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legionofpotatoes · 3 years

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I love your art, it is very detailed in a neat way. Was wondering how you got started making it as a source of income? How did you get your first paid work, I'd love some advice on how to get started, if that's ok

Thank you. Of course it's okay, although I doubt I have enough work experience in art to really delve into this. I only went full freelance this year, and had been juggling art as a side hobby until then. If you're still interested in my somewhat narrow perspective, and are okay with my long-winded rambles, I'll give it a shot:

So to answer your question fully, I'll describe how I started and move into personal advice and learnings later on. As a disclaimer, I am a white cishet dude in my late twenties with a moderate cocktail of mental illnesses, but overall I can pass for a functioning adult so a lot I have to say may come laced with privilege I cannot fully identify.

So uhh I began drawing in around 2012? I think? Maybe halfway through 2011? And I mostly made fanart for things I enjoyed and tried to branch out in communities that felt nourishing to my style and interests (I caught a bug for alt posters and enjoyed mainstream movies so I spent a long time on posterspy early on). There were a handful of opportunities that came from there but I could only accept a couple because of primary workplace commitments. Still, it showed that networking in a focused community was definitely a good place to start; I myself have huge trouble committing to social networks and really staying socially active, but I knew it was an essential ingredient in succeeding so I tried to make myself be involved in challenges and art support trains etc. as much as I could.

In parallel to all that I also ran a few third party online stores (redbubble, teepublic) for disposable income and would sometimes, if rarely, hit around $100-150 a month from those sources combined. It is a sort of thing that requires helper accounts on other social media sites to promote it on, because the stores themselves have a huge volume of content that translates into low organic discoverability. Obviously it was never gonna be the way towards financial independence through art, and with community projects being few and far between, I opened private commissions in around uhhh 2017 I think, focusing on offering a few styles I knew I could do well, and sometimes operating in individual fandoms (it was mostly a bioware thing to be frank). But I had to close them back down after a year or so, again because of work-life conflict and how badly it was burning me out. The reason I kept trying to monetize this hobby is because I honestly hated what I did for my main job and wanted to see a way out in some shape or form in the future.

And then in 2020 I had to quit my main job altogether because of *gestures at pandemic* and deal with a mental breakdown from all the wonderful things it did to us and me specifically. I took a short break and decided to give art a shot full-time, and that was around May this year. I was planning on opening up commissions again (and I still am), but a few sudden opportunities that fell in my lap moved that timetable down and now I'm grateful to even be doing something I am getting adequately paid for.

So, with that somewhat limited perspective, here's what I've learned that I'd tell myself if I was just starting out:

1. Being a fan of something can be a shortcut towards effective networking kickoffs. Which are important evidently. If you love something and enjoy making content for it, join communities, settle into a combination of social media websites that feel right for those interests + your body of work + your inner rhythm, and try to play to content discovery as much as your mental health allows you to. Like I said, I know that I myself am incredibly bad at self-motivating to talk to people, so I found that synergizing common interests into fanart - which I enjoyed making anyway - could be a way to give myself a gentle nudge forward and build those bridges leading to community activities, which then net experience and coverage. Sometimes even freelance projects from official avenues. Again; picking the right spaces for what you're after is key. Companies roam twitter, concept art recruiters scour artstation or linkedin etc, instagram can land you private commissions and collab opportunities, so on and so forth. Find your niche and try to kick up dust. However...

2. I do not believe that any social profile can replace a good portfolio. The thing that made an immediate difference to me this year was building a coherent, simple website with my best work front and center and a contact form on top. Every single opportunity I got came from that form (maybe via twitter or instagram initially, but always sealing the decision after going through the website), so I firmly believe that showcasing your skills and portfolio in a visually arresting and user-friendly way is a big priority. I had some reservations about tackling that task but fortunately I had help from a savvy life partner and we slapped it together via wordpress in less than a day. Twitter/whatever social media is prevalent in your target groups is definitely important to get the right eyes on your shit, yes, but those eyes will then look for a second stop where your work and rates are more clear and concise. Simplicity is key imo, I cannot overstate this. So make a cute, simple portfolio!

3. Your skills and rates will grow and change as you do. Let them. Over the years I built several lasting professional relationships from my obsession over mass effect and kept getting opportunities both from bioware and their partner companies, some small and some a bit bigger. A one-off job earlier this year opened an unexpected door to another much larger commitment, and then the work I did there brought some attention from small businesses looking for commercial commissions. These were all incredibly different projects in terms of scope and budget, and I've been tackling them all on a case-by-case basis and slowly coming into my own irt my needs, rates, and SOW thresholds. It is still a work in progress (and a LOT of literal work as well), and very much a thing I struggle with in publicly marketing, which is why I felt a tad underqualified to answer your question in the first place (obviously I did not let that stop me). But what it means for me now is that I am rapidly developing into whatever my "version" of a functioning freelance artist is, and when the conditions for that guy are met, I need to be able to confidently plant myself and operate from that space despite past precedents. Do not let anyone bully you into downpricing what you yourself perceive as legitimate products of personal growth and development. Speaking of which...

4. The shitty challenge of turning envy into inspiration, and paddling outside your comfort zones in full riot gear. it is hard, but realizing that being a miserable, self-hating artist in my early days got me nothing but more misery back was the first real step I took and what truly blew the hinges off. I was just not pleasant to be around, I would badmouth my work all the time, and it all somehow made sense in my broken mind because the validation I sought was purely external and the way I sought it was through eliciting sympathy via self-victimization (even when I made something objectively nice). It all led fucking nowhere. Except perhaps to my own narcissism that I one day managed to identify and start managing. So I started looking at things that made me seethe with envy and calmly deconstruct and figure out their inner workings instead, do studies, and find nuggets of inspiration or discover new ways to approach rendering or building up specific elements. It was an application of analytical diligence to what I wanted to be a purely emotional, esoteric workflow, but that I deep down knew wasn't. Art is a discipline and a skill, and maybe it isn't a straight line, but you gotta find some line to thread nevertheless. Being self-hating was almost an identity I had to break out of, and despite it still being like, 4-5% there? I realize its cause and effect on me, my work, and those around me, so it is with a conscious choice that I gently set it aside when I work and especially when I learn. It won't always stay quiet, but the effort is the difference. Your doors towards accepting true growth and venturing into uncharted territories, art styles, and networking will really open from there. But there's a huge caveat...

5. Toolsets, accessibility, privilege, and all the good things that enable artistic expression and profitability are not given equal to all. you might do all the mental work I mentioned to be ready to rock and roll and learn and draw your way out of anything, but digital art is a fucking money pit that asks almost too much at times. I don't got a good case study here but identifying and ensuring accessibility to the tools you need to do your best work is, like, super important. The ergonomics can improve as you make money and settle into the job, but the basics have to be made available to you. And some of that might not even be under your direct control. That can be anything from pen tablets to software subscriptions to opportunities in hiring sullied by sexism or what have you. You gotta navigate all that through careful networking and money/time management. I don't do a good job of devoting specific slices of time to work/study, and my primary clutch is iPad software which went from a good deal to a nightmare scenario over the years. So all I can say here is do what I didn't; network, invest in a PC/tablet, and pick a software you'll learn that won't burn a hole in your pocket.

6. Be nice to work with? This one is hard to articulate and has landed my own ass in hot water in my early years because of how socially inept I am, but nothing is more worthwhile than being.. like. a good person to work with. That can be anything like meeting deadlines, or sometimes missing them but eloquently articulating why, being generous in early stages, being communicable and not too wordy in your emails, having a good grasp on abstract artistic concepts and how to describe them in simple terms, having a clear, laid out framework of your working rates in commercial and non-commercial projects and sticking to those guns with grace, understanding when you need to say no and saying it well, the works. Just being nice. Sometimes that might mean going headstrong with something you believe in, or simmering down and sucking up to the big man, all relative and adaptive. Part and parcel of the service provision dance that we all have to do in order to make bank. Know your lines here, obviously, and don't like. work for nazis. or uh.. *shudders* exposure. but be nice and empathetic and communicable and word will travel eventually. Skill may be in abundance these days, but good people are most certainly not, and capitalism has a way of bubbling up scarcity. Grim, but uh, them's the breaks.

I know I'm ultimately telling you to like. Have a body of work, make a portfolio, grow, and network. But that's really how I see it for now. And being nice can be a cherry on top that sets you apart, along with the inherent irreplaceable voice of your artwork. I think I rambled on enough, but if there is something specific you need my help with, even if you want to come off anon and talk in private, please feel free.

#anon #asks #long post #sorry I cant actually condense ideas better :(

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nancywheelxr · 4 years

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For Sokka/Zuko prompts: falling in love + fighting non-bender style

hey, anon, i love you and i hope you like this <3

“Come spar with me,” Sokka says, just like that. The sun is setting in the sky and Katara’s food is beginning to stir Momo from his nap, and a few feet away Zuko can see Suki attempting to teach Aang a very basic fighting stance while Toph laughs.

It still doesn’t explain why Sokka is still there, looking at Zuko like Zuko is the insane one for being doubtful. “Why?”

Sokka flails. “Why– because! Because I’m bored! Because I want to! Because– I don’t know, Zuko, why does anyone do anything?”

“You do realize you would lose, right?” He says instead of trying to parse through his reasons. Only Sokka knows how his mind works and after the awful days spent in the prison, Zuko’s learned it’s no use trying to follow his logic.

“Excuse me!” Sokka gasps, offended in a way that shows on his whole face, “I’ll have you know, I’ve been trained by a master in the arts! I’ve got a space sword!”

He wonders how liberally the word trained is being used. “Still.”

“Oh, I see how it is,” Sokka sharpens in a smirk, arms crossing over his chest, and Zuko watches amused, a little disconcerted at the whiplash between expressions. “You’re scared you’re gonna lose. That’s okay, I get it, I’d be too if I were you.”

It’s not that Zuko doesn’t know he’s being played, he knows, but the challenge is still out there, in the air, and he has never been good at standing down. Sokka’s got him there and he knows it and Zuko knows it and probably even Katara, wherever she is, knows it too. “Fine,” he snaps, scowling because otherwise he’d be smiling and Zuko’s never been very good at that either. At least he thinks so, it’s been a long time, he can’t remember, anyway. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Sokka laughs. “Famous last words.”

A friendly spar is not something Zuko remembers doing. Training, yes, or showing off when he thought his father might be looking, or the thing Azula did where sometimes she would tackle him and they would wrestle and pretend it’s not meant to hurt, but not this, not until now.

But it’s nice, too, and it burns off the restlessness that’s settled ever since they left the Boiling Rock, and Zuko aches to think he’d been trying to destroy this sort of thing only weeks ago. His sword clashes with Sokka’s and they glint silver in the rising moon.

Sokka grins.

In the moonlight, he glows, and Zuko thinks of the boy with war paint on his face standing as tall as he could in the way of a warship, and something in his chest twists and aches again– it’s been a long road to here, but he sees the ocean on Sokka’s eyes just as clear as they had reflected the waves that day. “Tired yet?”

Yes, Zuko wants to say, frighteningly so. “Not a chance,” he replies instead because that’s not what’s been asked, and presses harder, hits him in the ribs hilt-first, smirks like he’s learned.

And so it goes, steady like clockwork.

“You know,” Sokka says the next night, “this place is pretty neat, huh?”

Zuko, who knows this temple by heart already from patrolling every night before sleep in the first week, figures neat is probably the understatement of the century. “You could say that.”

“It’s at least on the top three places we camped,” he continues, pushing further on his attacks and forcing Zuko to pull back in defense. Then, his face softens a little, eyes darting fleetingly up at the moon and around the clearing, and this sort of vulnerability, of distraction, is the perfect moment to make his move, but for some reason, Zuko can’t bring himself to do it. Sokka grins ruefully and the whole world goes a little dizzy, “it kind of makes you wish we could stay here forever, doesn’t it?”

Feeling oddly off-tilt, he shrugs, distracted. “I guess,” he shakes his head, hopes to clear it with the whiplash.

Sokka rolls his eyes, lowering his sword. “Well, no need to sound so excited, jeez, I was just saying.”

“Sorry,” Zuko blinks, watches the muscles on his arms work as he reaches for his canteen, watches water spill down his chin, the curve of his neck, and disappear under his shirt. Right. It’s definitely time for a break.

His own water does little to his dry mouth and it’s only when he tries to nudge their lanterns just a bit brighter but finds the flames flaring up higher, that he notices the racing of his heart hasn’t faded yet. Sokka smiles, and says something about their itinerary, and Zuko listens, and listens, and listens.

The Western Air Temple is left behind and it feels awfully final, Sozin’s Comet a hanging threat on the horizon. It won’t be long now.

Zuko sits on Appa’s back and watches Sokka, head bent over a map with his sister, the rising sun painting his skin. At his side, Toph makes a startled noise. “Really, Sparky?”

“What?” He frowns, dragging his eyes away to find her looking at him strangely. His face warms and his hands close into fists, even if he’s not sure why. Half of him kind of hopes Toph tells him, but the other half is terrified of the answer.

She shakes her head, makes a face up at him. “Nothing, just thought you should know– you’re so not subtle.”

