#I’m going to share some artist suggestions in another post

[chris-sales-belly-ring]

I haven’t started reading yet, but I’m so excited that Alice Randall’s book exists.

I’ve had my share of ups and downs while being a Black woman in mostly white (and male) country music fan spaces.

There are people who look at me and think that I don’t belong. They don’t think that I love “real” country music. They question my legitimacy. They question the motives of all Black country artists.

Back in 2020, I responded to one of my favorite Black country singer’s tweet showing my love and support.

She responded so beautifully and this is why I’m so vocal with my support. This is why I stream and share their music. This is why I go to their shows and participate in meet and greets when I can.

I want the current and next generations of Black country music fans and artists to have a more inclusive and permanent place in the genre. I want the generations that got erased and got pushed out of the genre to be celebrated and recognized. Without them blazing the trail, so many of us may have never carved out our own spaces.

#Black girls like country too #Brittney Spencer #Blanco Brown #Shy Carter #Mickey Guyton #Reyna Robert’s #I’m going to share some artist suggestions in another post

[kulapti]

Aug 2023, bookbinding of The Silent Isle Imbowers by Tharkuun.

I’m sooo so so pleased to finally share this! I have been actively working on this for many months and waited until Tharkuun received her copy before posting so the final result would be a surprise.

-----------About this bookbinding under the cut

This binding has been one of the more elaborate pieces I have attempted so far. This has been my first binding where I (1) made three copies of a piece at once, (2) used a modified a historical illustration, (3) collaborated directly with another artist on the decorative elements, (4) finished matching art for the cover and title page, and (5) layered paint and heat-transfer vinyl for the covers. These are also (6) the first non-tiny books I have made with this style of hinge and cover attachment.

Pretty much immediately after I first read this story I felt I had to make myself a copy of this. I had a strong mental image of a vintage-looking cover for a fairy tale, with a deceptively simple design of flowers on the cover, probably with fancy metallic accents, the kind of thing you’d find in an interesting used bookstore with no summary, no text on the back, no dust jacket, just the flowers and maybe a title. I’m going to make a separate post about making this cover design a reality because oh man has it been a journey lol! I designed and drew the digital art for the cover (digital because of the cut and application method), as well as the corresponding title page illustration (pencil and dip pen, scanned, title added digitally).

When I asked Tharkuun about it she was excited to suggest I get in touch with quillingwords, who generously agreed to collaborate with me! Among her talents quilling writes calligraphy, and hand wrote both the book title and chapter headers for me to incorporate into my plans. Check OUT those chapter headers! So fancy! A font could never!! Quilling has also been very encouraging and let me yell about this project in dms for months so the final result could be a surprise for Tharkuun. Thank u so much quillingwords, your calligraphy adds invaluable amounts of swag to this project.

I was going to do some kinda neat font for the chapter headers, but quilling’s work is too cool for that and I decided to use a modified piece of a historical illustration instead. The illustration also happens to be cool as heck: I was browsing the Artstor database (an academic quality resource available for free via Jstor, my beloved) and found E. N. Neureuther's 1836 gorgeous etching for etching of the fairy tale Briar Rose, an illustration made for a printing of a Brothers Grimm recorded German fairy tale with Sleeping Beauty elements. Much to my delight this illustration not only matches the general look I wanted but is actually relevant to the story, itself a Sleeping Beauty spinoff.

Slightly less stylistically consistent are the endpapers, which are prints of two different paintings by Arnold Böcklin: Isle of the Dead (1883) in the front and Isle of Life (1888). The first painting had occurred to me as an excellent visual to go with the story, and Tharkuun and I discussed this and agreed that pairing it with the related later, more optimistic piece was too thematically appropriate to resist.

I had fun and learned a lot making these books and I am very pleased with the result!!

Materials: Archival bookboard, cardstock, cotton cheesecloth mull, archival PVA glue, linen thread coated in beeswax, paper cord, red cotton embroidery floss. Blue cotton backed with archival paper, acrylic paint, machine cut black and gold heat-transfer vinyl. Laser printed text and illustrations. Metallic scrapbooking paper.

#artists on tumblr #bookbinding #ficbinding #fanbinding #dreamling #my art #here there be fandom #the sandman #the silent isle imbowers #tharkuun #described #id in alt text #pls imagine me screaming continuously about this project for oh idk 4 or 5 months? oh I can make shiny books?? #im not allowed to @ people in this post apparently #links and fic rec in reblog #laying on the floor I found a few missing words I must have deleted on accident while fixing formatting #poppies (Papaver somniferum) and mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) #tailfeather binding

[nights-at-crystarium]

As a twitter/tumblr user since 2010-2011, I believe I have sufficient grounds to say that currently we as a community are living through the scariest, shittiest time yet. This post isn’t trying to fearmonger, no I’m not leaving tumblr until it literally keels over, but I suggest that we don’t put all our eggs in one basket.

If twitter/tumblr stay usable, great! In the worse scenario, you’d have kept posting on a new platform and stayed ahead of the curve.

This post shares my personal experience with three potential “new”* fandom places, and is aimed to help fellow content creators. I’m an artist fully depending on internet to survive, my reasoning may not apply to you if you’re a hobbyist. Do your own research, it’s always healthy. * Pillowfort and mastodon have been around for 5+ years, bluesky is ~2 years old.

Discovering new people to follow kinda sucks on all three platforms, twitter and tumblr are eons ahead, but, given the recent chaos and uncertainty, I’m willing to be patient, keep posting on those, and feel safer than I would’ve otherwise been. More baskets good, one basket bad.

All three have poor visual customization, don’t expect custom tumblr themes.

This list starts with the least popular, but most human and easy to join, and what I personally trust the most. All three allow nsfw if labeled properly.

✦ Pillowfort is a barebones tumblr. Intuitive, cozy, but currently very, very small. Be patient with its clunkiness or lack of some features, it’s made by an AO3-like team. I’d personally love if the fandom crowd managed to redirect its attention to it instead of the sus bluesky.

Joining: is free, invite-only, but the waitlist is nearly instant.

Lurk around on their official tumblr: @/pillowfort-social

✦ Mastodon, for me personally, is impossible to explain directly. I’ll use several comparisons.

- Discord but all servers can interact. You’re still on a server curated by some human(s) that might tell you what you can and can’t post, BUT, if you don’t like that server’s policy, you can move to a new one while keeping your followers. - Email, users A and B may be registered on different domains, still they can talk. It’s a weird comparison, but fediverse (please I’m not explaining THAT but it’s a good thing) in general looks like another email story: unlike big sites that come and go, it might stand the test of time. - Someone compared mastodon’s structure to xiv’s dc and servers, if you look at its domain names that way, it might be easier to understand.

Depending on user, mastodon may feel gatekeepy/snowflakey. I haven’t spent enough time on there to form a proper opinion yet, but a warning’s due.

An actually good and hopeful thing about mastodon AND tumblr: the two might start interacting in future. Ever lamented that your fav asian artists don’t use tumblr? If they use misskey, or any other place on the fediverse, it might be possible to follow them directly from tumblr in future, and vice versa.

Joining: is free, however some servers close for new members sometimes, and have human moderators reviewing your request.

✦ Bluesky is a twitter without Musk: today’s average internet user reads this, drops everything and already looks to register there. It’s still sus, but people flock to it like crazy. Most likely to become the next big fandom place in my eyes, even if I’m not happy about that.

I personally have no good feelings about bluesky. Same as twitter, which I hated even before the 2018 tumblr exodus, yet the crowd decided to make it The New Fandom Place, and, grudgingly, I had to give up and also join them in 2022. During the year I haven’t stopped despising twitter, yet, I can’t deny that it helped me survive. I estimate half of my patrons, and, hell, even tumblr audience, comes from twitter. So, if bluesky ends up being the next hot shit, I’ll have to keep up because internet pays for my living.

Joining: is free but hell, invite-only, the waitlist is a lie, your best chance to join is a direct invite.

This’s all I’ve got to say for now. If you have a correction or an addition, replies/reblogs are welcome!

Screenshots of the current interfaces under the cut, you may spy on my profiles o/

Pillowfort

Mastodon.art

Bluesky

#i grabbed a name on cohost and inkblot too but those interfaces instantly turned me away #also i'm not covering the mobile apps since i'm a pc-only user #social media #pillowfort #mastodon #bluesky #text post #long post #this already started making rounds but i wanted to add about algorithms #all three seem to have no algorithm atm #only 100% about pillowfort tho

[strawbeerossi]

One Margarita

Pairing: Fem!Reader x Luke Alvez

Description: When a popular tiktok song makes its rounds around the BAU, the poor men of the BAU have to listen to the women belt it out constantly.

Content/Warnings: Pure fluff honestly, the whole team is silly, the girls have fun, suggestive dialogue, dramatics of Spencer Reid

Word Count: 0.8K

Navigation || Masterlist || Request

Another post I’ve had locked away for a while! Sorry for not posting this last night as promised, I had entirely too much to drink last night lmao.

