#at which point im pricing out other artists

[aaasherr]

a problem that i have is that i often enjoy the process of doing a craft more than i enjoy having the final product of it, which obviously leads to not finishing projects but it also means i have a bunch of projects i have actually finished but have nothing to do with. theyre just sitting there taking up space. but its not like i can just sell a finished diamond painting of van goh's starry night

[hotvintagepoll]

Peter Lorre (The Maltese Falcon, Arsenic and Old Lace, Casablanca)—to me he DEFINES scrungle hes the first person i think of every time the term comes up! i want to fold him up like a paper accordion and put him in my pocket. guy that spawned a million voice artists and impersonators. they made a ghost version of him for halloween cereal staple boo berry. bewitched by his nervous mania and tooth gap <3 (for the purposes of propaganda im linking a photo from his extremely short appearance in muscle beach party bc ive been obsessed w it for years and i couldnt find any video for it :/ anyway imagine youre frankie avalon spending the whole movie battling a bodybuilder faction thats taking over your beach and your girl and then you find out this fucking guy is their mastermind mystery leader and hes stronger than all the bodybuilders combined. like Huh. What.)

Tony Randall (Lover Come Back, Pillow Talk)—he's SO TIRED he's three-wheeling ALL THE TIME on rock and doris's shenanigans and he is always SMALL. PATHETIC. INHERENTLY FILLED WITH ENNUI. i feel like all these 60s comedies are very Straight Laced and Heterosexual and yet somehow tony randall is always there having the worst day ever.

This is round 1 of the contest. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. If you're confused on what a scrungle is, or any of the rules of the contest, click here.

[additional submitted propaganda + scrungly videos under the cut]

Peter Lorre

he's pretty much the archetype of the scrungly little guy. the blueprint. the example by which all other scrungly little guys are judged

The perfect sniveling character actor, “scrungly” is the first word that comes to mind when I think of him.

The entire point of his iconic role in Casablanca (apart from introducing the central plot mcguffin) was to be LITTLE and SCRUNGLY to make Bogie look even cooler. And Maggot in Corpse Bride - the littlest scrungliest guy in that film - was a parody of him.

I think Arsenic and Old Lace is his quintessential "scrungly" performance. He's so put-upon and tired...all he wants is sleep and some schnapps! I love the way his shoulders fall slowly when he thinks he's caught (he looks like a sad puppy!), only to gleefully sprint out the door when he realizes how dumb those police officers are.

Between his big eyes, wheezy laugh, short stature, and expressive faces, Peter Lorre achieved icon status as the scrungliest, littlest guy in Hollywood. His scrungly little guy energy was often contrasted with the more typical masculinity of the leading man, but whether this contrast was meant to make him seem especially sinister, comedic, or pathetic, it always left an unforgettable impression!

I'm sure somebody else has already submitted him (if not then ???) but he's a cute kind of scrungly little guy. He's got a distinctive nasal voice with an accent that is instantly recognizable and often imitated. His later horror movies are so much fun, especially when he's playing off of Vincent Price. He's so good at being unhinged, creepy, or manic, but also pathetic and sympathetic.

Classic scrungly hollywood golden age little guy who was friends with Humphrey Bogart and still played some of the wettest most sniveling characters ever committed to celluloid (complimentary) there is a deep despair and darkness in many of his characters that enhances his scrungly

To be clear, I am one of those people who will argue that Lorre is one of the most underrated film actors, but the POINT is that he's also just a scrungly delight. A delightfully pocket-sized man. Somehow endearing even when he is being actively amoral (see esp. Casablanca. "I found myself much more reasonable!") The faces he makes while doing the Russian cossack dance with a butter knife between his teeth in Silk Stockings make me laugh just thinking about them.

Wikipedia described his typical characters as "timidly devious", lots of weird little villains and evil sidekicks that are pretty horrifying but still manage to be sort of pathetic and the very definition of "poor little meow meow". His look and voice and mannerisms are so iconic they're still imitated

Cartoons for the next century have and will continue to include Peter Lorre-esque characters when needed to up the scrunge factor (see Bugs Bunny and so many more).

[editor's note on below link: I'm not actually sure how many of these characters are directly influenced by Peter Lorre, so take with a grain of salt. tw for suicide.]

The poster boy for Scrungly. Everyone who wants to draw a scrungly guy draws Peter Lorre. Gomez Addams of The Addams Family was based on him

Tony Randall

"you had everything going for you! poverty!! squalor!!!!" "girls again!!! what's this obSESSion you have with giRLS???"

[crumblinggothicarchitecture]

Swift definitely had a chance to buy her masters just not for the price she wanted. At first she said she didn't know about selling and was caught off guard with this information, but former owner of the label said she did get message about it prior to selling happening, plus her father is/was share holder in that company, so he had to be informed about it. So we already know she's not saying the truth. Most likely she wanted to buy just her masters, but Borchetta did tied deal of label+masters, for which he cannot be really blamed, it makes sense for him to sell it like that, because it gives him better options and price.

Also artists not owning their masters, not being able to buy their masters, someone else buying their masters for profit - those are literally industry standards. For example in the 80s Michael Jackson bought ATV label with entire The Beatles' catalogue actually thanks to McCartney's advice. He bought it for $47.5 million, sold half in the 90s for $95 million and after his death the other half was sold for $750 million. Since buying this deal was basically funding his very expensive lifestyle. Right now just the catalogue of The Beatles is estimated to be worth about $1 billion. It's just business. By buying Big Machine with Swift's masters Scott Brown didn't do anything special or nefarious as Swift tried to portay this. He was just making a deal and soon after sold it again for profit, just that.

Swift felt slighted for not getting what she wanted the way she wanted and figured out that from capitalistic point of view it is a good situation to once again pull out victim card and weaponize her cult fanbase against her "opponents" and against itself's wallets as well, since she knows they're gonna buy anything and everything from her even without playing victim. Lies and greed, pure capitalism.

Yep. 100% agree- especially with that last part. She wants so bad to have the world view her as an innocent victim of circumstances.

It makes no fucking sense. Frankly, she's not stupid, even though I don't believe her to be a creative genius, I admit she is a smart businesswoman. (not an ethical one- though).

I just don't understand how she fools the whole world into thinking she didn't know the deal was going down, and that she was never approached with an offer to buy her own catalouge.

