#Realism is one of my least favorite art things to do

[scribe-of-monsters]

Realism study I did of Nicholas Holt from the Renfield movie

[reblogs appreciated]

[pumpkinsplots]

Writeblr Intro

Hello, writeblr! I finally caved and got tumblr, mostly because I love rambling about my wips and hearing other people ramble about theirs and all of that lovely stuff, so this seemed like a great platform to do that. With that being said, I plan on posting about my wips and ocs, as well as art related to those things, so if that interests you at all, I’d love to see you stick around. Also feel free to call me either Pumpkin or Maria, it’s entirely up to you!

About my writing

I’ve found that I really enjoy writing in a variety of genres, so hopefully at least one of my wips will tickle your fancy. Though I’d say a common thing for me is that I really like to world build, so my wips tend to be sci-fi, fantasy, or magical realism of some variety. Anything where I can put my own spin on the setting is something I’m bound to enjoy writing about.

I write in third person, usually with multiple povs, and I really enjoy character driven stories.

I often like to have a wide variety of ages in the cast, and if I had to pick a favorite trope it would be found family, so that’s usually present to some degree in my stuff.

Tonally, I always include light-hearted moments here and there, even if the wip is very bleak. It provides some levity, and I think it makes the painful stuff hit a lot harder. This is probably partially why I put some thought into each character’s sense of humor.

Most of my wips are geared towards older teens and adults, but I’ll get more into content warnings when I talk about each individually, because it really varies.

I’m one of those writers that kills off a lot of characters, so this is your warning not to get attached /j

I’m demisexual, so at least one character being on the ace spectrum is like a requirement for me at this point.

I’m a plantser, and pretty bad at staying motivated to actually finish first drafts.

About my wips

Falling Up

Falling Up is a sci-if story set in the future where Earth is a utopia where inhabitants experience little to no hardships throughout their lives. The deceased are replaced with AI created to replicate them, and everything is automated to the point where people no longer need to work to make a living. This lack of struggle results in dull, perfect lives and skewed morals. The people crave entertainment, even if it means making others suffer for it. Quasdom, a miniature man made planet initially intended to be used to separate deviants from the rest of the perfect society, is used as a catalyst for entertainment. The people of Quasdom believe that those on Earth are superior to them, and that Earth is a place where any wish can come true. This leads to the tourney, a death game between groups of ten on Quasdom, being viewed similarly to winning the lottery. The winning team gets to go to Earth, after all. Being chosen for the tourney is the luckiest thing that can happen to you. There’s no hard feelings between participants, death is completely painless, and the afterlife will welcome any participants to a better life than they previously had. There’s nothing to fear, so smile and put on a show.

A large cast and lots of character deaths

An exploration of why we get so attached to fictional characters, and how fiction can have an impact on reality

Probably going to be a trilogy

Content warnings include language, some unsettling themes, depictions of mental health issues, and generally things that are more psychological. Despite it being a death game, there’s no gore, like at all. The people on Earth may be desensitized, but they aren’t accustomed to seeing blood, so the tourney is designed with that in mind

Facade

Facade is set in a world where the living world and the spirit world coexist. Due to some actions by the main antagonist, about 20 years prior to the current story, spirits started getting aggressive and sort of going haywire. They possess any person they can, turning the individual into an uncontrollable killing machine. The best defense to this was the invention of a certain kind of mask that prevents possession, and masks quickly became widespread. Since there’s no known way to reverse spiritual possession, the only solution is to kill those that are unfortunate enough to meet that fate. A group led by an anonymous vigilante known as K9 seek to find a way to reverse possession. Many enemies are made along the way, and there are countless obstacles to face.

Its setting is based on Singapore and set in the 90s, though there are many creative liberties taken

The wip is currently pretty no plot just vibes

Themes about individuality vs equality

Content warnings include language and some sexual content

Facade: After Dark

While Facade is currently no plot just vibes, developing the characters led to me thinking of the plot for a prequel. Is it a self-indulgent novella about two of the characters I love? Yes, absolutely. In summary, it’s a romance novella about the the relationship of Leijing and Iris, and their struggles in navigating the wild world of Facade. They have vastly different upbringings and experiences, but their differences bring them together in more ways than one.

I have so much backstory for this pre-established couple and I couldn’t think of a good way to incorporate it into the main story without cutting a bunch of it, so boom it’s a prequel now

I’ve found that working on a wip that’s more low stakes and simple is really fun—I tend to get stressed about my more ambitious plots, so this wip is a great change of pace

Leijing is demisexual with little interest in anything sex related and Iris is an omnisexual sex worker, and the story explores how a world obsessed with all things sex can effect both more sex-negative and sex-positive people

Content warnings include language, explicit sexual content, and potentially triggering subject matters. This is my only wip where it’s strictly 18+!

Lights Out

Sunlight is the essence of life. Without it, the world would wither away. However, a dangerous new life form of unknown origin festers in the light. With long, elegant glimmering limbs, high intelligence, picturesque precision, and a craving for flesh, these organisms pose a major threat to humanity. But for some odd reason, these creatures refuse to step into any area where the sun doesn’t touch. Much of humanity takes to the shadows, building elaborate underground tunnels for civilizations and doing what humans do best—using their resources and ingenuity to adapt.

Has two protagonists that butt heads but start to develop a father daughter dynamic. A young adult girl who’s from the underground and unknowingly part of a cult, and an older man with one leg who’s so stubborn he’d rather fight and die than flee to the darkness

Lots of creepy cult imagery and themes about religious trauma

So much banter of course

Content warnings include language, disturbing imagery, and gore

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! Asks, comments, tag games, and messages are always appreciated, and I’d love to hear about your wips as well!

[squidpedia]

Hi! I wanted to ask for advice on finding an artstyle, I've been drawing for sometime but I still dislike my style.

Thank you in advance :D.

Hi hiii

Whenever my artstyle gets kinda boring to me, I try asking myself questions to figure out what exactly is it about my artstyle that I don’t like. Things like what is it about my art that feels boring to me while this other’s artist’s work excites me? What makes me most insecure about this piece? What do my favorite artists do in their artworks that I don’t do?

This isn’t to put yourself or your work down, make sure to go out of your way to still note anything you like or are particularly proud of in any of your artworks, you work hard on your art and that deserves to be appreciated, even if your artstyle isn’t quite at where you want it to be yet! But this is mainly what I do to try to address reasons my artstyle isn’t giving me as much joy, and what changes I can make that might make me happier. Most of the time I can’t really put my finger on what it is that I dislike about my art, so I keep these questions in the back of my mind while I try experimenting through doodles and messing around with my style in each one. Have some doodles dedicated to things you dont normally try in your artstyle. Varying eye sizes and distance from each other, some doodles with different ways of stylizing noses, trying varying levels of realism vs cartoonishness when drawing characters, and trying different brushes if doing this in digital art. If any specific doodles jump out to you as kinda neat, take note of whatever you did in that doodle and try it more often!

