention that the book does encourage the use of different kinds of media, so you either have to be ready to break out some different tools or bend the prompts a bit if all you have is a pencil.

Recommended for beginner and intermediate artists, people who really like prompt books. Good for a little bit of daily practice with many different styles of art. Good for people who like patterns and colours in their art.

Recommended tools: brush pen, water-based paint, coloured pencils

642 things to draw

By chronicle books

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ five out of five stars

Of all the prompt books I have, this is my favorite. Hands down.

What I like about it:

This book is just prompts. No hand-holding, no presets for what to do with it, they just give you something to draw and you go from there. All you need is a pencil and your imagination. There are both straightforward prompts (a bottle opener, a spool of thread) and more abstract ones (girlish laughter, head in the clouds) and the variety means I usually find at least one prompt I want to do on each spread.

The differing sizes dedicated to each prompt make for a really fun and pleasing result.

I also appreciate that this book is completely open to all skill levels, as long as you're willing to give a go at drawing a lot of different things.

Criticism:

While I personally adore the to-the-point, straightforward prompts, I do acknowledge that, unless you enjoy just drawing random objects, you're going to need to add some creativity on your own, in how you incorporate the prompts. I personally like adding either character interaction or to use the object as part of a scene, especially for the things I don't find super visually interesting on their own. I personally enjoy the level of thinking, but I'm sure there are people who don't.

I also don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much when I was just starting out. I’ve always been quite result-based with my art, and while I think using reference to draw all the different things in the book would be an amazing skill-building exercise, it also sounds like a lot of work.

There are also a handful of pop culture references and prompts for famous people, which I personally prefer to avoid, because those are often based on social knowledge and interest, of which I personally have neither.

Recommended for artists of all skill levels, people who either have a big visual library or would like to build one. Recommended for people who like to draw a lot of different things.

Recommended materials: anything! Can be used with just a pencil

642 fashion things to draw

By Chronicle Books

⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️▪️ Three out of five stars

This one was actually my first prompt book ever! The start of a hoard, one might say.

What I like about it:

This one is another one by Chronicle Books, in the same series. This one is really fun if you like drawing clothes, and/or your art is character oriented. Of all my prompt books, this one has the best potential for fanart, in my opinion. If you like drawing people and characters, this book is really fun

Criticism:

This one is, quite understandably, more specific. If you like drawing clothes, this one is ideal. If you don't ... don't pick this one.

I was close to giving this one four stars, but I will withdraw a star for being very specifically tailored to one subject -- this could be a five star book for some people and a one-star for others.

Another thing I want to mention is that this book gets specific. I have to look up what about a third of the prompts mean. I'm okay with that, but if you don't want to do research and don't already know what a jaquard blouse or peplum waist skirt or houndstooth is, this is not the book for you.

Lastly, it has a good handful of both pop culture references and references to different brands, which is kind of alienating to me personally. It also assumes that you yourself care about your own clothes to some extent. And that you have at least one father and one mother. Who got married at some point. And your mom wore a wedding dress. Things like that.

Also my copy is from 2013 and let's just say some of the references have aged very poorly. ("D*nald Tr*mp power suit" being a very notable example. I drew him impaled on a stick. Which was satisfying. But it was very much an act of rebellion so keep it in mind)

Recommended for anyone who likes drawing clothes and the people wearing them, who are also willing to put up with a certain amount of heteronormativity in their prompt books. Some skill level will probably make the book more enjoyable. Clothes are hard.

Recommended materials: Anything! You can use this one with just a pencil

Doodle a day

By Chris Riddell

⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️▪️ three out of five stars

(Note: I own a translated version of the book; this is the danish cover)

Before we start, I would like to note that this book's target demographic is children. I’m not a children, I just thought it looked fun. And I was right! But do keep it in mind.

What I like about it:

This one doesn't take itself too seriously. Which means that in places, it gets wacky. And I appreciate that. It expects a child's untamed creativity and wish to go along with whatever.

