#can you tell when i learned how to use the straight line tool with my highlight

[faeriekit]

Faeriekit's big fat library post: what is a public library for?

Things almost any public library will do:

Let you borrow books. (Specialty libraries and archives may not permit you to borrow delicate materials. You may be able to look at them nevertheless, but you dont know until you ask.)

Allow you to put items on hold! (Want us to pull a book or hold it for you? We'll set it aside under your name as soon as it's available!)

Allow you to join in for programming (may be as simple as kids storytimes, or as complicated as academic lectures. It's usually cooking classes and knitting sessions though when the budget gets short. We love outside presenters though, especially locals.)

Inter-library loans (don't have a rare book? We'll try to get it from another library!)

Things your library will PROBABLY let you do:

Let you borrow other forms of physical media, such as DVDs, Video Games, audiobooks, CDs, etc. (This may cost you extra depending on library policy.)

Let you borrow magazines! (It's not like you're paying for a subscription, unless you're me and you like mail. Let us get them for you.)

Print/fax/scan (depends on the tech available in your library; for instance, it costs your library money to maintain a fax-specific phone line, so they may not do fax. Again, price may vary.)

Access online databases! (Ah, Ebsco. We meet again.) (But sometimes there's some cool stuff. Genealogy databases, kids' encyclopedias, all kinds of cool stuff)

Borrow ebooks and eaudiobooks! And maybe even emagazines! (Despite what people say, Libby is NOT the only service that allows your library to share ebooks with your device. There's like five I can think of off the top of my head, and your library has to pay to play. Ask which service your library offers directly so you can get the good stuff)

Put up/look at flyers. (Good for sharing public information! I just used one of our advertised services to apply for low income housing. Love library wages...woo...)

Let you volunteer! Need something to add to your resume? Need wo build up some real world work skills in a low pressure environment?Spend some time with us!

Let you use public computers! Check your email or watch yt vids or apply for jobs. Up to you.

Play with board games or puzzles as long as you're there. They may even have a swap for people to trade!

Things your library MAY have to offer you:

Makerspace (cool tech that lives at the library you can use/pay to use, such as tools, 3d printers, etc.)

Borrowing cooler tech to take home (WiFi hotspots, single-use tablets, and other cool tech)

English courses! Learn with peers!

Borrowing actual tools! (I had one library card that let me borrow hiking stuff like tents and navigational tools and sewing machines and other cool stuff and they will not renew my card because policy changed and no I'm not crying—)

Museum passes (hey! Sometimes you can get into a museum for free or for cheap!)

Book requests (hey. If you tell the library to buy a book, we may just straight up buy it! Why not? It's a guaranteed circ!)

Social worker/social work help (depends on if your library can cut a deal with an organization that has social workers)

Paperwork help for seniors (I don't know how this works because our town handles this one.)

Notary public services! (This one's just straight up like. My boss.)

Tutoring services! (We have kid volunteers AND a paid online service subscription to a tutoring site. Not bad.)

Certain streaming options! (Movies and television right as your fingertips! Or. Well. You know.)

Home delivery for housebound folks! (This one again depends on staffing, resources, money, etc etc.)

Book purchase! (No, really. Sometimes there's old books for sale, or donor books for sale, to help keep libraries running.)

And, of course, sometimes your local librarians are geniuses and come up with things I haven't even thought of. The moral of the story is, libraries do a lot of things, but the majority of them, as you can probably tell, depend on size, budget, physical resources, and local support. If you are interested in any of these services, please reach out to your local library; even if they don't offer these services specifically, making your interest known tells the library what sort of things people are looking for in the community, and may even affect financial decisions down the road. The thing I would like to emphasize the most, however, is that you are likely already paying for these services in the form of tax dollars; if you do not physically go and find out what services you are entitled to, you will never be able to take advantage of them.

Call your local library today to find out the specifics!

[10yrratiolover]

giving my thoughts and ideas on Ratio's character stories

I wouldn't call this much of an analysis but we'll see how it goes

Starting out with his first character story, most of it is Professor Rond's recommendation letter.

I'd like to start by sharing my thoughts about Ratio and Rond first before actually getting into dissecting the letter itself.

So, firstly, I'd like to mention that (to my knowledge) we have never heard of or from Ratio's parents. I find that ironic considering what a big shot he is, I doubt that his parents would ever willingly shut up about their son.

Reading that Rond had a 'significant influence on Ratio's upbringing' particularly stands out to me because, at least at the time of the original letter being written, Ratio was in secondary school (Grade 9-12, though some of the wording in the letter lead me to believe he was likely on the lower end of that range).

Now, a high school teacher having a 'significant influence' on someone's upbringing isn't necessarily uncommon, nor are old teachers proud of their past students becoming extremely successful. However these points, alongside the fact that Ratio's parents are nowhere to be seen in canon, lead me to believe that there was some sort of familial relationship between them, especially seeing Rond's reaction to being asked about Ratio as well as how he had kept the original letter.

Moving on to the actual letter.

Grade skipping is a pretty common practice where I'm from, as it allows learning at the appropriate/needed level (ignoring the fact that the school system is in shambles).

However, the way this is phrased is as if Rond were trying to convince him to be able to skip grades. If he were in grade 11 or 12 I feel like it would not have been phrased this way, which is what leads me to believe he was likely younger, possibly fresh out of middle school.

The highlight on creativity is just because it makes me smile honestly, also it ties into one of my earlier posts about how I think Ratio would adore the subject of art.

I would like to return to my point of Rond being a potential parental figure to Ratio, seeing as he seems to know his daily routine well enough to confidently write about it in his letter of recommendation.

On to his second character story, which is mostly online posts in a thread-like format.

It wasn't until his eighth doctoral degree that he was awarded with First Class Honors, also since he is the first person to receive such in two amber eras it means he was likely the only one on stage at that time.

It also states that at the time he was already a prominent figure in society, which doesn't surprise me given the accomplishments listed by Rond in the letter despite him being in high school at the time it was written. However, he would most likely be an adult by the time he finished his eighth doctorate.

No real comment on this I found it funny that they put etc instead of continuing to list fields.

I also just find these funny and wanted to share them, but the disagreement on the last comment shows how much people admire him. I feel like that's a topic that's rather watered down in the fandom, but people genuinely admire Ratio a lot and there's plenty of reason for them to.

full-time university teachers tend to teach about 5 courses per academic year, meaning Ratio has been teaching for about 10 years.

Moving onto the third story, which is a statement from a former assistant of his about his desire to join the genius society.

I find this to be an interesting point, it seems like joining the Genius Society would be an obvious next step for a man with so many accomplishments but it's stated not once, but twice that he has never spoken about the subject (to the public at least).

I am a believer in the theory that Ratio hasn't been allowed into the Genius Society due to his humanity/compassion and his desire to spread knowledge to everyone, and I feel like this specification that he's never spoken about the topic could add to this theory.

This paragraph never fails to break my heart, but I do want to talk about the mention of an anti-planetary weapon. I feel like this Anti-planetary weapon that he spent years perfecting was a final attempt at proving to Nous that he wasn't too compassionate or too humane to receive their gaze. I remember reading about this idea more in detail elsewhere and if I can find the analyzation then I'll link it here.

Also, I feel like deep down he always knew that he wouldn't be accepted into the Genius Society, but this day, as Margaret states, was the day he finally realized it, or, fully swallowed that pill.

I find these comments to be interesting as well since they specify the narrow-mindedness of the society however, there is this comment from the Data Bank;

This comment I admittedly stumbled across when looking for something else, but I feel like it perfectly encapsulates Ratio's entire dilemma with the Genius Society, maybe not to Ratio himself but it certainly applies to everyone who comments on his achievements being worthy of Nous' approval.

I am also quite curious about who exactly wrote the 'Decoding Dr. Ratio' that we have read from in all of his character stories. They seem to have a lot of connections for someone who would typically be seen as just another paparazzi or media interviewer, I'm surprised the people listed in his stories would agree to an interview.

Onto his final story, which is about his personality and methods of sharing knowledge.

I mentioned this comment in my character notes post but I find it extremely charming that Ratio remains the same and refuses to change himself or his personality to satisfy those around him.

It is also commented in his second character story by a previous professor of his that his honesty and straightforwardness were a 'Breath of fresh air' at the University.