(Sorry i was doing this in a hurry but definitely couldve utilized more full body shots, varying poses, face at more side angles, coloring styles, would 100% reccomend experimenting with that too. But this is mostly what those batches of experiment doodles usually look like for me)

As always, it doesn’t hurt to also study other artists’s whos stuff makes you so happy and figure out what it is about their art style that excites you so much. Whatever that may be, think about if its something you want in your own art style and try replicating and practice doing it if you do want to take your art in that direction.

Quick example from me but november 2023 i remember starting to feel super uninspired with my artstyle. I asked myself what felt like the most unrewarding part of the process for drawing and realized the answer was my lineart. At the time I was seeing a lot of @/bixels ‘s artwork of drawing mlp characters as humans from the 1920’s americana and was so delighted by their lineart. I kept experimenting with brushes in my doodles and realized that using the gel pen reminded me somewhat of bixels’ art, so I took that and ran. It was a neat change after a while of having thicker lineart and actually having fun with pressure sensitivity and how the brush is able to taper.

This is what i found works for myself so im not sure how well it applies to other people or if i worded everything well, but I hope its at least a bit helpful in some way!

[cheresha]

While I was working on my last drawing I thought it would be fun to make a post explaining my process like the one I did for my digital art! This is mostly an excuse to gush about copic markers because they are my absolute favorite medium and I feel like working with them has helped me improve a lot in a short period of time! It's also really fun to take something that isn't made for realism and try to adapt it to my style.

This is in no way a tutorial because I still have a lot to learn and improve upon but I will be sharing some tips that have made my drawing process way easier!

I'm putting the rest under a read more because I'll probably end up writing a novel length post lmao

Now, let's start from the basics - this is the sketchbook I use because it's made for markers and allows you to blend the colors smoothly while giving you a glossy finish.

Please ignore its sorry state, it's relatively new but it fell apart almost immediately 🙄 Not to sound like a grumpy old person but my old one I got a few years ago was of much better quality but it is what it is I guess. I'll still continue using it because it's still the best I've tried. It's also really good for color pencils.

Moving on to the markers - I have quite a few, mostly skin tones and pinks because that's what I need for the result I'm looking to achieve but if you're just starting or are not interested in drawing realistic portraits, this set is pretty much all you need to draw people and you can get whichever other colors you see fit. I have a few bright colors I use mostly for backgrounds.

About the price - they are expensive, yes, but if you are like me and use them 2-3 times a month they can last for a really long time. The one I use the most lasted me for over 1 year so in my opinion they are worth giving a try if you have the budget for them, especially because you can easily mix the colors to create new shades instead of buying new markers.

Moving on to the process itself - I try to make my drawings relatively small, as you can see here.

That's because copic markers dry really fast and you have to work quickly if you want your colors to blend properly 🥲 The smaller the drawing, the easier your life will be (his right arm was pretty stressful to draw ngl). Also since the paper is really thin be careful with your eraser because if you damage it, the marker ink will turn that spot into a weird looking splotch that you won't be able to fix 🥲

I have to admit that lineart is not my favorite thing to draw because I have shaky hands and tend to make mistakes but I think it makes my drawings look better so I try my best to practice more and always do warmups before I start. I got these fineliners from my local art supply store and like them quite a lot since they don't smudge easily. I use the 0,2 one for the drawing itself and the 0,5 one for the 'frame'. I like to wait for at least 30 minutes for my lineart to dry before I start coloring. Also, most of the time I don't ink the eyebrows at this point but prefer to draw them on after I'm done with the rest of the face because I will go over them so many times with my markers that I might end up smudging them pretty badly.

After my lineart has dried, I like to get the background done first because if I leave it for last, it can smudge the hair and stain my marker which will alter its color and that annoys me a lot even though it's fixable. Also, this is probably the only time I use the broad tip of the marker because it's perfect for bigger areas. Otherwise it's not very precise so I use the bush tip for everything else. I usually go over the background twice to make sure it looks as smooth as possible.

Okay, moving on to the face! I like to start from the midtones because it helps give structure to the face from the very beginning. After that I go in with the palest shade I have - pale fruit pink (E000). I use it mostly for blending and for the highlights since it's barely visible and really helps you achieve a smooth look. I like it way more than the clear one they sell specifically for blending, it's such a waste of money and leaves weird discolored spots all over your drawing 🙄

Here we make a pretty big time jump because I was fighting for my life (trying to blend the shadows). I recently got the cool brown (E71) and love it so much, it's perfect for the darker areas, also the hair and eyes! But you can achieve a pretty similar color if you go over E11 or E93 with BV31, I use it a lot because it makes the transition between the different shades way smoother and I feel like it gives extra depth to the face!

And the rest of his face is done! For some reason mixing a decent lip color is not easy for me because they tend to end up looking really cartoonish/unnatural but I feel like these 3 colors gave me a pretty okay result! Fortunately his eyebrow turned out okay too, I went in with the cool brown (E71) first a couple of times to establish the basic shape and later added the eyebrow hairs with the 0,2 fineliner.

I used the same colors and technique for his neck - nothing new to add here.

Same with his arm, except I used only the lavender color for the darkest parts - you can't really see it from the picture but irl it looks almost the same as the cool brown.

Time for the hair! This is probably where I need to improve the most since it always looks the most cartoonish out of the whole drawing and it really doesn't look that good compared to the more realistic skin. Black hair is especially difficult for me since you can't really blend the black marker and trying to go over it does nothing but stain my lighter markers. That's why currently I start from my higlight color - it also doesn't have to look neat since it will get covered by the black later and the uneven strokes help add some depth to the finished hair :))

I think I did a decent job overall and going over some of the highlights with this darker gray helped, too. Sometimes I like using a white pen to add a few more details but here I decided against it since I wanted to keep things simple.

I loooove adding stray hairs but I think I went a bit overboard here ahah I also need to get a 0,1 fineliner for them since this one seems a bit too thick.

As I mentioned before, his other arm was pretty hard because I had to work extra fast but I ended up liking how it turned out! I especially love drawing the small details on the hands so I had lots of fun, too. Also, I used the same colors for his pants minus the pinkish one (E93).