It’s not like she’s wrong, but Zuko would still rather know what he’s letting show on his face now. Fear? Sorrow? Anger?

It doesn’t matter, in the end.

It won’t be long now.

After his coronation, it takes Sokka three days to find him in his study, table littered with reports and law texts, an insurmountable mountain of things he must fix, must change, to even begin thinking of reparations.

“How did you get past my guards?” He asks without looking up from the scroll in his hands. The candle by his elbow flickers, throwing golden shadows across the paper.

Sokka is smiling, Zuko can tell even while turned away, and there’s the rustle of his brushes being shuffled away from the edge as he leans against the table. “I’m like, a war hero now. It gets me places.”

“Suki let you in, then,” Zuko finally allows himself to roll up the scroll, tilt his head up for once to talk with him, and grins. He was right, Sokka is smiling, easy and malleable.

“Like I said, it gets me places,” he shrugs, kicks the leg of his chair, falling serious, “hey, she also said you’ve been here a while.”

Zuko sighs, feeling the exhaustion snaking around his bones, the tight aching on his chest from the branching scar Azula’s lightning left, the unsigned paperwork he left in his quarters this morning. “There’s a lot to do,” he says truthfully.

“Yeah, no shit, but it doesn’t have to be done in a day,” Sokka rolls his eyes, kicks his chair a little harder. There’s a crinkle between his brows and it’s very distracting, it makes Zuko want to reach out and smooth it away, trace the lines until they faded back to someplace peaceful. “And you don’t have to do it all alone either, dumbass. Come on, you need to relax before you combust in one big fireball of stress.”

“I can’t,” he rubs at his eyes, willing the weariness to settle back, and closes them for a second– inhale, exhale. “There’s too much– negotiations will begin soon, they’re sending ambassadors– and the school curriculum, it needs to be revised– and, and–”

“Zuko,” Sokka says, and his voice arrests Zuko’s focus impossibly. Zuko really wishes it didn’t because now he has to look at Sokka, give him his full attention, and it’s overwhelming. The moon is backlighting his figure and Zuko never noticed how much the blue of his clothes, his eyes, stand out in the red and gold of the palace. It makes Zuko’s lungs hiccup and his heart constrict painfully, a warm ache blooming just behind his sternum– a summer tide, heating up his skin against the night chill, and even before he asks, Zuko knows he would give him anything, there’s no choice for him. “Come spar with me?”

Zuko puts out his candle. “Yeah, okay.”

“I gotta say,” Sokka says, sword steady on his hands, “this place is a hell of a lot better than that clearing at the temple.”

The practice room has a mat to break their falls without leaving scraped skin behind, at least, and practice swords blunt enough they don’t have to worry about accidentally losing a limb. “The view isn’t all that great, though.”

Something shifts in Sokka’s eyes, softer and warmer. “I don’t know,” he shrugs with painfully fake nonchalance, “it looks pretty great to me.”

There’s a flush rising to his cheeks and Zuko doesn’t understand why for a second, but looks behind his shoulder at the closed doors, frowning, because this sounds like Sokka’s strangely smooth awkward flirting he’s witnessed. “I don’t think Suki can hear you from here,” he feels the need to point out, speaking around the sudden catch on his throat, “and the door’s closed anyway.”

Sokka chokes. “That’s not– I didn’t– what–” a pause as he seems to gather himself, “I didn’t mean Suki. Why would I mean Suki? She’d probably kick my ass for a comment like that, anyway.”

Zuko frowns. “Because she’s your girlfriend?”

Another round of startled coughing. It’s a really good thing those swords are blunt, after all. “We broke up, like, ages ago? After, you know, the comet and everything. It put things into perspective or something, I dunno. It was different, with no war or anything, when it was just us hanging out.”

“Oh,” Zuko clears his throat, something odd fluttering around his chest, and tries to think if there was something different about Suki in the past few days. He doesn’t think so? It’s hard to tell, he’s been busy and she always smiled when she saw him– it did feel like her eyes had grown a little more knowing lately, though, like she knew something he didn’t, but that could probably be his lack of sleep talking. “I’m sorry?”

Sokka snorts. “No that’s rough, buddy, this time?” but before Zuko could apologize for that too, he waves him off, “it’s fine, don’t worry about it. I think we just realized we loved each other better as friends. Maybe the fact that both of us are fine is a sign breaking up really was the right thing.”

“Like Mai and I,” he nods, understanding. Being with Mai had been nice, safe and comforting, but when she had taken his hand and told him she would be leaving with Ty Lee, Zuko hadn’t been heartbroken. Mai had smiled, a small pretty thing, and hugged him, face buried on the curve of his neck, and he misses her dearly, but loving someone doesn’t necessarily mean being in love with someone.

“Yeah,” Sokka twists his sword on his hand, eyes following the arc it makes in the air, and his smile comes in gentle waves, washing over Zuko with its cheeriness. “Now come on, quit stalling– I’m so kicking your ass this time.”

With a sinking dread, Zuko refuses to acknowledge the realization just beyond his fingertips, curling his hands around the hilt of his dao blades fiercely, and ignores the gentle smoke wafting from his palms.

Denial doesn’t take him too far, unsurprisingly. His feelings for Sokka have been building without his knowing, a spring that’s grown into a river spilling into the ocean, stretching in all directions, far beyond the horizon line.

It’s far too late to try and contain now.

Instead, Zuko will just have to learn to carry that around too, board it up away from the light, careful not to let any of it tumble out in the open. In the past, he’s never been very good at keeping his emotions in check, but since the Sun Warriors, he thinks he might be improving a little.

Not that Sokka makes it anywhere easy for him. So far, none of them have left, on the contrary– Katara has taken upon herself to boss the healers around while the injured are slowly trickling in from all over the countries, Aang and Toph have ingrained themselves in every one of his meetings since no one has dared to question their presence yet, and Sokka– well. Sokka seems to be everywhere these days.

Sure, Zuko knows they won’t stay forever, they all have a home to go back to, families to return to, but for now, well.

“Dude, wanna see how many fire flakes I can fit in my mouth?”

For now, there’s Zuko watching Sokka sit by his window, basking in Agni’s light and smiling at him while digging into the flake bowl even though he knows the spice will burn his tongue. “I’m guessing around two before you start crying?”

“It’s not that bad,” Sokka glares, but it’s mellow and gentle, late-afternoon lazy, and Zuko has to forcefully remind himself not to stare. “Yeah, no, okay, it’s bad, it’s bad!”

He pushes the milk he had nicked from the kitchens earlier just in case something like this happened towards him, snickering like he’s not hopelessly endeared. “I did warn you.”

Sokka glowers. “Shut up, I’m building up a resistance.”

“If you say so,” Zuko allows, knowing it will rile him up and make him flush, probably go into a rant, and hides his own smile. Affection bubbles on his chest, I know you, he thinks, I know you by heart.

Predictably, Sokka pushes off his seat, crowding on Zuko to tell him exactly where he could shove his condescension, and Zuko twists on his own chair to face him, an eyebrow raised. It doesn’t slow Sokka down, though, if anything, it inflames him further, makes him take another step forward, slip between his legs to poke at his chest.

“ – and, and,” Sokka trails off, looking down at where his legs have bumped on the chair, and seeming to finally notice how very close they had gravitated. Zuko shifts and his knees graze Sokka’s pants, and his skin seems to burn even through the cloth. Swallowing thickly, he risks looking up, shakily trying to keep a blank expression and feeling the ocean raging around his ribs. Sokka’s eyes are wide and blue, a gentle wave crashing on the sand, and any words die on his tongue. “So, uh.”

He hums questioningly, one hand clinging to the table edge, undoubtedly leaving soot burned handprints behind.

“I, erm, forgot what I was going to say,” Sokka admits quietly, and Zuko wants to think his gaze has slipped down to his mouth for half a second there, but it’s very hard to think when they’re close like this and if neither of them moves soon, he fears his chest might crack open like ice, spilling his love all over the floor, heart falling at their feet, bruised and stitched up as it is. “Hey,” he nudges his knee.

Zuko burns. “Hi?”

“I think– I think I’m gonna do something real stupid right now,” he says, “and I’m really hoping you won’t hate me for this later.”

There’s no hating you, Zuko wants to say, because he’s been falling since, perhaps, the South Pole, and by now, there’s no stopping. His feelings are an ocean and Zuko’ll drown in them.

Sokka doesn’t want a reply, though. He exhales shakily and suddenly, his hands are on Zuko’s cheeks and Sokka is leaning down, kissing Zuko. Lightning sizzles inside him and you don’t stare at the sun, so Zuko closes his eyes, hands closing on Sokka’s waist to draw him closer, feeling like he might die from this, would gladly die for this.

“Hey,” Sokka says again, pulling away, and Zuko chases him that inch, a pull and push of tides, and there’s breathlessness in the air they share, “so, no hating, uh.”

Zuko touches skin under his shirt and feels Sokka shiver under his hands. “What do you think,” he murmurs, so painfully fond that his whole self aches with it, “I love you, dumbass.”

Sokka laughs, light and bright, like sea foam, and kisses him again, and again, and again, like he knows Zuko has been walking around with all these impossible wantings inside him and now there’s a hollowness that leaves him afraid he might float up if untethered. Like he knows Zuko’s never thought he’d get to have this, to be this happy. “You’re such a jerk,” he says, “I love you too,” a kiss, a hand tangling on his hair, his heart, bursting, “I love you. I love you. I love you.”

#zukka #sokka x zuko #zuko #sokka #atla #zukka fanfic #atla fanfic #avatar the last airbender #atla tag #zukka tag #writing tag #look an as

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rosaguard · 3 years

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❀ . ━ ❛ ON AERIS’ DESI IDENTITY.

for the sake of making this question easier to answer, I’ll be breaking it up into parts ( yes, i tend to ramble about other things before fully getting to my overall point ). as always, i’m black - not south asian - but i do my best to research before speaking about a culture i do not belong to.

verumking asked : some questions about brown aeris because i'm. forever heart eyes tbh. // you've drawn a lot of parallels between hinduism and the cycle of life on gaia, and also the conflict between aeris' human desires and her duties as a cetra. is her desi identity something she specifically attributes to her cetra heritage? does she begin to embrace it in her day-to-day life at all-- i.e. making and wearing henna, cooking traditional food, etc? how do her views on her identity change with each incarnation?

this is a somewhat difficult question to answer simply because fin.al fa.ntasy often picks and chooses which game is going to be the one™ where the culture and identity of the people within the game actually matters and when it does not ( on a side note: the series in general has a bad habit of using real locations with brown people as inspiration for settings in the game and not reflecting the real people and culture of those locations within the games. half of xii’s party being white people from a desert region literally inspired by the middle east is a glaring example of this ). anyway, i would say vii itself easily places itself within the category of there not being any real sense of culture - or at least nothing of any real substance in my opinion. by that i mean things like how the sector 5 and 7 slums are essentially the same in the remake ( outside of the former being ‘greenier’ ) even though it doesn’t make sense for the equivalent of two mini-cities that are kind of semi-lawless / mostly left to fend for themselves by shinra to not have more of a difference regarding their identities: how they operate, how the people act within them, etc.

there’s also the fact that one of the most well known locations within the game is a christian-styled church within the sector five slums...and yet no religion is ever mentioned within the game’s worldbuilding. the church’s very existence could be seen as ironic if there was actual commentary on humans ( unknowingly ) building a false religion over time as a result of the void created after their ancestors willing choose to abandon their connection to the planet but there isn’t any. humanity, at least within the context of this universe, are essentially treated as the equivalent of atheists that don’t ‘believe’ in the planet being a living organism that deserves to be respected. meanwhile the cetra, the closest thing the game has to a religious group, don’t really seem to follow any specific tenets of a faith outside of protecting the planet and cultivating life on it. basically, i find it weird that a human-made structure and the symbolism that comes with it is imprinted onto aeris of all characters.

on one hand i get the logic behind it: she’s easily the most ‘spiritual’ character of the group ( if not the whole game ) and is canonically white / ’western’ inspired as nom.ura put it so western concepts of what is pure / holy is going to be applied to her from a pure aesthetic standpoint alone. from the church, to her somewhat overused prayer pose™, and her own final limit break which has white angels taken straight out of christian art descend from the heavens in its animation sequence, this specific imagery is given to her a lot - even if it doesn’t make sense from an in-universe perspective. the reason i even bring any of this up is that i think how culture is used and applied to certain characters is already inconsistent which is worth pointing out. aeris’ own identity already clashes with itself in canon - some of it being fully intentional and a part of her arc ( her desires as an individual vs her duty as a cetra ) while some of it ( basically everything stated above ) is...definitely not?