A lot of the prompts are really fun and inspiring for me as an adult. There are a lot of "complete this drawing" sort of things that get me to draw things I don't usually draw.

It's nice to see a book geared towards children that dares to have a very detailed and complex art style. Whether you personally like Chris Riddell's art style is very subjective, but he's good at what he does.

Criticism:

You have to enjoy drawing along with what the author enjoys. We're talking robots and fairy tales and dancing bears. This book has less room for letting you steer the prompts in a direction that you personally like, which is good if you like to be told exactly what to draw. It is less good if, like me, you prefer your prompt-based art to have space for a lot of your own creativity and preferences.

I've personally marked down the prompts I want to do with tape, and I'm planning to just plain skip the rest. This means about two thirds of the book that I'm just not planning on using. I'm okay with this! But I want to mention it.

The book also contains quite a lot of 'free days', which I always find disappointing. I came here specifically because I didn't want to make up my own stuff. Please. Tell me what to do, I beg of you.

I will also note that this book assumes that you have some sort of family that are present in your life to the point that you want to include them in your drawings, and that you have at least one friend who wants to partake in certain of the prompts.

It also assumes cultural Christianity, having prompts for easter and christmas and halloween and so forth, with no other holidays mentioned. It's a little uncomfortable.

Recommended for people who like silly prompts and are very adaptable in their art. Probably really good for younger kids? I was a weird child, so my point of view might be skewed. Decide for yourself if this book is worth getting for you or someone you know!

Recommended materials: something to draw with, and something to colour with.

Hirameki: Draw what you see

By Peng and Hu

⭐️⭐️▪️▪️▪️ two out of five stars

The classic exercise of using vague blobs and turning them into drawings

What's I like about it:

The concept is really good. The idea of having a whole book of printed blobs to turn into drawings is so fun and appealing to me, as someone who loves having things in books.

I really like that they have certain categories and themes, to make things a little different. I love the idea of having a theme for a whole page of blobs (turning everything on one page into birds, for example), and what made me get the book was specifically that they have pages with just the same blob ten times over, and the challenge is then to make them all into different things.

Criticism:

This book is the marketable brand flavor of prompt books, trying to be what mindful colouring books did, but with another concept, preferably in a way they can copyright.

They're clearly trying to make pattern-making into a marketable invention rather than something that has been around since, like, literal prehistoric times. This would be little more than annoying and could probably be ignored, if it wasn't for the fact that the blobs aren't even ... random.

The creativity is killed, because these blobs are clearly made to look like certain things. Which is the opposite of the point, of the shapes-in-randomness exercise. They don't do this with every page, but it is, like. More than half. The page dedicated to faces have defined noses and necks. There’s a beach themed spread and the crabs have defined pincers.

I had the most fun on the intro pages, where there were no prompts, because that was the place where the blobs were truly random. These were not meant to be drawn on! They were decorations! I just did it anyway!

This is branded to be something that will allow you to be creative, but in reality, it is actually just a different way of playing connect-the-dots. And there's nothing wrong with connect-the-dots, but I was advertised something else and I'm disappointed.

Also, this is personal pettiness, but if you're going to make a gimmick out of every prompt rhyming, you have to actually know how to rhyme. "Gadget" and "uplug it" do not rhyme! Not even by a stretch!

I cannot recommend this book. The idea is good, and some of the pages I did enjoy filling out, but I would have gotten more out of just grabbing a blank sketchbook and adding some ink blots to every page, then started from one end.

Recommended materials: They specifically say that you have to use a pen that’s either blue or black. I used a bright red one just to be a contrarian.

Illistration

By Jaime Zollars

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️ four out of five stars

This one is a little different -- it is essentially a make-your-own-prompts book!

What I like about it:

This book appeals right to my need to be part of the process, even when drawing for prompts. Basically, this book is all about producing creative lists of things to draw, and then illustrating your favorites.

I love how the author talks you through their process of creating each individual list to suit their own preferences, and encourages you to do the same, to create prompts that appeal directly to you.

