#and by then i think i find out if my zine application was accepted or if i'm not going to be doing anything for that | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

feidolzine · 6 months

Text

Hello idols! Welcome to the question portion of the event! Are you ready to ready for the fan mail below the undercut! Art chibis were drawn by the lovely @virgichuu !

Q: Will mods have zine formatting done before preoders begin? I think it's important step for ensuring that fulfillment happens in a timely manner! I also think you should include FE# regardless of vote, it seems perfect for the theme of this zine. I'm looking forward to seeing where this project goes! <3

A: We estimate to finish zine layout be the end of POs! Based on prior zine experience, there tends to be an increase in contributor dropouts nearing final submission. We would like to give adequate to get pinch hitters to complete their pieces with minimal stress, even if it goes a little bit into PO period!

That being said, we are carefully reviewing IC results including write-in merch suggestions to plan a speedy production.

We would love to FE#! You're absolutely right that they are a perfect fit (some even say, the blueprint) for this zine theme. Luckily for us, the majority opinion wanted to include the wide range FE has to offer - including FE#. We hope to have excited applicants apply to create for it as well as all the other non-mainline games we'd love to feature!

Q: How will the representation of the various FE games work? Will the mods ensure less popular FE titles will be represented? Will representation be left up to the contributors who are accepted? A little concerned that the zine will feature only the popular FE games.

A: We would like to represent as many games in the FE franchise as possible! Our current plans include asking our contributor applicants to indicate which games they are interested in creating for so we can have a diverse range - however we cannot represent games if no one applies for them! Help us spread the word to FE fans and suggest guest specializing in our less-loved titles!

Q: Please provide Fates content in this, for both in merch and in the zine!

A: We would love to feature Fates content both in the zine and merch lineup! However, we can only do so if we have excited applicants for the roles - so please be sure to spread the word once our contributor applications open to all the Fates fans you know!

Q: Do you accept 1 times? I had a ton of ideas for this concept and I'd be excited to join you!

A: We would love to accept any first-time applicants to the zine! We do not require any prior zine experience for contributor roles; in our information document, you'll be able to find the contributor application guidelines. We will post on our social medias when contributor apps open, so be sure to keep an eye out.

Q: Tbh this zine makes me anxious because the head mod has a lot of responsibility on this zine or other ongoing or upcoming zines. Is there a is a reason this zine is moving forward now, instead at a later time when the head mod isn't busy with other zines?

A: We are sorry to cause your anxiety! The mod team only hopes to create a cheerful, fun zine experience for all and like to minimize any anxiousness.

The Head Mod like to assure you she is 100% committed to fulfilling this zine on the current schedule! That being said, she asked the rest of mod team to comment on their honest feelings on this question.

Our shipping/org/social media mod had said: "I've worked with the head mod on various zines before this one and know how she works: I know I can my trust in her when working with her in zines. She has been very communicative when working with me regarding getting her work done and telling me when getting it done, and getting them done in a timely manner. With her here I know this zine will be done very well and be completed in a timely manner."

One of our gen/writing mods have said: "In my experience working with Shi I have seen nothing besides good, reliable, and timely work. Shi is a really dedicated mod; she's constantly on top of deadlines and communicative as soon as an issues arise, if it does. I can assure potential supports that the project is in good hands with her!"

We hope these responses has relieved at least some of your anxiety! If not, especially considering recent developments in the FE zine space, the head mod welcomes and additional messages you have her to be directed her DMs (you may contact via Twitter or Discord) with any questions, and she will do her utmost best to answer. Thank you for your interest!~

Q: Love this zine concept I'm obsessed! Good luck with it! This really sounds really fun! :D

A: Thank you so much for your interest, we're obsessed with the concept too! We'll do our absolute best to make it a fun endeavor for everyone~ o(≧▽≦)o

Q: Is this idol concept specific to one type? I personally know more and interested in kpop idol culture rather than j-idol culture.

A: We are open to all types of idol cultures! This includes kpop, jpop, cpop, virtual idols (shout-out to our queen Miku), and animated idols (Love Live, IM @S), etc.! There are many types of idols and we love them all! o(≧▽≦)o

Q: Will you be considering have someone to just do small art assets for decorations for the zine? In case for the people who cannot make it as a page artist.

A: As of the moment, we will likely be not having someone come on only for spot merch! Page and merch artist will have the option to collaborate with a writer, but it is not required.

Q: If someone gets accepted, will they need to stick to their pitches, or can they come up with a new/modify it? Can a person also submit their check-ins before the due dates, and move onto the next stage.

A: Yes, your pitches will be used while assigning spots for the zine! Since our interest check expressed the desire to see the wide range of FE games, we will take in consideration getting a diversity of games via your pitches. There is a way to contribute something other than your assigned pitch, but that's a secret for now...!

Regarding check-in dates, you can check in and submit well in advance if you are finished! There will be final submission folder for you to put your pieces at any time, and public contributor tracker you can check to make sure the mods have correctly marked you off as submitted!

Q: Can I apply for more than one role?

A: You can absolutely apply for more than one role! We already have a couple of applicants already doing so - be sure to submit both (or all three) of the applications for the roles you were interested in. If you have a strong preference for one role over the other (ex. prefer merch over page), please write that in the notes!

#updates

9 notes · View notes

bee-saucee · 5 months

Text

Fanfic Writing Resolutions 2024

With the start of 2024, I wrote out some of my personal writing goals for the year and thought I would share them with you all! I don't usually make posts like this but I hope I can inspire other writers to make goals for themselves in this next year and have a greater sense of accountability for myself.

Some writing accomplishments from 2023

I learned a lot in 2023 as a fanfic writer and I'm proud of what I did! I deleted my Wattpad to start fresh with a new writing style, posted my first three fics to Ao3, applied to two zines and got accepted as a pinch hitter for one, grew my Tumblr account, started a Twitter, commissioned several artists including my current pfp for a new look, and started writing more consistently again!

This post is pretty long so here's the short list:

Create and refine a writing process to have a written process outline that makes writing simpler

Watch a video and take notes on a writing topic at least once a month centering predominantly on craft but also on storytelling

Apply to at least two zines

Post on Tumblr every other week

Build out my Twitter

Keep better track of my writing habits

Bring fun back into the writing process

1. Create and refine a writing process to have a written process outline that makes writing simpler

When I refer to my "writing process" in this goal, I'm talking about 1) my outlining process and 2) what goes on off of the page such as how often, when, and where I'm writing.

To address the outlining portion of this goal, I plan to intentionally try out different outlining methods. My balance of plotting and pantsing is off but I can't find that balance until I just try stuff out! I want to try a lot of existing outlining methods and hopefully combine the facets that I like about various methods I've tried over the course of the year to get a mix that is tailored to me and how I like to write. I think it is also important to think out and write down the outlining methods I try so I can replicate or change my process iteratively. I've found that not having a outlining process that makes writing easy and enjoyable for me is the biggest reason why I've started and dropped so many projects this year!

Regarding the off the page process, consistency is my main goal. I just kind of squeeze in writing whenever I can or feel like it but that means that writing has often fallen off my radar. I want to set up specific times to write every day, but to be frank, I'm not sure when or how the best way for me is to write as I haven't experienced next semester's schedule or my post-college routine at all! I'm fine going with the flow on this one, but again, I've gotta be intentional about it.

2. Watch a video and take notes on a writing topic at least once a month centering predominantly on craft but also on storytelling

I've been writing stories ever since I was a kid but this year is really the first time I'm trying to do it more seriously. My public school and even college education has not fully equipped me to write creatively so I recognize that I have to learn about all of the parts of creative writing I don't know!

3. Apply to at least two zines

Contributing to zines have always been a super big dream of mine so I will keep on monitoring upcoming zines and hopefully find two I can apply for this year! Getting accepted isn't even the goal for me, I think that there is a lot to learn in the application process itself and I can't get accepted to a zine unless I try!

4. Post on Tumblr every other week

It's really important for me to build out my social media presence but I also value the lower stakes creative fun I have on Tumblr! So the goal is to write in a chill manner as I currently do for Tumblr and grow my reach at the same time! I just love making people smile with my stories.

I think the best way for me to post consistently on Tumblr is to introduce writing warm up exercises into my writing routine and share them on Tumblr. I can also use extra time that I have on breaks to stock up a bunch of Tumblr posts I can share in the future.

5. Build out my Twitter

I don't get Twitter at all and I'm not a super big fan of it but this is such a big space for the bnha fandom! I think I definitely am holding myself back particularly when it comes to zine applications by not having a Twitter presence. So I hope to not only understand twitter but post at least once a week and retweet or comment on posts at least every other day.

6. Keep better track of my writing habits

Both when I write consistently and inconsistently, I wish that I kept better track of how I spend my writing time because it is so precious. I want to use the often limited time that I have to work on the projects I truly want/need to work on. I'm thinking that logging what I write through Google Calendar could be easy and effective, but we'll see!

7. Bring fun back into the writing process

When I've tried to focus more on "professionalism" and "writing well" I sucked all of the fun out of writing and I basically stopped for a year or two. I don't want that to happen to me again because writing is so therapeutic to me so I'm going to focus on editing less for craft and instead keep my eye on the concepts and feelings behind what I write.

Writing is so so hard but I think that fanfiction is such a beautiful and powerful form of creation. I hope that I can keep up with these goals to continue to participate in this creative process that I have come to love dearly and make more content that brings a smile to people's faces.

Thanks for reading! Check out my masterlist for more.

#fanfic authors #fanfic writing #fanfiction writer #fanfiction author #fanfiction writing #fic writer #fic author

6 notes · View notes

heidiblack · 2 years

Text

Convention Artist Alley Review: Matsuricon

Convention: Matsuricon

Location: Columbus, OH

Date: August 12-14

Table cost: $160

Table size: 6’

Application: Juried

Fandom/audience: Anime

Items for sale: 11x17" posters (fanart and original), coloring book, zines (fanart and original), pins (original), resin jewelry, leather keychains by my sister

Mask policy: Required in all areas

Previously attended? No

Pros: Considered one of the best Ohio anime conventions, especially as it allows fanart (unlike Ohayocon, held in the same location); inexpensive tables; well organized, friendly and helpful staff (that provided snacks!)