I love the implication that either; nobody in the entire room had any questions (unlikely), or that they were simply too scared to ask them.

I also find the comment that 'Whenever someone agrees with me, I feel like I must be wrong.' Perhaps he's gotten used to being the only one thinking the way he is or the possibility that people only agree with him so they sound intelligent themselves and weren't truly listening or understanding.

I find these comments interesting as well, a majority of the fandom mischaracterizes Ratio as mean or rude although he literally explains his viewpoints where anyone can access it (which does honestly prove his point about how knowledge is not for everyone.)

[theelvishfiddler]

AN ARTIST'S GUIDE TO HANDS

No, sorry it's actually not an artist's guide to drawing hands. Those are just warmup studies (which I'll talk about in this post.)

This is a guide to Your Hands and how to take care of them when making art.

No one ever sits down and teaches artists how to take care of their hands. They didn’t even teach me this while I was in art college. This is just what I've learned myself through years of pain and scouring the internet for advice.

This is going to be a long one and geared towards illustrative traditional/digital/pen/pencil artists specifically, but artists of other mediums and crafts should take care of their hands too! Well, we all should take care of our bodies in general, but this is about hands.

(advice is below the read more)

First off I'm not a professional or anyone with actual medical advice. I'm just some guy with chronic hand pain who makes art. This advice is free for you to use or discard.

WARMUPS!

Ever sit down in the morning to draw and wonder why your art is so stiff and looks so much worse than what you were drawing last night? It's because you didn't warm up!

You know how for physical sports they all warmup and do stretches before getting into the actual sport. To prevent injuries and all that? Yeah, it's good to do that for art too.

One way to warmup is to just draw lines. Try to keep them as straight as you can. Going up and down and diagonal. Draw squares. Big squares. Small squares. Circles! You are warming up, keep it loose and relaxed! Basically just scribble away.

(examples. I usually keep going until there is no paper white left. This can double as practice for drawing straight lines without a ruler, which is a great skill to have when freehand city drawing.)

Before hopping right into drawing people you can try doing some quick gesture drawings. Line of Action has timed sessions with a large variety of clothed or nude models. I usually do the 30 min class as it has a nice balance of short and long timed poses. The point isn't to draw nice art, but to warm up. Try to get the basic form down, not the details. I find that doing a full class session can really help my drawings feel more loose and grounded in reality for the rest of the day.

Some examples I found in my folders. I suggest looking into what a line of action (not the site) is and giving it a try with some of the studies!

COOLDOWNS!

For sports it's to return your body back to your everyday baseline after a workout.

Example; you are working on a big project! A masterpiece! It's detailed and cool! You have been focusing on this for hours and drawing so intensely. But you need to stop working for the day.

A cooldown is for winding down out of the go go go mindset. Put away the big project and do a couple small doodles and sketches. You are relaxing your hand and letting it stretch out. Keep the sketches loose. Let the art happen slowly. Don't polish anything, that can happen another day. Just ease yourself out of drawing.

...

Cool! Now we get into the meat of this thing.

HAND PAIN

How to avoid it and how to manage it if you already have it.

I love you artists and creatives, I am begging you to please take care of your most important creative tools. I really don't want this to sound like scare tactics like "oooh you better do this or blah blah!" Nope. I just had to learn all this the hard way and I'm extremely passionate about it.

Take this advice or don’t ╮(ﾟ～ﾟ;)╭ I can't tell you what to do, I'm not your dad

Adjustments and Small Solutions

If you are feeling physical discomfort while drawing there are many different solutions to try! Here are some suggestions that may or may not work for you.

Hold your pencil more loosely. Stop gripping that thang so tightly!!! Relax that hand! They make these… squishy pen grip things... I think they are called Adaptive Pencil Grips or Adaptive Writing/Drawing Aids? They stop your hand from being all cramped up by making your drawing tool wider. It's going to take a bit of time to adjust to drawing with it, but it's worth it for those who hold pencils too tightly.

Don't press as heavily. For traditional art, if you find yourself pressing really hard to get darker lines try moving to a softer pencil. Most standard pencils are HB, the B pencils have softer graphite. Experiment until you find the right one for you. For Digital, adjust your pressure settings so you don't have to press as hard to get thicker lines. You should not be pressing so hard all the time, it wears out both your hand and your tablet! It takes a bit of time to adapt to pencil or pressure changes. Try doing some unimportant sketches, they don't have to be good. You are just training your hand and mind to adjust using less pressure.

Draw with your arm and not your wrist! It's small repetitive motions that cause the most strain. You probably hear this one a lot, what does it even mean? It means moving your arm with the motions of your line, and trying not to make too many tiny movements with your just your fingers or wrist. This one is hard! It takes time and conscious thought to change the habit. Tips? Work bigger. Zoom in more. Use bigger sheets of paper.

(Motions exaggerated for a clearer example)

Change the angle of your drawing surface. They make angled tablet holders, angled desks, angled desktop raisers. Experiment, find and angle that is comfortable and the one that causes the least pain. (It's also good to make sure you don't have to hold your head at an uncomfortable angle when drawing. Staring straight down or hunching over a paper flat on the table can cause pain!)

Compression Glove? Wrist brace/tensioners? Some folks use them and I've been thinking of getting one for years now. I can't give advice on this one, because I don't have experience with it. Look into it if you want!

Managing Pain

First things first.

IF YOUR HANDS START TO HURT WHILE YOU ARE DRAWING. STOP! Put the pencil/pen/paintbrush/whatever down. The art will still be there for you to continue tomorrow.

I know from experience that it's extremely hard to pull away when you are hyper focused on an art piece. It's hard to remember all sorts of basic needs like food or bathroom when hyper focused. But you Need to stop when you feel that pain. (Preferably even before the pain…)

Take Breaks! Let your hands rest when you can. Just like a machine, if you don't schedule maintenance, the machine will schedule maintenance for you. Often that means having to wait a few days for it to return to functional. Best to take a day off from heavy usage or take an occasional 30 min break throughout the day to let your hands rest.

Stretching is important! Full body stretches are good; your arms, shoulders, neck, and spine are all connected, but I'm specifically talking about HAND and wrist stretching. There are a lot of stretches and massages for carpal tunnel and arthritis out there. I find they work for hand pain in general. Move into and out of each stretch slowly. Do not push a stretch if it hurts!! Be gentle!!

I am not a qualified professional and I will not be giving out specific stretches (that is beyond my personal comfort level). There are other artists out there who have made helpful stretching info-graphics which are cool, but I will not be because i don't want to be responsible for someone accidentally hurting themself. Ask your doctor for stretches & advice or look some up on your own.

Don't feel bad about forgetting to stretch frequently! Of course it is good to do it regularly and frequently, but I would be a hypocrite if I said that I remember to stretch daily. Setting timers for stop and stretch sessions can work for some people, but also doing stretches whenever you remember is fine! If you are sitting on the toilet you can idly do some hand stretches. On the bus? Laying in bed? At the beach? Do a couple stretches! Even just once a week is better than… nonce a week.

Using Cold or Heat to treat pain. If you really overdid it, put your hands in some cold water or wrap a cloth around an ice pack and apply it to your hand. Cold works best for me, but warmth works for others. This is just pain reduction and reducing inflammation from overuse! This is not a permanent solution.

If your hand hurts a lot! Frequently! Talk to your doctor? Idk mine has never given real advice. Just gently poked my hand and told me there isn't much to be done about it :/ but there are really good doctors out there who will care and give helpful advice!

Again. IF IT HURTS TO CONTINUE DRAWING. STOP DRAWING! This is not a "no pain no gain" type situation. Drawing so much that you hurt yourself isn't noble, it's just… limiting yourself. You only get one set of hands. These things are very handy to have.

Other Advice

Things I couldn't figure out how to fit into the earlier sections.

Your other hand can't handle the strain! Lets say you hurt your drawing hand... the other hand is right there free to use for art. Right? Wrong. Your other hand can't keep up with the demand, it hasn't been trained to the same extent as your dominant hand, it does not have the built up muscle. If you want to use that hand for drawing you are going to have to use it s l o w l y and train it bit by bit over a long period of time. When I tore a tendon in my right hand I decided to just keep drawing with my left and I got Really Good at it. It only took like two months before my left hand hurt too much to move. Then I had 0 functioning hands to pull up my pants. Not fun!!

