#aph chukotka

[peonycats]

You might have noticed that i havent been posting art that much recently, which has been caused by a variety of reasons, but one of which is that I've been hunkered down and working on this series about my Siberian OCs!!! Really proud of how these turned out, esp the embroidery and patterns, even if i did fry my hand a bit in the process LOL

Click the read more for icons and personality descriptions written by @irithnova, who I share many of these OCs with :3c

Yukagir: Resident old lady surrounded by (who she sometimes considers annoying) youngins, sweet demeanour and pleasant to talk to, though she isn't immune to giving a good scolding when a younger Siberian is annoying her. Lots of knowledge from her many years when it comes to practical stuff so is good with her hands, though she finds other things difficult to remember… Sakha: Approachable and outgoing, hardheaded and unafraid to speak his mind. Big organiser of events and knows who everyone is - is always trying to extend his reach, even outside of Siberia. Smokes like there's no tomorrow. Was kind of a menace in his youth - his neighbours don't let him forget. Is artistic at heart, has sketchbooks full of illustrations and is pretty crafty. Saul Goodman who? Evenia: Easy going but usually keeps to himself, often mistaken for Evenkia much to his chagrin. Somewhat playful, loves some good banter. Excellent storyteller and has a million random tips and tricks stored in his head. Sporty, loves to challenge people to a race.

Dolgan: Similar to Sakha, she is also hard headed and unafraid to speak her mind, seeing as he raised her. Very studious and serious about her research, calculative about a lot of her actions. Seems timid on the surface because of her appearance, but she's managed to wield a lot of influence. Usually decked out in pretty clothing and jewellery from Sakha. Evenkia: Likes to take on a mentor role to those younger than him, like he did with Sakha. Very knowledgeable and enjoys problem solving. Has a bit of a reputation for dumping children of his onto others, though you would never guess this through his appearance alone. Enjoys collecting things, nerdy. Ket: Serious faced mostly and protective of himself, quite reserved, so it means a lot when he lets his guard down. Very particular about his routines, though this has made him quite good at planning and organising. Caught up in his own thoughts a lot - makes sense seeing as he's the last survivor of the Yenisein family. 

Chukotka: Social butterfly and very outgoing. Likes to be sort of a big sister figure to people, including North American groups. May seem scatterbrained and silly on the surface but she is far more clever than she lets on. Very girly and bubbly, wears jewellery that jingles as she walks past. Koryak: "Sibling" of Chukotka but personality wise he's quite different - he takes himself a bit more seriously. Dry sense of humour, and like Ket, he can be pretty sarcastic. Has a reputation of being a troublemaker (blame Russia for that), he's really not though. Being somewhat strung up is unfortunately his default these days. Itelmen: Woman respecter™ (no seriously look up the Itelmens' original polytheistic religion). Invites the other Siberians to his celebrations and is a pretty good host, but is prone to being possessive over them (as in, he wants to remind them that this is HIS tradition so don't try and claim it 🙄). Also prone to unprompted malding. His hair is well styled and maintained, though he pretends like he does nothing to it so as to not give up his secrets.

BONUS:

[irithnova]

About my Siberia ocs...

So I think it's important to balance their characterisation in a way in which they are distinctive characters with interesting personalities and backstories but also acknowledges the challenges they face without making their entire character essentially "They're sad all the time because of Russia" or "Stop talking about their struggles under Russia I don't like politics."

I think both are problematic however I find the latter to be far more distasteful because well. This is a nation personification OC we're talking about and not only that, they're essentially nations within a nation (Russia) by virtue of colonisation and so are minority groups within the larger nation. Hell - because of displacement and immigration from European Russia , a lot of these groups are minorities within their own lands. It's a special case when dealing with minority groups/occupied people personifications and it's particularly egregious when someone wants to forgo any kind of acknowledgement of these power imbalances yet still insists that their interpretation is sensitive.

I've seen some pretty bad OCs of Siberian groups which are the product of the creator going "I hate politics stop talking about politics!" or, an almost direct quote, "I hate when people shove politics into historical hetalia." Which... Is an interesting take to say the least considering how history feeds into politics and vice versa. Historical hetalia is a beast in an of itself and is one of the only hetalia communities/bubbles in which "no politics" will get you laughed out the door from what I've seen considering *gestures to my previous statement*. If you've ever taken a history course - you'll know how much history and politics are intertwined.

