#I wish I grew up with it

[inkskinned]

the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

#writeblr #warm up #this is longer than i wanted i really considered removing that part about myself and what i went thru #but i think it really fucking bothers me that EVERY time i talk about being an artist #ppl assume i just like. had the skill and ability to drop everything and pay for grad school. #like sir i grew up poor. my house wasn't a safe space. i gave up a FREE RIDE TO LAW SCHOOL. for THIS. bc i chose it. #was it fucking hard? was i choosing the hard thing?? yes. #but we need to stop seeing artists as lazy layabouts that can ''afford'' to just ''sit around and create'' #when MANY - if not MOST - of us are NOT like that. we have to work our fucking ASSES off. hard work. long and hard work #part of valuing artists is recognizing the amount we sacrifice to make our art. bc it doesn't just #like HAPPEN to us. also btw it rarely has anything to do with true talent. #speaking as someone with a chronic condition i hate when ppl are like u have it easy. like actively as i'm writing this my hands r #ACTIVELY hurting me. i haven't been posting bc my left hand was curled in a claw for the last week #this isn't fucking luck. after a certain point it's not even TALENT. it's dedication & sacrifice. #''u get to flounce around and do nothing with ur life'' is a narrative that is a direct result of capitalism #imagine if we said that about literally any other profession. #''oh so u give up 10 yrs of ur life to be a doctor? u sacrifice having a social life and u get SUPER in debt? #u need to work countless hours and it will often be thankless? well i wish i was that lucky'' #we should be applying that logic to landlords ONLY #''oh ur mom and dad gave u the money to buy a house? and all u did was paint it white and rent it? huh.''

[bumbleboa]

of all the good reasons to have an ace headcanon for him, why would you land on this

#not maintagging this #and I wish I could say this was a singular instance #but sadly it isn't #people can be uninterested in sex without being reduced to children or having their intelligence insulted #not even mentioning that a-spectrum experience is so varied in general #the two sides of terrible asexual generalisation: unfeeling robots and children #if you say someone is too dumb or emotionally immature to understand sex #you imply that if they just grew up a little or learned a bit more they would change their mind #ace people get that kind of patronising enough we don't need the call to come from inside the house as well

[somnimagus]

My page for @kairizine. It was such a huge honor to be part of this wonderful book with everyone, I had so much fun!

[id in alt!]

#kingdom hearts #kh #kh kairi #kh xion #kh namine #i don't really feel proud of my own stuff usually but #i really think this is the drawing i'm most proud of from this past year!! it made me think 'oh maybe i can draw' haha #i'm still kinda bad with colors but something clicked with this one. and i feel like i got the sentimental feeling i wanted! #ooh but this project's about flower symbolism so ramble incoming: #protea symbolizes resilience transformation and diversity; hollyhock means 'please remember me.' #so my general theme was finding a sense of self. #these 3 have struggled with finding their own identity; they tend to get left behind both in-universe and in general plotwise #and naminé and xion both resemble kairi and were overshadowed by her memory. but i feel like all 3 have transformed into their own people #xion and naminé have their faces covered partially by hollyhock to show their wish to be remembered for who they are- #instead of the parts that they share with someone else #and the protea bouquets show how they each held on and resiliently grew into their own person despite it all #i put a little swervy path on the hill behind kairi to give that hopeful sense of growth and moving forward. it's a little hard to see #hopefully that makes sense! i really love symbolism but i think in visuals so i'm really bad with words #but gosh working with everyone on this project was so fun. it was like impossible not to get swept up by the team's hype for this zine #i need to hunt down everybody's work and rb it #ohh and everybody's flowers are so crisply drawn it's insane!! i think if i lined all these flowers and leaves i'd die haha #fan art #my art #project stuff

[somecunttookmyurl]

my boyfriend is not any flavour of queer. he says he "wishes he was" because queer people "just seem to understand the world so much" by which i assume he means we by default actually consider society wrt sex and gender, but he is unfortunately both cis and het. he's checked.

he carries around a copy of "the little book of lgbtq" in his backpack at all times in case he needs to look something up.

a good chunk of his youtube history is queer history / queer media / 'what it's like to be x' videos. he thinks all of you with the less famous identities (ie not the L G B or T) are very cool and funky and hopes you have a good day.

he knows he's straight because he has kissed men on several occasions and was not into it sexually. one of those times was a gay dude who promised to buy him drinks all night in exchange for a kiss and my boyfriend is nothing if not a wee whore. one of the others was kissing his gay friend who was depressed about not being able to hook up with anyone, because he is a very sweet wee whore.

he would do it again because he is very neutral on the kiss itself (not into it, but not grossed out by it. it's just a kiss, innit) and because he doesn't want people to be so lonely and sad that they cry in the smoking area of the club.