And now it's time for the final boss - the cardigan. I've never drawn such a detailed outfit before but it was pretty simple in terms of colors so it wasn't that difficult in the end and I got to practice drawing two very different types of fabric. I also forgot to add it here but I went over these 2 colors with a light warm gray (W-1) a couple of times to give it a softer look.

Here's the finished cardigan - I also added the black details with my marker instead of a fineliner because I didn't want it to look too precise/neat.

I also added the shadows under him with these 2 colors.

And finally I used these 2 for the sheets!

Thank you for reading this whole thing (if you're here you deserve a prize fr), I love talking about markers sm so if there's anything else you're curious about please don't hesitate to let me know!

[obviousbaitfish]

woooow they blocked me. i dont know why i followed that person in the first place. i think theyre both assholes. oh well. anyone who Just Posts AI art is probably a dickhead anyway, disabled or no (though talking about killing yourself for a paragraph is giving emotional manipulation to me). Stay mad, stay miserable, im sure youll find comfort in each other with your shitty attitudes.

I'm not here to discuss the ethics of AI or anything I'm coming at it solely from an art discussion place (and environmental sometimes), which is that it's completely soulless and has no thought into it. Effort? To get the right prompt? Maybe. But it doesnt inspire thought or discussion as an art piece. Oh cool. It's a squid. It's a white women looking at a 3/4 angle. With the same kinda bland, flat, art style. Anyway.

Duchamps's Fountain isnt high art. It took no effort. It's a toilet he probably found in the trash. But it inspires discussion that's lasted like... decades. It's one of my favorite pieces because people STILL get mad about it. DaVinci has a similar art style, even - im not a fan of it. Realism, but kinda flat. It is much darker and more neutral though. Soft shading, soft colors. But there's a reason it intrigues people. It's studied portraits of people who existed. At least that's why it intrigues me. were they family? a friend? maybe it was a commission? why did they think that was the most flattering portrait for them if it was? If they didnt EXIST and it's solely the artists imagination, how'd they get that angle? That pose? What inspired this idea? The effort they put into the physical aspect can be a part of it. But then why is Fountain so iconic? The hardest physical part of THAT was lugging it to the gallery.

Maybe THATS why they were so mad. They realize there was no soul in it. The only thing they can bother to create is so menial and pointless. They can type little prompts into a bar and turn up with... something "physical". But theres nothing behind it. They cant explain why they painted the tree that color, or the women has that expression. The robot did that. They can say "I wanted it that way - i saw it on my way home" but I dont know... that doesnt have the same zing. It's not showing me what YOU saw. It's showing me what it's lumped together from 15,000 results for "green tree" on google. I think maybe that's it. Art in any form comes from the mind of a person - no matter how complicated or "good" it is. It's from the direct point of view. A kindergartener draws their family and it sucks but it's like a little snapshot of how they saw that particular moment. They noticed the bright sun and grass and drew it. You can get a robot to do that, but then that's from X amount of people's point of view that it's dredging from. Not yours. You typed in "bright sunny day green grass happy family" but that's not YOUR view of that snapshot in time. Even if it's not from something irl it's a little snapshot into the person's mind, how they were feeling, what colors they liked... a AI cant do that because it's a separate entity doing it.

Anyway. I dont know what moods inspired this. I think I just miss my art history classes and stuff. I'm not smart enough for like ethics or philosophy but art history I can get behind.

[gender-trash]

hi!

not to be abrupt or vaguely out of the blue, but do you have any fun recent book/music recs? you seem like you like cool stuff and my to read/ to listen list is looking sad. or film/tv recs anything goes.

yeah absolutely, i am basically always delighted to rec books/music!!

books (fiction):

the goblin emperor: i read this for the first time recently and was just completely charmed by it. recommended if you like plotty court intrigue fantasy with a good-sized pinch of conlang. me @ maia (the protagonist/pov character):

the scholomance trilogy: not exactly a deep cut, at least among tumblr users who read fantasy, but on the off chance you haven't read it: it's good.

a tale for the time being: okay so i don't normally into litfic but once in a blue moon i'll pick some up and it'll obliterate me. alternates between the pov of a japanese teenage girl's diary and the middle-aged author-insert character in british columbia who finds the diary after the girl tosses it into the pacific ocean; plays with time in a fun way. subtle magical realism my beloved.

(and there's no such thing as an easy job has a similar subtle magical realism vibe, but is overall much less of a tearjerker. highly recommend.)

several people are typing: a guy gets isekai'd into his work slack; the story is told entirely via slack messages. this is a super quick read, and very funny. especially if you have a job that involves using slack.

the machineries of empire series: aauauahahahahgggh i need one of those mspaint drawings of a stick figure covered in blood to describe my feelings on this one. fucked-up science fiction (you... COULD call it lesbian space atrocities, i suppose!) that drops you in on the deep end trying to figure out what all these words mean and then you slowly figure out that it's technical terminology describing the torment nexus that powers society. killer shit.

song for the basilisk: admittedly i did not read this particularly recently but i will take any opportunity to rec it. patricia a. mckillip writes really good high fantasy (check out how many times she shows up in the mythopoeic awards list!) and, of all the books of hers that i've read, this is my favorite.

danmei (chinese boys-love novels) in english translation is like half of what i've been reading lately -- my all time favorite is the scum villain's self-saving system, which has eaten my entire brain (it's good in itself; it's great for chewing on in the form of meta and fan activity), but i also recommend guardian (the third and final volume of the official english translation is the book i most recently finished reading) and devil venerable also wants to know (no official translation but this fan TL is quite decent; i bound myself a physical edition, so i also have a typeset PDF i'd be happy to DM you if you're interested.)

books (nonfiction):

(going to be briefer here, since you specifically asked for "fun" books and my nonfiction taste is a little unhinged.)

one of my current reads is michael szonyi's the art of being governed -- this is an academic monograph about how military families in the ming dynasty handled their obligations to the state. during the ming dynasty, it was possible for families to designate themselves "military families", which was a tax-advantaged status but obligated them to provide one (1) man to serve in the army at all times (so if he dies or deserts, eventually the family back home would have to cough up another one). (and, by "serve in the army", often what is meant is "you are employed by the military to farm, which is more or less what you would have done back home anyway.")

if you're the kind of guy who reads patio11's bits about money or enjoys ssc book reviews, you will likely also enjoy dan davies' the unaccountability machine, which is a brief exploration for a popular audience of the (dysfunctional) system dynamics of large institutions like corporations and governments. very accessible and nontechnical, but with pointers to the Deep Lore if you subsequently want to seek it out.