✿ : is her desi identity something she specifically attributes to her cetra heritage?

yes and no. however, before i fully elaborate on why, i have to touch on how i view the cetra as a whole. i’ve always saw them as people who, while nomadic, still have individual ‘tribes’ they belong to / travel with and it would’ve been common for members of one group to branch off and intermingle / travel with another ( or even just travel on their own for a while ). the more the cetra travel and expand their ‘network’ across the entire planet, it’s only natural that groups are going to start forming their own unique differences, whether it’s with looks, how they speak, and their culture, with their bond to the planet and their duty being what ties them all together. the cetra being separated into specific tribes is also directly supported within canon:

ifalna: 2000 years ago, our ancestors, the cetra, heard the cries of the planet. the first ones to discover the planet's wound were the cetra at the knowlespole*.

ifalna: then, just as it had at the knowlespole. it approached other cetra clans...... infecting them with... the virus.

while the cetra capital, the city of the ancients, is in knowlespole ( the modern equivalent of the region that the icicle inn and the northern crater is ), ifalna confirms that other clans beyond it exist. although the details around jenova’s arrival and defeat are unclear, from ifalna’s retelling of what happened ( and her distraught response while doing so ) it seems as if all of the cetra that first encountered jenova were either killed or infected before jenova moved on to do the same to other clans. this more than likely results in entire sub-cultures and histories lost before jenova is sealed away by the cetra aeris descends from ( which would explain why there’s not much recorded information on the cetra within the universe ).

one also has to remember the groups of cetra that branched away from the others and become humans. although they abandoned their duties, it’s very likely that they still retained aspects of cetra culture and it just changed / adapted over a period of two thousand years. with the cetra mostly wiped out and forgotten about, i don’t find it realistic for aeris, at least at the beginning of the game, to really know which ‘parts’ of herself come from where; especially since there would realistically be desi-coded humans that haven’t had ties to the cetra in thousands of years. although i headcanon both her mother and father as brown / desi, aeris doesn’t know who her father, professor gast, even is and the years she spent with her mother were in complete captivity. based on aeris’ ignorance about the white materia ( ex. her thinking it was useless originally ) and the cetra in general, one would assume that ifalna wasn’t able to teach aeris much due to not wanting to reveal anything to shinra since they were likely under constant surveillance. there’s also the fact that aeris outright rejects being a cetra as a child and tries ( yet fails ) to assimilate into ‘human’ culture:

“well…” kyrie replied. “there’s a crumbling church in the slums, where we played together. we did things like pretending to hold wedding ceremonies. aeris was always in the church, taking care of the flowers on her own. sometimes we talked about it. one day, aeris told me to go home quickly. i thought she was being mean because i stepped on her flowers.”

“when i got home in a bad mood, my parent’s bodies were being carried to the house. i heard it from my grandmother. about the lifestream and the ancients. i thought it was just a fairytale at the time, but after that— i figured aeris was an ancient. ...hey, what do you think i said when i met aeris after that? i said ‘you creep me out’.” - kyrie revealing her relationship with aeris after learning of her death in the kids are alright novel.

i guess the real world equivalent of what i’m trying to say would be similar to how i’m black / african american but do i really associate myself and my identity with africa beyond a surface level? the answer is no. how could i when i don’t know anything of my ancestors, african americans are generally robbed of learning about our history, and i don’t even know what ‘part’ of africa i come from. navigating your identity, your culture, and your heritage is extremely complicated and i don’t really see it being any different for aeris. she doesn’t have any way to truly ‘discover’ and connect with her cultural identity - even if she wasn’t actively rejecting it.

✿ : does she begin to embrace it in her day-to-day life at all? i.e. making and wearing henna, cooking traditional food, etc?

she does - although it’s a gradual process that doesn’t start until she leaves midgar. canonically, it’s not even until cosmos canyon that aeris finally begins to ‘connect’ to her heritage and fully understand what it means to be a cetra:

aeris: i learned a lot. the elders taught me many things. about the cetra... and the promised land...i'm...... alone... i'm all alone now...

however, in between chasing sephiroth, almost dying, and then saving the world, she doesn’t have much time to come to terms with everything that she learned there. in my blog canon, she does eventually leave edge a few years after its built to begin traveling on her own and eventually finds herself back in cosmos canyon. realistically, the elders there don’t have all the answers for her but her simply studying there is an important stepping stone to reclaiming a part of herself that she never got to know - or really accepted ( her parents also studied and met there so her life would be coming full circle in a way ).

so with all that said, i see aeris’ ‘embracing’ her desi heritage the most with fashion at first since she technically already does - regardless of whether she realizes it or not. the ultimania for the remake includes concept art for the cetra ( which can be viewed fully here ) and they’re specifically said to have been designed to have similarities to aeris - meaning that aeris’ current style of clothing is meant to embody her ancestors. highlighting a cetra design that looks weirdly similar to aeris herself, this cetra’s outfit - at least to me - feels similar to clothing popular in india and other parts of south asia:

if the dress was taken out and a few alterations was made to her top and half-skirt, it could easily resemble how a lehenga choli piece is worn. the top piece of her half-skirt also resembles the look of an oddiyanam, a type of waist ornament that women in south india wear.

there are other cetra’ accessories that resemble jewelry common in india as well: the armlet on the unnamed cetra resembles a bajuband ( a similar one can be found here ) and bangles similar to a kangan or churi, commonly worn by women across south asia, are prominent in both aeris and the cetra’s overall designs too.

with mehndi / henna, i definitely see her wearing it across her hands and feet but it’s mostly similar to whenever she wears traditional dresses: it’s reserved for special occasions / celebrations. with that said, that’s more so when she’s grown accustomed to applying henna herself without messing up or someone else is doing it for her. it wouldn’t be uncommon to see aeris’ hands decorated with different patterns every few months: a direct result of using her own body as practice when first learning how to draw designs ( if you want to get full fantasy with it, the designs glowing against her skin when she uses magic would be neat ). as a side note: for those who don’t know, there is a short story about aeris’ time in the shinra labs. it contains a drawing by her, which is also in the remake, that has more designs for the cetra ( you can see the unedited version here ):

also aeris cooking? l o l. joking aside, in my three years of writing aeris i’ve never really put much thought into her style of cooking, what type of food she specifically likes to eat, etc. outside of the fact that i don’t think she is much of a cooker at all ( probably because i’m not one either ). however, i cannot let a question go answered so! i’m probably going to sound redundant mentioning cosmos canyon again at this point but it really is due to the fact that it’s specifically the source of her connecting to who she is. the drawing she drew in a trance as a child even includes a location that is more than likely cosmos canyon ( and yes, i checked to compare ). the most notable npcs there are all brown and i do see them all being people of color that have come from different parts of the planet to share knowledge and learn amongst each other. although her main purpose of living in cosmos canyon the years she’s there is to study her people and record her own knowledge ( i’ll touch on this later ), it also provides her with an opportunity to connect with other people that are desi-coded like her on a more personal-level.

am i basically saying she probably tasted some type of chaat ( dahi vada specifically ) for the first time after leaving midgar and never looked back? yes. it’s not until aeris leaves midgar that she gets to experience trying out various food from her own culture as well as food from cultures outside of it in general ( not that these foods didn’t exist in midgar but she’s poor and doesn’t really have the means / opportunity to try them before ). aeris definitely becomes a fan of dishes that are savory with gravy, can be eaten with sauces like chutney ( she likes red chili, spicy coconut and mango chutney the most ), or dishes based around vegetables ( although if there’s spinach it, don’t tell her because ew ), fish or lamb. dishes such as rajma, samosas, sambar, biryani ( it’s probably one of the first desi dishes she would cook on her own ), pakora ( she’s definitely eaten chili pepper pakoras without a sweat ), etc. are all up her alley. aeris admittedly also has a sweet tooth so snacks like kozhukkattai, gulab jamun served with ice cream, etc. also appeals to her greatly™.

the process of eating these dishes when they’re made by other people vs actually introducing them into her day to day eating habits are two different things though. not to say that she wouldn’t make an effort to try - she definitely will but learning how to cook these dishes takes time ( especially if you’re already not much of a cook. ). incorporating them into her daily lifestyle wouldn’t be an instant process but it will happen eventually.

✿ : how do her views on her identity change with each incarnation?

as the embodiment of the lifestream, aeris is constantly consuming information between each reincarnation. the lifestream houses memories and knowledge since the planet’s very inception so she literally has thousands of years of information to sort through and process between each new ‘life’. the different cetra clans that were mentioned earlier? aeris would technically have the ability to trace back the memories of her entire lineage and discover which clan she’s from if she wanted to. with every incarnation, she’s learning a little more about her people, where she comes from, etc. and being a cetra starts to feel like less of a burden to her and a role she starts to embrace / actively take pride in. while there will come a time where she’s not the ‘last cetra’ anymore, aeris essentially becomes an eternal record keeper for her people.

once she begins working with the WRO, it’s actually her idea to start an annual celebration event ( or festival ) during the anniversary of meteorfall. despite her people being nomadic and spread out, the cetra had a capital city and it’s not far fetched to assume that it was used as a place for the cetra to converge during important events, celebrations, etc. through aeris, aspects of their culture begin to live on in new ways such as the meteorfall festival which becomes a celebration of life and the planet itself. while the festival isn’t intended to have any real world parallel, i do think the symbolism of the diwali festival is fitting for the events of sephiroth’s defeat / lifestream and holy destroying meteor:

diwali symbolizes the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.

overall, no matter how many times she reincarnates, aeris always returns to cosmos canyon to record everything she knows, whether its her own life experiences, the memory of her people, or their culture, so that her children, her grandchildren, and so on can always have knowledge of their history and identity in a way that she wasn’t able to.

✿ : brown aeris says thanks for reading!

i hope this was a satisfying answer to your questions! i try to do my best with honoring the cultures i’m talking about and not treating them in a haphazardly and/or lazy way. i wanted to explain her journey of being someone not really connected to their heritage at all and explaining the process she goes through in a realistic way without..making it surface level? hopefully i achieved that!

#❀ . ━ ❛ blood of the ancients ❪ headcanon ❫ .

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queens-hoes · 4 years

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Ikevamp Suitors as University Professors (Part Two!)

Isaac

Physics Prof ofc with a love of Astronomy

When his class sees him for the first time at the beginning of the year, they usually think he’s another student

A graduate student at most

Imagine their shock when he starts leading the lecture oh boy

Arthur and Dazai love sitting in on the first day to hear all the gasps those little shits

Isaac’s students learn rEAL QUICK that despite looking super young, he shouldn’t be messed with

This boy is hELLA smart

Arthur makes it a point to visit often and persuade the class to prank poor ole Newt

But they actually respect him a lot sorry Arthur

Isaac is a way better teacher than he gives himself credit for

which is important because Physics...oH BOY

I had to learn some Newtonian Physics for an Astronomy class and I cRIED

Even though he seems aloof, he spends hours tutoring students after class/during office hours when they struggle to understand certain concepts

He’s got a hidden heart of gold that not many people get to see

He’s definitely one of those profs that students remember like 30 years after graduating

Lots of students take turns leaving an apple on his desk before every lecture

At the end of the year, they get him a huge barrel of apples and apple-themed decorations

He scowls, but he’s secretly endeared

Shut up Isaac you know you love it

Theo

An Art History prof!

Every first-year art student has to take both Vincent’s class and Theo’s class

After finding out that the two are brothers, most of them are excited to meet Theo since Vincent is such a sweetheart

only to meet the Devil incarnate

Theo doesn’t play around!

You will know the difference between Neo-Impressionism and Post-Impressionism and you will like it

The people that called this class a piece of cake are quaking as he goes through the syllabus

Although Theo seems scary and a lot like a prickly lil pineapple, it’s clear that he truly has a passion for art even tho he doesn’t make any of his own

But bc of this passion, he expects everyone to be perfect at all times

Sometimes Vincent will drop by and it’s like a breath of fresh air

Is Professor Theo...smiling??

As the semester goes on, he kinda grows on everyone

He does his best to make his lessons interesting so everyone can get as excited by art as he does

Actually says really wise things sometimes? albeit in a Theo-esque way

“Now listen here. All of you are artists with your own methods and none of you need to imitate these old styles if you don’t want to. All these painters are dead and even if they weren’t, they wouldn’t give a shit. In fact, the only people who did give a shit were the ones that could barely hold a brush and they’re dead now too, so fuck ‘em.”

Profound.

Dazai

Literature prof with a focus on Japanese works ofc

Also a major fixture in the Japanese branch of the Foreign Language department

He doesn’t teach the language, but he loves to teach the culture

Where Arthur probably teaches the 1st and 2nd years, Dazai teaches the 3rd and 4th years

Absolutely No One takes him seriously when they see him for the first time

Mainly bc he was lounging on the window sill as opposed to a chair

Yeah that’s right, his lecture hall has windows, as per his request

He’s a major wild card and spends most lectures walking across the desk at the front of the room

A major crackhead

Seriously, you’re never safe in his class

You never know when he might sneak up behind you and literally jumpscare you

“HeLLo AiKO-sAn~”

Super laidback, doesn’t like giving many assignments

“Instead of an essay, why don’t you all just walk through nature today and write a poem based on your experiences~”

Lots of students low-key think he smokes up before class but this has yet to be confirmed

Brings his bird to class everyday

Never

EVER

remembers names.