People who draw on phones. That is extremely impressive! I'm amazed by the things people can create on such a small space. But phone artists are the ones I see most frequently mentioning hand pain. please please please make sure you are taking breaks. Would a stylus work instead of using a finger?

Outside of Drawing. Sometimes it's things outside of drawing that are causing the pain. For me there are multiple sources, but I also have tiny baby hands. Holding a phone too long causes pain. The handheld mode for my Switch causes A Lot of pain. The way my hand rests while typing on my laptop hurts! Playing tense videogames for too long hurts! Find the source of your pain and make some changes. The same things will apply to most; take regular breaks, do some stretches, and find soft things to prop up or rest your arms on.

Change your Artstyle. This one is more of a last resort. You might have to change your art style if you are getting sharp pains every time you draw. I loved drawing tight clean lines and many small fancy details, but drawing like that left me in so much pain at the end of the day. In 2023 I had to take the better part of year off from illustrations just to learn how to sketch and draw more loosely. I had to learn how to be gentle. To stop gripping my pencil so tightly. Learn! Adapt! You might discover a new style that you love even more!

A lot of this stuff gets more complicated in a work setting where you have to draw fast and long in order to get paid. Things like reducing your workload can help, but that can be... financially rough. But outside of that, it’s ok to be a slow artist. Going full steam and hurting yourself is not worth it.

Aaaaaanyway, thats all folks. Today's rant brought to you by me! The guy with chronic hand pain who always forgets to stretch! The guy who got frustrated with a sketch yesterday and decided to push to keep drawing for just one more hour! The guy who woke up this morning and had to spend 2 hours massaging and stretching their hands. The guy who probably shouldn't have typed all of this out because ooww ow ouch

If your hands do hurt, it's going to be ok! You don't need to be a speed demon who draws all the time. It's ok to take your time and take frequent breaks. You are going to do great things! Just be gentle with yourself...

[lionhanie]

boynextdoor playing minecraft! (ot6 hc)

what happens when boynextdoor starts a minecraft server?

word count: 1.2k i think

genre + warnings: crack LOL, cursing, written in lowercase, typos

a/n: this is so stupid LMAO. (i was playing mc earlier whos gonna match my freak)

reblogs ↺ + feedback always appreciated!

featuring… sungho as numberonecatdad! riwoo as LeeSanghyeok! (he didn’t know he was making his username when he made the account. literal full government name out there)  jaehyun as myungj4e! taesan as GiantMountain! leehan as 212121_! woonhak as xxBlockBeastxx2006! (he made it in 4th grade. says he keeps the name for the nostalgia he doesnt know how to change it)  

→ Join Server?

☆ sungho: the builder

i feel like sungho wouldn’t really be interested in playing mc “seriously” but BOYYYY get him into creative and he’s locking the hell in. ik he does NOT play when it comes to building The Ultimate Spruce Wood Base

he got sick of seeing jaehyun build dirt huts as shelter in their worlds so he took on the role of being the MAIN BUILDER… main vocal? yeah. main builder is his TRUE calling. but i genuinely think he’d be good at it LOL his attention to detail is insane

making entire mansions in survival except he doesn’t even collect the blocks himself. he just waits til people come home with them and he steals them for his builds

In the chat… numberonecatdad: who made this farm by my house 212121_: me and riwoo 212121_: y???? numberonecatdad: … LeeSanghyeok: wjats wrong with it :( numberonecatdad: it’s … so bad LeeSanghyeok: it took us 2 hrs to make btw 212121_: okay but it works numberonecatdad: HALF THE CROPS ARE TRAMPLED numberonecatdad: stay away. leave this to me

the next day its a full fledged farm. windmill in the background. beautiful fields of potatoes and wheat surrounded by a pretty fence. flowers adorning the whole thing. true masterpiece 

☆ riwoo: the noob

i think he’s not really the type to play games like mc. like give him tiny tower or something and he’s at like 400 floors.. neko atsume? he got all the cats unlocked. but MINECRAFT? idk i feel like he’s just 🙂 when he plays bc he has no idea what’s going on

everyone will be off adventuring on their own.. minding their business.. and then there's a death message in the chat saying riwoo died to something so incredibly random. everyone is just like ??? bc wdym you died to a berry bush

the members think its so cute how he’s just… there for the ride! but they can’t help but mess around with riwoo because he is truly lost  & blindly trusts everything they tell him bc he doesn’t know any better

In the chat… 212121_: riwoo stand right there LeeSanghyeok: why 212121_: ima show u a cool easter egg LeeSanghyeok: okie ^_^ LeeSanghyeok was squashed by a falling anvil. LeeSanghyeok: wat was the easter egg LeeSanghyeok: i dont get it xxBlockBeastxx2006: LKSJKJFHKJSnfd;sf GiantMountain: oh riwoo GiantMountain: if u left click u can pet the bees and they heal u LeeSanghyeok: rlly? thats cool i wanna try myungj4e: DONT DO IT LeeSanghyeok was stung to death. numberonecatdad: leave that poor boy ALONE

after that, riwoo learns to be cautious of the maknae line.... he just stays with sungho collecting flowers for his builds or lighting up the caves jaehyun explores and running from the mobs :,)

☆ jaehyun: the miner

jaehyun is definitely the type to go straight to mining when you start up a new world. the second everyone sees "myungj4e has just earned the achievement [Acquire Hardware]" they KNOW he's clocking into his full time job in the mines bye

it’s 30 mins in and he has half a set of diamond armor to his name and they’re like ?? bro we just started can you be fr rn… if any of the members ask for materials he won’t do it unless he’s getting something out of it (don’t tell anyone but he made riwoo a set of diamond tools when everyone is still using iron 😍 true romance i think)

lowkey everyone is convinced he has x-ray installed or something bc of how good he is at mining

In the chat… numberonecatdad: can i get three diamonds for a new pickaxe myungj4e: lmao NO  myungj4e: wat do i get in return numberonecatdad: how do you live in a dirt shack and have diamond armor GiantMountain: embarrassing.... myungj4e: okay making fun of the less fortunate now??? numberonecatdad: ill build u a house if u give me diamonds myungj4e: k fine  xxBlockBeastxx2006: OH BUT WHEN I ASK FOR DIAMONDS I DONT GET ANY

at the end of the day tho... he's lowkey a blessing bc if he's feeling nice enough he will hook u up with ANYTHING u need. the boys are spoiled w the way jae's chests are FULL of iron whenever they need it

☆ taesan: the fighter

unironically i think taesan would just be . oddly good at pvp. it’s like one of his random talents LOOOL "good at mc pvp" on his resume LOUD AND PROUD

like you load up into bedwars or something and he’s wiping out teams before you can even get yourself a proper set of armor. its lowkey attractive idk

in your survival world, he’s always instigating fights with the other members in hopes that they’ll want to fight. literally no one can kill him. he can probably 1v5 and still win

In the chat... myungj4e: WHO TOOK THE DIAMONDS FROM MY CHEST WHILE I WAS OFFLINE LeeSanghyeok: it was taesan GiantMountain: …what are u gonna do about it bro. huh. they’re mine now.  myungj4e: bro that was like a full stack. it took me like 3 hours to get them. where the hell are you  GiantMountain: why? you wanna fight for it? GiantMountain: whoever wins keeps the diamonds xxBlockBeastxx2006: oh ur cooked hyung myungj4e: OK DEAL myungj4e was slain by GiantMountain using Diamond Sword.

the way u can hear jaehyun RAGE through the dorm walls brings a smile to taesan's face bc he KNOWS he stays undefeated when it comes to pvp

☆ leehan: the troll

i think he’s similar to riwoo in the sense that he doesn’t rlly know whats going on but once they start their server you know DAMN well he’s looking up Top 15 BEST Ways To ANNOY Your FRIENDS in Minecraft! on youtube.,.. fucking loser (hearts in my eyes as i write this)

they’re usually harmless ones, like filling up jaehyun's chests with junk or renaming sungho's cat to something stupid like “Poopy Fart” or moving all of woonhak's cows from their pen

but ohh… if you piss him awf BADDD i think he would do some DIABOLICAL damage to the world. like imagine taesan is Also Trolling and he kills leehan before taking all of his stuff and running away into the distance. things would be quiet… too quiet…. until next thing u kno theres a whole trap waiting for taesan the second he walks into his house 