This is how you get interps which consists of the likes of "Russia was wandering around the empty lands of Siberia" which not only blatantly disregards the brutality of the Russian colonisation of Siberia but also promotes the concept of "Terra Nullius" or "Virgin Land". I'm quoting myself from an even bigger post I have in store which focuses on anti Mongolian sentiment however stereotypes about Mongolians and Siberian groups often overlap because of their placement in Northern Asia, hence why it applies to both,

"In addition, to hone in on Mongolia being an "untouched, pristine" land - this is also a common trope that is launched towards traditionally nomadic "unsettled groups” (such as Siberian and Native American groups). The concept of "Terra Nullius", a Latin word meaning "nobody's land". It completely disregards the presence and rights of the people who inhabit the land and has been historically used to justify the colonisation and displacement of such groups - their land belonged to "nobody" so it was essentially up for grabs...It divorces the people from their landscape and paves the way for dangerous misconceptions and justifications to blossom.

Here is an example of "Terra Nullius" in action in a Russian propaganda poster, encouraging Russians to move to Kazakhstan."

Or interps such as "[Siberian group] has forgiven Russia for everything he did/most things he did and is in love with him" which implies that the mistreatment of the Siberian groups is merely something in the past when it is in fact ongoing. The mistreatment of Siberian groups such as the Sakha, Buryats, Chukchi and Tuvans has been all the more highlighted in their disproportionate mobilisation in the invasion of Ukraine - and the heaps of scapegoating that was subsequently shovelled onto them.

That's not to say ethnic minority soldiers in the Russian army shouldn't be held accountable for their crimes - however that and the fact that they themselves are victims of Russian imperialism can both exist as true statements. The scapegoating is so bad that even Pope Francis joined in, blaming the brunt of the war crimes committed onto "Non Russians" such as Buryats and Chechens, as they do not come from "Russian culture."

Back to my main point... I think the resistance to do research on and publicly acknowledge how these groups live under Russia and what kind of struggles they face in some kind of bid to "not paint them as victims!!11" is sorely misinformed and ignorant. Because well. They are victims.

Not in the sense that you should portray them as sad, pitiful, weak little meow meows but in the sense that yes they are living under Russian occupation and are an occupied people who's been subjected to centuries of Russification, and so compared to making an OC of Mongolia who is an independent nation state at least I think there is far less room to be hauling around "leave politics out of historical hetalia!" "don't talk to me about politics!" "stop victimising them!!" because then it leads to tone deaf interpretations such as "They've forgiven Russia for everything and is in love with him ♥️💖", "Russia is actually [Siberia groups] father", "Here is my singular Siberia OC who represents ALL Siberian groups and by the way Russia is their father" (yes these are all real interpretations I've seen and I've made a separate really strongly worded post ranting about it) and worse. I mean I've literally seen an "aph Siberia oc" who was Russia and France's love child. Terra Nullius executed Hetalia-style.

I don't really think I need to elaborate on why a singular Siberia OC is problematic - Siberia is filled with a myriad of different groups who speak different languages, have different origins and ways of lives and practices, different religions, who've experienced eras of peace and conflict with each other, etc and yeah to shove them all into one personification is an erasure of the sheer diversity that is in Siberia. I definitely don't need to elaborate on why making Russia a father to any of these groups is problematic, to say very the least.

On the point of "don't only portray them in a victimising lense", I think making Siberian groups all depressed all the time is also a Russia-centric perspective. Of course it's ignorant at best to not acknowledge their shared suffering because of Russia however when this point and this point alone is central to their character I believe in a way that it strips them of their autonomy and ability to feel things and do things outside of Russia's gaze. There is absolutely a lot of joy to be had despite their current situation, perhaps even in spite of their current situation. It's ok to give them odd quirks and put them in funny situations as well as acknowledge that they are an occupied people and approach that territory carefully when need be.

For example, I made my Buryatia bubbly and loud but made my Tuva a bit more deadpan because I see them as a pair who often associate with each other and I think the dynamic is funny. I also made Buryatia an overbearing "husband" to Soyot who is perpetually tired™ from all the se- .

I made a crack dynamic between Sakha, Evenkia and Dolgan where Evenkia was Sakha's teacher at first but then became a deadbeat dad leaving Sakha to primarily raise Dolgan, thus Dolgan takes after Sakha and is uh lawyermaxxing���. Yukaghir is the little old lady of the group who is often forgetful but very nifty and Chukotka acts like a big sister to people which Koryak (who I see as her brother) always finds annoying and they often bicker. Ket is on the slightly edgy side and is extremely particular about his routines and Nganasan terrifies Nenet because he eats reindeer whereas Nenet doesn't.

All of these quirks/ more lighthearted interpretations and "they are an occupied people under Russia" can coexist. One should not be thrown out for the sake of the other.

