#art as history's interpreters

[maked-artyshenanigans]

So, I saw this image on Facebook, and it was supposedly showing what Queen Nefertiti would have looked like in real life:

Now, I thought this AI generated garbage was just truly terrible on a number of levels; first off, she looks wayyyyyy too modern - her makeup is very “Hollywood glamour”, she looks airbrushed and de-aged, and as far as I’m aware, Ancient Egyptians didn’t have mascara, glitter-based eyeshadows and lip gloss. Secondly, her features are exceptionally whitewashed in every sense - this is pretty standard for AI as racial bias is prevalent in feeding AI algorithms, but I genuinely thought a depiction of such a known individual would not exhibit such euro-centric features. Thirdly, the outfit was massively desaturated and didn’t take pigment loss into consideration, and while I *do* like the look of the neck attire, it's not at all accurate (plus, again, AI confusion on the detailing is evident).

So, this inspired me to alter the image on the left to be more accurate based off the sculpture’s features. I looked into Ancient Egyptian makeup and looked at references for kohl eyeliner and clay-based facial pigment (rouge was used on cheeks, charcoal-based powder/paste was used to darken and elongate eyebrows), and I looked at pre-existing images of Nefertiti, both her mummy and other reconstructions. While doing this, I found photos of a 3D scanned sculpture made by scientists at the University of Bristol and chose to collage the neck jewellery over the painting (and edited the lighting and shadows as best as I could).

Something I see a lot of in facial recreations of mummies is maintaining the elongated and skinny facial features as seen on preserved bodies - however, fat, muscle and cartilage shrink/disappear post mortem, regardless of preservation quality; Queen Nefertiti had art created of her in life, and these pieces are invaluable to developing an accurate portrayal of her, whether stylistic or realistic in nature.

And hey, while I don't think my adjustments are perfect (especially the neck area), I *do* believe it is a huge improvement to the original image I chose to work on top of.

I really liked working on this project for the last few days, and I think I may continue to work on it further to perfect it. But, until then, I hope you enjoy!

Remember, likes don't help artists but reblogs do!

[bigfatbreak]

What does Tom think of Emilie after meeting her?

the only Agreste he's not massively disappointed with is Adrien himself. It's a good thing that's the only one he plans on sparing.

[chronurgy]

Gortash designs and builds mechanisms so I imagine he has to be able to sketch fairly decently in order to sketch his projects and designs. And I'm imagining a pile of charcoal sketches of Durge, done over their entire acquaintance, starting out with sketches of them in battle and then slowly becoming more detailed and intimate and as they do, the titles changing from things like "The Bhaalspawn" and "Bhaal's Chosen at Their Bloody Work" to "The Chosen in Contemplation" and finally just Durge's name

[ourstaturestouchtheskies]

The Language of Flowers: An Alphabet of Floral Emblems – published by T. Nelson and Sons (1857) // Maroon – Taylor Swift

[theorahsart]

Incorruptible pt 42

Petion tries to keep Robespierre from going into Autistic-nothing-is-making-sense-panic-mode.

[infernothechaosgod]

after sniffin around for 50th time I accualy found something new

this is how fanny was meant to look in "epic history" from what I get these are some of her concept pages

my personal fav

SHE COULD HAVE BEEN A KNIGHT TOT!!!? she looks so cute in these

[kottaniq]

Hopeless Dictator

[aetherean-alchemist]

Q!Tina returns to the Underworld...

What is home without its thorns and darkness?

After 2 weeks of trusting the process and praying it'll turn out well, I finally finished my painting of Q!Tina! So, this was all done in gouache btw, and man, it was tedious but it was so worth it 😭

If this looks familiar, it's because it was inspired by Proserpine by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (⁠✿⁠^⁠‿⁠^⁠)

[thomaswaynewolf]

[couchtaro]

Theseus

Theseus, scarecrow oath of the watchers paladin and shepherd of souls, belongs to @eaudecrow

Flowers

Asphodel (Asphodelus): the land of spirits. In Greek mythology, a field of asphodels in the underworld was the dwelling place of neutral souls.

Dame Violet (Hesperis matronalis): watchfulness

Black bindweed (Dioscorea communis): support

Boxwood (Buxus): Constancy in friendship. Labyrinthine hedge mazes are traditionally made of boxwood shrubs.

Rattlesnake root ( Prenanthes purpurea): protection, shield, guarded steps. This plant was thought to grant protection from being caught up in a group of supposed to “friends” who are in actuality threatening and dangerous.

Heath (Epacris impressa): solitude

Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana): a spell is on me.

Straw: constancy. Broken straw: broken contract, trouble.

Corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas): good and evil, light and darkness, life and death, fun-loving, avoidance of problems, oblivion. The ancient Greeks believed that corn would not grow without poppies growing nearby. In Greek and Roman myths, poppies were used as offerings to the dead and in modern times are often a motif found on tombstones. Poppies are some of the first flowers to fill holes in disturbed ground, so old battlefields often fill with poppy.