Tagging my two besties @daddy-dotcom and @rainaaaskyy

There were some songs that were just meant to be catchy, no matter how annoying they could be. The rise of catchy songs came with the likes of TikTok, especially when it is filled with people who get famous for dancing to the most random songs or it inspired artists get their work into the world.

Some songs were made for humor related purposes, which birthed some of the most catchy pieces of music that would have anyone driving the surrounding people insane. Case in point, Penelope came into work excited to show the girls of the office one song she found on the app. 

At first, they made fun of it and they all had their laughs, then the five of them put together a dance for themselves. That made the rest of the BAU endure the group acting like a group of teenagers who just had their favorite band release a new song that they needed to listen to until they got sick of it.

Spencer felt like he was going insane, Matt couldn’t help but laugh every time they broke out into their own song, Dave just thought they were insane but he found himself humming along with the girls, then there was Luke who thought it was the most amusing thing he’d ever seen. It was like Y/N would sing it everywhere and even if the song was one of the dumbest ones he heard, he’d admit that it was catchy.

That was why he’d belt it around their shared apartment, which would always result in the two getting into a laughing fit that left both of their stomachs hurting. He would even do his own improvised dances for each line of the song, which again, could have Y/N crying laughing. 

It was a slower paced day at the office, everyone getting caught up on the paperwork that they hadn’t gotten around to yet because they were caught in an endless loop of jumping from case to case. They had to work fast because evil never seemed to give them a fucking break.

So, it became bustling with everyone gathering up reports and getting ready to give them to Emily to have them finished and filed away. To nobody’s surprise, it wasn’t long until Tara was humming the familiar melody. 

“No. Please. I’m begging you..” Spencer groaned as he brought his hands up to cover his ears. “This is worse than prison. You know that? A million times worse.” They always appreciated the dramatics of Spencer Reid. “I’ll tell you whatever you wanna know, just stop torturing me.” He breathed out.

Luke was already laughing at the man’s actions. “You know they sing it because you have that reaction, right?” He asked, making Matt stop to lean against Luke’s desk. “He’s got a point, Reid. If you laugh about it, they will do it less.” 

Y/N was coming in from the kitchenette while shaking her head. “No such luck, boys.” She laughed as she was skipping to her desk. “I think you should embrace it, boy genius.” She had commented, ruffling his hair on her way to her desk with a smile. 

“I think you boys are just overly dramatic.” JJ piped in with her own opinion while heading over to her desk in order to finish the finishing touches on one of her reports. “No, we are not. That song drives me bonkers.” Spencer responded, his nose wrinkling as he was looking at the two men in front of him. “You’re telling me you like it?”

“It’s not so bad.” Luke responded while Y/N gestured to her boyfriend. “He sings it too! Don’t you, Alvez?” She smirked while lifting her coffee mug to her lips. “I do, yeah. It’s catchy!” Luke began to laugh as he put his hands up in self defense with a grin on his face. “We went out to dinner last night and I got a strawberry margarita and he started singing it!” Y/N emphasized while laughing at the memory of the previous night. 

“Make fun of me all you want but you weren’t opening your legs after that drink at all.” Luke bit back while chuckling as his girlfriend’s cheeks were red. 

“Give her one margarita and she’s going to bed.” He sang while the rest of the office was reduced to their own fits of laughter. “Face it, Cariña. Nobody is getting head or anything of the sort after you’ve had a sip of a margarita. You’re out of commission.”

Y/N was waving her boyfriend off while laughing. “You’re never getting head from me again, Alvez.” She teased while looking back at her paperwork. “You’ve ruined it for yourself!” She laughed at the male, who was putting his hand over his chest in a dramatic fashion. “That is the worst punishment ever! I’ll buy you a margarita after this as an apology.” He mused.

“Then I'll be happy while I'm going to bed.”

#criminal minds #criminal minds fandom #criminal minds fic #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fluff #criminal minds fanfiction #luke alvez fic #luke alvez #luke alvez fluff #luke alvez x y/n #luke alvez x reader #luke alvez x you #luke alvez fanfiction #tara lewis #emily prentiss #matt simmons #spencer reid #jennifer jareau #penelope garcia #david rossi #behavioral analysis unit #criminal minds family

[leafofkudzu]

Slightly delayed posting this, but hello again! The first Saturday of a new month fast approaches, which means it’s soon time for yet another community art party hosted by [VS] Verdant Shield! Last week I ran our first ever location-selection poll, and the winner by just a teensy margin was The Grove, so let’s try out a new location in the same map!

For those not in the loop about what an art party is, they’re an idea carried over from Final Fantasy XIV - big (or small!) get-togethers for artists/writers/creatives of all kinds to hang out, chat, and create together! Get your most eye-catching outfit together, find someone else who strikes your fancy, and create! Afterwards, everyone shares their creations on social media (mostly here on Tumblr for us) using a party-specific tag (ours is #VSArtParty) so others can see and spread the love around via reblogs! The tl;dr is the same thing I’ve been saying every time I make these posts, and will continue to say ad infinitum: the ‘goal’ of an art party isn’t to be drawn, but to draw others, and share with the community!

General party details are in the image above, but a text version with some additional details such as /squadjoin information is under the cut!

Location Details:

The last time we were in the Grove we tried Dawngleam Pergola as a location, but it very quickly overflowed during the NA party and has as such been disqualified from future large-scale events (sorry!). The Omphalos Chamber (aka the place where you go to visit the Avatar of the Pale Tree) is also limited in size, but is easily spilled out of onto the main floor immediately below it should the need arise (which it very well may). The closest waypoint is Upper Commons Waypoint, and the easiest way up to the uninstanced Chamber would be via a mount such as a springer or skyscale, but you can also use a teleport-to-friend or just kinda yell in an upwards direction to summon a helpful portal-bearer should the need arise. The map looks a little weird when viewed from Chamber-level, but here’s a screenshot just in case you aren’t familiar. If you still aren’t sure, just go the middle of the top floor and look up!

Time & Squad Details:

As always, the party will consist of two separate events, with an hour break in between (though technically people jump from one to the other immediately anyway so weee).

The first party will be on EU servers and begin at 9pm Central European Summer Time (aka 3pm Eastern Daylight Time or 5 hours before in-game reset). I’ll be hosting on my EU alt account, so to join either /squadjoin or whisper Aemryn of Dusk for an invite.

The second party will be on NA servers and begin at 7pm Eastern Daylight Time (aka 1am Central European Summer Time or 1 hour before in-game reset). This one I’ll be hosting on my main account, so to join either /squadjoin or whisper Kirslyn for an invite.

IMPORTANT NOTE (mostly for the NA party): If you join and the squad is at or above 45 members, please just taxi into the right map and then hop out of squad to allow others to do the same! Essentially all conversation now happens in say chat so you won’t miss out on anything by being outside of squad!

Closing Words:

For those who missed it, a week ago I posted a poll in the party tag where people could vote on one of the five main cities as a party location, with the promise that I’d select a location different from the previous party held in that map for whichever won. Going forward this will be the general format, with the poll going up 2 weeks before and the announcement 1 week before (yes I know this one is delayed I’m sorry D:). If you have suggestions for locations outside of the racial cities that are low/no combat and wouldn’t interfere with events/metas, feel free to DM me and I’ll scope them out for possible inclusion in future polls!

Anyway, that’s all for now! Sorry if I worried anyone by not having this posted back on Saturday - I had some irl stuff going on that delayed me a bit. Thank you so much to everyone who comes out to these and helps make them so memorable and fun, I can’t wait to see you all again soon! ♥

#i've been eyeballing the area trying to figure out if everyone would fit and tbh i fully expect it to spill out onto the main level hdkgfd #ANYWAY that's it that's all sorry this is late aaaAAA #gw2 #guild wars 2 #obnoxious tourist simulator #vsartparty #📢🎨

[accio-victuuri]

CPN : random thoughts 🍬🍭

dumping some minor cpns that has popped up here and there for convenience. as usual, i need one space to ramble.

I also want to take this opportunity to applaud yibo-official for releasing that 1 hour + bts footage. They just went f*ck it and didn’t bother splicing it, they went ahead and dropped it on us out of nowhere. maybe one day they can post an hour long yibo vlog or photo set of yibo selfies. you know. just a suggestion. lol. The last post they made seemed like the final HB related content to share but apparently not. I am so thankful! This is best 3/14 gift!!!! I guess this is also a treat for “yibo movie fans” all over the world who continue to show their support for the overseas screenings.

1. Back in January, YBO posted for HB reaching 300 million in the box office and emphasis on the 3 ( zhan ). People have noticed that this scene looks like it was shot 10/5/2021 — ZZ’s birthday. What a coincidence that they chose this photo to be assigned to the number 3.

2. The way they dropped this big BTS content is reminding us of how the CQL 160 minutes bts was shared before. Is this them taking a page out of that? If there is something turtles are good at, it’s going through hours and hours of BTS footage! This is nothing to us!!! 😂😂😂😂

3. Also this was edited heavily, i can only imagine how many hours of footage they have. The selection of clips and what they can show. The music and it’s arrangement. going back to XZS being quiet — it’s a cpn that the two teams probably worked on this because the project is too big to accomplish by one group only. or maybe it needs a sign-off from the creative director xiao zhan. lol.

