#But that's my profession

[inkskinned]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[corey-wh0re]

You're a dead man...not a Chrysler LeBaron. Kathryn Newton as Lisa Swallows in Lisa Frankenstein (2024) | written by Diablo Cody & directed by Zelda Williams

[pyjamacryptid]

So. I drew that “Arthur’s fished out of the lake” au of mine

edit: yes I know that boats like that likely wouldn’t fish on a lake, and that where avalon should be isn’t really a lake anymore - I promise I know this 😂 - the imagery of Arthur being fished out of a lake in a net was just too hilariously powerful 😂

[finsterwalds]

Thinking about better call saul if the action took place in france just because I wanted to see them in cunty robes lmao. More thoughts under the cut!

Obviously the action and the whole premise of bcs/brba wouldn't work in france (legal system aside, the whole cartel and walter white storyline would have to suffer major changes due to social security and the mexican cartel well. not existing here stricto sensu). But let's talk about the real Important Stuff : their names

I think Howard Hamlin would work well as Edouard Hamelin. He looses the cool HH initials yes, but it works really well as a genuine french name imo, and Howard/Edouard are pretty close phonetically

Chuck could still be called Charles without any realism issue, but he'd be nicknamed Charlie rather than Chuck because that's what a french person would go for... nicknames don't work the same, yeah

Kimberly Wexler and James McGill, I have no idea lmao. James when translated becomes Jacques, but it's such a boomerish uncool name that I cannot resolve myself to call my boy like that. It's also one generation too old. Jimmy being born in '60 could technically be called Jacques, but it'd be old-fashioned, as it's a name mostly given to the kids of the decade that came before him. McGill is an irish name, so something funny could be making Jimmy a breton with a funky last name like Gall/LeGall ? That's hilarious to me. But who knows.

Saul Goodman is a pun, so this is even harder for me to conceptualize. Saul's marketing would definitely not work in france at all, as no one would realistically hire a lawyer with a puny name and such chaotic displays (+ I think ads for legal démarchage are illegal mind you). However, let's have a crack at it. It would have to be a pun based off an expression similar to "it's all good man", or implying something positive and familiar... I need to think on that one.

[everchased]

at least it'll be wonderful while it lasts.

(a little post-game downtime discussion, when they have the time and space to talk about these things. also in my canon, scratch gets to stay. :/)

[birdperselias]

birdrick doodles pt 2

[chocostrwberry]

60s VOGUE Magazine Kagami bc she would serve so HARDD

[idolomantises]

when developing Lili's job as a sex worker, I had a comic planned where Sera and Lili do talk about her job and Sera offers to "save" Lili, but Lili tells her she doesn't want to be saved and doesn't want her job to be viewed as this burden that ruined her life. She likes it, and thats all there is to it.

But, as someone who is not a sex worker himself (despite doing some research and even asking sex workers for feedback), I felt like it came off too preachy and soapbox-y. I also notice that whenever the topic of sex work gets mentioned in my work, a lot people get really upset at the topic. I'll never forget being told that Sera and Lili's relationship was "less wholesome" after finding out that Lili is a sex worker. And the last thing I want is for my reply section to turn into a warzone.

At the same time, I still want to represent sex work as a normal thing. Not just for hell denizens but in general. The fact that sex work is still a poorly represented profession in media, and that I have people assume Lili was "forced" to do her job because that's just assumed at this point is disappointing. I hope the dialogue can make it clear that its normal, and its fine. And please stop saying "poor Sera" she literally summoned Lili, she knows what she got into.

[sweetsouldhavernas]

things that the doctor is NOT.

[largeworm]

Fellas is it unprofessional to get some water at 3am during a totally case relevant sleepover and your dang silly rockstar rival decides to do this?

[dollypopup]

anyone else gonna talk about how Colin is the only member of his family that Anthony doesn't embrace when he comes back

and how Anthony is the hardest on Colin out of all his siblings and the most distant

and how Anthony was the only one who wasn't immediately happy for his brother upon the announcement of his and Pen's engagement other than Elosie (who was upset for different reasons)

and how Anthony then says he has a lot to talk about with Benedict and Colin and ended up knitpicking Colin's actions in his proposal and essentially said 'Well, at least you finally made a good decision'

and how Colin and Anthony have a very evidently fractured relationship that was conveyed just through that one small action of an arm pat instead of a hug

or do I have to go crazy about it all on my lonesome?

[somerandomdudelmao]

Are you participating in Art Fight this year? :D

Nope. I never participate in anything because the second someone who isn't me tells me to draw "this specific thing", my brain decides that we're going to draw anything else except what's required

[wis-art]

Lucy is a sex worker who loves her job and finds it very fulfilling to work in a brothel, at first she joined a bit ashamed and desperate for cash because nobody wanted to hire a red devil looking girl, but she found out she actually really thinks it's fun and she really likes taking good care of her customers. Also her girlfriend loves her and supports her.

Lucy and her gf wiki:

[rawliverandgoronspice]

I *knew* there was something fishy with no writers/quest designers being credited. Also: outsourcing is not an excuse not to credit the gamedevs doing hard and deserving work.

[thedeafprophet]

Fiddling around with more pixels, and had the fun suggestion of doing some profession items, so pixel-ified version of the Violant Ink, Cosmogone Spectacles, Writ in Gant, and the Bone Harpoon

[achillean-heartbeat]

spidey literally said he may be a nuisance but hes MY NUISANCE