#but you don't know what it means to me to draw some stuff with you

[cubur]

サスナルの日 7/3

Big collaboration with @snow124-art ！ It wasn't planned but here are many lovely pieces for sasunaru day ^^！ Thank you for giving me another opportunity to draw with you！！Words cannot express how much it means to me…✨❤️

#7/3 #sasunaru #naruto #sasuke #Naruto Uzumaki #Sasuke Uchiha #sns #collab #sketches #I know i promised before that i wouldn't strangle you once again #but you don't know what it means to me to draw some stuff with you #So just... thank you for giving me this opportunity again!! #it was a great pleasure for me to work with my snowycat teacher hoo~ #my art #(and not my art) #Thank you Snow!

[mildcicada]

#when i was first coloring him in he was gonna be golden chinchilla colored but then i was like ehhh jonah magnus should be red/orange but #elias should be gray ...so i just desaturated what i already did instead of recoloring lol but #he is now supposed to be shaded silver lol #but thats why his coat pattern is on the darker side compared to what it *should* be #og elias bouchard coming from an important/roch family and while whole thing with thinking he just *deserves* stuff bc of his upbringing. #etc. -> he is purebred and matches the breed standards etc for a scottish fold of his color #obviously the eye color doesn't matter because. ahaha #i thought elias fit the Scottish fold vibes because: Scottish folds are known for looking sort of like owls and having intense eyes #and the cat body/face type (also present in british shorthairs) to me gives off sort of... unnasumming vibes? #like ahaha yes i am a boring boss who loves paperwork look at how unnasumming i am season 1-2 elias y'know #trying to think of what cat breed jonah would be. and also jon gerry etc you know all the other characters i like #would it be boring to have multiple british shorthairs #i mean.. #Michael shelley/distortion is a laperm that's all I know #i didn't particularly care with the personality attributes associated with eliascat because it didn't need to fit his personality on account #of not being his original body. but i do try to keep in mind the best personality/look/etc. cat attributes as a whole for a character #also sometimes get obsessed with jt making historical and geographical sense but then it just limits me greatly to a point im not into it #so i don't care about specific breeds in that respect lol #tma #my art #elias bouchard #the magnus archives #some notes looking back(made it 2 hours ago but still looking back ok..) on it now are that i feel like elias would never choose this breed #for his next bodyhop because of the inherent health issues in scottish folds. I saw the breed was created in like the early 1960s and #assumed that maybe the health issues wouldn't have been common knowledge until later enough for jonah to be unaware of them but actually no #there's legislation about it like 6 years later LOL so jonah would..maybe not make this choice #i guess in the future when drawing i will just make him a British shorthair #my catTMA is simultaneously 'they are just regular cats or like all show cats or something' and 'exact tma plot but as intelligent cats' #LOL its just vague in my mind idk..also maybe jon can be an Abyssinian #ALSO WHAT WAS I THINKING 'jonah may not have been aware about x thing' like did i...did i forget. me 2 hours ago was dumb as rocks

[yuseirra]

if there's one thing I personally focus on when I draw something, it would be the emotions. I try to convey the exact emotions of a character when I make art, and portray how they'd be feeling at that exact situation, as they say something, and so on...

I try to feel the same feelings they would when I draw an expression, as close as I can get at least, it's what I do over and over. You don't really have to do that ofc, but for me, it's a huge part of the point and it's really fun to do! It's what I believe could give my drawings more life and make them more genuine, even if it's a sketch (in fact, sometimes sketches can be more powerful on that aspect so I used to stick to drawing exclusively those for a very long time). That's how I pour my heart in, and I'm sure a lot of artists would do the same in their own ways when they create their works.

For that same reason, I really like drawing smiles (and characters that can make genuine ones) because that makes me happy. Other feelings are cool, too, but drawing happy art is so soothing, so I draw a lot of smiles!! It's also why I feel the need to understand a character, because you can't exactly feel what they'd be feeling unless you aren't so aware of what they're going through. I wouldn't be entirely right, I'm sure, but I really want to try. It's maybe why I usually stick to drawing a select few characters from a series all the time, because there are some characters I "get" better than others, and feel I can bring out better(and most of the time, luckily, those kinds of characters end up to be my favs, so I can draw then alot ;v;) Then again, I'm seeing them through my own lens of thinking, I'm just putting out what I see in those characters in the end. But it's usually the good things I love! Or something I feel is really intriguing and want to think about, or want to explore on, emphasize? Anyhow, it's the feelings and emotions part I've always been interested about! So I hope I can do that well!

