FINALLY!

REAL ART!!

(don’t know how to do shading, so…………)

There Are No Cute Officers In The Station!.. save for one

RE2R!Leon x Teacher!F!Reader

“Tehila Kaufman.”

“Here!”

“Antonia Lange.”

“Here!”

“And… Sherry Birkin.”

The lack of a response caught your attention instead of her voice. You call her name again, looking around in the bus for any sign of the blonde 12-year-old. You observe each seat, counting and checking each student for any sign of Sherry.

“Sherry!” A classmate of hers calls out, shifting in her seat and pressing her hands into the foggy windows. You remind the class to stay put in their seats and be on their best behavior as you exit the bus to greet your pupil and her guardian, who looked a little frazzled.

“Sherry! Good morning, I was looking for you,” you say with a soft smile as you ruffle her hair which is styled into a braid paired with a strawberry clip near her temple.

“I’m really sorry, miss. The taxi we rode on the way here got pulled over by cops and it took us quite some time to find another one,” her guardian Claire apologized with a meek beam.

You smiled and nodded, understanding her situation; you have enormous respect for Claire, juggling an odd job along with college while also taking care of a 12-year old. Despite all the odds stacked against her, the teen always managed to make sure Sherry was ready for school, which included making sure she had complete supplies and was sent to school before the school day started. You reassured her that all is fine before informing her that Sherry should board the bus now since the bus is scheduled to leave for the Raccoon City Police Station soon to begin the whole-day trip.

“Bye, Claire! See you later! I’ll try to bring home a souvenir if I can afford some!” She excitedly beams, to which she chuckles brightly at. With one more wave and a hug, she finally hops on the bus and goes to her designated seat.

After doing one final headcount of all the students and asking any of them if they needed to go to the restrooms, you give the driver a go signal to hit the road. Since the elementary school was just 15 minutes away from the museum-turned-police station, you advised that the students take a quick nap before they arrive at the destination. You look back and see some students already taking their naps, though some were talking with their peers or snacking on some energy bars. With a small smile, you turn back to the brochure you were sent and go over the paper. The program would start with a quick greeting by the lieutenant Marvin Branagh before he hands over the main task to officer Leon Kennedy for the rest of the afternoon before ending the tour with a quick video presentation and an essay-writing activity on their experience. Since you went over everything that needed to be checked and there would be some moderate traffic on the way, you decided to also catch a nap of your own.

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After that short nap, you spent most of the time reminding the children not to touch anything they weren’t given permission to touch and to avoid bothering the other officers there since they had work to do. You also reiterated rules once more which included asking questions respectfully, asking permission to go to the restroom, and no rough playing. You considered it perfect timing when your reminders came to an end, the driver announcing that the class had arrived at the RPD. All the students pressed against the windows nearest to the station’s gates, oohing and aahing at the sight in front of them.

“That’s so cool! Look at that!”

“I can’t believe this place is a police station now. It still looks fascinating!”

“I wonder if there’s going to be any cute officers in here,” you hear a pupil giggling to her friends. You chuckle at her outlook on the situation before responding to her, her cheeks burning pink like her sweater.

“There won’t be any cute officers, Clara. Admire the art and not the cops, okay?”. She responded with a giddy grin and gave you a thumbs up, still giggling with her friends. Well, that was as much as an adolescent girl can promise but you didn’t mind too much as long as she didn’t get in trouble. After all, it’s not like you could judge her when you’re out on a personal mission to find a worthy bachelorette for your coworker Lilia’s affections; she could really use some help in rekindling her love life.

After a few minutes, you instructed your students to leave the bus in an orderly manner before lining them up by girls and boys in order to enter the beautiful station. The last thing people expected a museum to transform into is a police station and the RPD did a damn good job at it. Although much of the museum has been changed to fit a more police station feel, there were still remnants of the past museum that stayed like puzzle mechanisms, the statue up front, and the library that still stood according to the contractors involved in transforming the building. Those were only what you’ve read somewhere so of course, there’s going to be more locations within the precinct that were left unchanged during the renovation. Now that all your students have finally calmed down and straightened their lines,  you begin leading them inside the gates and eventually into the precinct proper. The entire way to the large brown doors, your students quietly observed the various red and green herbs near the fences along with other ornamental flowers but occasionally oohed and ahhed some more, especially when officers started coming out of the door to welcome the eager students. The giggles and excited chuckles increase in volume, the electric excitement sizzling in the air– even the officers were excited, some of them also giggling and beaming widely; it seems like they’re just as excited as the kids are. Now that the class is right at the entrance of the precinct proper, you give them the cue to quiet down before greeting the three officers ‘good day’.

“Good day, officers!” They all greet in unison, genuine smiles on their lips. Their greeting pulls gleeful laughs from the officers before one of them speaks up.

“Good day to you as well, students. I’m Marvin Branagh, the Lieutenant for the Raccoon City Police Department but you may call me Officer Branagh. Here with me are officers Jill Valentine and Brad Vickers. They will help me in explaining the history of the museum up until recent renovations and then we’ll hand over the task to Officer Kennedy, who is waiting inside. He will act as your tour guide around the station– he may be a rookie but he’s well-versed in the rooms and artifacts in here so I trust that he will be able to execute his job well.”

The students nod, most of their gazes now peeled on the door instead of the officers. Jill chuckles and looks at you, giving you a kind smile.

“I guess you guys look ready to head in. Do you wanna head in now?,” she asks with a bright beam.

“Yeah!” Your students respond all together. Brad chuckles, giving Jill a friendly smack to the back.

“Hmm, I don’t feel the energy. Are you guys really ready?”

“YEAH!” They respond even louder, some of them cupping their hands to their mouth. Jill looks pleased with the hyping she’s done, giving Brad a confident look before she directs them in. “Alright. Let’s head in.”

With a small grunt, she and Brad open the doors to reveal the interior of the station. As soon as the kid last in line enters, you follow and take a look around for yourself. Your gaze falls on the ceilings and the wooden accents on the walls, stairs, and pillars before you really drink in the sight of the marble statue right in front of you. The Statue of the Winged Goddess is a lot taller than you thought, pictures now seeming to not capture the breathtaking marble sculpture. Even your students were stunned into silence, quietly appreciating the statue and the rest of the station’s wonders. “Wow, it’s so pretty” you think to yourself. “I should visit here again by myself sometime.”

“I see everyone’s got their breaths taken away by the beautiful Goddess in our station,” Brad’s voice snaps everyone out of their trance, you included.

“I get it, I was like that too when I first got there. Couldn’t stop staring and marveling at her, she’s a beauty isn’t she?”

The students murmur some “uh uh”s, unable to really tear their eyes off. You managed to snag your attention away from her, a little surprised at how your students were more enamored by the statue than the remnants of the museum that remained in the form of wooden accents and carvings on the Roman Tuscan columns.

“Alright, class. Eyes on Officer Vickers, he’ll be explaining the history of Raccoon City and the museum before it got renovated and reworked into a police station,” you say. They lead the students towards a room and they take their seat, sitting with their friends though you reminded them not to be too noisy.

“I advise that you take out notebooks and pens because you will have a written reflection activity by the end of the trip.”

The news of an essay activity due soon drew groans and complaints from your pupils but they still brought our paper and pens, ready to listen to the presentation.

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After the 30-minute long presentation on various facts and information regarding the city and the station’s history, Brad finally wrapped it up. In the first half of the presentation, Marvin left the room and went somewhere to go look for someone, Officer Kennedy you assume. Jill and Brad took turns presenting, the pair doing their best to make this as interesting as possible for the children to keep their attention hooked on the slides and the short video that will be shown later on. Jill and Brad shared stories about how they came to work at Raccoon City, their younger years, their experiences when they were rookies, among many others.