Cons: Incredibly difficult to get accepted into, building is a weird layout and events were held all over the building (requiring multiple escalators/elevators and walking to get anywhere)

Most popular item(s): Posters (138); special note of 10 commissions!

Least popular item(s): Coasters (4 - but I was also almost out!)

The Columbus Convention Center is a huge building with a horrible layout, and while I am familiar with parts of it, I keep finding new places to get lost. I had been told that we would have a loading dock dedicated to artists, but when I arrived Friday morning I couldn’t find it, and wound up having to park on the far side of the building and wander around looking for where the artist alley was (I wasn’t the only lost artist either). After hauling my stuff all the way across the show (thank god for that wagon I bought) I got checked in with the very nice staff and got set up at my very small table (it was a normal size, 6’ just seems small after many 8’ tables). After crunchyroll the previous weekend, I not only needed to make money to pay back some expensive plane tickets, but also so I could afford rent - but I began to wonder if Otakon and the other shows I’d done well at were just flukes.

Matsuricon did not disappoint. Regardless of the weird venue layout (I just blame columbus on that), the construction on the center, the mask mandates, and the jesus convention also happening, I couldn’t keep up with sales! Additionally, I had so many commissions I’m STILL working on them almost a month later. The only thing I would change about the show is to have everything closer together and in a more central location, but that seems to be just a problem of the convention center layout.

The biggest problem I had was really that I was so low on so much stock - this being the 6th convention in 7 weeks, anything handmade I hadn’t been able to make more of, and I was running low on a lot of my prints as well. I do wonder if I had a better stock if I could have done even better.

Gross sales: ~$4000

Recommend/will attend again? Crossing my fingers for 2023!

Other 2022 convention reviews:

Crunchyroll Expo

Otakon

Gem City

Dokidokon

Anime Midwest

Anime Ohio

Huntington Toy & Comic Con

Momocon

SPACE

Causeacon

Indiana Comic Con

Ohayocon

Anime Zap (featuring 2021 review links)

These reviews take a lot of time and effort, but I think they are something the artist alley community needs! If you would like to support me so I can keep doing these, please consider donating or buying from my shops!

Help support Heidi Black by donating or sharing with your friends.

Storenvy

Etsy

#convention review #convention #anime convention #matsuri #matsuricon #anime con #anime #artist alley #artist life #artist alley review #review

28 notes · View notes

rage-against-the-dying-of-light · 1 year

Note

hi there big fan. id say first time writer but i think this is my second ask ive sent you actually. i was meaning to ask how you wind up participating in so many zines! it seems like every time i catch one taking applications it's something i'm just not a fit for, and the ones that i WOULD fit right in with always manage to pass me by. is it just a matter of knowing people? tracking certain tags? luck? genuinely asking because i'd love to take part in something like that and i always see you in so many! ok thats my ask. thanks for writing sooo good i love to read it. sparkle on

Hey Musashi, thanks for the ask, nice to see you in my ask box again.

Anyways, getting into zines! Well, for Ace Attorney getting my start was luck, I didn't even know what a zine was until a new friend told me and some others in our private server that they were in an AA zine and pre-orders had just opened, and so I rushed to support them. I won't ramble your ear off with the whole damn story, but eventually I found the @ aafancalendar which reblogs pretty much every AA event that could be going on. Not every fandom has it's own dedicated calender, but that one is fantastic!

In terms of getting into zines? Most zines have a blind submission process, so I am pleased to say I got into them via skill. But in terms of knowing ppl? That usually helps for running a zine.

Running a zine is a lot of work, but mods also get to be in their own zine, it's kind of a mod privileges thing. So that can be a place where knowing ppl helps, bc if you've shown you're a great mod, they might ask for your help on future projects. But there are still lots of opportunities to get into modding (many zines invite intern mods to learn the ropes!), and you can always just be head mod yourself too, (that's another story for another time). I’m also just autistic af and cold called ppl in the fandom who I admired and wanted to work with and who had worked on other zines. Your mileage may vary, but there’s no harm in asking, just make sure you’re fine taking no for an answer.

That's about how I got into half the zines I'm in, is I'm helping run them. But part of it is just persistence and not counting yourself out before you even apply. I want to get traditionally published too, so been trying the magazine scene, so I already had 1 years worth of magazine rejections under my belt, but even still, it does still hurt to get rejected even from zines, but you have to be persistent. I think I'm at a 50/50 acception to rejection rate when it comes to getting into zines. Sometimes, even if you're skilled, your prose style or whatever just doesn't vibe with the zine mods and that's not a reflection of your skill.

The short of it: put your best works forward and apply to everything you’re interested in.

I'll also leave you with some more resources. So in terms of finding zines from other fandoms, the best resource I've found is @ ZineTown on Twitter. (I know we might not like Twitter, but they're incredibly professional, active and a huge community, extremely worth following.) I'd also suggest joining their Discord channel, bc it is not only great to find zines to contribute to, a ton of mods there also post looking for mods to help out and you can choose to get pinged for specific fandoms, or specific mod roles.

Also if you're into Genshin Impact at all, just from casual observation, they have a bonker yonkers amount of zines, so good time to be a Genshin zine fan.

Sorry this was so rambly, but I hope it helped!

tl;dr: Follow aafancalendar and ZineTown, apply for literally everything. Make sure to have a private friends server to build you back up after rejections (they will happen, sometimes zines have to reject even highly skilled ppl just for numbers reasons). Crying is allowed and encouraged, make sure to have snacks for either celebration or comfort after rejection.

#asks #zines #kind of rambling lol sorry

2 notes · View notes

vannahfanfics · 1 year

Note

Hiya! I apologize in advance if this sounds creepy, but I've seen your name in a lot of zines recently, and got kind of intrigued. As a person who got into like, 80 zines in the past 2.5 years, do you have any tips/tricks/reflections for people who are only starting out? from outsider pov, it seems like you're in a new zine every week or two, so i was wondering if there's even more zines you didn't make it into, or how long it took to get into that first one?

Haha, no, it's not creepy at all! I've been in over 100 zines so far and done a lot of bangs and events on top of that, and it's led to my name getting around. Fairly often I'll join a zine server and someone will have worked with me before or know of me 🤣 So don't sweat it! It's honestly nice to be recognized :)

So, as far as advice--the first zine I was involved in was actually free to join! You'll find several zine companies like that, @anizines in particular hosts a lot of them, and we're tight :) From there, I just dove in. I scoured my socials for zine and event trackers and followed them, as they readily retweet/reblog zine posts. I check my socials multiple times a day, and I follow any zines/events I'm interested in and also have my own zine/event tracking document that I routinely update. And I just apply to as many zines as I can! That's really what it comes down to. I have definitely been rejected by at least twice as many zines as I've been accepted into; it's just such a saturated market with so many eager creators. A big reason I am "successful" by zine standards is that I am active in way more fandoms than the average person, so I apply to a LOT of zines. Being rejected is not a result of lack of talent or anything; there's just so much that goes into zine applications, and luck is a good part of it. I just apply and apply and apply! Sometimes my portfolio isn't a "perfect" fit, but I'll still apply anyway with the best of what I have because it's better than not! At the moment, I just don't have the time to write new pieces for every zine I apply to, especially because I apply to so many. Applying is the key! Never be afraid to apply, even if you think that what you've got isn't the exact theme of the zine. Sometimes you get lucky, especially because mods judge applicants on a lot more than theme alone. And the more you get out there, the more your name will get around, and zine mods and other contributors will remember you! That's the best part of zines for me, more than the act of being accepted into them--the community that comes along with it. I've made a lot of good friends thanks to zines and events!

In summary, you just gotta get out there, keep track of the zines you're interested in, and apply, apply, apply! Keep practicing your craft at the same time, and you'll start making your way in. Don't get discouraged by rejections. Even the "best" zine people have a slew of rejections behind them far greater than their acceptances. It's not about getting into zines or not getting in--it's about celebrating the love of fandom and getting to know like-minded creators.

I hope this advice is helpful! I'm always happy to help, and that includes beta-ing or looking over portfolios :) Good luck to any zine beginners!