My drawings aren't perfect, but they aren't too bad either, and I've been trying all the way. If they could imbue some sort of feeling for you, that's definitely what I wanted to accomplish! It makes me so excited when I get feedbacks about it being able to make someone "feel" something.. it means what I wanted got across so I'm like "yes"!!

it'd be nice if they will feel genuine one way or another!! I was and is and will be happy to continue to share my works with you all

#random blabbering #hehe #I recently got really nice tags and I #I kind of want to go and thank ppl individually for that but I was out of energy... I missed the timing.. #drawing makes me think about feelings #characters too #so I really like seeing characters that can make big genuine smiles from the heart #ofc I love other types of characters too #but sometimes you just need to think about that kind of feeling and it exists #and I love characters that are literal saints right.. those kind of characters have always been my favs #they are very inspiring and thinking-not just thinking but trying to feel how they would be feeling..is really good for the soul I think #I wish I could be strong like them and genuinely feel like that #(you could a little as you draw #being immersed is very nice #and I hope what I draw could be that way for someone #here I am writing at midnight..I don't know if what I'm writing's making good sense but wish you all the best #thank you for seeing my drawings together with me!! #I CAN draw some self-indulgent stuff that'd not exactly cater to be educational or inspiring yeah but #I probably won't mean bad. I want to have fun~which I've been!! for so long

[fedoraspooky]

He got a lil overwhelmed ;w; but he appreciates it!

#and a thanks from me as well for clarifying! #i did have old newgrounds stick figure fight animations in mind when I was making him so glad i'm not too off the mark #i know the usual level of detail might throw some folks off but when boiled down to his basic elements this is what he is #shadow android- i mean #stickman #myOCs #Charlie #CosmicFiasco #i had no intent of starting up fandom discourse over level of detail in character design but boy oh boy is this sure tumblr .w.; #anyway i guess if you don't wanna see him then block me bc he's fun to draw and i like having fun #art stuff

[linterteatime]

Hello. Can I find somewhere your old invader zim arts? I heart that you created another blog for it.

(I hope that you heard that in my account from me and not...somewhere else lol) that side account is purely for me now, to keep that stuff stored or something, but I could maaaaaybe consider giving you the link if you account didn't have well... Straight up nothing, but since it has nothing shit's pretty sus sorry bro, don't worry tho I will maybe free them Posts once I fully develop my brain in however many years that will be...well i know how many years that is, y'all don't, that's private infomation.

#Ask #I hope this doesn't show up in the tags of yknow #but I'm not gonna check anyways cuz I don't want to see that fandom tag #Eugh I hate talking about this but like I know I have to #cus I hate that fandom #well not all of it but a very big chunk of it #if anyone for some reason wants to get vibe checked please go to my messages not my ask box please and thanks #if you don't pass the vibe check you get blocked that's the joke #time to rant #man that fandom made my mental health so much worse like I genuinely mean it #my pretty manageable anxiety got to the point where every day I was feeling anxious ugh #and the worst part of all of that is that I just...drew the same stuff I draw for other fandoms? #and YET my brain got burned big time with bullshitery #children cartoon fandom's are insane I guess #or maybe weirdos should just get run over twice and die... #yeah that should happen #god if you exist please hear me out I don't ask for #but even if I didn't get involved in making cringe ship art I could ended up privating all of that fandom stuff anyways #that's the thing #because it was a LOT of stuff what made me snap #not just ship shit #but whatever #wait one last thing #before I turned off anon someone sent me an ask telling me I was and some other shit and like #BRO???? What are you on???¿? Lmao #infamous for leaving a fandom cuz it was bad for my brain??cuz people were being weird to my drawings of characters that were minors??? #cuz i got ppl telling me die due to missinformation on a characters age?? #A little bit of everything really #what a silly fandom with silly people aww #these days have been actually so much more chill being out of it and Idk if that's funny or nah

[latter-gay-witchery]

Me last week-two weeks ago, establishing what I want and don’t want to do with my craft: No divination, I’m not messing with that.

Me since at least last week: But if I’m using it as a medium by which to help me receive and interpret personal revelation...

#witchblr #christian witch #christian witchcraft #mormon witch #baby witch #I think listening to an episode of Hex Positive where Bree had on her friend Jenn (?) as a guest and they mentioned doing Clow Card readings #sparked that curiosity #'cause I have a Clow deck with a book to hold them and everything that my dad got me way back when I was a little one #so like having that deck for 20 years min I think there would be a bond there even if subconscious right? #and it seems an easier starting point than full on tarot - plus I'm still a tad nervous abt tarot though I know there's little reason to be? #(I also don't want to make wifey uncomfortable if she finds tarot suspect/powered by dark forces which I admit I was taught much the same) #(still unlearning some of that stuff) #crap I thought I had more thoughts about this but my mind is drawing a blank #maybe that's a 'stupor of thought' and I was supposed to forget those thoughts #*shrug* #I dunno tbh #witchy ramblings #fellow christian witches/mormon witches especially: any thoughts/input? do you do divination and by what means/howmst do you reconcile it?

