#Creative articles

[dsharma-world]

Gifts for a good boss

[if-you-are-tired-clap-your-hands]

On making a living as an artist

In a world where art and other creative pursuits should be an inspiring, honest and a direct reflection of our society, it is truly disheartening to realize that most mainstream artists come from some place of privilege. Whether it be racial, financial, social, or geographic, artists succeed not just from their skill alone, but from having the privilege to make enough sacrifices to pursue art as a full-time job. Even when you do find the right representation, it may feel as though you must sacrifice your independence and your voice as a trade for financial security. This can make you feel like you're alone, or just another piece in a system designed to exploit you for capitalistic gain. Now, now, sweet artist. I know you may feel quite depressed after reading all this. It's hard not to. Part of these frustrations are why I'm here writing this in the first place : because I believe that these systems must change and our approaches to financial stability as artists must be more transparent. I believe positive change comes from the transparency to know what it is that needs to change. For too long, our culture has resisted a more public conversation about personal finances. In many ways, this has enabled us to become a society that's content to embrace the outdated trope of the starving artist. Let's change that.

« How do I make a living as an artist ? », answered by visual artist Yumna Al-Arashi, in the Zine On making a living as an artist by The Creative Independent. You can read it for free on their website !

[yellowcap]

4433 + the meaning of rivalry

the rivalry of rivalries by sam newton / soap by the oh hellos / godlight by noah kahan / the winner take is all by abba / infinite jest by david foster wallace

[fruitsofhell]

I used to be one of those guys when I first joined the Kirby fandom, but everytime I hear a discussion of the series writing that starts with "So the Lore is InSaNe-" and not like, "Kirby has a fun writing style that takes advantage of its cute exterior to tell cool stories that reward player's curiosity and leave lots of room for imagination-" I cringe so goddamn hard.

I kinda just hate that people approach things that encourage investment when they don't expect it as inherently absurd. Like it is fun to joke about how absurd Kirby lore can be, but it really often comes with an air of disrespect or exhaustion rather than like, appreciation that these games are made by people who want to tell interesting stories when they could easily make as much money just making polished enough fluffy kiddy platformers. And when it's not met with exhaustion, it's met with - like I said before - that tone that it's stupid for a series like this TO have devs who care about writing stuff for it. Which is a whole other thing about people not respecting things made to appeal to kiddie aesthetic or tone.

Maybe the state of low-stakes YouTube video essays just blows cause people play up ignorance and disbelief for engagement, but like I STG I hear people use this tone for like actual narrative based games sometimes. Some people don't like... appreciate when a game is made by people who care a shitton in ways that aren't direct gameplay feedback. And they especially don't appreciate it when it comes from something with any sense of tonal dissonance intentional or not.

Anyways, I love games made by insane people. I love games made by teams who feel like they wanna make something work or say something so bad. I love that energy, especially when invested into something that could easily rest on its laurels or which obviously won't be taken seriously. I love this in a lot of classic campy 2000s games, I love this in insanely niche yet passionate fanworks, and I love it in the Kirby series and its writing. Can we please stop talking about it like it's an annoyance or complete joke?

[mauv-the-bluest-cat-ever]

epic cat that was built on @felinefractious blog

[iwrite-xo]

-- Healing sucks ass.

" I don’t think people truly understand what healing feels like until they’ve gone through it themselves. "

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Why am I crying at 2 PM simply because I happened to come across a meme they would have loved? Seriously, what kind of fool am I to miss and long for someone who is perfectly fine without me in their life? The worst part is that, at the end of the day, my heart somehow manages to hold on to love for that particular person. I gave up trying to understand my heart a long time ago. Despite attempting to lead with my brain and remain logical, my heart ends up winning arguments 90% of the time, if not 100%.

Whether it be friendships or even romantic interests, it always ends in heartbreak. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the character development I go through later on. That’s a whole other topic to write about, but in short, I feel like a brand-new person.

It’s comparable to a snake shedding its old skin to unveil its striking new pattern, but significantly healthier. I completely understand that life is a constant cycle filled with new experiences and eventually learning to let them go once they’ve served their purpose. But the pain that comes with it? The hurt you have to endure for months on end, wondering when it will finally cease?

I don’t think people truly understand what healing feels like until they’ve gone through it themselves. The constant overthinking about whether or not I made the right choice by letting them go for my own sanity. The urge to reach out to them overpowers any rational thinking. When you finally reach out and things don’t turn out as you wished, you can feel your heart shatter. It’s as if the universe confirms that your time with them has truly ended.

The feeling of your heart constricting in agony due to the heavy realization that you might never encounter them again. The constant replaying of past memories and desperately wishing you could relive them one more time before they slip away. The random breakdowns and confusion as to why that is, especially when you’ve finally been doing okay. The entire journey of it all is this huge pit of never-ending suffering, and at times, it feels impossible to even get out of bed.

So in case you needed to hear this today, healing isn’t linear. It never is and never will be. You will have to go through hell and back with the anguish that comes along with it. It is okay to feel helpless and realize that, despite healing not being an easy journey, it somehow always ends up being one you can reminisce about down the road. Remember, you will never heal by going back to what broke you. Never.

please do support me by reblogging! Thank you!! <33 hope you enjoyed!

[pawzofchaos]

tadc oc I featured before

oh shit I was gonna write a well written description but I’m super lazy so

they/it, names Balloonstra. Got their name by just looking at themselves when they first came here and mumbling “….b…balloon…strwhhwjwjwj” and Caine was like “BALLOONSTRA?!?!? THATS YOUR NEW NAME”

Adopted Gangle or smth. Probably like 30 years old. Tallest out of the bunch. Barely ever talks but it can. It’s a balloon animal- not clear on what animal it actually is. Can get popped but has always somehow escaped it. Based off of like, balloon animals.

