#Driving Passion

[laidbackmarco]

Ikigai Wings to Fly and The Love of Drive

Due to my love of Japan and Japanese Philosophy, I’m sure I’ve written about Ikigai before. Ikigai is Japanese for the reason to live. Most direct translations miss out on the gravity of words with substantial and potentially life-altering meanings and beliefs behind them. Ikigai is more than just a simple reason to live, it’s the driving force that brings your life joy. My personal experience…

[deoidesign]

I'm so mad that post was misinformation because there is actually an EXTREMELY important conversation to have about the production schedules artists are forced into. There's no need for exaggeration, the conditions are bad.

I work for webtoon. My publication schedule is weekly. While publishing I'm required 10-15 pages a week. Fully colored.

This means I'm finishing a 150 page fully colored graphic novel every 10-15 weeks.

When my comic is not updating, I am not getting paid. Any time writing, editing, or off is out of my own pocket. I don't get healthcare. They do not provide any assistants. They expect me to promote myself; they chose to deprioritize me before I even launched and gave me an end date half a year in. I never had a chance.

And this is the industry standard! Every company has artists forced into crunch hours, overtime, and burnout. Artists are literally dying early due to it. So many of my friends can't afford to go to the doctor.

It's unsustainable and untenable, and it's also the expectation our audiences have.

If we want to have this conversation, there's plenty of conversation to be had with the realities of the situation. It's bad as is.

[darkbluepassion01]

Hands

[artiststarme]

Eddie fucking hated driving. He didn’t like his life being at the mercy of the other idiots on the road and he certainly didn’t like having to follow all of the meaningless rules. If he wanted to speed or go through a stop sign with no one around, he’d damn well please, thank you very much.

He also didn’t like being trapped doing one thing for any period of time. It was hard for him to keep his eyes on the road and not pick at the skin on his fingers or fiddle with his rings. He wanted to get places without having to sit still and watch all the other idiots in cars on the way.

That’s why he fell in love with Steve the first time they went on a ride. Steve loved driving and the feeling of being free that came with it.

While Eddie didn’t like being the driver, he really did like being the passenger princess. He could hold Steve’s hand and fiddle with his fingers while he drove. He could air guitar and drumstick to Metallica even as Steve kept trying to turn the volume down. Best yet, he could road rage and flip people off when they tried to cut the Beemer off in traffic.

Dating Steve came with many benefits but the fact that he didn’t mind driving was the best by far (second only to the man’s kisses).

[zorosdimples]

reader who was married for a decade or two. it was a milquetoast relationship of convenience and safety. the most exciting—passionate—thing that happened between you two was the divorce, truthfully. perhaps you should be more mad about him cheating on you, but you can hardly bring yourself to feel anything; since when did you decide that you were going to go through life on autopilot?

you move into an apartment by yourself and live alone for what feels like the first time in forever. it’s okay, even though your life still feels empty. it isn’t until you meet your next door neighbor, a younger man, that things start to get interesting. you’d be lying if you said you don’t fix yourself up before taking the trash out, or wear your favorite “casual” outfit to the mailbox. maybe this little crush is pathetic. but it makes you feel alive for the first time in… you can’t even remember how long.

why, then, does it scare you when your neighbor—with his wide smile and sparkling eyes—shows interest in you? when he stops by after a sweaty workout, half naked, asking for a glass of water (his sink faucet is “broken”)? when he invites you over to his place to watch a movie that he has no interest in? or admits when he’s a little tipsy that he has a thing for more experienced partners?

maybe you’re in over your head. but there’s really only one way to find out…

[kingofmyborrowedheart]

Absolutely fascinated by how earlier in her discography Taylor uses driving as a metaphor for love and relationships and usually depicts herself in control and on “imgonnagetyouback” she compares herself to the car that is ultimately wrecked and is not positioned in control.

[eventhoughthestarisgone]

could you imagine if people talked about, as an example, star trek the same way they do fandoms/media that have sprung up in more recent years. like “god sorry i’m posting spock/kirk in 2024…” “nobody hate me for still loving data when next gen ended ages ago pls!!” shut up and just love things earnestly. there is no time limit on passion and if anyone judges you for enjoying media that’s already ended, or participating in a “dead” fandom then um. bite them

[fieriframes]

[What is technique but the absence of passion?]

[the-magpie-archives]

One of the weirdest things I love about TMA is how embarrassing it all is. Like, romanticism is fun sometimes, but embarrassment equally so.