#i still think he has some gender fuckery going on that he hasnt unearthed yet #he grew up in a very MEN! ARE! MEN! community and is very insecure about his masculinity #he WANTS to be perceived as male but to the extent he frequently laments not being able to wear certain things bc they are 'too feminine' #and thinks women get cooler clothes than men #i mean we do but also you can just wear them it's goth attire its basically gender neutral by default #he started wearing (black) nail polish as a regular thing after we met and is just now branching out to other colours #he gets hit on by gay/bi men a lot which is funny bc he's always like #'i'm so sorry i WISH i was but i simply am not you are very handsome though'

[pineappical]

would calling this something like "the sun to his earth" be a little bit too cliche? maybe...

#ted lasso #ted lasso fanart #tedependent #trent crimm #ted x trent #I JUST GAHH!! GAAAHH!!! I HAVE MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THEM!!!!! #pn.art #YEAH IM NOT IMMUNE TO THE SUN/MOON WHATEVER THEHELL :/ #since i probably wont be able to draw what i have in mind rn id just say it now. i have this thought about stars on the ceiling and how ted #and trent grew up with different fathers. how ted had a loving dad who he wished he told him more how much he meant to ted #and trent's father being more strict. wanting him to be something else. a stronger man. someone who played football. and how glow in the #dark stars is just a core part to many kids' childhoods and how ted probably had them and trent didnt #IDK.. IDK IM THINKING ABOUT IT... im making zero sense and this is a thought that goes nowhere but i just love the imagery of it all SNIFFS #something something ted and trent being two people who didnt want to be like their fathers but in very different ways but also so similar #enough that theyll definitely buy their own kids glow in the dark stars if they asked #IM LOSING MY MIND RN. HELLO. ANYWAYS.... #EDIT: WHY DOES TUMBLR LOVE REMOVING TH E FINAL LETTER IN SOME OF THESE TAGS

[aquanutart]

chomp

#pokemon #bulbasaur #pokemon red #trainer red #pokespe #aquanutart #i drew this several years ago and i have wanted to finish it for several years because i think this is a wonderful bulbasaur #bulbasaur is thinking 'i am going to eat it!!! i am going to eat it!!! i am going to EAT IT!!!!' #i desperately wish i could draw anything for my old fandoms without feeling a need to put in a whole background #this was supposed to be just a cute scribble like you see sometimes of two characters on a blank background doing something cute #and then i was like no i've got to fully color it and here i am .....14 hours later #i did this because two days ago i found out it was red's birthday due to seeing beautiful fanarts as usual only a few hours before it ended #i thought 'this would be a great chance to quickly finish that old doodle and post it in the next couple of hours!' #and then 14 hours later... #well anyway #happy birthday red #i love and grew up reading pokemon special manga #edit: hello! i would like to thank everyone who is leaving delightful comments and tags on my bulbasaur they are making me very happy #i am very happy that many people also think this is a wonderful bulbasaur !! 🥺

[rakiah]

SO 🙏 MUCH 🙏 FEELS 🙏 AND 🙏 YELLING 🙏

#twisted wonderland #twst chap 7 spoilers #twst spoilers #twisted wonderland spoilers #vil schoenheit #rook hunt #I yelled so much at MukiMukiEpel that I forgot to take a screen LOL #PomFam #Are we gonna go back through EACH PREVIOUS CHAPTER?? #And wake up all the NRC people to beat the hell out of Malleus?? #(and resolve Overblot therapy) #cause that would be FREAKING AWESOME #OMG THIS ONE WAS FABULOUS #POMFAM FTW #They’re truly the best dorm aaaaaaa #EPEL YOU GREW SO MUCH AND BEAUTIFULLY #I’M SO PROUD OF YOU LITTLE APPLE #ROOK #DAMN ROOK #WISHING FOR NEIGE AND VIL BEING BBF #DIIDFJFJDJD DUDE #WE SEE YOU #AND WHERE IS THAT OBNOXIOUS ACTOR VIL SSR? #I WANT HIM AAAAA #[inhales] #I need to lay on the cold floor and gather my scattered feelings