In the chat… 212121_: taesan do u still have my fishing rod GiantMountain: ye lol 212121_: can i have it back GiantMountain: LMAO GiantMountain: no 212121_: i think theres a creeper in ur house  GiantMountain: WHAT  GiantMountain was killed by magic while trying to escape 212121_.  numberonecatdad: LOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLL GiantMountain: when the hell did you set that up 212121_: >:)

OKAY YES he spent 46 minutes following a tutorial on how to set up a death chamber full of the WORST potion effects ever ... but it worked so he's sitting at his monitor feelijng like an evil mastermind

☆ woonhak: the sweat

he is like the only one i imagined actually PLAYED minecraft growing up. he unironically enjoys watching minecraft streams too LMAO much like jaehyun, i think woonhak goes straight to mining in survival. except rather than /just/ mining, he’s literally trying to beat the game 

he's usually off on his own doing something but ngl .. i bet he's a backseat gamer when he see's someone doing smth wrong. let's say he's out exploring w riwoo and he's falling SO FAR BEHIND he doesn't know how to sprint he will literally walk into his room to show him how to run

bro probably watched Ender Dragon Speedruns growing up idk i feel like he’s determined to beat the world record (he won’t, but he will definitely try) 

In the chat... xxBlockBeastxx2006 has just earned the achievement [The End?] numberonecatdad: ? 212121_: ?? 212121_: is that what i think it is myungj4e: ../?//???? ?  ??? LeeSanghyeok: wat is that LeeSanghyeok: whys the achievement purple GiantMountain: r u fr rn 212121z: LMAO tryhard alert... xxBlockBeastxx2006: yooo chill we can always respawn it dw myungj4e: HOW DARE U KILL THE ENDERDRAGON WITHOUT US myungj4e: UR FAKE AS HELL xxBlockBeastxx2006 has been banned from the server by myungj4e

woonhak doesn't talk to jaehyun for the rest of the night (he's unbanned the next day, but they force him to restart so he isn't absolutely STACKED)

taglist: @onedoornet @dongminz (ty saki for supporting me with my bonedo mc thoughts LMFAO) @gluion @icyminghao

© lionhanie 2024 ; all rights reserved!

[meanbossart]

Some art-advice asks I've been meaning to reply to!

I use Clip Studio Paint Pro, though I'm not sure what tips I could give just in general. Just experiment with new things often, draw as much as your lifestyle allows, watch how other people do their work but try to avoid "Dont do THIS thing ever" type lessons and tutorials. Use as much reference as you'd like and take your time! To this day a simple sketch can still take me several hours to do depending on what it is.

Thank you so much!!! I didn't do any kind of formal art schooling but I've always been inclined towards arts and crafts, and started taking drawing semi seriously when I was about 17 (I'm 27 now). I draw a lot of inspiration from western comics and my favorite artists are jason shawn alexander and sean murphy.

Oh I'm so flattered to hear my stuff's inspired you to take up drawing again, I have a bunch of little crafty hobbies but art is by far the most fulfilling one to me - largely because you're constantly learning and improving.

You're definitely onto something already, I am constantly looking at other people's art (even If it isn't a style I would want to emulate) and analyzing how the pieces come together to create the final product. In my opinion this is pretty much the best way you can go about learning besides real-life reference drawing. You can even take something into your software of choice/print it out and trace it (just to yourself, of course) to get a sense of hand-motion and line use.

As a beginner I think there's no shame at all in taking heavy inspiration from your favorite artists, as long as you aren't straight up copying things and calling them your own. Your personal style Is likely to come out naturally, with time. That's very much how I started myself!

Also, just be patient with yourself, try to have realistic goals for your skill level while simultaneously being proud of everything you do. Even if you absolutely despise a drawing, you still drew something! And even if it doesn't feel that way you most definitely learned from it. Use learning tools and tutorials to whatever point you feel comfortable with but don't get stuck on people's arbitrary rules - unless we're talking about something tangible like real-life application of traditional art tools, things like anatomy, perspective and light are to be referenced from - but It's not the goal to emulate them 100% unless you ARE going for hyperrealism. As someone who uses a ton of reference these days, I can tell you first-hand that I often find myself straying from it on purpose to make a piece look more interesting.

Lastly, draw things you enjoy! Don't let anyone else dictate what you SHOULD be doing and don't fall into the trappings of wanting to stick to one specific style, process, or subject matter.

Good luck!!!

LOL thank you so much for your very evocative compliments! I haven't ever done a timelapse, not that I remember at least. I'm not sure how they work but I do so much of "I'm gonna try this thing 5 different ways and then decide what I like" that I'm not sure how comprehensive that would be LOL

I could put together a process showcase or something though, I feel like that might be better even, since I get to explain a little of what I'm doing through text and display how I use reference. Something to consider!

[kbspangler]

We're going to start this by saying that—as much as we might want to—we will NOT yeet this person straight into the sun. They're asking questions which…make sense? I guess? In context? Especially for the Webtoons platform?

I mean, I'm so mad I had to get up and walk away for a while before writing, but.

(All of this was originally posted on a thread over on my Bluesky and I finished it before realizing that "webtoon" isn't capitalized so perhaps the researcher means it as a generic term like "webcomics," in which case some of the strongest pro-labor arguments don't apply at all and fuck everything forever, but let's resume.)

A well-known problem with the Webtoons platform is that "successful" comics which pay the artists a wage for their work require brutal labor to meet a regular update schedule.

It's not just comic panels, it's a vertically scrolling art display.

So the obvious answer is "Sod off, fancy lad" but they are actually asking questions which might address real problems: specifically, can a comics artist publishing on Webtoons improve their workflow so they aren't constantly broken by their job?

The researcher is also active in South Korea, where there's a known secondary layer of problems with South Korean comics creators publishing on the Webtoons platform, including pooled labor, contractual obligations, and monetization of time and original IP.

So the researcher is asking questions which might have value!

Meanwhile, Dr. Beer and myself are shouting "GOD I'M SO ANGRY" at each other in chat, because "might have value" is distinct and separate from what the researcher is proposing.

What the researcher is proposing MIGHT be along the lines of what @tkingfisher did when she tested Midjourney's storytelling capabilities and made an AI-generated comic. I don't think it is, tho. Could be wrong, but the phrasing indicates I'm not.

"…expedite their workflow…" How?

"…explore new creative ideas…" How?

"…produce higher-quality artwork…" HOW?!

The phrasing implies using an AI engine to generate some, if not all, of the comic. The researcher might be approaching comics creators to learn if they've considered any of these possible uses for AI, thus resolving the "How?"

The framing is positive, very much a "Have you considered what AI can do FOR you, to HELP you?"

The framing does not appear to take into account the negative aspects of using AI to make comics: Theft. Copyright. The intentional decisions artists make versus AI-derivative images.

Above all, the emotional attachment that comics creators have for the craft of telling their stories through art.

Which is why @alepresser and I have been shouting at each other for at least an hour about *waves hands* all of this, the idea that making comics somehow needs to be fixed, that AI is just another digital tool that can help us rather than something which strips the love away.

p.s.: please read our comics. We love making them. We hope you enjoy them.

A GIRL AND HER FED: science fiction with a healthy side of the supernatural

SIDE QUESTED: queer fantasy YA with a sassy vulture

[razzle-zazzle]

give us the essay, coward

Okay.

The first example of how Skylor and Cole's flaws and personal issues will drive the conflict of the story can be seen in the lines, "High achiever / don't you see? / baby nothing comes for free / they say I'm a control freak / driven by a greed to succeed / nobody can stop me" as they are excellent for Skylor's character; she has learned from her father how to manipulate and play to expectations, and many of her actions in the AU are motivated by Chen's plans and desires due to Skylor feeling unable to escape being his daughter, his tool, raised with love that is wholly conditional and bound to go away if Skylor cannot fulfill expectations.

The next line "'cause it's my problem if I wanna pack up and run away" is an essential Cole line; it is seen both with Lilly and Zane's death that Cole's response to grief is to first assume extra responsibility, then cave and run away when that self-imposed pressure becomes too much for him. As he enters the Tournament still grieving Zane and facing the sudden inevitability of a marriage he's unsure about, he finds himself wanting to run away from the reality of it. "It's my business if I feel the need to smoke and drink and sway" both works to how Kai processed his grief over Zane with self-destructive tendencies and to how Skylor schemes and manipulates for her father's benefit—and thus, her benefit by remaining in his favor—despite these actions going against her nature and personal desires.