3 notes · View notes

transannabeth · 2 years

Note

Do you have any advice on being accepted into zines? I feel like I've tried so hard and put my best work forward but I haven't had much luck and it's starting to make me feel down.

i'm sorry you haven't had any luck with zines so far :((( i'll try my best, but i can't promise anything as every zine team is different and has different requirements for their applicants

but before i start i want to say that a lot of times, a lot of really really incredible creators have to be cut because of numbers. if 100 people apply, and there are only 30 slots, 2/3 of those people will get rejected and mods usually have to decide between creators whose work they really like. i'm really proud of you for putting yourself out there and applying!! even when you did get rejected! it can be really scary, so be proud of that!

and now some tips:

make sure to read the applicant guidelines, and what this particular project is looking for

you want to make sure that you're actually following the guidelines. if that means you need at least one piece with a background in your samples, you should make sure you have that. if you're unsure of what that project means by a background, make sure you ask!

some mods will be willing to look through a portfolio and/or your linked social media to find examples of the work you're looking for, but many will not

making sure you read everything carefully and have what they require can help make sure you don't lose any points for missing requirements or misreading information (some projects have passwords hidden in guidelines for this very reason)

if they ask for trigger / content warnings make sure that you give them, as not providing them could be an immediate disqualifier for some projects

for writers: this is where it's important to make sure your word count for your samples is within their requirements. many mods will take points for going over!

try to only submit finished pieces for your samples

unless explicitly asked for doodles or wips, your best bet is to use the sample sections to show off your best work

for writers, make sure to edit your pieces for grammar, and even get a beta to look over them if you can! i sure don't always have an editor for my fics on ao3, but you want to try to polish your work for zine quality, so at least run the piece through a spelling and grammar check to make sure you're good on that front!

mods are trying to imagine what kind of piece you might submit for the zine when done, so you want to show off your most polished and complete work!

tailor your samples to the project

if the project is going to be human-focused, then you want to make sure the majority of your samples are of humans. if the project is for animals, same there! mods want to make sure that you are able to draw the subject of the project, so submitting lots of pokemon art for a human ship zine may make them more nervous about accepting you

if you know a project is going to be very fashion-heavy (ie a fashion zine or a period zine), then show off how you draw clothing! if the project is nature-inspired, show off your nature backgrounds!

for writers, if a zine says they're going to have non-traditional pieces (ie. articles, interviews, quizzes, or other writing that isn't just prose), then if you have a non-traditional piece, it can really help you out to submit it!

if something is "highly suggested" or "recommended", you want to try to do it

some projects will recommend or suggest that you apply with a piece for the specific fandom or theme that the zine is centered around. obviously we don't always have time to create a new piece, but if you have one that you're happy with and think is your good work or you have time to make one, do it!

usually, there will also be a note that this is not required, but i've found that it only helps you to submit something they're looking for if you can swing it. it may help them choose between you and another applicant if it comes down to it

(if it's required, then definitely have that fandom/theme or you could lose points or be outright disqualified)

weed and update your portfolio every few months

first of all, you don't really want to have more than 15 pieces in your portfolio at a time. around 10 is usually the max

unless you think a piece is very strong, you don't want to keep it in your portfolio for over 2 years (even that may be too long)! your art changes as you grow, make sure your pieces are accurate to your style now!

try not to have too many wips in your portfolio. think of this as an extension of your samples. show off your colors, your composition, different poses, backgrounds, etc. if your entire portfolio is busts, it won't be as exciting, so make sure you choose a variety of pieces that show off your different skills

also ask some friends! people might be happy to do a quick portfolio review for you!

important: if you have applications out when you weed your portfolio do not remove the pieces you've submitted as samples! or always use external links to somewhere else when applying. if your samples are in the trash, they can't be judged!

(for writers, submitting an ao3 page is totally cool, but your samples have much more weight than your portfolio in comparison to artists since mods don't always have time to look through more writing. you don't have to weed ao3!)

just make some zine ready pieces!

if you aren't used to making full illustrations that zines require, then you may not even really have many to fill your portfolio with. so make some!

if you really liked a zine idea but didn't get in, just draw the piece anyway if you're motivated!! you'll get to work on all the things zines look for, and also have a cool piece to add to your portfolio in the end

same goes for writers, write an entire story under the word count and polish it up. have someone read it over and beta it for you. you'll have content to share and a piece to use as a sample next time!

one of the things i personally have found applying to zines is that using my old zine pieces as samples usually has some more success, so you can see the circle people get stuck in

finally: try applying to different projects

if a project has very limited slots, it is going to be a lot harder to get in. that doesn't mean that you shouldn't try, but it's good to remember! amazingly talented people get cut from those all the time

digital projects are sometimes seen as lesser, but they're definitely not and they tend to have higher numbers that they accept. some are even open call, meaning that everyone who applies gets in!

that can be a great place to start with zines, because it's sometimes easier to get in, but you'll still have the community there of artists and writers who can give feedback on your work

and then you have a zine piece ready for other applications like i mentioned in the previous bullet!

keep making content and don't give up

zines are really hard! like any sort of anthology, they can be difficult to get into and rejection is brutal. believe me i have cried more than once over a zine rejection

but that doesn't mean your work isn't good and it doesn't mean you'll never get into a project! if you're mentally in a spot that allows you to keep applying, do it! if not, just focus on improving your craft and getting to a better spot mentally, there's no shame in saying that you need to take a break from or even stop applying because the rejections are too upsetting

the best thing you can do to get into projects is just keep drawing or writing. every time you create you do get better, even if you can't see it immediately

there is an amount of luck and chance in getting into zines—it depends on how many people apply, what the mods are looking for, and their personal tastes, but focusing on your own work and improving that is the best thing you can do to both improve your chances and better yourself as a creator

i hope something in here helps!! feel free to ask me more about zines at any time, and i wish you the best if you apply to another project!

#zine talk #answered #anonymous #thanks from the argo!#i hope this even remotely makes sense aldskfjadlsk #long post

5 notes · View notes

moldspace · 2 years

Note

I must ask... you seem to be in your local art scene. How does one do this?? I have no idea where to start! I'd love to make things and share with my community 😭 (no pressure to answer ofc!)

really my trick is that i've just been putting myself out there! the first challenge is knowing what opportunities are even out there, which requires some research/exploration/talking to people to find out. once you start to understand the local art institutions and opportunities in your area, you can keep an eye on calls for entry and applications. i apply to basically everything i see, it's really important not to self-reject before you even apply! (that said, i have a general rule of not applying to anything with a submission fee, and while that lowers the pool a little, it's obviously not a barrier to getting involved)

and i've still been rejected a lot! 2/3 of the art projects i applied for this year turned me down, and the one that accepted me was one that rejected me last year - so it's not about instant success, it's very much about continuing to show up and put yourself out there.

i think it also helps to be active in the community in a variety of ways - i sell stickers, zines, and sculptures at a few gift shops, but i also apply for shows and public art projects, which are all very different ways to be in the art scene, and i feel like that diversity has helped me, especially because i've become aware of opportunities for shows through my giftshop vending, etc. it really helps to make those connections!

and last but not least be active not just as an artist but also as a fan of art! go to shows, sign up for newsletters, immerse yourself in whatever your town has going on art-wise.

#ask

129 notes · View notes

r59k6 · 2 years

Photo

I watched SK8 and it was obvious who would be my fav . Later I saw @chinenmiyazine looking for contributors, I sent my application thinking I wouldn't have a chance because all my examples were wlw but they accepted me! Sooo this is my piece~

please, check out the whole zine! You can find it pinned in the Zine's account it's free!

#sk8 miya #miya chinen #sk8 #sk8 the infinity

13 notes · View notes

tenspontaneite · 3 years

Text

Pigment

Callum discovers the wonders of elven pigments.

(The first of two pieces written for @falling-for-you-a-rayllum-zine, which is now having leftover sales!) ('Future' chapter; takes place post-s3, naturally not canon to TTM. Oneshot. 4k. Ao3 link)

---

The first time Callum was introduced to the concept of elvish pigment was, ostensibly, by Rayla’s skin. He’d noted the marks under her eyes in the same hurried, panicked glance that picked out the horns, the ears, the alarming points of the weapons in her hands…

He wondered about them, of course, but in the first frantic two weeks of their acquaintance, there really wasn’t a lot of time to ask about it. Not until the Storm Spire, when he sat mulling over the flight-runes on Ibis’ wings, and how they might have come to be there.

“…So, I’ve been wondering,” he said to Rayla, apropos of nothing, while she was tending to her equipment. She looked up as he began to speak, the armour momentarily forgotten. “Those…markings you have, the ones on your face—and the ones a lot of other elves seem to have—what are they?”

She blinked, and for a moment, her fingers rose to her face, as though only just remembering the marks were there. “They’re pigment?” She offered, squinting at him a little. “…Is that a trick question, or…?”

“No, really, I have no idea what they are.” He assured her. “I was never sure if they were tattoos, or…weird elf birthmarks, or something. But—pigment? Does that mean it’s like…ink? How do you get them on?” Tattoos, as he understood them, involved needles. He hoped elven pigment didn’t involve needles.

For a moment, Rayla stared at him, looking decidedly nonplussed. “You…paint them on?” She offered, still thrown. “With a brush? And then they stay there for a while. Half a year, maybe. Depends on how good your pigment is.”

“Huh.” Callum mused. For a moment, he was tempted to press further, to ask about the intricacies of various pigments and the application thereof…but he’d been asking for a reason, after all, and his attention remained there.

If they were painted on...then that boded well. That meant that it was something that he could do, if only for the presence of the pigment and a brush.

It wasn’t much later that, after a guilty rummage through Ibis’ things, Callum stood at the pinnacle of the Storm Spire and painted flight-runes onto his skin. That was his first true introduction to the pigments of elves. As an artist, he couldn’t help but marvel at it. The pigment was white, yet it entirely obscured the darker colour of his skin with only a single, easy stroke. Only one layer, and it was solidly opaque. It glowed a little—then settled utterly dry, clean, and steadfast upon his arms.

For a moment, he spared a thought to wish that his paints could be like that. He’d dabbled in every form of art medium he could get his hands on over the years, and he’d never worked with any pigment like this one. It would be gorgeous to paint with.

But then he was too distracted trying to fly to think about art any longer, and that was the last mind he paid to pigment for a while.

After the battle of the Storm Spire, he prevailed upon the use of a finer, neater brush, and filled in the edges of his flight-runes until the shape of each was perfect and immaculate. Ibis watched him with a critical eye, and nodded.

“The spell will come easier if the runes are tidy.” He said, approvingly. “You’ll need to re-apply the pigment every three months. Any longer than that and it will begin to fade—which isn’t so great an issue when the marks are merely aesthetic, but with runes…”

“I can see how you wouldn’t want these fading, no.” Callum said ruefully, and accepted the little bottle of white pigment with a murmur of gratitude. He tucked it into his things for the next time he and Rayla went travelling, and she smiled at him.

“Packing your pigment for the journey, Callum?” She remarked, a little teasing. “Think we’ll be gone that long, do you?”

He laughed, and shrugged, glancing down at one of his arms. “I guess it’s just in case, really. I shouldn’t need to touch them up again for months, but…you never know. Wouldn’t want to end up flightless for some reason.”