[crunchchute]

Sam and Max if they were cool /j

#sam and max #crunchchute art #my art #somehow this shitposty art piece made me emotional while drawing #i miss highschool and my friends and just going on school trips and stuff listening to shitty scene music like botdf #and playing the songs on a phone close to our ears or sharing an earbud on the bus #and being fucking cringy and shit man i wish i experienced more of that #perhaps i wasted my teen years on stress and worrying so im dressing like this now to make up for it #i know you wont see this D and im sorry i was being awful to you sometimes but i liked teasing you as if you were my sibling #i really miss those times. and i know i could always reach out to you but you moved on and im still stuck so i wont. but im thinking about #you from time to time! and the little fun we had back in hs. i really felt like i could be myself when hanging out with you #and i thought about you making this piece. me as max u as sam that would fit lmao #<- hes getting sappy missing the idea of his friends 10 years ago that only exists in memories now because everyone except him grew up

[lazycranberrydoodles]

wei wuxian really put his whole pussy into the donghua yiling patriarch reveal huh

#the huge flock of crows and the green fire and the dark aura and the resentment spikes(??) #[megamind voice] PRESENTATION!!!!!! #not art #mdzs #currently looking for backgrounds for the mdzs aa au. involves rewatching parts of the animation and WOAH #sorry he killed and maimed and cannibalized and tortured all those people :/ he looked sexy doing it #the gender stored in the yiling laozu cannot be understated. GOD i wish i could cosplay him #i wish. they couldve put in the wwx/jc reunion in s1e15 :( #jiang cheng my (indecipherable noises) #hes so relieved and happy!!!!!! the reunion scene URGHRGRHRG. genuinely torturing wen chao IS a bonding moment #adn it speaks to the whole horrors of war thing.. when you have nothing left to bond over (because yunmeng burned) you bond over violence #and the fact that it is in THIS scene that its very emphasized how close they are/how much they trust each other/how they grew up together #. ouhhghhhh. #wwx is quipping at him about being a sect leader and jc is complaining about how long he was gone. they are so incredibly severely #traumabonded guys. ugh. also honorable mention to the cql after-lotus-pier-burning scene for being fucking heartbreaking. love you mwah #mdzs spoilers #at this point in time lan “cannot talk about his emotions” wangji and jiang “bitches and complains as affection” cheng and wei “arrogance #and self destructiveness" wuxian are not communicating very well. shocker #to delete l8er

[mutant-girl-mintt]

Top tier psychic mon

#art #digital art #pokemon #pokemon black and white #reuniclus #mintt's art dump #artists on tumblr #i've been using it in my X playthrough and damn i wish i grew up with white instead of black i like this thing much more than gothetelle #i mean obviously sigilyph clears as the best unova psychic but yknow

[paeyowo]

Zukka brain worms are BACK husbands ❤️

#this is one of thos ships where idk if itll ever rlly happen but damn if I dont wish it could #like the creators are lgbtq friendly and conidering cannon i thinks it would be possible from a story perspective #i just think itd be nice if we got a story abt querre adults realizing later in life or working through some stuff #especially bc this movie is when their adults and is aimed at an older audience (many of which are queer adults who grew up w avatar) #zukka #atla spoilers #atla #op being old and hopeful in the taggs like a fool

[crazy-fangirl2524]

Jeanneil and kandrew will always be my biggest what if

#if Neil had stayed/grew up in the nest I can literally see them together #tsc just proves it Idc #I love Andreil to death and I wouldn’t wish the books to end any other way but something about jeanneil and kandrew just #ofc Andreil and jerejean make sense in the canon universe but I just fucking know that in another universe kandrew and jeanneil are together #the meme where are we together in every universe and it’s just the four of them forever intertwined no matter which universe they are in #they are literally THE perfect court (riko who?) #aftg #all for the game #tfc #the foxhole court #aftg series #aftg fandom #aftg incorrect quotes #andrew minyard #neil josten #andrew joseph minyard #the sunshine court #tsc #tsc and aftg supremacy #aftg thoughts #jerejean #jean moreau #kevin day #kandrew #jeanneil #andreil #kandreil #kevneil #aftg andreil #aftg andrew