[holytrickster]

idk i think it's so funny I went down a survival horror game rabbit hole when a) I'm too freaking anxious for horror games I will make myself cry, b) it was all PS2 stuff which is extra funny bc I've never even played on someone else's playstation let alone had one, i was always a wii kid lol. but now my brain is like ah yes. time to consume everything I can about games I can't even play and that are stupid expensive/hard to get now

#also i love that people draw jennifer from rule of rose and fiona from haunting ground together #they're just two girls with their dogs and in horrible situations and you know im glad they get to have dogs #any game where i get to have a pet is alright by me even if shit is otherwise majorly fucked #anyway. i do need to play pathologic. it's funny bc in theory it is really the kind of thing I'd like bc there's so much stuff to uncover #plus i think classic HD (which is the version i have) fixes the bad translation so it's not even like it's too hard to understand #at least only hard to understand in the intended pathologic-y way anyway #and i really really like the soundtrack #and everything I've watched and read about it is sick as hell (no pun intended) so i think the thing making me unable to get into it is the #actual experience of playing it. like it's funny how much of an asshole dankovsky is but that doesn't mean I *want* to play as an asshole #its funny the only time i really like playing that way is in skyrim bc im just. greenish elf that picks everyone's locks bc it was the first #thing i figured out and characters will just ???? let me fucking do it??? (i say having gotten arrested in whiterun like immediately) #i guess because I'm not invested in any of the characters yet because i havent had time to sit down and really play it #i guess that'd kind of be the way i play in lotro but that's more just me not interacting with other players #fun fact i think i still have one of the earliest fellowship quests sitting unfinished bc i can never form groups to finish them #i don't think I'll even ever get good at lotro though honestly #more just knowing what buttons to spam #idk i played hunter FOREVER but minstrel is really really growing on me #even though some of the skills are kinda wasted since i only ever play alone #anyway what was i talking about

[monty-glasses-roxy]

One last note before I go to sleep...

Credit where it's due, the pieces of the puzzle are mostly all there in terms of the connection between The Storyteller story and The Mimic. The pieces missing aren't relevant to Mimic at all, and can be gleaned from what makes sense/what's interesting for the characters to do. Things like why the Storyteller lacks stripes and where all of the behaviours the animatronics gain were learned by Mimic before, are things you can piece together by thinking about it for a long enough time...

But the execution of the actual story makes this process incredibly unsatisfying. The pieces were there in a lot of cases, and then everything else flopped. It's amazing just how much I can figure out about Mimic's behaviour from these two stories purely because of how amazingly underwhelming these things are. Like yeah I can piece this stuff together on my own... But the vagueness of it all has impacted the story so much that I almost don't care. I'm literally only doing any of this for AU purposes for my GAME blorbos not the typically horribly made book ones. I literally would not be thinking about this anymore if I wasn't compelled by just how fucking awful it is and my game blorbos.

Like... Come on... There's even gaps in between all of these puzzle pieces too like... It's so unsatisfying to put the pieces together man... Oh yay! I understand why Mimic did that! ... I want to do something else... Let me live please this sucks...

#literally its so underwhelming??? #like oh joy i figured out why storyteller has no stripes wowie exciting #god let me out I'm not getting anything but the urge to fix it from this #but i dunno man this might be BEYOND fixing #hhhhhhhh #I'd make it more fun though you know i would #I'd trade the cradenzas for some sillies or a cool conversation for sure #i already know exactly what kind of scenes I'd use in a storyteller revamp #THIS DOESN'T MEAN I'VE DECIDED TO DO IT #JUST THAT I KNOW WHAT WOULD WORK REALLY WELL FOR IT #I'M NOT COMMITTING UNTIL WIKI IS DONE AND TIGER ROCK IS READ #I MAY NOT EVEN WANT TO BY THEN #I HAVE OTHER SHIT TO DO #LIKE METEORS AND BRACELETS AND THE OTHER AU I DON'T HAVE A NAME FOR #AMONG OTHER STUFF LIKE DRAWING AND SHIT LIKE #NAH MAN I GOT OTHER STUFF THIS IS NOT A THING I'M GONNA ATTEMPT TO I GOT STUFF CLEARED #anyway. snooze time! #bye!!!

[casquecest]

I really need to get on my Regulus Fest art cause I'm going to Florida during the week leading up to the due date,which would give me ample time to draw, but I have no scanner there.

#I don't have a day off until Sunday and I leave Monday #I mean I probably /could/ bash out some of what I mean to do before I leave but I just KNOW my hand will not be cooperating #This is me #Nic draws stuff! #. . .or you know doesn't

[v-iv-rusty]

I am going to bake so much shit this week

#misc.txt #for context I'm house sitting for a friend for 2ish weeks and they're letting me stay in the two room guest house they have #WHICH MEANS I can cook and bake and do whatever without being harassed every time I step into the kitchen :) #I just need to go shopping tomorrow #ok but for real this is. so nice?? #I brought my pc #+ my drawing tablet and stuff #it's.....so quiet here?? there's no yelling?? I don't feel tense for the first time in years?? #I feel.....ok. when I'm out of the house and away from the main sources of my stress. my anxiety overall is just so much less intense #and it hasn't even been a full day away yet. it's just. so quiet. #and I can actually cook fuck yeah!! I need to find some good recipies to make so I'm not eating out for 2 weeks bc that's expensive #I'm going to make baklava and possibly a pie but neither of those are meals so. you know what though I do have a soup I want to try making #but like I can!! and nobody's going to get pissed at me for....breathing wrong!! or taking up space!! #I kind of feel like I don't even know what to do with myself when I don't have to constantly force myself to act a certain way #my friend is going to have a Lot of pastries and things waiting for them when they get back. after I go shopping tomorrow. #literally it feels so nice to just be able to........exist #now if I could just find an apartment that isn't $500000 a month rent I could have this all the time

