#despite being an artist i'm. not very good at graphic design lol

[para-psychopathology]

hey hi hello i just spent an unreasonable amount of time fiddling with the desktop theme on my art blog so i'm gonna show off now

i added new fonts and a cool background image :)

[melodygatesauthor]

Hey Mel I have questions. You seem to know things.

First of all, do you know anyone who like...designs blogs? I want mine to look better but I hate that crap.

Secondly, your new layout and everything looks super rad. I'm not bugging you about it btw, you are a busy creator - I'm just curious if you can pass along info.

Next, what would you say is your favorite way for your readers or ... art viewers to show appreciation? Do you like reblogs most? Reblogs with comments? Or tags? Or mainly replies. Both, all?

I used to be a serial liker way back when (I know, I'm Satan) but once I realized how important rb'ing was (thank you, educational posts), I started doing it all the time, and I try to interact, which has turned out to be lovely and so much more fun! Anyway, what's your fave feedback method?

Omg hi babe!!!!

Thoughts below the cut:

You give me too much credit with "you seem to know things" hahaha. I TRY, but this hellsite is a challenge!

Firstly, thank you SO MUCH for the sweet compliment on my blog. I have gone through MANY different styles and different schemes before landing on this one. For me it was VERY trial and error and I definitely like this one a LOT.

Designing your blog is tough, and despite having my BFA in graphic design, I sucked at it until I started figure out what works best for me, the writer, and for my readers. The thing I discovered that works best for me personally is the simplicity, but I did have it set up much more complex (and I'm in the process of switching my masterlist to the simpler style STILL)

I don't know anyone who designs them, though I wonder if that's something that people would do? Do they charge money for it? If anyone reading this has any thoughts on that, let me know!

A couple of resources I recommend are:

Canva.com (for the actual design)

Colorpalettes.net (for coming up with color schemes you like)

Pinterest (for photos if needed)

For your second point, I'm ALWAYS happy help anyone with anything I can <3

For your next question, I've talked about this previously but I'm always happy to take the mic when someone hands it to me to discuss this further. Reblogs with comments will always be mine, and most, creator's preferred form of support/appreciation.

- Side note: Financial support is technically the best way to show support/appreciation for most artists but I don't ever want to charge money for fanfiction because that opens up a whole can of worms that I don't think most fanfic writers would really want, despite it sounding good in theory. - For example, most fanfic writers are writing out of passion, emotion, and just raw feelings. As soon as you start charging money, it starts being more of an obligation for the writer (less fun). I also like that you don't HAVE to have money to enjoy creative works like fanfiction, you can enjoy it for free. It's a community that thrives off of my providing the stories that my brain enjoys coming up with, to people who enjoy reading them. - Though I will say that if someone sends me a tip or something just to show support that's AMAZING. I just mean, I don't think putting fanfiction behind a paywall is something we want inherently.

That being said, the LEAST anyone can do, is reblog. I also used to be a serial liker, not knowing how important reblogs were. Let me paint the picture and tell a story lol:

Person 1 sees Artist making art and says "I like this." The Artist is happy and says "Thank you that's so sweet of you. I hope others like it too," but before they can even finish their sentence, Person 1 is gone. Person 1 never tells their friends about the amazing art they saw. Person 1 doesn't even tell the artist WHY they liked their work. (And in some cases, Person 1 says "I like this. Hey can you make me an extremely complicated commission for free so I can have it and also not tell my friends about that?") - Person 1 is a "serial liker" and an asshole entitled reader. We hate Person 1, they're an asshole.

Person 2 sees Artist making art and says "I like this." Now, they go to their friends and say, "I saw some art. I liked it," and they don't elaborate. So their friends, might go see it, but Person 2 hasn't really done anything to "sell" your work to their friends. So YES it's SO MUCH better than what Person 1 did, but Person 2 could still be better.

Person 3, our queen, our beloved, sees the Artist making art and says "I like this." Then Person 3 not only tells their friends about how amazing it is, but they also tell the artist why they liked it so much and the things about it that made them happy. Their friends can see how excited Person 3 is about the work, thus inspiring them to check it out and spread it to their friends by reblogging as well.

All of this to say, Person 3 is the ideal reader, they reblog, they engage with you, they're spreading the word, and sometimes that can be the difference between an artist continuing or ending their time on tumblr. I've seen it happen twice, and it's fucking heartbreaking.

Just something to think about for others who don't understand why we push for reblogs so much!

[thedreadvampy]

Okay, but is there a story about why you're "despised" by Stuart Semple kin, because I'm trying to imagine what could rile colourfandom beyond the Semple-Kapoor saga and I'm failing.

