simply-jason

[simply-jason]

2023 VIRTUAL PHOTOGRAPHY RECAP

This is the first year I can actually do this, but wow!

I had a lot of fun dipping my toes into the virtual photography scene, and I've learned a lot over the year regarding establishing shots (be it via photomode or through cutscences) and how to minimally edit photographs to keep them as "vanilla" as possible.

Of course, there are limitations that come with being a console-only player (at least outside of The Sims) and trying to do all this, but I've had a lot of fun navigating that learning curve!

These are all OC focused, as well (minus a select few). I can't help myself <3

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Here's a list of the pieces featured:

JANUARY — N/A

FEBRUARY — Laverne Alba & Grayson "Gramps" Dean (Grand Theft Auto 5/Online)

MARCH — Jill Valentine (S.T.A.R.S Outfit; Resident Evil 3 Remake)

APRIL — Bailey Hill (Watch Dogs; Made in The Sims 4)

MAY — Virgil Hendrix (Saints Row)

JUNE — Uthgerd the Unbroken & Ishza V'atze (TES V: Skyrim)

JULY — Deputy Marion Scott Mitchell (Far Cry 5)

AUGUST — Antonia "Nomad" Perryman (Ghost Recon: Breakpoint)

SEPTEMBER — Laverne Alba (Grand Theft Auto 5/Online)

OCTOBER — Laverne Alba (Grand Theft Auto 5/Online; This one was a joke shoot and I still love it)

NOVEMBER — Imani Noelle Davis; Courier Six (Fallout: New Vegas)

DECEMBER — Antonia "Nomad" Perryman (Ghost Recon: Breakpoint)

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Here's to (hopefully) more fun to come!

#txt #pic #virtual photography #2023 vp recap

[simply-jason]

"Defying the Default"- Skin Tones and the Presence of Black Characters

Okay, this one is going to be half lesson and half a thought experiment- it may get a bit frustrating, as conversations like this often do- but remember, discomfort is not always a bad thing! So I ask that you walk with me for this one.

It’s also interesting, because I’m going to direct this towards everyone (readers included!), but specifically towards my fanfic writers of media with no visual medium, as I’ve noticed this pattern there, and it makes up a good amount of creators on this site. Okay? Okay.

Behold! Many shades of brown!

I had to wade through a lot of colorism for this, and even this link is subtly racist in its introduction- the idea that brown is ‘unexciting’ 🙄.

Anyway, you know where I’m going with this:

"Chocolate and Coffee"

Even the link above pulled this! Writers who use this... they’re not ‘wrong’ per se but… often uninspired. It feels... Lazy. When you can tell an author has put no thought into the brown of choice, it makes Black readers feel like you believe these are the only shades of brown- that that’s all we look like. Even chocolate is more diverse (white, milk, dark, marbled, cookies and cream?) Coffee can come in numerous shades as well (light, medium, dark roast? Type of bean?)

My first direction to help with this: make it a point to know what shade that character is (whether canonically, or if you're the original creator, look at a reference and write it down) and find a name! Be consistent! Find similar browns to one another. If the canon Black character's skin color is done poorly, find something similar and use that! (I'll get more into this in the next lesson!)

Our skin colors may modify as we age, it changes over the seasons/presence in the sun, and some people even have vitiligo! But we're not gonna be “dark roast coffee” one morning and “light milk chocolate” suddenly. We're not chameleons lmao.

And you know what? That shade you choose might very well be 'coffee'! But it's not going to be because you didn't look and assumed we're all some random brown! That’s the intent showing! If we can find endless ways to describe the beauty of white/pale skin, we absolutely can for brown! Be willing to unpack why you may not believe brown to be capable of beauty, and work through unlearning that- it will show in your writing! One way is by pausing with yourself, and recognizing when you had a biased thought. Even by this, you’re learning!

Here’s where I want us to get into the thought experiment:

I want you to think about the description of characters in stories (as a whole). Challenge yourself- in the fics and stories you read, how often is anyone blatantly labeled 'White'? Read a story or fic; how long can you imagine them as not-White before it's ever clarified? Because not even 'pale' automatically implies a White person!

You know how I’ve mentioned before that 'Black people are not a monolith'? I can find you at least some examples of Black people fitting some of the common descriptions of white characters.

"Brunette with brown eyes"

(Fun fact: I actually learned back in my Masters program that genetically no one has ‘black’ hair- our eyes are processing it as black, but it’s really just dark brown due to eumelanin. Regardless, if you stand us in the direct sunlight, you will see that our hair is usually just dark brown!)

"Red hair with pale skin"

“‘tanned’ skin with hazel/green eyes”

“blond hair" (period!)