I also really appreciate that this book fully assumes that the reader is just as capable as the author. It wants to teach you something, sure, but it doesn't outright assume that you've got more or less experience than the author. They're teaching you one specific way of generating ideas and that's what matters. The author is confident, but humble. I like that.

Criticism:

Honestly, this is a wonderful book. I wouldn't change anything about it. The only reason I subtracted a star is because it falls a little bit outside the category of a prompt book. It's a five-star book for what it is, but if you're just here to be told what to draw without having to make stuff up on your own, this one is not for you.

I can't just pull this one out, open it up and start drawing -- using this book is a project. I have to do at least half of the work myself, if not more. And I personally have fun with that, but it has to be noted.

Recommended for artists of any skill level, who like to generate their own unique ideas. This is the one I would be most likely to recommend to a dedicated artist, or a professional.

Recommended materials: whatever you prefer to draw with, and something to write with.

-------------------------------------------------

Thank you for reading!

If you found this review helpful and want to fund me and my constant purchasing of prompt books, you can tip me on TheNearsightedMicroraptor on Ko-fi!

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lilfellasblog · 3 years

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I tried to choose a question but, I'm pretty interested in answers to all those tbh

You. I like you.

Talk about the first ship you ever had. - Tiencha (Tien Shinhan/ Yamcha), which is why I'm very sympathetic to those also suffering in rarepair hell.

Talk about three of the most important ships throughout your life. Destiel, Tiencha, Analogical

What’s your current OTP? Oof, I think I gotta go Prinxiety! So much potential for angst with hurt/comfort.

What’s your current NOTP? You know, I honestly can't think of any tbh.

Do you have any poly ships? For my OTP question, I originally answered LAMP/CALM, so definitely that!

How do you feel about love triangles? I think they can be intriguing if done well. If there's cheating involved, it would be pretty difficult for me to feel sympathy for the cheater.

How do you feel about RPF? It's fine, do whatever you want. Fanfic has always been for fans, not for creators. Purity culture and entitlement needs to stop. It's like seeing a sign that says "Snapping Turtles", jumping in the pond anyways, then yelling at the people who put up the sign after you lose a couple pounds of flesh.

Have you ever shipped yourself with a character? Tbh, the closest I've gotten is wanting different characters to adopt me and take me from my home. But I don't think I've ever romantically shipped myself with someone.

Do you have many ships that never got together at all? *cries in All Of Them*

Do you ship any characters that have never met? Huh. I don't think so tbh.

Talk about your favorite first kiss. Well in college there was- Oh! You mean fictional characters! :3 I think Virgil's first kiss with Roman in Healing Broken Wings is my favorite.

Have you ever been disappointed when your ship finally got together? *cries in It's Never Happened*

Has a ship ever broken your heart? In fanfic? Yeah, I've read some sad endings before and that's usually not my jam.

How do you feel about will they/won’t they? I'm fine with it so long as it ends in "Yes they will!"

Have you ever “shipped at first sight”? Analogical, actually!

Talk about a ship you initially disliked. I think when Remus first appeared, I had a hard time imagining him with anyone because of what a gremlin he is. I've come around to the trash rat tho.

Talk about a pairing you’ve stopped shipping romantically. Destiel.

Talk about a moment which made you question an entire ship. Season 6 of Supernatural. Destiel. >:(

Have you ever shipped something despite yourself? Kind of? I've done spite fics with spite ships.

Talk about a ship you feel alone in shipping. Tiencha, or Tien Shinhan/ Yamcha. They'd be so cute together!

Is there a ship you just don’t get, but have nothing against? Any ships that are part of fandoms I'm not in. I guess maybe Tony Stark/ Steve Rogers? They have such different values and ethics. They literally need a threat to the entire universe to come together.

Which of your ships have the best chemistry? Oh Analogical, easily. Royality too I think.

Which of your ships deserve better writing? Tiencha :(

Do you mostly ship canon pairings? Lmao no.