The important part of YBO’s post tho is their caption. Especially the part which said : Everything about Mr. Ye is dedicated to all fans of @UNIQ-王一博

I don’t know how many times I have said that Yibo is really making the necessary steps to make himself more mainstream. by that i mean, shedding the title of traffic star. the label itself isn’t all that bad tbh. lots of artists would kill to have the same traffic he does so they can have more endorsements and better scripts their way. however, i observed that he is transitioning to being an actor who hopefully will be loved by a lot of people and not just his core fans. The same goes for XZ, tho he is having a harder time staying away from being a traffic star and his own rice circle. I am in no way discrediting 🍤 or 🏍️, I just mean that the end game for the boys is to be a national celebrity. This transition leaves a lot of responsibility to existing fans like us, to be more welcoming to the new ones. This is why I get so mad when fans pay more attention to drama and fan wars cause it turns off potential supporters. It’s a huge red flag seeing a toxic fan group. I really hope one day, things do settle down and fans learn to be more chill.

4. Another ZSWW cute rumor posted said that WYB will still fuss when he sees old BTS videos of XZ scolding him. So XZ’s advice is to not scold the one you like even if you are jealous — who knows, you might end up together. This is too funny cause we know how fierce ZZ was with WYB, sometimes it’s already scary and you can tell the times he was jealous. 😂😂😂

5. Lastly, Weibo night posted some drama CPs and put it as a 9 grid photo. The pairings are not the most interesting part tho, it’s the top comments. 🤡

>> THIS IS THE LINK TO THE POST IF YOU WANNA JOIN IN. Like the top comments so they stay there, do not comment or reply. <<

On a regular day I would totally say that this is so unnecessary cause we have to respect the drama CPs on that post. Also BJYX is not really a “drama cp”, it’s WANGXIAN and if you believe in SZD there is really no reason to try and compete with commercial CPs. Plus it might indirectly harm the boys too. But i’m feeling petty today so i’m cackling. That’s all. You ask us about a CP? Okay, how about we clown you? I have no love for Sina Weibo and WB night at all so i don’t feel sorry for them or anything. We are just telling the truth, the pairing of XZ & WYB is truly superior. You ask, we answered. What I said about being careful is still true but sometimes you just don’t give a f*ck. It is what it is. 🤡🤡🤡

-END.

#yizhan #bjyx #there is no science here folks im just clowning like i always do #all of this is cpn

[sweetjulyofmine]

Hayy🌸🌸 you’re so beautiful + you&your bf are such a cute couple. Would you mind sharing how you two met? I’m an intrinsically nosy person lol

Hi :3 I am on my laptop so that I can focus on writing an adequate response because I am also an intrinsically nosy person and am almost always hyper curious about relationships I see online or in person (very obsessed with the guy on tiktok who posts videos about people's meet cute stories.) I also love love and have waited forever to feel this way about someone.. My story starts in August 2022, I (living in new york) was about to be in North Carolina to visit my best friend Piper and my boyfriend (colin) was here with his .... then partner now *ex visiting our mutual best friend Natasha (who lives in new york.) Natasha had suggested that Colin and I become mutuals on instagram because we are both fine artists and our work had similar visual cues and we found inspiration from the same photographers. Our paths didn't cross then as I flew down south for some much needed southern summer time and he got a small taste of NY. Even from his vague internet presence, I always had a tiny feeling that lurked (hidden deeeeeep deep inside of me) and told me that he would be the one. A few months go by and I grow secretly fond of Colin and his photographs online (not sure if he felt the same way but I should ask him to write up his version of this story.) In January 2023, Natasha is flying back to her hometown (in the bay area) for our uni winter break and invites me to tag along. This was super exciting to me not only because I had never really been to California (let alone the bay) and I also had an ex there that I was planning on seeing (haha.) I then meet Colin again (who was on his uni break and also visiting his hometown) and in short hangouts begin to develop a small crush on him. I have a hard rule about not falling for someone in a relationship, but I had learned that in his last relationship he was open and while I would never think to try anything, I let myself have hesitant feelings. We went to the SF MOMA during my trip, really only on a platonic excursion, though we both admit now that it felt like a date and our chemistry even back then in those circumstances was most definitely real. The funny part of this story is that after we went to the museum, I had him drop me off at my ex's place (lol.) I fly back to new york with Natasha and from time to time I begin to text Colin. Sometimes it was brief about an artist we had a shared liking for, music we were listening to (he has perfect taste,) or book recommendations. One night we text until 7 am my time (4am his time, he went to uni in portland,) and it was really then that I knew that he had the exact characteristics and soul that I could fall madly in love with. Some more time passes, he's living across the country and still in a long distance open relationship and I'm in another situationship that wasn't developing anywhere. Him and his ex part ways and I am sporadically going on random dates. Speaking of this time of my dating fiascos, I went on a date with someone to a museum upstate and ended up buying a postcard with the intention of sending it to Colin. That begins our real love affair! We start sending snail mail nonstop and I hint to him that I will be back in California, where he would return to after graduating uni that spring. August 2023 I am in LA with my friends and he tells me that he's been thinking about visiting his grandma who lives in southern california. To sweeten the deal I tell him about the book fair that printed matter is hosting in LA, and that if he comes down, we should go together. He (obviously) drives down and the morning of the book fair, he picks me up from my friend's place and we spend the day together. The date actually didn't end for almost 36 hours since he ends up staying the night and we spend the rest of the next day together. Before he drives back up to the bay, we spend one more day together and it was genuinely the happiest I've ever felt. I fly back to New York and he goes on a family trip to Japan and our feelings for each other sort of blossom and we end up writing emails to each other back and forth every day.

[roo-bastmoon]

The Final Word on This, Please

To the person in my inbox who keeps using a throw-away account to send me variations on the theme that Tae has been pushing Taekook since LA Live because he has to be the main character and can’t stand to share the spotlight with Jikook…

Please slow your roll. I’m not going to publish any of your asks.

*Sigh* You are really moving like a troll, but because I believe there’s a human being behind every screen, and you seem really emotional right now, I will try to answer some of your questions with as much patience, logic, and compassion as I can muster—once.

Then I am sending you on your way, because this conversation ultimately cannot lead to any conclusions and it is so draining.

I appreciate that because Taehyung is mentioning hanging out with JK a lot, you are upset on Jimin’s behalf—but have you seen Jimin upset about any of this? (I mean, there was a small moment in the Chuseok live, when Tae was stroking JK’s hair, and Jimin gave him a bit of LOOK, and Tae stopped.)

But Jimin has never once looked super pressed or jealous or sad or sulky about Tae and JK’s bond. He was sitting right there when Tae rested his head on JK’s leg during Busan rehearsals, totally unbothered by the intimacy of that gesture. If anything, he seems very relaxed and super adoring of both Jungkook and Taehyung.

Maybe it’s because he’s not online much to see what all is happening as a result. Maybe he just doesn’t care what other people think because Tae has proven himself trustworthy no matter what. (For all we know, Vminkook could have a pact to feed all ships a little bit to keep suspicion off actual relationships. Or they just do whatever they feel like and don’t care a fig about ships. We don’t know. We don’t actually know these guys and it’s so easy to forget that.)

Consider what we DO know about Kim Taehyung:

--He went to Big Hit to encourage a friend at his audition and ended up getting the role. That suggests he’s opportunistic, but maybe the friend was totally fine with it? I think we can all agree that in any case, all 7 members are absolutely essential for BTS to work. It’s almost like it was destiny.

--He pranks ARMY all the time, with that sharpie marker tattoo and such. I know it can feel like he’s making fools of us… But that could just be his sense of humor?

--He shares snippets of recordings or Insta posts and then deletes it, and has said he feels “like a different person” every few moments, so he doesn’t like what he was a few moments ago and then gets rid of it. Maybe he’s still finding his way as a person or an artist? Maybe he’s feeling a bit insecure about being judged?

--He mentions JK very frequently these days. So maybe he’s feeding Taekookers. I suspect he knows his impact even if that's not his intention. But maybe he’s just happy to share something he knows ARMY will want to hear about?

Consider that he also shares Christmas songs and New Year’s wishes and pics of Yeontan and food and photoshoots and other stuff too. He hyped up Jimin’s VIBE. I think he’s using social media the way most twenty-somethings do. He tells us a bit about his day, a bit about his work, and throws in a random song he likes or whatever. But being in BTS means everything gets super analyzed.

So yeah, he’s named dropped JK like 6 or 7 times in the last few months—and I suspect it has to do with some insecurity around the dating scandal and others being in the news, because he doesn’t namedrop Jimin or Hobi, but we know he hangs out with them, too—but I cannot say for sure what’s really going on. He could just be talking about whatever is top of mind, and that happens to be JK. They ARE close. They have a valid bond. They always have. None of this hanging out stuff is remotely new.