Now, I’m not saying that blond haired Black people or Black folk with albinism are overly representative of my people. What I AM saying is that it needs to not be taken for granted that a reader is automatically assuming a character is White in your piece of fiction- I can assume your character looks like anything if it's not stated! Especially if the OG source is a book or a podcast! We’re just used to assigning these features- and characters- as white until ‘proven not’! The default!

I am guilty of this too! Even still, I reread many of my works and go ‘ah, I didn’t clarify.’ And I have to work on doing better at it. This is having intent for your Black characters, but really, it’s having intent for all of them!

(This doesn't mean going “the Black man said,” the way sometimes people say “the Chinese said” (which…. Tbh we should all stop doing that anyway, it's weird and racist))

My Next Challenge:

Some people may disagree, but- Ahem:

Say BLACK!

Breathe lmao! Take the time to recognize that it's OKAY to introduce a character as Black, to say Black, it's fine! Obviously be sensitive about it, don't shove it in there to “win your diversity points”, but like… People are Black. It's not a bad word. What matters is the context in which you used it!

You don't even have to say it every single time. Really just the first, introductory sentence will do. For example:

“[Character A], a bright, young, Black girl with knotless braids to her mid back, glittering hair clips matching her bright green t-shirt, and a brilliant smile that shined against her bistre skin.”

I recognize that some might argue that by saying “bistre”, you don't need to say Black. But 1) you don't have to be Black to be brown or dark skinned, and 2) There's a social stigma behind even saying Black- of discussing race in general, because it leads to discomfort. Race (as a sociological construct) exists. When we say nothing about it, allowing Whiteness to be the default, we're still emphasizing race, however silently! If you're already doing it... Why not mention it? 🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️

(here's a good clip of Ijeoma Oluo discussing the difficulty of discussing race; while I highly recommend the whole thing, the relevant clip is 4:25-5:39)

Maybe they're in the Black student organization in a lead position, maybe they're in a Black main cast of a play- it's okay to have those things in the story to help develop the idea that your Black character is actively Black! Just do your research to make sure you’re not leaning into stereotypes!

“There’s no races in my fantasy/future world!”

That’s fair! But I want to give you an example of how people will still project these identities onto your characters anyway:

No one has an explicitly stated 'race' in Avatar: The Last Airbender (afaik); they’re all divided by element culture. YET, many people were offended that a mixed-Korean actress was cast in her role in the live action- they ‘just didn’t see it’, because subconsciously they'd imagined her ‘face claims’ as WHITE, despite it never once being mentioned in the canon! (there’s also a firm sexualization and east Asian fetishization argument to be made about it, but that’s not within the scope of this particular conversation.)

Point is, if you are including humanoid characters in your fantasy stories, fine. You don't need to say ‘Black’ outright. But, that just means that you’re going to have to be even more detailed in your description. Because if I were watching a TV show and a Black actor shows up as an elf… I know what features I’m seeing! Entire protests have occurred over the casting of Black actors in a role ‘meant for a white person’; so... everyone sees it!

Conclusion

This is another reason why intention in character design and writing is important! Context clues and socialization help me understand who your character is. If it works like this for white characters, it can work like that for everyone else! You just have to know enough about me to write it in (and that's where the social and societal bias lie, because how much do you really know about me?)

A way to better understand this is reading books by Black authors (for fantasy, I would highly recommend Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko and Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi) as well as Black literary classics! Finding and reading Black fic authors in fandoms with Black characters! By learning how we describe ourselves and our skin colors, you’ll learn and practice how to appropriately describe us!

Now I can't make you do any of this! But I do want you all- writers especially- to start noticing our bias, how we may default to the experience of whiteness- and how that affects the way we write. When we have Black characters, and really any character of color, we need to start paying attention to how often their features, culture, and activities are emphasized, even for what we may consider to be 'background' details. That’s how we normalize creation and understanding, and become better at writing!

It’s just something to practice; remember, it’s the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!

In addition, if you are interested in a simple read into why approaching race is so uncomfortable as a whole, I've attached Robin DiAngelo's book here! Thank you to the PDF guru @toiletpotato for the link!

#important #save for later

[simply-jason]

Hold the fuck on no way WW3 jokes are trending on Twitter when this is an extremely serious situation that’s threatening to destabilize an entire region. No way everyone’s gleefully looking at this as if it’s the grand show finale they’ve been waiting all along. There is no fucking way

#important

[simply-jason]

#comfort #fave #posts that shouldn't make me cry but do-

[simply-jason]

in honor of co-starring on vendetta's channel, i decided to revamp my own branding! this is a look at the channel header & icon i use, with "little jay" having been drawn by vendetta.

and yes, it's based on the fuck around and find out meme :3

#txt #pic

[simply-jason]

🌨COMMISSIONS OPEN🌨

Classical/popular paintings redraws!