Have you ever shipped a pairing before you even started watching the show/movie simply because of gifs and graphics or similar? Yes I have! Crowley/ Aziraphale.

Have you noticed a pattern in your shipping? Is there a romantic dynamic you’re more drawn to? Not really, it's kind of all over the map.

Is there a ship you’ve shipped for most of your life? Tiencha.

Does shipping come easily to you? Yes, I am trash.

Do you need to ship something to really enjoy a movie/book/tv show/comic? Definitely not. I was a Potterhead, and I still don't really ship anything there.

Name a couple of fandoms in which you have no ships. Harry Potter, Marvel, DC Comics. I'm not in those fandoms tho.

Talk about one of your favorite headcanons for a ship you love. Roman is playfully protective of Virgil, and Virgil teases him by dramatically swooning.

Share five must-read fics. "Unexpected Destinies" was my first fic that I got into. Destiel fic, very complex and interesting AU. I think it got deleted during a LiveJournal purge tho. I got really into the "Battle Scars" series for a hot minute. Disabled Goku/ disabled Yamcha. "Perfect Attendance" by Periwren is great hurt/comfort starring Roman and Logan. "Welcome to the Neighborhood" by LeFay_Strent is absolutely hysterical. Shenanigans with Remy and Virgil, background Prinxiety, baffled Logan, it's a good time. And "War is Hell (but crushing is way more awkward)" by Jasper01 is incredible in so many ways! Funny, tragic, accurate, romantic, sweet, heartbreaking, all the things!

Name your favorite fanartist(s). So many fanartists have moved away from Sanders Sides, so I'm having a hard time thinking of many. To make sure I cover everyone, if there are any recs please let me know and I'll signal boost!

Share your favorite fanmix for your OTP. *Googles fanmix* It would appear I have none.

Recommend 1-5 shipper blogs. Gosh, so many of the shipping blogs I follow have become inactive in the Sides fandom. So! If any of you shipping blogs would like a shout-out, lmk and I'll signal boost!

Do you create fanmixes/gif sets/fanart/fic/fanvids and so on for you ships? Fic. So much fic.

Do you have a favorite trope and/or AU for your OTP? I mean I'm partial to Healing Broken Wings AU. As for trope, I'm a sucker for angst with hurt/comfort.

Do you like and use ship names? Definitely! Much faster to type.

Is there a fictional relationship you’d really want for yourself? I'm taking the word "fictional" literally here, because there is someone I'm in unrequited love with that I'm working on dealing with and I would really love a relationship with this person even though I know any hope is fiction.

If you could change one thing about your OTP, what would that be? Prinxiety, and that Roman would get some goshdang therapy!

#roman sanders #logan sanders #prinxiety #virgil sanders #patton sanders #supernatural #dragonball z #remy sanders #this took me an hour I think

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freshlybakedspiderbread · 3 years

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Aghh! touhou. My feelings on it as of this day (and every day forever, i’m sure):

so when it comes to the ‘official’ works themselves, i’ve always been a fan. All the famous and iconic things like the music, the art, the bullet patterns, random new setting and personality insights revealed through manga or weird side-books. Don’t think i’ll ever get tired of it.

But by far the biggest impact that touhou has had on me is simply because of like... its identity and place in doujin culture, i think? A lot of my (and im sure this goes for most fans too) greatest and fond memories relating to this series comes from the fans and the derivative works. The fanart, the fanfiction, comics, music arranges and so on so forth. I’ve used this comparison before, but touhou series is like... a dollhouse? And a big appeal of getting new ‘dolls’ is seeing what fun you can have playing with them for your own stories, or getting glimpses into how they can play off the older dolls.

i waned off touhou for a little while, but now that i think about it, i know exactly the reason why i fell so hard back into it. Its because i realised the most important thing in consuming media to me is wanting to see what kind of idea or theme the creator(s) might have had and seeing it come to fruit for an audience. Because i think making things is like, such an important (maybe -the- most important?) thing for strangers to do to connect to one another!