If you've ever meaningfully interacted with the supernatural, you know that shit can be awkward. If you've ever had an office job, you know how embarrassing it can be! Pretty much if you've ever experienced any form of life, you know how embarrassing a day of existence is.

And my god Jon's life is embarrassing! He can't stop getting kidnapped, he doesn't have any friends, he can't even get his job done due to infinite supernatural interruptions. That's really embarrassing.

He's an adult who effectively has to relive being a child because he's thrust into a world that no longer makes sense, and that vulnerability is so real!

But Jon's not the only one who's going through embarrassing stuff, oh no! Martin is hopelessly in love with his cruel boss who barely looks at him; Tim and Sasha hooked up only for Sasha to break it off against Tim's wishes; and hell, Melanie literally got laughed off of YouTube and BECAME A MEME.

These people are going through awful, otherworldly terrors, but not once is it ignored that they must still suffer through painstakingly awkward everyday moments too.

I suppose it comes down to realism. Understanding that the supernatural can become just another part of life in an annoying way, and letting the characters be normal fumbling people makes it hit so much closer to home.

I think all this is why The Magnus Archives is popular not only as horror, but as an explanation of human relationships; the everyday realism is so deeply entwined with the otherworldly but both exist in their own right. And this in itself is realistic, as how far away is horror from your daily life, really? And how different is fear to embarrassment?

[mapofyourstars]

what do you think is erik’s most favourite thing about charles?

I could answer this in a derogatory manner, but I won't... I wanna, but I won't...

Truthfully, I think Erik really, really admires the fact that Charles is truly an equal to him with regard to most everything - resolve, motivation, ability, strength, passion, intelligence. Not only can Erik discuss various topics with Charles regarding mutants, science, etc., but Charles also can throw it back to Erik when they disagree, forcing Erik to rethink his ideology or come up with a better argument. Charles is one of the only people who can successfully stop Erik when he's sans helmet (i.e., that one dofp scene), and we all know that Erik admires Charles' telepathy/ability when he uses it because he's just a powerful - if not sometimes more powerful depending on the circumstance - than Erik.

I guess you could say that Erik just admires quite literally everything about Charles.

[loverofpiggies]

can we see more of your comic with Winter King being:

Hey! I do my best to update as often as I can, and thank you so much for reading it! I appreciate the heck outta all the reblogs and comments and all that!

Updates might have to slow down a bit though, I do all the writing, drawing, coloring- the whole process is me! And doing as much as I've done for the last month has been a bit insane so I'm trying to have a better comic/life balance. That, and work balance. Comics are my passion but they unfortunately do not pay my mortgage!

Don't you worry though! It'll update soon, I'm working on coloring page 4 of the chapter, but YEAH I definitely have to slow down from my insane pace a bit.

[lovepassionheart]

[cqssqndrq]

continuing on my @hotvintagepoll escapades, i've done a complete 180 to enjoy some toxic old man yaoi—by which i mean i've watched house of dracula with peter cushing and christopher lee. there's this one moment after dracula tries to bite van helsing where van helsing grabs at his own neck while he gives dracula this Look... fellas...

[priscirat]

it would be helpful to have a sign showing me the right way. would it show me the right way ?

[gl1tchr]

Your art is amazing and so cute! Do you have any drawing/anatomy tips you’re willing to share?

Oh man I don't know if I'm in any position to give ANATOMY tips specifically hgfdkh I feel I still have a LOT to learn in that regard!! I have a degree in Graphic Design but tbh a lot of those classes were based in - well graphic design and didn't cover a ton of drawing/illustration stuff, so much of what I know is self-taught!

I'd say just in general, draw as much as possible. Even if it didn't turn out exactly the way you want. I'm gonna post some Cringe Art of mine to show some examples

I Did not like how these turned out in the end. BUT they were requests from my Strawpage and this was super early on in me posting on twitter n gaining a little following, so I just pushed on, finished them, and posted them. Not letting myself get Obsessed with one drawing and making sure it turned out "perfect" helped me to just KEEP drawing, which sharpened my skills and gave me WAY more muscle memory! I used to have to check other drawings of Arkham Ed to make sure I was drawing him right, but now I could pop out an Origins, City, or Knight Riddler with one hand behind my back because I've drawn him. So many times now ghksfh

and I think this general advice applies to technical skills like anatomy, lighting, etc. too! The more you just force yourself to draw that janky hand and keep it moving, you'll learn what you DON'T want things to look like, and eventually you'll kind of Teach Yourself the way it's supposed to look. At least for you in your art style!!

AND OFC THANK YOU SM FOR THE COMPLIMENT YOU ARE TOO SWEET