First of all, of course they would approach her- the business world is about money, and anyone doing business with Swift knows she has a lot of money. So, how is it logical to assume they didn't even offer her a chance to purchase the music?

She clearly ran with the narrative that they somehow cheated her out of her own rightful property, because it's the point of view that enables her to rally the fan based against the mean corporate overlords. She carefully crafted it all to look like a personal attack on her, and her music, by playing the "Im just a girl who didn't know any better and got overlooked by the sleazy businessman" card. She knows this will land on people's heartstrings because- lots of people do get screwed over by businessmen. However, those people are not Taylor Swift who has decades of experience- a world-renowned reputation, and God knows how many people working for her. She has all the power she could ever want- and yet wants to make herself look powerless.

It begs the question, why? She requires the image of powerlessness in order to ratify her fanbase into trying to protect her.

Truly- you said it- She wants to make it look like Scott was doing something nefarious, when, in fact, he was just doing his job. Music Industry professionals engaging in multi-million-dollar business deals over some of the most popular music in the world? Color me shocked and appalled.

It's so disingenuous of her to paint the situation like this especially when considering her own economic and social power against that of the other players in this drama.

Now we have to deal with her re-records, which, honestly, some of those "from the vault" tracks should have stayed in the vault.

[artharakka]

Are you okay with people using, reposting or editing your art with proper credits? :3

(I'm sorry if this has been asked, I can't find anything mentioning this!)

Thank you for asking 🧡

Hmmm I think it depends a bit of the case? I think you here have good intentions, but since "using" is very broad term I'm going to answer kind of broadly here and not just yes/no in case someone else would refer to this ask at another context.

So, all of my works are copyrighted under Finnish/EEA copyright laws. The copyright is created and valid automatically from the moment of creation of the art piece (and it also includes sketches I've posted on Patreon, for example). My answers are based on those copyright laws and on my personal preferences within those.

(under cut as this got long)

USING: I'm ok with most personal use. That is, for example, printing out a single image for personal use or using a picture on your blog header or as personal playlist (spotify etc) cover art AS LONG as it is not a piece commissioned by someone else.

If you own a print you have ordered from me, you have also right to display it publicly (i.e. posting a photo of it). Owning a print doesn't however mean that you get right to print more copies for sale.

I'm not ok with my art used in buyable products or copies of my art sold by others than those I've individually authorized. I have copyright even to commissioned pieces, so even those cannot be used in products without my consent. If you'd like to use my art on products/covers or otherwise do some kind of collaboration, send me an email at artharakka(at)gmail.com and we can discuss prices and royalties.

REPOSTING (public display): Usually I'd say I prefer people reblogging (through the little arrows at the bottom of the post) rather than reposting it (meaning making your own original post with it). If you'd like to post it on other social media sites besides tumblr, I do have Instagram (also @ artharakka) where I post my art and I'd prefer if no new art of mine ends up on twitter/x/whatever.

However, if you'd like to do a collab of my art or with my art, to do reference/shoutout post or a moodboard for your characters etc., I'm ok with reposting as long as I'm mentioned as the artist. Though here you are also bound by the laws' moral obligations which means no putting my art "in context that could be offensive to the artist" (very broad and case by case point but I bet mocking me is not your intention)

I'm also ok with using my art in noncommercial contexts i.e. as figures in articles or school projects.

EDITING: I'm ok with most edits, again, as long as it isn't offensive to me. (And offensive meaning mostly not aiming to mock me or use in contexts that would show me in bad light, but also don't draw smut of my characters without asking). Im ok with, for example, removing a background from some piece, but in that case you have to remember that I still own the copyright. If the edit / modification of the idea is original enough, it might become it's own piece with own copyrights (again, I don't own themes or ideas and sometimes I also borrow compositions/themes from older art).

TLDR: I'm ok with most things not offensive and that you don't aim to earn money with. Credit is welcome and I prefer as direct link as you can provide. Commissioned pieces are off limits without the commissioner's consent.

For individual case questions you can send me message, email or another ask!

[mayakern]

thank you for the advice on pins ! i am in the process of researching how to set up my shop and i have a couple more questions if you don't mind- at what stage did you feel it was time to open your shop, follower-wise? did it take a long time to become profitable ? i saw you go through a manufacturer for your prints, is it because making them is too expensive? i see you don't make stickers, is there a reason? is a laser cutting machine worth it when debuting ? or superfluous? what did you use to design your website (it's very pretty btw)? do you have advice on getting people interested in checking it out?

how does one deal with sales being down, mentally, and how to be patient in the beginning?

does managing orders require a lot of organization? is a label maker worth the time it saves? in general, do you recomment buying your own machines (printer, or button maker) or stick with manufacturers? also, do you have advice on reconcialiting it with anticapitalism because im feeling conflicted about outsourcing labor and adding products to this world... is setting up shopify very hard ? are taxes a hassle ? sorry if it's a lot, i have trouble wrapping my head around every step i'll have to do and want to avoid beginner mistakes if i can. if you have any other advice and traps to avoid i'd be very grateful

dude this is SO many questions.

the short answer is: everything is hard and takes work.

there is no “right” time to start a shop or start selling stuff. you just kind of do it and hope. i opened mine in college (around 2012 or 2013) because i had already made some merch for a local convention and i wanted to sell the leftovers. my store didn’t become viable as a full time job until around 2017—it was a means to subsidize the income i had from working as a freelance artist.

also i never went into debt for the store so there was never a moment when my store “became profitable.” unless you’re willing to go into debt for this (not something i’d recommend), it’s a slow slog to get to a point where you can afford to sell items with a higher price point at a high enough volume that it is viable as a full career. inventory costs money and the more profitable items cost more money. it takes a lot of time and work and momentum to make this your whole job.

buying your own equipment is only worth it if you plan to use that equipment for multiple years to get a good return on investment.

however a label printer is almost always worth it, but i wouldn’t buy one until you’re getting at least 20 orders a month.

low price point items like buttons and stickers can be good to start out (i used to sell both) but at a certain point, unless you’re selling a massive amount of them there is a limit to how profitable a $3 item can be.

managing a store takes an amount of work/organization that is proportional to the number of products you have/sell. i will say i was an absolute disaster at this when i handled everything myself, which is why the store only became viable as a full time job once devin joined me.

i use squarespace for my portfolio site and shopify for the store. they’re relatively hassle free.

if you’re making most of your income from store or freelance work, find a local CPA to help you do taxes. also keep a running spreadsheet for all your expenses and income. separate your expenses into groups based on the different types of deductions (i.e. office equipment, travel, etc.) and update that spreadsheet, at minimum, once a month. then taxes are easy.

as far as anticapitalist mindset goes… do your due diligence when it comes to sussing out the manufacturers/companies you work with and try to create thoughtfully.

anyway next time you ask for advice please just pick like 3 questions at a time. this was… a lot.