I think there's also problem - though I've seen this far less, in making Siberia ocs purely as a middle finger at Russia. As in, you made the OC because you wanted to say loud and proud FUCK RUSSIA which well yeah, fuck Russia, but I highly doubt your interest in this group lies outside of wanting to #own the Russians which is dehumanising in and of itself. At least pretend to care about the history and culture instead of using an entire group of people to make a virtue-signally oc purely to try and upset some Russians.

Anyways yeah Siberia 👍

[unhonestlymirror]

Draw Ukraine beating the shit out of Russia?

Since I've done it already twice, I have a better idea

[dreamingcore]

Based on a conversation with @miyuswhoopsiedoodles Did I actually sign up for the Area 51 Raid to get a hot Alien Girlfriend? Yes Am I actually going there just to go meet my friend? Yes Do I want a hot Alien Girlfriend? Yes Expect a Part 2 of this

[dreamingcore]

I wish I had that Nonbinary button IRL 😭

howdy everyone, i made a picrew! if you’re interested, feel free to check it out. :)

[peonycats]

MISC ART DUMP 5

Haven't posted art in a while wowee!! here's some of my old art I never got around to posting :3

from top to bottom, left to right:

Syria (My Razzle Dazzle entry, he's having a smoke somewhere in the mid 20th century- im really proud of that bg!)

Chukotka (I would like to do more painting detailed portraits in the future hehe)

Hittite Empire (Not sure if I'll keep this design, but I do like the missing eye! I think she def acquired it towards the end of her life)

Egypt, Lebanon (Apparently crocs are quite popular in egypt i hear its quite depressing in cairo and evidently lebanon agrees)

Uzbekistan (I realized I never really put her blue since I associate her with earth tones and wanted to try it :3)

Nivkh, Ainu (Mr ainu makes an appearance again!! did some reading on sakhalin and the nivkh-ainu interactions were so interesting to me)

[irithnova]

For 2 day for femtalia24 @femslashetalia

Theme: Moon

Characters (OCs): Chukotka/Yukaghir

🌕

[dreamingcore]

I forgot to upload this here-

Some ChuCan shading practice...I went overboard with the light lol-

The faces came out meh (and I forgot to add my leg hair) but I love the result ❤

[dreamingcore]

Before you ask: No, Reece DOESN'T have boobs (nor do they wear underwear like that...I actually wear a sort of boxers thing), the bases just came with them and I don't have any programs to remove the boobs. (Even though both are completely flat chested, the boob shading just makes it look like they're there) I'm not happy with EITHER of these bases, but I can't seem to find much to make my self model with.. (the head and the base) But which base should I use? Base 1) a TDA morphable base by kamanotenshi Base 2) a TDA rectangle base that I believe the person deleted the original one because I can't find it nor remember who made it. Please vote!! (or if you have a better base/head, please let me know!!!)

[dreamingcore]

I MADE A PICREW! >:D

I’ve been working to make it as inclusive as possible, but if I forgot anything or you have any suggestions, please shoot me a message!

This picrew has 9 pride flag buttons, but if yours isn’t there, again, please message me, and I will add it!

Please tag me or reblog this post with your creations!! I want to see them!

[dreamingcore]

Hey guys, I’m gonna update my persona (Chukotka) a bit. 

I’m gonna give them a therapy dog because I’m gonna get one when I get older (because I’m constantly struggling with going out in public and speaking overall) I’m not sure if it’ll be Tygrynkeev or some other dog- but that will be something I’m adding.

 Another thing is I’m getting rid of the mask- it was a trope for my personas for a while now and I think it’d be more fitting to give the mask to my Fire Emblem Self Insert- Ace. If anything- Chukotka would most likely wear the dust collector mask because I usually wear those lol 

I’ll make a new reference soon!!! 

[dreamingcore]

Happy Easter everyone! :D

Have a picture of my f/os and I in bunny suits

This picture...took me all day LMAO but the result was worth it

Base

[dreamingcore]

in dreams we enter a world that's entirely our own

[dreamingcore]

Chukotka

Ashe

make yourself or your oc with this and tag your friends. (make sure to read my bio before interacting tho.)

Creator: hexaes on twitter

[dreamingcore]

🍿 Movie night with my best buddy 🍿

[dreamingcore]

I wanted to show the differences between 1P (regular) and 2P ('Another Color') Chukotka... as you can see there's quite a bit. There is A LOT more differences than the ones mentioned, but I don't want to spoil that just yet ;D Also that's Reece's full military outfit (Based on the 25th Army Corps Uniform) !! I plan to do this for the other 1P/2P characters once I introduce them, but for now, let's just have Chukotkas!