--Another possibility is that it’s time for some contract negotiations, and having plenty of social media engagement is the best capital to leverage getting your way. Maybe he wants a Taekook subunit. Maybe he wants to collab with “controversial” artists of other companies. Maybe he wants to do more film work than just guest star on cooking shows and Squid Game. Maybe he’s trying to get a better monetary deal, or convince the company to actually step up its promo efforts and shipping schedules, which impact charts. Maybe this is a purely business calculation. So he's posting a lot of things he think will get people to engage. (Maybe it’s a really genuine friendship that has been through the ringer the last few years, and he’s eager to show they’ve repaired things and are now close again.)

--Please do not lose sight of the fact that over the years, he’s consistently shown us that he really loves Jimin. I don’t know if he loves Jimin more than he loves himself, per se, but… I think he DOES love Jimin (or else he deserves an Oscar for the longest, bestest con of all time).

He flat-out said he likes Jimin the most. He wrote Jimin the most beautiful and vulnerable letter in which he apologized that Jimin was always the one who gave the most. He bought Jimin his first designer gift. He was the only one to update us when Jimin was in the hospital for a week. He follows Jimin to the goddamn bathroom. He unreservedly wrote to Jimin he loved him on his birthday. Kim Taehyung loves Park Jimin. Count on it.

Now, I’m not saying you can’t hurt the ones you love—of course you can. But you keep coming to my inbox, stating his motives like you know it for a fact. And he could very well totally ignore the insane I-ARMY cult that drags Jimin and just think he’s giving the normal fans something they enjoy by updating them about a member who has been practically MIA since the White House. *shrug*

Whatever it is that is going on, Tae has the most followers online. He’s got global recognition. He’s got excellent taste in music and fashion. He has a solid industry network and fanbase. He’s set. He could drop an album that consists solely of him humming and playing the kazoo with his left nostril, and the majority of ARMY will get behind it.

But I suspect right now, for him, sitting in the chair and banging out the work is a real struggle for him. He may be choking on indecision. He may feel overwhelmed with pressure. He may be scared of criticism. He may be burnt out because let’s face it, BTS has been in a nonstop whirlwind even during the pandemic.

So what does he do? He games, and goes bowling, and jet-sets around the world on side projects with friends, and whatever else… and sometimes Jungkook joins in (probably mostly online, or in groups—but maybe also sometimes just the two of them, like with Minimoni or Jihope). I'm sure he'll get back to his album as soon as he's creatively restored.

Hanging out doesn’t mean either Tae or JK are disloyal or hurting Jimin. You cannot know this for a fact.

All it means is that the cult has fodder to bark and act a fool. But they do that regardless, so don’t pay them your energy; don’t give them real estate in your mind.

Listen, 27 is a trying time for any young person. But for a global super star under a microscope? He’s probably under the kinds of stress we will never begin to understand. He probably feels like he can never please everyone, so he might as well please himself. And if he sometimes stirs up a little chaos, that may be how he releases some of that internalized pressure.

Am I THRILLED he comes online almost every time Jimin or JK are in the spotlight and implies Taekook is real? Nope. Honestly, nope, I don’t like it. Especially not when Dispatch feels the need to write an article about it. I’m human and I have my limits. So I admit, it doesn’t feel great. Just like with the trumpet, or temporary tattoo, or fake names he’s given to strangers in the past, I think he’s pulling our legs off. And I personally could easily interpret that as disdain for his fans. That’s how I, Roo, 43-year-old American female, feel about it.

Doesn’t make it the reality, nor his intent.

We could be way overthinking here.

At the end of the day, we only see a tiny, tiny, TINY fraction of these guys’ real lives. But from all that we DO see, there’s no bad blood, no weird tension. The maknae climb all over each other like puppies still. The hyungs are all super protective and fond still. BTS tells us over and over they want to be together for as long as they can. Jikook is still Jikook, even if they aren’t sharing any personal info these days.

So whatever is going on in fandom when Taekook starts to trend, I don’t think we can say that Tae is having a negative impact on Jikook or BTS in real life. I just don’t think we’ve got evidence of that. From what we can see, the guys all seem fine.

What we do have evidence of is the ruiners feeling like they have a greenlight to keep on ruining things for everyone who doesn’t see things their way. IT SUCKS. Guard your energy, that’s all I can tell you. Because even if JK popped online right now and looked right in the camera and said, “Taekook is a friendship only. Please stop seeing signs and wonders everywhere. Tae and I are just friends.”

The cult would still never believe his own words. They’d say the company forced him. That he’s being blackmailed. That it’s a prank. That they have to be closeted because of the military. That he’s foregoing his relationship in order to make deals to launch his solo career. That he’s been brainwashed. God only knows what excuses they would make. But he can't win, here.

The nutters won’t take him at his word, because they’ve never really cared what any of these boys has said or done in the past, either. They only take in whatever supports their theory, and they abandon any evidence that does not.

Jikook could come out right now and it wouldn’t stop the ruiners—but it would ruin things for them, their members, their company and staff, plus their military experiences.

Which is why, as a Jikooker (I assume you are one), it’s really crucial for you to take in all possible content and evidence WITHIN CONTEXT, run things by older ARMY, and check yourself when you’re being emotional. This is a good thing to discuss with your friends in a private group chat, not rant about in inboxes or on public blogs.

But whatever you do, please DON’T JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS. You are welcome to your thoughts and your feelings, but anyone who states things like they KNOW what is really happening under the surface is lying (to themselves, at best).

Ultimately you will make yourself crazy. (I do not mean this as a jibe, but you sound a bit unhinged in your messages. I didn’t delete this last one because I’m genuinely starting to worry for you, here. You’re too close to this. You are having a disproportionate response to the situation. It’s BTS, not a cancer diagnosis.)

Please, PLEASE shift your focus to what brings you joy, okay?

For me, I like to remember JK whispering nonsense in Jimin’s ear in the Seoul concert, or his hand seeking Jimin’s hip under his shirt or lifting him up in Memories 2021, or the way he and Jimin sometimes wear each other’s sweaty hats. I love that he only posted for Jimin’s birthday, and a thirst trap at that! I like to remember him calling Jimin “genius-Min” or his robot-cat ears perking up when Jimin danced, or singing and clapping with pure joy when it was time to sing Happy Birthday to Jimin at the Busan Concert. I like to recall how eager he was to let everyone know he had seaweed soup on Jimin’s day, too.

I like to remember that all three of these boys share a bowl of ramen, a sofa, and information about each other’s farts—and they do it without so much as a flinch.

There’s real love there. Bonds that will last a lifetime.

No matter WHAT the relationship statuses are. Maybe no ships are real. Maybe ships have shifted. Maybe Jikook are just being quiet because they are real and have a shit-ton to lose before military service, whereas Taekook is being loud because there’s no there, there. Maybe the polyshippers are right and Bangtan gets together once a full moon to indulge in a giant orgy (JK is in charge of the mood lighting and music.)

*stares off into the distance, imagining it*

Look, my dear. The truth is, they cannot tell us everything that goes on. But if we can trust them when they do tell us, that would be good.

I trust that JK and Tae are close and do hang out (as friends).

I trust that Jungkook will keep holding Jiminie.

I trust that the best part of Jimin’s day is waking up to see Jungkookie.

What else really matters?

Please be kind, to yourself, to others who aren’t comfortable speculating about this, and to all the members. They are human. They are gonna make mistakes, be selfish sometimes, act out of anxiety or stress other times. But they are all good people who love each other.

Please trust in that.

And now get out of my inbox and go do something that brings you a sense of peace and bliss. Okay? *hugs* I mean it, I really don’t want to talk about this anymore. Please appreciate the boundary I’m setting, and go in peace.

Yours,

Roo

#jikook #minkook

[the-irken-pony]

Hey, I'm sorry to bother you, but I'd like to post my THSC art on Tumblr - but I always get too anxious to. I'm always scared I'm going to accidently copy someone or say something rude on accident (which is silly, I know, but I can't stop thing about it)... Do you have any suggestions?

(You don't have to answer this if it's too uncomfortable)

Hey, we’ve all been there. Sharing art online for the first time can be scary no matter your age or experience level. Can’t cure your anxiety, but I can offer a couple tips to keep in mind.

Google the “two cakes theory”. The idea of it goes that, while an artist may look at their own work with disdain and feel as though it’s inadequate in comparison to another artist’s work (or that it’s too similar and not as good), people other than the artist will generally receive it with high praise. Maybe the audience is just happy there’s multiple works of art, or someone appreciates something you do differently from other artists, or maybe another artist is thrilled to finally see someone else utilize the idea they’ve been working with. Think: when you have an idea that you really like to see from other people, do you get upset when more than one person is working with the same concept? Of course not! That’s more of the thing that you like!

Of all the fandoms I’ve been in, the THSC fandom is by far the most welcoming and friendly one I can remember being in. Maybe it’s something to do with how small it is, but I’ve rarely come across issues here. (Though another part of it is being on tumblr rather than twitter.)

The THSC fandom is also among the most receptive to ideas that are uncommon, or even ideas that they may disagree with at first glance (especially when it comes to shipping, if that’s a thing you’re into). I’ve been in bigger and smaller fandoms that are a lot less welcoming to alternative interpretations.

Continuing from the above, the fact that the characters are stick figures means that pretty much any interpretation of the characters is allowed.

If you have OCs, share them! The fandom loves OCs here.