[starrygalazy]

There's been a massive amount of OW hate (most of which is just a ton of angry people who won't let go of the whole PvE issue and stuff Blizzard at this point has no control over at this point in time), but it's OW Dev Appreciation Day so I wanna talk abt my favorite things about the Overwatch franchise and my feelings about most everything (I kindly ask for no hate or saying why the company/game/devs suck)

The devs have been working on Overwatch since 2016, and I genuinely have never loved a game and it's characters more. They were all their own character with awesome kits, great personalities, fantastic skins, and more. The game modes are smart and well thought-out, and balances are constantly being made to adjust the characters and make them fun for all. The devs are constantly trying new things with the characters to make them as fun as possible. They're also constantly working on lore, relationships, voice lines, maps, game modes, skins, characters, and a ton more. They've been doing this for close to a decade, and even when they took a break on making new content for the game, it was to develop Overwatch 2.

Overwatch 2 in its own right is my favorite game ever and I doubt I can find anything to top it. There's so much crammed into the game that at least once a week I find a feature or interaction I didn't know about even since launch. Im playing with people who are having as much fun as me and making cute little friendships. And don't even get me STARTED on PvE. I was kicking my feet screaming and laughing (and annoying the shit out of my brother bc I was so excited) as I played through the missions. Every little bit of it was so fun and, personally, 100% worth the 15 dollars. I mean, we got 3, THREE, missions with 4 difficulties, multiple heroes, and a shit ton of voice lines to discover for less than the price of some of the skins. Knowing Blizzard, that's amazing. There's a ton of stuff to discover in all of them. They distribute it pretty evenly throughout all the characters too, so none are getting completely neglected and all of them have unique lore.

All that being said.

Is Overwatch 2 a flawed game? Oh yeah. Is Blizzard a very flawed company? Oh yeah. Some of the prices and bundles are definitely ridiculous in price. There's a lot of issues, especially within the company and being greedy for money and harrassment. It's not like Overwatch 1.

But isn't that kinda the point?

It's a whole new game. If they wanted to keep it as Overwatch 1 they would of. Comparing the two, obviously Overwatch 1 comes out on top. But that's why it's pointless to hold Overwatch 2 to those standards, you literally can't. But in its own right, in its own category, Overwatch 2 really isn't as bad as people make it out to be. To a new player or someone somewhat easy to satisfy (like me), it's crazy addicting and fun.

I could say so much more, but it's bound to start a debate and I don't have the energy to write it all down. But personally, I love the game. I hate what angry, immature people are doing to it just bc they didn't get what they expected (like seriously, at least be grateful you got SOME kind of PvE), especially all the steam reviews about the nsfw artists doing more than the devs. They're literally trying to make money just like Blizzard. They're trying to achieve the same means: get money by making something others can have fun with.

In the grand scheme of things, the flaws are manageable and sort of overexaggerated. I have a blast playing the game and so do so many people other than the people spamming negative reviews on Steam (Seriously, you're taking time out of your day to do that?).

So, a big thanks to Overwatch Devs. Overwatch 2 in its own right is super fun and enjoyable, and even if it's expensive people can have fun with or without spending money. Thanks for actually giving us PvE and new systems to make the game unique. Thanks for the content to come and the content we have.

My hat's off to the devs who work hard and want to make this the best game it can be. There's flaws, but they're handling all the recent events and hate very well, and working on their ability to the best of their ability. That's not something everyone can do so easily.

[souldivide]

art vent, kind of makes me look like a shallow person

FOR clarification i'm 20. turning 21 in two months. yippee! what an eye opener

the point of trying to profit your art, especially using your art to help fund for survival since you were 11 - you realize that while you want to improve your art for yourself, you're so consciously aware of what parts would appeal to strangers who see your art.

because you don't want to appeal to others to enjoy your art, you want to appeal to others to garner money and funds. i've ebegged on this site for almost a decade, on so many different accounts and even used my art as much as i could to get even more money. to pay bills, to pay for food, to help my mother in medical emergencies. since i was only 11 years old, by the way. a lot of the time, while it is a huge part of my reason to keep improving -- i don't actually think of reasons such as improving my art because 'i want to go to college' 'i want to be better' as much as my main reason being: i want this to sell to people.

that being said, my art style is something im so happy with right now for myself. but i think like. you have to really make your art your signature. that way, people will want to buy what you can give them. but algorithm is just, so hard to fight with now. the heartbreaking part is that, even if i'm at my 'peak' in art.

and my art has always been my one consistent interest, thats never faded. it's apart of my daily life. my routine, my medicine, my hobby, my enjoyment. i need this to live in many different ways. whether it be for providing my funds via commissions, coping art for trauma, or generally to express my happiness for things in my head, etc. i need this hobby or i will die. its the one skill ive had my entire life thats stuck, and its something i'm *good* at. and i've kept up with it to this day.

my art looks consistently good. flattering. i would say at some points it feels.. professional, sometimes. i am consistently proud and satisfied with my art and haven't struggled on pieces as much as i used to several years ago. it took me 2 months to come up with illustrations. now ive been pumping them out with ease. commissions are so much faster. quicker. ive really upgraded. i'm efficient, quick, and my stylization journey has been amazing.

yet..

this has been the hardest i've ever fucking struggled to make money, ever. since i was 11 years old. i've never.. had so much difficulty. i feel spoiled, honestly, when i know so many other artists struggle filling commissions too. but i've always had good fortune, i guess. good luck. but not since the year began. it's been so hard to fill in requests, so hard to fill slots. even when my prices are cheaper, it's still so hard. which is crazy, because 2 years ago i was consistently filling slots like crazy. i had consistent income, for the most part. i was able to help my family, avoid eviction, pay for water, clothes, food. emergencies like car wrecks, medical stuff -- god, its insane how much my art has helped me. it's scary. to think about what woulld happen if i didnt have this skill.