“Jill here nearly got crushed during an investigation up there in the Arklay Mountains, carried around the ‘Jill Sandwich’ nickname for a bit,” Brad reminisced with a wicked grin while Jill was in the corner, arms crossed with a smirk while she tilts her head down and shakes it, brown strands swaying along to the motion.

Some students giggled, laughing along to their jokes; though it was easy to make them laugh, you’d bet that their cheeks would hurt by the time they got home due to how wide they were grinning. Sherry was talking amongst her friends, beaming and whispering every now and then. She seemed a lot more excited than the rest, if that was even possible; she kept looking towards the door where Marvin left but you didn’t really mind since it didn’t look like Sherry was too bothered by anything yet you made sure to still look after her well.

“That is it for our presentation, how was it?” Brad asked. “Anyone got questions? Clarifications? Insights?”

“Calm down, Vickers. Let the kids choose what to answer man,” Jill teased.

Casey raises his hand, waving it in eagerness to share what he possibly has to say. Jill nods to him, giving him the go-ahead to speak.

“It must be so cool working here! I mean– you got cool lookin’ statues and puzzles everywhere!”

Brad nods, smiling sincerely at the boy. “Yeah, it’s cool working here but it gets boring sometimes. Sometimes the day is slow and police work isn’t all going on missions and shooting guns– there’s times where we just sit at our desks and read mountains of reports but I love my job.”

Jill agrees, sharing an experience of her own for a few more minutes before officially wrapping up the presentation. “Now that everyone’s run out of things to say and ask, it’s time for the station tour to be led by our own rookie, officer Kennedy.”

You hear the door slightly creak along with the shuffling of shoes, soft taps of the soles of their footwear against the marble floors. You turn your head to observe where the sound is coming from and you swear you saw the sun walk in clad in blues and RPD badges. You try to stop staring at him shamelessly, to not gawk with your jaw parted but you fail; the longer you stared, the surroundings blurred into insignificance and all noise died down, the cheesiest romantic song you know seemingly playing in the distance the more he walked. It seemed perfect that this tall glass of water walking towards the front of the class worked at a building that used to house the finest pieces of art; this man looks like he was sculpted by a maestro. He didn’t say or do anything but his presence commanded your eyes, drawn to him like a moth to a flame. He must’ve really had you under his spell since you didn’t notice your grip loosening on your tumbler, the metal bottle falling and creating an irritating clanging sound. The pretty officer whips his head towards your direction, his gaze aimed straight for your eyes before dropping down to the tumbler on your foot. Before you could bend down and pick it up before mumbling an apology to everyone, he rushed towards your direction to pick it up for you. Neatly trimmed nails and long, slender fingers wrapped around the bottle to hand it to you. As he stood back to original height, he locked eyes with you before extending his hand.

“Here. Cute stickers, by the way,” he softly whispers with a small smile. A warm gust of air escapes your lips, exhaling a breath you didn’t know you held. You could simply nod and look dumb in front of who is possibly the most gorgeous man you’re ever seen, what a way to create a first impression. You take the bottle from him, the tip of your finger brushing against his hand causing your finger to feel an electric tingle on where skin met.

“Thanks,” you mumble with a wonky smile. He nods at you before heading to the front to really start the tour.

“Leon!”

You crane your head to where Sherry is standing– or, was standing. She shot up from her area and ran towards Leon, giving him a big hug with her arms wrapped around his waist. Leon looked pleasantly surprised, returning her hug with a hug of his own, his hand around her shoulder. “Don’t worry guys! We know each other,” Sherry explained coolly. Leon chuckles, nodding along and confirming her statement. He gives her kind pats to the back, the room looking a lot brighter every time he chuckled; the way his eyes wrinkled when he grinned big reminded you of a golden retriever puppy, down to the color of his sun-spun hair and his overall aura. You had to blink away the trance he unknowingly set on you, turning your attention back to the students and the other officers in the room, acting as if your heart wasn’t rattling at the rib confines of your chest. You hoped that your cheeks weren’t a vibrant red, standing out from the rest of your appearance.

“Good day, students. I’m Officer Kennedy and I’ll be your tour guide around the station. Although you are free to look around and take pictures, I’m going to set some rules down for the class, does that sound great?” He throws up two thumbs up, looking at the children for confirmation. You swore that your nails would dig into the paint of the tumbler, causing the paint to chip away a little bit due to the sheer force you were exerting into holding on that tumbler just to stay calm. You couldn’t possibly have a crush on an officer in a station you visit for a trip! You’re not even sure if you’re going to come back here anytime soon! Now that the kids had given him confirmation, he puts his hands down, and chuckles a little more before continuing on with the explanation.

“As I’ve said earlier, you can take pictures and take sketches but please do not place your hands on the display, draw on any surface, or play with the artifacts. Most of these are old and possibly even the only of its kind so we advise you to proceed carefully. Everything clear?”

The students once nodded again, some students repeating “clear” back to the man in front of them.

“Okay. Now that that’s done, I would like to ask you to form a line outside the briefing room before we start.”

You direct the students to get up and form a line of two but surprisingly, Leon helps you even if the task doesn’t seem to be bothering you. He shoots you a small smile as he continues to assist you in arranging the students, which didn’t take much. Now that everyone was arranged accordingly, he began to lead the class around the station while receiving smiles and thumbs-up from his coworkers who seemed to be hyping him up while Marvin looked on proudly. You smiled at the thought since it was nice that they all seemed to have a bond closer than you thought. Leon was just about to look ahead again, turning his head back to face the corridor ahead when he caught your gaze.. He held eye contact for a little bit before breaking away and you swear you left behind your soul downstairs. This is going to be one interesting trip, especially with a charming officer charming his way into your heart.

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All went smoothly until you noticed the line looking a little too odd. Well, that’s because someone happened to be missing. The moment you realized that someone had managed to slip away and wander into the myriad of rooms in the upper floors of the station. As soon as you noticed, you made the children neaten up their line before giving Leon a tap on the shoulder.

“Officer,” you whispered. “I’ve got a missing student! I don’t know where they are, probably in one of the rooms. I swear I saw them just a few moments ago, must’ve slipped away.”

His eyes widen but not before he takes one more glance at the line of children, curious as to why the productive tour suddenly stopped. Some students seemed to have picked up on a missing student, asking where their peer might’ve gone off to. Leon places a reassuring hand on your shoulder before reaching into his walkie-talkie to radio to the other officers to look for a missing student, giving descriptions of their hair color and clothing. The tour had to be put on hold, Leon directing them back to the holding area and making sure no one else slipped off. Leon took your hand and looked into your eyes, determination and hope shining bright in those eyes of his. He gave your hand a gentle squeeze, instructing you to stay with your students for the meantime.

“Don’t worry, miss. We’ll find them in no time. In the meantime, please ask officer Bass to reach into the drawer to my right and get the bags of mini donuts. The kids deserve a snack.”

He nodded and began to walk off before turning around to face you again. “Help yourself to some too. It’s been quite the morning.”

As soon as he left, another officer came in. “Bass”, his patch reads. Leon must've called his attention before he left, telling him to come in. You told the officer about Leon’s directions, disappearing through the door before coming back in with bags of mini donuts for the class. You open up bags and instruct students to take what will satisfy their hunger, making sure that there’s other pieces for other students. You decided not to have some, anxiety disabling your ability to feel hunger at the moment. You can only hope that this issue is resolved before parents get involved.

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“Miss Y/N. Found them,” Leon says. His large hand is on the student’s shoulder, the student looking a little sheepish after realizing he got the class worried. They were fiddling with the straps of their bags, gaze downcast towards the ground as the officer walked him towards you. “Found them in the entomology room, was sketching some beetles.”

You walk towards your student, checking around if they lost anything or appeared injured even if they were just sketching some insects.

“Are you alright? When did you slip away from the rest of the line?” you softly ask. “Why didn’t you ask permission?”