I don’t know if I have tips on the whole “not saying the wrong thing” issue, but the best I can offer is that people make mistakes. If you misphrased smth or someone misunderstood what you meant, clarify it as best you can. If someone is saying that something you said is bad, take a moment to process and understand what the person is saying rather than doubling down on what you said or immediately crumbling into an apology, then act accordingly. If you don’t understand what they’re trying to say, ask for clarification or an explanation. Sometimes you fuck up and an apology is necessary, but sometimes someone holds shitty beliefs or opinions and is imposing them on you. In general though, assume best intentions unless said assumption is disproven to you. (Conflict resolution isn’t a strong suit of mine, sorry.)

For some tips on actually sharing your art:

I highly recommend making a side blog for your art, if you don’t have one already. You can reblog it to your main, but by having a separate blog you make it easier for people to find your art.

If you’re just making for you and not making money from your art or doing requests, don’t feel pressured to keep a schedule. While it is good to have goals to aim for (for example, mine is just posting twice a month), when it’s not your job it can be hard to adhere to a strict schedule and it’ll just put stress on you. If you’re trying to transition to professional work then building up a schedule is necessary, but if not? Just post when you feel like it.

This isn’t the type of ask I expect to get from people, but I’m happy to help you out! I love seeing people take their first step into art and seeing new people in the fandom. Remember that the first step is always the hardest.

#henry stickmin #the henry stickmin collection #thsc #ask #anonymous #mine #long post #art advice

[fredfilmsblog]

BTS w/B&PC Part 5

  Click here for the other posts of ‘Behind the Scenes with Bee and PuppyCat’

Now that Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space has dropped on Netflix, I thought I would share some of my recollections as to how this special series of Natasha Allegri’s came to be. –Fred Seibert

Taking a break from the BTS chronology I’m going to take a minute for some thank yous. Of course, I’ll forget to include some people, but you shouldn’t take it as more than swiss cheese brain.

Some say that filmmaking is a collaborative art, and in my case, that’s been totally true. Yes, for me, that’s an understatement. Getting to a series like “Bee and PuppyCat” is a collection of experiences where I learned from hundreds of people, and then worked directly with hundreds more. In cartoons alone, I’ve had 30 years of a lot of ups, too many downs, some great successes and greater misses.

It was clear to me right at the beginning that American cartoons suffered greatly from relegating women to support positions rather than primary creative ones. Within weeks of starting at Hanna-Barbera I’d voice the lament to anyone who’d listen. It was a long time before anyone even pitched, but by 2006, with Random! Cartoons, we had more women coming in with their ideas than ever before, and in the end nine women created finished cartoons. And during Too Cool! Cartoons, for our Cartoon Hangover channel, almost half the shorts were by a new generation of creative women, including Natasha.

Onto the thanks. Please remember that these posts are about the “behind the scenes” of what makes B&PC. None of us miss the plain truth that it’s our fans that makes everything worth it.

I’m not sure if there’s a way to thanks Natasha Allegri enough, is there? An amazing artist, a deep storyteller, a lovely person with a stunning vision.

Eric Homan and I were colleagues for 27 years, the last 15 or so, heading development at Frederator Studios. It was Eric who, for us, spotted what a special talent Natasha had. He was the person who saw her web comic that kickstarted the Fionna and Cake phenomenon. And, of course, he invited Natasha over to show us the cartoon she’d been working on in 2013.

Carrie Miller has been another indispensable presence during my Frederator years. She ran our New York operation, produced our first original cartoons for Channel Frederator, and by the time Eric sent over the PuppyCat storyboard for a second opinion (”Greenlight this cartoon right now!”), she was running the entire New York office and our YouTube channels.

Don’t think I’ve ignored Pendleton Ward. Because it was Pen’s and Natasha’s friendship, built around the web comics that they traded over years, that inspired Pen to convince her to join the Adventure Time team, her first foray into professional cartoons. Without Pen, I’m not at all sure that any of us could have become her great followers. And don’t think he didn’t help B&PC creatively whenever possible.

Kevin Kolde and I met during my time at Hanna-Barbera, and during his pre-cartoon and SPüMCø lives I did everything I could to bring him over to my side of things. Eventually he succumbed, and while he was developing what has become the ”Castlevania” universe, he patiently worked with dozens of the creators –almost none of whom had ever run a professional cartoon production– I foisted upon him during various shorts productions. Natasha was definitely a mature artist and storyteller who had relatively scant experience in production, and over the decade that Bee and PuppyCat has lived it’s Kevin’s subtle hand that has made all the productions possible.

Efrain Farias and Hans Tseng have been key creative collaborators with Natasha throughout the decade of the B&PC saga. Both of these folks are talented artists, but that doesn’t begin to catalog their contributions to the shows.

Larry Leichliter has worked on everything. As far as I’m concerned, Larry Huber introduced him my way to direct on ChalkZone; Eric and Kevin suggested him for the Adventure Time short, and he eventually became the series’ original supervising director. He served on Bee and PuppyCat the same way where set the directorial vision.

Actors, we’ve had a few. You’re undoubtedly familiar with Allyn Rachel, Kent Osborne, Pretty Patrick Seery, but I think if you peruse the who cast you might get a few surprises.

Didn’t Will Wiesenfeld do an amazing job? Just check out Baths too! Natasha really scored here.

The entire Frederator Studios production team, small as it was, kept things on track, particularly Sylvia Edwards and Steve Worth, who had a lot going on at the same time. The editors, sound department, special and visual effects, Garrett, they all did incredible work. Thank you!  

Meredith Layne has voice casted and directed both series (among a whole lot of others for us). And if you look at the credits closely, these shows do not in any way tread the expected paths when it comes to actors.

Heather Kenyon and Junichi Yanagihara really made the difference when we moved the animation to OLM in Tokyo, and kept it up during “Lazy in Space.”

Matt Gielen had recently joined Frederator Networks when we started looking at storyboards for Too Cool!. Though “influencers” were already flooding YouTube, which de-emphasized scripted, character based programming, Matt became an industry leader understanding how to help us build a loyal community of viewers who became the backbone of the Bee and PuppyCat fandom.

We heard from Nate Olson in Part 4 of this BTS series, but as I said there, a Bee and PuppyCat series might not have existed with his sweat, blood and smarts he brought to bear in shepherding our community of viewers-turned-fans into a group of committed supporters, first with the Kickstarter, then with the product companies that came aboard. Maybe more than anyone else, Nate was the loud voice representing the community, keeping all of us in line, understanding that without that special audience all our work would be for nothing.

Making a show like B&PC should be enough. The Cartoon Hangover crew in New York –Cade Hiser, Nicky Fung, Zoe Barton, and all the interns– lost a few years of their lives helped our fans stay fans. No, it’s not as easy as it looks.

Tom Pickett had bought my company, Next New Networks, for Google and YouTube to help them find audiences. And when he started Ellation (owner of Crunchyroll) and VRV to work with independent streaming networks, he reached out to see if Cartoon Hangover might be interested. His programmer, Arlen Marmel and business development head, Eric Berman, were particularly interested in “Bravest Warriors” and “Bee and PuppyCat.” Without these intrepid entrepreneurs we couldn’t have made “Lazy in Space.”

Michael Hirsh, Canadian animation innovator, saved Frederator when we ran into some tough times. “Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space” probably wouldn’t have seen the light of day without him.

Brian Gucciardo was in the law department at my other company, Next New Networks. He’s been around the block, and then some, in almost every facet of the entertainment business. Let me tell you true, doing the kind of agreements we have with first time creators for “Too Cool! Cartoons” (home of B&PC) and “GO! Cartoons” (throw Sony Pictures Animation in that mix) is no easy rolling. Not to mention our arrangements with Netflix and everything else we through at him (thousands –thousands!– of Channel Frederator Network members!).

Fred Pustay and I have worked together for decades, starting at MTV. He's saved my bacon more often than I can say. And he kept Frederator on an even keel no matter now hard I tried to screw it up. We couldn't have gotten through the treacherous waters to get Bee and PuppyCat made without him.

Like I said, it takes a village. And any villagers I’d neglected will be added as they yell at me.

Wow! On Netflix now. Finally.

More to come in BTS w/B&PC Part 6. Catch up here.

#Bee and PuppyCat #Thank you #Behind the Scenes #BTS w/B&PC #Natasha Allegri #Eric Homan #Carrie Miler #Kevin Kolde #Matt Gielen #Nate Olson #Cade Hiser #Nicky Fung #Zoe Barton #Will Wiesenfeld #Hans Tseng #Efrain Farias #Meredith Layne

[multiplicity-positivity]

hi! not really sure if this is the place to ask but i'll give it a shot. do you have any tips on helping alters who dont speak to communicate better? at the moment theyre only communicating using emotions/feelings if that makes sense? but when they front it gets a bit tricky since they feel uncomfortable using words at all, including writing. we have another alter cofront with them to help "translate" but we dont really want to be doing this long-term since we want them to be able to do things for themselves too

Hi! We have a few alters in our system who are nonspeaking or who experience speech loss. Some of these alters are still struggling to express themselves, but we can share the tools we’ve been using to make it easier, and others we’ve heard about!