the world of the shining prince: this is a book about what it was like, culturally, to be an aristocrat in the heian period. since i have never in my life come within either 1,000 miles or 1,000 years of being a heian period aristocrat i find this deeply fascinating. however, my friends and family have started laughing at me whenever i bring up information about the heian period. read at your own risk.

sei shōnagon's pillow book: sei shōnagon was a heian period aristocrat! she seems to have enjoyed it, but it is something of a shame that she died approximately a thousand years too early to make a tumblr account, because otherwise i feel she would have LOVED blogging. i'm reading the penguin edition (trans. meredith mckinney) and it is, fortunately, quite thoroughly footnoted, but i haven't read any other translations so i don't know if there is a better one out there.

music:

today what i was listening to on loop was the chainsaw man ost, which is a mixture of, like, the usual sort of j-rock you find in a shōnen soundtrack and slow-paced atmospheric stuff, and somehow it works really well together. recently i've also been listening to this playlist a lot because it's the playlist i made for a fic i'm currently writing.

other songs i've been listening to this summer, in no particular order:

sungazer is music theory youtuber adam neely's jazz band; lately they've been experimenting with hypertuplets and i'm super into it.

sometimes i find electric six's vocalist really irritating and sometimes it's exactly the juice my brain needed, and i have no idea what controls this. possibly the phase of the moon.

spotify recommended me this song and i listened to it on loop for like an entire work day and then clicked on the artist name to learn more, which i didn't. googled the song just now while making this post and apparently it was in a video game? the more you know.

i've been listening to irontom a lot this summer (and, um, a lot of similar music that i eventually stuffed in a playlist entitled "music with blown-out audio channels"). it's just, you know, the vibe.

(if that's not enough, here's my "summer 2024" spotify playlist. go ham!)

film/tv:

somehow, "watching things" is a skill it is possible to be bad at, and baby i'm winning last place.

the one tv show i've managed to watch in i think the past four months is chainsaw man, mentioned above. personally i really like well-animated shōnen with a cool soundtrack and i don't care that much about its other qualities; however, the protagonist is a dipshit teenage boy whose greatest life ambition is to touch a boob, so if this frustrates you you probably won't enjoy it very much.

i really really wish more people would watch legend of hei, a chinese animated film in the same corner of concept-space as studio ghibli. it's cuteeeeeee <3333

maybe someday i'll finally finish watching oh my general, a cdrama (free on youtube!) about a female general (ye zhao) who for reasons gets in an arranged marriage with the emperor's dipshit nephew (zhao yujin). this is peak fucking content because ye zhao is constantly saying gay shit by accident and swanning about being cute/badass in probably-historically-dubious armor. also as with all cdramas the costuming is completely off the shits.

[saturnine-saturneight]

Writerly Questionnaire

@davycoquette posted this up and it looks fun :)

About You

When did you start writing?

I started writing poetry somewhere in my early teens, then expanded to short snippets when my school had a creative writing workshop as part of a week long retreat. I did some minor roleplaying on the [Country redacted] version of Facebook, then started roleplaying on a fandom specific forum at 17... Started running with a group on Discord and Tumblr and learned how to write well with a dictionary always open in another tab. It's how I learned the majority of both my conversational and my writing English!

Are the genres/themes you enjoy reading different from the ones you write?

There are themes I really don't like to watch or read, but love to write, for example medical horror and body horror. I get squicked out when I'm not in control of those. I also adore detective fiction, especially Poirot, but don't have an interest in putting together a murder mystery myself.

Is there an author (or just a fellow writer!) you want to emulate, or one to whom you’re often compared?

I think the way I write is very conversational and very stream of consciousness. I'm a child of the internet, and you could make an easy comparison to other people writing indie online, but I'm not sure the comparison is as easy when you're looking at bigger, traditionally published authors. I think about the way I write in comparison to the Realism art movement sometimes. I want to emulate how people really talk, and I want to get deep into the nitty gritty of a psyche.

Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)? (Room, coffee shop, desk, etc.)

Laying down ✌️

What’s your most effective way to muster up some muse?

Daydreaming! Dozing, napping, taking a walk, doing the dishes; anything that lets my mind wander.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about?

Not really. See above, child of the internet, but I'm also not sure I can capture what my country is really like. I never feel all that informed or all that "with it" here.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

Come back with a warrant, lmfao.

Your Characters

Would you please tell me about your current favorite character? (Current WIP, past WIP, never used, etc.)

This is hard for me to decide because I really do love most of my characters equally when I just spend enough time with them. Of course it's Ron right now, I'm writing his story and he's living in a bigger corner of my brain than usual. I never really figured out what he had to say until pretty recently, he's always been a very taciturn narrator and loathe to talk about his feelings in dialogue. Throwing him into a fully moving plot and inflicting The Horrors on him really makes him react, and it's endearing him to me a lot.

Which of your characters do you think you’d be friends with in real life?

Matcha! She's goofy and sweet and she has a lot of things to talk about. We'd just need to set boundaries early because I'm not a fan of being flirted with. I also think I could get along with most of the rest, at least on friendly terms.

Which of your characters would you dislike the most if you met them?

Nat is an amalgamation of the worst traits and tendencies that I see in other people and myself. They're also a bully, which is something that personally makes me see red. They can go be a sympathetic villain somewhere else.

Tell me about the process of coming up with of one, all, or any of your characters.

So the very first one of the bunch was Teo. He was originally a pirate, and I made him to be weird and angsty and complex, but also kind of a liar who'd just boast about things unfounded. I thought this was easy to figure out, but I started noticing people taking him at his word, so I made Haru to call him out on his shit. These two were good foils, but didn't talk that much, so I made Rabbit who can never shut up to deliver some exposition.

When I make a character, they fill a niche in a dynamic, and/or have behaviors and beliefs that I want to write about. The rest is vibes.

Do you notice any recurring themes/traits among your characters?

I try to make them pretty diverse from each other, but there's always a general sense of overcoming and survival that I think is fascinating and write a lot about.

How do you picture them? (As real people you imagined, as models/actors who exist in real life, as imaginary artwork, as artwork you made or commissioned, anime style, etc.)

I don't have 20/20 vision in my imagination, things are pretty fuzzy. Real people, but stylized, I think.

Your Writing

What’s your reason for writing?

To create a space where I can really dig into the things I like and the things that are on my mind. I'm also pretty competitive towards myself. I always want to be better at something than I have been so far.

Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers?

I love comments that really pinpoint which moments or beats a reader enjoyed...

How do you want to be thought of by those who read your work? (For example: as a literary genius, or as a writer who “gets” the human condition; as a talented worldbuilder, as a role model, etc.)