“I suppose you are a tad obsessed with flying, now.” She agreed, as if she wasn’t always finding excuses for him to sweep her up into the sky for another flight. She reached out, absentminded, and trailed a fingertip around the curve of one rune with the trace of a smile on her lips. “Still, if it came down to it, you could always borrow mine.”

He glanced up at her, startled. “Your pigment?” He checked, eyes settling on the marks beneath her eyes. “I didn’t know you had any with you.”

“I don’t. Need to pick some up from Ethari, when we visit.” She said, succinctly, and he supposed that was another reason for their stopping at Silvergrove on the way to Katolis. How long had it been, since she last refreshed her pigment? Did she need to do it again soon, or was she just planning for the future?

He stared at her for a moment, contemplating her, feeling his heart flutter with a familiar warmth. If her markings had faded at all since he met her, it wasn’t immediately obvious to him. They looked as clear and lovely as ever; a natural part of her face. It was strange to think of what she might look like without them.

Rayla eyed him, when he’d stared a little too long and smiled a little too softly, and huffed at him. Her cheeks pinked a little, the colour darkening her markings. “What are you looking at?” She muttered to him, a touch self-conscious. Rather than look away, he smiled at her all the wider, and captured the hand she had on his arm to plant a kiss on its fingers.

“You.” He said, very contentedly, and watched with pleasure as her face coloured and her fingers twitched beneath his touch.

“Dumb prince.” She sighed, a smile spreading unbidden and affectionate across her lips. It was beautiful, so of course he kissed that too. He felt the widening of that smile against his mouth, and lingered there for as long as she’d let him before she prodded him away to finish packing.

She gave his arms a strange look, though, when he next bared them. Appraising, almost, with a narrow-eyed sort of consideration. “…What?” He asked, when she’d been staring long enough to warrant the question.

“Your runes are…neat.” She said, tone as considering as her eyes. “Tidy.” She shook her head then. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, with all the art you do. Of course you’d be good at painting skin-pigment.” He eyed her, because there was clearly more to this observation than just surprise that he’d managed some tidy brushwork, but all she said when he asked was “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

He didn’t believe her, obviously. Not with the way she kept shooting half-considering looks at him when she thought he wasn’t looking. But he didn’t press her, and she didn’t mention whatever was on her mind. In time, he forgot about it.

Until they were back in the Silvergrove.

Rayla asked Ethari, and within the minute he was pressing a small dark bottle and a fine brush into her hands. “I did wonder if you needed any.” He said, as she turned the glass over and the indigo liquid swirled around within. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” She agreed, pocketing the vial and the brush both. “It’ll start fading soon. So…thanks.”

He nodded at her, all warmth and familial affection. “Not a problem. Did you want me to help with that while you’re here?”

She hesitated, then, and for a moment…for a moment, her eyes slid to Callum, who’d been watching them idly over the top of his sketchbook. “…I’m good.” She settled on, eventually, and if there was anything particularly knowing about Ethari’s smile then, Callum didn’t notice it.

He kept drawing, content in that she was content, and happy to be in her home under happier circumstances than the first.

But then, later: “I wanted to ask you something.” Rayla said, abruptly, when it was just the two of them in what was ostensibly her childhood room. It had been adapted over the years for a growing teenager, but still maintained hints of the past lingering within its walls. He spotted a child’s doodle of a shadowpaw etched into the grain of the dresser, and suppressed a smile.

He turned to her, eyes crinkling a little at the thought of a tiny rambunctious Rayla who scrawled over the walls and furniture. “Yeah?” He responded, a little distracted, as he wondered if there were perhaps any baby or childhood portraits in residence somewhere. He should ask Ethari. If there were any to be found, surely he’d know.

That distraction fled the instant she spoke. “Will you paint my pigment for me?” She asked, directly, and his eyes shot to her at once. At his expression, she added, “You don’t have to. But it needs doing soon, or it’ll start fading faster.” She paused, looking a little more tentative as she said, “If you don’t want to, Ethari can—”

“No,” he blurted, clumsy, then scrambled to say “I mean, yes, I mean—I mean I’d like that. To help. To, er. Paint your pigment on.” He felt his face heat, in part from how he’d stumbled over the words, and in part because…well. He might not know a lot about elven pigment and elven markings, but he was fairly sure that they were…personal. That painting someone’s markings for them was personal.

His reply settled her, and she huffed, lips twitching with familiar fondness. “…Good.” She said, in the end, and surprised him by leaving the room without further word. He blinked after her, uncertain whether he was supposed to follow, but then she returned a bare few moments later with a towel and a wet cloth that she was already wiping her face with.

“Er,” he offered, perplexed, as she dried her face off and set the towel and cloth both down. He didn’t understand until she plucked the bottle of pigment from her dresser and pressed it into his fingers. “Now?” His voice was something of a squeak, and she rolled her eyes.

“When else?” She asked, procuring a brush and giving him that too. “We’re setting off tomorrow. Now’s best.” She paused. “…That okay?”

Her voice had gone tentative again, and his chin jerked up, fingers tightening around brush and bottle as if worried she’d take them away. “No, yeah, it’s okay,” he assured her, and then laughed, a little nervously. “I just…wasn’t expecting it.” He cleared his throat, and took a closer look at the brush. It was like the one he’d filled his own runes in with, fine and delicate and short enough that it didn’t seem liable to flick off in weird directions. “…So I just…paint this onto your face?” He asked, after a moment, feeling his cheeks heat for reasons he couldn’t quite put to words. It felt special, in a way that was hard to describe.

“That is how it works.” Rayla answered, dryly, and then tugged him by the rune-adorned arm until they were both sitting on the floor, towel and cloth at close remove. He supposed those were there in case of spillages, though considering how quickly elvish pigment took hold, he wasn’t sure how much good a towel would do. He wondered if there was some sort of solvent, magical or otherwise, that was up to the task of dissolving pigment like this.

“What happens if I make a mistake when I’m putting your pigment on?” He wondered aloud, only half directing it at her. “Do you just have to walk around with it on your face for months?”

She snorted, and shook her head. “Nah. There’s pigment-remover for that.”

A little tension eased from his shoulders. “Oh, good,” he sighed, relieved. “That’s much less pressure, then.”

She rolled her eyes again. “Just paint my face, Callum.”

He chuckled at her, a little nervously, and uncapped the bottle. The liquid inside was so much darker than the pigment he used, and bizarrely true in its colour. Usually, inks tended to look much darker than their actual colour when they were in the bottle. It was only when you painted them onto a page that you could see how light and bright they were. This, though…it was just solid, liquid indigo, as if someone had distilled the concept of the colour of Rayla’s markings and spilled it into a bottle. “This would be amazing to paint with.” He murmured, somewhat distractedly, watching the pigment shimmer in the low light.

Rayla didn’t answer that, which was unusual enough that his eyes darted to hers, and found her looking strangely thoughtful. She shook her head, though, as if to dispel some thought, and started giving the pigment bottle and the brush some very meaningful looks. He laughed, softly, and obeyed the unspoken command; he dipped the brush in, drained off the excess, and then lifted it. It was dyed the same solid, true indigo—a colour that he was about to put onto her skin.

It hit him then, or at least started to; he looked between the brush and her face and felt his breath catch at—at something. It felt a little like panic, a little like wonder, a little like the breathless infatuation she always managed to inspire in him. For a moment, he didn’t know what to do with it, and just…stared at her, heart beating wildly at—at the trust, and the honour, that he couldn’t help but feel she’d given him.

She was looking impatient by the time he finally moved, and likely would have spoken if not for how he shuffled closer, until their knees were touching. Her mouth closed, watching him, eyes settling on his own as he reached towards her. His fingers brushed the edge of her jaw, feather-light, as tentative as he always was when he remembered that someone as amazing as her had deigned to be with someone like him. His breath caught in his throat as he lifted his hand, thumb tracing tenderly along a cheek that warmed beneath his touch.

He cupped her face in his hand, then, unable to resist the impulse, and she leaned into it without even thinking. Her eyes fell half-lidded for a moment, the smallest smile twitching at the edges of her lips, and he wanted to kiss her. That wasn’t what he was supposed to be doing, but—but he wanted to, and she was smiling at him, and her eyes were soft and warm in the quiet and low light of the room—

So, he kissed her, and she huffed an amused breath against his lips, lifting a hand to trail affectionate fingers along the side of his neck. “This doesn’t feel like face-painting to me.” She murmured to him, fond and teasing at once, and he wouldn’t have been surprised for a moment if his heart stopped beating for the strength of how much he loved her. “Weren’t you supposed to be doing something?”

He laughed, a little breathless, and the warmth of it spilled between them. “Yeah.” He agreed, helplessly, drawing back with her fingers still warm on his neck and his hand still cupped to her cheek, and paused for a moment to treasure the sight of her looking at him like that. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was that she loved him. He didn’t think he’d ever believe it. “I’ll just…get on that.”

She withdrew her hand, and watched him. Waiting.

His fingers shifted on Rayla’s face, moving to press his thumb gently to the side of the marking under her left eye. Pulling at the skin, ever-so-slightly, to allow for painting it more evenly. Another urge struck him, but this time he suppressed it. He could kiss her cheek-markings later. For now, he was supposed to be painting them. And so…

With an almost reverent care, he lifted the tip of the brush to her face, hovering just above her skin with a heady mixture of breathless wonder and breathless trepidation. He exhaled, softly, and felt her eyes upon him. Watching, warm and fond and expectant.

Finally, with the utmost care, he touched the brush to her skin.

She flinched a little at the touch so close beneath her eye, but he’d expected that. He held the brush steady and traced a slow, perfect line down her cheek, along the edge of the extant marking, like a dark border to the fading colour. And it was fading; he could see that now. It wasn’t noticeable on its own, but with the contrast of the fresh pigment beside it, it was fully obvious that the old colour had begun waning.