If there is no story then feel free to ignore this ask, lol (I mean, feel free to ignore this ask is you just feel like ignoring it tbh, you do you)

YES THERE IS

it's very funny (to me, not to Stuart Semple)

like ok so I reblogged a post where OP was asking about Stuart Semple and I said basically "I think Stuart Semple is a good pigment designer and a great marketer but a pretty juvenile and shallow artist.'

the thing is (and I have encountered this before on Twitter when I made a thread about how it's probably past time for Semple to Let The Kapoor Thing Go and also not call a British Asian man a"terrorist sympathiser" for expressing that Britain is racist against young Asian men which makes it easier to radicalise them) that Stuart Semple is an inveterate namesearcher. and he located my post and was Quite Upset, to which he responded by cropping out the context, but not my username or photo, and posting a screencap on all his social media saying effectively 'I'm going to make art despite the haters!!!!!!'

so like. I got several weeks of graphic death and rape threats, people telling me I'm not a real artist and don't know shit about art and how dare I criticise a Real Artist, weirdly according to my partner who does follow Semple on Twitter and Instagram (bc we DO like a lot of his pigments) the Insta crowd decided I was trans and started slinging transphobic insults around in the comments about my photo and coming into my askbox to Pronouns In Bio me, people started picking up on the fact that my bio said 'former sex worker' and trying to insult me for that, it was like a whole thing which honestly did not faze me because given how stupid it was I just found it. baffling and funny.

Amid this Semple refused to admit that there was any reason he shouldn't have made the post and said he didn't see any difference between me (an at the time largely unknown blog with like 500 followers) posting criticism of him (a public figure) vs him posting criticism of me. he was pretty condescending but we largely ironed things out (by which I mean I stopped taking about him and he slowed down on getting defensive in the replies of every part I made including unrelated ones) and swapped pictures of our pet reptiles.

It was a weird time and then for like another few months I got Periodic Semple Stans in my askbox sending aggro. it was definitely the most actively personally aggressive drama I've ever been in which was very weird bc the criticism was honestly. Pretty mild. I said I thought his art was technically skilled but adolescent and not very interesting. I have Definitely said much more controversial things and has far fewer graphic murder threats like ????? literally appearing in the Guardian as an anti-TERF protester and being identified on Twitter, going out of my way to argue with fash (don't do that any more, not super productive), outing rapists and chaining myself to a building have had less violent responses. it's wild. I am meaner than that every time I've ever gone to a gallery and not one time have Caravaggio stans jumped out to call me a used up whore.

[colour-outside-the-liness]

Hi Colour! How are you doing today? I don't know about doing meaningful things with my life, feel like I've just been surviving this entire time lol. However I am trying to figure it out and working on building the life I want to live and hopefully I will be able contribute to this world in some way.

I don't think I've ever played a game of trivial pursuit. Have never been to a pub either, not like the ones you have in the UK anyway. Just been to very dirty bars where me and my friends used to drink as much as we could afford, shared questionable food that could potentially make us sick the next day and there were no quizzes or games really haha. So your exp sounds way more fun! 😂

I'm glad you're giving the song a chance! Only Spotify knows how many times I've listened to it lol. I reckon Hozier's going to be my artist of the year for 2021. I love attributing works of art to Dani x Jamie, have a whole ass Pinterest board full with images of paintings, poetry, music and anything that I think relates to them really (yeah I know, I have a problem).

I love everything you've said about how Dani, Viola and the lady in the lake are alike, I hadn't really thought about their similarities before, but everything you've said makes perfect sense. I always saw Viola as a narcissist, even her drive to protect her child felt selfish in a way, don't know if you know what I mean. And when she fades away and becomes the lady she's just pure (almost animalistic) instinct while on auto pilot, bc she only remembers rage and abandonment, she takes anything on her path aggressively unless they're a child. So what she sees in Dani is not processed logically, right? It's pure instinct and emotions, so what she recognizes in her when Dani invites her in is the desperate need to protect this child, so she sees her as deserving. Perhaps she also saw in Dani and opportunity to escape this nightmare. Despite all her faults she didn't deserve what happened to her either.

And don't get me wrong, Jamie is so, so strong and solid and she is my favorite mostly bc I identify with her personality more than Dani's. But we know Jamie is all that even before we learn her story, and I feel like it is expected that she'll be the strong and brave one bc she's had to be that her entire life albeit unwillingly. But Dani? We expect her to break at any given point, I mean she is reaching her limit after all that's happened, with all the weight she's carrying. I remember thinking "Jesus, this girl needs help" when I first watched the show hahaha. But she fights every damn time, she doesn't run away and that's why I find her so fascinating. That's why I thought this song was so fitting. Even if Dani would never see herself that way. But it's Jamie's perspective (and fire signs tend to exaggerate everything 😂) so it feels fitting that she thinks so highly of her baby haha. Ugh I just wanted them to stay together forever. 🥺

Omg yes! I love how you refined this idea, good thing you're a writer and I'm not hahaha. And yeah I'm absolutely here for sapphics with weapons like holy shit imagine Jamie fighting with a sword? 🤤 I'm weak. Hahaha would be cool to see them in a pirate AU too! Maybe someone's already done it? Idk. But aaaah I want to see them in every possible universe hahaha. Makes me want to get back into drawing too. 😩

Aww you two sound like you have a lovely bond going on. Your niece sounds like the coolest! I started out drawing anime too when I was a kid and ended up doing graphic design for a living! How did learning how to draw anime style go for you today?