"It's my problem / it's my problem if I feel the need to hide" is again another Cole line about how he ducks away from emotionally difficult situations and prefers to stay closed off, as shown during multiple prior points in the series, not the least being the love triangle and how there was a lot Cole could have and wanted to express to Jay but simply didn't until they were all but forced to reconcile in the arena on Chen's island. This also foreshadows how his refusal to tell the other ninja about the engagement comes back to bite him later, prompting him to nearly close off further.

"And it's my problem if I have no friends and feel I want to die." That's just a Skylor line straight up. It's made pretty clear in canon that Chen is a shitty father, and it's also either said or heavily implied that Skylor had never left the island prior to ToE. Thus, there is an aspect of isolation to her character that Chen undoubtedly takes advantage of, and allows her to connect with Kai so quickly over little commonalities.

And that's not even getting into the rest of the song! That's just the second verse! The very opening lines of the song, "I was pulling out my hair / the day I got the deal / chemically calm / was I meant to feel / happy that my life / was just about to change" are like. Ohhhh they are so "Cole getting the invite to the tournament & Skylor spotting him on the ferry" vibes as they both realize that oh, yeah, that whole marriage thing is about to come up, isn't it? From a more literal standpoint the whole "the day I got the deal" line would imply when they first got their pendants, but they were small children at that point who didn't even really understand what being married would actually entail so reuniting at the ferry seems more poignant.

And the next lines "One life pretending to be / the cat who got the cream / oh, everybody said, / 'Marina is a dreamer' / people like to tell you / what you're gonna be" can apply to either Skylor or Cole! Skylor having to be the loyal daughter (the useful tool) or Cole having to live up to one of his parents' legacies (not to mention the whole phase where he was pretending to be a dancer and lying to Lou about it, especially since in Betrothal Cole also lied to Skylor in the exact same way until s01e09 "The Royal Blacksmiths").

"It's not my problem if you don't see what I see / and I do not give a damn if you don't believe / my problem / it's my problem that I never am happy / and it's my problem / it's my problem on how fast I will succeed" is a little less clear to me; "my problem... will succeed" are very clearly Skylor lines, while "it's not my... you don't believe" could be interpreted in a number of ways. If I was making an animatic, I would likely use imagery on those lines that likens to the biggest complication of the whole engagement situation: Chen. He doesn't care what anyone else has to say about the engagement, least of all the engaged pair themselves. It's all a ploy meant to buff up his own power and prestige—which makes it all the more ironic in the end when it's the connection Cole and Skylor make that ultimately causes Chen's downfall.

And I haven't even gotten into the refrain or the bridge yet! The refrain is just... ough it works so well. "Are you satisfied / with an average life? / Do I need to lie / to make my way in life?" Works so so well with how, for all that the marriage would bring major change to Cole's life, Skylor's status quo of being just another asset for her father remains unchanged. And then of course the line about lying both plays into Skylor and Cole's fake dating schtick and to how Skylor can't live a normal life with her own interests because of the role Chen forces her to play.

"Are you satisfied / with an easy ride? / Once you cross the line / will you be satisfied?" In some ways, just going along with the current would make Cole and Skylor's lives easier, for all that Chen would still continue to make everything a thousand times more difficult. Chen lives in blatant luxury despite his exile, and it's implied that the same is afforded to Skylor (so long as she stays in line and acts the perfect daughter, perfect useful tool)—and in this AU, he explicitly uses this luxury to try and tempt Cole into turning against the other ninja, offering an "easy ride" to being on the "winning side" when Chen's plan goes through. And indeed, though Cole is steadfastly loyal to the ninja and Skylor manages to go against her father in a way she can't hide or take back in the end, there a multiple points in the story where it almost seems like they won't and Chen will effectively "win" at convincing them. But not only is crossing the line almost seen with Cole seemingly turning against the ninja—it's actually seen when Skylor fully turns against Chen, thus crossing the line. As such, the refrain applies to the AU in how Cole and Skylor are both presented with opportunities to "go with the flow" or to go against the grain, and whether they can be satisfied with the actions they take.

The bridge is a bit more general Skylor childhood angst, but could also be applied to the slow death of Lilly and how that impacted Cole as a person. Really, it's the second verse and the refrain that carry this song for this AU, and work wonderfully to showcase how Cole and Skylor's particular issues come into play and drive the story forwards—and how Chen also drives things, in his own awful Chen way.

[aether-amalgam-system]

Btw, as someone in therapy for DID with a therapist trained to work with DID, the best way to “deal with” alters dubbed as persecutors/perpetrators/abuser introjects/etc is to recognize that they’re not there for no reason or for a bad reason.

In psychology and in really really advanced forms of PTSD, trauma responses go far beyond fight/flight/freeze. In more advanced forms of PTSD, there is also “submit” and “identify”. They are both ways to minimize trauma sustained from abusers. Submit is basically just doing as you’re told to avoid getting in more trouble/danger. Identify is when you begin to identify yourself with your abuser/s, telling yourself that they’re right, you ARE bad, you deserve it etc etc etc.

And that’s what persecutors (which is the term I’m gonna use in this post, but please know I mean abuser introjects/perpetrators as well when I say this) are there to do, a good deal of the time. They’re there to identify with the system’s abuser/s to keep the system from being abused further. If you obey, do as you’re told, believe the lies, then you’re more likely to be treated “better” in many abuse situations. (This is why submit and identify are present in more advanced cases of PTSD, as well as fight/flight/freeze).

So how does this information help us as systems?

Well, step one is to realize NO PART is there for NO REASON! Every part has a role and a part to play, even if they don’t “seem” to have one.

Step two is to realize that persecutor parts are using skills that USED TO keep you safe/safer in the past, but are damaging you now. A lot of the time, there is a scared, damaged, traumatized child underneath the big bad wolf.

Step three is to just talk to them. Why do you do this? How is this helping you/us? What purpose did these behaviors serve and what are they doing now? And then, bear with me here, tell them thank you. Compassion and kindness are KEY to healing any type of trauma, with or without a dissociative disorder. And that means compassion with EVERY PART OF SELF, including the “difficult” ones.

And then step four is to strive for safety. Safety isn’t always possible immediately or even in the near future, but you CANNOT heal if you remain in an abusive or unsafe environment. Sometimes you need to make very difficult or scary decisions to achieve safety, which is the only place parts/alters can heal.

If you’re safe, compassionate, and open with your parts, things WILL become better. I promise you that. I’ve only just started my healing journey and I’ve been in EMDR therapy for over a year now and it’s JUST BEGINNING! It takes a lot of time and healing isn’t a straight line either, so there will be relapses and downward slopes, but you can NEVER go back to square one because you’ve already left that station. You can have the worst episode of your life and you will STILL not be back to square one, because of the information and wisdom and tools you have gathered and learned from your healing journey. And every upswing will be faster and stronger than the last.

Anyway, I can already smell the people obsessed with abusing their persecutors/other peoples persecutors, so imma give you my source for this information.

Read the book Finding Solid Ground or get the Finding Solid Ground workbook, by Hugo J. Schielke, Bethany L. Brand, and Ruth A. Lanius. My therapy group is working through this book and so far it’s been extremely helpful and enlightening. My therapist likes to tell me “if it doesn’t serve you, leave it behind” and by that I mean: if something in the book is unhelpful to you or if you’re recommended a coping skill that you find unhelpful after trying it a couple times, then just leave it behind. If it doesn’t work for you, then it doesn’t work. And that’s ok!

This book isn’t necessarily just for people with dissociative disorders, it’s geared towards all people with trauma and ptsd, but any type of PTSD recovery is going to help people with dissociative disorders heal because that’s the basis for the disorder!

Anyway, long post over. This is just a bit that I’ve learned from my therapist and the group that I’ve been attending for over a year now. It’s amazing, but you do have to BUY the book, I don’t know if you can find it online… I had to buy it because it was for the group so. It’s a little steep, but if you can get your hands on it, I would recommend it immensely!