Giant milkweed (Calotropis procera): purposelessness, a monstrosity

Check out the rest of the Pringles Party!

Yancy | Izen | Phaela | “Red”

[miffy-junot]

I still love you!

in memory of Jean-Andoche Junot 🥀💔

(I know this is late but I was very busy)

[laikaru]

Nero as Antigone 🩸

[numerous-bees-in-a-skin-suit]

“We did it. We are a good team”

[anglerflsh]

can you believe he's a history major

[swagglessmoth]

One of the things that I LOVE about Shadows Blinding and marks it as one of my favourite fics ever, is the relationship between Sakumo and Kakashi.

Lots of spoilers (obviously)

In most fics, Kakashi’s feelings towards Sakumo aren’t really explored in a complex way. Mostly they go as far as him missing his father, we see his grief and loneliness deepening with each lose of a loved one over the years, until as an adult he heals and grows to understand his father’s decision and forgiving him. Which is completely okay! I love those fics, I love the progress as we see Kakashi healing over time. But most that I’ve seen don’t usually dwell into Sakumo’s suicide that much and the heavy impact it would have on a child at that age, that would later follow them to adulthood. Choosing instead to focus on the impact either team Minato or team 7 had on his life (which, fair, it is A LOT, but you get my point).

In Pesto’s (author) interpretation, things go a bit differently: Kakashi does miss his father, but at the same time he still deeply resents him for what he did, just like he did when he was a kid and trying to not be like his father. Except he hasn’t exactly grown out of this bitterness. For scarring him for life and leaving him alone at such a young age; for sending him to what’s essentially a cult, leaving him trapped with a family he’s not familiar with; for leaving such a deep mark, that even if he tries to escape him and the clan, they’re in every little part of his life. Such as his most signature quality, his mask, only existing because Kakashi reminded Sakumo of his brother. He hates all of this.

This Kakashi never healed from what happened, so caught up in all the deaths happening around him that he never really had time to even process it. He doesn’t even allow himself to miss his father because of all this resentment, and that’s not something that just goes away. This is why I love his relationship with Kosuke, the way Kakashi wishes he’d allowed himself to miss his father despite what he did like Kosuke does. (OH AND THAT SCENE THEY HAD AT THE END. KOSUKE MISSING KAKASHI IN SPITE OF THAT HE DID, LIKE HE MISSES HIS FATHER 😭😭😭😭😭 OUGHH IT’S SO SADD ❤️‍🩹🥀⛓️🚬🐺)

That sense of hate is engraved in him, and it is amplified by the fact that Sakumo giving him that seal essentially made him loose everything he’s known and loved once again. His whole world is destroyed, the people he loved have forgotten about him (also they are dead) (and let’s not even mention Obito). All this time he’s had his team as a source of light at the end of the tunnel, something to fight for. But he’s lost that, and with his clan that’s basically a cult and that wrinkly bitch Nana running around ruining everything, he really has nowhere to go. That one split-second decision, even if done in good faith, ruined his life.

«Tou-san fucked up» indeed (or however the quote went I don’t wanna look it up)

YOOO THAT’S WHY THE SEQUEL’S GONNA BE FIREE 🔥 🔥🔥🔥 Kakashi expecting to come back to a wasteland and being prepared to start digging graves for his dead friends (everyone bro) and instead finding an alternate-timeline Sakumo. We’re getting that deeply awkward and uncomfortable father-son bonding YEAHH 💪💪

Oh and don’t even get me started on this new timeline bro. How baby Ino appearing in the epilogue implies that this is at a point in time shortly after what would’ve been the Kyubi attack (we don’t know how Kannabi went so idk if it even happened) Rin and Obito would be around 14, 16 max. And Minato and Kushina would be around 22-24. Kakashi here is like 30, he is NOT getting his team back. And that’s without counting that with Kakashi dying by birth on this universe, there would be another kid in his place. Knowing that no other kid their age was jounin at the time, they might’ve not even been assigned for the Kannabi Bridge mission or at least done it with Minato, which already elevates their chances of survival.

He might not even get to meet team 7 personally. They’re babies rn and he’s a complete stranger to the village, a stranger on Kage level might I add (I don’t think it’s too far fetched to say that, he’s VERY powerful now, and he did become the sixth hokage without this power-up so 🤷‍♂️). They’re NOT letting him near the babies bro ❌😿

He’s alone with his father (whom he kind of hates and doesn’t know) in a world that doesn’t know him AT ALL. We have all the time in the world for group therapy, Kakashi’s gonna be demanding ANSWERS. Or maybe he’ll say “fuck this” and become a kind-of-missing-nin-but-not-really-bc-he’s-not-from-THIS-Konoha that stalks the village to make sure his loved ones don’t die this time. Yeah, I could see that happening tbh.

Idk I’m just ranting, this is gonna be messy and I’ll love every second of it 💞

[theorahsart]

Incorruptible pt 22

Robespierre, maybe for just a short span of time, can feel like he belongs somewhere <3