Your student stayed silent, a little too shy to answer any questions for now. Eventually, they spoke up but in a hushed voice.

“I got a little distracted with the longhorn beetle display and forgot to tell everyone else that I was there at the insect-display room,” they explain. “I didn’t mean to make everyone worried and I’m sorry for causing a fuss all over the station.”

Leon chuckled softly and bent down to his level, a kind smile displayed on his face. “Hey, it's fine. Just make sure to tell your teachers or any adults if you’re going to go somewhere, okay? Nice drawing back there though. You’ve got a knack for art.”

The student smiles a little bit though they’re still stiff. You lead them to the rest of the group, the tour day ending. Some students pass a few mini donuts in their direction. You finally call up the driver to come pick everyone up and go back to the school, where their guardians will fetch their children.

“I don’t think you had a donut,” Leon asks with a boyish grin.

“Yeah. I didn’t,” you softly respond.

“Anxious?”

“Yeah. Well, I was because that’s my student and how could I be so careless to let something like this happen?”

Leon stays silent, standing right beside you as he observes the kids along with other officers deployed during the incident earlier.

“They’re here now, safe and sound too. I guess this is a learning experience for all.”

His comment pulls a small grin from you. What he said wasn’t even remotely funny but it somehow made you smile. God, were you all sappy for him already? Well, it is easy to make you smile. Maybe you’re subconsciously using smiling as a way to calm yourself down and try not to be too overwhelmed with the incident from earlier.

“Well, since you didn’t have a snack earlier… What if I take you up on a donut run one of these days? Next week, maybe– or any time you’re free?” He asks. “I know a couple places.”

His cheeks flush to the shade of cold watermelons on a hot summer day, the sudden burst of color a contrast to the pale skin of his face. You noticed him fidgeting with a loose thread of his pants, a little nervous on asking you. You beam wider, accepting his offer and setting dates, exchanging numbers. Just as you finish writing down the last digit of your number, the bus arrives. Quickly, you arrange your students again and begin leading them out the station, reminding them to thank the officers for their patience and time.

“I’ll walk them out,” you hear Leon say to his superior as he accompanies you to the bus and helps the students jump up on the steps, reminding them to be careful and to have a safe ride back home.

"You too, miss Y/N. Have a safe trip back home.”

“Will do, officer.”

He takes your wrist and gently helps you up even if the height isn’t even that great to begin with. You give him a thumbs up before waving him bye. You’ve already made a mental note to come back there and sign up on an itinerary tour as soon as you arrive in order to take some time admiring the architecture for yourself but turns out you’re going to be coming back to admire someone who you wish will be all to yourself soon.

NOTE - This was supposed to be posted 3 days ago in time for my birthday but I was busy with so much school work, I wasn't able to post this on the date I set for myself 😭😭 My birthday was cool actually: I almost got lost in another town, I passed an admission test that I got sick and miserable for, and my best friend got me a Chris Redfield capcorom!!!!! Taking Chris wherever I go now like I'm out here greeting him good morning or good night before I go to bed 😭😭 I forgot to ask my mom if I can get a birthday cake so I was unable to print my Leon, Dante, Vergil, and Nero cake-toppers BUT IT'S FIINEEE. I was losing motivation due to being unable to work on this because I have requirements due and this fic was marinating in my document for 2 weeks so... yeah :| Fic releases will be less frequent since I've got so much things to do lately. I'm also still accepting requests so feel free to drop by in my asks. OH RIGHTT my team for our sports festival on dodgeball won despite having absolutely ZERO practice so I'm proud of that :) Anyways, that's it and thank you so, so, so much for reading my fics!!!!!! I <333333 UUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!

The dividers are from @plutism , the images are made by me (sourced from Pinterest).

The SAWP is a temporary labour program that brings foreign workers to Canada for periods between six weeks and eight months annually [...], paving the way for the recruitment of Jamaican workers as well as workers from other Caribbean countries like Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados [beginning] in 1968. [...] The SAWP has been a resounding success for Canadian growers because offshore indentured workers enable agribusiness to expand and secure large profits. Being indentured means that migrant farm workers are bound to specific employers by contractual agreements [...]. First, they are legally prevented from unionizing. [...] Additionally, because they are bound to specific employers, they must ensure that the employer is happy with them [...]. For instance, migrant farm workers are forced to agree to growers’ requests for long working hours, labour through the weekend, suppress complaints and avoid conflicts, if they want to stay out of “trouble” [...]. In “Canada’s Creeping Economic Apartheid”, Grace Galabuzi shows that the Canadian Government’s immigration policy is, in reality, a labour market immigration policy [...].

[Text by: Julie Ann McCausland. "Racial Capitalism, Slavery, Labour Regimes and Exploitation in the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program". Caribbean Quilt Volume 5. 2020. Paragraph contractions added by me.]

---

A big finding that came out of the oral history interviews was a much richer tapestry of worker protest than has previously been documented. Speaking with workers – including former workers back in their home countries of Jamaica and Barbados – allowed me to hear the types of stories that often don’t make it into archives or newspapers. Interviewees told me stories about wildcat strikes, about negotiating conditions with employers, and also about protesting their home governments’ role in organizing the migrant labour program. [...] [T]hings did not have to be this way; our current world was anything but inevitable. [...] [But] economic forces transformed tobacco farming (and agriculture writ large), [...] leaving mega-operations in their wake. [...] [L]arge operations could afford [...] bringing in foreign guestworkers. The attraction of foreign workers was not due to labour shortages, but instead in their much higher degree of exploitability, given the strict nature of their contracts and the economic compulsion under which they pursued overseas migrant labour. [...] Ontario’s tobacco belt (located in between Hamilton and London, on the north shore of Lake Erie), was from the 1920s to 1980s one the most profitable sectors in Canadian agriculture and the epicentre of migrant labour in the country [...]. In most years, upwards of 25,000 workers were needed to bring in the crop. [...]

[The words of Edward Dunsworth. Text is a transcript of Dunsworth's responses in an interview conducted and transcribed by Andria Caputo. 'Faculty Publication Spotlight: Ed Dunsworth's "Harvesting Labour"'. Published online at McGill Faculty of Arts. 15 December 2022. At: mcgill.ca/arts/article/faculty-publication-spotlight-ed-dunsworths-harvesting-labour. Some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

---

Jamaican agricultural workers say they face conditions akin to “systematic slavery” on Canadian farms, as they call on Jamaica to address systemic problems in a decades-old, migrant labour programme in Canada. In a letter sent to Jamaica’s minister of labour and social security earlier this month [August 2022], workers [...] said they have been “treated like mules” on two farms in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province. [...] The workers [...] are employed under [...] (SAWP), which allows Canadian employers to hire temporary migrant workers from Mexico and 11 countries in the Caribbean [...]. “We work for eight months on minimum wage and can’t survive for the four months back home. The SAWP is exploitation at a seismic level. Employers treat us like we don’t have any feelings, like we’re not human beings. We are robots to them. They don’t care about us.” Between 50,000 and 60,000 foreign agricultural labourers come to Canada each year on temporary permits [...]. Canada exported more than $63.3bn ($82.2bn Canadian) in agriculture and food products in 2021 – making it the fifth-largest exporter of agri-food in the world. [...]

[Text by: Jillian Kestler-D'Amours. "Jamaican farmworkers decry ‘seismic-level exploitation’ in Canada". Al Jazeera (English). 24 August 2022.]

---

In my home country, St. Lucia, we believe in a fair day’s pay [...]. In Canada, we give more than a fair day’s work, but we do not get a fair day’s pay. [...] I worked in a greenhouse in [...] Ontario, growing and harvesting tomatoes and organic sweet peppers for eight months of the year, from 2012 to 2015. [...] In the bunkhouse where I lived, there were typically eight workers per room. Newly constructed bunkhouses typically have up to fourteen people per room. [...] I also received calls from workers (especially Jamaicans) who were either forbidden – or strongly discouraged – from leaving the farm property. This outrageous overreach of employer control meant that workers had difficulty sending money home, or buying necessary items [...]. [O]n a lot of farms, [...] workers’ movement and activity is policed by their employers. The government knows about this yet fails to act.

