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I'll be throwing everyone's names into a randomizer on April 10th and pull 4 times to see the winners. I'll publicly post the winners here, and then DM to see what they'd like to request!
Thank you everyone this is extremely unexpected!?
Must have already been a follower before this post to participate!
Requests for winners still follow my commission rules I'll put it under the cut here
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A general cane guide for writers and artists (from a cane user, writer, and artist!)
Disclaimer: Though I have been using a cane for 6 years, I am not a doctor, nor am I by any means an expert. This guide is true to my experience, but there are as many ways to use a cane as there are cane users!
This guide will not include: White canes for blindness, crutches, walkers, or wheelchairs as I have no personal experience with these.
This is meant to be a general guide to get you started and avoid some common mishaps/misconceptions, but you absolutely should continue to do your own research outside of this guide!
The biggest recurring problem I've seen is using the cane on the wrong side. The cane goes on the opposite side of the pain! If your character has even-sided pain or needs it for balance/weakness, then use the cane in the non-dominant hand to keep the dominant hand free. Some cane users also switch sides to give their arm a rest!
A cane takes about 20% of your weight off the opposite leg. It should fit within your natural gait and become something of an extension of your body. If you need more weight off than 20%, then crutches, a walker, or a wheelchair is needed.
Putting more pressure on the cane, using it on the wrong side, or having it at the wrong height will make it less effective, and can cause long term damage to your body from improper pressure and posture. (Hugh Laurie genuinely hurt his body from years of using a cane wrong on House!)
(an animated GIF of a cane matching the natural walking gait. It turns red when pressure is placed on it.)
When going up and down stairs, there is an ideal standard: You want to use the handrail and the cane at the same time, or prioritize the handrail if it's only on one side. When going up stairs you lead with your good leg and follow with the cane and hurt leg together. When going down stairs you lead with the cane, then the good leg, and THEN the leg that needs help.
Realistically though, many people don't move out of the way for cane users to access the railing, many stairs don't have railings, and many are wet, rusty, or generally not ideal to grip.
In these cases, if you have a friend nearby, holding on to them is a good idea. Or, take it one step at a time carefully if you're alone.
Now we come to a very common mistake I see... Using fashion canes for medical use!
(These are 4 broad shapes, but there is INCREDIBLE variation in cane handles. Research heavily what will be best for your character's specific needs!)
The handle is the contact point for all the weight you're putting on your cane, and that pressure is being put onto your hand, wrist, and shoulder. So the shape is very important for long term use!
Knob handles (and very decorative handles) are not used for medical use for this reason. It adds extra stress to the body and can damage your hand to put constant pressure onto these painful shapes.
The weight of a cane is also incredibly important, as a heavier cane will cause wear on your body much faster. When you're using it all day, it gets heavy fast! If your character struggles with weakness, then they won't want a heavy cane if they can help it!
This is also part of why sword canes aren't usually very viable for medical use (along with them usually being knob handles) is that swords are extra weight!
However, a small knife or perhaps a retractable blade hidden within the base might be viable even for weak characters.
Bases have a lot of variability as well, and the modern standard is generally adjustable bases. Adjustable canes are very handy if your character regularly changes shoe height, for instance (gotta keep the height at your hip!)
Canes help on most terrain with their standard base and structure. But for some terrain, you might want a different base, or to forego the cane entirely! This article covers it pretty well.
Many cane users decorate their canes! Stickers are incredibly common, and painting canes is relatively common as well! You'll also see people replacing the standard wrist strap with a personalized one, or even adding a small charm to the ring the strap connects to. (nothing too large, or it gets annoying as the cane is swinging around everywhere)
(my canes, for reference)
If your character uses a cane full time, then they might also have multiple canes that look different aesthetically to match their outfits!
When it comes to practical things outside of the cane, you reasonably only have one hand available while it's being used. Many people will hook their cane onto their arm or let it dangle on the strap (if they have one) while using their cane arm, but it's often significantly less convenient than 2 hands. But, if you need 2 hands, then it's either setting the cane down or letting it hang!
For this reason, optimizing one handed use is ideal! Keeping bags/items on the side of your free hand helps keep your items accessible.
When sitting, the cane either leans against a wall or table, goes under the chair, or hooks onto the back of the chair. (It often falls when hanging off of a chair, in my experience)
When getting up, the user will either use their cane to help them balance/support as they stand, or get up and then grab their cane. This depends on what it's being used for (balance vs pain when walking, for instance!)
That's everything I can think of for now. Thank you for reading my long-but-absolutely-not-comprehensive list of things to keep in mind when writing or drawing a cane user!
Happy disability pride month! Go forth and make more characters use canes!!!
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Could you do these 💥😺🪄 for monkie kid fandom ?
This was a challenging but fun design 🤧 (But thank you for sending this! It was, as I said, a fun challenge)
For some reason when I saw the kitty emoji, I immediately thought Tiger so I ran with it.
One thing I noticed as well, was when working on this design, I tended to forget or not know how to include the explosion emoji so I decided to have it be a factor that's a part of their backstory. (This might be a recurring thing for other designs)
With the wand emoji, I had it be a weapon and plays into his backstory as well.
Initially I wanted to stay in my comfort zone but decided to do something I hadn't really done before. Hence Laohu was born! His name is what it is as he worked and grew up in the celestial realm but he wasn't respected at all. Looked down by many expect one person, who plays a huge role in his backstory (and is linked to the stars 👀) . But that's something else for another day.
For now, I'm satisfied with the design but I will definitely go back and refine or redesign some elements. Overall, I had fun :3
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How to structure a chapter
Writing a chapter for the first time can be overwhelming, because well… what actually makes a chapter?
Really, it’s entirely up to you. But I know that’s useless advice, so here are some steps I personally use to help you structure your chapter effectively
📌 Step 1 - Determine the main point of your chapter
What is a singular plot point, event, character arc point, or relationship progression/regression that you would like to dedicate this chapter to?
📌 Step 2 - Determine the change
What changes in this chapter? Whatever event you decided to tackle, it should show a different situation at the beginning of your chapter from the end. What happened that changed that initial situation you opened with?
📌 Step 3 - Determine the scenes
Now that you’ve got the main idea of your chapter down, and you know it showcases a change, you can get a bit more detailed with it. Separate it into scenes by thinking of the locations where this change takes place.
Each new location = a new scene.
📌 Step 4 - Determine the beats
Beats are an even smaller story structure element than scenes. It’s anything important that happens within a scene, it’s anything worth noting down.
Here's an example of a simple chapter breakdown →
Chapter 1
Annie’s first day at school after a car accident she was involved in the previous week. She goes from accepting help to proving she doesn’t need it.
Scene 1 (bus)
Annie is hesitant to get on the bus
With the help of her best friend, she manages the trip to school
Scene 2 (class)
teacher is shocked to see Annie back so quickly
Annie feels annoyed by the extra attention on her
Scene 3 (lunch)
Annie’s friends treat her as if she’s going to break
the drama teacher comes by to announce a new play, but tells Annie she’s excused under the circumstances
Scene 4 (hallway)
Annie signs up for the lead of the project to prove she’s fine
By the way...
Plotter’s Almanac is dropping in just 4 days! This book will guide you in outlining your project from beginning to end, and shine light on the things you should focus on when you actually start to write!
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