back then, like my art looked like this in 2021.

i look back and i wonder. this is fine, its definitely my art style. but how did i makee so much money off of stuff like this? so much more than i do now? i still draw fanart, and my art's been getting better. i think its honestly just bad luck, or maybe algorithm has flopped a lot of my stuff. either way, it's sort of humbling. Extremely humbling, that even with all this improvement - it still may not be enough to get me anywhere. i've never struggled before, trying to open commissions even when ive always focused on original content primarily. i know its hard to get popularity when you only draw ocs, but ive been fine for the most part. getting by, until lately.

i think i'll just have to keep working harder. see what people enjoy, but its just really ego crushingi think. And i could care less about popularity or anything. i think the really awful part is that im just stressed all the time about how i can keep making money off of this when its been so hard to even fill slots, let alone gaining peoples interests. Is this competition related? is this just a shit time for artists? am i just flopping. Who knows.. ohwell. ill survive

[eldritchmochi]

yeah I am pretty young lmao, I'll spare you from another playlist by just naming some artists that gave me inspiration for god knows at some point

first off you mentioned Hozier, which I kinda only mention because he released a new album recently. Arctic Monkeys and Father John Misty are kinda in the same boat as him. More like the same lake.

The Amazing Devil and The Oh Hellos never fail to give me some sort of D&D/character inspiration. Ghost does?? something??? as well with characters, but specific ones. Same with Steam Powered Giraffe.

other than that, Library Magic by The Head And The Heart is very Wizard, along with The Magician by Andy Shauf. and because I just can't go without mentioning it, Queen is my favorite band. :)

that's all! with any luck it'll end up being useful somehow lol

hozier is one of those artists who i dont listen to on purpose like ever i dont thinki could name a single song of his with confidence BUT i know his voice starkly as one i really lusted after pre-t. i saw he just dropped a new album and i HAVE to give it a listen to especially the video of sssomething or other (full album mv??? pLEASE) because it stars domnall gleeson and i am still horny for that man even after all these years (he's the actor for hux for context lmao)

queen is also one of my long time favs, though definitely a band i dont know in and out the way i do with a lot of more modern punk bands lmao. freddie has and always will be Gender (god the video for i want to break free was IT for me in like 8th grade right around when i came out)

ive seen spg live before!! they are *great* experience even if you're not deep into the lore (i had friends who were big lore fans). i have heard precisely One And A Half Ghost Songs and im keeping it that way on purpose because its just sooooooo funny that im not into them because aesthetically they are way up my alley (and one of my sibs, a number of irl buddies, and MANY artists i follow are all nuts for them)

ive some passing familiarity with the artic monkeys, enough that i can pick out a number of their more popular songs on the radio even if i cant name them (i am garbage at song titles tho so)

i'll have to check out the rest, especially good Wizards Songs 👀

in response!! further things to check out:

FUNKY.FM - playlist by alexmoukala who is one of my FAVOURITE video game composers. i know him primarily through twitter where he posts snippets of remixed or reimagined video game music... but FUNKY (this one is particularly relevant to u based of ur playlist shared w me)

ye old spooky club 1995 - playlist by unnerving governess who i am 90% sure is gothic charmschool. i know i got the link thru her but i thiiink she also made it (another playlist that may vibe w u based off your playlist)

creature feature, especially the album "the greatest show unearthed" (ookey spooky rock with a lot of vincent price era horror camp and a lot of really impressive technical skill. i want it to be halloween damnit)

the mind electric by the miracle musical (behold, the essence of the inside of my brain but in tangible form. it is. incredibly ominous. do recommend headphones for max goosebumps (includes a lot of records played backwards type sounds and other distortions))

dance monkey by tones and i (one of my big essek songs since i get a lot of that vibe where he's beholden to his station for *so much* that its a disservice to his growth as a person)

bottom is a rock by mother mother (my m9 as a whole song. the chorus has a line for each of them i stg and if i could reliably draw i would do an old school lyricstuck to it)

my verdict on ur playlist btw is that it is very solid and cohesive a+, but *just* to the left of my tastes, largely because a lot of it skews 70s/80s which just by nature of the beast lacks the bass i like (because it was mixed entirely different compared to modern music, which is better suited for sounding big when played digitally through smaller speakers. ive heard some of these bands on big sound systems and theyre MUCH more in line with my tastes then lmao)

[jolapeno]

Hey so i wanted to reach out and say that your writing is so so good and in depth that it just mesmerizes me, it's like a poetry and your grasp of ghost's characters made me fall in love with the character even more.

I wanted to ask: do you think he has attachment issues and not just in a romantic sense but all around? the way you convey him really speaks volumes to me as he's someone that can love someone but never properly expressing it, at least not through words, also it's probably not important since call of duty is not at all about any of this but it's really nice seeing writers explore and imagine characters in a different light . To me he just seems like the type of person that ultimately respects and loves his s/o but will require his own space aswell and the kind of vibe is especially if it's soldiers we talk about, people loving each other but never fully being able to be together. Idk im rambling but i think he's a good character people can explore in fics and give him different stories. Regardless, lovely work and I'd love to see what you think (if you want to ofc!)

aww thank you so much, that's so sweet of you.

i feeeeeel like this is a very loaded question, and I'm going to do my *best* at answering, but i feel i should preface this by saying: this is entirely my opinion, lots of other writers, artists, fans, cod players etc will have their own, but this is mine.

yes. i think he has a lot of issues and attachment issues is one of them.

it's expected though, with the trauma he has been through, the way he has to compartmentalise not just the things he's seen but the things he has to do, is super understandable. what will make the romantic side even more difficult for him is because he doesn't know what box to put his romantic partner in? especially if he meets them through his job. i think he likes order and that just seems messy and complex and out of his very sleep-deprived brain's capacity.

but, do i think he's very much capable of love? yes. will it be conventional or like the 'standard' most expect or see in movies, no.

but it'll be in the little things.