[Text are the words of Gabriel Allahdua. Text from a transcript of an interview conducted by Edward Dunworth. '“Canada’s Dirty Secret”: An Interview with Gabriel Allahdua about migrant farm workers’ pandemic experience'. Published by Syndemic Magazine, Issue 2: Labour in a Treacherous Time. 8 March 2022. Some paragraph contractions added by me.]

---

The CSAWP is structured in such a way as to exclude racialized working class others from citizen-track entry into the country while demarcating them to a non-immigrant status as temporary, foreign and unfree labourers. The CSAWP is [...] a relic of Canada’s racist and colonial past, one that continues unimpeded in the present age [...]. [T]he Canadian state has offered a concession to the agricultural economic sector in the way of an ambiguous legal entity through which foreign agricultural workers are legally disenfranchised and legally denied citizenship rights.

[Text by: Adam Perry. "Barely legal: Racism and migrant farm labour in the context of Canadian multiculturalism". Citizenship Studies, 16:2, 189-201. 2012.]

---

Other publications:

Smith. 'Troubling “project Canada”: the Caribbean and the making of “unfree migrant labour”’. Canadian Journal of Latin American Studies Volume 40, number 2. 2015.

Choudry and Thomas. "Labour struggles for workplace justice: migrant and immigrant worker organizing in Canada". Journal of Industrial Relations Volume 55, number 2. 2013.

Harsha Walia. "Transient servitude: migrant labour in Canada and the apartheid of citizenship". Race & Class 52, number 1. 2010.

Beckford. "The experiences of Caribbean migrant farmworkers in Ontario, Canada". Social and Economic Studies Volume 65, number 1. 2016.

Edward Dunsworth. Harvesting Labour: Tobacco and the Global Making of Canada’s Agricultural Workforce (2022).

Edward Dunsworth. “‘Me a free man’: resistance and racialisation in the Canada-Caribbean Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program,” Oral History Volume 49, number 1. Spring 2021.

I love your artwork, it's so cool! I'm an amateur in art, do you have any tips? Thank you!

Thank you so much! 💕 And sure! (Have you seen my other posts as well?) It’s a bit easier when it’s more specific >< But I’ll try my best; 

- Keep notes about the things you want to learn as you draw! Someone gave me a tip to have an art-goal so you know what to work on and then improve these particular things as you go, but for some reason I found it really hard to set these goals? (Am I the only one?) I kept thinking I just wanted to ‘improve’ everything, but that’s not very tangible and I can’t effectively measure whether I’ve succeeded… (it’s also not always easy to see your own improvements… at least I rarely can ><) 

But when you draw and you come across these little things that make you go “hm, I wish this was easier” or “I really love this sketch I made, but I’m not sure how to go about coloring it”, anything like that— then your desires regarding your art or your process become a lot more specific, right? Write these down! What specifically would you like to improve on?

I’ve noticed for myself and many others talked about it as well that once a piece is done, it’s like you forget a lot about the process and your mind is set on a new project. (Also, yay! You were in the zone~) You can either use your current project as practice (all of them are in a sense, really) or start a new one later, research what you need (on YouTube, books, or perhaps a course from an artist you really like if you can afford it) and work on your goal! 

- Also keep notes for any ideas you may have. We always think we’ll remember something and then we don’t. These sudden, often spontaneous glimpses you receive seemingly out of nowhere can be some of your best and it’s a shame if they fade back into the void. This also applies to anything that inspires you.. it can really be anything. I think I’ve said this before, but if you do this, try and organize a bit. Otherwise you’ll end up with a bunch of notes that’s more overwhelming than anything else. 

You can use folders to keep images, notes, a dedicated Notion page perhaps or if you can afford it, keep an extra external SSD for this. 

- Well, this also applies to research or video’s you’d like to watch. If you end up with too many tutorials or books, or they aren’t goal-oriented specific to your art desire, it may get really hard to get you started on something. If you’re like me and it’s hard to focus, I’d highly recommend taking some time to sit back, think about the thing you really want, organize and structure a way towards it and go. That way you don’t have to make all these decisions along the way— you know what to do already, it’s written right there!

- And that also applies to tools and brushes xD I know it’s really fun to download all of it because many are free and what if there’s ever a time you may need this specific texture on a brush? What if you can’t get this style that inspired you with the brushes you already have? But truth is, you don’t need them all and if you do, you’ll notice there are many you won’t even touch. And well… as you can see in my art as well, apart from the pencil ones, it doesn’t necessarily encourage consistency if that’s what you strive for. If you want to practice, most often the basic round brush will do, the less opacity or blend, the more you can practice shapes and clarity. In that case I’d stay away from the airbrush whenever possible. 

- Depending on the program you use (CSP has their own), you can use these to help you with facial angles, or this if you rather prefer a basic skull. You can use the site if you can’t get the angles quite right for many things. 

- For coloring I highly recommend James Gurney’s articles or book ‘color and light a guide for the realistic painter’, even if you’re not a realistic painter, it still contains most (all?) of what you need to know about color.

- A great way to experiment is to just… open a blank document and do whatever. I know it often feels like you have to draw something (preferably something good), but you can actually learn a lot by just scrabbling away. Here’s also often where you find the things you feel like you need to improve. Certain angles are especially hard for me, but I hadn't known that if I didn't try >< Oh, I also found this site by accident and I haven't read it all, but it covers many subjects! Hope these are helpful! 🌷

ello! Weird little question for the digital art masses because I am Struggling™️

Sometime in the process of moving to college, I lost my PC. I’ve looked for months and it can’t be found anywhere in my dorm or at home and I have a sneaking suspicion that it was left at a hotel or something… but anyway, just 2 months before, I bought a drawing tablet that plugged into that computer. All my art programs were on there (I used Krita and Flipaclip because I am Broke™️) and in losing that computer, I also seemed to have lost access to any of the art I made on it…

I’m heartbroken about all the projects I lost and it’s made it difficult to feel motivated to keep making art. I was very new to it and had fun learning, and have tried to take up traditional drawing again since (not something I’m well-practiced in but I enjoy it anyway). I really want to get back to that kind of creation process, though. I’m trying to figure out how to sell my current drawing tablet so that someone who can actually use it may have it… and then I think I want to try again, perhaps look into getting an iPad or something.

Is that,, a good idea? I wouldn’t know where to start looking for a new tablet (is an iPad bad??) or what programs to use, or what other equipment I would need. I don’t want to lose everything again because of how much it crushed my artistic spirit. I’m hoping that finding a way to sell my drawing tablet would help me to afford whatever replacement I get,,

Tumblr is probably not the right place for this but other sites tend to be more hostile from what I’ve seen, especially toward beginner artists. I’m feeling very lost about this, and would take any tips people on here may have to offer :,)

Hello, have you talker about your art process anywhere? I am very interested in how you got into glitch art/photomanipulation/however you’d call this, and i want to learn more. Do you have programs you use, plugins, do you use any physical media or scanography/scanner manipulation? I really want to hear about anything you wanna talk about regarding the creation process for your art. Thank you for sharing your work.

Yes! Unfortunately, I tried answering this question in a ton of detail but tumblr didn’t save it as a draft automatically - which was a frustrating experience to say the least - so this is my second attempt at answering this ask — you’ve asked a lot of really valuable questions here, I’ll do my best to be concise in my answers!