1) AAC

We use a combination of SoundingBoard and Visuals2Go, both downloaded from the iPhone AppStore! They’re free and easy to use, but they have a limited vocabulary. We’d suggest maybe getting some free apps for your headmates to try out, and keeping what works! If they like using AAC, it may be worth it to buy a paid app that has better options and a more user-friendly UI.

With AAC, you can string together words (with pictures) to form sentences, that your device will then speak aloud. No writing required, and reading isn’t essential for many of the available words and phrases! We’ve heard there is AAC that you can use to write and make posts as well, but we don’t know the name of any programs like this - sorry!

2) Communication Cards

We’re at work now or else I would include a picture of our communication cards. We have a bunch of index cards we’ve written words and statements on and grouped them together for easy access.

One group has common starter statements. “I want…” “Let’s go…” “Can I…” “Where is…” “How many…” “I can’t…” “I can…” “I don’t want…” and all sorts of little phrases. Another has verbs like “eat” “drink” “talk” “play” “sleep” “leave” “call” “walk” “sit” “stay” “look” and “go”. There is one with nouns, sorted by category (places, people, items, foods, weather, pronouns, and animals). And one with names of different alters, our POSIC hoarde, and our support team! It’s taken us a while to put it together, but we have one alter in particular who really benefits from using the cards to communicate.

3) Sign Language

None of our alters have learned any sign language, but if it sounds like it could help your headmates, perhaps your system could attempt learning some basic signs. This way you can help them sign to answer questions and express themself!

4) Drawing

If words and language in general is difficult, maybe getting them a little sketchpad or white board and encouraging them to draw out what they’re thinking may help! They don’t have to be great artists in order to express simple ideas, and this can allow them to connect with others even if both reading and writing are challenging.

5) Accessories

It may be a good idea to get some bracelets, rings, or other accessories that can express a few basic, essential ideas. We have three bracelets that we keep on us. The green one means “I’m happy and feeling comfortable!” the yellow means, “I’m okay but I’m a bit anxious and need some space.” and the red means “I am having a meltdown/doing poorly. I need to get somewhere calm and safe.” Maybe your system can get some sort of accessories and determine beforehand what sort of messages they convey. This way, your headmates will be able to express some basic or essential ideas quickly and effectively.

We hope that one of these options can help your headmates learn to communicate and express themselves better. Be sure to use ideas in your own way to make sure your accessibility tools will be useful for your headmates in particular! Thanks for reaching out, and take care!

Followers, if you have any ideas about communication tools or how to help alters/headmates express themselves, feel free to share!

🌸 Margo and 💫 Parker

#aac #communication #accessibility #communication tools #nonspeaking #speech loss

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Hello again M🕵🏻‍♀️,

I just read your answer to the 1950s film anon with the MUBI screenshots and got so very excited! 📽️😻🎞️

Your suggestions are in oh-so-excellent tastes! I had to come here to share my favs (okay some might be from the 60s…😳🫢)

🚬”Breathless” (Jean Seberg & Jan Paul Belmondo, need I say more?!)

🥲”Bonjour Tristesse” (again, Jean Seberg, and the novel by Françoise Sagan was an absolute banger too!)

📸 “Rear Window” (My fav Hitchcock. James Stewart is actually not annoying in this one.)

🌂”Mon Oncle” (Jacques Tati might be an acquired taste, esp. in America…but I love the minute details he obsess over in all his films that create the whole quirky-kitsh-odd, sometimes bizarre atmosphere)

💎”Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (🙄I know, cliche…but I just love Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in this one, even with the despicable depiction of quasi Japonesque character Mr. Yunioshi played by Mickey Rooney. Funny how Peppard also went on to act in action films/shows later, just like Belmondo)

👑”Roman Holiday” (I’m partial to Gregory Peck in this one.)

⛵️”Plein Soleil” (Alain Delon is breathtaking in this one…)

Ohgosh~🫣there already are too many! Sorry! I’m just so excited for the transformation of your space where I can now find and talk about two of my odd varieties of obsessions (Bangtan & films)!

P.S. Much newer, but do you happen to like Wim Wenders films by any chance? What about Jim Jarmusch?

Your excitement is contagious, anon! This list takes me back to high school, each film has a different memory attached to it.

If you like Jean Seberg, I recommend listening to a series from the You Must Remember This podcast. Her career and life was discussed in detail in parallel with Jane Fonda. Look it up and you'll find it easily. The shooting for Bonjour Tristesse was a bit of a hell for Jean.

Your comment about James Stewart took me out because I understand the feeling. I'm not a fan, there's something about him that annoys me (maybe the way he talks?), but I can see that he was a good actor. I don't have anything serious to criticize.

Yes, Tati is an acquired taste. It never got to me to the point of wanting to watch a lot of his filmography, but he is one of a kind and an influence to those that came after him (Greta mentions him for the inspiration behind Barbie as well)

With Breakfast at Tiffany's, a cliche or not, does it matter? It's too iconic. Yes, it has a reputation and good material for specific tumblr/pinterest aesthetics, but for good reason. If we take all that aside, we're still left with something of value, given that it's also an adaption of a Capote novel.

There's so much to talk about Audrey Hepburn that it requires a separate post. I don't think Hollywood had another actress like her or even coming close to that kind of presence. She was a movie star in her own category. Anyway, I never became a fan of Gregory Peck (I didn't go and search his films) but damn the guy was hot. Can I have a Roman Holiday too? Just like that? 😄

Alain Delon in Plein Soleil is a sin. And a perfect summer film. With this guy, I have to manage to separate the actual person and his political beliefs from the star he was in the 60s. Same with Brigitte Bardot. Ignore and store that in the back of my head so I can enjoy the films.

As to your questions, I could never get into the Jarmusch vibe, although I did watch a few of his films. I don't have anything against him he's good and a true artist, but it doesn't match with my taste. With Wim Wenders, I know Wings of Desire, Paris, Texas, The American Friend, Pina. Again, it's the type of director that has his place in film history, but I never focused particularly on him.

#m thoughts #movie recs

[grittybugs]

🍖🌈BUG🌈🍖

Hi, I’m Bug and this is my proshit blog! I’m an 18 year old artist who lives somewhere in North America. Given that my blog will contain gore and suggestive themes, I recommend that my followers are 16+. Anon asks are on for now, but I will turn them off the moment I get threats. That being said, I will not being answering DMs on this account or disclosing my main account, because I know the antis reading this (despite all my warnings lol) are gonna act goofy. I will probably post some of my art but my art will not reflect my morals or who I am as a person, think of this almost as a vent blog. You may use any pronouns you’d like for me. Please read my DNIs and CWs before proceeding, and please do so with caution. God bless 💕

DNI AND CWS: 👇

🍖 i do not post, share, encourage, or tolerate callout posts unless the person in question has been PROVEN, with real evidence, to be sexist, gross, predatory, etc.

🌈I would say homophobic, racist and transphobic people but I seriously doubt those kind of people would listen to a colourful DNI… still, I’m putting it out there that I don’t support that shit and if you try to start a conversation with me with those kind of beliefs, then you’re getting blocked buddy.

🍖l0lic0ns and sh0tac0ns… I respect ya’ll but that’s just not for me, so please respect that.

🌈art tracers/reposters/editors.

🍖DNI if you’re an anti. Take care of yourself and don’t self harm via consuming content that you know will upset you, you deserve to treat yourself better. :(

🌈As another reminder, I will not be answering DMs on this account! My last proship blog was flooded with DMs of real gore both of real animals and real people, and I do not want the same to happen here. If you need to contact me urgently, please leave an ask with anon off, and I will approach you. However, if your blog seems fishy and I believe that your ask is bait, I will most likely block you.

🍖 As another reminder, I will not be disclosing my main account on this side blog for personal reasons, because I know ya’ll Antis go crazy with the doxxing, the death threats, and the distribution of real CSEM and gore, so I will not be sharing any information I consider to be personal or a threat to my privacy.

🌈 please do not ask me unprompted to draw your oc.

🍖please do not give me art requests unprompted.