[sapsolais]

<3

#it's 2 am and i'm thinking about drawing all the things that've really made me feel butch lately #it's like a small scrapbook in my heart #lots of smaller moments when i get on my knees and help my kids tie their shoes. or make them smile or laugh by doing something silly #or whenever i do my best to be there for them when they need me #showing my grandpa the leather jacket he gave me after i got it altered to fit me better #going shopping for my mom the day before her birthday party. the moment i drove her home when she wasn't feeling well #“pissing off” my coworker by being polite and doing small things for her like putting her lunch in the fridge when she forgets to put it in #whenever i get all my coworkers food or snacks and insist they don't owe me anything #the other day when i was helping my boss pull weeds with my coworkers and i proudly held up a clump the size of my head like an excited dog #last week when some ladies were trying to start a car that wouldn't turn over and i let them use my battery pack #when i hold the door open for people at the gym #when other queers (friends/mutuals/my kids) say or show that they feel safe around me. like they can be themselves #when i came home the other day after my mom told me my uncle died and came inside and dropped off my stuff #and went to give my grandma a hug. i didn't know what to say. and i sort of knew there was nothing i could say. but i didn't have to #i was just there. and i think i Got It in that moment. like. what it really means. to have someone completely and wholly #collapse into you. even if they're trying not to show it. but you try and hold them together. i think it's about trying #trying to let people know you love them. in everything you are and everything you do. #there's other moments too #like pushing gracie really fast in a shopping cart in an empty parking lot shdjghfnh #or the other day when lyd twitch streamed 2 me and let me quietly fold laundry with them #or when i'm up talking with toast and veronica and 3 in the morning #moments where i'm shown unconditional love and kindness and wholly accepted even if it's just for that moment in time #allowed to be myself without stifling any part of me #if you're reading this i love you #:] #g'night #sap says

[stromblessed]

Mizu, femininity, and fallen sparrows

In my last post about Mizu and Akemi, I feel like I came across as overly critical of Mizu given that Mizu is a woman who - in her own words - has to live as a man in order to go down the path of revenge.

If she is ever discovered to be female by the wrong person, she will not only be unable to complete her quest, but there's a good chance that she'll be arrested or killed.

So it makes complete sense for Mizu to distance herself as much as possible from any behavior that she feels like would make someone question her sex.

I felt so indignant toward Mizu on my first couple watchthroughs for this moment. Why couldn't Mizu bribe the woman and her child's way into the city too? If Mizu is presenting as a man, couldn't she claim to be the woman's escort?

However, this moment makes things pretty clear. Mizu knows all too well the plight of women in her society. She knows it so well that she cannot risk ever finding herself back in their position again. She helps in what little way she can - without drawing attention to herself.

Mizu is not a hero and she is not one to make of herself a martyr - she will not set herself on fire to keep others warm. There's room to argue that Mizu shouldn't prioritize her quest over people's lives, but given the collateral damage Mizu can live with in almost every episode of season 1, Mizu is simply not operating under that kind of morality at this point. ("You don't know what I've done to reach you," Mizu tells Fowler.)

And while I still feel like Mizu has an obvious and established blind spot when it comes to Akemi because of their differences in station, such that Mizu's judgment of Akemi and actions in episode 5 are the result of prejudice rather than the result of Mizu's caution, I also want to establish that Mizu is just as caged as Akemi is, despite her technically having more freedom while living as a man.

Mizu can hide her mixed race identity some of the time, and she can hide her sex almost all of the time, but being able to operate outside of her society's strict rules for women does not mean she cannot see their plight.

It does not mean she doesn't hurt for them.

Back to Mizu and collateral damage, remember that sparrow?

While Mizu is breaking into Boss Hamata's manse, she gets startled by a bird and kills it on reflex. She then cradles it in her hands - much more tenderly than we've seen Mizu treat almost anything up to this point in the season:

She then puts it in its nest, with its unhatched eggs. Almost like she's trying to make the death look natural. Or like an accident.

You see where I'm going with this.

When Mizu kills Kinuyo, Mizu lingers in the moment, holding the body tenderly:

And btw a lot of stuff about this show hit me hard, but this remains the biggest gut punch of them all for me, Mizu holding that poor girl's body close, GOD

When Mizu arranges the "scene of the crime," Kinuyo's body is delicate, birdlike. And Mizu is so shaken afterward that she gets sloppy. She's horrified at this kill to the point that she can't bring herself to take another innocent life - the boy who rats her out.

MIZU'S ONE MOMENT OF SOFTNESS AND MERCY, COMING ON THE HEELS OF HER NEEDING TO KILL A GIRL TO SPARE HER THE WORST FATE THAT THIS RIGID SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER WOMEN, AND TO SPARE A BROTHEL FULL OF INNOCENT WOMEN WHO ARE THE CASTOFFS OF SOCIETY, NEARLY RESULTS IN ALL OF THEIR DEATHS

No wonder Mizu is as stoic and cold as she is.