When I first began playing around with editing software, I was 16 and simply wanted to make memes and silly edits. This was around 2015-2016, whenever vaporwave was a fresh concept and Resonance was trending on Vine — which is a sentence that makes me feel fucking ancient. I was really entranced by vaporwave, which had this off-white nostalgia for post-consumerist 80s and 90s cultural trends. I later became interested in how many of those cultural trends persisted and evolved into Y2K culture and beyond.

these are some of the images I was working on during that period of time, which were loosely inspired by indie horror and jazz cups and soundcloud rap. I was so proud of learning how to make my own scanlines using GIMP :)

Late 2016 I began my freshman year at a hoighty-toighty art school that I was too poor to attend, and quickly entered a mental health downward spiral — but I learned many valuable things, most of that info was painfully basic; my education prior to that was not anything special. I would not consider myself someone with exceptional aptitude for art — I just have a chronic compulsion to break things.

So, where to begin? My recommendation to anyone who’s newly interested in this style of artwork and editing:

Glitchet is a repository of info regarding many different styles and methods of distortion - from sonification to slipscans, there’s a ton of good info to comb through. Most of the techniques and tools covered are free to use, but there is some paid stuff out there too - but if you know your way around, virtually everything is free. More on that shortly :)

As for my process, programs, plugins, etc - there is a lot, and I don’t think I can cover everything. Primarily: Photoshop, After Effects, GIMP, ArtStudio Pro for iOS, Procreate, DestroyPix, and a number of other pieces of software that perform smaller, specific functions - such as BigJpg for AI-upscaling. I also employ analogue/physical distortion techniques like circuit-bending, slipscan, and more. These require additional hardware and knowledge; such as access to a copier/scanner, old CRT screens, and the ability to solder + work with low voltage electronics without accidentally shorting them out. Best part is that you can ✨layer✨ anything and everything, collage style — which is my favorite aspect, very playful and exploratory.

Now, if you’re like me and can’t afford fuck-all, but wholeheartedly believe that money should not be a limiting factor for creativity, I recommend installing the Adobe Creative Suite from downloadpirate(dot)com - which is also where I’ve gotten many of my plugins, although I do also pay for the plugins that I come to really appreciate, as they’re typically done by independent developers who could actually use the scratch. Same risks as any pirate cove: intrusive ads, popups, and redirect chains - use Ublock Origin to kill these annoyances. I recommend performing a scan with Malwarebytes after using any sketchy-looking-download site, but I was raised to be a bit paranoid so that’s purely preferential.

As for plugins:

Filenames in this image may correspond with the developer of the plugin — you can just search the filename + ‘after effects plugin’ and you’ll almost certainly find your way.

Most commonly, I use Pixelsorter, Pixdither, Displacer Pro, Pixel Stretch, and Hacksaw — although some of the plugs that I use aren’t listed above, like Datamosher, which is a script-based solution that helps remove i-frames from a clip in After Effects, all without having to use VLC and any handwritten scripts (the ol’ fashioned way).

These are all from the last year or so, to show the relative growth I’ve experienced since my time spent as a creature of 16 years. Naturally, I’m also like, more of a person now - so the art is partly better because I’ve simply suffered more :p

When I started, I didn’t know any of the jargon or how to describe a specific effect I was trying to achieve - so I taught myself how to do stuff by googling around, and if I couldn’t find an answer (which was 90% of the time) I’d just try to figure shit out. Which rarely ever resulted in outright success, but was always a significant learning experience. That’s why I’m so quick to drop the link to Glitchet! Sometimes I can’t help but wonder what I’d be doing now if I had known there was an online library for info on how to produce different types of distortions - definitely would’ve spent less time trial-and-erroring my way through aesthetics.

In conclusion: there’s so much to try and you should try absolutely everything that interests you. It’s free if you’re cool enough to steal it; though some things (like hardware) are gonna cost. You don’t need talent or an exceptional education, though both of those things would certainly help — and you’ll never run out of things to learn because there are infinite ways to break shit. More so than anything else, you need a willingness to explore, experiment, and fail often. You’ll fail miserably at times, so a proclivity for humiliation is also a big plus. Eventually your failures will start looking like successes; but you’ll have forgotten the difference by then and will be free to make whatever the fuck you want :)

I’m glad that you enjoy the work! tumblr has always been the best place for me to share my lil jpegs and actually find a real sense of connection with others who are similarly jazzed. My life completely bottomed-out a few years ago and I was in a really bad place whenever I logged into my blog for the first time in half-a-decade and started posting again. My personal growth from then to now has been a strange and incredible experience, and I’m so glad that I had the art and the funny little gays on this website to help me through the toughest points and teach me valuable things about myself; so if I can give back a little knowledge, I’ll gladly take that opportunity! I hope these findings serve you as well as they’ve served me.

Meant to Be

A/N: I’m taking advantage of this prompt to continue yesterday’s story. Once again, suggested by @mashmaiden.

***

“What’s next on the agenda?” Kensi asked, peeling down the paper wrapping on her burrito. She sat beside Deeks, Rosa on his other side as they peered at the very thorough plan he’d arranged for today’s college visit.

They’d set up a little picnic outside the same fountain she’d stopped by during her own visit so many years ago. A lot had changed since then, but the park and fountain remained the same.

“After we finish eating, I want to show Rosa the pre-law department and introduce her to a few faculty,” Deeks replied. He was practically radiating excitement, which seemed to be transferring to Rosa. Over the course of the morning, she’d become more enthusiastic, and even opened up more about her career preferences.

“Not the one who called you a worthless hippy, right?” Rosa checked, a little apprehensively.

“Definitively not. He retired years ago, thank god.”

“Oh good.” Rosa sighed in relief. “That sounds fine. Then maybe we can visit the art department.”

“We can definitely do that. Ooh, and we have to stop off for ice cream before we leave,” Deeks said. “So what do you think, you want to come here, right?”

“Babe, don’t pressure her,” Kensi protested, lightly smacking his shoulder with the back of her hand.

“It’s ok,” Rosa assured her with a smile. “I’m making a list of pros and cons for every college we visit. I promise I won’t make any hasty decisions.”

“Well in that case, my alma mater is pretty good too. I bet I could get you a private interview with the president.” Kensi gave Rosa a pointed look.

“True, but I’d argue the law program isn’t quite as good,” he argued.

“You know, I actually thought about coming here,” Kensi shared. “I got as far as writing my acceptance letter.”

“What made you change your mind?” Rosa asked curiously.

“I received a full-ride scholarship to Cornell.” She shrugged. “I couldn’t really afford to turn it down.”

“Miss Fancy Pants,” Deeks teased with a fond wink. “I only got tuition covered. Which I’m of course very grateful for.” He shot Kensi a warning look, probably just in case she felt compelled to mention how he closed the financial gap.

They were quiet for a few minutes while they dug into their food, and Kensi continued to look around the campus. It felt strange to think that she had ever been as young as Rosa, or the students scurrying around, making decisions that would impact the rest of her life.

“The day I came here, I got really lost,” she reminisced.

“Kensi Marie Blye admitting a weakness? Shocking.”

“Shut up. I was 17 and the map they gave me was awful.” Turning to face Deeks, she continued. “I bet you got lost your first day too.”

“Maybe,” Deeks allowed. “But by my second semester, I was a tour guide and I learned all the secrets. I was like a muggle Fred and George Weasley.”

“It’s funny you should mention that, because a tour guide helped me out.”

Deeks frowned, a look of dawning realization crossing his face. “Wait, what did this guy look like?”

Kensi had to force her mind back twenty or so years. “Uh, tall with long blonde hair, blue…no.” Kensi dropped to a shocked whisper, staring at Deeks in disbelief. “You were the guy.”

“And you were the girl who almost hit me,” Deeks finished.

“Why did you try to hit him?” Rosa cut in, sounding intrigued.

“I did not almost hit him, and if I did, it was because he surprised me.”

“You also flirted with me.”

“That was just me being friendly,” Kensi insisted.

“Uh-huh.”