he's deffo not someone i imagine will find romance easy, and acts of service is deffo something he'll find the easiest. for example, him showing up for 'rain', and needing to check in on her, in my opinion, is what he can comfortably manage and articulate. him showing up for someone, him taking matters into his own hands to make someone's day a little better? is very much him. he will show it with actions, big or small. whereas rain, who also has acts of service (i kinda imagine from friends I have in the military-sphere that acts of service is a big one), is someone who wants to take care of someone, she finds comfort easy and makes them food, will get them a blanket, make them a bed etc. it's instinctive for her to show and easy for her to also show affection, physical touch, and while lots of people would overlook them, i imagine for him, even the small ones, feel really freaking huge.

for your point/question of loving someone but not being able to be fully with them, in my head, he's 'been' with people, but he's not really been with people, if you get me. i can imagine it feels a lot to let them in, and for them to put up with. which is why i keep tending to lean towards people from the military, as it's one less hurdle for him to have to try and get around. it's not that i think it'll be impossible, but it'll take so much work and time, and he doesn't have a lot. even with people he does meet in the military, there's the whole fear that if they get too close, they'll get hurt, either because of him or by him as he’s not sure what he can give someone.

do i think he's fearful of people seeing the real him? a little, but i think it's more that he'd just rather not form attachments because he can compartmentalise that better. it's easier. less hassle. because he does trust some people, even before this particular game, if we think back to price and him greeting him when he takes off his mask.

anyway, somewhat steering back to the initial question and using rain x ghost as an example, i don't think they'd struggle to show each other they care/love one another, but i think they'd struggle with finding a dynamic that works. ghost is used to being solo, working alone, being alone. he's already let a team in, and bonded in his own way, but loving someone is inviting them past that threshold a bit more. it's different. he'll struggle with it because he's not sure how to be without an action, and sometimes one isn't always needed. him showing up, when there's nothing wrong, doesn't have the same impact as it does when something is, so for rain, him being there may not seem a lot, but for him its huge.

for rain, the dynamic of him giving her orders, maybe benching her, will drive her mad because, irrespective of her feelings, she has a point to prove, and she'll worry (constantly, knowing the complex anxious issues i give my readers) and want to show him nothing has changed. even if even he can tell it has. she'd also likely whittle about the fact that it has changed, and she doesn't want it to, because she thinks he needs it to not look like it has. not realising that he doesn't make decisions lightly, he expected things to shift/change/evolve. this is a man who thinks through everything, and perfectly executes what he's told to do.

so, i think they'll both need space. they'll also need to find a rhythm, and they'll both find they do things for the other without making a song and dance about it. he might make her a drink because she looks like she needs it; she might persuade soap to go for a walk with her, so ghost can have time alone. he might show up when her plane lands or find her to be there in case she needs something; she might find him painkillers and leave them on his pillow because she knows he isn't sleeping and that he gets headaches when he doesn't.

i'm not sure i've answered your question with facts, more ideas and headcanons i guess, but this is how I've shaped him. and that's how we ended up with the latest piece, and probably helen.simon because in both of those worlds, he's trying to wrap his head around 'what it all means'. i think he has a cargo plane full of things to work through, but i also think the people i write him with tend to know that without him verbalising it, and allow him the time/patience he needs to shift through that.

but yeah, there we go. one very long answer to a question I'm still not sure I've answered. sorry, anon.

[csvent-2]

(terraliens / species gen)

(also sorry for the long post, i have a lot of thoughts with this)

is it just me or are closed species specifically made to be inaccessible to newcomers? Terraliens is my first closed species, ive been in it for 2 weeks (when the species was only 2 weeks old) and while there have been a huge ton of adopt opportunities but theyre all:

a.) Raffles, which is a problem because in such a big server your chances are so close to 0 you might as well not play at all, preclaim raffles included

b.) Auctions, which easily spike to $200-$300+. if you dont wanna drop a band on the artist's new NFT youre out of luck, and if you ever say anything about it you get dogpiled because "artists deserve to get paid for their work." im not saying artists shouldnt get paid, but i dont think its justifiable to constantly have these insanely high price points when you advertise your closed species as newcomer friendly and say that if people dont want to spend any money, they dont have to, that MYOs are totally free (except theyre raffles and you have better luck of getting struck by lightning than actually getting one) its unfair and tbh kinda shitty to say "if you arent willing to pay artists for their work then you dont deserve art" when with a lot of people thats not the case, they want to participate but physically do not have the budget for a $500-$700 adopt

c.) OTAs, which are so unobtainable its not even funny. How can it be fair for newcomers when people are allowed to offer fursuit commissions under OTAs? not to mention that if someone is totally new to closed species they probably wont have any other cs characters to offer, which is what most people usually want. oh great, another closed species to join, try to actively participate in, and get ignored in all so you can have an inkling of a chance at getting a character you actually want I think there should be some OTAs that have restrictions to what type of art is allowed, like maybe a fullbody w/ background only OTA or an icon only OTA so everyone can actually have a shot. though to be honest, i don't think OTAs will ever be fair in big servers. theres too far of skill gaps and people with actual businesses will always win (not throwing shade, just stating the truth) ive seen people suggest a level system which i think could work a lot better, you could survey users on things like how new they are to cs, what they self evaluate their art skill to be, and how much money they wanna spend and then divide members up that way, give them roles based on their level, and have level-specific adopts and such so everyone could get a chance. though i can see this getting abused to give all the level 1s the shitty adopts nobody wants

my point is, lots of people in the terraliens server act like its this super FTO and newcomer-friendly place, but from what ive seen thats really not the case. granted, its the only closed species im in so it might be this cs heaven compared to others, but this is just my personal observations

genuinely want other people's input on this, its something that bothers me a lot

A lot of species are very inaccessible unfortunately. It’s why they become popular. Because if you have one, it becomes a status symbol.

[iamnotawomanimagod]

I really liked the halsey movie, I went into it with a grain of salt as the only other album movies I've seen was fall out boys and Melanie's, so I kinda expected ya know, weirdness and not so perfect acting lol, and im sure as halsey has taken up other acting projects they've heard the criticism and have done some work (I still haven't seen americana yet and I'm also pretty excited for maxxxine, also as someone who hasn't even seen X or pearl yet)

But I feel like the movie itself was based around a lot of halseys experiences with pregnancy, I fucking loved what you might call the "impregnation" scene, idk, something something, self induced body horror.