Just some guy, please.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Character depth and dialogue.

What have you been frequently told your greatest writing strength is by others?

Dialogue also, and a certain sense of... chaos? Urgency? My longer form stuff has been described as 'one long rollercoaster'.

How do you feel about your own writing? (Answer in whatever way you interpret this question.)

Eh. I'm happy when it turns out well.

If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write?

Oh that's a mean question. I do have a little bit of a "what's going to be my legacy" thing going on. Yeah, I think I would still write, though. I really do it for the fun of it as well. It's just a lot less fun when I can't bounce it off other people and see what it turns into where it meets their lives and their experiences.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? If it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence

On a line by line basis, I have an issue of trying to write to a worst faith reader that I'm trying to work through, but the larger picture is completely just what I enjoy and not written to a specific genre, reader, or market.

I am tagging @marlowethelibrarian @fortunatetragedy @paeliae-occasionally @lychhiker-writes @rotting-moon-writes and YOU 🫵

[leprosycock]

do u have any fav book recs!???? love ur literary mind and would love to know if u have any good must reads sorry this is random

thank you!! i don't read nearly as often as i should but i have a lot of books that i love:

the furry trap by josh simmons is a wildly weird, disgusting, and obscene piece of work that i've loved for years. it's satirical and deranged and very darkly funny and his style is so unique. it's a collection of eleven short comics and some standalone illustrations. my favorites are cock bone, christmas eve, and demonwood, but none of them are bad. at least in my opinion. a lot of people think it's just edgy for edgy's sake, but even if it is, it's still really fucking good. i always find that criticism to be so funny because it's only ever flung at media with any kind of sex and violence and taboos in it.

tender is the flesh by agustina bazterrica is one that a lot of people are familiar with, but it's far from overrated. it's about a world in which cannibalism is legal and humans are bred, bought, and sold for meat. a very lonely, broken, divorced blue-collar man begins to form a bond with a specimen despite any physical contact with her being expressly forbidden. it's twisted and stomach-churning and intimate and i love it.

poison for breakfast by lemony snicket is insanely funny and tender and witty and entertaining. it's essentially an unreliable autobiography that follows strings of consciousness and memories and musings as he panics after getting a note under his door that tells him he had poison for breakfast. it's short and sweet and there are so many wonderful poignant lines throughout it that made me close the book for a second and think for a while.

the wasp factory by iain banks is awesome and it's about a sixteen year old boy named frank with a very fragile older brother who's been sent to a psych ward. frank is ruthlessly violent and unstable and he takes all his anger and frustration and bloodlust out on helpless animals, either human or non. it has a really interesting ambiance to it that traps you in both this violent teenager's headspace and this murky, unsettling little scottish village and things just get worse and worse until you realize you can't get out. highly recommend!

someone who will love you in all your damaged glory by raphael bob-waksberg is a fantastic collection of surreal/sci-fi-based stories that have one foot firmly grounded in realism and very human relationships. it's very vulnerable and tender and tragic and romantic. this is the same author who created bojack horseman, so if you're into that show's brand of drama, you'll really love this

i hope you find me: the love poems of craigslist's missed connections by alan feuer is one of my most favorite little coffee table books ever. it's what it says on the tin: dozens of posts from the missed connections section of craigslist are compiled and wrangled into individual poems and it's really fascinating and it makes my heart ache to see all these very real little individual cases of lost love. i think it's really important to study real people just as much as stories that people can craft.

i luv halloween by benjamin roman and keith giffen is a HIGHLY underrated, EXTREMELY early 00s trilogy about zombies, aliens, and a group of really shitty, violent, obnoxious children who get stuck in the midst of global panic around halloween. it's super edgy and indulgent and gory and gross and childish and it's a whole lotta fun. i go crazy for the art style and the general mindless self indulgence of it all

memories of my melancholy whores (memoria de mis putas tristes) by gabriel garcia marquez is a really lovely and flowery novelette about a ninety year old man who's on his deathbed and he believes that true love will help him feel alive again. he manages to find it in a very young prostitute and reflects on what sets her apart from the others. a lot of people call it the spanish lolita, but it's wildly different. really the only similarities are falling in love with a young girl and realizing she's different than you envisioned her to be at first. it's not for everyone, but i think marquez's prose is beautiful. pretty much everything in his bibliography is worth checking out, he's a genius

holy robots by vasilina orlova is a stunning collection of poetry and it uses the ideas of humans falling in love with and forming lives with machines that try very hard to be human but can't quite do it to illustrate real-world relationship struggles. it also delves into other themes of nature and pure romance as it goes along. it's a quick read and it's so worth checking out, i love it to death

arkham asylum: a serious house on serious earth by grant morrison and dave mckean is a standalone batman comic that's VERY worth reading even if you only have a passive knowledge of batman. it's a beautiful piece of work all on its own. the art style is absolutely fucking gorgeous and it's unlike anything i've ever seen. essentially, the inmates at arkham have overtaken the asylum and batman has to sacrifice himself in order to save the hostages. thus, he subjects himself to brutal psychological torture at the hands of the criminals he's put in the asylum himself and he wastes away little by little. it's good!! it's so good!!!!!

stray toasters by bill sienkiewicz is one of the most intense, gorgeous, twisted, and surreal experiences i've ever had while reading a graphic novel. it might take you a couple of reads for it to really sink in because it's not at all straightforward, but it's a fucking masterpiece of art and writing and it really influenced a lot of my own work and the way i tend to approach art. essentially, it's about a lonely, burnt-out detective who gets released from a psych ward to hunt down a serial killer who's mutilating housewives and young children. it's insanely difficult to find physical copies of, so i would personally just read it online.

[candythepuppy]

Insanely basic tips for writing fights:

So... You wanna throw some characters at other characters and tell them to kill each other, huh? Well, in order to make all that interesting, ya gotta consider these tips first.

1. I've been in martial arts for over six years and animation for just as long. So of course I'm going to suggest you plebs do a little research first. Wanna know how it feels to punch someone? Punch someone. Wanna know how it feels to get punched? Come over to my place.

Even learning simple stuff like rolls, stretches, differing exercises, and the most basic of techniques can help out a ton. At the very least, it'll keep people from making this face at you: ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ

You don't have to go all out like me, but at least learning the fundamentals of physics and how certain injuries will affect the fight can help. Take these fun little tip for example: there's a vein on the neck that, when hit properly, will make you instantly pass out. It only takes eight seconds to choke someone out to the point of fainting as long as you're holding them right..and if you keep it up, then just wait five minutes and they'll be dead. Anywhere in-between can give them serious head injuries they'll likely never recover from. There are a thousand more, but I'll stop there. Trust me. I've learned more about biology from karate than from actual Biology class.