“You know what, I think we should talk about that hair.” She turned to Rosa. “It was shoulder length.”

“Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration and long hair was in style.”

“Do you have any pictures?” Rosa asked eagerly.

“No, not from around then,” Kensi said with a hint of regret. “But I’m sure Roberta does.”

“That is absolutely not necessary,” Deeks said, taking a long drink from his cup. He shook his head. “I can’t believe I forgot I met you before.”

“Well, it was only for a few minutes, and we never exchanged names.” She leaned over and smoothed a tiny speck of hot sauce off his cheek, kissing the corner of his mouth. “The fact that you took the time to help out a lost teenager just further proves what a good guy you’ve always been.”

“It’s almost like it was meant to be,” Rosa mused with a dreamy smile. “Fate.”

“I can work with that,” Deeks said, tipping Kensi’s chin to kiss her in earnest.

Tl/Dr: I’m taking my art down because of AI and I’m real pissed about it

So because of the whole “tumblr is feeding everyone’s blogs to an AI trainer and you have to manually opt out, but if anyone who hasn’t opted out reposts your content then it will still be fed into the AI” problem I have removed all my art from my page

Im in school, so I can’t take a job right now, which is sad because the AI art protector site i will definitely be using is only available for computers and the mobile app is still in development.

Since I’m on mobile and cant afford any kind of computer I will probably have it down until mid-summer when I can save up money from my summer job

I’ll add a few rants below the cut, but hopefully I’ll be able to share my art sooner than 6 months in the future

Also the art protection website I was talking about is called Glaze!!

So rant: No type of AI should be called “artificial intelligence.” The code isn’t intelligent, the person who wrote it was. I only say AI because Artificial Machinery isn’t a well known term. Personally, I think Ai should be saved for if the machinery gains intelligence and can make it’s own decisions that AREN’T based on facts, what it’s creators want, or what it’s programmed to do.

Show me a robot who prefers pancakes over waffles that has no outside influence other than its own fake tastebuds? Yep, that can qualify as Artificial Intelligence

Show me a robot that likes pancakes over waffles because of a popular vote its creator held or because of statistics/creator bias? That there is nothing but machinery regurgitating human information into my ears

Artificial Machinery: every Ai we have in the current day

Artificial Intelligence: some android named Randy in your cool sci-fi movie set in the year 10,000

Another thing (that probably won’t happen unless an artist is president. For gods sake, there still aren’t laws for child labor I mean family channels)

I wish there was some type of law where AIs made for mushing peoples art together and pretending it made something new was not allowed to use any image that wasn’t made for the AI.

On one hand: AI “art” bro’s would still get the ‘big titty goth anime gf’ they wanted to jack off to but didn’t want to pay for a commission

On the other hand: Actual artist wouldn’t have their creations and plagiarized and rebranded, plus some could actually make money by being hired by whatever company or studio made the AM so they could feed the paid art into it

Obviously this will never come into act while I’m either alive or at the very least can still use my hands

Also I don’t want to hear about the “oh but AI art helps disabled people !!” Just because you want to go from Zero work in art to a perfect human rendition on paper in a day doesn’t mean it helps anyone. Disabled people can still draw, they’re still human, humanity is to make art !!

Sure, maybe it won’t look exactly like that model on the magazine in your dentist office, but that doesn’t make it any less art! Art is expression, expression isn’t typing “cool scene” into a text box and getting 10 other artist’s work mushed together handed to you! Expression doesn’t have to be pretty or copy/paste or the standard, it’s whatever you want it to be. I promise, anyone truly in the art community would value a few stick figures over stolen, fake art.

Hello!! I really love your work and I'm interested in becoming a story board artist myself and was wondering if you majored in anything specific to become a storyboard artist? Ive done research and ive been told that taking an illustration or Animation major would be the best choice to make and im stuck between the two,, what do you think would be the better decision?

hey!! uhh, I’m probably not the best person to ask because a) I’m still VERY green and I absolutely do not want to assume too much expertise and b) I didn’t go to college!! haha!! so this is like. the opposite of my ballpark lol

BUT I guess the moral of the story I can kinda give both from listening to other more seasoned storyboard artists/mentors and my own experience is: it’s not really required??

school can be helpful for multiple reasons: firstly, it CAN (big emphasis on that can) give you a more streamlined general access to the knowledge that you need, which independent study doesn’t always afford. I’ve been able to progress pretty far without instruction, but having a good mentor will help you skip past a LOT of the tedium of hunting for it and hopefully make you more confident in your own abilities (one of my biggest issues in the professional sphere has been decision paralysis! because I’ve been given a lot of freedom to do things but I am very bad at gauging my own skill! it sucks! having some sort of certification and not going immediately from being in high school to working probably would have made things easier!). Another benefit of going to school is, obviously, the CONNECTIONS. If you go to the right school chances are youre gonna be in the same class as a bunch of other future people in the industry, and that will help you out majorly in the long run! point being: there are benefits!

that being said, there ARE downsides. obviously school is expensive, AND if you don’t go to a GOOD school then you probably aren’t gonna get, like, ANY of those aforementioned benefits. it’s not the fault of educators in those spaces, the way the industry works and the way our school system works just makes it incredibly hard to get a good, industry-ready art education at any old school.

also, art in general is not one of those jobs where getting a degree makes you arbitrarily qualified, which is one of the big scams of the whole thing. your WORK is the end all be all, and the only way your work is gonna be up to snuff is if you do more work. getting a good mentor can really help, but plenty of people go to college and get an art degree just to get a degree and then graduate realizing they barely got to actually focus on the type of art they’re supposed to have in their portfolio for the job they want!

so while I can’t really give you advice on the specific thing you actually asked for (so sorry lol i realize how dumb that is) I think that you should do research on what your college of choice offers and what specific things you’re going to learn, and then evaluate which major will best align with your field of choice! every program is different and every school is different. get the most bang out of your buck if you do intend to go to college, and know that the resources are out there for you to learn on your own! look for something that enhances your work and doesn’t detract from it :)

Hi! I found out about closing from your post and at first thought that was some old news but then I realised and cried for like 15 minutes 🫠 I’ve been in this fandom for 3 years and i have a Russian blog about Beetlejuice (there’s actually quite a lot of fans of this musical in Russia 🙃) and I know I probably would never have a chance to see Beetlejuice live but it became such an important part of my life so it’s just heartbreaking to see these news. At this point I just don’t understand why this happened and can fans do anything about it😔 I’m also wondering what will happen with fan art mural. My art got there and it made me extremely happy cause at least some part of my love for this show will be there on broadway but now I think they will take it all down and it makes me even more sad :( Thanks for listening (I really like your blog btw🤗)

i am,,, so sorry you had to learn it from me 😭 it literally did not occur to me in the moment other people have lives and might not have heard yet.

i had no idea it has such a big Russian fanbase!! that makes me so happy!!!! there are few things i love more than hearing about this show’s reach both on a widespread level and an individual level. i feel awful you won’t get to see the show on broadway but i’m just so glad it found you at all and affected your life the way it did 💜

i’ll miss the fanart wall and really feel for everyone whose art won’t get to live there anymore, but i’m also so happy for you that you were able to have a small piece of you at the theater even for a limited time.

obviously i’m incredibly sad this show’s run is coming to an end, but i’m also fully aware how lucky i am to have gotten the experiences with this show i have and just focusing on staying grateful. my heart really goes out to the fans without the ability to see it before closing. at the very least i get to remind people in the U.S. about the national tour (and people in the UK about the rumored West End transfer) but for other fans like you i hate not being able to do anything so i’m playing around with a few small ideas for making the show as accessible as is within my power:

my friend runs a playbill exchange program where people can donate unwanted/extra playbills or get playbills they want for FREE (just pay shipping). there are tons of different beetlejuice playbills currently in stock, you can find them on twitter at @ programXchange

i also have so many extra playbills from all different stages of the show from the last four years, i’m thinking of running a giveaway soon closer to the show’s final performance

i’m currently working on sifting through my collection of bootlegs and audios to find the ones i’m able to share publicly or trade (according to the boot owner’s wishes) to compile them all into one google doc that every fan will be free to access

i’m also working on creating a shareable resource that i’ll be constantly updating with any and all ticket discounts, deals, and lotteries for people who can’t afford a full price ticket

if anyone has more ideas or would like to contribute to any of these feel free to reach out!