And no wonder Mizu has no patience for Akemi whatsoever right before the terrible reveal and the fight breaks out:

Speaking of Akemi - guess who else is compared to a bird!

The plumage is more colorful, a bit flashier. But a bird is a bird.

And, uh

Yeah.

I like to think that Mizu killing the sparrow is not only foreshadowing for what she must do to Kinuyo, but is also a representation of the choice she makes on Akemi's behalf. She decides to cage the bird because she believes the bird is "better off." Better off caged than... dead.

But because Mizu doesn't know Akemi or her situation, she of course doesn't realize that the bird is fated to die if it is caged and sent back home.

Mizu is clearly not happy, or pleased, or satisfied by allowing Akemi to be dragged back to her father:

But softness and mercy haven't gotten Mizu anywhere good, recently.

There is so much tragedy layered into Mizu's character, and it includes the things she has to witness and the choices she makes - or believes she has to make - involving women, when she herself can skirt around a lot of what her society throws at women. Although, I do believe that it comes at the cost of a part of Mizu's soul.

After all, I'm gonna be haunted for the rest of this show by Mizu's very first prayer in episode 1:

"LET" her die. Because as Ringo points out, she doesn't "know how" to die.

Kind of like another bird in this show:

#blue eye samurai #mizu #akemi #kinuyo #bes #women are birds okay they are BIRDS #the let me die line is so SCARY AND SAD like a part of Mizu wants death but she cant? she doesnt know how?? excuse you show??? #when all these other delicate birds are dying all around her #akemis character gets more and more gutwrenching upon subsequent rewatches because whenever she says her life is in danger #NO ONE BELIEVES HER - certainly not other women #because shes rich and pampered and that means shes safe and is worrying about nothing right? right????? #and it turns out that all of akemis instincts were right and she was in danger the ENTIRE TIME #also I need to make a post just for kinuyo because I am sad

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

FYI artists and writers: some info regarding tumblr's new "third-party sharing" (aka selling your content to OpenAI and Midjourney)

You may have already seen the post by @staff regarding third-party sharing and how to opt out. You may have also already seen various news articles discussing the matter.

But here's a little further clarity re some questions I had, and you may too. Caveat: Not all of this is on official tumblr pages, so it's possible things may change.

(1) "I heard they already have access to my data and it doesn't really matter if I opt out"

From the 404 article:

A new FAQ section we reviewed is titled “What happens when you opt out?” states “If you opt out from the start, we will block crawlers from accessing your content by adding your site on a disallowed list. If you change your mind later, we also plan to update any partners about people who newly opt-out and ask that their content be removed from past sources and future training.”

So please, go click that opt-out button.

(2) Some future user: "I've been away from tumblr for months, and I just heard about all this. I didn't opt out before, so does it make a difference anymore?"

Another internal document shows that, on February 23, an employee asked in a staff-only thread, “Do we have assurances that if a user opts out of their data being shared with third parties that our existing data partners will be notified of such a change and remove their data?” Andrew Spittle, Automattic’s head of AI replied: “We will notify existing partners on a regular basis about anyone who's opted out since the last time we provided a list. I want this to be an ongoing process where we regularly advocate for past content to be excluded based on current preferences. We will ask that content be deleted and removed from any future training runs. I believe partners will honor this based on our conversations with them to this point. I don't think they gain much overall by retaining it.”

It should make a difference! Go click that button.

(3) "I opted out, but my art posts have been reblogged by so many people, and I don't know if they all opted out. What does that mean for my stuff?"

This answer is actually on the support page for the toggle:

This option will prevent your blog's content, even when reblogged, from being shared with our licensed network of content and research partners, including those that train AI models.

And some further clarification by the COO and a product manager:

zingring: A couple people from work have reached out to let me know that yes, it applies to reblogs of "don't scrape" content. If you opt out, your content is opted out, even in reblog form. cyle: yep, for reblogs, we're taking it so far as "if anybody in the reblog trail has opted out, all of the content in that reblog will be opted out", when a reblog could be scraped/shared.

So not only your reblogged posts, but anyone who contributed in a reblog (such as posts where someone has been inspired to draw fanart of the OP) will presumably be protected by your opt-out. (A good reason to opt out even if you yourself are not a creator.)

Furthermore, if you the OP were offline and didn't know about the opt-out, if someone contributed to a reblog and they are opted out, then your original work is also protected. (Which makes it very tempting to contribute "scrapeable content" now whenever I reblog from an abandoned/disused blog...)

(4) "What about deleted blogs? They can't opt out!"

I was told by someone (not official) that he read "deleted blogs are all opted-out by default". However, he didn't recall the source, and I can't find it, so I can't guarantee that info. If I get more details - like if/when tumblr puts up that FAQ as reported in the 404 article - I will add it here as soon as I can.