•Pricing ranges from 55€ to 145€+ depending on detail and amount of characters!

•Any painting is fair game even if I drew it already

•Will draw existing fictional characters, OC's and real people

•No additional charges for changes in clothing and bg/color changes to match the aesthetic of the character(s)

Here are some examples next to original paintings <3

#bump!

[simply-jason]

WOAGH! i talk??? in a video??? it's more likely than you think!

anyway, i've been a guest star over on @vendettapandav 's new channel, so feel free to check out our first dive into dead signal hell!

#txt #self promo #dead signal

[simply-jason]

[ DO NOT STEAL / REPOST ELSEWHERE; REBLOGS APPRECIATED ]

hiii it's luna from scrutinized ♡ bit of a headcanon-based appearance, but whatever we stay silly! i just love her sm

#txt #pic #my art #wttg #scrutinized #luna youngman

[simply-jason]

2023 ART RECAP

Boy howdy it has been. A year. But we persist; we stay silly. No template because I simply did not feel like editing it, so... here's my top picks from each month!

... Almost, anyway. I didn't do anything in April, and nothing this month (December).

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Here's a list of the pieces featured:

JANUARY — Monika "IQ" Weiss; Rainbow Six: Siege

FEBRUARY — Jen Daniels; Grand Theft Auto (Original Character belongs to @perpetuagf )

MARCH — Abigail Marston; Red Dead Redemption 2 (Birthday gift for @scarfacemarston )

APRIL — N/A

MAY — Din Djarin, aka The Mandalorian; Star Wars

JUNE — Jodie Kane; Hannibal (My Original Charactee; originally drafted as a Dead by Daylight Original Character)

JULY — Hanako Arasaka; Cyberpunk 2077 (Redraw of a 2022 piece)

AUGUST — Bailey Hill; Watch Dogs (My Original Character)

SEPTEMBER — Bailey Hill; Watch Dogs (My Original Character)

OCTOBER — Maxwell Hill; Watch Dogs (My Original Character)

NOVEMBER — Unnamed NPC; Grand Theft Auto

DECEMBER — N/A

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This was definitely a year of (re)finding my style and experimenting with aesthetics, and I'd say it was successful. I genuinely enjoy the things I've made and can see how I've improved between last year and this year. Especially in terms of coloring/rendering.

#txt #pic #my art #2023 art summary

[simply-jason]

filterable picrew database!

original post updated march 7 2024

hey pals!! i'm working on a filterable, tagged collection of picrew i like. right now there's over 100 picrew (and other such makers such as those from neka or meiker) in there with tags for things like fashion, hair options, skin colors, specific features like horns or headscarves, and body types. you can search for multiple tags at a time and filter out tags you don't want. the whole thing is organized in a big grid of sample results from the picrew in question, so you can see the style at a glance and click it for more images and the url, but you can change the view and organization system however you like.

the link is here!!! feel free to share this wherever. i'm still going through my folders and adding more makers, so expect lots of updates real soon.

i'm hoping this makes it easier for people to find picrew that suit them and their characters, especially in cases where it's unfortunately harder to find certain features like dark skin options and fat bodies.

really important notes:

i do not take requests for additional tags. sorry!! please understand that every time i want to use a new tag, i have to manually go into every maker in the entire backlog and check to see if they have it. it's a pain! it takes a while! there's only one of me! the only circumstance under which i'm willing to add a new tag is if you're willing to go through the backlog and link me every picrew that needs the tag, and i can use it going forward.

if something is tagged wrong, i need to know which maker it is so i can fix it. you need to tell me! the most useful way to send me a specific picrew is a direct link, or the artist name (which will be the title when you click into the item in the database). sometimes i get vague comments like "there are makers in x tag that don't fit" and no one EVER follows up with which ones they are so i can't FIX IT.

one big thing that you can do to help me with this database is take one of the links on my tba page and tell me what tags apply to it. literally just one! enough folks see and use this resource that just a few people taking one takes a load off my plate.

💖🍵 if this resource has been useful for you, consider sending me a tip on ko-fi!!

have fun!!!! i hope this is helpful for people!!!

#save for later #ooh!!! #saluting you fr op o7 o7

[simply-jason]

howdy! my name's jason (they/it/xe/pup ; es/xier auf deutsch!) and i'm a variety content creator on various social platforms!

this blog is meant to serve as an archive... thing, since i've changed my url on main, but obviously don't want to lose my branding... since i go by simply jason (or some variant) pretty much everywhere else.

so it's not going to be super active, but i'll have a queue kinda going to post things from my main blog and create a timeline kinda thing of my work

and who knows, maybe any actual new content i create youtube wise i'll just post for here!

#pinned post