❤️‍🩹 (he/it)

[necronatural]

I totally agree with you that the barbie movie has some issues but I think the worst case of "misogyny is fine if it's not to women" is amongst the fans from what I've seen. Like the amounts of times ive seen people act like the Ken's embracing patriarchy is an enherently evil act and not an understandable reaction to them experiencing respect and control for once, is astounding. Like they've been oppressed their whole life of course they're rebelling when they learn they don't have to be.

Within the metatext of the film they are patronizing men for liking Andrew Tate, baby-talking them for their reaction to general frustrations of not living up to meaningless ideals.

The thing is that in real life the frustration with the absence of ideal is inflicted by other men. Men create a supreme image to disenfranchise women, and other men feel anxious that they can't attain this false dichotomy. The Kens are genuinely second class citizens. My point is that they experience ACTUAL oppression, but rather than using it as an empathy tool, it moves into what appears to be a story beat from entirely different script. There's a total mismatch. It is not coherent.

The message here, from men experiencing misogyny learning hurtful and oppressive language, is that if you stopped being misogynistic, those fucking horse-loving harpies will indoctrinate women, so we need to keep them in line. That's insane. If you think about it from the perspective of the film and not the sociopolitical situation the film was produced in - where it makes perfect sense; both men experiencing misogyny and patriarchy humpers being morons are two completely different expressions of female perspective not meant to interact, this is why the film is still enjoyable - it is a bizarre misogynistic "what if straight people were the ones who were oppressed" type message to send.

This in combination with beats like how you can just brainwash vulnerable women to your whims vs you must give men therapy with respect to their vulnerabilities (this is another female perspective thing that is incomprehensible at face value but resonates emotionally with how women deal with the men in their lives) & all the major female characters besides Barbie herself being less important than the male characters to the point the emotional core of the movie (the mom) is discarded to be an object stripped of her personal individual interiority regurgitating themes that don't even cohere in the first place, with her humanity and her relationship with others (her child, her husband, her career) forgotten in favour of teaching Barbies a very special lesson about female empowerment. This is not the Great Feminist Film I'll tell you that much

⬆️ I really liked the Barbie movie I think it's fun

[caffeine-clouds]

2 for Shadouge!

Oho, oh boyyyy... I ship it! - What are your favourite things about the ship?

HEAR ME OUT. HEAR ME OUT A SECOND. I love the Team Dark Found-Family dynamic just as much as the next person - I see them as platonic in most instances, but I also PERSONALLY BELIEVE that there is also a case for them to be made as a ship. I said it. Kill me, cancel me. I only have to include this because there is a strange amount of hostility around this ship that I could honestly write a whole essay about. Anyways, to answer the question: 1. They feel very much like a "Us vs. The World" couple. No matter how shit life gets, no matter how one finds themselves falling and sinking into the dirt - they'll always be by each other's side to support each other. They don't care about the opinions of anyone else, as long as they have each other - they are happy. And that kind of loyalty shit can kinda be romantic af. 2. Rouge is actually mentally stable enough to deal with Shadow's bullshit. No one else both fully understands where Shadow is coming from but also won't hesitate to call him out on his bull. She takes the time to understand him, but she can also tell him to his face when he's being stupid. And ignoring the most modern iterations of Shadow because I. don't. like. himmmmm. - Rouge is the only person you can find him consistently listening to. 3. Imagining them in a relationship is just very interesting to think about. I think Rouge is very used to putting up her flirty front but never really falling for anyone, and Shadow's gotta keep up his "hMPH, I don't care about anyone!" routine - I think it's a slap in both of their faces when they realise they have feelings for each other. Like - what do they even do now?? But in that, they find something to relate to each other about and they can both learn to navigate the relationship together. I don't think they'd be an overtly affectionate romance, most people around them wouldn't even know they're dating - they only feel comfortable showing this side of themselves and their relationship around a few select people. It's just - their relationship is something very personal and intimate between them that only really they can understand. 4. In fanfic, for ME, the ship is a really useful tool to explore Shadow's demisexuality. He reads as very ace or demi to me, I don't think he would feel attraction to someone unless being extremely close to them. And which person is he the closest to? Rouge! I think Shadow, after years of never even considering Rouge as a romantic partner, suddenly finds himself thinking of the possibility and wondering wtf is wrong with him all of a sudden. Just him dealing with his first ever romantic feelings? It's fun to explore, fun to write! And I dont think Rouge having a crush on him is out of left field either - she has just straight up flirted with him before, which can either just be her typical behaviour or her usual flirty mannerisms are simply benefitting her by masking how she truly feels - and she's liked having that barrier, because actual relationships are scawy. 5. "Even if you believe everyone is against you, know that I'll always remain by your side." - That line. That fucking line. Such a beautiful way to say "I love you" - romantically, platonically, I don't care just - hot diggity damn There, I've laid it out. Judge me ALL THY WANT. MY HEAD IS ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK, I HAVE LITTLE TO CARE FOR. Anyways, thanks for the ask lmao

[ashburninks]

Your Line Art Looks Bad and Here's Why

ok, now that I have your attention let's go over some housekeeping first.

one, take what applies and leave the rest.

Two, I'm stupid. Please be nice to me if you do happen to disagree with whatever I'm about to spew all over this god-forsaken website.

Now! On to the meat and potatoes!

Do you remember when you were in art class? and your teacher would be like "Line is a moving dot" or whatever the fuck

Like, sure you could say that's what line is but I've personally found it to be a road in which your eye travels; this can be figurative-like with leading lines- or literal, like with line work on paper done with a pen.

For the sake of clarity and sanity, I'm just going to talk about the literal aspect for the most part since leading lines kinda run in the background as you learn the more important, foundational aspects of art such as composition, shape, etc.

There are a few things that make good quality line art: Intent, quality, and control.

The most straightforward of the three is Quality.

good quality line art is stable and confident strokes with your brush or pen. It is also effectively using line weight and line opacity.

someone I've found to be quite proficient in this is Kim Jung Gi (rip King)

If you look closely at his work there are a few things you can notice immediately. He has incredible line confidence and his lines vary in opacity and weight. He truly was a master of his craft and I strongly encourage you to study his other work as well.

Control is tricky because it's not about what you put down on the paper but more about what you don't. This doesn't mean you can't do what you want but consider the reason for every stroke of your pen and what it adds to the piece. An absolute master of control is Jamie Hewlett.

Every single line he put down, has rhyme, reason, and bears visual weight. also, peep the use of line weight.

Finally, Intent. this one is similar to control but unique in that in using this tool, you can change the entire aesthetic of your piece; because let's be real - not every drawing calls for super delicate strokes. this is where you make the important decision as to what good line work looks like for the piece that you're creating.

An artist I find to be quite interesting in their use of intent is Deathburger on Instagram (also My favorite artist).

Deathburger intentionally keeps his line work rigid and consistent in line weight throughout his whole piece; it lends itself to the cyberpunk aesthetic that he absolutely dominates. his lines are organic and not totally straight which is endearing and makes the work feel alive. This is an excellent example of what good line work looks like that isn't necessarily smooth and super line-weighty.

also, yes, people can tell when you're just bad at line art or if it's your style. please stop lying, it's embarrassing.

Now that I've gone over what makes good line work it's time to talk about how to get better.

try drawing the same thing over and over as a warmup. for me this was Garfield. I recommend something simple, quick, and cartoony.

another thing you can do is practice calligraphy and script; this is a trick that tattoo artists do and it works incredibly well since it involves both straights and curves.

staying on the topic of what tattoo artists do, try wrapping your paper around a soda can or something round. it's challenging, humbling, and effective at getting better at line confidence.

Last but not least, study your favorite artists and see what they're doing that's effective, and try it yourself.

anyways, let me know if I missed anything lol

bye

Cole

[a-sleepywitch]

Tarot Tips part 2! Reversals vs No reversals

I decided I wanted to make another post about more tarot tips, mainly aimed towards people who are a little bit past the beginner stage, though beginners are always welcome here as well! If you want tips on various ways to learn to use tarot actively, I recommend looking at part 1, since that post goes into that topic. In this post, I wanted to talk a little bit about personalising your tarot reading habits by looking at cards as neutral, so if that's something you'd be interested in, here you go! And as always, if anyone has anything they wanna add or any advice they'd love to give, I'd love to hear it!

You can find part 1 here! + part 3 here!