🌈as a quick heads up! If you find yourself feeling brave enough to send me hate, with anonymity off, I will pin your username to my profile for about seven to twelve days, so that my mutuals & friends are given the opportunity to make their blog safer by blocking YOU. While I will never condone or encourage harassment, please note: that I am not responsible for any blacklash you receive from this, as the actions are strictly yours to make and the consequences are solely yours to bare. <3

FANDOMS IM IN:

🍖 Adventure Time

🌈 Invader Zim

🍖 Helluva Boss

🌈 Fionna And Cake

🍖 The Owl House

🌈Hazbin Hotel

🍖 FNAF: SECURITY BREACH

🌈Cuphead: Don’t Deal With The Devil

#proship #anti anti #comship #proship safe #DNI #16+ #15 and below dni #CW

[hg-deranged-edition]

omgee I got tagged in a fic tagging game by @floredaqueen YIPPEEEEEEEEEE

20 Questions for Fic Writers (& Artists)

1. How many works do you have on ao3(Tumblr)?

I GOT 5 BUT TWO ARE TOTAL BULLSHIT

2. What's your total ao3 (Tumblr) word count?

I GOT 6,739 WORDS POSTED ONTO MY ACCOUNT TOTAL. 1,049 ARE BULLSHIT

3. What fandoms do you write for?

CURRENTLY ONLY THE HARRINGROVE FANDOM/WHEN I EVENTUALLY COLLECT ENOUGH BRAINCELLS I WILL WRITE FOR MORE. BUT THIS IS ALL I CAN MANAGE TO THINK ABOUT SORRY

4.What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. IN WHICH BASIL THINKS OF HOW DEEPLY HE LOVES (OMORI)

2. AS THE WORLD CAVES IN (OMORI)

3. THE GREAT SUNKISSED RAMBLE (OMORI)

4. LOL MY PFP FOR YOU SWEETIES

(THE TWITTER ACCOUNT THE IMAGE WAS LINKED TO HAS BEEN GONE FOR ALMOST 3 YEARS BECAUSE I GOT MY ASS SUSPENDED)

5. God’s Very Simple and Love Shouldn’t Burn (Stranger Things) (I literally posted this today)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I LOVE COMMENTS I LOVE LOVE LOVE I RESPOND TO EVERYTHING FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LEAVR ME COMMENTS PELA

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

The one I posted today. God’s very simple and love doesn’t burn. YAY

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Ummm Basil thinks about how deeply he loves? The other one is just a dream a character has lmao

8. Do you get hate on any fics (Art)?

None I can think of, no! No hate so far that is so oresome

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

my lawyers advice me not to answer this question

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No. Sometimes I write crack but that’s for myself and I’ve never really posted it anywhere, only shared it among friends.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No. I don’t write enough for there to be anything like that lmao

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

*taps the previous answer*

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Technically I partook in a huge google doc with my friends that got so ginormous it crashed some of our pcs. And also text messages with me get crayzay

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Soriku. No question.

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I wil not answer this question because I am praying to god I WILL write it

16. What are your writing strengths?

Long rants about how a guy is feeling rn guys I’m so sad like you don’t understand guys strap in for the next 400 words about my despair in this maximum 1k fic

(They would have loved me in another century were I born English or German or French. Alas!)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

writing.

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Ganz einfach. خۆ هەر ئەیکەم

19. First fandom you wrote for?

first thing I published was for omori OH GOD WAIT NO MY WATTPAD ERA. it’s ok guys I only posted a prologue phew

20. Favorite fic you've written?

As the world caves in. But no one understands my dark twisted mind

Suggested tags. These are super high pressure. If you don’t play the game you will die, go to hell and have your family follow. Your wife and kids are toast bro.

@intothedysphoria @thatgirlwithasquid @dragonflylady77 the curse has been passed on

[christophercant]

AI doesn’t have to be the enemy: Future-Proofing your Art Career Part 3

AI art, very appropriately named “Conversation with the Demon”

This is part 3 of my AI art series, originally posted on Christophercant.com.  If you aren’t caught up, here’s Part 1: AI is coming, and here’s Part 2: How to Compete against AI.

For the past few months, if you only sat in certain parts of the twittersphere, you might be led to believe that AI is an aberration, come to rob us of our jobs and our meaning, and slowly replace all of human creativity with homogenous grey sludge. 

And if you've read my previous articles about AI art, you might think I share that opinion.

But I can see some ways that AI might actually be able to help us artists - and not in a painful compromise, but in a liberating way.

No, I'm not talking about generating AI artwork and painting over it. If that's what you want to do, knock yourself out.

I’m talking to the people who want to paint for a living, who want to spend their day drawing, and feel like their dream has just dissolved in front of their eyes.

Because I want to paint, and I have dreams, and I’m not ready to drop them.

“Just paint over AI art”

Alright, I‘m going to have to address this straight away.  Perhaps it’s a serious suggestion to learn how to write good prompts for AI art generators, correct the mistakes, and sell the results to clients.

So let’s look at what I think painting over AI art for a living would look like:

Many projects utilising AI art will only require a single human artist, so you are a one-person department.  You meet with the other departments to discuss what art is required for the project.

You write a little description of the content you want to generate, and feed that into the AI. The AI spits out some images and then you tell it what it misunderstood, got wrong, or should adjust.  The AI tries again with these new parameters; repeat this until you decide that the AI can’t get closer to what you want, and you take the best version of the art into Photoshop or whatever software you diddle about with.

Saving loads of time by generating some AI art and painting over it! Weeeeee!

You present the finished art to the rest of the team, and help it get integrated into the project properly.

For many projects the art will be complete within just a few months, so your part in the project ends and you hop to another project, and do it all again.

Did you spot the part where the artist gets to make art?  The AI makes 90% of the artistic compositional choices, and you only actually put on your artist hat when the AI fucked something up - which will be less and less often, as the AI improves and you get better at ordering it about.

The rest is management - you’re not an artist, you’re a manager.  You’re outsourcing the art to a robotic freelancer.  The closest you might be able to call yourself is an Art Director.

There will be very little of you in generated art, very little of your perspective, of your personality and your narrative, of the stories you tell with your art.

If you want to do that, knock yourself out - but my dreams don’t look like this.

But how else can artists benefit from AI then?

Since AI is great at doing a single task very efficiently, it’s specialists that are the ones threatened by it - if you perform like a robot, you’ll get replaced by one - and that includes digital artists.

In truth, we are all probably going to have to shift toward the manager role and outsource tasks to AI to stay employed, but you don't have to outsource your art.

Outsource the rest.

If you’re employed as an artist then your art is part of a product pipeline, and there are multiple other components required to create the finished product besides your art. Use AI to handle those other parts.  If you own and run the whole product pipeline, you’re no longer dependent on getting hired.

Don't replace yourself with AI; replace your employers with AI.

AI doesn’t only create digital art; it researches, writes, makes music, voice narration and sound effects, animates, codes, creates video, among a myriad more things yet to be revealed.

By leveraging AI, you’ll be able to build much larger projects than just the individual pieces of visual media you can create as a lone artist.  Animations, comic books, card games and illustrated novels all become much easier with some AI employees. Feature-length films and massive videogames made by a single creator will become commonplace.

Dust: An Elysian Tail, made by 1 developer, Dean Dodrill, in 2012.  Expect to see projects like this happen a lot more with AI on the scene.

The necessary tools are appearing already

We already know about the AI art tools, and I’m sure all of us are familiar with ChatGPT by now and the sorts of things it can do - basically, if you want to write anything, it’ll help you get it done.

There are other tools showing up that can simplify the majority of the product pipeline - from concept, to production, to marketing, to customer support.

Here’s a recent video by entrepreneur Alex Hormozi, talking about AI tools he may be able to integrate into his business, reducing workload or offering new angles for content production:

His video is a little gimmicky, and I'm not convinced he plans on actually adopting any of those particular tools into his business, but it does demonstrate the potential use cases of AI when running a business.

From making art to making complete products

As an example closer to home, let’s ponder fantasy and science fiction artists and how AI might be able to help them.  If they are being employed by a company to make art, usually their art is some part of a film, video game, pen and paper game, board games, card game, illustrated book, or a book cover.

AI will probably be able to reduce your workload in every phase of making each of those products.

Need to expand and polish your product’s concept?  ChatGPT is actually alright for bouncing ideas off and doing basic research, and a similar AI called Jasper.ai is really, really good at riffing off of your inputs and going in wacky, unexpected directions.  I bet all text AIs are decent at it.

Need to produce a hell of a lot of writing or coding for your product?  ChatGPT can handle that too.

If you haven't tried out chatGPT yet, it's actually interesting to play with and find its limits, and there are ways it can help you that don't feel like you're secretly just ripping plagiarised content from some poor writer struggling to make ends meet.

Need to create animated characters from your artwork?  Here's a video of someone quickly mapping a 2d portrait onto a fully rigged 3D model and using their phone’s camera to animate it:

If you’re open to the idea, and I get it if you aren’t, you could train an image AI on your art, to produce more work in your style you can utilise in your project.  I’m not sure where I sit with that particular use case, but it will be possible.

I've not tried it yet, but I expect you'll be able to use AI to test out game mechanics very efficiently, much more efficiently than playtesting every idea.

And of course there are AI to generate sound effects, music and other audio.

Marketing

If being a professional artist was a pie, then making art would be one half of that pie, with a tasty fruit filling.  Apple and cinnamon or something.  Marketing would be the other half, filled with shit.  Currently if you want to be a successful artist you have to eat that whole pie, shit and all, but with AI we might be able to get it to handle a lot of marketing for us, reducing the amount of shit left on our plate.

Creating articles and YouTube videos is a great way to generate long term passive traffic for your projects, and ChatGPT is also great at helping with those, whether it's helping you do research, plan a script, or provide alternative ways to phrase something.

It’s also great at covering its ass!

It's also a dab hand at writing good copy to accompany your products and help you get sales, and can easily shorten whole ideas into short, snappy tweets.  And if English isn't your first language, it's really good at translating and fixing mistakes.