[the-nameless-wacky-inventor]

idk if I can convey to you how much these images mean to me

#was FORCED to watch this episode today and they made it worth it <333 #I didn’t grow up with the 87 series I grew up with the movie so gene is absolutely beloved HOWEVER #the humans are horrendous and the tv show-ness makes me claw my hair out #but I really. fucken wish we could get more movie references or at least more of gene #anyway. #webby vanderquack #bentina beakley #mrs beakley #mrs. beakley #ducktales #ducktales 2017 #dt17 #duckverse

[worrygutz]

#I love my cameo from Ed #he doesn’t know bad I needed to hear something like this... my health was barely mentioned in the request #right after a neglectful experience with A&E staff... #he’s such a consistently sincere guy #with an interesting brain #he’s the best #Edwin Neal #silly old man #wish I grew up with a dad like u

[beanmaster-pika]

I bet when Silver was very small he just called Malleus by name but eventually someone told him that they’re supposed to address him with a title and he stopped and Malleus, whose whole thing is that his status and strength have prevented him from forming meaningful attachments with most people and he feels isolated because of it, went home and didn’t come out of his room for three days.

#lilia: well he would have had to switch to honorifics once he was knighted anyway- #malleus staring forlornly out of a window at the rainstorm he caused: YOU don't use honorifics for me #lilia: thats bc i helped raise you i have godfather privileges #trust me on this okay. trust me. #I think usually little kids are afraid of malleus (look at him. he’s tall and intimidating) but little silver just Adored him #they grew more distant after silver and sebek began their training because silver didn’t want to be disrespectful as a knight #and malleus had to respect those wishes BUT by god was he sad about it #for the first time in his life he was family before he was a liege or heir!! #at least the care is still there and silver will remain close to him but it’s different yknow? #silver: calls malleus lord for the first time #malleus holing up in his chambers with a carton of ice cream: my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined #pika’s ramblings #twst #twisted wonderland #silver vanrouge #malleus draconia

[spotsupstuff]

as i'm workin on my Ancient stuff- i've got to say that it is really interesting and neat (read: nasty) that there's a good chance most of the Ancient population probably didn't actually wear masks. but We think they did cuz the only really solid evidence of what they looked like at all all comes from places of the higher social circles. and those strived for religious... superiority, i guess. brownie points, not actual dedication to the religion for the sake of its teachings but either because it made them look good, put them higher in the social hierarchy or whatever manipulation have you (or the flawed look upon the religion aka "we gotta get out of this cycle no matter what")

all we are left with are the bastards. the simple people and their cultures that were left to weather the Iterators' rains were simply washed away. nobody cared for their way of life- as long as it served the higher circles well and they stayed submissive (enough so that at the end everyone would take a dip in the void), nobody had to give a singular shit

just how much do we not know about the Ancients' *everything* because of this disregard? how much do we think we are right about, when such is true only for the small but privileged piece of the species?

#Spot says stuff #rw #which is why i -goes insane over oc lore again- #VIVA LA REVOLUCIÓN BAYBEEEEEE #this came to me cuz like. sparrows is very much a Bruh girl. shes a yeehaw if you know what i mean. shes kinda stumpy cuz she grew up in- #-the farms of Euros' facilities n had to haul things around. ancients from the iterator cities? or the ones on the murals? very much dont- #-look like that nah. theyre like twigs without any muscle to hold their bellies in some kinda form so they look like That. the masks- #-themselves originally became a thing for religious reasons. what reason would a farm girl have to wear a mask while workin in the fields? #yanno? it sounds mostly impractical. n down there they prolly werent such religious nutcases like the ''Higher Ones'' #sparrows' granda would have some choice words bout her havin a mask now JKVLDSMLKC he constantly complains about Euros cuz like #he remembers what it was like before Euros was turned on- man had an iterator rain free childhood n now he has to deal with This bullshit #''back in M'day we didnt hefta be runnin fro' some rain generated by an overgrown *Toaster*!!! we played in da grass for however long- #-we wished!!! sure aye it was standin there n overshadowin us from time to time but-" ''ya ya we kno granda settle down before u pull smth' #iterators r so fucking terrifying