But like... Getting too attached to a piece of media is always a risky thing to do, you know. Even if it’s something that really affects you, you have to step back and remember its nature as a product (or advert or propaganda or whatever else it might be).

Thus, i’m sure the big reason why i’m so drawn towards ‘fan’ work or derivative work as a whole, whether its drawings or music or writing, is that I always know at the back of my mind that it was a creative someone idea had that they have now shaped for others to see.

and when it’s touhou in particular, I can’t help but want to imagine, even when there’s a language barrier, that me and this other person who has created a thing were inspired by the similar things, and in turn are inspired by others doing the same.*

...But like, it’s all still just another media at the end of the day. No matter how much a certain (or many certain...) works may wrench me to the very soul, i don’t want to just define my very being and existence by this japanese shooter game! I’ve come close to doing just that a few times in the past, before realising just how miserable and pathetic that is. There’s no telling when any of these ultimately material things will just disappear, after all, and I don’t want to be wishing for touhou itself to become my ‘perfect’ thing my whole life. (Although if we could get some more non-evil chinese characters who aren’t meiling, and some more canon dark-skinned characters, it’ll be pretty close!)

so i guess in sum, i love touhou but i might be constantly afraid of investing too much of myself into it as a whole... ‘Stepping away from it’ i know isn’t something that’ll help nor something i want to do, so instead i’m determined to find other things in life i can be just as passionate about (and i don’t just mean other media!)... or at least, ‘decently’ passionate about.

#wrote this tired and so its a mess of thoughts but i could only manage to say this while im tired so im gonna avoid 'fixing it up'

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carrotycake · 3 years

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a mass effect trilogy appreciation post 💕

so i completely forgot about trilogy appreciation week, and i haven’t had a lot of time lately to draw new stuff so i wanted to post some older mass effect drawings from about 6 or so years ago - drawn at the peak of my mass effect obsession when i was still in the middle of playing it so they are very dear to me (even if my art has improved since then lol). anyway read on if you want some personal thoughts & feelings on the series that has probably had the biggest impact on me as a person! <3

i think i can date this back to summer 2015 ish, before i even started my art blog! i always loved ashley and was very sad when i had to sacrifice her on my first playthrough as i was romancing kaidan :( i was studying english lit at uni when i played ME for the 1st time, and i was always inspired by ash’s love of poetry.

me playing mass effect for the first time also coincided with me properly getting into digital art, so a lot of my early pics are experimental lol XD the car chase in LotSB is still a favourite every time i play it, it has my favourite banter scenes from throughout the whole trilogy

i made this^ in response to playing mass effect 2 for the first time and being pleasantly delighted by the friendships you can make. i blasted through ME1 quite quickly and often forgot to talk to my crew members between missions, missing out on important info & bonding - this ofc led to wrex DYING (!!) and when i reached ME2 i was like. i Must talk to everyone. and i loved that even though i wasn’t romancing anyone in 2 (faithful to Kaidan), the friendships and bonds you create still feel as meaningful and good despite the lack of romance.

also an early 2015 pic, i was attempting to draw without lineart for the 1st time, and let me tell you this piece took SO LONG -_- I love Tali a lot though and the mission where you take her to Rannoch for the first time in ME3 has always stood out as one of my faves. Additionally, this quote has always stuck around in my brain;

"After time adrift among open stars, among tides of light and to shoals of dust, I will return to where I began."

can’t resist a cheeky samantha pic. i don’t need to go into tooo much detail about how much i adore samantha traynor but she really means a lot to me! her romance was one of the first ones i stumbled across, pre-mass effect playthrough, and it suddenly made me sit and think. hey samantha is gay and just wants a dog and a wife etc. maybe i can Also have that. maybe that is Me.