With the brush to her skin, Callum’s hushed awe fell in step with the breadth of his skill and practice. He’d never put brush to someone else’s skin before, but that did nothing to diminish his skill. He knew brushwork, and he knew the delicacy needed for fine detail, and…and, in the end, this was easy. Just tracing around an existing marking, and filling it in. There could be nothing easier.

He drew the pigment across her skin in smooth, effortless lines. He traced the borders of her marking and then filled it in, up until when the brush began to run empty, and he had to go for the bottle again. The colour settled fast, immediate, and perfect upon her face, with that gorgeous fidelity he’d never seen in any other pigment or paint or ink in all his life. It was a pleasure to use it, and all the more that he was using it for this.

Callum fell half into an artist’s trance for the remaining minutes it took to finish. He filled the left marking in, stark and perfect, then shifted his fingers tenderly to her other cheek, and repeated the process. When he was done, there was nothing but perfect lines and perfect colour upon a face that he loved.

He smiled, small and satisfied, and set the brush aside. “Done.” He murmured, and leaned forward to press his forehead to hers, cradling her face in both hands. It felt strange, to risk touching her skin when he’d only just painted it. But that was the wonder of elvish pigment; it dried the moment it was applied, and permitted no possibility of smearing whatsoever. He stroked his thumbs beneath her eyes and felt more happy, more tender, more loving than he’d ever known. “Perfect.” He murmured, reverential, the words meant for more than the pigment.

Her eyes blinked across from his own, and he loved them. Loved her. She brought her arms up and drew him closer, one hand splayed on the back of his neck. “Maybe I’ll have you do me some new markings, someday.” She murmured to him, in the end, a small and secret smile at the edges of her lips. He stared at her, spellbound, for the three beats of his heart that lingered between her smile and her movement. She leaned in and closed the meagre distance between them, the kiss soft and sweet and all the more perfect for how dearly he adored her.

He imagined, for a second, drawing that ink-brush again along her skin. Imagined it between her fingers, along her arms, casting indigo whorls about her shoulders. He thought of new pigment, new markings, and the sheer delight of being the one who got to put them there. His heart fluttered. “I’d like that.” He said, against her lips, and she kissed him again.

“Good.” When she drew back, the markings were still stark and beautiful beneath her eyes, where he’d painted them. The sight of them left him a little breathless, even now, unable to shake the sense that he’d been afforded an enormous privilege, a gift of worth beyond measure.

Someday, he hoped, she’d afford him that gift again.

Callum saw the fruits of Rayla’s thoughtful consideration and furtive glances a while later, when July came around and he was startled from thinking about her birthday by the arrival of his own. She cornered him with palpable satisfaction, and gave him a parcel that she very clearly expected him to be delighted with.

She wasn’t wrong.

He unveiled an array of small bottles; thirty-six hues of true and perfect elvish pigment, distilled for the purpose of painting. He beheld them all with a nearly breathless joy, finding the little parcel of pigment-brushes, the bottle of solvent, the masking-fluid….

“You like it?” Rayla asked, with a broad and decidedly smug smile on her face. She clearly already knew the answer.

“I love it.” He pronounced, and set at once to trying them out.

The very first thing he painted was her. She watched him, and huffed as she saw the familiar lines of her own face taking form on the page, pleased and exasperated all at once. She never did seem to understand why he drew her so often, but that was okay. And, with these pigments…

The colours were spectacular, brighter and more intensely pigmented than anything he’d ever seen. He found himself utterly swept away in the delight of using them, and hours later, emerged from his artist’s trance to the completed work: Rayla in the early evening of the Silvergrove, her hair and eyes gleaming softly with the gentle illumination of the lights and moon-moths around her. It was one of the finest works he’d ever produced, and at the sight of it, he concluded the process of falling helplessly in love with Elvish pigment.

Rayla, for all her embarrassment at being painted, seemed to approve of it too. “You picked that up quickly.” She noted, handling the edges of the thick paper with the delicate care it deserved.

“These pigments are my new favourite thing.” He declared, arranging the bottles a little more tidily beside him. His eyes rested, a little consideringly, over another wide sheet of paper. He stared at it for a long while, growing quiet and solemn, and eventually reached out to take it.

He had his birthday traditions to observe, after all.

The second thing he painted with the elven pigments was his family portrait, atrophied and truncated by tragedy. There was no Sarai there, and hadn’t been for years. No Harrow, and that was a new pain. He felt the ghosts of their absence in the lines he didn’t draw, in the colours that never fell upon the page, in the voids of grief that they left in his life.

But there were new faces now, too.

With quiet, exquisite care, he drew himself. He drew Ezran, older now, wearing a mantle that had come for him too soon. He drew Bait in his brother’s arms. He drew Aunt Amaya. And, tenderly: he drew Azymondias and Rayla. The outlines took form, and as the hours passed, elvish pigment filled them in.

In the end, he had his family portrait again. Changed, and echoing with its empty spaces, but…

Quiet, from her place beside him, Rayla slipped her hand into his own.

“Come on,” She said, with the small but tender smile that he loved. “Zym has a present for you too. He’ll be disappointed if he can’t give it to you today.”

Callum exhaled, and let her fingers tighten around his, pulling him up to his feet beside her. His own smile slipped onto his lips. “Then we’d better go find him.” He said, casting a last glance at the portrait on the table. He didn’t resist it when she tugged on his fingers, pulling him away.

With a strange, quiet serenity, he followed her out into the light.

---

end.

This is word-for-word what was published in the Rayllum zine 'Falling For You'; I have made no changes. It’s the shorter and less impressive of my two pieces, but I hope you liked it anyway.

I’ll potentially be making some minor edits to the second piece before posting, given I intend to continue it - in fact, I’ve already got like three extra chapters of it written, though small ones. I’m considerably more excited about that one, so stay tuned!

#rayllum #rayllumzine #tdp fic #tdp callum #tdp rayla #seriously though the soulmate au piece is good times #looking forward to everyone being able to read it #had to do word count negotiations to get a piece that long into the zine lol #the mods kindly granted me a couple extra ks #and then I decided to reduce my word limit for this first piece by 1k so I could shift that to the more exciting piece too #it deserved every word I could give it #this one is nice don't get me wrong #i'm just not made for short decisive pieces #and the soulmate AU's ending is VERY MUCH open-ended #and inviting follow-up #which I then wrote and shared with my closest cohorts #awaiting the day it could be published #looking forward to seeing the comments on my baby

61 notes · View notes

worldbetweenworldszine · 3 years

Text

Q&A #2

Hi guys! We are back with another Q&A. We hope these answers some more of your questions :))

7. Q: I am sort of unclear on the theme. It’s about the memories of the characters? It is a bit of a difficult concept to picture

A: Memories can center around specific characters! These can be like Luke reminiscing his life on Tatooine, Obi-Wan reminiscing his life as a Jedi, etc. they could also be collective memories within the Star Wars universe like celebrating Empire day, a large memorial for the loss of Alderaan, etc. We would like to show not just characters but also greater events and experiences that transcend just individuals and move into social events or holidays that might exist in Star Wars!

8. Q: Will this zine have ships or be gen?

A: We will allow canon ships into our zine, but we will be staying mostly gen and SFW!

9. Q: Do we get Characters assigned or can we choose them?

A: A little bit of both! In our contributor application, we will have a preference section for eras and characters as well as a section for you to put down your ideas, as well as what characters/era you would prefer to make pieces for. If you are accepted as a contributor, we will try to accommodate preferences. But we will assign and move people down their preference list if certain eras or characters have too many people interested in making something about them. We want this zine to encompass all of canon, so I’d suggest having multiple ideas planned.

10. Q: Are there any Deadlines already planned?

A: We have a general timeline for ourselves and during the creation period! Creation period should last between November-January, with three check-in dates just to make sure everyone is on track! We hope to open pre-orders at the end of this creation period.

11. Q: I worry about what the time margin will look like that the artists will work in/how tight of a deadline there would be! I'm a bit anxious is all.

A: Creation period should last about three months, with three check ins to keep everyone on track! We think that should be ample time for everyone to work on their piece as well as get feedback when asked.

12. Q: i’m multifandom but starting to draw a lot more star wars! is this for star wars only accs?

A: Nope! We are accepting anyone who loves Star Wars, whether they’re new to the fandom or not.

13. Q: Will there be spots open for people that have not participated in a star wars zine before? i saw some of these zines have a lot of the same participants and i was wondering if there would be an attempt to switch it up. with skill level still considered of course.

A: I can understand your thoughts. I (Katan) have never participated in a zine before, and not from not trying. We are open to accepting people who have never participated in a zine before and we want to try and have a variety of artists involved. But understand that when we judge contributors and their portfolios, it is based on skill level. If you want, you can start building up a portfolio now! Find your best pieces. Create new pieces. Put your best foot forward so we can see just what you can bring to the table!

14. Q: I've never participated in a zine before, so my personal concern is gonna be how much the mods will guide the whole process/how much experience you have to bring to the table.

A: Understandable concern! We currently have mod applications open, so I cannot tell you fully about every mod’s experience. Speaking for who is on now, Tobias and I (Katan) have no mod experience. This is our first zine after all! Our graphic design mod, who has been making the visuals for all of our posts, is Marta. She has far more experience than us. She has worked on multiple zines, including the Found: A Clone Wars Zine! One thing is for certain: all of us want this project to happen! We will do everything to make sure it runs smoothly.

We had another question come in after we made this post, so I will add it here:

15. Q: I know some zines only have some more expensive bundle options, will there be an opportunity to purchase only a few things at a time? Like just the zine itself or just a few of the merch items?

A: Yes! We will have multiple bundle options, including a digital only bundle, a zine only bundle, and merch bundles!

Our mod application and interest check are both still open! If you are interested in the former or haven’t filled out the latter, please don’t hesitate to do them!