The kind of prof you either love or hate

BUT HOW COULD YOU HATE HIM

Jean

Our good Catholic boy has degrees in History and Religious Studies

He enjoys combining them by teaching classes on Religious History and the occasional World Religions class

Although he’s Christian, he enjoys hearing about other religions and is definitely not the type to debate which faith is ‘better’

buT OFC he gets rowdy students looking to start arguments from time to time

He listens patiently to all their points but DON’T FORGET that this man knows how to roast the ever living fuck out of someone if he needs to this is practically canon

It’s not a power he uses often but when he does.......those students regret ever starting that debate with him

With the exception of those poor victims, most students actually like him

Which surprises him to no end

Whenever students tell him how much they enjoyed having him as a teacher he’s like “eRRoR &$326872*&3&6″

Bc even though he’s p serious and stoic, he makes class interesting in his own unique way

He insists he isn’t that great and shouldn’t work as a prof but Napoleon is always there to go “HEY! THEY LOVE YOU!”

Plus quite a few girls think the emo hair is a LOOK

#Ikemen vampire #ikevam #ikevamp #isaac newton #theo van gogh #osamu dazai #jean d'arc #ikevamp isaac #ikevamp theo #ikevamp dazai #ikevamp jean #jeanne d'arc #ikevamp jeanne #theodorus van gogh #ikevamp theodorus #ikevamp headcanons

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rodbank13 · 3 years

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Japanese Nightlife

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Many of the bank card presents that appear on the web site are from bank card companies from which ThePointsGuy.com receives compensation. Most onsens have their own inns and B&Bs to host guests in these remote areas. These inns have been passed by way of the family for tons of of years, and every onsen has its personal story and mythology about the method it was found and the way it’s blessed by friendly gods. Located in japanese Kyushu, Beppu is one of Japan’s most well-known scorching spring locations, with onsen that both soothe or titillate. The so-called Hells of Beppu are a group of blood-red pools, ponds with eerie mud bubbles, boiling blue lagoons, and waters where crocodiles now live — all meant for viewing, not bathing. If you got here to Beppu solely to loosen up, skip the Hells and head straight for the spa and open-air baths at Suginoi Hotel. There’s also the Ebisu Ryokan, which has common scorching baths, milky sulfurous baths, and the “bedrock tub,” a Japanese-style rock sauna. Amongst the various attractions, Japan’s onsens , that are pure hot baths that assist to cleanse one’s system, are excessive on the to-do listing of many visitors. The Japanese word for a scorching spring is onsen, and there are greater than 3000 of them in the country, more than anyplace else on earth – it’s like Iceland on steroids. In Japan, it is not an unusual or even decadent method to move time soaking in a bathtub of effervescent hot water. Here are some which are thought-about to be the holy grail of the onsen world. Now, we all know that sizzling tubs aren’t the identical as natural conventional scorching springs, however there are nonetheless instances when it could really feel like a gift from the gods. Soothing hot water soaks with therapeutic massaging jets will loosen up the physique and soothe muscle aches. You can also get a massage in one of the adjoining massage rooms. With over 750,000 readers every month, Tokyo Cheapo is the location of alternative for worth hunters who need their yen to go further in Tokyo. We cover all of the basics together with issues to do in Tokyo, how to get from Narita airport to Tokyo, which JR rail move to decide on, getting a SIM card and pocket wifi.

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goddamnelsa · 3 years

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Liz’s Top Books of 2020

blatantly stolen from @alamorn but also i wanted to feel accomplished that i did in fact read published books this year before descending entirely into mdzs/the untamed fanfiction :) :) :) :)

In two parts! Books I read that actually came out in 2020, and then honorable mentions of books I read in 2020 that were published in previous years. Enjoy!

Top Books Published in 2020 (which are not in any kind of order because I can’t like rank stuff, I’m not that kind of person)

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

What can I say except it’s N.K. Jemisin who wrote my favorite high fantasy series (The Inheritance Trilogy), won three consecutive Hugo Awards for her The Broken Earth trilogy, and she’s writing urban fantasy with Lovecraftian and superhero team flavor. I mean....obviously I was at the top of the wait list for this once my library ordered it. And it lived up to the hype!! Because of course!! It’s fabulously fast-paced with amazingly smart and interesting characters of diverse backgrounds. I kept thinking one of them was my favorite, and then another would have a great line and I would change my mind. It’s fine, they’re all technically one entity with several parts, so I can love them all and not choose (but it’s probably Bronca, let’s be real). And it’s the first of a series! And I’m counting down the days til there is more!

Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis

I definitely picked this up simply because Lindsay Ellis, one of my favorite video essayists, wrote it, and then ended up loving everything about it. I’m not usually one for First Contact stories, but I appreciate the very human-focused approach here, sticking solely to an ordinary girl’s perspective as she navigates being the person first in contact with a very alien alien. Cora’s attempts to humanize Ampersand are relatable, but I appreciate Ellis reminding us at almost every turn that Ampersand is super Not Human, no matter how much Cora reads into his actions. Ellis doesn’t gloss over the Science part either, especially when it comes to the race of aliens Ampersand belongs to. Again, the first of a series, and you will absolutely be screaming for the next book when this one is over.

You Had Me At Hola by Alexis Daria

Insert my obligatory “I don’t usually read romances blah blah blah.” Though, during lockdown, I attempted to branch out beyond my usual genres when I was attending a ton of publisher webinars about upcoming books. This one stood out to me because of its Latinx cast and the whole behind-the-scenes of a Jane The Virgin-esque show, based on a telenovela (of course). It is fantastic, a quick read with instantly likable and fun characters. And the tropes! We’re playing love interests but we have insane chemistry! A sensitive, traumatized male lead who learns to open up again! A sassy but insecure female lead who learns to let loose and love again! Hooking up, but we have to keep on the DL or else scandal! And of course, the extended families add to every scene they are in--I loved every interaction Ashton and Jasmine had with their families, it was the cherry on top of a fantastic read. Also the sex scenes are steamy.

Beetle and the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne

I got this graphic novel as an advanced reader copy well before it came out, and after reading it, I was sCREAMING because I couldn’t tell all my graphic novel, queer coming-of-age-with-magic loving friends to immediately pick up a copy!! So thankfully, it’s out now, so I can scream to the heavens to please read this!!! It is such a sweet story with beautiful full-color art and fantastic world-building. It has the same silly, referential humor you see in a lot of kids/YA graphic novels these days, but Beetle packs in a lot of heart as well.

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

Like many people in May/June of this year, I was reading, reading, reading a lot of books about racism from as many Black authors as I could get my hands on. There were many not published this year that should definitely be read (So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo being among the top), but this book really stuck with me because it is written specifically for a younger audience, and Jason Reynolds knows how to talk to kids about tough subjects. Stamped gets across difficult concepts like assimilationists and segregationists in an easy-to-understand, conversational style that doesn’t take away from any of the important history and nuance. This certainly is not The Book of antiracism studies, but it is a good starting point if you are daunted by lengthy title lists and aren’t sure where to begin. I highly recommend the audiobook as well, read by Reynolds himself.

(Side note: I watched this keynote address with Reynolds and Kendi which is an excellent primer into the background of how this book came to be. Reynolds is also just very interesting to listen to)

Honorable Mentions aka Books I read in 2020 that were published in previous years again, not ranked because I CAN’T, OKAY

White Is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

I read this book and then wanted to go back and read it immediately again, not necessarily because it was so amazing, but because I felt like I would get it even more if I did. This is a haunting little book that took turns I was not expecting, even with the book synopsis I read. It is disturbing and features descriptions of an eating disorder, so proceed with caution. However, if you like Gothic tales of haunted houses and the trauma inflicted on us by those who came before, I can’t recommend this one enough.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

My last book club read before the pandemic D: We didn’t actually get to meet to discuss this book, but my club (all librarians) were working at our emergency call center at the same time and all reading it, so we KINDA got to discuss it, if not in a formal book club setting. ANYWAY, it’s a thrilling jaunt through 1920s Mexico, following a fantastic Cinderella-esque heroine who makes a deal with a Mayan god to retrieve his body. If you are a fan of the Percy Jackson-brand of mythological adventures, this is definitely one to add to your list, especially if you are looking for something a little bit more Adult.

Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker

Okay, I know it’s a young readers/middle grade book, but HEAR ME OUT. This is whimsical and haunting tale about seven little fox kits who set out to scare themselves shitless by hearing scary tales. Only one kit will remain when the night is over, but the one who does will get to hear a surprisingly sweet, and well-earned, happy ending. If you are a Neil Gaiman-esque horror fan, I recommend picking this up. Its scares are fairly scary, especially for its audience, but it’s an engaging story about the lengths we will go for the ones we love.

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

Did someone say Navajo monster-hunting heroine with magic powers navigating a post-apocalyptic world, oh and also saving it??? Look, Maggie is My Kind of Hero, in that she’s damaged, she drinks too much, she’s surly, but she has a seriously gooey heart of gold underneath all that armor. Navajo mythology is woven into this tale of monster-hunting, surviving. If you’re in Supernatural-disappointment-land, maybe give this a try! It has that Western-y, road trip feel to it, and again, I love the lead character. (It also has a currently published sequel and a soon-to-be-released third book as well!)

This is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

This was rec’ed to me by a librarian friend, with the words, “Oh, Liz, you’ll really like this.” And she was RIGHT. Red and Blue are on opposite sides of a war waged across time and decide to send letters to each other, at first, to taunt, but then, to understand, to learn, and to love. The details of the war don’t matter much, but what does matter is the achingly beautiful poetry with which Red and Blue reveal themselves to each other. I was told to listen to this one, but I’m glad I read it myself instead. The prose is very purple at times, and I appreciated being able to go back to passages to reread again and again. Oh, and it’s queer (Red and Blue are both female), and SPOILERS SPOILERS has a happy ending.

(also there is a wangxian remix for my mdzs buds. and also a semi-officially sanctioned fanfic sequel???? at least amal el-mohtar linked it from goodreads so whoo! also also it’s very funny)

And that’s my Year in Books 2020! Seeing it laid out like this, I had a surprisingly good year for book reading even though I felt like I barely read anything. For awhile, reading was Hard, and I just wanted to consume fluffy, sweet fanfiction, but I’m getting back into it. Oh, and please let me know if you check any of these out!

Here’s to a good year for books in 2021! ✨

#books #book recs #2020 #book reviews #personal #liz reads

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365days365movies · 3 years

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March 5, 2021: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013) (Part One)

Once upon a time, there was a bamboo cutter.

In 2019, the anime Kaguya-sama: Love is War came out, and the third season’s supposed to come out later this year. I love this show a lot, honestly, and it’s actually based on an old Japanese story: 竹取物語, or The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. I’d go into it, but obviously I’m also about to watch the movie based on it from 2013.

It reminds me of a Japanese Thumbelina, to be honest, although I know that they aren’t perfectly analogous. At least, I hope not. It’s not a great movie. Plus, it was one of the first movies I remember watching as a kid, so I’m good.

But yeah, this should be interesting! I’m definitely digging this form of the fantasy genre. You know, films based on folklore and mythology of a given country. Not necessarily what everybody thinks of, but it’s definitely within the genre. Still, I kinda want to branch out from Japan in the next few days. Still, let’s start with this one, yeah?

This film is yet another Studio Ghibli film, but Miyazaki’s not involved. No, this one is an Isao Takahata joint, and he was another one of the founders of Ghibli alongside Miyazaki. This was the last film he directed before his death in 2018. And he never got the same publicity overseas as Miyazaki, but he deserves some love. I’ve seen one other film of his, his first with Studio Ghibli. And...

...that was an experience. An experience that I have NO WILL TO REPEAT. Grave of the Fireflies is an amazing film. It’s also about two siblings surviving in Japan during World War II, in poverty. And no, they don’t die of radiation poisoning because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

It’s so...SO much more depressing than that. Yeah. Not exaggerating. BUT WE ARE NOT GOING INTO THAT BEAUTIFUL, TRAMAUTIZING MASTERPIECE NIGHTMARE!!! We’re going into some that I genuinely hope isn’t as depressing. I’ll find out first-hand, I guess! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/3)

Right from the opening credits, I already have a comment to make: the art style is meant to invoke classic Japanese paintings, and the effect is absolutely breathtaking. It’s a gorgeous movie right off the bat, but I won’t let that distract me...much.

Bamboo cutter Sanuki no Miyatsuko (James Caan) does just that: he cuts bamboo for a living, using it for many things. One day, in the forest, he sees a glowing bamboo stalk, which he tentatively approaches. The light creates a new bamboo shoot, inside of which, well...

Unsure of this little bamboo princess, he hesitantly approaches as she smiles at him and falls asleep in the flower. Thinking it a gift from heaven, Miyatsuko takes the tiny princess into his hands, and brings her home to his Wife (Mary Steenburgen). They decide to raise her, and as the Bamboo Cutter’s Wife takes the princess into her hands, she jumps about and seemingly transforms into a human infant.

The two are quite confused by this whole affair, but believe her to be a gift from heaven, being a miraculous little bamboo princess and all. She also apparently has the ability to cause instant lactation in the Wife, which is a TERRIFYING superpower when you think about it. Think about it: you’re walking down the street, when suddenly some person in a milkman or milkmaid costume jumps out from the shadow, points at you, and says “MILK!!!” and BAM! Now, Fred’s lactating.