If you're like me and your first introduction to tarot was through the internet, then it's very likely that you learned tarot reading through a dualistic lens; their upright meaning, and their reversed meaning. Reversed can be a bit misleading, since it implies that reversed cards are always the opposite of their upright meanings, but this isn't the only way to read reversals. Sometimes, it has the same meaning, but it alters the consequences, mood, tone, implications, etc.

As an example: The tower in its upright position is often associated with disaster, abrupt changes, destruction, upheaval of a solid foundation, and is often viewed as a very negative card because of it. Reversed, it can be read as averting disaster, or nearly avoiding it.

Exploring Cards as Neutral

Personally, I'm not and have never been an avid user of keywords, because while they're a great learning tool for people who memorise well with a flashcard-like method, for me personally, I need to build associations and conceptual understanding to get the most out of my tarot usage. Likewise, I've found that upright and reversals are somewhat pointless to me because of my reading style, but this doesn't meant that using reversals is pointless in general! Many people manage to make them work in a complex and nuanced way, but for me, they felt very limiting, forcing me to interpret them in a certain way. Upright and reversals can feel very binary, especially if you're like me and don't get much out of memorising keywords.

When I pull the tower, I want to be able to understand the full context behind that card. The card on its own is neutral to me. It's telling me that there is a structure that is falling apart, but it's not telling me why without additional context, which can be provided by other cards. Is it because there's an outside force disrupting the status quo? Or is it because the tower's foundation was never solid to begin with? Furthermore, does this imply if the outcome is good or bad? In the appropriate context, the tower can also be read as a revolution, and upheaval of an unjust system, a much needed change in the status quo or the uprooting of harmful traditions. I find that understanding the context surrounding the card is more important to indicate its role, rather that whether it's reversed or upright.

Alternate Way to use Reversals

If you want to use reversals while also approaching cards as more neutral, there are other ways you can incorporate it! I will often use directions and line of sight in my readings, particularly if I'm dealing with court cards. If you have king of wands staring straight at the tower card then... Well, maybe that can influence how you interpret the tower card. And what about what's behind the king of wands? What's the king of wands looking away from? Let's say it's the five of swords, indicating there might've been some foul play that the king is ignoring, and he's now watching the tower crumble before him because of it. Who does the king of wands represent? What's beneath the king of wands card, or beneath the surface? What's going over his head? The directions the cards are facing can tell you a lot about the story at play, and having some cards be reversed can alter which direction they're looking in. It can almost feel even more purposeful when the deck goes out of its way to reverse a card to make sure it's looking in a specific direction.

You can bring nuance to anything!

I don't want this post to imply that using reversals is a bad thing or somehow less nuanced than reading cards as neutral, because that's simply not true. A lot of tarot readers manage to bring intricate complexity to their readings, even if they use reversals in a very traditional way! But as a tarot reader who is not good at doing that, I wanted to offer an alternative way to read cards.

This post was a bit more rambly than the last, and I'm not sure if people enjoy rambly posts over more organised ones, but I hope someone out there got something out of it regardless! And as always, I'm more than happy to cover specific topics and questions people may have, provided it's a topic I have proper experience in/knowledge of!

[pridepages]

Storytelling: Imogen, Obviously

I just finished Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli. I have thoughts...

Here there be spoilers!

Our lives are made up of the stories we tell. Narrative is how we make sense of the random events that occur and the feelings they inspire. We take the chaos and we impose order. Give it structure.

Slap a label on it.

I’ll be the first to tell you how important and empowering queer storytelling is. Control of the narrative is a form of power, and for centuries cisheterosexual society has tried to control our narratives by silencing them.

Little by little, we’re taking back the mic, the pen, the keyboard. We’re getting our stories out there, sending them out to let other queer people know: we see your experience. You are not alone.

So stories are powerful tools to help us define ourselves and find our people. But if stories help us define queerness...can they also confine it?

Enter Becky Albertalli with her newest YA novel Imogen, Obviously. Meet Imogen Scott: she’s the Best Ally Ever. Her sister is a queer woman. Both of her best friends are queer women. Imogen loves everything about them and about the gay culture around them. Imogen also feels a little funny, a little stung, whenever someone brings up the fact that she’s Straight. It’s almost like the label is being forced on her when it doesn’t fit...

“I’ve never quite been able to pin it down. The way queerness announces itself,” Imogen reflects. “How it seems so intuitive for people. How people just seem to know...There have to be some sort of visible markers of queerness. Otherwise, how could so many people know at a glance that I’m straight?”

That phrasing rings so many alarm bells...it’s not ‘I know I’m straight.’ It’s other people. Other queer people who draw the lines and set the rules of engagement.

It’s funny because it’s true. There are queer people who can say with the same breath: ‘it’s okay to question your identity!’ and ‘straight people need to stay out of queer safe spaces!’ It’s Schrodinger’s Gay--until you come out of the closet, you’re somehow both and neither.

Take Gretchen, one of Imogen’s best friends who talks like she’s terminally online and basically embodies the Schrodinger’s Gay approach. I give full credit to Albertalli for giving us a complex antagonist. Gretchen’s assumptions that straight is the default and absolute refusal to give any unlabeled person the benefit of the doubt is caused by the fact that she regularly experiences homophobia. Readers feel simultaneously furious watching her shove Imogen into the closet and sympathetic because we understand it comes from a place of envy for anyone with that mythical ‘straight passing privilege.’ For people like Gretchen, there’s one way to be gay. If you don’t fit the standard model, then you can’t be real.

For girls like Imogen...girls like me...this line of thinking is very, very dangerous.

Because it turns out that feelings and desires aren’t completely intuitive. We have to learn how to read them, how to put names on them...in effect, how to label them. And we need to be taught how. As it turns out, queer girls can be handed a lot of cracked lenses through which to see their own sexuality distorted...

Here are some of the ones I heard growing up.

“Everyone likes to look at women. They’re objectively more attractive than men.”

“You’re just too mature to be boycrazy.”

“You’ll feel it when the right man comes along.”

“Of course you feel intense about your friends...friends are more important than boys because they last forever!”

“Straight girls like when other girls touch/kiss them because it makes them feel a little wild.”

“If you’re gay, you just know. Because gay people are born that way.”

So that guilty, eager feeling I got looking at the Victoria’s Secret window just meant I was perverse.

And I was smart for not getting why my friends lost their heads over guys.

It didn’t matter that I only liked boys as friends. That funny feeling I got around my third grade teacher couldn’t be a crush.

It was normal that I hated all my best friend’s boyfriends.

It was cliche that tequila made me loose enough to like it when other girls grabbed my chest at college parties.

I wasn’t gay...

Because if I was, then I would already know. 

I’d have grown up a little tomboy who hated girly things. I’d have identified some sort of unattainable crush and suffered from homophobia and consciously silencing myself. I’d gravitate toward flannel and the Indigo Girls and have pictures of famous women pinned up on my walls. Because that’s what Real Gay Girls did...

Right?

“It's like there's this idea that you have to earn your label through suffering. And then you have to prove it with who you date, how you dress, how other people perceive you,” Imogen explains. And she’s absolutely right. This idea that there is some kind of ‘right’ way to be gay poisons our brains and makes us feel like imposters in our own bodies.

For years, I thought the reason I kept failing every time I forced myself to try dating men was because I was a Broken Heterosexual.

Those words actually appeared in my brain.

Like that is a real thing a person can be.

People like me are in desperate need of stories like Imogen’s. Because it is long past time to break the mold. This cultural pressure to perform identity the ‘right’ way leads to internalized homophobia. We police ourselves, struggle with imposter syndrome and insist we must be making up our feelings.

Screw that. Here’s Imogen’s lesson for anyone who needs to hear it: No one knows you better than you know yourself.

Only you know what you feel right now. Only you know when your feelings are evolving. You are the only person who gets to label you because YOU are the authority.

And to anyone who dares to say otherwise, I’m holding up this bit of wisdom from Imogen: “promise to hold space for variation.” Because we aren’t one narrative. We’re a library.

So keep sharing your stories.

I can’t wait to read them all.

[invinciblerodent]

🦷 arvid

🐸 petyr

Ask game!