-Katan

#zinemaking #qa

22 notes · View notes

sunsetcurbed · 2 years

Note

Hello! 💭 🌝 and 👨‍👧‍👧 for the fanfic ask game pls

- @michelangelindraws

hi!! thank you!!

What is a headcanon you have about your own work?

UHHHH I have so many. You can find a lot of them in the notes of my fics, typically!! I guess one that I haven't shared and, while I've thought about writing this as a oneshot, I don't know if I'll ever get around to it. But the reason Alex finally pulled the trigger in breaking up with Willie in gimis thot. I think there were a lot of things that built up to that, but I think there was one moment in particular that made Alex go "this can't go on like this, we can't go on like this, I can't go on like this." And that's when they're on the phone one night when Alex has effectively moved back in with the band and Willie sounds so happy about the paper that he's writing. He realizes in that moment that Willie isn't going to choose Alex (and down the road Alex is happy about that, is proud of Willie for that, no matter how much it hurts). He feels it out by bringing up grad school again and Willie goes quiet, because he thinks it's a trap, and in a way it is. Alex needs confirmation. And Willie tells him that he's been working on the application, and about the letters of recommendation his professors are writing, and about the assistantships he's applying for, and Alex doesn't feel angry like he has whenever they've talked about this for the past six months, he just feels resigned. And as Willie speaks, he accepts that this is what Willie wants. Willie sounds happier and more excited than Alex has heard him sound in weeks, months. And Alex is bitter. He's so, so fucking bitter. But he also wants this for Willie, so he just—his strings get cut. He's not going to fight this anymore. It's done. He's lost. Willie has an idea of this—we even see this in chapter 9 during his research spiral in March 2021. But ultimately—and please excuse the wording—there's nothing to hold on to. That doesn't come until much later down the road.

Who is one character you haven’t yet written for that you would like to?

I think Carlos, honestly. My zine piece was about Julie and Carlos, but it was only 1k and I didn't get to explore his character much. He's a bit unhinged and I appreciate that wholly. I'd love to mess around in his head. I just don't know if I'll ever get the opportunity.

Do you tell people in real life that you write fic?

Some people, yes!! My best friend from high school knows that I write fic—she's actually read my Fremione fic. I was dating someone for a while and told them I wrote fic—I'm still not sure why I did, but I hope I feel comfortable enough with any future partners to do the same. My family knows I write fic. My parents don't know anything about it, but my brother knows some details, like what shows I write for, certain plots, AUs, etc.

#ask #michelangelindraws #ask games

4 notes · View notes

unioncolours · 3 years

Text

A 2nd Majsasaurus Year!

Today, 22nd of September 2021, it’s been two years since I officially joined the magical world of fandom. 22.9.2019 I uploaded the first chapter to my fic Shadows and Sand, and the rest is history.

I did a deep dive into my first year as a fic writer and active member of fandom last year, when it was my first anniversary. You can read it here!

In that meta discussion about my membership of fandom, I presented it as if walking on clouds. I was so, so happy and talked during all the discussion about my happiness in fandom.

Since that post was written, my life and also my perception of the fandom I am part of has changed. Change isn’t always bad, as I really had a honeymoon phase with fandom over a year ago, and the low after hit hard.

But let’s see what I’ve been up to and what I’ve been writing! The following year provided much change and fun things! Please keep reading 💜⬇

The first fic I wrote since 22.9.2020 was a Sakura x Ino fic. I had for a longer while been interested in writing a woman-loves-woman ship, which I had never done before, and as a wlw-person myself the urge to explore that part led to Promise me this is just a kiss. The pairing itself was chosen on rather random, it had to be two women and I like Ino, so I chose the most popular Ino-wlw ship for this for convenience.

I really liked writing the fic and it was well-received! It was the first time I had written a fic that was entirely centred around exploring feelings and having sex.

After this I jumped directly onto the next idea that had been boiling inside me for a longer while. Up to this point, all I had written, except the wlw-fic, had been set in the Naruto canonverse and I was itching to try to work with a multi-chaptered modern au! The pairing was of course my beloved Shikadai x Inojin.

It was during the creation of this fic I began to struggle. This was a new genre, as this was romance only and all my other works had been action and fantasy based, except the sex fic of course. I was maybe over critical and stressed, which resulted in me having a hard time writing it. But I made it. Was the sky always this beautiful? ended up being 35k long, and in hindsight, I freaking love, love, love how it turned out in the end and what it represented. I am very proud of this fic.

I “upgraded” as a fan by the end of October when I bought myself a digital drawing tablet. I began drawing fanart of Shikadai and Inojin and preferably them two together, haha! I still draw a few days a month and find it extremely fun as a side hobby beside the writing.

We are now in November 2020. By this time, I had completely finished my zine fic, Under the Scorching Sun, which I had written during September and October, for the Shikatema zine I was kindly accepted to. I was proud of what I had created and was eager for the rest of the contributors to wrap up theirs, so we’d have a wonderful zine for sale in 2021. It was lovely to write ShikaTema again. As the zine fic was about to be released in months from when I had at first finished it, I wanted of course to write something fans and friends could immediately take part of on the internet. I had hyped myself up to a state where I wanted to write a third and final story in my series To love and never let go, my epic series about Shikadai and Inojin.

Now, I should maybe have waited another month, but I was worried the readers would give up on me if I didn’t write it right away. In December, I began writing To find hope in the Universe, with my usual speed and love for the art.

What I by then didn’t realise or even recognise was that I was very slowly turning burned out. I ignored all the signs.

In December I wrote simultaneously as Hope in the Universe a fic that was part of the Shikatema server’s Secret Santa event. The fic’s name was The Ghost Stories of our Hearts, and it was ShikaTema, as the event’s name suggests. It was fun to write and despite the final big fic, Hope in the Universe, pressing down on me, I finished The Ghost Stories of our Hearts and was very happy with the result. Sadly, at this point the burnout began taking control over me, and I never managed to reply to the comments.

The 15th of January, I began uploading To find hope in the Universe. It was a lovely experience, even if it was tainted by negative feelings coming from my decreasing happiness and the fact that it didn’t do as well as To dance above the Stars, the second fic in the series. To deal with two very contradiction emotions, loving my work, the characters, how I have painted an entire world around the characters and how I knew some people honestly loved my hard work, and then the negative feelings coming from not feeling good enough and depressed, was a difficult thing to navigate and still is when I think back to that time. It didn’t help that during the process of uploading the fic I went through grief, and I chose distraction as my coping method. I kept writing and working, the only thing I ever knew.

Our pre-order of the Shikatema zine was in full motion by this time and it was a nerve-wracking time! Mostly because of excitement but also worry. I’m super happy for my friends who were part of the zine, with whom I could share all the excitement and nervousness with. The zine ended up making good sales, which made me happy among the uploading of the long fic.

To find hope in the Universe was completed 31st of March 2021. When I uploaded the final chapter, I felt nothing. It was so weird, so spooky, to have finished a long fic and a series on top of that and not feel anything. But deep down, beneath the layer of depression, I felt great pride.

That was the emotion that broke free once the burnout left me. Pride.

I had created this empire of Shikajin, a whole alternative timeline, an alternative canon from my own head and to this day, that is my internet legacy. I love Trial of the Heart, which I wrote in 2020, but if I have to choose between ToH and this series, I will choose To love and never let go in a heartbeat.

So, even if it felt depressing and hopeless in the moment, I look now back with pride and happiness. Never forget that. Never forget that I made that.

April was a curious time. I swore to not write anything, because I had by now recognised that I was burned out and needed to rest, yet managed to scrape together three smaller fics.

The first one was another wlw-smut fic, TemaSaku this time called Another Light. I wanted to explore that part once again. I wrote it in canonverse and honestly think the fic ended up extremely nice. Perfect amount of feels and sex. It didn’t feel hard to write at all, because the setting, characters and emotions were so different from the fics I had written the last five months.

Now more interesting things lay on the horizon! A new zine, the Ino-Shika-Cho zine called Beyond a Bond had an interest check during the spring, and later the contributor application. I urged in the interest check to please give us the next gen kids, Shikadai, Inojin and Chocho – my kids and babies, and when it turned out they were going to feature, I had to apply as a writer. For this application I wrote a one shot, called It’s just hair, and I loved this spunky little story featuring the best babies that I created.

I also edited one of my tumblr fics, And then I kissed him, into a longer, better version that I later in May uploaded onto AO3. It was once again a Shikajin, a sequel of Trial of the Heart, and it was a fun little project.

Now May came and I sent in the application for the zine early, which I now am relieved I did. I am happy that I did the work for the application in April instead of May, because in May I had a few breakdowns and another grieving period, which lead to complete creative paralysis. I didn’t write a single word during May, only uploaded the two one shots I had prepared in April.

What I did do in May was to read through the Shikatema zine I had contributed to! It arrived in the mail! I was so nervous; my whole body was shaking when I opened the package right outside the post office. The zine now resides on the parade place in my little zine shrine in the bookshelf. Thank you to the mods who made this a reality!

To my great happiness my zine adventures continued as I was accepted to the Ino-Shika-Cho zine as a writer and was assigned to write my favourite characters. I felt so relieved and overjoyed, mind blown by the sheer talent among the contributors.

On the other fandom front, June didn’t continue any brighter, with stress and mental pain still having a strong grip around me, despite the very happy news that I am still so grateful for. I wrote a Yamanaka family fic which to this day hasn’t seen the light of AO3, because of negative emotions surrounding it. I turned into a complete wreck compared to me in June 2020. In June 2020 I was flourishing, I loved what I did, I loved fandom and I loved the friends I had made through Discord servers. Now I could find myself crying my eyes out over a wip not going the way I wished it would. What had happened to Bex 2021?