Never said that power was limited by gender, now did I?

OK, weird-ass milk segue aside, this baby starts to grow REAL fuckin’ quickly, and a group of plum blossom trees bloom nearby The two pledge to raise the child as their own, in that Jonathan and Martha Kent-style, and they name her "Hime”, which means Princess.

Y’know, for an animated baby, she’s a cute-ass baby, I gotta say. I mean, look at this shit. Look at this CUTE-ASS SHIT.

My ovaries are twitching right now, and I don’t even HAVE that shit. Should I...should I see a doctor?

That tumbling act above leads her to learning to walk, all of which is evidenced by a group of neighborhood kids, who notice both her rapid physical and behavioral growth, and note that she’s growing as fast as bamboo. And yeah, she goes from infant to toddler in a few minutes as she’s learning to walk.

The kids nickname her “Lil’ Bamboo” (Takenoko in Japanese), and she continues to grow up quick. She learns to speak, and spends days with Miyatsuko as he cuts bamboo in the forest. On one of these days, she wanders off and meets a group of wild baby boars. And yeah, you’re right, IT IS cute as SHIT.

The mother boar doesn’t think so, and she charges the helpless Hime. However, she’s saved from a grisly fate by a young man named Sutemaru (Darren Criss), who also notes her rapid growth. And yeah, she goes from toddler to young child over the course of this interaction.

Sutemaru and the young kids from earlier go through the forest with Hime, bringing her along. And she seems to know the words to the song, somehow. She then chimes in with a song of her own, and I’m gonna see if I can find the lyrics in their original Japanese.

Well, I did, and translations aren’t great, but this is pretty similar to what’s being said in the original audio. So, yeah, we’ll go for it. By the way, the actress singing this and playing young Hime is Caitlyn Leone. Just wanted to give her some credit, because this is an interesting song that she sings.

At the end of it, she begins to cry, although she doesn’t know why. The kids basically brush it off, and go to bring her back to the bamboo grove, and to Miyatsuko. He’s searching for her, worries, when he comes across yet another glowing bamboo shoot. This time, when he cuts it open, gold spills out of it.

Time passes, and Hime continues to grow quickly, befriending the kids and Sutemaru, to whom she grows quite close over the summer. Meanwhile, another glowing bamboo shot appears, and from it come fine silks and fabrics. This, alongside the gold from before, leads Miyatsuki to believe that Heaven wants them to raise Hime to be a noble princess, one worthy of the fine fabrics they’ve received.

While his wife is unsure about that, his mind is made up, and he heads to the capital to build a mansion suitable for this lifestyle. Summer ends, and autumn harvest begins, by which time she’s grown up from child to pre-teen. She also changes voice actresses (in English, anyway), now being played by Chloë Grace Moretz.

Sutemaru notices this, too, and worries that she’ll keep growing and leave them behind. She says that that’ll never happen. And then, as she goes home that night...it does. Yeah, damn, and she promised and everything. But yeah, the little Bamboo family heads to the capital, where Hime is quickly taught the ways of a proper lady.

She’s confused by the changes, but her parents (dressed up in traditional robes and face paint, I’m assuming) quickly inform her that they own the mansion, as well as the many fine robes from the bamboo, and that they will be living there from now on. She takes it well. And that’s not an ironic segue, I actually mean that she takes it pretty damn well.

Maybe a little too well, as she frolics about and trips over a very proper woman, who chides her for unladylike behavior. This is her governess, Lady Sagami (Lucy Liu), and she’s been brought from the palace to teach Hime in the ways of being a noble lady.

Hime struggles with these lessons and the new high society lifestyle, especially as opposed to her previous country life. But then, sometimes she surprises the often frustrated Sagami, like with the koto, a traditional stringed instrument in Japan.

Soon enough, Hime comes of age, and the excited Miyatsuki plans a straight-up period party as celebration. Hime asks if she can invite her friends, but he adamantly refuses this request. Miyatsuki’s trying very hard to get Hime into the life of nobility, but her mother is a lot more understanding of her struggles.

Said struggles continue, as they attempt to prepare her for the upcoming party, and she refuses to get her eyebrows plucked, amongst other procedures. Ah, the trappings of a society that forces women into extremely restrictive gender roles, said the cisgender dude who’s ever taken a gender-studies course, but still basically gets the gist of the whole thing, probably.

In the lead-up to the party, Miyatsuki invites Inde no Akita (George Segal), a nobleman tasked with renaming princesses for formal ceremonies, based upon their true essence. He first sees her playing with a cat outside, for which Miyatsuki apologizes. Akita doesn’t seem to mind too much, though.

In a more formal meeting, Akita’s struck by her young beauty, and she plays to koto form him. He thus names her “The Shining Princess of the Supple Bamboo”. In Japanese, she’s called Kaguya-hime. Hence, the Princess Kaguya.

Party-time, and Princess Kaguya is presented with her new name publicly, but is not doing anything at the party, almost like a prize or trophy for the men who have attended the party. Said party goes on for...THREE DAYS? Jesus CHRIST, how much sake do they fuckin’ HAVE?

However, the party begins to go south when the partygoers question why her face is hidden behind blinds, and that she’s basically just a common girl whose father paid for a ceremony beyond their station. Basically, they’re being dicks. And Hime hears, well...all of it. And responds understandably, and...to be frank, beautifully.

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The art style turns sketchy and frantic as Hime runs away from the palace at hull speed, under the light of the full moon hanging above. It’s...gorgeous. Absolutely beautifully animated, I gotta say. And the music and sound, too! It’s just...beautiful.

She runs all the way back to her old village, where we can see that time has passed a bit. Not just in terms of Hime’s personal growth, but in terms of a baby from before, now visibly a little older. That isn’t all that’s changed, though, as all of Hime’s friends have apparently moved away.

Turns out that the mountain has been harvested to its fullest for wood, without destroying sustainability. Because of this, a man tells her that the families will likely not return for another 10 years. Interestingly enough, though, this conversation confirms that this movie has taken place over the course of a year, as Hime has never experienced the seasons in full.

After this realization, an exhausted Hime passes out in the show, only to wake up once again in the castle. Was it a dream? It would appear to be so.

Never have I seen a better place to pause. See you in Part 2!

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gfriend-daily · 4 years

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[LINEBLOG] About GFRIEND’s Korean Comeback🦋✨

We asked about the Korean comeback🦋✨ Hi BUDDY！

Thanks for always supporting GFRIEND‼️🌈 Now, have Japanese BUDDY already listened to GFRIEND's latest Korean comeback songs「Crossroads」and「Labyrinth」❓🦋✨

So for today's LINE blog, we prepared a ton of questions for GFRIEND regarding their Korean comeback songs‼️🎶✨

For BUDDY who haven't watched the MV, as well as those who have watched it many times, I'm sure you'll want to watch it again after reading this blog…✨

Clear your ears…focus your eyes…feel GFRIEND with your heart……💖🦋🌈📚✨

https://youtu.be/kx5TWKPE5sU

【 Regarding「Crossroads」】

🍀Please tell us your impression of「Crossroads」as well as any points you want BUDDY to take note of！🍀

SOWON：This song has a lot of story built into it so please focus on the lyrics when you listen！

YERIN：During performances there's a part in the choreography where we show off the crossroads part. Don't miss it.

EUNHA：It's a song where you can really empathize with the feelings of a confused girl. Please pay attention to the delicate voices of the members！

YUJU：For my initial impression, the song caught me right from the start. They let us listen to it in the meeting room at first and my first thought was that I wanna do this song right away！Both the lyrics and the choreography are very impactful in my opinion.

SINB：From the very first time I listened to Crossroads I felt that it was the kind of song that makes you want to listen to it over and over again. As for what to pay attention to, I want you guys to focus on Yuju's final part！

UMJI：The more you listen to the song the more you appreciate its charm, I feel. The final guitar solo really gets me as well.

🍀「Crossroads」MV was shot like a drama, was there any interesting episodes during filming, please let us know！

SOWON：When we were filming for the fireworks it was really cold that day so our managers prepared heaters for us. But one of the heaters actually managed to burn Yuju's pants！It was so shocking that there wasn't anything to do but laugh.

YERIN：During the scene when I submerged myself underwater, I had these green hair extensions on, so when I went underwater the dye sort of turned the clear water in the tub green as well. We had to really rush filming that part before it turned even greener.

EUNHA：There's a part where they film me at various points in the timeline where the room is destroyed around me, and I had to keep my eyes wide open and stand there without moving while this was going on. But with all the stuff breaking and falling behind me, I couldn't help but blink at some point and I felt really bad for the staff because we had to redo itㅠ🥺

YUJU：During the aquarium filming, there was this one fish that kept staying in that one specific spot without moving away. I thought it was really cute so I took a photo of it.

SINB：During the first filming session for the music video, I had to film my solo angle shot on top of a roof. It rained all night until morning that day, so it was freezing and the wind was so strong that it kept blowing my hair into my face so it couldn't be seen. I tried my best to not express how cold it was, and thankfully on the final cut it worked out pretty well.

UMJI：During the campfire scene with the members, I was worried about the cold at first but the campfire was so nice and warm that we were able to finish filming that scene without feeling like we were freezing.

https://youtu.be/GehwcGWC-H8

🍀It's been 5 years since your debut, please tell us which moment it was that felt like a major crossroads decision for your life！

SOWON：Before I joined this company, that time I spent worrying about what to do with my life was my crossroads moment I think. I was in an acting focused agency and they tried casting me about 3 or 4 times. I did consider working towards an acting career but even after the agency called me into a meeting to decide my future, I was unable to fully let go of my dream to become a singer.

YERIN：When I had to decide on my high school path, I was torn between going to a performing arts focused school or just going to a regular high school, but I figured that if I didn't at least try it out I'd regret it, so I went for the performing arts school. Thankfully I was accepted to the school of my choice as well.

EUNHA：Probably during my high school days. I had a choice between staying a student and figuring out what else I wanted to do with my life after that, or enter this agency and prepare for debut. But now I feel like I really chose well back then!

YUJU：It was right before I joined this agency I think. There was a point where I wanted to give up on being an idol and branch into songwriting instead, but then I heard about the auditions for this agency and I really spent a long time thinking about which path to take before making my decision.

SINB：Umm… Actually isn't life itself a kind of crossroads? Whether it's when you're deciding on what to eat, whether or not to eat it, isn't that a kind of crossroads moment all the time？（lol）

UMJI：When I had to decide whether or not to enter this agency as a trainee！

【 Regarding「Labyrinth」】

https://youtu.be/lSK9kQObdLc

🍀For Labyrinth's dance you had a bunch of backup dancers participating as well, please tell us how that felt！

SOWON：When we first heard the song I felt like it wasn't our usual style at all. But it was the kind of tune I like personally so I was interested already, and when the choreography for it came out I felt like it made the song even more perfect.

YERIN：It wasn't a song about your personal ego and it was interesting trying to process the many conflicting feelings within the song. Having this many dancers on stage with us made it very crowded but I feel like it brought out the GFRIEND charm even more during the performance.

EUNHA：It was a song with a lot of backup dancers, so you really have to watch the performance instead of just listening to the song on its own！ This might actually be the most powerful GFRIEND performance among our songs k feel. I really love it🥰

YUJU：When I first saw the choreography video, I had a moment of 「Wow, how am I going to dance to that？」because it left such a strong impression. But with every practice, the more I studied the choreography, the more interesting it got. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the dancers who filled the stage with us as well.

SINB：When I was listening to the song, I really hoped that the choreography would look cool as well, and it turned out to be something amazing and quite unlike the usual GFRIEND style. You'll definitely fall in love with the song even more after watching the performance.

UMJI：This performance is where you see GFRIEND at their most powerful I think. The expressions of the members were even cooler than I imagined on stage, and I think we did really well expressing the essence of the song. It's really a song that allows you to discover a different side of GFRIEND.

https://youtu.be/Cluo9eJZi5I

(The questions below are in relation to the MV and other contents！)

［🍀🦊To Sowon］ ① At the beginning part of Crossroads, the part where Sowon had her eyes closed really made her look like a goddess！When you saw this part of the choreo, did you think「This could be a new charm point！」？

⇒Nope！Actually because I'm so tall, I kinda felt bad because I was totally kind of covering SinB who was behind me. I spent a lot of time worrying about the pose. Since I had my eyes closed I had to wonder if I lowered myself enough？But I'm glad it all worked out in the end.

② In the MV, the car scene sparked a lot of comments that you looked like a movie star. How do you personally feel about this, were you satisfied by your acting and the atmosphere of the scene？

⇒ For my character, the stylists went with a darker style to express the atmosphere and it was really refreshing for me, I really liked it！ During the filming, the car wasn't all that big but we still had to fit the camera in there somehow, and I wasn't sure if the camera would be able to film me at my best angle, but I'm glad that in the final cut I turned out looking great.

［🍀🐥To Yerin］ ① You had to go underwater for the MV in one scene, are you good at submerging yourself like that？ ⇒I learned how to swim from a young age, so going underwater wasn't hard at all, but the problem here was that I had to submerge myself while lying down in the tub, so lots of water kept entering my nose and it was kinda hard.