🦷 - Would this oc ever bite someone?

well talk about a context-dependent answer, huh

My first instinct was to say no, but honestly, the more I think about it, the more I think that... yes, you know, it's probably reasonable to assume that one of the things people who fight for a living learn is that you can never fully disregard a tool that still has some use. And, well, human(-oid) jaws, they're some of the strongest muscles in the body- allegedly, the only reason you can't bite through your finger like a carrot is because your brain is telling you not to bite off your finger.

So I can picture several different scenarios where the best response a person can have is to bite, and as someone whose primary fighting tactic is blunt force trauma, I think Arvid would not think himself above fighting dirty, if necessary.

..... also, I mean, it's been previously established that the man he's married to is a bit of a freak, so there's also that

🐸 - What’s this oc’s sense of humor like?

Dryyyy. Dry, deadpan, ironic, direct- which also means he's prone to toeing the line between teasing, and straight-up insulting, and may end up with his foot in his mouth quite a bit more than he'd maybe like. Like it's a bit difficult to describe how it works in my head, but I like to think that while he does intend to be funny pretty often, his kind of humor is... mostly meant just to entertain himself.

Petyr has 8 CHA for a reason: while not exactly unkind, he's generally a bit of a shit, he's fairly irreverent, hasn't had to maintain many deeper interpersonal relationships in the past 20 or so years, and he's out of practice when it comes to people to say the least, so he's... not really a tactful conversationalist. He'll say what he thinks, be straightforward about it, and when he thinks something is stupid (which isn't uncommon), he'll say that too.

Which is why I really like how deceptively strong Shadowheat's "yes, and" game is, because after overcoming their initial conflicts and gnashes, trading barbs and teasing one another is kind of how they establish a rapport. (I feel like he might have to say "I was kidding" or "It's called a joke, sweet" to Halsin... decently often, though.)

[goodgifswithfreetoolschallenge]

TOOL TUTORIAL 4

Screencapping Frames with FFmpeg

FRAME BY FRAME SCREENCAPPING METHODS

Tool type: Command Line tool

Operating systems: Mac, Windows, and Linux

Difficulty: Even if it's your first ever time opening your command line and trying to type anything, I think you can do this! I believe in you! :D

Input: Video files (any video file format).

This tutorial is largely based on instructions provided by u/ChemicalOle as part of their GIMP GIFS 101 tutorial for r/HighQualityGifs.

____________________________________

WINDOWS USERS: CHANGE ALL FORWARD SLASHES IN THIS SCRIPT TO BACK SLASHES!!!

____________________________________

Tutorials I've made so far have covered gif-making methods where video footage is transformed straight to .gif and there is no need to screencap frames. When making gifs in Photoshop (and if you want to make gifs using GIMP) rather than input video straight into the program, you often load a stack of screencaps into the program—one screencap representing every frame. After all, gifs are nothing more than a series of images all stacked together playing one by one in a loop. So lets learn a super faster automated way of screencapping every frame in a video clip automatically. Even if you've never opened your OS's command line interface in your life, I think you can do this!

1. Install FFmpeg

I recommend you install FFmpeg via Homebrew if you're on Mac or Linux by pasting this into your terminal (if/once Homebrew is installed):

brew install ffmpeg

Windows users or other users who don't want Homebrew can follow install instructions on the FFmpeg website.

2. Make a Folder

Make a folder on your desktop called FRAMES and place your video source file in that folder.

I’m going to rename my source video video.mp4 for this tutorial, but you can also just change “video.mp4” to the name of the file in the script below—this includes changing the video file extension in the script below as needed. I don’t think there’s a video file type FFmpeg cannot work with.

3. Determine when the moment you want to gif begins and ends

I’m going to gif a short moment from Season 1 Episode 7 of Supernatural as an example.

According to my video player (I'm using IINA) the exchange I want to gif starts at 8:02.565 and ends at 08:10.156. While you can trim precisely by the millisecond, I’m going to assume your video player doesn’t show milliseconds since many don't.

I'm going to keep the start of my clip at 08:02 but round up the end timestamp 1 second to make sure I get all the milliseconds in that second I want to include. In my case: I need to start capturing at precisely 8.02 and end capturing at 08.11, which is 9 seconds later.

4. Use this script template

You want to use the following template script u/ChemicalOle provided (replacing each # with a number you need):

cd YourFilePathGoesHere ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -r ## -t # -ss ##:## -f image2 frame_%4d.png

video.mp4 is where your video file name goes (including changing the video extension if you need to to .mkv, .mpg, .mov, etc).

-ss ##:## specifies when to start capturing. (I need to put 08:02 here)

-t # specifies how many seconds to spend capturing. (I need to put 9 here)

-r ## tells FFmpeg how many times to capture a .png every second (i.e. the frames per second or FPS). u/ChemicalOle recommends you set this at 30 for a 30 FPS capture.

-f image2 frame_%4d.png tells FFmpeg to output .png images with the name frame_0001.png, frame_0002.png, frame_0003.png, etc.

In my case, my script will look like this:

cd ~/Desktop/FRAMES ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -r 30 -t 9 -ss 08:02 -f image2 frame_%4d.png

The top line starting with cd just tells my terminal to change directories to where my video file is located, and where to dump the frames to be generated (in the FRAMES folder with my video file). (Windows users: change forward slashes to back slashes and that cd command will move you to your FRAMES folder too).

When you input this command into your system shell (Terminal on Mac, Powershell on Windows) and press enter, you you might feel like it’s stalling at first or not working because

"Press [q] to stop, [?] for help"

Will be printed on the screen. It is working though! Just leave it alone for minute and it'll start working. When the cursor prompt reappears, there will be a bunch of PNGs in your FRAMES folder, organized in sequence by number.

[minominq]

Love your coloring and art style 💖 can I ask you a question how you get better at drawing? I'm new (year 2) and struggling with digital art off and on. It's only been two years I'm drawing digitally but I just want to draw better. Like even better. If you have advice or tips, that's awesome. Hopefully it doesn't come off the wrong way. But thanks in advance.

not me forgetting that I had asks on 😭 if you're still interested, here's the (extremely) late response (again, super sorry 😭)

In terms of coloring, there isn't a lot I can say (being a learner as well), but I think seeing how others color can be really interesting! Do they use reddish hues or blueish hues for shades? Or do they use both? I personally use a slightly desaturated salmon pink-ish color with a low opacity (also desaturated) sky-blue. It can help to try out a variety and finding what works for you!

example: (this is an old piece of mine and I used red and blue as my tools for shading)

The same can be said for base colors. For those, I recommend color-studies and seeing how relative colors can influence how you perceive the entire piece. Rather than focus on the colors as separate entities (blue as blue, yellow as yellow), it's really helpful to instead look at it instead as something meant to intermingle with (if that makes any sense 🥲).

In a blue-prevalent piece, straight-up grey might look reddish or even pink. In a purple piece, the skin-tone might look like light-magenta than a peachy color. Yet, when you look at the piece as a whole, it definitely looks like a skin-tone.

example: you can tell that the skin looks like a skin tone, but when you actually pull it out and look at it in comparison to a peachy tone, it's purple! And this is because of the idea of relative colors. Against a white background, a color might seem saturated and dark, but against a dark background, the same color might seem super light.

For lineart (if you do them at all), it might help to experiment with brushes and thickness of lines! Do you prefer boxy lines? Smooth lines? Thick or thin lines? It might seem redundant, but you'll eventually find yourself a style that fits you the best, even if it doesn't seem that way ^^

Another tip I have is that if you have a bunch of artists you really like (whether that be their composition, style, coloring, etc), examine what exactly you like about them and try to imitate it and see how well it works for you! If it doesn't, then that's fine, but if it does, then thats even better!

If you have artist mutuals, do the 'friends' artstyle challenge'! You might learn something interesting that might take your fancy and at the worst, you'll just have more experience under your belt when it comes to style :D

Though it may seem like everyone's saying this and it feels of little use, studies (whether that be pose or coloring) will help a lot! Also, try tracing over those free dynamic pose photos if you want to improve in the aspect of anatomy! Try see where limbs are placed and how they work. It's sort of like seeing the answers to a math question: once you know the answer, you can work backwards to see how to get it :D

Sorry for the delay and super sorry if this isn't of any help at all 😭 Honestly, I don't really know how to do the stuff I do at all, either. Half of the time, I'm just winging it and tweaking stuff until it looks decent, but I hope this helped!

(Also, really really sorry for not replying 😭)