2. I feel like this is also a given, but at the very least, know what your surroundings are. Find ways to implement the setting into the fight creatively.

Example: two people are fighting in the desert and one tosses sand into the other's eyes. Or, two people are fighting in that same desert, but the one currently losing is being shoved into the sand, choked alive by all the granules.

Also please remember that when your characters are in extreme heat or freezing settings, they will fight differently. Maybe it's even the setting itself that is slowly killing the fighters, and the battle is really all about who can last the longest.

At the very least, I'd suggest you do two things in case you have a hard time with this one. (1) gather images of the setting, or at least settings like it. Then, take note of all the elements, obstacles, and even ambiance involved. (2) pick out objects to scatter about the setting that your characters can later pick up and use in the fight. Just make sure they have to do with the setting.

3. The destination of the fight can greatly impact the "vibe."

In the sky: superman level fights, typically very grandiose, larger than life, and impressive (even if written realistically). These are great locations for if/when you're trying to make your character look cool in some way.

On top of buildings/canyons: similarly grand but with more emphasis on stakes. You typically want that sense of uneasiness every time the main character sways or is knocked a little too far away. These scenes are often used around a climax thanks to the perfect level of grandiose tension and realism. It's a great way to get your character on edge and reveal their true feelings, mainly fear.

On the ground, outside: these fights are often much more grounded than most. Often deals with a lot of running/trying out other options beyond fighting. Typically, you're trying to establish what kind of a fighter your character is in these fights + what their morals may be.

On the ground, inside: oddly enough, this is where it gets personal. Mostly because I usually think of someone's home or a grocery store where every action means something. This is typically where the most drama takes place. I'd definitely suggest you lean into the importance of the setting they are fighting in much more than the setting of other fights. (This is also where every word counts.)

Underground: by far one of my personal favorites. The claustrophobia one can draw from these settings is truly something else. The most grounded of any other fight setting. This is where I like to strip the flashy powers and magic from my characters and let them brawl the old fashioned way, getting dirty and going all out. Down here, every punch matters.

There are of course more, but these are the basics!

4. Similar to the first step, please know how the weapons your characters are using work!

5. And of course no fight is complete without (A) build up, (B) understandable reasons for the characters to fight, and (C) clear stakes/what would be lost or gained if either were to lose. Remember, a fight is just an argument acted out. Keeping that in mind will make the whole process so much easier.

Anyways, that's just about it. I could ramble some more, but these are supposed to be the basics!

Anyways, I hope to see you guys again. Thanks for your time. And, seeya!

[spookymultimedia]

how did you become so good at this thing of art?? like i love you

When I was 7-13 years old I would draw pretty much daily in my sketchbooks. I've never in my life had an issue with an empty sketchbooks, I had the problem of filling it up too fast. Every day I just drew my favorite characters doing whatever I wanted. I'm autistic so engage with my special interests by drawing them.

Every year in highschool I took an art class that taught me how to use different mediums, art styles and methods of drawing. I think doing those studies helped a lot. Just dipping your toes into different stuff helps.

Drawing from real life helped me slot. In middle school I would draw realistic portraits of my favorite characters from Pirates of the Caribbean while watching them in motion. What also helped was trying to draw in different styles and letting it influence my own style. Some of my influences are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,Steven Universe, Anime (I refuse to say which one), Batman The Animated Series, The Simpsons, South Park and other semi-realistic fan artists I've taken inspiration from. My biggest inspiration for my semi-realistic art style is Lopodiddy on DeviantArt.

Another thing I think has helped with improvement is not tying myself down to one single medium or art style. I let myself be creative and try new things, it's healthy for the brain. Which is why I call myself Spookymultimedia. I know alot of people stress over finding the one art style and staying consistent with it but you can't get there without exploration and study. So expecting yourself to have a consistent art style, especially as a learning artist, is setting yourself up for failure.

Also this works for me and I swear by it. Occasionally draw realism or figure drawing helps improve your anatomy and how to structure the body and hair. Just one session of either does wonders, at least it works for me. I highly recommend these videos to do guided figure drawing with

And I connot stress enough, THIS BOOK, USE IT

Here free link: you have no excuse. It's right here.

[autumngracy]

About the recent claim by industry professionals that Baldur's Gate 3 is an "anomaly" and shouldn't be used to "apply criticism or a raised standard" to other RPG's

The only reason these other big developers are worried about people comparing them to others is that they know they don't hold a candle to Larian in terms of their behavior and standards of quality (and let's not forget passion). If those same developers were being compared against other games in a way that painted THEM as the favorable, obviously better option that should "raise the bar for the whole genre", they would be delighted and would probably be shoving it in every other developer's face.

But when put in a comparison they know doesn't favor them, but which (at least for large, well funded, studios and AAA developers—y'all KNOW we aren't talking indie games here) they don't have any reasonable excuse for, they cry about how "everyone is a unique special snowflake and it's unfair and mean to compare different products from different companies, boo hoo hoo".

Is it really unfair, my dudes? In your heart of hearts, do you really think no one should be comparing similar things and giving constructive criticism? lmao. These idiots sound like the prideful, insecure kids from my college art classes who couldn't take criticism on critique day without making excuses and playing the victim.

My favorite oft-heard critique excuse was "that's just my STYLE; I did it that way on PURPOSE" about something that was just objectively wrong from a lack of practice, like a wonky perspective, awkward proportions, or half-assed color job, where you could tell they were attempting a style but simply weren't skilled enough to pull it off right yet (which is painfully obvious when the style is just realism, especially). They would proceed to acknowledge no fault or lack or want of their own, dooming themselves to repeatedly making the same mistakes because they couldn't face their own inadequacy.

If they had chosen to accept the constructive criticism, they would have worked on practicing in those areas, and gradually improved their artwork. No one was expecting them to make a perfect piece after the critique, or to magically improve 100% to meet everyone's standards instantaneously. All the critique was about was discovering where you could do better and how that might be accomplished, and then working towards that goal.

Perfection doesn't exist. You might start off making "bad" art, but as long as you listen to feedback and try to improve yourself accordingly, you would have gotten good grades, even your projects weren't "excellent" or even "great" yet. It was about the fact that people could see you were listening, and cared enough to consistently try to improve. THAT'S what made you "a good art student". THAT'S what makes you "a good game developer".

Plugging your ears and shouting "I can't hear you; I make what I want and I don't care if people like it; it's perfect as it is because I said so" is not a good look, and certainly no way to ever improve yourself.