not to keep the serious introspection for last or anything, and also congrats if you read this long (apologies for the long post & the rambling) but. idk mass effect is still my favourite thing ever - even if i dip in and out and enjoy different things, mass effect is always going to be closest to my heart and i love it very much. ty to the people in the fandom that i’ve interacted with over the years, both on this account and my main @itsacuriousthing - again i havent been doing much of that recently but i am always grateful for the nice people making fanfiction and fanart. u guys are the best, truly 💕

#trilogyappreciationweek #mass effect #mass effect fanart #mass effect art #mefanart #mass effect legendary edition #fyi this is all old art from around 2015 incase it wasnt stated #also this got real sappy real quick but #im just Love Mass Effect

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bogkeep · 3 years

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re: the post i reblogged about how People Can Read Your Tags And Additions, here are some supplemental Thoughts! as an artist i LOVE when people write in the tags or write comments. i can safely say that most artists on tumblr always look forward to seeing nice messages in the tags and that this is one of the features that makes tumblr rewarding to post art on. i also enjoy it for my non-art posts that have made some rounds as well, i LOVE reading tiny ramblings from a stranger’s life that they felt like sharing in the whispers of tagworld. i just really like it, even if it also means sometimes people just add Bad Takes or try to start an argument. but of course, not every feedback feels as nice as “omg i love this” or “i adore how you drew X”. i think there’s been several PSAs about how “i hate the ship but i love this art” is not the compliment you think it is (i personally don’t mind this type of comment so much, but i see why it’s upsetting) and also how it can feel very uncomfortable if someone tags art of an OC or a character that is very personal to you with “kin”. i do not remember all the Weird and Uncomfortable comments i’ve gotten ever, but here are some examples that are just... Weird. - someone adding “reblogging so i can pretend i drew this” on my art post - some nsfw roleplaying blogs “““adopting”“““ my OC and naming it in the notes of a commission i paid an artist to draw for me - fandom specific blog reblogging art of a character from an entirely different series, tagging it with a character it reminds them of even knowing it’s not that character, and then seeing other people reblog it from them tagging it with the wrong character... - this was on twitter, but someone replied to a piece of fanart i had drawn of a character i obviously love enough to spend hours drawing, to say “i wish this character wasn’t so shit tier”. worth noting that the creator of the character was also tagged in the reply. ah twitter, PLEASE change - also on twitter. someone writing really cryptic and antagonistic replies to me for drawing a human AU of a character who has grey skin in and horns in canon (i will specify this was not homestuck). it turns out that they just really hated that she wasn’t grey, but the whole thing was pretty upsetting because it seemed at first that they hated that i had drawn her as Not White. WELP like, being on the internet where everyone is just a url to you, it’s not always easy to realize how you come across to someone, or that you’re playing very fast and loose with boundaries and ettiquette. i sympathize a lot, i think we’ve all been there! but it’s nice to remember that like, people will see it, and if you make someone uncomfortable just once, it can be really hard to come back from that.

#so many of these interactions are so bizarre it's hard to make a comprehensive list of 'DONT DO THIS'#most of the time it's just... please remember that you are talking to a stranger #and that whoever created whatever you've shared. they will have feelings around it #someone put time and energy into creating it!!#if anyone who provided the examples to me see this post i apologize for... using you as examples i suppose #but considering how p much all of these are block-worthy incidents to me i have doubts #too long for twitter

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atrixfromice · 3 years

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How to inspire an Artist

Hi there folks! Howdy!

Today on Late Night Ramblings I’ll talk about a very valuable piece of advice and facts nobody have ever written on the internet, cos I think it’s very importan since not much people know it.

And yes Late Night Ramblings it’s a section of my blog since a good while! LOL I’ve done a lot of these I thought I needed to dedicate it a section.

I know most of you (or probably all of you) have met me and follow me thanks to my fanart of various cartoon characters. And probably a lot of you are expecting to see fanart more than original characters or sci-art, and I think that's great because I like drawing fanart a lot, but I is true I don't draw only fanart, but I draw other things too because that depends of the inspiration of the moment.

It depends of my physical and mental state to get the inspiration, and when the inspiration strikes, I can draw one or another theme many times, on a row. And there are times when I draw a lot of stuff with theme in particular and I have to take a break from that one subjet.