② The green hair extensions really left an impression, and you also wore a beret as well. But there were also performances where you didn't wear a beret, which did you prefer, with or without it？ ⇒If I really had to choose I honestly prefer the performances where I had the beret on. I'm really happy I got to show different sides of myself though！

［🍀🐰To Eunha］ ① We were all surprised by your change in hair colour. How did you feel when you heard that you had to dye your hair pink this time？

⇒ Dyeing your hair is troublesome…that was my first thought！But I really like this colour and now I kinda don't want to change it to other colours now😭

② Among the fans there are comments that your hair colour and styling in this MV makes you look even more like the protagonist of a manga or anime, do you feel that way too？And if you were really a manga protagonist what genre would you be？

⇒ Personally I feel like I'd be the protagonist of a magical girl story. To defeat evil as a pink haired heroine..😎

［🍀🐶 To Yuju］ ① You had to run around a lot in the video, please tell us how you felt then！

⇒ Not all of it was actually included in the final cut of the music video but I totally ran way more than was shown. The director kept telling me to run faster so I really ran with all my heart！

② Also, the parts in the choreography where you cover your face with your hand, as well as the part where your hands were trembling, everyone realized it really added to the emotions of the song and the fans all went crazy for it！Is there anything else we should pay attention to in the dance as well？

⇒ Actually I didn't even realize it myself at first. It was only when I was checking the replay in the monitor that I realized my hands were shaking then. I was really focused on the lyrics in my part so it just came out naturally like that. I was really surprised that the fans were able to catch such a tiny detail as well！I'll definitely continue focusing hard on the lyrics in the future for all other performances as well！

［🍀🐱 To SinB］ ① There was a parrot in the MV with you guys. As a dog owner, do you like birds too？ ⇒ I'm not actually good with birds. Bugs, reptiles, birds, I'm kinda scared of them so I can't really deal with them…

② There's a lot of difficult dance moves this time round！Which one was the most difficult according to main dancer SinB？ ⇒ To be honest Crossroads was probably the most difficult choreography to express correctly so far in my life. It'd be way too easy to mess up on the choreo if I wasn't careful enough, so I really worried about how best to dance to it.

［🍀🐹 To Umji］ ① In the MV you and Yuju were on bad terms. You guys are normally really good friends, was it hard to act out this part？ ⇒ Thankfully the music was always playing in the background so I just had to focus on「the conflict」. But the moment the director yelled Cut! both of us would just end up bursting out laughing.

② Everyone was talking about how Umji's outfits for Crossroads really made you look like a princess！Which one was your favourite though？

⇒ I really liked the dress I wore for the jacket shooting, and I really like wearing a jacket over a shirt like that！！I also thought the white blouse with navy stripe outfit was really good！！

https://youtu.be/wvcJKFGv5kc

All you BUDDY who loves GFRIEND！How did you like this？Thanks for reading today's LINE blog！✨ https://youtu.be/gqxd7J0xHno

The limitations imposed by the current virus outbreak is hard on all of us, but both the GFRIEND members and staff all hope that BUDDY will be safe and happy in your everyday lives.

Please continue sending questions and messages to GFRIEND‼️✨🦋🌈

Translation: GFRIENDaily - Estrea

Source: https://lineblog.me/gfriend_japan/

#gfriend #lineblog

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chaoticoconut · 5 years

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BARBARA GORDON HEADCANONS THAT MAKE ME SWOON!!

(and so can you!! alfkvoekfndnej does anyone get that reference anyhoo)

I couldn't NOT post these idk I was showering and then I was hit with a mf tornado of hcs about my favorite gal and I figured I'd share :))))

Barbara and Tim are actually the most potty mouthed members of the batfam, excluding Kate. Jason is close, but only when he's upset (which probably seems trivial bc he's yk always upset but I hc him a pretty chill if not bitter and snarky guy). Tim cusses more when he's tired, but he consciously tries to bite his tongue. Barbara has no remorse and cusses very casually and openly, because she sees no point in abstaining. It releases endorphins guys. Duh. She uses those ridiculous "holy heck Batman!" lines as Batgirl unless she's genuinely thrown off her game. She limits her cussing a lot as Oracle bc she's not one to offend people, and you never know. It's most definitely a civilian thing for her, and anyone who knows Babs knows she's a fucking sailor.

Her favorite food of all time is pizza. Her dream house has a brick pizza oven. She has a food blog with every pizzeria in the greater Gotham area ranked from best to worst. Her favorite of all time is the Gotham Pizza Garden, which is located in Old Gotham near the police station. Technically it's the second best pizza in Gotham, second to Gargoyle Pie Company, which is renowned for being the epitome of Gotham-style pizza and is always busy. She has a lot of memories of GPG though, and loves both pies. GPG also has an incredible Chicago style pizza, which is her second favorite type of pizza. She does however believe Gotham style is superior and thinks less of Dick for disagreeing (@blanddcheadcanons tie-in heyo!!) Very few things make Babs as happy as gourmet pizza.

She grew up watching Teenage Mutant Turtles, Powerpuff Girls, and Star Trek. They all hold a very special place in her heart. There is totally a connection between her love of pizza and TMNT and turtles and mixed martial arts. She once got the boys to go as the turtles for Halloween, with her crushing it as April.

Speaking of turtles, she's had a pet turtle named after icon Nichelle Nichols since high school. Yes, she does call her Shelly. Yes it's cliche. No she does not care. She also has a calico cat named Cornflake that Dick gave her as a birthday present. She doesn't have pet dogs until she and Dick finally settle down. She never had them growing up because her father is allergic and her mother was a devout cat lady. She's not really sure why she never got any on her own, she's just more familiar with cats. After her mom passed away, she did get a bunch of bunnies whom she and JJ named after their favorite horror movie monsters and serial killers.

She loves slasher flicks. It's a family thing. JJ was creepy about it, Jim loves the thrill, Babs loves the mythos, and her mom was never really afraid of anything and found them funny.

She inherited her mother's love for baking. She left her her cookbook, which contains an amazing mixed berry pie recipe. Her pie baking abilities rival Alfred's. She even begins to branch out with her recipes and experiment with all sorts of fillings and even cake-pies (fanfic au tie-in heyo). Everybody loves a Barbara baked good. She knows everyone's faves and literally crushes holiday season. Dick is all about the og mixed berry pie, whereas Jay, who loves lemon everything (hc I saw awhile ago that I just love) prefers either a lemon meringue or a raspberry lemon. Tim is all about strawberry open face while Steph prefers cherry cheesecake or pecan pie. Cass and Bruce both love her cinnamon apple pie. Duke loves just about anything she bakes, but especially her more adventurous, contest winning pies like kiwi-blueberry-black cherry and other originals. Kate will die for Babs' cherry pie. Damian prefers blackberry or mixed like Dick. Alfred is a sweet potato pie kind of guy himself. There's a farmer's market in Blüdhaven her mother went with her to when she was a kid that Barbara still goes to get get all the fresh fruit.

Even better than Barbara or Alfred baking alone is them baking together. Roy Harper is also a pretty good baker. They all trade recipes with Martha Kent. M'gann brings wine to the manor and assembles them all for fun days of baking.

She's also totally the type of gal who made a shit ton of cupcakes when she ran for class prez and stayed I from Batgirl duties to finish them. Just saying.

She picks baking back up as Oracle but several hero emergencies lead her to burn perfectly good desserts.

She and Roy will always have puppy-love crushes on one another and be totally oblivious. They both did ballet as kids, love baking, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, shameless empty flirting, and tech. They're completely platonic and really great lifelong friends. They met at a Wayne gala as kids.

As if she wasn't already talented enough, she's completely ambidextrous. I'm jealous. Dick and Wally are left handed. Bruce is similarly ambi. Selina's a leftie. Maybe Alfred too.

She likes to enter contests and win for fun. She's a monster. Everything from baking to video games to weight lifting, she loves showing people up.

Dick, Babs, and Tim all snore atrociously loud. The batfam hates it. She's the quietest out of them all, but she's also a blanket hog. And a major cuddler.

Her favorite colors are grey and green. Purple does deserve an honorable mention however. Her apartment is a fair mix of green and grey decor and covered in books.

She was a total ballerina growing up, just like her mom wanted. That was until she discovered how kick ass martial arts were, and she got a little too jacked to continue with ballet as a formidable career option. Her next best option is becoming a cop at this point, but her father believes that not only would it be far too dangerous but a waste of her skills (like ballet cough cough). This upsets her so much she goes off and invents Batgirl, complete with a stole grappling gun from evidence.

In college she works as a barista and excels at it. Her dream is to open up a cafe/bakery/flower shop with Dinah some day. She wants to call her half Bean Me Up Scotty! (another hc I saw and fell in love with)

Babs is also a pretty good cook being that she became the family chef at a young age (Jim can barbeque and make spaghetti. That's literally it. Maybe some breakfast). Cooking lessons from Alfred certainly helped.

Her personality is so versatile. She can get along with pretty much anyone due to her wide range of interests and skills which is what makes Oracle so bad ass. She's also a Libra so she adapts fairly easily to any group without seeming fake.

She has a podcast where she rants about tech and feminism and politics and plays video games

She SO took Latin in high school and dominated competitions. She loves classical studies and is a dork for Greek and Roman mythology as well as linguistics. She has a pretty good grasp on all of the romance languages, and learns languages fairly quickly.

She always smells like mint and books. She has killer mint shampoo and conditioner, which is a Kean family thing (they just love the scent). She always smells refreshing.

She likes coffee but prefers tea always. She's like Ramona Flowers with tea

Her music taste is total 90s nostalgia (grunge, boybands, air pop, ska, hip hop) meets far too indie 4 u. Yes she's pretentious. Yes she loves chick rock and *NSYNC and Britney and Kurt Cobain and Biggie and deal with it. She also loves shit you've never even heard of. Was totally into the Gotham punk scene as a teen.

She collects vinyl and books and horror flicks ugh hipster queen

She loves spicy food and Dick cannot stand it. They both like sour candy though

If your Barbara Gordon didn't graduate high school at 16 she doesn't have rights

She was all of the Robin's first crush. Duh. Tim will always think she's the gold standard of women. He likes that she usually sticks up for him. He doesn't mind being seen as her male equivalent lmao

At some point Jay and Babs are roommates and it's literally the best I'll talk abt that later

Her type is guys with dark hair or blonde gals.

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klashta-neali · 5 years

Text

Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian roleswap AU.... I have....... a lot of ideas

(with potential for ningsang, wangxian, or ningxian. nothing set in stone yet)

Introducing Wen Ying, known by most as Wen Wuxian, the prodigious brother of the just as highly regarded doctor Wen Qing.

And also introducing Wei Ning, sometimes known as Wei Qionglin, the meek martial brother of Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli.

Jiang Yanli is very protective of Wei Ning, and defends him whenever possible, but he receives little attention. He's just a servant's son, even though Jiang Fengmian still spoils him. His timid nature makes it difficult for Yu Ziyuan to be so furious at him, seeing how he really does his best to avoid trouble.

Wei Ning's cultivation skills aren't too bad, but it's certainly below Jiang Cheng's level. The only thing he's better at than his shidi is archery, where he shines at competitions due to Jiang Cheng's encouragement.

Things that are different: Wei Ning and Jiang Cheng have a much better sibling relationship, even though Jiang Cheng is still sometimes jealous of how his father coddles and spoils him. But he himself can't help but want to do the same for Wei Ning. There is much less competition, and they're simply good friends. As well, Wei Ning would act as a damper for Jiang Cheng's temper, instead of aggravating it like Wei Wuxian does.

Meanwhile, Wen Wuxian catches the attention of Wen Ruohan and even some people outside of the Wen sect. Because of this attention, Wen Qing gets even more recognition. The two of them are like a power sibling duo: the prodigious healer and the prodigious young cultivator. Wen Ruohan is quick to harness Wen Wuxian's power for his conquering plans. He is made to lead armies and given similar ranking power as Wen Xu and Wen Chao. But soon, after seeing the carnage that Wen Ruohan wants him to further cause, and coming from a healers' branch, he boldly tells Wen Ruohan that he is quitting the battlefield. He summararily gets kicked out of the Wen sect.

Meanwhile, when they go to study at Cloud Recesses, Wei Ning still goes with Jiang Cheng. His cultivation level is significant enough to be allowed to go. I imagine that he possibly either was discouraged from, or was not very encouraged to do a lot of cultivation practice in canon, so being so close to the main family this time, he could have a higher cultivation level. After all, he would've spent less time learning healing and medicine from Wen Qing. I think he would've instead learned a lot from Jiang Yanli, like cooking.

Anyway, there's definitely no attraction from Lan Wangji. Instead, Nie Huaisang is the one that falls for the sweet Wei Ning of Yunmeng Jiang, Wei Ning who is far too innocent to indulge Huaisang's dirtier interests, but would gladly listen to him talk about art. Wei Ning makes a completely opposite impression on Lan Qiren: what a perfect guest disciple of the Gusu Lan Sect! He never once punishes him to copy rules. Instead, he and Nie Huaisang study together, and while Wei Ning indulges Huaisang's more innocent artistic interests, he encourages him to study hard too. Huaisang would confess a lot of his family troubles to Wei Ning, who would do a bit of the same. They become easy friends, and if the relationship ever moves further, I imagine it would happen in the trope style of "but he's my best friend; I can't tell him I have feelings for him or it'll ruin the friendship" on both sides.

