A few years ago I did a commission SOS Bulgaria, an organization that supports children across the country. The task was to make illustrations for a small booklet that kids going to meet with a therapist would be given to read while waiting.

It was a short but sweet story about a small boy who's become a problem child after being bullied in school (I personally believe that the main character was perfectly justified in attacking his bullies but perhaps telling this to children would send the wrong message, lol).

In any case, this was a project I did several years ago. Looking back, I am happy to see how much my style has evolved. I still need to draw more though.

Transgender people are now banned from legally changing their gender in Bulgaria, according to the country’s Supreme Court, which issued a ruling that is automatically binding on all other courts. “The current law does not provide for the possibility for the court to allow the change of the data regarding the gender, name and uniform civil number in the acts of civil status of an applicant who claims to be transgender,” the decision states. Until now, some Bulgarian judges assumed that the legislation in the country allows legal gender change, but only explicitly after a court decision. In the Supreme Court, however, other judges ruled in the opposite direction, and the country was condemned several times in cases before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for the lack of a clear regulation. (...) The decision was dedicated to the sharp political and public debate on the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, which was finally repelled after a campaign filled with misinformation spread by nationalist parties on social networks.

this isn't just a uk or north-america problem. it's worldwide, and that's not a coincidence. right-wingers everywhere are coordinating in suppressing trans people, sometimes as part of an open effort to also suppress all queer people and gender non-conformity, as well as abortion and equal rights for women; sometimes it's more covert (like in the uk). but here it's overt. the same tactics and use of social media, the same arguments, the same end goals--it isn't simply a usamerican conservative or uk terf thing. it's everywhere and in some countries the situation is becoming that much more dire with little pushback or acknowledgement.

are we still drawing our babygirls like this or,,,,?

mochidex cards be upon ye.

the tags are going to be a hell hole but alas

Meme

Reblog game time! Imagine a person who is considering moving to your country. Tell me in the tags one reason they should move there & one reason they shouldn’t.

How could you How could I

love me? not love you?

This probably looks weird on pc

The Crew and Bulgarian cuisine in Varna

First off, Jonathan. I think he would want to try Shkembe (Bulgarian tripe soup), and love it. Tripe soup isn't common in England, but we know he is open to new experiences and that he is daring. Plus, he used to be poor and it's likely he's been having similar cuts of meat, which was most affordable in England. Tripe soup has variations in Southeastern Europe and the Middle East, but the Bulgarian version adds paprika in particular and, in fact, claims the more paprika, the better. (imo it's up to your spice taste)

Is he trying any in Varna? I say yes. Because tripe soup places are traditionally open all night and morning because they're commonly visited around dawn by graveyard-shift working-class people, sailors, and people who drank the night away. Because it settles the stomach.

After Mina's dawn report, he sometimes goes there to eat, after another night of being up with Mina. He's not been very hungry, but he tries to eat... He needs his strength. He of course asks for extra paprika. He needs to feel somewhat alive.

I see Mina liking fish, and Varna is a sea town. I base this on her surname and her strong affinity with the seashore, mostly. She would really like deep-fried sprats (tsatsa), herring-like fish with lemon and fries. Sort of reminds her of home with its fish and chips. She would like the various Black Sea fishes like shad and goby, and mussels. She avoids going out when she's awake, but Jonathan knows her tastes and brings her seafood.

She tries to eat like a normal human, for him. It gets less and less easier.

Van Helsing may have tried a few Balkan dishes before but I think that he would like local Lozomi Sarmi. Rice/veggie/herb-stuffed grape leaves are a staple starter in the Balkans. I see him in general preferring vegetarian dishes but he'll have some of the ground meat stuffed ones. Dipped in Bulgarian yogurt.

Quincey is a meat lover to me and I can see him loving Meshana Skara, aka assorted meat dish, that includes meatballs, the famous kebapche, steak, and pita. Arthur isn't a lover of the local cuisine but he will try it if his friends are having it. It's what he usually does in their travels. But he eats plenty of Bulgarian yogurt, Kiselo Mlyako. It's sour, and he prefers it that way, than adding honey.

Jack likes trying new things and assessing them, he'll try almost anything once. It's autumn and getting chillier at the seaport, so he opts for warmer food like Gyuvech, a vegetable casserole with beef and potatoes in red sauce.

His insomnia sometimes brings him to overnight restaurants. Sometimes, after dawn, he sees Jonathan there. They sit and eat and smoke together, mostly in silence.

This illustration of a dollhouse is a part of the series with the kid and the therapy sessions. This was an actual dollhouse the people who commissioned it had at their studio, which was used in the sessions. Children would be asked to rearrange the house and the furniture in an exercise that would calm them down and help them feel at ease before talking about their problems. The age of this illustration is starting to show but I still remember having a lot of fun drawing it.

I need him to just snap one day

Long-haired romance boys~ and a bonus uvu

long story short, it was a bad time

long story short, I survived

happy march 3rd!!

"Childhood toys," ref. exhibition at Sofia History Museum, August 2023.

screen print technique.

[ID: a colourful digital drawing reminiscent of vintage screen print style, depicting a variety of children's toys from sixties-seventies Bulgaria. Among the toys included are a miniature sewing machine, a teddy bear, a plush rabbit, tennis racquets, dolls, and a plush tiger. ID]

New official chibi art featuring Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova!

*trying desperately to insist that homophobia is all caused by russian propaganda and fucking lithuania would be an LGBT paradise otherwise*