So I just would like to say that there will be times when I'll draw, for example, more fanart, or more animals, or more original charactes.

And there will be times where I'll just take a break of drawing all and I’ll start drawing landscapes, for example. Because the inspiration for new stuff about what I usually draw is running out at the moment, and I need to take a break of it so the energy can "recharge" and I can get the inspiration for that again.

So, I just would like to reassure you and tell you that if some time on the future you see I'm not drawing what you’ve been following me for so often, or not at all, don't worry about it.

It doesn't mean I no longer like it, it just means I've probably drawn it a whole lot of it before and I need to take a break, so the inspiration and mood for that shows up again. It also might mean that I’m passing through some difficult moments in the personal and I’m not on a stable mood to produce art. But that will also past.

That said, how you can inspire an artist? Well that's the coolest part of what I'm writting in this post.

I've always believed that the fans of an artist ARE the fuel to their inspiration, and this have been true to me for more than two decades since I started sharing my art with the internet.

There's a way I can be inspired to draw more art from a particular theme, and it's YOU.

Yes you heard it well. Is that YOU give me the fuel straight to my heart!

How? By hanging out with me being a true friend to me!

And it's a very simple and easy thing to do, a lot easier than you think. Like for example, If you like one of my art pieces with a theme, and would like me to draw more of that theme, then go ahead and tell me about what did you like from that one piece in particular.

Do you want me to draw a new fictional character from a cartoon I've never watched before, then, talk me about that character and that cartoon! Tell me, why you like them? How you felt when you first discovered they existed? What feelings the character inspires you? what there is in their personality that makes you love them?

Do you want me to draw more Sonic the hedgehog related fanart? Madagscar franchise, or another franchise's fanart? Then geek out with me about these franchises! More sci-fi or steampunk art? Then share me your favorite movie or ideas for steampunk art!

You want me to draw fanart from movie I don't know about? Then talk me about what you loved from that movie! Talk me about your favorite episode of that series! And so on.

I think I could make a lot of other examples, but I'm sure you already got the idea.

If you don't do this, no matter how much desire to please you I can have or how skillful I am, I'll never be able to make the art you would love me to make, because without your fuel for those themes, I'm like a car without gas, a computer without electricity, a space rocket without kerosene, a windmill without wind.

And no matter the computer is top notch or if the car is a lambortini, without fuel, they'll never work. And in the other hand, something that happens with me, is that with the right fuel I can become a top notch computer or a lambortini and draw anything in the world!

And yeah, that’s what I mean when I say to people who ask me “what you can draw?” and I reply “All what your imagination wishes”

I’ve been found myself many times drawing stuff I didn't know I could draw just because a friend of mine have been made me excited about that movie/show character. XD

And is not just me the only one artist who works that way, there's a ton of artists (I'd even dare to say all artists) whose inspiration is heavily influenced by the people they love, admire, and look up to. Like friends, family, the people on their social networks/patreon etc, who are fans of their work and HAVE TOOK THE TIME TO TALK WITH THEM AND KNOW THEM BETTER!

So, now you know how to inspire and artist. :D And I hope this piece of advice can be useful.

I've learned it over the years, not only with my self experiences with the fans of my art, but also hanging out and genuinely caring about other artists, and offering them my sincere frienship.

So please go ahead and BE A TRUE FRIEND TO THE ARTISTS YOU ADMIRE! Listen to them and care about them and love them like you do with yourself. Hang out with them, ask them if they’re doing alright. And when they’re having a bad day and post about it, go and offer them comfort and love.

We appreciate it!

Of course, “there’s everything on in the vineyard of the Lord” as my mom uses to say. There are also some weird artist who don’t appreciate it and don’t want to interact with the peeps who admire their art, but they are a few.

Most of artists do appreciate and are grateful for all the love and support you give to us!

#late night ramblings #artists on tumblr #female artists #how to inspire

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