Edit, tumblr has updated their help page for the option to opt-out of third-party sharing! It now states:

The content which will not be shared with our licensed network of content and research partners, including those that train AI models, includes: • Posts and reblogs of posts from blogs who have enabled the "Prevent third-party sharing" option. • Posts and reblogs of posts from deleted blogs. • Posts and reblogs of posts from password-protected blogs. • Posts and reblogs of posts from explicit blogs. • Posts and reblogs of posts from suspended/deactivated blogs. • Private posts. • Drafts. • Messages. • Asks and submissions which have not been publicly posted. • Post+ subscriber-only posts. • Explicit posts.

So no need to worry about your old deleted blogs that still have reblogs floating around. *\o/*

But for your existing blogs, please use the opt out option. And a reminder of how to opt out, under the cut:

The opt-out toggle is in Blog Settings, and please note you need to do it for each one of your blogs / sideblogs.

On dashboard, the toggle is at https://www.tumblr.com/settings/blog/blogname [replace "blogname" as applicable] down by Visibility:

For mobile, you need the most recent update of the app. (Android version 33.4.1.100, iOs version 33.4.) Then go to your blog tab (the little person icon), and then the gear icon for Settings, then click Visibility.

Again, if you have a sideblog, go back to the blog tab, switch to it, and go to settings again. Repeat as necessary.

If you do not have access to the newest version of the app for whatever reason, you can also log into tumblr in your mobile browser. Same URL as per desktop above, same location.

Note you do not need to change settings in both desktop and the app, just one is fine.

I hope this helps!

#tumblr #[tumblr] #third party sharing #openai #midjourney #chatgpt #ai art #ai #fyi #psa #anti-FUD #artists on tumblr #writers on tumblr #illustrators on tumblr #tumblr update #oh tumblr #hellsite (derogatory) #“opt out” no longer looks like a word #but still #opt out my friends #please #also if you want to leave tumblr i don't blame you but please remember to hit that opt-out button before you go

[maniculum]

Medieval Scorpions Effortpost

So yesterday I reblogged this post featuring an 11th-century depiction of the Apocalypse Locusts from Revelations, noting the following incongruity as another medieval scorpion issue:

The artist, as you can see, has interpreted "tails like scorpions" as meaning "glue cheerful-looking snakes to their butts".

Anyway, it occurred to me that the medieval scorpion thing might not be as widely known as I think it is, and that Tumblr would probably enjoy knowing about it if it isn't known already. So, finding myself unable to focus on the research I'm supposed to be doing, I decided to write about this instead. I'll just go ahead and put a cut here.

As we can see in the image above, at least one artist out there thought a "scorpion" was a type of snake. Which makes it difficult to draw "tails like scorpions", because a snake's tail is not that distinctive or menacing (maybe rattlesnakes, but they don't have those outside the Americas). So they interpreted "tails like scorpions" as "the tail looks like a whole snake complete with head".

Let me tell you. This is not a problem unique to this illustration.

See, people throughout medieval Europe were aware of scorpions. As just alluded to, they are mentioned in the Bible, and if the people producing manuscripts in medieval Europe knew one thing, it was Stuff In Bible. They're also in the Zodiac, which medieval Europe had inherited through classical sources. However, let's take a look at this map:

That's Wikipedia's map of the native range of the Scorpiones order, i.e., all scorpion species. You may notice something -- the range just stops at a certain northern latitude. Pretty much all of northern Europe is scorpion-free. If you lived in the north half of Europe, odds were good you had never seen a scorpion in your life. But if you were literate or educated at all, or you knew they were a thing, because you'd almost certainly run across them being mentioned in texts from farther south. And those texts wouldn't bother to explain what a scorpion was, of course -- everyone knows scorpions, right? When was the last time you stopped to explain What Is Spiders?

So medieval writers and artists in northern Europe were kind of stuck. There was all this scorpion imagery and metaphor in the texts they liked to work from, but they didn't really know what a scorpion was. Writers could kind of work around it (there's a lot of "oh, it's a venomous creature, moving on"), but sometimes they felt the need to break it down better. For this, of course, they'd have to refer to a bestiary -- but due to Bestiary Telephone and the persistent need of bestiary authors to turn animals into allegories, one of the only visual details you got on scorpions was that they... had a beautiful face, which they used to distract people in order to sting them.

And look. I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum, but I would say that a scorpion's face has significant aesthetic appeal only for a fairly small segment of the population. I'm sure you could get an entomologist to rhapsodize about it a bit, but your average person on the street will not be entranced by the face of a scorpion. So this did not help the medieval Europeans in figuring out how to depict scorpions. There was also some semantic confusion -- see, in some languages (such as Old and Middle English), "worm" could be a general term for very small animals of any kind. But it also could mean "serpent".* So there were some, like our artist at the top of the post, who were pretty sure a scorpion was a snake. This was probably helped along by the fact that "venomous" was one of the only things everyone knew about them, and hey, snakes are venomous. Also, Pliny the Elder had floated the idea that there were scorpions in Africa that could fly, and at least one author (13th-century monk Bartholomaeus Anglicus) therefore suggested that they had feathers. I don't see that last one coming up much, I just share it because it's funny to me.