i sincerely and genuinely really hope you get to visit the show someday, in any capacity. everyone deserves to 🖤

tw

this year has been the longest and worst fucking year in ages. and it just keeps piling up. I finally moved to a safe, quiet apartment and my dogs behavioral issues from being attacked/harassed by the old neighbors dogs are causing issues faster than I can get him trained.

as in, he barked at the neighbor downstairs once and they decided he “lunged” at them (we were walking up the stairs and they, below us, opened their door and the noise scared him. How exactly can the dog lunge there?). Landlord called me Tuesday about it and I emailed them later with receipts of the dog trainer I’ve hired and all the precautions I’m taking to avoid any interactions with other tenants because I don’t want any accidental bites etc but I don’t know if they’re counting the false complaint against me or not. They still haven’t responded so .. don’t know how much I should be stressing but I broke a blood vessel in my eye because I’m so fucking afraid my dog will get taken away. he cannot live without me. he has epilepsy and needs to finish his rehab program and then he should be fine and a nonissue - but I don’t know that the neighbors won’t continue to complain any time they feel they don’t like that a German shepherd lives in the building (I brought up that it seems like they just don’t like GSDS because I’ve never interacted with them). Yes, he’s registered as an ESA. But that doesn’t override that the landlord can order removal of an animal if it’s a danger to other tenants. Ie, people complain.

Put that on top of how this whole year went, and I just. I’m so fucking tired. I feel like everything I’m fighting is on my own.. because it is. I don’t have anyone to help me know if I’m doing the right thing or just give me a damn hug sometimes. Or a well done.

It feels like ages ago now but just earlier this year I was panicking on where I would live because my bf at the time wanted me to move in with him but ignored the behavioral issues of my dog (basically wanted him living in a closet instead of targeting the issues). then my friend was murdered the day after my birthday. I was sexually assaulted around the same time. I spent the entire summer without air conditioning relying on a window unit in a house full of water and mold. I had to do my entire move on my own minus one day I had my old roommate to help move furniture.

my old roommate who was my ex from a year ago and would constantly bicker with his boyfriend in the house who he cheated on me with so, that was great. loved that too.

Not sleeping anymore because any time I start falling asleep my body goes into fight or flight thinking I’m going to be assaulted again. Propanolol and Xanax only do so much. I’m on 6 hours of sleep over 2 days because I’ve been having panic attacks about the possibility of fenrir getting taken away.

I don’t know what I would do. I just am spending every moment with him like the world outside the apartment is a nuclear apocalypse and avoiding people until I can trust he is less reactive. I wish it weren’t that way. We were doing so well. Now we play down the street so the neighbors won’t complain about us existing in the hallway. I don’t know, I’m just scared.

There’s not many laws protecting dog owners from false accusations. It’s pretty much, if someone complains, you are liable. Whether the claim is substantiated or not. People keep telling me to look into a lawyer to be safe, like? I can’t even afford to feed myself rn. My fridge is empty because I needed to prioritize the dog training.

I can’t sell my art online because I don’t have a computer to write Etsy listings etc. my phone is dying too and I can’t afford to replace that. I didn’t really even break even my last 3 events I vended at. fuck. I just want someone to tell me it’ll be fine and mean it.

In one year of high school, what feels like a thousand years ago, I had a very good art teacher.

She taught fundamentals, and the vast majority of our grade was based on one thing: Daily sketching. There was no quality measurement, just sketch something every day. During most class periods we warmed up with a 15 minute sketch before we ever did anything else.

I’d always loved drawing as a small child but I’d become frustrated at that point of “I can see it in my head but I can’t make that happen on paper” and decided that I just Was Not an Artist. 

Friends when I tell you that in the course of that year I improved more than I ever thought possible?

I have since let those skills lapse, but the reality is that I learned the most important thing: If I want it, if I really want it, it’s there for the taking. Practice, short sessions of daily sketching, over a year or two, will drastically improve my skill and level of satisfaction *with* that skill.

Anyways, the reason I felt like making this post is all the weird takes I’ve seen from people defending AI-generated Art, which is made by feeding thousands of other people’s art (And therefore their time and effort that they spent practicing for that art, in addition to the time and effort spent on the art itself) into a computer program Without their permission and without any intention of compensating them for their unwilling contribution.

A lot of the people defending this practice claim that it’s their only way of accessing Art. That somehow anyone asking them not to do this to their art, or even saying “Hey that’s bad to do to people” is somehow *preventing* them or gatekeeping them from ever making art themselves. And it really really really really Isn’t Doing That. They can just practice and then Make Art.

Almost literally *everybody* can afford some amount of free time in their lives, and almost literally *everybody* can afford some pencils and some paper. If you don’t want to spend yours on practicing to make art that’s fine! Don’t do that then. 

But don’t act like you’re entitled to steal the work of other people *instead* of doing the work yourself, just because you don’t want to. The only limit here, to acquiring the skills to make art yourself, is one You’ve Put Here, it’s your own decision to not spend your free time that way.

Me again. Just curious. Regarding your OCs (Vinra and Adriel), what inspired you to create them? I'm just wondering. For me, my Star Wars OC Leon was created due to a lack of nonhuman protagonists (except for Ahsoka), queer characters and neurodivergent rep in Star Wars. Sure he's basically an Armenian-Assyrian lion furry in space (Cathar! look them up) but still. (Also, speaking of which I LOVE your art style when drawing your OCs, you're a much better artist than I am for sure.) What about you

Vinra- I was watching a movie, and then had this extremely vivid image of a kid blowing kisses to an audience, and the kisses producing sparks. I’d been wanting to do an original story so I figured that was as good a start as any

Adriel- Half of her DNA is just being a quick Star Trek self-insert, but the other half is just exploring ideas Star Trek can’t afford to have as a main character on TV. I wanted to see a Trek species with wings, so I developed the Icarussians. Also the Lilac Sitcom.

I love your development for Leon, fleshing out areas of canon where particular franchises have implied but not shown in particular detail is one of my favorite fandom things.

On my art, I’m flattered but I do wish I was as good as my friends. I’m also struggling to find a good drawing program since I can’t use Medibang anymore on my laptop. My art does help visualize my writing stuff, which I suppose is all I need it for.

I guess this is as good a time as any to announce a new writing project?

This is the Sunflower Doctor, a future version of the Doctor where I don’t have to worry about modern companions/whatever Doctor’s specific personality/whatever else. I should be posting some writing for him soon. I’ve had a lot of Doctor Who ideas and with the last special really reigniting that passion I’m pretty excited. If anyone wants to throw around ideas or suggestions for him I’d love it.

I don’t visually show it here, but he’s got a sunflower motif, often picking and wearing them, as he regenerated in a field of sunflowers.

[ID: Two versions of drawing of my Doctorsona, a man with brown skin and darker brown hair, a thin beard, smiling, not quite looking at the camera. He wears a gray long-sleeved, collared shirt with a white cravat, and a dark yellow waistcoat with colorful question marks. He has dark red trousers. He’s holding a grayish-green sonic screwdriver with like accents. The second version is identical, except he’s wearing a dark green coat. /End ID]

So if y’all don’t know I do go to SCAD, and I will be staying at in the new dorms in the fall. As a student I was not told anything about the new dorm nor given a floorplan because it’s still being finished. I was under the impression it was just some old apartments being renovating for the ever-growing amount of students. I can tell you that me and my roommates were just scrambling to find a dorm to live in during the housing registration in the spring. We originally wanted to live in Boundary where we had separate rooms and a kitchen.