Hey I'm doing great thank you I hope you are too? I know that feeling because I feel like that's how I have made it to 27 just surviving (barely) and taking things one day at a time to get me to this point and hopefully I can contribute in some way even it its just a small way... so I totally get that feeling but I am sure you contribute so much without you even realising it!! Oh it's great but depending on how competitive the people you're playing with are it can get pretty heated... I've been in some heated games of it before because people just refuse to believe I know the answers to some of the questions and they think I've been cheating and have all but demanded I have another question asked instead of the one I got right... and pub quizzes can be fun again depending on the team you're in and how seriously you wanna take it I have been in teams where its been a serious thing and we have all desperately wanted to win and then I've been in teams and we've just had fun with it... all the pubs I go in are dirty bars too but sometimes they have pub quizzes... I have had many nights where I have drank what I can afford... one night me on my roommate went over board though and we ended up spending ALL our money even our taxi fair and we had to walk home in the dark along country roads with hardly any lights to guide us... because of how drunk we were it too us around 3-4 hours and I fell over a road sign and ended up in a ditch... I've had a lot of fun experiences but some really stupid ones as well... your experiences sound great though!! I would love that!! I listened to the song and I loved it so much!! I don't even wanna know what my most listened to artist will be this year... my money is on it being the Six musical soundtrack... probably All You Wanna Do from that musical I'll be surprised if it's anything else. I would love for it to be someone like Hozier, but ever since I have done my Spotify wrapped thing it's always been a musical of some kind that's been my number 1 song / artist haha I love doing the same thing. If I can make something fit Dani x Jamie I will like it doesn't even matter what it is haha... I don't think you have a problem I think that sounds so cool!! I have nothing like that. I just have a head full of random ideas screaming to be let out I agree Viola is definitely selfish and narcissistic and everything she did came from a place of anger and rage over the things that happened to her she fell in love and got married and had a child and saw her sister try and take that from her while she was ill and in the end her sister killed her. Like yeah, I do feel sorry for Perdita with the way she was treated but I do think everything Viola did was out of frustration over what was happening to her. Like you said she acts on auto pilot and only knows rage until it comes to children- because all she knows is she is looking for a child so when she saw Dani so selfless sacrifice herself for a child she saw a little bit of herself in Dani she knows Dani is a good person and she can relate to that protective streak and I think she did see Dani as deserving I definitely agree with everything you've said here. Viola might have had faults and flaws and who doesn't? But I definitely think she had it rough and did deserve better than she was given. I agree, you can tell looking at Jamie that she is strong and brave while Dani comes off as the exact opposite. But I think you see fully how brave they both are when Dani sacrifices herself for Flora and when Jamie offers to keep Dani company and loves her despite knowing she won't be able to love her forever. I love Jamie but definitely relate to Dani's personality more, there are a lot of things Dani does that I see myself in her because I have done those types of things myself and the whole beast in the jungle speech resonates with me so much and every time I watch the last episode and hear that speech I am a crying mess from that point on. It's funny that you thought that about Dani when you first watched it, because me and my sisters got my mum to

watch it and she said the same thing about Dani "she needs help" but then once told me she liked Dani because she reminded her of me that was an interesting conversation to be a part of "Dani needs help... but I like her she's like you." I was like "Thanks?" I agree this song is definitely more how Jamie would see Dani, I think Dani just has a very blasé view of herself, like I don't think she's self conscious or self deprecating in anyway but I think she sort of walks around like "this is me and this is just how I am" where as Jamie just sees Dani for how brave and strong and amazing she is- maybe even if as a fire sign she exaggerates a little bit haha Jamie just thinks Dani is the most amazing person in the world and I just know that Dani saw her the same way!! I really wanted them to be together forever... I am never going to emotionally recover from Bly Manor. Your idea was incredible and I think it would be a great story to read honestly that's the type of thing I live for!! OMG Jamie with a sword is just 🤤 🥵 I am all for sapphics and weapons of any kind!! There's this pirate AU which is absolutely amazing!! I don't know if you've read it or not but iamalekza writes some really great fics!! https://archiveofourown.org/works/28631598/chapters/70179306 ^^ Pirate AU I really wish I could draw I would love to be able to draw scenes from fics I have read and even ones I have written but I just don't have the skill set for that!! I would love to see other fan arts though I think drawing is such an incredible talent to have and I am in awe of anyone that can do it!! Me and my niece have a great bond, she's like a little mini me (despite almost being as tall as me). She is honestly such a cool kid I have a hell of a lot of fun with her- I'm looking after her again tomorrow and I have no idea what we're gonna do but we will figure something out... she's such a good drawer she's only just started doing it at the beginning of the year and she's really progressed with it... I however have not so I am definitely gonna need more practice. That's so cool that you started out doing anime drawing and then ended up going into a career in graphic design. Again that's a talent that I am just in awe of because it's just something I have never been able to do!!