*English eventually resolved this by borrowing the Latin vermin for very small animals, using the specialized spelling wyrm for big impressive mythical-type serpents, and sticking with the more specific snake for normal serpents.

Some authors, like the anonymous author of the Ancrene Wisse, therefore suggested that a scorpion was a snake with a woman's face and a stinging tail. (Everyone seemed to be on the same page with regards to the fact that the sting was in the tail, which is in fact probably the most recognizable aspect of scorpions, so good job there.) However, while authors could avoid this problem, visual artists could not. And if you were illustrating a bestiary or a calendar, including a scorpion was not optional. So they had to take a shot at what this thing looked like.

And so, after this way-too-long explanation, the thing you're probably here for: inaccurate medieval drawings of scorpions. (There are of course accurate medieval drawings of scorpions, from artists who lived in the southern part of Europe and/or visited places where scorpions lived; I'm just not showing you those.) And if you find yourself wondering, "how sure are you that that's meant to be a scorpion?" -- all of these are either from bestiaries or from calendars that include zodiac illustrations.

11th-century England, MS Arundel 60. (Be honest, without the rest of this post, if I had asked you to guess what animal this was supposed to be, would you have ever guessed “scorpion”?)

12th-century Germany, "Psalter of Henry the Lion". (Looks a bit undercooked. Kind of fetal.)

12th-century France, Peter Lombard's Sententiae. (Very colorful, itsy bitsy claws, what is happening with that tail?)

12th-century England, "The Shaftesbury Psalter". (So a scorpion is some sort of wyvern with a face like a duck, correct?)

13th-century France, Thomas de Cantimpré's Liber de natura rerum. (I’d give them credit for the silhouette not being that far off, but there’s a certain bestiary style where all the animals kind of look like that. Also note how few of these have claws.)

13th-century England, "The Bodley Bestiary". (Mischievous flying squirrel impales local man’s hand, local man fails to notice.)

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (A scorpion is definitely either a mouse or a fish. Either way it has six legs.)

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (Wait, no, it’s a baby theropod, and it has two legs. (Yes, this is the same manuscript, that’s not an error, this artist did four scorpions and no two are the same.))

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (Actually it’s a lizard with tiny ears and it has four legs.)

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (Now that we’re at the big fancy illustration, I think I’ve got it — it’s like that last one, but two legs, longer ears, and a less goofy face. Also I’ve decided it’s not pink anymore, I think that was the main problem.)

13th-century England, MS Kk.4.25. (A scorpion is a flat crocodile with a bear’s head.)

13th-century England, "The Huth Psalter". (Wyvern but baby! Does not seem to be enjoying biting its own tail.)

13th-century England, MS Royal 1 D X. (This triangular-headed gentlecreature gets the award for “closest guess at correct limb configuration”. If two of those were claws, I might actually believe this artist had seen a scorpion before, or at least a picture of one.)

13th-century England, "The Westminster Psalter". (A scorpion is the offspring of a wyvern and a fawn.)

13th-century England, "The Rutland Psalter". (Too many legs! Pull back! Pull back!)

13th or 14th-century France, Bestiaire d'amour rimé. (This is very similar to the fawn-wyvern, but putting it in an actual Scene makes it even more obvious that you’re just guessing.)

14th-century Netherlands, Jacob van Maerlant's Der Naturen Bloeme. (More top-down six-legged guys that look too furry to be arthropods.)

14th-century Germany, MS Additional 22413. (That is clearly a turtle.)

14th-century France, Matfres Eymengau de Beziers's Breviari d'amor. (Who came up with that head shape and what was their deal?)

15th-century England, "Bestiary of Ann Walsh". (Screw it, a scorpion is a big lizard that glares at you for trying to make me draw things I don’t know about.)

I've spent way too much time on this now. End of post, thank you to anyone who got all the way down here.

#medieval #medieval creatures #medieval art #scorpions #medieval scorpions #manuscript #medieval manuscripts #illuminated manuscript

[badgertracksart]

Portfolio advice, from a lead who hires Concept Artists

(This was originally a twitter thread I wrote before the site self imolated, hense it's strange structure.) I wrote this after a weekend of portfolio reviews - 1. Like a maths exam, please please show your working. I want to see thumbs options, mid options and of course a final design.

2. Arrange your portfolio, I don't want to bounce about between subject matter and pipeline. Your portfolio's narrative should be as strong as your work... 3. Please make worlds that excite the viewer, make them want to go in and explore them, explain to them the interesting parts of the town, or the way the character's hat unfolds. How will this draw the viewer in? 4. As I've said before the majority of your project work is explanatory not mood, make sure your portfolio contains explanatory work. Explained here -

5. A lot of beautiful post apocolyptic paintings, , but 80% of realistic games and film, we just give the environment artists photo ref, they are capable artists in their own right. Different work in stylised where you do need to create rules for how things can be translated. 6. Production art contains call out sheets, material references and flat graphics. This doesn't have to be your final image, but it should support it.

7. Design characters on a swatch(es) of the environment they will be viewed in. Not on white. I make swatch backgrounds from screenshots, it avoids assumptions that damage readability. 8. Reverse of this, put people in your environments, show me the scale.