Back to Wen Ying, a now kicked-out Wen Wuxian escapes to Gusu Lan Sect for refuge......

He's refused at first. He was not the one that burned down Cloud Recesses, but certainly, that did happen. But eventually, he is accepted when he proves his sincerity and well, there's also the fact that he's already kicked out of the Wen Sect.

That reminds me, Xuanwu cave...... Wei Qionglin would not aggravate Wen Chao like that, but he would protect and defend Mianmian. He'd probably manage to escape with the others, and thus no one stays behind nor slays the Xuanwu.

ALTERNATIVELY (I like this version better), Wen Wuxian is sent in place of Wen Chao (if this is before he protests and gets kicked out). Wen Chao (along with Wen Zhuliu) are sent elsewhere. The prodigious Wen Wuxian is thought to be enough without needing Wen Zhuliu. Wen Wuxian follows along with Wen Ruohan's orders for the most part, but clearly reluctantly. (note: yes, Wen Chao's girl is still with Wen Chao and not here in this case. there's no replacement. it's just Wen Ying with some other Wen cultivators.)

He doesn't want to be leading the other cultivators to the Xuanwu cave without their swords either. But at least he still has Suibian (I imagine Wen Qing could've helped name it in this case). When the beast awakens, he actually leads the other cultivators to try and defeat it. "Even if you don't have your own swords, we can still try our best!" he insists, and it's here that Lan Wangji first meets him. He's a Wen, and Lan Wangji hates him at first. But he sees his reluctance, his heroic nature, and when, some months later when Wen Ruohan's orders become too cruel for Wen Wuxian to go on and he shows up at the entrance to Gusu Lan sect......

Well, we all know wangxian is just destined to happen, isn't it.

But meanwhile, there's ningsang, look at the ningsang!!

When the Wens destroy Lotus Pier (Wen Ying had already defected by then), Wei Ning finally becomes tougher. It was like a wake up call. Despite it certainly not being his fault, he's convinced that if only he was stronger, he could've done more to stop this. As Jiang Cheng clings to him in a hug and sobs and grieves, Wei Ning vows to do better, he vows to protect his shidi even at his own expense. Jiang Cheng can't hate Wei Ning, can't blame him, because look at him, how could he? He was the opposite of a troublemaker.

Anyway I'm kinda skipping around but, archery competition. Wen Wuxian wins first place, earning much prestige for the Wens despite them having no one else who scored even in the top 10. Wei Ning, who certainly has no nervousness when shooting since his shidi actually encouraged this talent of his, wins 4th, beating Jiang Cheng who lands sixth.

(the ranking was Wen Wuxian, Lan Xichen, Lan Wangji (who didn't forfeit this time), Wei Qionglin, Jin Zixuan, Jiang Cheng. This earns him a bit of ire from Jin Zixuan...)

I like to imagine that, since Wei Ning would be very close with Nie Huaisang from when they studied together, at some point he might even seek refuge with the Nie sect. I'm not quite sure where/when this fits in yet, though....

Wen Wuxian might still be the one to invent demonic cultivation. Furious at him for defecting, Wen Ruohan sends Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu after him, and he still gets thrown into the burial mounds.

On the other hand, I haven't decided on a lot of things for this AU. Who saves Jiang Cheng when he runs back to Lotus pier and gets his golden core destroyed? Wei Ning would go look for him, but well, would Wen Wuxian still be there? And how would Wen Wuxian know Wei Ning, even if he is?

I'm not sure. This is a really wild idea but I wanted to see where it goes and now I'm stuck.... I'm not even sure who'll invent demonic cultivation anymore. Could Wei Qionglin be the one to do it? I don't know. I really don't know, ahaha! Speaking of which, I'm also hoping to have more NHS interactions in this AU! I promised ningsang after all~!

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symmratgiftexchange · 5 years

Text

Satya Vaswani Smile

Hey @threepointonefourmakesxai ! I went and made you a fic based off of your request. Thank you so much for participating in this event! I hope you enjoy this and I hope you have a wonderful new year!

You can read your story either under the cut or over on my AO3!

Junkrat fucked up.

He didn’t know when exactly, or even how. But at some point this which for whatever the reason he fucked up things with Symmetra.

She was still working next to him in the labs. But she would hardly look at him! And when she spoke to him she was so clinical and curt. More so than usual. So much that it’d finally dawned on Junkrat that Satya was intentionally trying not to speak with him. That she was mad with him.

And Junkrat had no idea what he did.

Maybe a year ago he wouldn’t have cared. He definitely wouldn’t have worried over apologizing, he wouldn’t even bother with any of that nonsense. He would have just ignored the lady, brush her aside just as quickly as she was ostracizing him, call her another one of those stuffy suits, cause a few pranks to get a rise out of her then just… move on with his life.

But this wasn’t just some lame old suit. This wasn’t a faceless nobody who he’d just go on to forget. This wasn’t even the same woman he’d met when they first joined the team, a woman he assumed would always judge him and never see him as more than a criminal or a coward. This was Satya Vaswani, this was Symmetra. And ‘Metra had come to be one of the most precious people in his life. The only person who shared that title was Roadhog.

So if Symmetra was mad at him than he needed to figure out a way to win back her favor or die trying!

First he tried to figure out what the hell he even did wrong.

He was tempted to just go ask her but whenever he got close to Symmetra she’d either glower at him, or worse yet her face would stay completely neutral and she’d just raise a single eyebrow, as if daring him to take another step closer and see what would happen. And while not always the safest person on the Overwatch team he at least had enough self-preservation to know he ought to avoid Symmetra. At least until he had a plan of fixing whatever he did and apologizing.

So without knowing exactly what he did wrong, Junkrat began formulating a way to make things up to Symmetra. He started off by trying to think of all the sorts of things he knew the woman actually liked. In the time they’d come to know one another and even develop a relationship he’d learned there was a lot more to Satya “Symmetra” Vaswani than met the eye.

For example, everyone who was anyone knew she was an amazing architect but her fascination went much deeper. She adored art, especially in the 3rd dimension in all its forms such as sculpture, CGI and architecture. And it was more than just art appreciation of simply liking art a lot. For Symmetra that 3rd dimension was a special interest of hers. Going as far as to memorize the names of many great artists as a child and study their styles and inspiration. Even to this day if someone brought the subject up Symmetra could talk for hours on end about art. Many times Junkrat had gotten so caught he almost fooled himself into liking art too just because of how much passion Satya had for the stuff! And it was that dedication and good eye in Junkrat’s opinion that had helped Symmetra become an even greater architect. She didn’t just see boring towers waiting to be built in over-crowded cities. She saw art and beauty. She wanted to inspire people the way old artists had inspired her.

Also despite being such a regal, poised woman, Symmetra loved to stim. Junkrat had seen her fiddle with a few physical things before, a pen, an object she’d just built, but she stimmed the most with her hard light. It reminded Junkrat of a man he’d known back in Junkertown who would wind up old strings in his hand into all different kinds of shapes. Symmetra would do so with her blue lights, turning them this way and that until they created these different crystals or towers of interwoven triangles. Whenever she had down time, or felt nervous, or found herself trying to focus intently on a project, like clockwork her mechanical hand would begin glowing and she’d set off forming light structures. And while most of the time Symmetra’s stim shapes were just nonsense pattern’s that built nothing, sometimes Junkrat caught her making little intricate crystals or flowers.

She also loved tea, whenever the two of them went out to a café it was a given that while Junkrat got his boba, Symmetra would get her own cup of tea. Though unlike his own iced, half sweet brew, Symmetra preferred a cup of warm freshly-brewed stuff without any sort of milk or sugar. And while she usually got similar things, a few times when she claimed to want to “treat herself” she would order these special brews that came in a glass pot where you could watch as a flower slowly bloomed in the tea or little pearls of dry leaves would unfurl in a nice little showy display.

She also had a soft spot for kids. So worst comes to worst, Junkrat could bring a kid like Efi along with him to make sure Symmetra didn’t do anything rash in front of the children. She always wanted to make a good impression on kids, always acting polite and listening to what they had to say.

And while she wasn’t very good at caring for plants she still appreciated how they looked and their ability “to seem so simple but truly be so complicated on the cellular level” as she put it.

Oh, and even though it could make her homesick at times she still adored Bollywood. The music, the outfits and costumes, the dancing, the movies, all of it!

So at least Junkrat had that, now all he needed to do was figure out what pieces he could use to make things up to Symmetra.

Most of the things he could recall didn’t seem to fit together in any perfect pictures. However Junkrat was nothing if not an inventor. And it was his specialty to take small things that seemed like nothing to others and turn them into something they couldn’t ignore… usually bombs. But he knew that he could figure out how all these small pieces of Symmetra’s interests could fit together into something so great she would have no choice but to stop being mad at him!

Two days later he finally got something and was ready to show it to Symmetra, along with what he hoped would make a good apology.

Symmetra had been in the middle of creating a new model when Junkrat slid a cardboard box in front of her, disrupting her hard light.

“What is this Junkrat?” She asked in a humorless dry tone.

Trying not to lose his cool, Junkrat cleared his throat. “Uh, why don’t you open it up and find out?”

Sighing through her nose, Symmetra dispersed the light from her gauntlet and began unwrapping Junkrat’s gift. He’d done a quick sloppy job taping the box closed, Junkrat expected her to at least comment on the crummy job he did wrapping. But she didn’t say anything. She just continued to silently unwrap the box until she could finally pull the tabs apart and see what Junkrat had given her.

Inside was what could probably be best described as an oversized desk ornament. A shelf if you were feeling generous. Held together by a metal frame a few pedestals branched out from a base. Each branch seemed to be molded to look like shining towers in Utopaea, though rather than the shining silver and gold of the city these were made from a more rustic metal that had been painted orange and blue. And within each “tower” were different hollowed out spaces. Some of which were already taken up by packages of floral teas or little succulent plants. And scattered all about the little towers were photos and cut pictures. Some Junkrat had found of different cities Vishkar had constructed like Utopaea or Oasis, others that seemed to just be the more natural landscapes of India, but mostly there was pictures taken of their base in Gibraltar, and of all the people the pair now considered friends.

“Tah-dah!” Junkrat sang, making jazz hands. “A little something to remind ya of home!”

Symmetra was trying to keep their face neutral. But Junkrat had seen the look of surprise on her face as she’d taken the little city out of its box, and how that spark of joy had yet to leave her eyes as she ran her hand along the lovingly crafted towers, modeled after her own work.

“This is indeed a fine show of craftsmanship.” Symmetra said in a bored tone, not even her voice reflected that happiness Junkrat had seen in her eyes. But as she turned her head to Junkrat, she tried to remain serious. “What on earth prompted you to build such a thing?”

“Oh you know, I couldn’t help but notice you’ve been… eh, off these past few days. And I thought, I ought to make’ya something nice and… cheer you up?”

Symmretra raised an eyebrow, though she had yet to let go of the little city. “You spent all this time making this thing just to cheer me up?” She asked, repeating his own words.

“Also, I uh, I wanted to apologize.” Junkrat said nervously, hand subconsciously going to rub at the back of his head. He could hardly look at her and waited for the other shoe to drop.

“So yeah, I’m real sorry ‘Metra. About all… that?”

Whatever small look of happiness on Symmetra’s face seemed to instantly die as she looked at him directly. For a moment Junkrat was horrified that she was going to smash Junkrat’s gift on the ground but instead she set it down gently in the center of her workbench. Her constant, emotionless gaze however did little to make Junkrat feel any better.

“Tell me Junkrat, do you know why you’re sorry?”

And here it was. The moment Junkrat had been trying to avoid. He honestly had no idea what’d he’d done to piss her off. His best bet was he broke something on accident, but he couldn’t recall smashing anything recently. Plus everything in Symmetra’s side of the workshop seemed to be in good condition. His only other guess was that maybe she thought he smelled or something, but he’d been staying on top of his hygiene more recently. Besides that he had nothing. Absolutely nothing.

“Uhhhhhhh-”

All at once that calm exterior was dropped and Satya glowered at Jamison with a fire normally only left to the battlefield. “You completely humiliated me in front of my Vishkar associates!”

“Oh, that’s what that was? When the hell’d I do that?”

“Last Tuesday. I was in the middle of a call with my associates to update them on my work. And I’d explicitly asked that everyone stay out of the workshop while I made my call. And not only did you walk through! But you were completely shirtless and scratching yourself!”

Everything finally fell into place, Junkrat wanted to say something more thought-out but all that came out was “Ohhhhhhhhhh…”

“I can’t believe you!” Symmetra continued, massaging her temples. “After you left I was reprimanded for your lack of dress code, or professionalism of any sort! It was so humiliating!”