I don't know if it was worth the 12 bucks on amazon, but my sister bought it for me lol. Fall out boys movie was free on YouTube and also had some boobs, but maybe 12 bucks is the price you pay for imax and full frontal nudity from the artist themselves. I know nudity is more so relevant for ratings but for some reason my brain is correlating that with the cost lmfao

I really liked it too! I was a bit apprehensive, just because it was such a huge undertaking. I'd also seen Melanie's movie at that point, and of course jumped on the Lemonade train with Beyonce as soon as I could. Janelle Monae did a movie for their album Dirty Computer, too (which I adored.) So I was prepared for the whole "concept album film" thing, and I figured since Halsey already makes very cinematic music, they had a good chance of making a really cool film.

And I think IICHLIWP is a great film! I really loved the whole storyline about Lila and her pregnancy and how that was tied to her royalty. All the little hints and glimpses about the "Lilith" character, especially whenever Lila saw her in the mirror - it just made for a really cool kind of "legend" style story, when it all ends with Lila dying and Lilith coming to life. I think it gave Halsey a chance to work through their own complicated feelings about motherhood, pregnancy, and the way these things are both incredibly liberating and horrifying and limiting all at once. It's also just a very visually interesting film and I love the costumes and the makeup. (And hey, shoutout to Halsey's pregnancy titties, they looked so good 😂😂)

I will agree though with some of the criticism H has gotten around their acting. I think they're an incredible artist - they can paint, sing, dance, create incredible visual worlds, do gorgeous makeup, write beautiful poetry... it's probably okay that they aren't also the most talented actor in the world, lol. I tend to think that she's really good with like, facial expressions and body language, but something about her line reads often comes across as just a little stilted to me.

That being said, I also haven't seen her in Americana. And they were clearly talented enough to land a role in Maxxxine, which is a pretty big deal. Maybe she's grown and worked on it, like you said.

All in all I'm curious to see what she'll do as an actor. And I'm always excited about their music videos and the other visual/film mediums she does for their albums. I feel like she's already so great at so many things, and even if I end up being underwhelmed by her acting, I'll have a million more ways she's gonna impress me to enjoy. <3

[drzootsuit]

Hi, I saw ur comment on the AI post while combing thru the notes. I’ve been seeing a lot of gorgeous architectural images come up in my feed and I’m discovering a lot of it is done with AI. I remain on the fence abt whether it’s cool or not, or whether to use it, bc im uneducated on what the ramifications could be. Do u think if we didn’t live in a capitalistic shitworld where artists didn’t have sell their creativity and their labor to live, that AI would still hinder or push out human creative expression? Is it’s shittiness inherent or is it just bad under these circumstances?

This is actually a really good question, and a very worthwhile chain of thought. While I endeavor to be thoughtful it's all too easy for my frothy-self to descend to loom smashing, so this is an angle worth considering. My opinion on things is heavily colored by my upbringing. It may sound pretentious, but for various reasons, I consider 'artist' as one of my cultural designations. For those who have taken sociology 101, I consider it one of my inherent status' rather than an ascribed status. Call it what you want, but for me, it's in my bones.

My problems with AI artwork are slightly hysterical at points as a result, but let's start with the most sensible note that you bring forth; the fact that we are within the system we are.

Our current form of capitalism is based around an eternal cancerous expansion of profit, and if one follows certain industries, (in my case, the games industry) one can easily see the problems with always trying to grow bigger in a finite world. Companies firing whole development teams right before shipping so that they don't have to pay them for actually completing the project, and other such acts of corporate autocannibalism are the signs of an animal that is nearing the cliff edge and begun choosing which of its own internal organs it can claw out in order to make itself lighter.

Art has always been at war with money. Making art requires money, but the people that control money tend not to understand art. This is obviously a gross tribalistic simplification, but the point is that the two need each other, can achieve great things in concert... and absolutely hate each other.

In a perfect money world, art and artists would be eliminated entirely. I speak with proof behind this: look at the NFT bubble from earlier this year. This was an attempt to boil artwork down to a stock price. Numbers to be traded and nothing more. The art attached to NFT's was crude, designed as such to carry the message of "the artwork doesn't matter. Only the money that makes it up."

So. When we look at AI, it becomes clear: a machine that can spit out art perfectly to order with no involvement from those annoying artists who demand respect, freedom, and worst of all, pay? This is a wet dream for the money. Under the current system of corporate function, AI art is one of the single most dangerous tools yet created. It stands against artwork, it stands against labor and negotiation in all forms, and it stands against the idea that art is worth anything more than cash.

But that wasn't your question. Do I, personally, consider AI art valuable if viewed without the context of the war of art vs money?

Me personally? No. This is where I will appeal to emotion so hard it will make anyone versed in debate weep enough to fill an overly-salty swimming pool.

In my view of things, Art is the result of every stimulus we recieve. Everything. Every single thing any of our senses receives goes into a huge bubbling rendering vat, and then we use that bubbling material to sculpt new works to portray our experiences and view of the world.

As such, I don't think it's worth using AI art as a jumping off point. Yes, it can provide some gummy material that can kickstart creative impulses, but to anyone that strapped for ideas, I would beg that they instead experience more things.

Hideo Kojima has spoken about his philosophy that an artist must always be adding new things to their rendering vat of experience, and I agree with him. no matter who you are, you haven't seen everything. Even within the purviews you obsess over. I love video games dearly, and even I have not played every single one. There will always be something new within the things you love, wether those things are sci-fi novels or urban architecture or tax filing systems. There is always something new to learn and see, and the pursuit of knowledge, of fresh experiences, of new people and new conversations about new topics, will, if you are an artist, spark something within you. And I think that shows what I think is another danger that AI art poses to artists: complacency.

Life begins at the end of our comfort zone. Artists must by nature be curious about the world and her people if they are to dream up stories within and without her boundaries. If an artist is able to punch in familiar keywords and receive a computer-made blob of associated goo made from stolen, unaccredited, scraped work, that artist has robbed themselves of the chance to examine themselves and the world around them.