I was so incredibly frustrated with myself, groaning in defeat when my hands just couldn’t write. I managed to push through 6k of what I called my “emo au” – more of that later – and finish the Yamanaka fic which is still buried, and on top of that I had the zine and another fandom event, The Naruto Photo Album, to create content for. Why couldn’t I do it? Why couldn’t I find happiness in something that once was my reason for happiness?

In the end, I managed to write 15k in June. My former monthly word count used to be 30k. One could think this would turn into the end of my fic writing career, or the beginning of a longer hiatus, but I am stubborn and want to meet the expectations of the people who love my content, so I didn’t want to give up. I wanted to try. I wanted to be whoever I was before.

Funnily enough, the healing came in the shape of the most self-indulgent fic I have ever, ever written, a fic I like possessed began writing July the 1st 2021. It was nothing less than a freaking fairy tale AU, namely a Shikadai x Inojin Peter Pan AU. I can hear you laugh at the silliness of it, but this whimsical AU gave me back my love for writing. I hyper-fixated on this story quite a bit and stopped writing on everything else, something I almost never do.

Only happy boys fly ended up being 21 000 words long! I knew it was a niched story, and true to my guesses, the story has to this day very low stats. Today, two months after it was published, it has just above 100 hits and 10 kudos, so for all I know, only ten people read and liked it. I try to not care too much, since I love the story and in some way, that story saved me from going batshit insane over my emotions about writing.

At this point I had begun writing my fic from the Ino-Shika-Cho zine, finding joy in silly scenes with my favourite characters and trying to heal. The writing process was frustratingly slow, but one word at a time I got forward and as of today, the draft is done. The pre-orders are in December. At the side of the zine fic I wrote a short fluffy Shikajin story, CLEAR, a story with almost no plot, because I knew how much self-indulgence could help me.

And then, I finally began writing for real on my emo au, A gang of fallen stars, which has the first few chapters up right now! I have for the first time in six months a longer fic (if we don’t count the Peter Pan story) and it feels… good. This fic is once again a modern au, but in darker tones than my other modern au from November 2020. I honestly like what I have so far, even if I during June and July almost planned to never finish it. I am so relieved I managed to begin the upload. In September the Photo Album was released and I could show my two fics I wrote for it.

It sounds like this year has been nothing but misery, and at times it felt like it. However, there are a few fandom friends who brought light to my life when I couldn’t see it. The first ones to mention are of course my partners in crime, @notquitejiraiya and @thespookymoth. Together we created a server dedicated to Ino-Shika-Cho during the spring and it has been tons of fun with the members there! Thank you two for listening to me and for being my friends during 2021.

I also have to mention Soverel, who carefully begun taking contact through comments and likes on my twitter, and later through direct messages, and it has been a fun ride ever since. We’ve had lovely discussions which are very dear to me and your support means a lot to me. Thank you for being you and for drawing so many wonderful artworks you’ve shared with me. Haha, and for making me play Genshin Impact, even though I do it like twice a month!

Another person who has made my days so much brighter is @sugarriene. Thank you for sending me that one dm that made us chat regularly, thank you for popping up and sharing panels and your wonderful drawings with me, and for vibing head canons with me. You are a lovely person, and you make me happy.

Finally, I want to give a shout out to @yoboseyokyu for listening to me when I had to yell into the void and for making me happy with your cute posts on both twitter and tumblr.

Since September 2020, I’ve written around 195 000 words and drawn close to 35 illustrations, most of them of Shikadai and Inojin. Almost 200 000 words of Majsasaurus. I’ve created a Discord server and I’ve been part of two zines as a writer, plus a free PDF-project.

It has been a wild year. A year filled with passion for my favourite characters and ship, with the excitement that came with being part of projects and hyping them. It was a year where I learned to draw digitally, and heck what fun it was.

This also a year where I learned people can be mean to me because of what I ship and that fandom friends won’t necessarily always stay to be your friend anymore and how much it can hurt. I also learned what my limits are, and what punishment I get if I don’t listen to my own mind and rest when I have to.

It was a year, guys.

Now, onto the third Majsasaurus Year. Cheers!

And those of you, who supported me when I needed it – thank you and I love you.

#majsasaurus

8 notes · View notes

equivalentexchangeanthology · 3 years

Text

About / FAQs

The Equivalent Exchange Anthology will be a ship-friendly project open to Fullmetal Alchemist creators of all types. Content about any and all FMA characters and ships will be allowed (with appropriate ratings and warnings). Hate, harassment, or disparagement of contributors will not be tolerated.

The project will have multiple parts*:

A printed zine of gen fanwork and meta**

A printed zine of SFW ship-based fanwork

A digital zine of NSFW content (including a section for ship-based content and a section for gen)

A digital zine of NSFW ship content, including trigger-heavy content

(*This general project structure is provisional and open to change, as the final scope of the project will depend on contributions. Under no circumstances will an alteration of the structure result in SFW and NSFW content being mixed into the same project.)

(**Meta can be personal essays about what makes FMA meaningful to you, analyses of characters, themes, or details from canon, stories about your experience with FMA, or another type of non-fiction)

What is a zine? A zine is an unofficial fan-made publication compiling textual and visual contributions from fan creators.

What is the theme of this project? We want to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Fullmetal Alchemist by letting creators express their love for FMA however they like! We are leaving this very open-ended on purpose. This fandom is full of creative people with varying perspectives – to us, the most important thing about FMA is the message that all of us coming together despite our differences is what gives us strength. The name “Equivalent Exchange” was selected to highlight the way that being a part of the fandom has given us so much in return for what we’ve put in, which is another element that we’d love to incorporate into the project.

What do you mean by “meta”? “Meta” in the context of this project can be any non-fictional content that someone wants to create: character analysis; thematic analysis; extended commentary on a scene or plot point; a short essay about your personal experiences with and/or your discovery of FMA; what FMA has meant to you. A description of the work or process that went into a cosplay or another type of fan creation could also fall into this category. You can find more information on what could qualify as “meta” here!

Will there be merchandise? Yes! We will have merch bundles available, and it will be possible to purchase them together with the zine parts of the project, or on their own.

What is the schedule? The full schedule is available here! Pre-orders will open August 1st and remain open until October 3rd.

Will the project have a Discord server? Yes! The Discord server, as well as periodic emails, will be the primary methods used for communication with contributors. The Discord server is carefully organized by project, so that contributors will only have access to content for the project they are contributing to. The server will be SFW by default, except for the project-specific spaces for the NSFW projects, and all server spaces will be moderated. All of the general “chat” channels will be strictly SFW.

Who can apply? Anyone who loves FMA, wants to create for it, and respects others in the fandom regardless of differences in fictional preferences (character interpretations, ships, etc.). Contributors must be prepared to collaborate with others despite differences of opinion, and should not have a history of shaming, belittling, or attacking others based on what they enjoy in fanwork. In short, applicants’ philosophy should be “Ship and let ship”!

Can people under 18 apply? As long as an applicant under 18 is legally old enough to work in their country of origin, their application will be reviewed. (Contributors under 18 will only be permitted to apply to, contribute, and view SFW content.)

How many contributors will be accepted? We don’t have a maximum number of contributors as of yet. For the two SFW physical zines, we will determine the number of contributors based on page limitations, but each SFW zine will have an extended digital PDF version to include contributors whose work or full work won’t fit into the printed zine. The all-digital NSFW PDF components will be able to accommodate more contributors. We’ve designed the project in the hopes of including as many creators as possible.

What will be required for an application? We will ask for a few samples of work similar to what you would be contributing (this does not necessarily have to be FMA fanwork), as well as your social media accounts and email address.

I haven’t created for FMA in a while… all my FMA work is old. In my application, can I submit more recent sample works from other fandoms instead? Yes, that’s fine! Having at least one FMA sample in your application (regardless of the application type) is great, but not required. We would mostly just like to get an idea of your style, so please feel free to submit samples that you think represent you well, regardless of the fandom!

Are all ships accepted in the ship-oriented parts of the project? Yes. As long as you are willing to tag and warn as appropriate, all ships are welcome. We will expect contributors to tag and warn diligently, to be mindful of others’ sensitivities, and to keep ship-related discussion in the appropriate parts of the server.

Can I contribute adult and/or controversial content? Yes. As above, all contributors will be required to tag and warn carefully with their submissions and when interacting with other contributors, to use the appropriate channels on the server at all times, and to respect others’ boundaries. The NSFW projects will only be open to contributors who are 18 or older.

I’d like to apply, but I don’t like certain ships and have some triggers. Will I have to see this content in the Discord server? While we can’t guarantee that you won’t encounter content that you would prefer to avoid, we will be compartmentalizing ship content, NSFW content, and potentially triggering content as much as possible in the Discord server. We are counting on all contributors to help us with this, and will do our best to facilitate a safe and friendly collaborative environment!

Do podfic recorders have to edit their own podfics as well as recording them? How many recordings will be expected, and how will work be assigned? Anyone who is accepted to record podfics for the Anthology is welcome to edit their own podfics, or to submit unedited podfics to our moderator team. We have a few mods who have volunteered to help others edit their audio.

Applicants accepted to record podfics would be able to choose which works they wanted to record for, so that everyone can edit an amount and specific content that they’re comfortable with. The total amount will depend somewhat on the amount of textual contributions that we end up accepting. Several of our mods will be helping to record any works not selected by applicants, in the hopes of making as complete a collection as possible (including descriptions of visual content). Depending on the amount of effort that we’re able to recruit, we hope to record podfics at least for every submission in the two SFW zines (fanfics for which will have a wordcount limit of 3,000 words, whereas PDF-only fics may be slightly longer).

Applications for podfic recorders are due by March 7, 2021, but the acutal recordings will be done between July and September (after text and art are finalized, while pre-orders and layout work take place).

Are AU (Alternate Universe) works allowed? Yes! AU works (canon-divergence, alternate universes, crossovers, etc.) will be accepted, both for application samples and for final contributor submissions if desired. Any AU works in the final Anthology will be tagged and described clearly.