[thriftybruce]

General Info Bruce. Adult. Student. He/They. General DNI.

Art Tag #thriftybruce's makings

Misc. Tags #bruce's recs (for music recommendations)

BYF: Aside from the general DNI, I would appreciate if you followed me for my artistic style/approach, rather than solely just for my fanart!

About Me

Movies

Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Taxi Driver (1976), After Hours (1985), Mean Streets (1973), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Marty (1955), The Deer Hunter (1978), Hi, Mom! (1970), The Godfather (1972), and more!

Music

Artists: Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, Bruce Haack, + others but I don't generally have favorite artists, more like favorite songs

Genres: Vintage Italian Soundtracks (or old movie soundtracks in general), Electronic, Moog, Experimental, + others (most of my fav. songs are scattered across different genres)

Art Inspo.

American Illustration generally from the 20s to 70s

Realism

Anything that contrasts naturalism with eccentric details

Vintage Pinups and poster illustrations

Special Interests

John Cazale

Moog and Bruce Haack

70s Fashion

A Bunch of Movie and T.V. Characters

Costumes (Not as in Design but rather dressing up as fictional characters with what you already have)

Blog Content

Generally, I'll post what I like at the time. I don't have any original characters of my own, but I love making illustrations of my favorite things. These can include stuff like studies, mockup posters and products, short comics, rendered illustrations, and doodles. If you have any questions, feel free to message me.

(P.S. In case this blog ends up changing its content, and I feel the need to specify who I don't want to interact with, I'll make sure to make a post about it and update my bio!)

General Inquiries

What art program do you use/what brush do you use, etc.?

I use Ibispaint X on my XP Pen Tablet, and here is the QR code for the brush that I use, with its adjustments. It's basically a dupe I had to make because I actually lost the original QR code for my original brush a while ago. (P.S., I always use my brush at around 30-45% opacity, just to be clear. Also, I usually use this one for sketching and simple rendering.)

If you're looking for the textured brush, it's this one. It's basically the same as the previous one, except I messed around with the brush texture.

What texture do you use for your art?

I use this one:

Are you open for commissions?

Short answer, no. Maybe in the future, but this depends on how future me feels.

How frequent do you upload on your blog?

I'm in college right now (and also based on previous experience), I tend to try to upload at least 3 times a month. To be clear, I consider me posting art an 'upload', so I'm not counting reblogs/ramblings uploads. But they at least let people know I'm still alive.

[amalthiaph]

Buckle up. Random ask rampage comin your way! 😜 What’s your favorite thing you’ve ever created here and why? 🤓

First of all, thank you so much for the Ask! It's makes my little heart happy every time I get a +1 notification on my Inbox.

Okay, so I've got more than one answer for this one because my creations are diverse in some ways.

THIS ONE is among my absolute faves in terms of how I drew the characters and the layout(?) because this is not an original of mine; it was from the great Redneck Doug and I only illustrated it.

THIS and THIS (which are two of my latest creations) are definitely among my faves because I JUST LOVE MY IMPROVEMENT IN TERMS OF ART. I've done the Barbie Mugshot Meme about four times before this and it's like I had (kind of) got good in it? Does that make sense?

THIS ONE because when you read the caption for this, you'll find out how I came up with this idea from a prompt. And I love the way I interpreted said prompt. And I also made it on my birthday.

[EDIT] Lemme add THIS ONE too. This is one of my favorite redraws because it's based on a Ghibli screenshot that I love so much and can watch forever. I also shipped Omega and Benni on this one.

On the other hand, THIS ONE is not Star Wars but it's one of my faves because it features my evolution in style. Prior to joining Tumblr, I've drawn very close to realism but I soon transitioned into something stylized. This artwork featured my first complete evolution.

And last but not the least is THIS. So a little background on how I do my stuff: whenever I try something new in style or color, I try it with my OC Shelby first. This is because I had her memorized that I can easily play with stylization and the such. And this artwork was when I discovered the palette/tones that I would want to be the theme of my posts. This was when I realized that I love coffee tones so much that I decided to use them the rest of my posts.

[muffimtv]

https://www.tumblr.com/ashe-hallows/724195547623407616?source=share

ALL

1. what medium do you use most?

digital art, using my ipad and procreate! i also sew an insane amount

2. most popular piece?

probably my fursuit (a few hundred thousand views on youtube if that counts?)

3. your favorite piece(s)?

MY FURSUITS!!!

4. piece you wish got more love?

my sticker designs!

5. how would you describe your art style?

cutesy, simple, colorful

6. favorite thing to draw?

animals

7. easiest thing for you to draw?

sharks

8. thing you struggle to draw?

HANDS.

9. whats something you always come back to when drawing?

colors, i always change the colors on my piece one billion times

10. how do you deal with artblock?

cry, watch something that inspires me, cry

11. do you listen to anything while drawing?

music! i listen to EVERYTHING

12. describe your process while drawing

rough sketch (shapes, no detail), second sketch (detail), lineart, color, change color, change color again, lighting, tiny detail

13. talk about a wip you like!

MY STICKER SHOP. i have all my designs done i just need to actually set up a website!

14. whats your favorite thing about drawing?

seeing my silly ideas come to life

15. least favorite thing about drawing?

my godawful posture

16. how do you motivate yourself to draw?

i don’t! i get an idea in my head and it eats away at my brain function until i draw it

17. what is something youre confident about in your art?

i love love love my colors

18. something you feel like you need to work on?

people. since i started working on my stickers i’ve been neglecting my people drawing skills

19. where do you find inspiration?

a lot of inspiration comes from MilkyTomato! I work for her, and it’s really motivating to see her success

20. is your workspace, digital or not, organized (not neat, organized)?

my workspace for drawing is typically my bed, so uh. but for sewing it’s generally neat and organized! i have a pegboard for all my things

21. what do you think your artstyle would taste like?

rainbow sherbet

22. do you have a favorite color palette to work with?

pastels!

23. how many artstyles can you work in confidently?

three ish? my sticker style, my people style, and i can dip into realism on occasion

24. whats a compliment about your art that has always stuck with you?

a friend told me that my art feels huggable a year or so ago and i think about it always

25. what size canvas/paper do you use?

i typically use the square canvas setting on procreate

26. what do you physically draw with (pencil and paper, tablet, etc)?

my ipad babey

27. do you ever have multiple wips going at once?

always all of the time. i can never do just one thing

28. whats a piece you would like to redraw at some point?

i would love to redo some of my older ranboo fanart

29. do you use a lot of references while drawing?

oh hell yeah dude i cant live without references

30. whats something youre proud of about your artstyle?