Also, that's really the big issue. This shit comes from somewhere. The AI needs to be fed existing images in order to know what an image looks like, and there is no possible way for that to be done in a way that does not denigrate the work or the artists who make it. Even if that work is a cell-phone photo of a stack of pancakes, it is wrong for the machine to silently harvest it, and due to the other issues, I struggle to find any arrangement I am happy with even with consent and transparency.

So overall, while I think the technology is very impressive, and I can't blame people for getting excited about it, within my worldview, I am forced to be a curmudgeon. My view of art, the world, and humanity requires that I thank the programmers for their work, shake their hands on their success, marvel at the power of the technology, and then push the server cabinet off the edge of the building. It is a danger to human identity and the development of such.

Loom-smashers ahoy.

Thank you for your question! I absolutely love writing essays about things I'm impassioned about, and this was a blast.

[iamyelling]

on the topic of the previous post, i was thinking about movies again, and i was thinking about saltburn in the shower (ha) this morning. where are the movies for adults? i feel like . i don’t know maybe i just like older things more, but i feel like old stuff is the only place ill find good stuff, either that or super small indie work (for contemporary things) and im just not dedicated enough right now to put the effort in to get to the limited screenings or find the people doing good work.

i blame it largely on the cost of living, which makes it difficult to devote any time to creative pursuits due to the necessity to work as many hours as possible, often with a long commute, to pay for the necessities of life. so like we’ve priced out the starving artist niche because now those who would’ve been struggling artists are now just struggling with no art of depth being able to be worked on. this isn’t the only thing of course, lots of other contributing factors but that’s one that is boring to point to. i mean obviously there’s the over-polished, over-audience tested issue. there’s the “this isn’t second screen enough” issue. there’s the smartphones in the hands of the creators issue, lack of attention span of the creators as well as the audience. there’s the aesthetic quality of digital mediums and current trends in visuals. people being out of practice. people are referencing what they’re familiar with which is less on depth itself, things keep getting summed up and distilled. the necessity that everything is guaranteed to turn a profit, which stifles creativity, risk taking, and experimentation and anything that isn’t already shown to be popular and approved, whether it’s broad appeal or a specific niche. and probably other things that aren’t coming to mind. idk i’m on the bus to work rn

[theblazewolf]

Blaze Midyear Evaluation 2024

Alright its the middle of the year. Let's discuss somethings to clarify how I want to plan out the next few months in this rare Official Blaze Silverwolf Blogpost™ where I'll give a short introduction about myself to new followers, discuss my art goals, and what I'll do with my current posting manners.

Blaze 101 A comprehensive repost of a tweet I made a few days ago, here’s a short intro and the websites that I frequent.

I’m Blaze, old enough to exist. A furry artist in law school too. Weird huh?

My main hobbies include playing games like Cities Skylines 2, Guild Wars 2, and Fortnite, playing instruments, and drawing. I’ve been at it for 10 years and currently looking for ways to tell stories through other mediums.

Not all my art is being posted on twitter though! I’ve been posting my art on other sites for archiving reasons or because twitter recently has been on a downturn.

deviantArt, for art posted from 2014 until May 5, 2024.

Cara, for all art posted starting 2024.

Tumblr, for art posted from 2015.

I also hang around bluesky, and have been tending to use that for a while now as a main social media site. Just like a sticky situation, my time is divided between the two. But (as much as possible), the silly text posts on bluesky get mirrored over to twitter (or the other way around). This ensures you all get the best “blazexp” ever.

You won’t have to wonder what username to find for those sites, since I use only one username: itsdablazewolf

For those who want to get pinged every time I post art, I also have my discord server and my telegram channel.

You can find the links to those at the front page of my carrd here: https://itsdablazewolf.carrd.co/

Current art goals Off to the subject matter of this post, recently been in a (forced) state of reflection. Recently I’ve been posting finished poses once a week. This was to keep an online presence at the same time trying to keep some standard of quality I’ve been satisfied with. For the past few days, I feel like my art could be pulled up a little bit higher.

Ok, it's hard to put that feeling into words, so I’ll take a chart from the internet.

https://www.deviantart.com/shattered-earth/art/Art-Cycle-329593292

Here I am. I'm on an “art low”! This means I see things in my art which were once perfect, but now sees them as an opportunity to learn from and improve more. (Something something anatomy… perspective… things I keep putting off because I’m too scared to get through lol)

There is an inspiration board just floating around for me and my artistic endeavors and I believe it is time for me to hunker down and focus on improving instead of finding ideas, half-making paintings, just to post something every week. Yall can handle me slowing down on finished pieces right? Right? :)

Once-a-week posting This means that the sacred time of posting on Sunday (Philippine 🇵🇭 time) will be adjusted. Won’t be posting finished pieces as much while I try to learn the tips and tricks of making better art. Think of it like I'm going to school and social media (specifically, posting finished art pieces) is at a lower priority right now.

So please expect less background pieces and more chicken scratchy drawings for now. Occasionally some pretty finished work will pop out now and then, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Think of it like a house renovation. You can still use the house, there will be some growing pains and ugly spots. But when its finished, it’ll look a lot better for the long term (hopefully!)

Tl;dr - Blaze is going to focus on learning how to improve art over creating art for social media. 

This has already happened before, but this is the first time I’ve explicitly announced it.

Commissions? I will try to open commissions before my semester resumes. It's a goal this summer to get through one batch of commissions. Price point will still be the same, and slots will probably be around 3-4. Lets see!

Tl;drs Hi im blaze.

I have art goals. I will pursue these art goals over posting art like before. I will also open commissions before my semester starts.