Is this a 20-year anniversary project? Yes! We are hoping to open pre-orders in July to celebrate 20 years of Fullmetal Alchemist. It is not required that this theme is represented in any of the contributions, but it would certainly be welcome!

I am a recent pro-shipper. Some people may remember things that I did and said in the past that were not pro-ship, but I have changed my stance. Can I apply? As mentioned above and in the Contributor Protection Policy, our first priority is the safety and comfort of all of our contributors. Each application and applicant will be reviewed by our team, and decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis as to whether we anticipate that an applicant would be able to work well and interact positively with other contributors.

Is this project for-profit, or for charity? We are currently planning to donate half of the proceeds to the Archive of Our Own (AO3), and divide the remaining half evenly among all contributors to compensate them for their work.

I’m a little confused about the different parts of the zine. Could it all be combined into one zine? Our intention with this project is to provide space to as many creators, and as many different types of content, as possible – specifically including NSFW content and/or ships that are often not permitted – but to also make it easy for purchasers to choose only the content they are interested in or comfortable with. So you can think of it as four separate projects, with different “ratings” but with the same goal of inclusion. Dividing the project into subsections will allow us to accept more contributors overall!

In addition to making it more difficult to delineate types of content, ratings, and warnings, combining the projects into one zine would likely result in an extremely long volume. This would raise shipping costs for physical copies, and also make the digital version into a very large file! Our goal is to make it possible for people to buy a single project that they will enjoy every page of; or to bundle multiple projects together if they’re interested in several or all of them.

A lot of zines fail or turn out to be scams. Is your mod team experienced and prepared to see this through? We kept our moderator bios a bit more personal, but many of our mods have prior experience with multiple zines from start to finish. Mai is the lead mod on another zine that is currently open for pre-orders, as well as the finance mod on three others in progress; Feo has been a mod on ten zines, one of which she headed and several of which have reached completion; and Noct has headed two zines, been a mod on four others, and contributed to six more. Kari has also modded and contributed to over a dozen zines; and Getti has been the lead mod for a completed zine and has contributed to numerous others. Many of our other mods have real-world and/or paid work experience relevant to the project: Grace has extensive editorial experience and a background in print and online journalism, and also runs events for work in the RL sphere; and Tierfal regularly runs ship weeks and fandom events, and has been coordinating events as part of her day job for many years. Some of our moderators have not participated in a zine before, but are longtime fandom contributors, organizers, beta-readers, and more; or have additional relevant experience and skills, which they are excited to dive in and apply!

Since the full scope of the project will be determined in part by the number of applications that we receive for each section, we wanted to have a lot of hands on deck to make sure that we can divide the work fairly without anyone getting overwhelmed.

To make a long story short: we trust our team, and we're passionate about this project. We hope that you will be, too!

#admin

25 notes · View notes

btawizzle · 3 years

Text

Guide to : Essentials Career Path in A nutshell

What makes the most sense to you right now for your career development? Since I’m taking a Journalism major in Uni, I really think that the most sense decision I’ve ever thought about ( right now) is being a journalist and a screenwriter. It may sound silly, “you’re a Journalism major, of course you’re going to be a journalist”, but I seriously have many other things in mind when it comes to my job ( I really wanna be in a rock band, you know. I can play the bass or be the front man, but yeah )

And the things I have to do to develop my career will be everything that is related to writing. I can write fiction, children's books, essays, travel and beauty blogs, or maybe write a news/article. Looking forward to it~

What will complement your interests, skill set and the lifestyle that you want to have?

P-r-a-c-t-i-c-e

Okay, since I really want to have an extra boujee-parisian-lifestyle, I really have to work my *ss off. I honestly have many interests in things that’ll make money such as building a business, baking, drawing and also writing, but sometimes I just have 0 interest in practicing them. ( I guess i really have to) but for the things that I’m excellent at and don't really need a polish, that’ll be public speaking and it applies for any speaking related matters, like storytelling, and also speech ( If I have the material, too lazy to do the research)

I really want to work in entertainment, being a screenwriter and producing some work there, being a news anchor or PD at a radio maybe? but then if I finally knocked some sense into me, I guess i want to be a lecturer in a university that writes cool scenarios for their drama club and bake when bored

What do you find to be the most compelling thing to explore at this moment in time?

Honestly, figuring out what I want to do with my life. Maybe practicing some of my hobbies that I wish has a relation with my future career,like how digital video and design are supposed to work (whole adobe thingy), how to write an article/novel/blog/essays, coding? The most complicated thing I know on earth, that I wish I could just understand in a blink and also think about what I am going to do if I want to move to france.

The path you choose to follow will help you develop your career and achieve your ideal job. Therefore, it’s important to explore the different approaches available before you begin. In the next step, you will start to look at some of these approaches.

Do you already have an idea of what your ideal job is?

I really think that the idea of an ideal job is something that gives you enough money to live but not really draining you out of energy. I mean, if you’re that busy you never get the fun anymore in those jobs, the money , it has to be worth the energy that you drained, you know.

People often talk about how your passion should be your source of money blah blah blah, but sometimes, we just don't get the fun anymore if everyone pushes us to make enough money for living everytime we do what is called our passion.

I’m thinking about being a teacher with ok money and then do my hobby/dreams as the side hustle ( you know, if i’m not pass out because m’too tired), that’s my ideal job

But if we’re talking about dream jobs? Oh how I just want to be in a rock band and do gigs until the day I die, or maybe marry Damiano David from Maneskin and become a housewife? Yeah, sounds good.

What do you think the path to it looks like?

Before we finally become a lecturer, we have to-at least- have a master degree. So, because it’s 21th century and the school tuition is not cheap, I plan to take a scholarship, and hopefully I can go to europe.

I plan to be the best at uni, not that ambitious, but just to make sure I graduate on time. Until then, I plan to do my best as a uni student, like joining some organisation , doing some internship, and obviously practicing my writing abilities. I plan to find a part time job that is related to journalism ( applying to a magazine/online zine/newspaper) or something like that really, anything ( photographer, make up artist for newbie models) and keep a little amount of money for future me.

After that, I’m going to take a B1 placement test on my german, and then maybe korean/french? And of course, IELTS so i can go to europeeee for my master studies

Ok then after uni, i want to work at a magazine while I’m applying to those scholarship studies. Ok then I got the scholarship, quit the job, went to Europe having my studies and living my best life. Hopefully I will be able to still work there and get my PR maybe? And then do literally what I want. Lecturing maybe, or get a job on some movie production ? become their screenwriter. yeah

Have you previously considered that there might be different approaches to your career path? Or is this a new concept for you?

Yes, and I am super open to it. I’m just going to try my best and the rest is not in my hands. Whatever happens later in the future, that’s what my work pays off, or that’s just what god wants me to have in my life. I’ll accept it with open heart ( hopefully)

#I really want to be rich and happy.

Before you explore these further, there are a few key areas you need to keep in mind:📷

Career goals

Knowledge

Skills

Personal characteristics

Experience

In order to start on the career path you want for yourself, you need to make a plan about what you’re missing in each of these areas and what you need to acquire. Identifying purpose or focus in this way is called ‘ikigai’ in Japanese. You can read more about ikigai by visiting the links in the See Also section.

Whichever approach you choose to develop your career, these are areas you will need to focus on to see what could be further developed as you build your career.

Now let’s explore five different approaches:

1. Matrix

The matrix approach is about having skill sets in different areas and bringing them together to create a profile that is distinct to you. You may have a variety of interests you want to pursue. With the matrix approach, you can explore how to combine these interests into a role which is unique to you.

For example, someone who would like to study web programming, as well as design, could look to combine these interests and become a web developer for any company or organisation with an online presence.

2. Ladder

The ladder approach is better suited for those who know exactly what career or job role they want. They have a dream job in mind or a dream company they wish to work for, so they’re willing to work their way up the ladder to get there.

For the person that aspires to work in television, that might mean starting out as a runner on set. They may then work their way up to get a role as a director or an executive producer, or whatever that ideal role might be.

3. Entrepreneurial

The entrepreneurial approach is about turning an idea into a business and learning along the way. You apply your current skill set whilst rapidly growing your capacity in all areas of business. It takes a lot of work, patience and courage, but can be deeply rewarding for anyone who finds this path to be of interest.

4. Network

The network approach is geared around building a network of contacts that will be mutually beneficial. For example, if you were at a tech networking event and you met a few founders, this would be a great opportunity for you.

What is key in the network approach is to ensure that you’ve thought through what you can offer someone, so that it’s a mutually beneficial and authentic relationship.

5. Portfolio

Creating a portfolio might be more commonly associated with jobs in photography or graphic design. However, it is both relevant and necessary across many disciplines. Many employers will want and need to have an idea of the type of work you can do, so the portfolio approach is a great way for you to demonstrate your skills.

If someone were looking to build a career in public relations, for example, they would be at an advantage if they had a portfolio of their previous coverage. This highlights not just their contacts but what type of work they are capable of doing.

A portfolio is just as valuable a commodity as your CV, so you should build one in line with the career you are interested in pursuing. It is also a great way to share your work and skills with people beyond a job application. For example, you could add it to your LinkedIn page, website or any other medium.

Summary

Choosing the best approach for your career is an essential component of your lifelong career development. There’s no guidebook or master plan for building your career. You can take a sabbatical, be a stay-at-home parent, or even move down a position.

The important thing to remember is that your approach is your own. If you find that multiple approaches like those mentioned above appeal to you, find a way to combine those to take the right approach for you.

Share your experience:

Have you already been using any of the approaches mentioned in this step?

Can you find any examples of other approaches for developing your career? Not for this moment, but I’ll definitely go with Matrix combined with a portfolio approach. I am building my portfolio in tumblr, wix and wordpress.

Why not have a go at exploring a few of these approaches further? I wish to explore more and I will do it thx.cash

2 notes · View notes