COLORS

31. which fandom have you drawn the most for?

probably mcyt tbh

32. have you done a lot of collabs?

nope :(

33. have you taken a lot of classes for art?

not really? i took art in middle school and i did a semester of animation but that’s all

34. whats something you still like from your old art?

the love i can see in it

35. if you had one piece of advice to give your younger artist self, what would it be?

KEEP DRAWING!!! TRY NEW THINGS!!! GET SILLY!!!

[rimouskis]

in the last three-ish days I've seen three movies, two were very very good and one was underwhelming:

the element of magical realism truly elevated the film and I thought it was fabulously rendered... it occurred to me earlier today that they literally open with showing Lou being willing to get her hands dirty. like oh my gosh that is just good writing. ugh. love. Ed Harris was so damn good in this role and I thought kstew knocked it out of the park. she was still very much herself in this role (as I think she often is, lol) but it played to her strengths and she pulled out some GREAT humor in a dark script. that being said it's such a dark story that I don't know how rewatchable it is? Like I really appreciated it as an art piece about cycles of violence and if we can escape them, but it's definitely a viscerally upsetting film lol. alas I am a little baby about some things and that does include gore and violence, which this movie wielded well as a narrative tool. Also Katy O'Brien...... what a casting. Again, they chose the right people for this movie.

I think my favorite is ultimately love lies bleeding because I was so impressed by the story and the cinematography. (That shot they kept showing of the gym with the town in the background at night... it was like a painting. There was SUCH an excellent sense of Place kn this film, and i love a good sense of Place).

a VERY VERY close second (and I think the more rewatachable film, honestly) was monkey man. I just got out of the theater so I haven't gotten all my thoughts straight yet but whaaaaat a strong directorial debut from dev... he was wonderful in his role and I was stunned by all the gorgeous visuals. I would love to know more about how this is a commentary on the current politics in India (I've read a post or tweet here and there) so I'm going to go find some articles when I get home, but I definitely will be watching this again. I thought it could have used tighter and more directed editing or writing around the middle - as soon as kid got to the temple I think the plot became a little muddled as we got his full backstory, and I do think we could have gotten a tighter or more... explicit(?) recovery journey/Finding His Purpose moment. But I think the hijra of the temple were so charming and the cinematography so beautiful that I'm willing to forgive some clunky plotting and exposition, you know? no movie needs to be perfect to be VERY good.

also my GOD the fight scenes were so visceral. once again I am a huge baby and was flinching so many times during the movie lol but I was totally sucked into the action. I was slapping my hand over my mouth several times lol.

one more mention of the sheer beauty of this film... the hijras' skirts spinning in that second to last fight were sooooo lovely and just spoke to great art direction. Will definitely watch again, and can't wait to do so with more information about the inspiration/parallels being drawn here.

My loser of the movie marathon was challengers:/ which toooo be fair it was the movie I watched LEAST closely (I was watching it at home on my computer, mostly because I wanted to see the scene with the knee injury since I saw the animatronic/fake Zendaya body they made to shoot the scene).

anyways, I wasn't in love with the cinematography nor the plot. It just wasn't my speed, and while I think Zendaya can play a haughty mean woman very well, I was... not very captured by the twisted tale of these three characters. Wasn't for me, alas.

[velvetvexations]

Action Comics #1

The first in my series going over every pre-war issue of Action Comics is under the cut!

The origin reads as rather rushed by modern standards, but we nonetheless see here art and writing that's well above most other comics at the time, including Detective Comics #27, which I'm comfortable calling pretty bad even for the time.

When I first started talking about early Action, I said that even though Superman's power level was treated as narratively infinite, explicit limits were placed that served only to ground him in an extra sense of realism. That first part isn't quite true; while Superman will rarely if ever meet a challenge that ultimately proves beyond his abilities and forces a different approach, you'll see him take several panels to accomplish a task that any later version of Superman could have done in two, with the narration at least giving the impression he could fail. It's very exciting in spite of the fact that he never does.

The cold open after the origin is cool as hell, of course. Other Golden Age comics were not this inventive, this thrillingly written, or this well-drawn. Right from the start you're plunged into excitment.

Later, this story would be reprinted in "Superman #1" with some added scenes. It's...not very good.

While yes, the origin was rushed in Action #1, the elaborations don't really add anything except to make it more complicated. The Kents are given their first appearance and though Superman's childhood is of interest it's never really given any attention for a long time after this, with his parents dying by the end of the next page.

Then, rather than a cold open, it shows Superman going to the Daily Star (so-called at the time) to get a job and hearing about a lynching. He goes and saves the guy, who tells him that not only is he innocent but so is the girl being executed for it that night. Superman goes to find the girl who did, apparently, do the crime, and despite having no evidence whatsoever she immediately confesses.

Then...

Oh, boy, I really hate this.

Let me get something straight: I don't necessarily mind heroes that kill. Furthermore, I don't necessarily mind Superman killing. Using Kryptonite to end the parallel Zod in Byrne's run was fine by me, because it was an extreme case that pushed Clark to the edge.

Furthermore, possibly my favorite Superman story ever (it's really more my favorite Joker story ever lmao) is The Sound of One Hand Clapping, where Superman not-so-subtly threatens to murder the Joker.

But telling a random murderess to cope and seeth when she panics about getting the death penalty is...not it. Not from Superman.

Of course, early Superman is very different, but even in these early issues both the stories and the backmatter takes pains to position him as a role model. He's not quite the symbol of truth and justice and peace and humanity he would become when idolized by millions over a period of decades, yet he's nonetheless a voice of empathy more often than not. It's unfortunate that the first reprint of his first story would lessen that.

Anyway. Continuing with Action #1.

There's a lot of emphasis early on that no one is totally sure Superman is real, with many completely disbelieving in him. It's kinna odd that Clark doesn't want any attention at all, yet dresses like a circus strongman complete with an attention diverting cape...

Interestingly, that's not how it is in Detective #27 - "the Bat-Man" is accepted as being completely real.

I know the point of being a reporter was to hear about things faster, but did people in the 1930s call the newspaper when they heard domestic abuse? What the hell?

We wrap up on the first part of Superman dealing with a plot to get the US "embroiled with Europe". You have to hope that in-universe these guys were trying to get us embroiled on the side of the Axis or something. As much as this may have badly aged, though, as we get nearer and nearer to America's entry into WWII we'll start to see a reoccurring them of an unidentified evil country trying to destroy America. Yessiree, a totally unidentified evil country with agents named things like "Baron Munsdorf".

And just like that, it's over. We'll pick up next time in Action Comics #2!