I did not know it used to be affordable housing. I only discovered this today while I was looking online to see if a video tour had come out yet. (It had not. My friend had shown me pictures from one of their instagram accounts yesterday and I checked the housing pages this morning.) These former apartments wouldn’t even have a kitchen in them, even though they obviously would have the facilities necessary. So we all have to get a meal plan again.

Now that alone definitely sounds like gentrifying, doesn’t it? Even without telling you we need to pay to use our washing and drying machines ($1.50 each) that have been contracted out to a separate company and that all the meal plans are outrageous. Anyone can see that this college absolutely makes money. And they apparently don’t pay taxes on it.

And yes, the town of Savannah is definitely split on it, it’s not the first time they’ve bought up the town. And they’re building a 17 story apartment building not far from it.

So where do the students fit in this? Well, because I was a freshman circa covid lockdown I never got to visit the town. So when I moved into the Hive last September, I was shocked to be greeted with protesters blaming the students for the gentrification. I didn’t even know there was gentrification in Savannah, I had never been in it or any other city for that matter. Before moving in all I knew about was Scad’s amazing programs and how established and revered they were in the art world, according to their own material of course.

It wasn’t that I started walked down Broughton did I realize there were problems here. Now I’ve seen closed down and renovating buildings before, I’ve seen homeless before. But I’ve never seen it so close to a busy street. And seeing a homeless man down the block from high-end chain stores like Lululemon and Banana Republic was an experience.

I was warned not to go over the train tracks at night, that’s where people get mugged. I heard second hand many students apparently were mugged within the first week.

I visited the Victory Village once. It’s a dorm that had a kitchen and I was hanging out with classmates there. It’s so gentrified. You see this amazing pristine building with the tallest chain linked fence I’ve ever seen, taller than the building itself, next to crumbling sidewalks.

It didn’t take any of the incoming students long to see where the problems were. Just outside our own buildings really. But what can we do? I take out a private loan every year just to attend. (I can’t believe that articles said they make $10,000 profit each student, while I took out a loan for $47,000 this year.) I’m looking for a job, within the student job portal, even though the minimum wage in Georgia is $7.25. (I’d be making $2.50 + tips if I worked at that tea house.)

So how can we help? I really don’t know. I’m just a student with no backup plan SCAD doesn’t work out for me. But when I go down in the fall I can try again. I’ve given food to the homeless but that doesn’t change the Georgia heat. Maybe I can gather some students and we can talk to admin about any sort of charity outreach. Or sponsoring some low income housing. I don’t know. I’m just rambling because I never would’ve thought I’d be this intimately close with a gentrifying source. And I feel a bit of responsibility towards it but also powerless to do anything about it.

Quick And Strategies For Redesigning

Does your home must be refurbished in various methods? Or are you presently thinking about adding an enlargement, such as a patio? If so, this article consists of many useful tips that may answer some of your questions and get you going inside the proper direction into a successful redesigning undertaking. Be sure to take into account the type of substance you intend to make use of prior to developing an add-on to your home. Making use of wooden may possibly boost your insurance costs due to included likelihood of blaze. Stainlesss steel and definite tend to be more tough and flame-resistant, so selecting one of these simple choices will help make your twelve-monthly premiums very low. When taking away cabinets included in a kitchen redesign, be sure to don't just unscrew and yank them away from the wall structure. You will more than likely turn out getting some or each of the drywall off with you. Take time and care to remove each and every screw, and employ a energy blade around the edges to destroy the caulking that was probably used to close in between the cabinet and the walls. When it comes to home improvement, have a strategy from the beginning through the finish off of the planned improvement. This can ensure that you continue to be affordable and you total your planned venture without having the psychological variables being included. https://thietkenoithat.com/tin-tuc/articleid/19535/thiet-ke-noi-that-quan-7-tphcm can be evident the two into a probable customer and to your pocketbook if your home remodeling venture is created up as you go. Deal with your door knobs, hinges along with other computer hardware with petroleum jelly just before piece of art. It is an easy way to make sure they don't get taken care of in painting. All you have to do if you are completed artwork is utilize a delicate pure cotton cloth to wipe the oil jelly in the surfaces of the hardware. 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Do android dreams of recording songs?

Since I was a little kid, I was exposed to Japanese culture a lot and of course music was part of it. Growing up, sharing my music taste with people could be a little complicated as they did not really understood the appeal of listening to a language they could not understand but the case where I had the most surprised reactions where trough the voice of the virtual idol Hatsune Miku. Indeed, she nothing more than a fictional avatar for a software voicebank commercialised by Yamaha. Quickly, one question arose, what do people like in listening to a robot voice? It is perfectly understable as most people like singers and bands because of the emotional bond their music and voice create. Miku as no will of her own and her voice does not sound really human yet she is dearly cherished by many as she delivers a bond unlike any other human musical artist can do... 

She was created in 2007 by the company Crypton Future Media to be a part of Yamaha’s new software, VOCALOID2. This program has been developed in 2004 as a tool for music composer that can’t afford or find an interpret to their songs. The technology behind VOCALOID is actually pretty simple: a human singer gets their voice recorded in the desired language with each phoneme and diphthong separated and slightly adjusted to be cohesive. It creates a powerful tool where anyone can write lyrics which will get transform into a singing voice. Then, the voice can be tuned to the a specific tone and notes as often it is possible to recognized each composer by their way of tuning Miku’s voice!  

The Boxart for the first version of Hatsune Miku for VOCALOID2 in 2007, art by KEI © Crypton Future Media.

Before Miku, few other virtual singers were released but the real change is that got a character design promoting her voicebank, which is most likely the reason she became so popular. She was drawn as a 16 year old girl in an anime style with Yamaha’s synthesizers iconic colors and design elements. This avatar paired with how easy it was to use her compared to her previous counterpart made her appeal to far more than the professional field. Quickly, amateurs musicians and japan otaku culture made original songs, cover, fan art and memes of Miku, spreading her mark all over the internet.  

Hatsune Miku became one of the biggest japanese musical phenomenon of the last decade. Crypton made sure to profit from this success and push her in many events and collaboration such as the sponsoring of the Good Smile Racing team for Grand Tour racing events! She is a huge soft power outlet use by Japan to promote japanese music and culture, a bit like the K-pop industry in Korea. Yet it’s not quite what make her so special... 

A Hatsune Miku mascot makes an appearance at Hatsune Miku Symphony 2017 with the Tokyo Philharmonic. ©Crypton Future Media

More than a weird robotic voice or a capitalistic icon, she is the representation of creative communities that expand online. The loves for her “work” come through the universes that composers make with her as their tool to connect with their audience. Crypton always kept Miku as a blank sheet, other than few staple elements of her design as her turquoise hair and eyes, anything else is left to the fan creation. The music featuring her voice range from every music genre and the topics explored can go in more difficult topics like suicide or abuse. It had help many to feel heard and find recovery in hard times as most of the work produce with her is not commercialized and thus more free with its form and message. Crypton have even created a legal license that fan can use without having to contact them to legally use Hatsune Miku’s brand in specific fan creation such as print making, cosplay and music creation!  

Hatsune Miku and many other virtual singers give people freedom of creativity beyond what any human singer could because their aims are different! Virtual singers are not human yet help the creation and humanity of musicians and artists to shine through and build together the future of their community. 

«Miku, Miku, You can call me Miku,   Blue hair, blue tie, hiding in your wi-fi,   Open secrets, anyone can find me,   Hear your music through my mind»  

are part of the first verse of the famous song Miku composed by the US band Anamanaguchi and interpreted by the virtual idol Hatsune Miku as to describe who she is to the world.