[bandzboy]

read this in an article (published on march 25 2022) about links to zionism in the music industry and i thought it was important to share

[murderousrobot]

ummm.

[batsplat]

if more people knew Herstory (aka 2004 season and sete&vale) so many questions wrt 2015 season(mostly “why would vale….”) would immediately be answered addfghjk like guysssss guyssssss

it is kinda funny that there's a simple cheat code out there to understanding most of valentino's career but it's just about long enough ago that most people simply... ignore it. like there's a three year span that more or less tells you what you need to know about him. it's like you say! pretty much every possible "why would vale..." secretly has a straightforward answer, and 9/10 it's something that was established in 2003 to 2005. simple as

if anything it's almost annoying because it's too easy. the 2004/2015 stuff in particular is incredibly funny. oh, so you say you have a controversial last lap at assen where valentino beat a rival in direct combat and said rival reacted surprisingly poorly, making valentino reevaluate his relationship with the rival? might that tell you something about how a seed of suspicion once sown can remain dormant for months until valentino is given cause to revisit it? valentino quite literally says in his biography that he could never have hated biaggi because he wasn't a friend and didn't have the power to hurt him... the sepang pressers thing is genuinely just silly, I know this is mainly a function of when they happen in the calendar but what a bizarre coincidence. 2015 is like a slightly more opaque funhouse mirror version of 2004 - but so many of the major beats are virtually identical. which means you've got a season Out There where a younger less experienced less guarded less cynical valentino basically walks you through his internal processes so you get a really good handle of what his deal is. he's piecing together his identity as a competitor going forwards in real time - and then in 2015 he just reminds you of what exactly that identity involves. it's a reaffirmation and not a departure... he's not that inscrutable after all, in the end

[dsharma-world]

Five creative gifts for boss

[brodinsons]

here's my horny hot take for today

there needs to be wayyyyyy more post-xmfc cherik content

barring that, there just needs to be more horny older cherik content in general

let people 50+ be horny AND let disabled people be horny in ways that work for them, thanks for coming to my ted talk

[dansemacabre]

if i had a nickel for every time i was just starting to admire a male author/artist/actor/creative and really start going through all of their works only for sa or abuse or other actively criminal allegations to come out against them less than a month later. Like i would be so insanely rich

[savvylittlecoxswain]

I found this super cool article that talks about the life of a Division I rower, and in it was a rough timetable for what a week would look like for them. This table is amazing because I know for a fact I would have put one together myself if I hands found this one!!! Obviously it’s naturally geared more towards modern au since the 1930s were nearly 100 years ago, but I’m sure it’s not too much different from what it was like back then!

Here’s an example of a typical week for a Division I Rower created by Laura Simon, the lead recruiter at Yale University for the Women’s Team as of 2021.

[allisonperryart]

In case you missed it: I talked with Animation World Network about Carol and the End of the World alongside showrunner Dan Guterman and fellow art director @ellemichalka leading up to the Emmy's - this is a great, comprehensive article for anyone wanting to get to know more about the spirit of the show! Thanks for spotlighting our show, Victoria Davis!

[iwrite-xo]

--grief is the price we pay for love

" But despite it all, we continue to love. We choose love again and again, even knowing it might break us. "

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Grief is the price we pay for love. God, it's excruciating. So damn excruciating. When our hearts choose to fall in love with someone, we automatically acknowledge the fact that it will come with heartache.

Grief is inevitable in love. There is no love without pain. Love hurts. The deeper the love, the more it hurts when it falters. It’s like handing over a piece of your soul, knowing full well that it might never be returned, or worse, it might come back in pieces.

As humans, we know deep inside that falling in love comes with its risks. We fall in love knowing that it will probably destroy us in the end. We fall in love sensing the heartbreak from the beginning, yet we choose to ignore it. We fall in love despite knowing that they might just turn out to be a cruel lesson again. We fall in love knowing that we might never be the same ever again.

Why do we do it? Why do we willingly walk into the fire, knowing how much it'll tear our hearts apart when it all ends? Yet, we continue to cling to the small hope that burns so brightly in our hearts. It’s almost like we don’t learn our lessons from the past. Or perhaps, it’s that we choose to believe that this time, it will be different. That this time, love will conquer the pain.

There is no point in existing if we cannot continuously love one another. I'm gonna say that again. There is no point in existing if we cannot continuously love one another. YES, it hurts. It stings. It tears our hearts into shreds when someone ends up leaving us. But what can we do? Our hearts yearn for love, and if there’s one thing you cannot do, it is stopping your heart. It will love again whether you like it or not. The heart wants what it wants.

And perhaps that’s the most beautiful tragedy of all. Love is not just about the euphoria, the butterflies, or the laughter shared in the warmth of each other’s arms. Love is also about the pain, the grief, and the longing that comes when it’s lost. It’s about the scars that remain after the wounds have healed, reminding us of the depth of our love. We carry those scars like badges of honor, proof that we loved fiercely, without reservation.

To love is to be human. To love is to open oneself to both joy and sorrow. It is to accept the paradox that love brings us to life and yet leaves us breathless when it’s gone. It’s the most delicate balancing act between holding on and letting go, between hope and despair, between life and death.

But despite it all, we continue to love. We choose love again and again, even knowing it might break us. Because in the end, what’s life without love? It’s the risk we take for the chance to experience something profound, something that makes us feel alive, even if just for a moment. And for that, love, in all its pain and glory, is worth it.

Please do reblog and continue to support me if you enjoyed it! Thank you!