9. It's not a deal breaker for a review, but if you intend to get a job, please show me your work on a screen larger than a smartphone (print outs probably the cheapest option with the best battery life). 10. Please have your contact details clearly visible, and by that I mean email address, I will not pass your social media contact on, I cannot input your form into my tracking system. EMAIL ADDRESS emblazoned and bake it in, sometimes recruiters do funky stuff to pdfs

11. Your portfolio will never feel done, not to you anyway. You will have learnt from your latest pieces and want to apply it to older work. But we know art is a journey. Send your portfolio anyway. I've been in the industry 10+ years and my portfolio is still not 'finished'. 12. If you are applying to an environment centric Concept Art position then please vary your times of day! Golden hour is cool but show me some happy sunny days, looming overcast days, what about at night? Vary your weather too! Sunny snowy day? Rainy Spring day? Stormy night?

13. If you are applying for a character centric Concept Art role then please ensure your portfolio shows a variety of body types and ethnicities. 14. Designing characters for games? Please show back views and feet (!) Many potfolios contain only front views. This is a problem because:

You haven't shown you are considering the design from all angles.

In many games rear view is the main view.

Stop cropping feet.

15. If you are entry / graduating and looking at Portfolios to compare content and standard of yr own work too, look at hired grad/junior artists as opposed to seniors Seniors and leads often have old or personal work in their portfolio which isnt representative of the day job. 16a. Show clearly the intended use case for your Concept Art. Mention the game type in the description. Are these player character designs for a 3rd person adventure game? Then more back views please. Bonus points for diagetic ways of showing health / equipment / role etc.

16b. Are these designs for an FPS? Then really the player view of the gun needs to sell the player style/ choices, in an FPS your weapons are almost your character. Are these world designs? What's the view distance? For an RTS your shapes need to read from above & a distance. 16c. The lack of clarification means I am judging the design in isolation, which both harms the design (you might be considering the backview of a char as the main adventure character.) Or an NPC, their waist up expressions may be important for conveying exposition and mechanics.

16d. Concept art is not separate from gameplay, great concept art serves the game team before it is a good illustration.

17. Play games. A variety of games. Think about them. IMO to be a good concept artist you need to understand the common language & references used by your peers. Also understand the principles and common language your audience are used to. FPS design rules are v.diff from RTS.

18. There are many skills that are needed in concept art, please show them. For example: Graphic design - logos, liveries, typographic use etc. VFX concepts - Abilities, Ambience, motion concepts. Architectural knowledge - How buildings are built! & more but I'm out of space :O

#gamedev #conceptart #advice #careeradvice #hiring

[ave661]

Post about art-theft, AI and tracing of my render:

Unfortunately, one of my renders I made a year ago, was traced, copied, edited by AI by "brothers in arms" store and now sold as a merch aimed towards CoD fandom. They are currently sending this out to various cosplayers asking them to promote it.

As someone who is affected by this, I have to speak up about it.

(post about it on twt & insta)

I found out about it by accident when I saw promoted post on my insta feed. When I started talking about it in my stories, this store sent me a private message saying they had been working on this design for weeks and had never heard of me so they definitely didn't steal anything, and offered me free stuff. When I disagreed with them and sent them files comparing our works, they stopped replying to me, so I continued talking about it again on my insta. Only when my followers started leaving comments under their post saying this is wrong, they decided to continue discussion on the next day.

2. They mentioned that they could have been inspired by some pictures they found on the internet and showed me their "first sketch" of design… which was made by AI.

3. During the conversation, they mentioned that their artist could have based his work on a picture he found on the Internet, but he defended himself by saying that they might not have known it was mine. But even if they didn't know about me, even if they found some fanart on the Internet - it doesn't mean you can copy something detail by detail and sell it as your own. What is most important here, their offer to solve the problem was to give me credits in their design. IF they worked hard on it, why would they want to give me credits? My offer was to remove it.

4. Why do I mention that it could have been done by AI? because many lines are unfinished and a lot of details don't make sense.

5. Below is a comparison of my render that I published on March 18, 2023 with their first sketch they showed me, which apparently they drew themselves:

I am saying this so that the CoD community, which is very large, will be aware of this, because there are many people who have already bought it and after my insta story, they felt bad and said they want return it because they don't want to support art theft.

It's not just about me anymore - it could have happened to anyone who creates fanart and share it on the Internet just for fun. One day someone may use it for their own profit without us being aware of it. It doesn't matter if it's a 3D render or a drawing. All artists in this (or any other) fandom do not deserve to experience such thing, and we need to speak out about it to prevent it from happening in the future.

Reposting fanart is, as this example shows, dangerous and hurtful, so please respect artists and don’t do this. Especially on pinterest.

Their only proposal and offer to give me credits for the work they traced is something I will never agree to.

#that being said do not repost my renders on pinterest #because you see what it does #it doesn't “help me with popularity” as one reposter explained to me once #but it gives me more work and stress #.....so now whenever I have free time I will report every reposted render I find on pinterest