“Hey at least you weren’t the one runnin’around shirtless!” Junkrat tried to joke, the only reaction he got from Symmetra was another glare. Though she was already starting to lose that fire from moments before. “And Overwatch don’t even have a dress code. No one’s ever got on me case for not wearing shirts before.”

“I know, and there is no policies here on how to dress.” Symmetra agreed. “It’s just, I feel like as I’ve been here I’ve grown more lack with my own self-discipline… And my meeting was another harsh reminder that I still have responsibilities. A vision to uphold”

Junkrat frowned. “That sounds like Vishkar talk.”

“Well, I do owe them my entire career.” Symmetra argued. “My education… The opportunities they gave me. My whole life even.”

“Nah.”

“No?”

“I don’t agree with that.” Junkrat said. “I think no matter how you would’a ended up right here doing what you’re doing. Whether you got roped up with a fancy company or not.”

“But without Vishkar’s training I wouldn’t know how to manipulate hardlight.” Symmetra said.

“No, I mean bigger than that.” Junkrat continued. Reaching over to grab the little city he’d built her. “No matter how, you’d find a way to do what you do. Sure you can get trained or whatever but you got something bigger than all that. You got a mind. You got ideas and dreams. And you do what you do to make things happen. And you wanna help people. Like really help people.”

Symmetra said nothing, watching as Junkrat placed the city back onto her workbench, sliding it closer so she could see some of the pictures of their Overwatch team.

“So I’m sorry I made an ass of myself in front of those suites. But you know what? I don’t care about any of those blokes! And I don’t think you should either. Cause no matter what you’re already lightyears ahead of those bastards, no matter how they try to drag you down and make you feel bad!”

“You really think so?” Satya asked.

“Sure!” Jamison said, suddenly realize he’d gotten so loud as he talked that he was practically shouting.

But then, for the first time in days, Jamison saw Satya smile, and he knew everything he’d said and done had been worth it.

“Thank you Jamison…”

“Any time darl!”

#symmrat #junkmetra #threepointonefourmakesxai #symmratgiftexchange #symmratgiftexchnage2018 #symmrat gift exchange

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i-draws-dinosaurs · 6 years

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Hi! Do you have any tips on getting into digital art? I'm getting an art tablet soon, but I don't know where to begin. I want to draw animals if that helps

Congrats in advance on getting a tablet! I’m still pretty new to the whole digital art thing myself (I only got my first tablet like one-and-a-half years ago), but I’d be happy to give some tips on getting started!

1. Don’t try to create a masterpiece the first time you use the tablet. This might sound a bit obvious but the first thing you should do with a tablet is a lot of sketching and messing around to be able to get the feel of using a tablet, which can be a pretty unfamiliar sensation. If you expect yourself to be able to create a beautiful digital painting the first time you use a tablet, you’ll probably be disappointed. Just playing around with little sketches is a much better way to get accustomed to digital drawing.

This is the first thing I ever drew with a graphics tablet. Just a sketch of an Allosaurus head with which I then proceeded to attempt an obscene amount of detail and gave up after I barely started. It’s okay to start small!

2. Play around with the brush settings in your art program. Most art programs have a wide variety of brush settings that you can fiddle around with to adjust size and transparency based on pen pressure, as well as different styles of brush that give different effects. I’d recommend messing around with these a bit while you’re doing your practise sketching to find a brush type that is most comfortable for your style of drawing.

You can get a ridiculous amount of variation in brushes by fiddling around in the settings. I use Photoshop, but other drawing programs probably have similar tools. There are plenty of tutorials online on how to create your own personal brushes on different art programs, which can be a fantastic way to personalise your art and make it a bit more special.

3. Practice shading and highlights. One of my absolute favourite things about digital art is that it gives you the ability to easily create strong, bright highlights over your drawings, which is something that you just can’t do easily with a lot of traditional media such as coloured pencils. If you put in the time, effort, and practice to get this right, you can create really solid, three-dimensional-looking art. I can’t offer a lot of great advice on this since it’s still something that I’m working on myself, but there are plenty of tutorials on the internet on shading and highlighting in digital art that are really worth checking out and studying.

This Teratophoneus is probably one of my proudest achievements in shading and highlighting so far. The ability to draw light colours on top of pretty much anything is incredibly useful for creating good, solid highlights

4. Don’t feel pressured to be amazing at digital art immediately. There is definitely a learning curve to becoming good with a graphics tablet, and you almost certainly won’t be able to create beautifully-lit, photorealistic art right away. I’m still very early on in my digital art exploration, so I know that it can often be disheartening to see accomplished digital artists creating amazing pieces of art while you’re still trying to figure out how to use the lasso tool. The important thing to remember is that these artists probably have years more experience than you. That being said, if you put effort and care into practising digital art, you will improve at it, just like any other art form. Your first attempts will probably not be all that impressive, but your first attempts do not reflect what you will develop into as a digital artist.

Two dinosaur heads, drawn by me, roughly 1.5 years apart. I only just found this really old drawing today, and I am honestly shocked by how far I’ve come. Art improvement might be hard to notice as it happens, but it’s so rewarding to look back and see where you came from.

And finally, the two most important ones (in my opinion):

5. Experiment with whatever you feel like. Digital art is an amazingly versatile medium. You can essentially make your artworks look like anything you want to. That can sound quite daunting, but it’s a great opportunity to spread yourself out and challenge yourself artistically. Want to draw something simple and cartoony? You can do that. Want to draw something so detailed it looks like a photo? You can do that too! Want to just go completely nuts with colours and see where it takes you? Guess what, you can also do that!

Don’t be afraid to try doing something new with digital art. I have at least three very different digital art styles that I can use interchangeably whenever I want it, and I feel like that’s the real power of digital art. The ability to create whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it, however you want to do it. The ability to diversify and branch out and explore completely new styles and methods without having to worry about resources or media or buying lots of expensive pencils or paints that you might never use again. Whenever the mood strikes you, just sit down and start creating anything you want.

ABOVE: The many digital art styles of Tas. From abstract graphic design to realistic, anatomical illustrations, digital art is an incredibly broad medium.

6. Keep practising traditional art. This is something that I think is essential as an artist. Digital art should not take over any traditional art methods that you already use. Instead, it should be treated as something to expand your range, not replace it. I’ve raved about digital art quite a bit in this post, but to me there’s still nothing that feels better than a graphite pencil on a sheet of paper.

I drew a series of Triassic reptiles in graphite last year, and they remain some of my favourite restorations of prehistoric animals that I’ve ever done. Don’t underestimate the humble HB pencil.

The great thing about doing digital and traditional art is that one method informs the other. You might figure out some cool new technique with watercolours, graphite, coloured pencils, or whatever you prefer to use, and then use that same technique in your digital art. Likewise, digital art can also influence how you approach your traditional works. I have personally learned a lot more about shading since I started creating digital artworks, and I’ve been able to apply that knowledge to my traditional pieces as well.

This Bi-stahieversor is my most recent traditional artwork, and almost all of the shading and texturing techniques are based on things that I’ve learned from doing digital art. I highly doubt I would have been able to learn these as well if I hadn’t done a lot of shading practice in digital art.

Well, this has turned out to be significantly longer than I thought it would be. If anyone else has any other advice, please feel free to add it! I’m sure there are plenty of more experienced artists out there who have much more to teach than I could at this point in time.

Good luck with your new tablet, Anon, and best wishes in your artistic endeavours!

#ask #palaeoart #art #digital art #long post #I did not expect to write this much #but here we are I guess #hopefully this isn't too unreadable #art advice

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jeffybruce · 3 years

Text

Allow me to introduce you to Jonzu Jones

I know I have said this a bazillion times but I can never stop praising the internet for allowing me to expand my web, pun intended, of “friends” to include some of the most prestigious, gracious, intelligent, talented, beautiful and creative people in the world.

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My latest addition, complements of Instagram, is Jonzu Jones! You might say ... who? You might say what is a Jonzu? But, all of your questions will be answered by reading this very articulately written interview.

I am one of those weird people who use Instagram not only for visual stimulation but also as a search engine since I have this peculiar habit of actually reading the hashtags, following them and it is that little idiosyncrasy which leads me to people like Jonzu. Needless to say, the first thing that caught my eye was his incredible physicality and then via countless conversations…. I have to come to learn there is way more to this young man that just his outward appearance. He is a hive of talents and aspirations.

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That old adage about not judging a book by its cover is particularly apt here as this man is so much more than just skin-deep beauty and yes, I am occasionally taken in by that beauty but this time I feel confident that I have made a friend who deserves attention both as model and stylist as you will see in his images.

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So, now that I have gushed about him, he is going to tell you about his life, some of which is hard to believe, and then … well you’ll have to read all of it to find out more… and believe it or not ... this know it all namely, ME, … actually learned something from what he had to say ….

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Jeffrey Felner: Let’s talk about your career path... was this the plan? How did you arrive at your present working situation?

Jonzu Jones: I feel like my career is always taking twists and turns. I had a vague idea from young of what I wanted to do and it has always been in the realm of art and fashion. I am still learning and growing, figuring things out along the way and to be honest just winging it. I will say I had a distinct vision of the man I wanted to be and more and more I became this idealized version of myself that the 12-year-old drew up. Currently I am a freelance fashion stylist, which I’ve been doing for around 7 years and I’ve been lucky to work with some truly incredible artists during that time. Styling came about as a kind of extension of me wanting to be a designer. I studied fashion design in high school and college and for so long I truly believed that was my true innate calling. I may revisit design in the future but styling has really been my big passion. While studying design, I was assisting fashion editors and stylists for school credit and to mold my approach to design. After doing that for a bit and loving it, I branched off as a freelance stylist and the rest is history.

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My second career which is fairly new is being a model. I by no stretch of the imagination believed this could be me as an angsty teen. I was the weird kid most of my life and still in a lot of ways am that same kid. I grew up hating my body, uncomfortable in my skin, shy and awkward as fuck. I was content aiming to be unseen and more behind the scenes but still having a name. Being on set more and more as a stylist and dressing in my outlandish garb, I would on occasion get snapped by the photographer. These unexpected instances unlocked something in me and I guess deep within me was a craving to be in front of the camera more. This was short lived and after a 2 ½ year stint playing house wife, gaining 80 pounds, and losing a lot of confidence, I needed a reboot. After leaving my marriage at 24, I did a full visual reset, getting tatted, ripped from home using Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) app Center, and jumping full on into modeling. Side note… at this point I binge watched Top Model and was also religiously studying the model greats of the 80s to present times. While on set as a stylist I found myself studying models more than usual as well as photographers’ notes on poses. I am still figuring shit out as a model for sure but I’ve definitely learned a few tricks of the trade that have come in handy. The path continues and not sure where exactly it’s going to lead but I’m sure as hell having fun on this journey.

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JF: Do you or did you have any style or any type of mentors or those who continue to inspire or inspired you as you have matured and why them?

JJ: One of my biggest stylist inspirations is Patti Wilson**. She truly knows how to do avant-garde but also make it sexy, dark, and accessible.

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JF: If you could invite any 5 people to dinner, who would they be and why?

JJ: Lady Gaga for sure. She’s a fellow Aires and I think we’d connect on weird and obscure references.Daphne Guinness because she is a major style icon for me and I need any excuse to roam her probably never-ending closet.Cody Fern because he’s a cutie and his personal style is pretty damn amazing.

If she were still alive, Edie Sedgwick because she really inspired me as a kid as being my glamour girl. It wasn’t Marilyn or Judy; it was Edie with the sickening Smokey eye. Someone not here anymore but David Bowie. Still a huge inspiration to me, visually and aesthetically.

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JF: If you could choose any collaboration or situation, what would it be and why? would it be as model or stylist and why?

JJ: I would say to work with Steven Klein. His work is a huge inspiration to me and I pretty much reference at least 1 of his images in every shoot I do. In an ideal world I’d model for him with Patti Wilson styling me. She’s the one stylist whose decisions I’d never question.

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JF: Can you tell what was your most amazing experience doing what you do and what was the worst experience you encountered and why?

JJ: I think my most amazing experience so far was shooting with Robin Lord Taylor a few years ago. I’ve worked with quite a few celebs and high-profile people but I’m pretty much a comic geek and mega fan of Gotham. Robin’s character Penguin was one of my top 3 favorite characters on the show and having the opportunity randomly to work with him was so amazing. He also really rocked it on set!

Worst experience was working with a specific photographer whose name I shall not mention out of respect but that whole day ended up being a nightmare. His first words to the team was “I usually have a better team I work with normally” so that kind of set the bar for the shit show of that shoot. There’s was a moment where he chucked a pair of shoes because they were not Prada or luxury enough. Besides the fuckery of that day and being that it was a non-paying TFP shoot for a known NY magazine, he actually tried to sue me and a couple other team members from that day for copyright since we posted the final images in our portfolio. Twas messy indeed and in retrospect, I should have probably handled things differently at the time like packing up and getting the heck outta there. New, evolved, and candid me probably would have ripped him to shreds but I was younger and a lot nicer…. still nice but don’t take as much shit as I used to.

https://www.instagram.com/jonzu/ click image to enlarge

**Patti Wilson has worked with Steven Klein, Steven Miesel,mmmm

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