Ok bye :D

[slimmestslime]

just went to a con yesterday, pretty decently sized and wasn’t like. fifty people this time. was really fun though

(rambling \/)

saw sooo so many hazbin cosplayers and merch. lord fucking above i was drowning. BUT. i did see a cool as shit daft punk cosplay duo, some hyperspecific guys that im pretty sure handmade their cosplays from scratch. one guy’s stuff was like half articulated and it was a mecha type of thing. so that was pretty awesome. one girl came in on stilts for this like. monster-girl type cosplay? i could be stupid. but it was really cool

the merch booths were half/half. its convention prices As always, but there was some pretty banger shirts and stuff like terrariums and bonsai displays. There was a guy ripping us the FUCK off for 50 dollars a shirt (which were poorly printed), when directly across thw convention a guy was selling 3 for 50.

found a booth that i coined the Plushie Emporium because it was all entirely licensed plushies in like. a box you could walk into. was really cool but by the time i did my 10th lap or so i walked in. realized im five bucks short of buying anything in there nd walked back out. told the lady that i really liked her stock and i dont think she understood me. which um. i feel really bad for.

obligatory japanese food booth, and also two 3dprinted stalls which were neat. one of the stalls decorated like, ram sticks with a pokemon figurine and then other stuff. and im regretting not buying them now… fuck… and they had really nice 3d printed pokemon that were low-poly esque. …my only regret is not buying anything at that booth..

anyway! apart from merch, me and a friend attended some panels. one documenting 90s-late 2000s cosplaying, and another talking about oold old anime. and how anime evolved into the mainstream. both were pretty cool and funny. but we attended this one panell, “who’s line is it!” or, something. and its an improv panel. and holy fuck was it good. like it was rising improv artists doing really funny skits. was genuinely awesome

OH and. ONE person recognized me. he went “Hey Hank.” and i did the fucking thing where you freeze up and all you can say is “Hi!”. nd i felt like such ass i was about to go find the guy again and freak out and be like “YOU KNOW MADCOM TOO?!” but um. my friend told me not to worry abt it. but he was the first person to point me out!!! And of course he sounded like the fucking nerd emoji!!!! i think my brain forgot i Was indeed cosplaying as the wimbleman himself. and i just factory defaulted. sucks but whatever. he probably forgot by now (But i didnt

+before i forget, we played taiko and the controllers they had fucking Sucked. i dont know what wronged them but it SUCKED. i would have been FINE if i knew the KA placement WAS AT THE TOP OF THE RIM!!! I WAS HITTING THE SIDES!!! evil.

anyway. photos! Which isnt many.

^ obligatory wimbleisms, i didnt get many photos of my cosplay cause. i was mainly just Roaming around

^ funny stuff we found. and yes there was unironically good plushies there!! Really good. but then they had these too.

all in all. good convention. got myself a sakura miku figurine, wanted a nendoroid, Didn’t find any at all. but otherwise was fun. and this is technically my first proper convention, my first one was…. small. AND my first time cosplaying!!

i hope i can evolve Walmart Wimble out of the clearance section and actually upgrade the coat, figure out a better headwrap that isnt a cap, aand wire LEDS into the goggles. <- ( took engineering classes for 3 years, I Just Need Materials and a slight handholding. ) OH and bandages. cant forget about bandage wrap for the arms and head.

but yeah im sore as shit. :3!

[downfallofi]

Ok but, if love to hear about some of your super heroes someone. Man if you haven't played Stardew Valley in a while you should, they recently updated it and added some cool new stuff. Also I totally get the shibari thing. I don't sketch or draw but I think it's very aesthetically pleasing in a non perverted way and can see how it's be a fun excessive in posing and angles and such, especially with some of the more extravagant artistic shibari. Do you have a PC and what consoles do you have? Sorry to hear that about your friend, I know even if you're growing apart loading a friend can suck really bad.

Thank you for this ask, also.

I so wanna see how the new updates look in Stardew, like there's a new island to explore? And whole new fruits? (My wine aging casks in the cellar are a vital part of my little operation bringing in cash every day so new fruit to make wine with is exciting to me, baha) And yeah, like even being like ten years in on one playthrough there are still so many trophies I want to attempt when I start it up again. Even though some of them depend on being a traitor and siding with Joja mart in a new save.

For consoles have my slightly battered PS4, which has weathered two moves and multiple corrupted data reboots sadly, and may need puttin out to pasture soon 🥲🥲🥲 Im really strapped for cash and the thought of pricing a PS5 or something as a replacement and Im trying to be like hold on old girl just one more 700 meg download of a DLC for me

I also have a Nintendo Switch handheld with, like, two games loaded that my friend James sent me, it's second hand and I do not love the controller drift but I really enjoyed Pokemon Sword and the remaster of Skyward Sword a lot!

And also my GBA, that thing will outlive me and I still have a dozen games for it. First edition, I got it for Xmas 2001, it has followed me my entire adult life.

And yeah, you get it! I truly believe all art has validity to it, even horny art has it's niche as expression.

And man I would love to talk the heroes I created in high school, it's just such a thing that I might be here all night 😅😅😅 It started, oddly enough, with me mimicking cartoons. Idk if like anyone remembers, there was a bad, old Avengers cartoon on Fox in the 90's. (It was. Bad. They all had armor, nonsensically) so starting in middle school, using that as a jumping off point, I created Avengers in Armor ripoffs I called the Detectives. And they were my first real attempt, middle school wise, to do more than just random comics. I took spiral bound notebooks and I just began filling them up. And I was experimenting, tinkering all the time, because creating an experience that was as much as I cojld make it LIKE a comic book, in that it was very crudely drawn anatomically bad figures from a middle schooler. But the formula began taking shape, the notebook pages became stock, nine panel grids and from there I just filled page after page with ongoing adventures of this team.

Now. The Detectives. Sucked. And even in 8th-9th grade, I was losing interest in them because that Avengers show I took the germ of inspiration for their adventures from didnt even last that long, and I was getting into other stuff. Harry Potter. Blade Runner. Toonami cartoons, MUCH better shit than Fox Kids. I began using that and started cranking out more and more heroes.

Killed the Detectives, just wholesale had them wiped out, they sucked.

But I began building a universe of heroes beyond them, starting with a Harry Potter sort of pastiche that I also used as a commentary on high school and he was a little bit okay a lot like me, named Johnny Dreamer. And then other heroes in Johnny's world. And then, another comic, which I brilliantly named Systems Crash, about a dark anti-hero named Downfall (total Deadpool ripoff) and a Supergirl pastiche I based off a friend of mine. And just on and on. The notebooks began bursting with content, and I was riding some fucking lightning pushing these out and not doing any schoolwork. I was creating a little shared universe.

Like I said, I remember it all too well. It's just there doesnt seem to be any getting it back 😅 which makes me sad.

And yeah. Story of my life a bit, friends leave. It never stops being hard, when people who spoke to me every day begin texting less and less and move on with their lives, but it feels like Im just not... worth it? Idk it does make being friends with people hard for me.

So uh.

Thank you for the questions, honestly