QuillBot is also fantastic at helping you rephrase your writing, and I’ve used it to summarise things I’ve written, expand my notes into fuller paragraphs, simplify the language, and to add creative flair to the fictional stories I’ve been writing now and then (no, nothings public yet).

I came across MeetEdgar a couple of years ago, a social media scheduler that parses through blog posts on your site, pulls out snippets of text and images, and schedules them to be posted to your social media accounts at the times your account gets the most engagement.  All you need to do is confirm you are happy with its plan.

I only tested it out briefly when I found it, but I’ve dug it out again recently with the intent of using it properly, now that I’m relying on articles a lot more than I was at the time.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I'm going to be searching for more of these tools and compiling a portfolio of similar software, and sharing my findings with you guys.

Using apps like these, and the ones yet to be created, you'll be a one-man creative force.  You'll just need a vision, a passion for making art, and the willingness to manage your AI workforce.

The possibilities for a single entrepreneurial mind will go exponential - sat by yourself in your bedroom, you’ll have the creative potential of a whole studio.

The rise of the solo-preneur

As far as I can tell, the ‘solo-preneur’ is going to be the future of many creative professions.  In many ways it’ll be the best avenue for digital artists, as being employed as an artist becomes less and less viable.

In the wider world, many artists already are solo-preneurs; oil painters selling their work in galleries, YouTubers and streamers sharing their expertise and insights, T-shirt illustrators, Skillshare teachers, Patreon…

Freelancers and employed artists are probably going to have to go join them.  Hopefully AI will be able to help us get there, without it poisoning the very markets we are trying to enter.

Of course, you'll have to learn a little about many disciplines - enough to be able to spot shortcomings in the various AI outputs and improve them, but if you really want to make this career work it'll be a small price to pay.

At the risk of coming across venomous, even with the potential of AI at people's fingertips, most won't make anything with it.  Most people just want to seek comfort and consume media; only the few are driven to create, even when it’s made extremely easy for the many.

So while I’ve made fun of AI art a little bit during this post, I would advise you not to ignore AI completely and to keep an eye on the tools that appear.  They may help you stay competitive, and even ahead of the curve, moving forward.

If you combine your genuine passion and enthusiasm for creating art, with AI tools to handle other parts of your business, you may end up living that dream you wanted for yourself.

Perhaps the AI future isn’t as scary as it might seem

I can’t really give you a spot-on plan to prepare for what’s coming.

It's hard to predict exactly how AI will be applied in the future and what it will be capable of, as we are probably near the beginning of this thing.  It's simply too hard, and I’m not informed enough, to guess what tools might appear.

But I’m pretty sure that now is the time to think big.  AI is going to simplify many tasks, and drastically reduce the manpower required to make large scale products.  If you aren’t thinking big by then, you’re going to be left behind.

You’re going to have to generalise your skills a bit and learn to plan larger projects, but you’ll still be able to concentrate on your art and make it the unique centrepiece of the things you make.  Think something like 80% art, 20% other crap.

If that sounds a bit like a shitty deal, I can tell you that I’ve purposely generalised my skills a bit in the last few years, and I actually enjoy myself more now.

I used to just paint fantasy and mythology imagery.  I chose to generalise by learning to write and web design, but as it turned out I use both of those new skills to celebrate my love of art, fantasy and mythology even further by building complete websites and products.

My love for art and fantasy now feels even deeper, and my expertise in them much more rounded - much fuller.

I feel like I’m working on more important things now, because of their scale and ambition, and their potential impact - and this was recently made much more plausible with AI assistance.  I might have to pivot a few times as things develop, but I think there's a viable path forward.

I get it if you're feeling cynical about all of this.  If you feel like the career you were looking forward to has been snatched away from you, I empathise with you. I’ve felt the same way a few times in the last 6 months.  

I genuinely wish you the best of luck and I hope you don’t give up - there will always be a way to live as a full-time artist, and I hope you continue to pursue that dream, no matter the obstacles that appear in front of you.

Your humanity will act as a beacon to draw people in, and your perseverance will keep them inspired and invested.

This was going to be the last article in this little AI series, but I’ve realised I need to write one last article after this, and perhaps the most important - “Dont give up”, coming soon.

This article was originally posted on Christophercant.com

#ai art discussion #ai artist #chatgpt #ai art discourse #ai artificial intelligence #aiartcommunity #Youtube

[snapdrake]

General Art Tips :)

I kinda went off on twitter about this but figured I’d put all my thoughts into one post, and on a site OFF twitter lmao. I know some people ain’t there anymore.

Anyways! Some thoughts from a long time artist, aimed at newer artists or anyone struggling with motivation. A lot of this has to do with brushes, which I don’t?? See touched on too much I guess????

Obviously this is aimed at digital artists. That’s all I know, I’m afraid! 

I am most familiar with CSP but really, all of this is true for other programs too!

-Find a brush you vibe with. Find MANY brushes you vibe with! 

When your brushes feel better, and by extension, drawing feels better, you’re more likely to do it.

I know it sounds a bit silly to say that brushes feel different from one another when they’re all controlled by the same pen on the same screen, but trust me.

Play with every brush in the program you’re using. Draw out some scribbles. Increase the brush size, scribble a bit, decrease the size, scribble some more. if it has blending properties, grab another color and scribble on that scribble and see how they blend. If you’re still liking it, doodle out a cat or a leaf or a little bug with a knife or.. you get it. You’ll get a feel for a brush as you use it, and you can tell if you like it. If you don’t like it? Move on to the next one!

This is true for every stage of drawing! You found a brush you like to sketch with? Great! Sketch something so you can play around with lining brushes! The worst that can happen is you get half way in and don’t like how the lines look or feel. You can delete the layer and start over with a brush you like better. You’re getting practice with lining! 

As you’re just playing around with brushes, you’re ALSO practicing drawing. Cool, huh? :3

-Ask other artists for their brushes/brush settings.

This one is obviously on a case by case basis, and you should be respectful of what an artist has said beforehand, and their response after you ask. Some artists aren’t comfortable sharing for one reason or another, and those boundaries should be respected.

There are just as many of us that are more than happy to help, though! Some make their own brushes are are happy to share, or sell their brushes publicly already. Some of us (like myself) have bought our brushes off personal sites or sites like gumroad and would be happy to point you in that direction towards what we personally use and can recommend. 

-Grab cheap, or even better, FREE brushes when they show up!

Occasionally, people will reblog/retweet brushes they’ve found on the clip asset store or have put up themselves on aforementioned sites. They’re usually only a few bucks at most, and very often free with the original creator leaving it open to what the person wants to pay. It’s a very risk free way to pick up brushes to play with! At worst, you don’t click with it and you can delete the brush.

You can obviously also go browsing through these resources yourself for brushes and brush packs that look interesting to you!

-Just because something is labeled a sketch/lining/painting brush, doesn’t mean you have to use it that way.

This one is a bit sneaky, so don’t tell anyone, but you can use any brush however it feels best to you. No one will get mad. No one will get mad at you if you use the same one brush for every single stage of a drawing, even.

If that hard edged lining brush feels great to sketch with? Do it! If the soft edge on your lines that that shading brush offers makes you happy? That’s what art is about.

-Have multiple brushes of any one kind.

This one is a very loose suggestion, and just one that works for me, so don’t worry about it too much, but I figured I’d include it anyways! 

Sometimes, a brush just... Feels Off some days and nothing you draw comes out well. Sometimes, a solution is switching to another brush. That can be hard if you haven’t taken the time beforehand to find a couple extra brushes, and you’ll just... lose motivation to draw entirely, and that sucks.

I currently have three sketching brushes and swap between them freely depending on how I’m feeling, and how they feel to me!

*The exception to this is if you’re a commission artist, doing commissions. Your customers are expecting a quality and style from you, so do your best to give them what they’re paying for. If you can’t work with brushes you have before, talk to them! Most people won’t really notice much of a change and are there for your overall style anyways, but it’s most polite to be transparent that something will be different than assume it will be fine. It really is better to ask permission than forgiveness, turns out.

-Use the tools at your disposal!

This is referring to both in-program tools and art tools in general! CSP has a built in 3D model program that you can use to help with posing. It exists to help you. Stabilizers on brushes aren’t cheating, symmetry rulers aren’t cheating. If it exists in the program, use it.

Out of program? Use references. Use pictures of real people, of real animals, of real cities and plants and water and clothes and crystals and and and

If you don’t know how to draw it, look it up. 

There are tutorials on how to paint digitally, and how to do 3D modeling.

You can teach yourself... just about anything. The tools are there, and they’re there to help you. Don’t be afraid to use them.

-Practice, and have fun!

I know this one is kinda hard sometimes, but art really is supposed to be fun. 

Draw the things you love. Draw your ocs, and your favorite cartoon characters, and things for your friends. Watch them light up. Draw the things kid you never could. Draw things to make them happy. Draw things to make you happy. 

If you’re unhappy with something in your style, it means: A) You’re good enough to see that something’s wrong, and B) You do have the ability to fix it. You have resources at your disposal to improve. You have time to improve. You just have to let yourself, you know? 

Don’t give up on this. It’s so worth it, I promise.

#art #long post lmao #idk what to even tag this as #i just really care about art and want people to succeed you know